Kansas coach fueled Oubre’s focus on ‘D’
About a month into Kelly Oubre Jr.’s freshman year at Kansas, head coach Bill Self told him, under no uncertain terms, that if the star freshman forward was to succeed in the NBA, he’d need to start putting in more effort on defense.
That’s when Oubre realized he would no longer be able to coast on his length and athleticism the way he did as a blue- chip recruit at Findlay Prep in Nevada. He decided he wanted to become a two-way threat: A smooth scorer on offense, and a pest on defense. Less than a year later, he was selected No. 15 overall in the 2015 draft.
“I thought my (stuff ) didn’t stink,” Oubre said Thursday before the Warriors’ preseason finale in Sacramento. “He (Self) really humbled me, and I appreciate him for that because it taught me the basic values of who I am as a basketball player.”
Now Oubre, the fifth-year wing with a 7-foot-2 wingspan, is a proven scorer who the Warriors will task with becoming one the league’s top on-ball defenders. Through two preseason games he’s played with effort and aggressiveness while continuing to learn Golden State’s schemes on defense.
In the preseason opener, Oubre picked up Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray full-court and hounded him for 30 feet down the floor, bumping him and forcing him to change direction until Murray, exasperated, gave the ball up to a teammate.
“It’s fun being able to keep up with little fast guys and make them annoyed,” Oubre said with a grin.
This pest mentality is something Oubre learned to appreciate when studying elite on-ball defenders such as Milwaukee’s Jrue Holiday and Miami’s Avery Bradley. But despite that conversation with Self at Kansas, it wasn’t until Oubre’s third year in the NBA with the Wizards that he discovered he had the potential to defend at their level.
Playing the Celtics in the second round of the 2017 playoffs, Oubre’s assignment was to guard Isaiah Thomas, who finished that season third in scoring and fifth in MVP voting. The fourth- seeded Wizards surprised the topseeded Celtics by pushing them to seven games as Oubre held Thomas below his scoring average four times in the series.
“It was fun to go up against him and try to slow him down when nobody else can,” Oubre recalled.
It is that kind of challenge that lies ahead for Oubre this season. With the Warriors pushing for a top10 defense, they’ll need Oubre and fellow Self protege Andrew Wiggins to take that next step defensively by corralling ball-handlers, deflecting passes and putting in consistent effort on the perimeter.
By doing that, Oubre — who is a free agent next summer after joining the Warriors via trade last month — could emerge as a franchise cornerstone and respected two-way player, bolstering contract offers next offseason.
“I will continue to show that I’m capable of doing a lot of more things on the court,” Oubre said. “What sets me apart is where my mindset is at.”