Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers believes he has done all he could to improve the roster with the moves he made – and didn’t make – this summer.
Myers’ main concern is no longer the talent on the team. Instead, it’s how healthy that talent can remain through the grind of the NBA’s 82-game season.
Myers gave Golden State fans good news on that front Tuesday, saying the franchise’s core players – Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, David Lee and, perhaps most notably, Andrew Bogut – are all healthy heading into training camp next week. New backup guard Shaun Livingston will likely miss all of camp recovering from toe surgery, Myers said, though he could be ready by the end of the pre-season.
Expectations are still as high as ever in the basketball-united Bay Area.
The Warriors are coming off a 51-win season and back-to-back play-off appearances, and owner Joe Lacob’s decision to fire coach Mark Jackson and replace him with Steve Kerr this summer sent the message that the he wants to win a championship – and win a championship now.
Myers said the team is embracing those goals.
“It’s good to have expectations, because the alternative is nobody thinks you’re any good and you’re trying to prove to everybody that you are,” he said. “But I think what’s key and what’s maybe turned with this team a couple years ago and having been in the play-offs for a couple years is the players actually believe they belong.
“And that’s important, because it used to be with this organiasation, it used to be a close game, and five, six years ago the mindset was, ‘Well, we’re not going to win. We just don’t win.’ And then it became, ‘Well, we might win. We might win this game.’ And now I hope as we enter into games, every game we feel like we should win. It’s a mindset switch. I don’t think our players are afraid of the expectations.”
Even still, Myers said expectations are difficult to set now because injuries have had such a huge impact on the team’s performance the past two seasons.
Iguodala, Lee and Bogut sat out for long stretches last season, but the biggest blow came when Bogut – who missed 50 games during the 2012/13 season – fractured a rib on his right side just before the play-offs. The Warriors still showed a lot of fight without their big man, pushing the third-seeded Los Angeles Clippers to seven games before losing the opening-round series.
“At the end of the year, what you have to look at is how healthy were we? How hard did everybody work? What did we do to deserve success?” Myers said. “Sometimes you can do everything right and things just don’t go your way. And sometimes things fall into your lap you don’t deserve.
“So at the end of the year, I’m hoping that as an organisation we can say we put it all out there, everybody did their jobs and everybody worked hard to achieve success. And I do think we have the talent to achieve some things, but it’s hard.”
Myers said keeping the team’s talented young nucleus intact and overhauling the reserves were the biggest achievements this offseason.
The additions included Livingston, Brandon Rush and Leandro Barbosa. The Warriors decided not to bring back guards Steve Blake and Jordan Crawford, and free agent centre Jermaine O’Neal is still deciding whether to return for a 19th season – a decision Myers said could come before the team begins training camp September 30.
The Warriors jumped into the trade talks for Kevin Love this summer, but they refused to include Thompson in the deal, and Minnesota ultimately moved Love to Cleveland. Myers has stood by that decision, believing all along that Curry, Thompson and Co could carry the Warriors to a title.
Golden State are certainly set up for several more play-off runs behind that core, which also includes reserves Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes, and Myers is banking on that young talent to mature even more this season.
“Organic growth,” Myers said, “is the easiest way to get better.”
Follow us on Twitter @SprtNationalUAE
Other must-tries
Tomato and walnut salad
A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.
Badrijani nigvzit
A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.
Pkhali
This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.
Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
How to donate
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
Company Profile
Name: JustClean
Based: Kuwait with offices in other GCC countries
Launch year: 2016
Number of employees: 130
Sector: online laundry service
Funding: $12.9m from Kuwait-based Faith Capital Holding
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Recipe
Garlicky shrimp in olive oil
Gambas Al Ajillo
Preparation time: 5 to 10 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Serves 4
Ingredients
180ml extra virgin olive oil; 4 to 5 large cloves of garlic, minced or pureed (or 3 to 4 garlic scapes, roughly chopped); 1 or 2 small hot red chillies, dried (or ¼ teaspoon dried red chilli flakes); 400g raw prawns, deveined, heads removed and tails left intact; a generous splash of sweet chilli vinegar; sea salt flakes for seasoning; a small handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Method
▶ Heat the oil in a terracotta dish or frying pan. Once the oil is sizzling hot, add the garlic and chilli, stirring continuously for about 10 seconds until golden and aromatic.
▶ Add a splash of sweet chilli vinegar and as it vigorously simmers, releasing perfumed aromas, add the prawns and cook, stirring a few times.
▶ Once the prawns turn pink, after 1 or 2 minutes of cooking, remove from the heat and season with sea salt flakes.
▶ Once the prawns are cool enough to eat, scatter with parsley and serve with small forks or toothpicks as the perfect sharing starter. Finish off with crusty bread to soak up all that flavour-infused olive oil.
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
US PGA Championship in numbers
1 Joost Luiten produced a memorable hole in one at the par-three fourth in the first round.
2 To date, the only two players to win the PGA Championship after winning the week before are Rory McIlroy (2014 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational) and Tiger Woods (2007, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational). Hideki Matsuyama or Chris Stroud could have made it three.
3 Number of seasons without a major for McIlroy, who finished in a tie for 22nd.
4 Louis Oosthuizen has now finished second in all four of the game's major championships.
5 In the fifth hole of the final round, McIlroy holed his longest putt of the week - from 16ft 8in - for birdie.
6 For the sixth successive year, play was disrupted by bad weather with a delay of one hour and 43 minutes on Friday.
7 Seven under par (64) was the best round of the week, shot by Matsuyama and Francesco Molinari on Day 2.
8 Number of shots taken by Jason Day on the 18th hole in round three after a risky recovery shot backfired.
9 Jon Rahm's age in months the last time Phil Mickelson missed the cut in the US PGA, in 1995.
10 Jimmy Walker's opening round as defending champion was a 10-over-par 81.
11 The par-four 11th coincidentally ranked as the 11th hardest hole overall with a scoring average of 4.192.
12 Paul Casey was a combined 12 under par for his first round in this year's majors.
13 The average world ranking of the last 13 PGA winners before this week was 25. Kevin Kisner began the week ranked 25th.
14 The world ranking of Justin Thomas before his victory.
15 Of the top 15 players after 54 holes, only Oosthuizen had previously won a major.
16 The par-four 16th marks the start of Quail Hollow's so-called "Green Mile" of finishing holes, some of the toughest in golf.
17 The first round scoring average of the last 17 major champions was 67.2. Kisner and Thorbjorn Olesen shot 67 on day one at Quail Hollow.
18 For the first time in 18 majors, the eventual winner was over par after round one (Thomas shot 73).
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
More Expo 2020 Dubai pavilions:
