KNBR
A few bodies are back, but what they will look like is still a mystery.
Center Willie Cauley-Stein and wing Alec Burks are expected to debut for the Warriors on Wednesday night at Chase Center, which should deepen the rotation and, in Cauley-Stein’s case, give Golden State a large defensive presence under the basket.
But after a mid-foot sprain kept him out all of training camp and the first three games of this season, Cauley-Stein did not want to set any expectations.
Wednesday was to be his first time he would play with his new teammates, and while a 7-footer will help, he cautioned it’ll take time.
“It’s hard not be able to practice and really feel like [we can] jell,” Cauley-Stein said before the Warriors faced off against the Suns. “This will be the first time I practice with these dudes in a game setting. It’s going to be a lot of learning on the fly.”
For Burks, too. The 28-year-old will get his first playing time at an opportune time, a game after fellow wing Jacob Evans suffered an adductor strain, and he’ll sit against Phoenix.
A lot of talent is entering the lineup, but it’s raw.
“I’ve been in the league for five years now, but I feel like a rookie again because I’ve gotta learn a new system,” said Cauley-Stein, a free-agent signing who played his first four seasons with the Kings. “Obviously there’s tricks that I know how to get through that, but it’s just a different deal of being somewhere where you know what the plays are, you know what the coaching system is going to be.”
Cauley-Stein didn’t know his minute allotment, but Steve Kerr figures to take it slow with key players in their first action off injuries.
“I really don’t know until I can get out there and actually play,” the 26-year-old said, asked how he could affect games. “… Just being a big presence in there, it deters people from going in there. That presence alone is going to help a lot.”