Getty Draymond Green (left) and Steve Kerr of the Warriors
SAN FRANCISCO – On Saturday, Warriors star Draymond Green apologized publicly for the much-publicized punch he threw at teammate Jordan Poole and, in doing so, announced that he will be taking some time away from the team.
How long? Coach Steve Kerr says he does not know.
“No clarity,” Kerr said after practice on Monday. “It’s something we will handle internally.”
General manager Bob Myers did say that he expects Green to be back with the team for its season opener on October 18, just a week away. The break from the drama that has surrounded the Warriors, especially after video of the practice incident leaked on Friday, has been welcome.
Kerr: Leak, Punch Are Both Concerning
Kerr also addressed another issue on Monday—the notion that has been raised in recent days that he is more concerned about the leak of the video than he is about the fact that one of his players forcefully punched a teammate.
Kerr brushed off the notion that it is an either/or situation. He’s not happy with Green or with the leak.
“I am concerned about both,” Kerr said. “They’re both a problem. The incident is a problem, the leak is a problem. I don’t rank these things. My job as a coach is to prepare us to play, make sure we put the best team on the floor possible and that job requires a ton of navigation, and it’s very tricky. It’s made much trickier when there is a leak, because then everything is out in the open.
“The job is to handle everything behind the scenes with conversations and when it’s out in the open, answering questions. But we are gonna get through all this and we’re gonna be OK. That was a long way of saying they both concern me.”
Poole Has Best Preseason Performance on Sunday vs. Lakers
Poole has yet to address the media since the punching incident but he did speak volumes for his state of mind on Sunday against the Lakers, when he scored 25 points in the Warriors’ first preseason home game. He shot 10-for-19 from the field and 3-for-9 from the 3-point line, a big improvement over his output in the Warriors’ first two preseason games in Japan, when he scored 12 total points and made just four of 17 shots (1-for-8 from the 3-point line).
He impressed veteran teammate Kevon Looney with the performance, especially considering all the distractions around the game. But it is part of a wider pattern from Poole’s rough rookie season to now, as a blossoming star.
“I mean that is his character,” Looney said. “He doesn’t really let stuff faze him, if things are not going his way, he kinda just keeps putting his head down and working. That’s kind of why he is who he is today. You see him from his rookie year, people was on him, he didn’t play as well as he wanted to, but he just kept working, kept the same attitude every time he came into the gym. You can’t tell if he’s up or down most of the time. So, that’s kind of what we expect from him. He’s a professional. He’s a hard worker and he’s been showing it.”