SAN FRANCISCO — Steve Kerr has a special name for beginning Warriors practice: The Golden Hour.
The first hour begins with the veterans working in the weight room or exercise room and receiving the treatment their bodies need. The judgment at this point is only for the youngsters. It’s all about repetition, repetition and more repetition, physically and mentally. This can mean drills, 5v0, or just going through concepts.
During this year’s training camp and throughout preseason, the first hour of training, along with young warriors meeting elders, was very productive with what Kerr wanted to achieve.
Joined by Jordan Poole, who reached star status at 23, leading the Warriors’ young core are James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody. Kerr admitted Monday that Wiseman is even further than he expected at the time. On the same day, he praised Kuminga for his understanding of how to be successful on the Warriors offense, his on-ball defense, attitude and approach. All of that was rewarded with a start Sunday at Power Forward in the Warriors’ preseason loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Moody remains trusted and was the first player off the bench in preseason, with Poole starting at shooting guard while Klay Thompson continued to climb ahead of the season opener.
What Kerr really noticed is the Warriors’ players making first impressions, battling for spots with the big roster and Golden State’s G-League affiliate in Santa Cruz.
“Young people are really making progress,” Kerr said Monday. “I think this is one of the best crops of young free agents we’ve had here. Perhaps the best, given the boys battling for two-way spots and possible Santa Cruz players. Really impressive.
“Every one of them is a good player and they compete and they have set a great tone for our camp.”
Kerr and the Warriors have already said goodbye to Mac McClung and Trevion Williams, a decision the head coach said was not an easy one and the Warriors own Williams’ G-League rights. McClung is expected to play in the Philadelphia 76ers’ G-League system this season.
That leaves Quinndary Weatherspoon, Lester Quinones, Ty Jerome, Pat Spencer, Jerome Robinson and Anthony Lamb, as well as rookie draft picks Patrick Baldwin Jr. and Ryan Rollins as players urging the organization to believe in them.
Weatherspoon and Quinones currently hold the Warriors’ two-way contracts. In his second season as a Warrior, Weatherspoon is much more comfortable with the system and understanding plays. He also says he’s gained more confidence in his wide shot, an area of the game that would give the defensively-focused guard a big boost of opportunities.
So far this preseason, Weatherspoon is 6-on-8 off the field and has made his only 3-point attempt.
Once this year’s draft wrapped, the Warriors took the opportunity to add quinones. They remain drawn to what the Memphis product can offer.
“Lester is a really fascinating prospect,” Kerr said. “He’s very athletic, good height, combo guard and good passer. He can really finish on the edge. He’s an interesting prospect that we’ve liked all summer and he’s continued to perform well here at camp.
“We’ll see how everything develops.”
With a spot still open on the 15-man list, Weatherspoon has the cleanest path to claiming the honor. But all indications are that the Warriors will most likely keep it open going into the regular season. And Ty Jerome could complicate things for the big picture.
Jerome, 25, essentially replaced McClung on the training camp roster and is a much better fit as a pass first guard with better size and more NBA experience. The former first-round pick stands 6-foot-5, has three years in pro play on his record, and shot 42.3 percent from deep as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2020-21 season.
His first run as a Warrior wasn’t smooth, turning the ball off the bench three times in six minutes on Sunday night, but Kerr isn’t overreacting to the small sample size.
“Yeah, Ty’s a vet,” Kerr said Monday. “I think that was really the appeal for us. He’s played a lot of point guard in the league. He’s a good size, he’s a good passer. We felt he would fit in well with our squad and based on his experience, we don’t feel we need to see that much from him.
“We’ve seen him live many times.”
Of all the new names popping up daily at the Chase Center, Spencer is by far the biggest joker — for a number of reasons. After a dominant four-year lacrosse career at Loyola and winning the Heisman Trophy of collegiate lacrosse as a junior, Spencer used his grad year to play basketball with Northwestern. In his only season in college basketball, Spencer averaged 10.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists.
Golden State hold the 26-year-old’s G-League rights and Kerr is loving what he’s seen of him.
“Big fan of Pat,” Kerr said. “Great competitor, great athletics in terms of his balance and coordination and core strength. He jumps with more explosiveness than I thought. He had the game in Tokyo where he attempted to dun the entire team and was fouled.
“I think it’s great that he’s a lacrosse guy. I think sports like soccer and hockey and lacrosse create a kind of vision that you need in basketball, where you have to see the field in front of you or the court in front of you and position everything – I think all those things are helpful for Pat.
“He has to play. He just doesn’t have much basketball experience. He’s a really fascinating prospect.”
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Baldwin and Rollins are on guaranteed contracts and will be spending time in San Francisco and Santa Cruz this season. Rollins has struggled with his shot so far, although the Warriors remain optimistic about his long-term prospects. He and a handful of the younger players should get plenty of run Tuesday night in the Warriors’ fourth preseason game against the Portland Trail Blazers.
In three preseason games, Baldwin continues to look like a thief with the #28 draft pick and could earn some really meaningful minutes as a rookie. The 6-foot-9 forward has made seven of his 12 shots from deep and looks like a real threat from beyond the arc.
Spoken like the son of a true coach whose maturity at 19 is well beyond his age, Baldwin takes it all in during his first training camp and is always inviting to any type of competition.
“I think it’s a cliché — iron sharpens iron,” Baldwin said Monday. “And I think that has come true. We have all this talent fighting for positions, but we’re brothers too. We push each other in a great way. When we are in the dressing room we exchange information with each other and when we are on the pitch we exchange information with each other.
“Competition is the best way to get better.”
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