Mike Brown Q&A: Can Warriors Reach NBA Finals Without Draymond Green?

Mike Brown Q&A: Can Warriors reach Finals without Draymond, Andre? originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea

With a postseason winning percentage (61.7) as a head coach/interim head coach being superior that of Gregg Popovich or Erik Spoelstra or Pat Riley, the indication is that Mike Brown has a clue about teaching basketball.

In his current role as assistant coach under Steve Kerr with the Warriors, Brown coordinates the defense that for most of this season has been tops in the NBA. With Golden State sliding to 16th in February, Brown’s top priority over the final 21 games is clear: Reverse the trend.

Or forget about a serious championship pursuit.

RELATED: Consecutive home losses expose Warriors' weaknesses

Brown, 51, recently took time to engage in a question-and-answer session to discuss the Warriors’ immediate future with NBC Sports Bay Area. He was frank, but not blunt. Comments are edited for brevity.

Monte Poole: The defense tailed off in the weeks before the All-Star break, and no doubt some of it is related to missing a couple vets, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala. Over these last (21) regular-season games, what do you want to see?

Mike Brown: Our ball pressure was pretty good early on and our guys had a good feel within our simplified schemes. Even without Draymond, guys had been getting reps and doing as they had all year. Then we started to experiment a little bit, so we’re not as predictable going into the playoffs. And we started adding guys; [Jonathan Kuminga] got more minutes. That meant different combinations. That took a little bit of a toll on us. And then we were integrating Klay [Thompson], which was another factor. But we have a lot of guys that play hard and try to do what’s asked and compete to win. If you have that, it can offset some of the natural gifts we might not have. If all that is in place and guys are on the same page, you can be a pretty good defensive team, regardless of who is on the floor.

MP: You obviously had to make some adjustments for Klay’s return. What was the message to him and the other guys?

MB: Our defense is a lot different now than it was the last time Klay played. Everybody that played was a vet then and had been together awhile. They had a great feel for the league and for each other. Our size was tremendous. Only one of our main rotation guys was under 6-6, and that was Steph. We had great length, and those guys understood how to use it.

So, Klay is coming into a team that has to rely on its system. All five guys have to be on a string. If one guy is not on that string, then it’s a clusterf--k. We just don’t have the length, athleticism and know-how we had when Klay last played.

MP: You guys were No. 1 in defensive rating by a good margin early this season. What were the keys to that?

MB: Our size ... we’re not always that big out on the floor. People will look at some of our players and go, ‘Man, he’s never been known as defender, never been known as a long, athletic guy.’ But guys stepped up. Otto Porter Jr. has been fantastic. He is an elite-level team defender. Beli (Nemanja Bjelica) is a good team defender. He gets attacked, but ... the key for him is he’s got to be perfect in what we’re trying to do defensively when he’s in those situations. But it’s not only him. The other four guys have to be perfect, too, position-wise, how much they help, when to help, where to help.

MP: How pleased were you with Stephen Curry’s defense, particularly the first couple months?

MB: His effort was there, 100 percent. It still is pretty good. He took a dip – we took a dip – but we tried to throw some different things. We’re playing some different combinations that are new to our guys. We’re playing some new guys. There’s a learning curve for those guys, especially because we’re not practicing as much now as we were earlier. But Steph has been pretty solid overall.

MP: How crucial is Draymond Green’s presence for this team to reach the championship level it desires?

MB: Draymond is very crucial and, honestly, so is Andre (Iguodala). Draymond and Andre. That’s two guys that have length, pretty good athleticism – good enough – and the kind of feel and intelligence we need. And they communicate. Veteran guys that have been there and done that.

If you look at the guys we’re playing right now, not a lot of them have had the experiences those two have had at guarding guys in a seven-game series. The main thing might be that they know how to communicate our defense, on and off the floor, to their teammates very well.

MP: I’ve heard that the work that DeJan Milojević is doing with James Wiseman has been very impressive. Do you have a feel for what James can give you once he is cleared?

MB: “Decky” is doing a hell of a job with him, and a lot of it is going to translate. But it’s going to take a minute. It’s going to take a little bit of time. James is extremely young, and he hasn’t had a lot of playing experience at this level. So, he doesn’t really know the league. And he’s trying to figure it while playing in a league that is faster than anything he has experienced in his life. There’s a natural learning curve.

The good thing about it is he’s probably going to make some mistakes, but his elite length and athleticism will help him recover quicker than most. If he messes up, and realizes he messed up, he can still recover and impact the play better than most guys – if not everybody – on our team.

MP: Might some of these things also apply to Jonathan Kuminga?

MB: Yeah. JK, he will make some mistakes. But his elite athleticism and his strength will allow him to recover. That young man is really strong; he can take a hit from some of the strongest forwards out there and still slide his feet. These are things that knock most guys out of position.

MP: Can this team reach the NBA Finals without Draymond and Andre?

MB: (Long pause). That is ... that’s a good question. I don’t know. We’d have to be really, really darn good on both sides of the ball. I don’t know, off the top of my head, who on our team besides Steph and Klay and (Kevon Looney) has been to the conference finals, let alone The Finals. (No one). Having that experience on both sides of the ball is crucial. Crucial.

MP: Kuminga’s growth has been visible, almost game by game. He seems to be evolving from those times early in his rookie season when there were clear indications of immaturity. What are you seeing?

MB: Well, he’s probably been the best player everywhere he’s been. When you’re the best, you have a little more leeway than other guys to do things – even if those things might be out of the box from the team scheme. But when you’re on a team that’s winning at a high level, and everybody is playing hard and doing good things, if you go out there and rely on your athleticism and talent, you might not always fit in. We have depth. We have talent.

So, if a guy is not getting it done, we have the luxury of going to someone else. Sometimes, that’s hard for a young guy to understand. Initially, it was tough for him to not play. It was tough for him for me or Steve or other coaches and his teammates to be on him for not doing this or that. But as time went on, he started to feel and understand that all we’re trying to do is push him to be the best he can be. He’s embracing that. And now he’s looking for it. He wants to know what he needs to know. He’s a joy to coach and be around.

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