Moody’s motivated “thinking” could jump-start the Warriors’ season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – Warriors coach Steve Kerr acknowledged he and his staff have a lot of work to do before settling on a starting rotation. Moses Moody ensures that he will be a big part of those discussions.
Having a rare opportunity to start Golden State’s 109-106 preseason win over the Sacramento Kings on Friday at SAP Center, Moody boosted his stock with a steady and solid performance that will surely give Kerr more to think about as he adjusts his lineups in the coming days.
The number 14 overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft put up a game-high 23 points on 7-of-13 shooting, paving the way for a Warriors team missing its best player for the entire second half after Stephen Curry left with a jammed finger on his right hand.’
“Just figuring out ways to score, reading the defense, seeing what the defense gives you,” Moody said of his night. “I don’t feel like I took a lot of bad shots. Just efficiency.”
That efficiency is exactly what Kerr is looking for from his team, and Moody wants to provide that.
Consider that on a night when the Warriors struggled with a turnover attack, Moody and Gary Payton II were the only two starters who fully ran the ball.
“He had a really good camp,” Kerr said. “He was aggressive when we needed that aggressiveness. He did a nice job.”
Moody had plenty of motivation for the upcoming season.
He had a decent scoring average (8.1 points) and shot better than 46 percent from the floor but didn’t make the kind of impact he was hoping for.
“I didn’t play as much as I wanted to last year, so I obviously wasn’t in a place where I needed to be,” Moody said. “During the summer I worked a lot on the little things, the details. That’s just my way of thinking about it. I’m not even necessarily looking for the satisfaction this early. But I did the work so that it will show.”
Moody admitted that the lack of playing time messed with his mind but realized he had no choice but to accept the situation and make the most of it.
“If somebody doesn’t get what they want, it’s going to upset them to a certain level,” Moody said. “But as an adult going to work, you have to think about it this way, You’re not in Pee Wee playing with your friends and getting as much game time as you want. It’s work about it.
“Take that, see things as they are, not take things personally, and just pull your boy pants up and get to work. You want to change the situation, then yourself. That’s my way of thinking.”
The Warriors have what Kerr said is the deepest roster he’s had since taking the Golden State head coaching job a decade ago, with plenty of rotation players.
Moody is smack dab in the middle of that mix.
“We have 12, 13 guys that are really good players,” Kerr said. “This is probably the deepest team I’ve seen here in terms of the number of rotation guys. Moses is a rotation player. We have a lot of tough decisions to make.”
Moody wasn’t one to complain or make waves when things didn’t go his way. There is some belief that that kind of attitude worked against him to a certain extent.
Grumpy himself agrees with that assessment but has no plans to change his ways at all.
“It does, sure. But if I change my ways because of something else, then I’m now here doing some wicked things and I’m going away from my principles,” Moody said. “I’m not doing it for anyone else, I’m not a professional for anyone else. I’m professional because that’s the best way for me mentally to come to work every day, get into life, approach life. I can’t change that. If you do it to get something out of it and so these dudes get lost. That’s when you come out here and you do wild things and you’re unpredictable just because you’ve strayed so far from your principles.
“I have to be who I am and play it that way.”
