by Jerry Feitelberg]

The Golden State Warriors held their annual Media Day Monday at their headquarters in downtown Oakland. They currently have eighteen players on their roster and will have to make some cuts to get to the roster limit. Players cut may go to the “D” (Developmental League) or be picked up by another team.

The Warriors made most of their players available for interview and I was able to talk to Draymond Green who has improved each season he has been with the Dubs and is looking forward to his third year in the league. Green played especially well in last year’s playoff and is looking forward to the new season and working with the new coach. He said the “Coach Kerr is about building relationships” and that he was “getting to know him” and that he is a “great guy.”

Green spoke about working hard over the summer to improve his shooting. He also said that the addition of Shaun Livingstone and Leandro Barbosa in the backcourt will really help the team. He said each player has a totally different game but they are overall good basketball players and that they are going to help the backcourt a lot.”

Third year forward Harrison Barnes was at the next table. Barnes said that”last year was a difficult year” for him but he is optimistic his game will improve this year. He talked about Coach Kerr and felt that since “Kerr played in this league” that he(Barnes) was getting a “feel for his system.” Then he said that the team “will be playing at a fast pace.”

Was able to meet with Marreese Speights who is in his second year with the Warriors and seventh in the league. Speights is a role player off the bench and made significant contributions to the team during the regular season and the playoffs. Speights was hoping to play 17 to 20 minutes a game this year.

As the crowd thinned out, I was able to get a picture of several of the players and at 2 pm the gym was cleared as the players went off to practice.

Was able to say hello to David Lee, Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala and got pictures of those players. Got a picture of Klay Thompson but didn’t get a chance to say hello.

The players are excited about the upcoming season and are really ready to go now but they still have to learn Steve Kerr’s system. Kerr played for Lute Olsen in college and won five championships with coaches Greg Popovic and Phil Jackson. Let’s hope that Kerr can bring his knowledge of basketball and winning to the Warriors. The Warriors have made the playoffs the last two seasons and there is no reason not to believe that they can’t win an NBA championship.

This could be their year.