OAKLAND — A scratch golfer, Stephen Curry got to show off his skill to Steve Kerr while playing a couple rounds with the new Warriors coach this offseason.

“That’s a little humbling,” Kerr said Thursday of the golfing experience, smiling.

Now after a summer spent breaking the ice with his players, Kerr enters training camp next week confident his relationships with them will grow closer. Curry, for one, has praised Kerr for his intelligence and preparation for the season ahead.

“I think we share a lot of the same values, same thoughts on basketball,” Kerr said of his relationship with the All-Star guard.

“There’s a good connection, and obviously the relationship has to take the next step once we get on the floor, and that’ll be really important. But we’ve got a really good foundation, and we’ll get to know each other a lot better here coming up.”

Kerr said it wasn’t on his mind that he had to win over players like Curry who disagreed with the firing of Mark Jackson after back-to-back playoff appearances.

“We’ve got high-character guys who want to win, and I like the fact they supported Mark all the way through because that’s what they should do,” Kerr said. “They’re loyal players, and they’ve been nothing but professional with me, and they can’t wait to get started.”

From flying to Melbourne, Australia, to meet with center Andrew Bogut to grabbing lunch with Curry in Berkeley for their first meeting as player and coach, Kerr said he achieved his goal of familiarizing himself with the team this summer.

One thing Kerr said Curry agreed with him on was the need for Curry to take on less responsibility handling the ball so he could get easier shots. Those types of talks are expected to continue, with Kerr saying he planned to have his staff create an environment that encourages them.

“You can’t just stand there and call a play every day,” Kerr said. “You’ve got to go out and get to know these guys and vice versa, and I think as a coach you have to create that environment where there’s a lot of interaction and a lot of conversation.

“Phil Jackson used to say, ‘Men don’t really want to talk to each other. We’re all macho and sit around.’ He was right. He used to put us (Chicago Bulls players) in circumstances all the time where we had to communicate, and it was really effective.”

Curry, Klay Thompson and Leandro Barbosa will likely be left out of some drills at the start of camp after having played in the FIBA World Cup, Kerr said. Festus Ezeli (leg) and Nemanja Nedovic (foot) will also be eased into camp Tuesday.