WARRIORS HEAD COACH STEVE KERR ON IGUODALA
ON WHAT ANDRE IGUODALA MEANT TO THE WARRIORS FRANCHISE:
“He’s one of the main reasons we’ve got those four banners hanging up. He was a foundational piece of what has been one of the great runs in NBA history. In many ways Andre set the tone for the whole thing by agreeing to come off the bench in 2014-15, really sacrificing, and making the move that unlocked the team that allowed Harrison (Barnes) to thrive, that strengthened our bench, but also set a tone for unselfishness and team first mentality. That was ultimately rewarded with a title and Finals MVP for Andre, ironically when we put him back in the starting lineup.
As a coach you dream of a team that embraces the group’s success over everything else and Andre to me was the guy who set the tone and told everybody on the roster, ‘this is what it’s about’. You look at the type of player he was; just incredibly smart, amazing feel at both ends, was always a step ahead of everybody else on the floor. He was an elite defender and the perfect complement to the group we had because he was able to expose the defense and get shots for Steph (Curry) and Klay (Thompson), or cover up on the other end defensively when we made mistakes. Andre was just special.”
SPURS HEAD COACH GREGG POPOVICH ON IGUODALA
ON ANDRE IGUODALA:
“He’s one of those — like in baseball a utility infielder, I don’t know if they still use that term nowadays but he can do a little bit of everything and he is willing to do anything the coach or the team needs to win that particular game. He sets a tone, he’s respected by everybody, he speaks when it’s important, if he does speak everyone respects what he says and those kinda guys are often rare they don’t need to beat their chest, they don’t need to talk all that much but it’s there, it’s real, it’s genuine and he is one of those kind of players. Just an ultimate winner and Steve (Kerr) depended on him a lot.”
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