With 22 of the NBA teams getting time to play as a group in Orlando, Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr would like the other eight to get the same practice opportunities at home.
During a conference call Monday, he said he wants the Warriors to be allowed to do a minicamp similar to the offseason team activities allowed by the NFL.
“We definitely need to get our team together for a period of time. I don’t know for how long, but we definitely need to be together and have some practice sessions,” Kerr said.
“Given that 22 of the teams are going to be allowed to do so for minimum of a couple of weeks practice and a couple weeks of games while the rest of us are not part of that, the league is sensitive to giving us the space that we’re going to need.”
In the NFL, teams are allowed to practice together the month after the draft, when free agents and rookies have joined the team. During the end of May and beginning of June, OTAs and minicamps can take place before organized team practices are paused once again.
“A couple of weeks of practice at least, maybe two different blocks of a couple of weeks where we can bring guys in, and health permitting, and regulations permitting, of course, given the virus,” Kerr said.
“If we could have a couple different blocks where our players could come in, work with our training staff, we get them on the court almost like an OTA for an NFL team where we can install some things for next year, think about what we want to accomplish, and get some practice sessions in, I think it would bridge the gap towards a more normal offseason.”
While Kerr wants minicamps, he said the team is “not interested” in a traditional Summer League.
With the NBA Draft scheduled for Oct. 15 and training camps to begin Nov. 10, there’s not the time that a normal offseason would provide for such a tournament.
Kerr didn’t completely disregard the notion of games for rookies and other young players, saying that if they could “partner with a few teams nearby” and play some games with those players, there would be some interest.
Some coaches of other teams that he’s spoken to, particularly those with a young corps, have expressed interest in playing games.
But the Warriors, who are more concerned with getting their chemistry back and teaching newer players the game plan, don’t see these games as the most beneficial way to spend the limited time.
“We’re in a different space, and people understand that,” Kerr said. “We’d be more interested in practice time.”