SAN FRANCISCO — Draymond Green will be out for the Warriors’ first three pre-season games, at least. But he’s still making his voice heard at practices.
Green has been throwing out plenty of trash talk and motivations during Golden State’s first week of training camp from the sideline as he nurses a sprained left ankle.
“Draymond, his energy dominates a room,” head coach Steve Kerr said on Friday. “First couple of days of scrimmages he’s on the sideline talking trash to both teams and pumping guys up and right in the middle of it all. He’s really excited for the season and he’s progressing well.”
Green will be re-evaluated on Monday with the potential to play the final two pre-season games. The hope is he’ll be ready to play in some capacity for the Warriors’ opener on Oct. 24 against the Phoenix Suns.
Free agent signing Cory Joseph and training camp invite Rodney McGruder will also be sidelined for Saturday’s game against the Lakers. Joseph, 32, is recovering from a lower back lumbar strain and will also be re-evaluated on Monday.
“I called Gregg Popovich about him this summer when we were thinking about signing him and Pop said he was one of the best human beings I’ve ever coached. And that’s high praise coming from Pop. That’s what you want, you want to fill your roster with good leaders, teammates. And he’s a really good player. We’re lucky to have him.”
McGruder, 32, was inactive on Saturday in concussion protocol.
Coaching changes
Former assistant coach Jama Mahlalela left the Warriors in the offseason for his hometown Toronto Raptors. With his departure, the Warriors lost their director of player development who also crafted substitution patterns and drew up special teams plays.
The Warriors promoted longtime assistant and player development coach Kris Weems to the front of the bench as an assistant, and Kerr says he will be organizing sub patterns. Assistant coach Seth Cooper will also be at the front of the bench in Mahlalela’s player development role. He and former Santa Cruz Warriors GM David Fatoki were hired as co-directors of player development in the offseason.
Golden State also shook up their coaching staff operations.
“We’ve structured things differently,” Kerr said. “We have pods where coaches are grouped together for scouting purposes, defending on who we’re playing, then offense and defense as well.”
