Meet the Golden State Warriors (interesting W's piece)

Run BJM · Nov 11, 2010

It’s a little early to break out the Run-TMC nostalgia — or even relics from the Baron/J-Rich heyday — but the Golden State Warriors are hot right now. Last night’s win over the Knicks puts G-State at 6-2 on the young season, as the team ranks 5th in the NBA in scoring offense while Monta Ellis is 2nd in individual scoring (27.1 ppg) and David Lee is 5th in rebounding (11.3 rpg).

In the visitor’s locker room at Madison Square Garden, I got up with some of the team’s key reserves — guard Reggie Williams, swingman Rodney Carney and forward Brandan Wright — to get a look inside one of the most interesting teams in the League:

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LOCKER ROOM ATMOSPHERE
Reggie Williams — “It’s a happy feeling. Everybody here is excited right now. We’re playing well, so that always helps when you’re winning and you have the same goals in mind of where you wanna go. So it’s a good vibe around the team. Everybody jokes around, clowns around. It’s real cohesive. Everything is flowing right now.”

Rodney Carney — “It’s cool. Everyone is jelling with each other; there’s no problems at all. We’re doing pretty good to start the season, so morale is high. Everyone loves each other.”

Brandan Wright — “It’s real loose. We also have a lot of high character guys. It’s really easy to talk to anybody in this locker room. There’s not a guy you’d be afraid to chop it up with. It’s been great, kind of not like your regular team.”

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WHO’S THE BOSS?
Carney — “Monta. He has something to say every halftime and after every game. He’ll tell us what we’re doing wrong and what we’re doing right. As a leader, you have to respect that.”

Wright — “D-Lee, I mean he just got here, but he’s a strong leader. Monta has been around for a while; he’s a strong leader. We feed off those guys. Then somebody like Dorell (Wright), he’s been a strong presence. They’re all good guys, which makes it easy for that leadership to transition to the other guys on the team.”

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WHO IS THE FUNNIEST ON THE TEAM?
Williams — “Maybe D-Lee. He cracks the most jokes. But everybody has their moments. Even my man right here, Danny G (center Dan Gadzuric), he’s low-key quiet funny. Me? I do what I do sometimes I guess.”

Carney — “David Lee. He blurts out a lot of stuff, and he’s a real outgoing guy. There’s other funny guys: Vladimir Radmanovic is funny. Andris (Biedrins) is funny. Reggie is on-the-low funny.”

Wright — “Definitely D-Lee. Vlad is pretty funny, but D-Lee is always the one cracking jokes. (Right on cue, Lee makes a reporter laugh out loud nearby.) You see that? He’s just a real good guy. He’s be an asset to any locker room even if he wasn’t such a great player.”

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WHO IS THE BEST DRESSED?
Carney — (Whispers) “Our dress code is kind of lax.”

Williams — “I’d have to go with my man Dan right there. He always get his suits tailor-made. He’s got a bunch of nice clothes. Yeah, I’d say Dan or Dorell. My style is button-ups … I’ll do the plaid-type thing, roll up my sleeves sometimes. Lot of Polos. Not too baggy jeans, more like dress jeans. And I love my Nikes. I’m a Blazers fan, an Air Max kind of guy. And Jordans, of course.”

Carney — “Andris always comes with a nice little blazer. Actually, Coach (Keith) Smart is the best dressed. He always comes with a nice suit.”

Wright — “I like Dorell’s style. Me, I’m low-key: Polo, jeans, button-up. Sometimes I just rock the team sweats. My thing is just staying comfortable. I’m trying to stay away from the suits and sports coats because I’ve had to wear those so much on the sidelines when I’m hurt.”

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WHO CONTROLS THE MUSIC?
Williams — “Whatever vet is in the weight room at that moment takes over. So if it’s like, me in there with Ekpe (Udoh) or Jeremy (Lin), I’ll have control. But if Monta or B-Wright or Rodney comes in, they have control. It goes by seniority.”

Carney — “Just whoever gets their iPod in first. But it’s the vets most of the time. Monta gets it a lot of times, but push comes to shove, I’ll throw mine on. I don’t listen to a lot of hardcore rap, I’ll switch it up so we can listen to a little rock. You can’t listen to rap all the time.”

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WHAT DO YOU LISTEN TO?
Williams — “A lot of rap and R&B. Jay-Z is at the top of my list. I’m a big fan of Lupe Fiasco, Wale, J-Cole, Wiz Khalifa, Curren$y, Cam’ron and Vado. My favorite song right now is probably Wiz Khalifa, ‘Black and Yellow.’ That’s my song.”

Carney — “I listen to rap, but not hardcore rap. I’ve been listening to a lot of rock, and a little R&B. I don’t listen to music before the game, but after the game I like that one song … what’s it called? ‘Sleep with one eye ooooh-pen!’ Metallica, yeah, that’s it. I love that song.”

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ROOKIE TREATMENT
Williams — “They do everything. Jeremy gets us chicken wings from Wing Stop. Ekpe gets us McDonald’s for breakfast. We’ll send ‘em on missions to the store. Jeremy has to pick up laundry, stuff like that. And when we go on the road, they have the book bags.” (Lin shows me the pink Disney Princesses backpack in his locker.)

Wright — “Carrying bags, getting food, helping out other guys … you know how it is. Nothing too bad. We’re trying to break ‘em in and show ‘em the ropes. As the year goes on we’ll lighten up on ‘em.”

Williams — “Well, they still say I’m a rookie until I play 82 games. Last year I played 24, so I got about 50-something games until I’m out of the rookie zone. But we have Ekpe, Jeremy and Jeff (Adrien) now, so they make them do the bulk of things. They say I’m a rookie, but they don’t treat me like a rookie.”
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http://dimemag.com/2010/11/meet-the-golden-state-warriors-rookie-hazing-music-comedians/

Team seems to have good chemistry. Interesting that no one mentioned Steph at all especially when asked about leaders on the team.

Master Shake · Nov 11, 2010

Lol this was a good read.

I'd like to see this with other teams.

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Meet the Golden State Warriors (interesting W's piece)

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Master Shake young phoenix

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Meet the Golden State Warriors (interesting W's piece)

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