The vibes around the Golden State Warriors have been better this season following the trade of Jordan Poole. Draymond Green punched Poole at the start of training camp as both players were working on contract extensions. Poole signed his extension that October, while Green waited until July.
“Last year we had an awful team as far as chemistry goes,” Green said. “It was hard to come to work. Not fun. So this year you see the joy on guys’ faces when they come into the building. You got guys staying over two to three hours just talking. Getting two to three hours early just to be here. You start to see that, and you’re like, ‘OK, this is a group that likes to be together.'”
Green, Stephen Curry and Chris Paul organized several scrimmages in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco this offseason. There were multiple team dinners that lasted for hours.
“You understand the vibe of what happened last year. … The time we got to spend together as a group was huge,” Curry said. “We could get the elephants out of the room of [Paul] joining the team, some other vets that we had coming in. … It helped to have some familiarity with everybody’s personalities and motivations going into the year.”
The Warriors also traded James Wiseman last deadline.
“You can see the adults in the room, the professionals in the room, the steady forces in the room. It’s paying off,” Green said. “Look at our second unit. At times they’ve played better than our first unit. … I always tell guys you win championships six through 10, not one through five.”
The Warriors have typically had good chemistry during their championship era.
“Chemistry has been a strong suit here,” Green said. “That’s why so many guys have been here for so long — the chemistry is what we hang our hat on.”
He added: “[Last year] our chemistry sucked. … But it was a one-year thing, it was an anomaly. But we’re right back where we need to be.”
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