Press coverage intense on Curry, Durant & Co.
OAKLAND — There was no actual basketball played at Warriors media day. The only shots taken Monday came from the clicking cameras documenting Kevin Durant’s every longlegged step.
And so it began. The great NBA chemistry experiment is underway. Having fallen one game short of back-to-back ti-
tles, the Warriors responded by signing Durant, the biggest star on the market, and unleashing this: the biggest media day in Bay Area memory.
“I wouldn’t say it’s strange. It’s new and fresh,” Durant said. “I’m looking forward to it. I just got super excited as I was walking in here.”
Durant wasn’t the only one revved up. The Warriors issued a record number of press credentials this year, cutting things off at about 225 because there was no room left on the floor.
The usual alphabet soup of sports outlets were here — ESPN, TNT, NBA TV — but also CNBC, covering things from a technology angle. Several international outlets were on hand, meaning that Draymond Green quotes were being translated back to China, Turkey, France, Japan and Italy.
On one hand, there was a wide array of questions ranging from the meaning of a Rick James tattoo (that one was for Durant) to attendance at yoga classes (Zaza Pachulia) to plans for the national anthem (every player).
But at the heart of it there was just one question: How will the Warriors bounce back from their epic collapse against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals?
“I don’t want to walk in the door thinking about Game 7,” Curry said, referring to the defeat last June 19 that capped the Cavs’ comeback from down 3-1.
“Nobody should be thinking that way. But you should remember how you felt when you were walking off the floor. You should remember all that you did all summer to get yourself in a better position individually and collectively.”
This year’s Warriors will feature a quartet of All-Stars: Curry, Durant, Green and Klay Thompson.
They are basketball’s Beatles — the Fab Fouriors — complete with the hype. But they insisted Monday that they are ready for hoopla.
“We’re used to the pressure,” reserve guard Shaun Livingston said. “The stakes will be a lot higher this year than they were last year, just because of adding Kevin and the team that we have in place. But I’ve been on nine teams, and I know that there are worse situations to be in. I’m happy to have all these expectations. You’d rather have it this way than the other way.”
Indeed, the chaotic scene prompted Raymond Ridder, the team’s longtime vice president of communications, to reflect on the bad ol’ days. Once upon a time, the Warriors were such a non-story that Ridder and his communications staff would meet before the season and ask themselves: “What can we do to entice people to get interested in our basketball team?”
So they came up with gimmicks. One year, reporters could meet at Monta Ellis’ house and hitch a ride to the press conference.
Any bright ideas this year?
“This year, the idea was: ‘I’m sorry, you can’t come,’ ” Ridder cracked.
Far from the days of hitching a ride with a player, Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post drove himself across the country. He piled into his 2009 Dodge Avenger last week and began high-tailing it across the cou ntry, 11 hours at a time.
For Bontemps, it was a one-way trip. He is one of several national reporters moving to the Bay Area for the season to embed with Golden State. The New York Times, Bleacher Report, USA Today and ESPN are also planning to cover the Warriors on a frequent basis.
“I really think the Warriors are going to be the dominant story line in sports over the next nine months,” Bontemps said. “When you look at the American sporting landscape between now and June, it’s hard for me to see a bigger story than what’s going on with the Warriors on a daily basis.”
But this year’s Warriors tale has already taken a darker twist. They are no longer the cuddly Globetrotter clones featuring a Baby-Faced Assassin.
Critics now cast them as overrated chokers who became the first team in NBA history to blow a 3-to-1 lead in the Finals. The Warriors also lost their tempers along the way, with Curry chucking his mouth guard into the stands and Green emerging as a threat to groins everywhere.
Signing Durant to a twoyear, $54.275 million deal in the offseason had the dual effect of creating a superteam and robbing Oklahoma City of the most beloved star it has ever known.
“Listen, the Warriors are going to be the most hated team in the NBA this year. They’re also going to be the most popular team,” Bontemps said. “Every arena they go to, they’re going to get booed unmercifully. And everyone across the country who is a neutral fan is going to be rooting against them.
“It’s just the way our society works, right? It’s just a lot more fun to see a Goliath get taken down.”
Sam Amick, who covers the NBA for USA Today, has already felt reader backlash. He recently scored an extensive one-onone interview with Curry, and parlayed that sit-down into several stories.
“And every single time I tweeted something about the story, there was some non-Warriors fan chiming in to say ‘Whatever, they blew a 3-1 lead’ — or even something more vulgar,” Amick said. “Today I blocked a guy because he had something X-rated to say about Steph. ... Certain fans resent the hype and the way (the Warriors) were talked about as an invincible team.”
In the least, the Warriors seemed prepared for Monday’s onslaught, which was no small feat considering it’s turned into a threehour gamut. The itinerary included required stops at the Warriors social media hub, where players goofed around on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat and other apps born long after Bob Cousy.
Next up? The actual basketball part. Practice starts Tuesday at 11 a.m.
“This day is always weird,” Curry said. “There are always a lot of emotions and thoughts on this day because it marks the start of a new year. It’s weird, but I know we’re excited.”