I hate that we couldn’t afford to keep Donte, man, he was the perfect sponge for our system. I just love how you can tell by his answers here that he got it, and by it I mean what makes the Warriors brand of basketball the best. It may not be easy, and it may require elite conditioning, but it being effective and fun to play makes it all worth it.
I also love that he took everything he learned from Steph and Klay and Warriors ball and kept it in his game despite playing for teams that very much do not play the Warriors brand of basketball.
Reporter: The way you play offense, Donte, just looks like Golden State. Is that always kind of who you were as a player or is that something where you really feel like you grew up in here?
Donte: A little bit, but when I went out [to Golden State], just being with Steph, being with Klay, just the non-stop moving. What I picked up is the moving of the whole 24 seconds. Never standing still, because when you’re standing still, the defense is resting when you’re not moving around. They’re going to mess up at some point, it might be within the first five, six, sevens of a clock, or it might be the last two, or three seconds. So that’s kind of what I picked up there is just non-stop moving.
You may not get the shot, but when you’re moving around and you’re making it hard for the defense, somebody else might get the shot. That’s the only thing you can hope for is a wide open shot.
Reporter: Is that brand of basketball, like you exert yourself more – I mean, it’s more tiring, but somehow it still makes the game easier?
Donte: I wouldn’t say it’s more tiring, I would just say it’s more enjoyable. When you’re playing that way and the ball doesn’t stop as much, it’s not stagnant. You’re not watching one person go the whole time. That brand of basketball is a lot of fun to play.
Now, when you have talent, and you can do both, I think that’s the, you know, that’s the perfect kind of concoction of offense is when you can settle down, let somebody go one-on-one, do their thing, and then also push the transition, get quick ones, get movement, because then the defense never knows what they’re getting.