Why Warriors’ Jonas Jerebko not worried about initial hiccups

OAKLAND— The Warriors’ new arrival has not had much time recently to explore the Bay Area. Jonas Jerebko is too busy figuring out how to fit in with the Warriors.

The Warriors even had the day off on Wednesday. That mostly meant Jerebko has more time to learn. Following the Warriors’ season-opening win over Oklahoma City on Tuesday, Warriors assistant coach Chris DeMarco asked Jerebko if he planned to go to the practice facility on Wednesday to resume their daily work with the team’s younger players. Jerebko already planned to keep his day clear for it.

“We’re still learning how to play with each other,” Jerebko said. “We got a couple of new guys trying to learn the plays.”

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What’s the learning curve?

One of those new guys is Jerebko, whom the Warriors signed to a one-year, $2.1 million deal last summer after the Utah Jazz waived him both to save money and to carve out playing time for its younger players.

It sounds absurd to Jerebko about wanting a revenge game when the Warriors (1-0) play in Utah (1-0) on Friday after spending only one season with the Jazz. “I don’t really care about them anymore,” said Jerebko, though he said he still remains “good friends” with his former teammates.

Jerebko has other things to worry about regarding his second regular-season game with the Warriors. They acquired the 6-foot-10, 231- pound Jerebko, believing he could add positional versatility at small and power forward as well as outside shooting. Through five exhibitions and a season opener, though, Jerebko has offered little of it.

Jerebko went scoreless and played only six minutes in Tuesday’s win over the Thunder. He averaged 3.8 points on 31.8 percent shooting, 3.4 rebounds in only 14.8 minutes through five exhibition games. And though he prefers the Warriors’ quick ball and player movement over his spot-up shooting role with the Jazz, he admittedly does not feel comfortable.

“You have to adapt to the new system,” Jerebko said. “It’s not going to be in two weeks. It’s going to take some time.”

Hence, Jerebko has spent his early mornings and days off reporting to the Warriors practice facility for more learning.

“I’m trying to be early and I’m trying to get the work in I can and run through the plays until they’re in my backbone,” Jerebko said. “I’m going to keep doing that.”

Warriors staying patient

Neither the Warriors nor Jerebko have expressed concern. He has played one regular season game, after all. The Warriors also cited Jerebko’s nine-year NBA career that included stops with the Detroit Pistons (2009-2015), Boston Celtics (2015-2017) and Utah Jazz (2017-18). During that stretch, Jerebko has averaged 6.2 points, while shooting 45.7 percent from the field and 36.3 percent from 3-point range along with 4.0 rebounds.

As the Phoenix Suns’ former general manager, Kerr became intrigued with Jerebko’s size and versatility when he saw one of the Swedish native’s pre-draft workouts in 2009. The Pistons then selected him at No. 39. Since then, Kerr attributed Jerebko’s conservative playing time to fluid rotations and early hiccups as a small sample size.

“He’s going to enjoy playing our style,” Kerr predicted. “He’s capable of stepping out, making a 3 and making a play. He can bang inside with the big guys.”

Last season, the Warriors acquired two other veteran free agents capable of filling a positional need. Instead, Omri Casspi and Nick Young became casualties. Despite the Warriors’ encouragement, Casspi remained reluctant to shoot open 3-pointers before becoming hobbled with ankle injuries. Though the Warriors credit Young for a late-game 3-pointer in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals against Houston, he spent most of the season struggling with his conditioning, shooting accuracy and defense.

As for Jerebko, the Warriors currently view him as the newest veteran adjusting with a new environment.

“This isn’t the easiest system to fit into, contrary to popular belief,” Warriors forward Draymond Green said. “It takes some time getting used to the system. I know as time goes on, he’ll get better and better.”

Practice makes perfect

Why is the Warriors’ system difficult to learn? In Utah, Jerebko said he mostly stood in the corner behind the 3-point line. Green calls that concept a “cardinal sin” within the Warriors, which preach constant ball movement and spacing. The Warriors also observe role players often feel tentative taking open shots with Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson on the floor, even if they encourage them to shoot.

“We don’t call a ton of plays. A lot of it is just reads,” Green said. “Figuring those reads out is like a wide receiver learning the audibles. You may figure the playbook out. Then all of a sudden Tom Brady audibles into something and you don’t know what the hell he just audibled into. You can figure the plays out. But that’s probably 25 percent of it. The other 75 percent of it is all the rambling stuff. That’s the toughest part to figure out.”

Therefore, Jerebko has spent almost as much time learning from his younger teammates as they have learned about them.

Jerebko has offered both prompted and unprompted feedback to Warriors third-year center Damian Jones about his defense and positioning. Warriors fourth-year forward Kevon Looney said he occasionally asks about Jerebko’s 10-year-NBA career. Upon request, Jerebko said he has shared how he evolved his game amid fluctuating roles as a starter and reserve with a non-contending Pistons team and the playoff-bound Celtics and Jazz in the past nine seasons.

Most of the time, though, Looney and his younger teammates have just listened to their coaches. About two hours before every practice, Jerebko, Jones, Looney, second-year forward Jordan Bell, fourth-year guard Quinn Cook and rookie guard Jacob Evans work with DeMarco on the team’s plays.

“Once he gets comfortable knowing the offense and the spots he needs to be in as a big, he’s going to play really well,” Looney said. “But he’s a great guy, so he’s already fits in chemistry wise.”

He already has fit in ways that have not translated on the court. Jerebko and Curry went golfing during the team’s recent pre-season trip to Las Vegas (Jerebko said he needs to work on his golf game too against the more accomplished Curry). He also has enjoyed walks around Walnut Creek with his wife, two-year-old daughter and his dogs. Otherwise, Jerebko said he spent the rest of his time studying the playbook and working out in the gym in hopes to match the Warriors’ championship standards.

“It’s pretty easy when you got great players around you to get into the system,” Jerebko said. “I’m almost there. But I still got some time.”

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