I don't figure much in this column. The Warriors made general manager Bob Myers available to the media for an hour Thursday morning. Myers, who often begins an answer with gosh or gee, answered all questions about the state of the team. I share the Q&A with you:
Q: How do you feel about what the Warriors did in the offseason?
A: Hmm. I keep getting asked that. I finally settled on a response which is, ask me at the end of the season. I hope it all fits together. We certainly improved the roster but how it all works is to be determined.
Q: Stephen Curry said this is the most talented Warriors roster he's been part of. Do you agree?
A: Geez. This team is unique for its depth. The players that usually determine your success level are the ones that are out there starting. Come playoff time, you want to have your top five, six, seven guys out there playing the big chunk of minutes.
Note: I take that to mean Myers doesn't know how talented his key players are. That is to be determined.
Q: What does Myers want from this team?
A: I want us to be known as a team that competes night in and night out. I want to look at a group of players that doesn't give an inch. Those are the guys that should play.
Q: What is the status of Andrew Bogut?
A: He's on a schedule. He has not begun five-on-five contact, but that is something we expect to happen in October. He has not experienced any setbacks. If anything we're being cautious and going slow. We are encouraged that things are progressing very well. We're hoping he will be in some preseason games.
Q: Will Bogut be a vocal leader?
A: Oh man, I think what Andrew can bring to this team is a defense-first attitude. Throughout the league he's recognized as an elite defender. That's not something we've had here in the past, so if he can be the voice of the defense and hold other players accountable, that would go a long way for our team.
Q: How good is your starting five?
A: I do think on paper, which means absolutely nothing, there's a lot of complementary pieces. At the end of the season you guys will be able to say, as I will, "Did it work?" Right now, I don't think we're bad on paper. I think we're good on paper. That's better than being bad on paper — it doesn't mean you're good on the court. I'm hoping it does come together.
Q: Fourteen of 15 players under contract are here early for voluntary workouts. Andris Biedrins is not. It's a bad look.
A: Because it's a result-driven business, Andris will be allowed to come in and compete for his position. He's shown he can be an effective player in the NBA, so I'm going to let it play itself out. I'm not going to judge him until we see him in the preseason. You can look at athletes that have had down years and, all of a sudden, they're having a great year. At the end of the year, we'll have a good sense of what he did and what he didn't do, but right now he's on our team and we'll embrace him. He's shown he can hold down the position. Some players have shown they never have been able to be effective in the NBA. So, you have to give him that fair opportunity and see what he can do.
Q: The Warriors have a hard schedule early, a more forgiving schedule later ...
A: There's going to be a lot of tough games even at the end of the season. We haven't established ourselves as a team that we can check off wins. We're not there yet. All the players that showed up and are working hard that gives us a slight advantage as far as building chemistry, but we haven't built it on the court yet. We're not a veteran team that's played together for five years.
Q: Why are you and Mark Jackson so modest in your language, neither predicting you will make the playoffs?
A: Because we, unfortunately, we have not had a culture of winning. Until we actually go do that, it doesn't really matter what I say or coach says or anybody says. It matters what our team does. Unless the results are there, which is winning, we're not an organization that has a history of being in the playoffs each year. Let the results speak for themselves (as opposed to) me saying it's going to happen.
Q: Are his best players leaders?
A: We'll have to see. Leading is not raising a hand and saying, "I'm a leader." Leading is actually leading your team to a successful result. I do think we have guys on our roster who can be.
Q: How good are the Warriors?
A: We're not being discussed as winning an NBA championship this year. You at least want to be in that conversation. We're not there. Nobody's saying we have a chance to win the title. That's the next step for this organization is to have that conversation. I know we have a long way to go. We don't deserve to be there. But we feel we're headed in the right direction.
Q: Stephen Curry has been your point guard but, in the past, things played off Monta Ellis. How will things be different now?
A: In the offseason, I talked to Stephen and I said whatever encumbrances you think might have existed, it's your team. Go be the point guard. If that was an excuse in the past, whether it's right or wrong, it doesn't exist anymore. He's playing alongside a very traditional 2 guard that isn't a guy that has the ball in his hands that often. We're confident he can do the job.
Q: What is the status of Curry's contract?
A: Until after the last game of the preseason, I don't see any discussions. There's no ill will. That's just how both sides decided to proceed.
Q: What do you need to see from him?
A: Obviously, we want to see him be healthy. We know who he is, we just want him to be out on the court.
Q: What is the identity of the team?
A: Being a consistent team defensively is important to win. I don't care if we're fast, slow, whatever, you have to be able to stop people. I'm hoping that is a major part of our identity.
Q: Who is best on the roster at creating his own shot?
A: I don't know. We'll have to see who that guy is. There's a lot this team has to prove, and there's a lot these individuals have to prove. It's all in its nascent stages. If you would have asked me last season, "What would Klay Thompson be?" I didn't think he'd be able to do what he did. Klay is a great shooter. You can say that because he's actually done it. Now, he hasn't done it when it matters. Let's see if he can do it if it means we get in the playoffs or not. You see who can play and who can't when things are on the line. I want to be in games where we find out who we are. We want to be in meaningful games.
For more on the world of sports in general and the Bay Area in particular, go to the Cohn Zohn at cohn.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. You can reach Staff Columnist Lowell Cohn at lowell.cohn@pressdemocrat.com.
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