Draymond Green & Jimmy Butler III speak on Warriors’ future after 2nd round exit | NBA on ESPN

Draymond Green & Jimmy Butler III speak on Warriors’ future after 2nd round exit | NBA on ESPN

How, Dr. How tough is it to end a season like this under these circumstances without Steph? Uh, it sucks to end it without Steph, but they beat us. You know, injuries are a part of it. We’ve won championships. Um, when guys got hurt. Um, that’s a part of it. You know, you try to, you know, you want to be as good of a team as you can be, but I always say you need a little luck. um just because health is a huge part of it. So, you know, we definitely miss Steph. That obviously goes without saying, but I’m not going to come up here and harp on Steph not being there and make it like their their win is less of what it is. They’re moving on. Uh congratulations to those guys. They they beat us. Uh regardless, you if you’re on the other side, you play who’s on the floor and that’s what they did and they won. So, you got to give them a lot of credit. You obviously thought that this team had, you know, championship potential when everyone was fully healthy against the Rockets and in game one. How close do you feel like you guys got to your ceiling? Um, I think we’ve continued to improve. Uh, it’s no way to really say, you know, how close we got to a ceiling is over. So, that’s kind of really don’t matter. Um, but like I said, give them give them a lot of credit. Uh, they were they were incredible. Uh, Drew, Drew played great the entire series. Uh, you Ant-Man’s patience was beautiful. Um, Rudy played really well, you know, so you got to give those guys a lot of credit. Uh, our ceiling is it is what it is now. We were a second round team and second round exit. So, that’s what it is. How how do you view the future uh you know in next year, next couple years now that you got J? Uh I think we’ll be right back at it. Um sucks to end this way, but we think we got the pieces to make another run at him and do it again. And that’s going to be our mindset um going into the summer. You know, do all that got to do to improve. Um, we got one of the best ownership groups and front offices in the NBA who know they’ll do whatever they feel is needed to help the team improve and us as players, you got to get back in the lab and do what you got to do to get better. Uh, but I think, you know, come next year, we’ll be right back at it and give ourselves a chance again. Draymond, your final game of the season and your two big scorers obviously were both 22 years old, Pods and and Jonathan. How how would you sort of characterize their growth this year and what do they need to do next to be more of a factor next year? Uh I think anytime they’re starting to grow in age um years experience the one thing you can always do or the one focus that I would say uh is your consistency. um doing it on a nightly basis and I think you know you look at those guys and Moses as well Ge Santos um QP Pat you know they all made tremendous strides throughout the course of the year Trace um you know and it’ll be a big summer for all of them uh obviously JK’s got the contract situation um you know u always wish him the best with that you know been in that situation whether it’s here or elsewhere you know you just wish them the best uh but I think you know we saw the growth from those young guys uh you know next year for all of them you hope to see them take that next big step uh that they’re all capable of Draymond you had said uh this team had the capability of winning a championship um is there anything you guys need to do differently to reach that or do you think it’s just a matter of staying staying healthy next season. I mean, you go into the off seasonason, you you better get better because everybody gets better. Uh or attempt to get better, I would say. Uh so that’s always got to be the goal. Um and so that’ll be our focus. I think I still have that belief wholeheartedly. Uh that has not changed one bit. and you know, you retool, you do whatever it is that you got to do to take that next step and give yourself a better chance. And here at this place that we are, I have no doubt in my mind that they’ll be looking to do it. And with Jimmy these last two games, do you think it was the the illness he was dealing with that kind of impacted him down? Uh, well, I think number one, they you know, their their defense just kind of start loading up on them. Um, it made it a little tougher, but I know he was definitely under the weather, but you know, we’re not a group that’s going to make excuses. Give those guys credit. They defended well. They did a good job. Go back to the drawing board, figure out what we need to figure out, and come back next year. But the credit goes to them. It’s, you know, not going to sit here and say, “Oh man, he was sick.” Or, you know, he would have played better if he wasn’t sick or we would have played better if Steph was out there. Got to give them guys a lot of credit. They’re moving on to the Western Conference Finals. Um, and they put the work in to get there regardless of who didn’t score, who was out there. Uh, they’re moving on and, you know, kudos, congratulations to them. Uh, they played a hell of a series. You and Jimmy and Steph led the charge down the down the stretch and the playoffs and everything until entries and stuff like that, but people are going to say going to next year that, you know, they’re going to point out how old you three guys are. Is that a factor? Is that a legitimate concern or is that something you can get past? They they pointed that out last year and the year before too. Um, one thing I can assure them is every year we will get older. Um, just like every year you’ll get older and he’ll get older. He’ll get older. You don’t age, huh, Scott? But I don’t worry about that one bit. Um, I feel like I’m still improving. I feel like Steph’s still improving. And I feel like Jimmy’s still improving. As long as you’re improving in this league, it’ll treat you well. It’s when you stop improving that the b the bottom falls out. And I still think I personally got a lot of room for growth. And I’m sure those guys feel the same way. So yeah, I don’t worry about that one bit. You feel like you guys pretty much got all you could out of this postseason considering the circumstances. I mean, Jimmy coming mid-season, Steph going down. I mean, just do you think that you guys went about as far as you go? Do you think you guys still could have gone should have gone farther? I definitely think we should have gone farther, but we didn’t. Yeah. Uh so, you know, it is what it is. Um yeah, we lost. So, I guess we did get all we could, but I still think we could have went further and I always think that. But with Ant being a and Julius playing like he is, how good is that team? They got a chance. They got a real shot. Um, anytime you got a number two that can just go get it, you give yourself a chance at the, you know, to to go make it happen and and and get a ring. And like I said, the way Ju has been playing since he came back from the injury, by the way, it ain’t just start like he been the way he’s been playing since he came back from his injury, he been lights out. So, you know, I I have no doubt that he’ll continue to play that way. Um he’s aggressive as hell and he he he going to go after he got that mindset. Always have had that mindset. So, and it’s clicking for him, you know. Um so, I think they got a real shot at it, you know. You got two dynamic and then they got all the pieces, right? Like they got Nas coming off the bench. JD McDaniels is a hell of a young player. Rudy, four-time defensive player of the year, Mike Connley and his experience, Dante flying around and defending and shooting, Alexander, they got pieces, you know, so it’s just not one or two guys, they got a real team. And so I think they got a real shot at it. Draymond and the best teams in the West at the top. They got a combination of young players who are getting better, not just Minnesota, Oklahoma City, some of the other teams. You guys are a little on the older side when you think about We got young players still getting better as well. Yeah. Do I was going to ask, do you feel like those young players can make enough of a leap to get you into that conversation or do you think you need significant, you know, personnel help that’s not in the building? I think every team in the NBA feel like they need per uh personnel help that’s not in the building. That’s just the way this league works. I don’t think any team, maybe I’m wrong, but I I don’t know any team that came back with the exact same roster next year. So, I think everybody feel that way. Uh, and it has nothing to do with who who’s young, who’s old, who that’s just the nature of the business that we’re in. Contracts happen, money situations happen, all those things happens. And so, um, I think that’s everyone. But do I have confidence in our young guys that they can take the next step? Absolutely, 10,000%. In what areas do you feel like you’re improving? And in what areas do you want to improve more? Uh, I want to continue to um be better with the ball. I think I turned the ball over way too much this year. Um, and I think for me, my role has changed quite a bit. You know, I’ve always kind of been in the middle of the offense, running offense, making the plays, which allows you to take more risk because you just got the ball so much more. And I think for me, I continued to take the risk without having the ball as much. And and so it looks different. And so that’s an adjustment that I have to make um going into next year is just understanding what that means and learning to play better. And the uh you lit, huh? Respect. and and learning to play better in the role that I am in now. Uh I think that’s something that I continue to improve on. Um so yeah, that I think that’ll be one of my main focuses for sure. Uh Jimmy, to what degree did the fall game to uh in Houston affect how how were you feeling the rest of the postseason? Uh fine. Uh good enough to go out there and compete. um we’re not going to use anything as an excuse, so just didn’t win. And then how would you just contextualize um how different things were throughout the course of the series without having stuff out there? Yeah. Uh obviously it’s very different whenever you don’t have stuff on the floor. Um the much smaller um and I feel like everybody has to take on more and everybody has to play a little bit of a different role. Uh but that’s just the game. injuries happen. Um, but it is a lot different with Steph not out there. How do you view just, I guess, your your few months here and what the future in this franchise can look like? Uh, great. Uh, a bunch of great guys that work incredibly hard, young talent that’s going to be um, incredibly successful in this league. Um, it’s all about, you know, staying healthy as it always is and um, getting more and more comfortable playing with one another. When do you and Draymond and the stuff get together and start talking about next year? Uh, that’s a good question. That is a very good question. Uh, maybe on a plane. I don’t know. Uh, for sure sometime this summer. Um, but when it happens, it will happen. Have you Have you seen enough I know you played what, eight playoff games with Steph. Yeah. Yeah. Have you seen enough to be convinced that healthy this team is a contender? For sure. Um I think we we all know that. We all believe that. Um but like I said, injuries is part of it. Nobody wants to be injured. Uh it’s all about playing your basketball, the best basketball at the right time and being healthy at the right time. Unfortunately, that wasn’t us and um we came up short. Jimmy, the last couple of times you’ve been in the playoffs, you’ve had to maybe carry underman rosters further than maybe where we projected where you guys should have been. Does this collection or group or at least you Steph and Draymond at the top? Does that give you a little bit more optimism maybe despite your age, despite how, you know, tough the Western Conference is? Like, do you walk away feeling a little bit different than you have your last few playoff rounds? Yeah. Uh, it is tough, but it’s it’s tough on both sides, West and East. And like I just said, if if we’re healthy, if all of this and if all of that, then it may be different. We don’t know. Um, but we going to take our chances for sure if Steph is out there. Um, but you know, we’ll we’ll come back um and and figure this thing out and next year do the same thing. Jim, you guys were so close in game three. You had them with six minutes to go. You were up and they blitzed at the end there. When you look at what they were able to do to you guys on off with to your offense, what what made them so successful defending you guys? Uh I don’t know, maybe some physicality making us take tough shots. Um but I I don’t I don’t think it’s ever the offense. I think what tonight they shot 62%. So if we can’t stop guys from putting the ball into the basket, it’s going to be hard either way. Um, so I’m not going to say that our offense was a problem. Um, no, guard a three, you know, make a miss a little bit more. On the other side, then you guys had a really strong defense last few months of the regular season. What did they do to sort of take that apart? Uh, move the ball incredibly well, get into the paint. I don’t feel like we took too much away from them. You know, we talked about what we wanted to do. We did it in some spurts, but not the entire game, which we needed to do. So, they played well. You got you got to give them that.

Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler III field questions from the media following the Golden State Warriors’ 121-110 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals, falling 4-1 in the series.

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