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OAKLAND –- Steve Kerr's plan at the outset of training camp is to disprove the theory that NBA players, as the best in the world, have advanced beyond the basics.
The rookie coach and his assistants are taking the Warriors -– despite back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time in 22 years -– right back to the root elements, particularly as it relates to executing an offense.
Kerr's reasons are simple.
It's the way he was taught by his coaches, from Lute Olson at the University of Arizona to Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich in the NBA.
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"If you don't go over fundamentals every day, you'll have stuff that causes mistakes," Kerr said after the team's workout on Wednesday. "So we're going to continue to drill some basic stuff, and do it all the time."
No sign thus far of widespread eye-rolling or exasperated sighs.
"I like what they're preaching," center Andrew Bogut said. "They're preaching ball movement, the finer things. I like what they're bringing. There's no agendas, nothing else going on.
"Just preaching that we're fundamentally sound. They believe we can be a much better team fundamentally. We got away from the fundamentals last season and that's an improvement we can make."
While assistant coach Ron Adams, the staff graybeard at age 67, stresses defense -– quite vociferously at times -– the offense is handled most mostly by veteran assistant Alvin Gentry and Kerr.
They aim to create more movement away from the ball, more passing and more cutting toward the basket or out beyond the 3-point arc. The purpose is to put each player in a position that best suits his skills.
Or as distilled by David Lee: "It's going to get everybody better shots."
Understand, this is not an attempt to reinvent basketball. But Kerr firmly believes the team can improve its offense simply by making things more difficult on opponents.
"Most of the stuff we've done," he concedes, "they've all done before."
The difference, theoretically, comes in points of emphasis. When the Warriors were winning under Don Nelson, they focused on creating offense, often at the expense of defense. As they developed into a contender during three seasons under Mark Jackson, the defense was greatly improved but the offense occasionally stagnated.
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This team, quite simply, has too many talented scorers and passers to bog down on offense.
"Sharing the ball is going to be at a premium," Lee said. "We're doing a lot of things trying to play uptempo. Last year when we played uptempo and moved the ball, we were really good offensively. So we're just trying to duplicate that."
So the Warriors, with their multimillion-dollar salaries, are out there practicing chest passes and bounce passes. They're studying when and where and how sharply they should cut. And, one way or another, they're going to be more aware of spacing.
It's not new, exactly, but is being planted and replanted into their minds this week.
