Ron Adams was in his mid-60s when the Warriors hired him away from the Celtics. Steve Kerr wanted Adams to freely speak his mind the way Tex Winter did in the 1990s with Phil Jackson's Bulls.

“I wanted a truth-teller, somebody to tell me, ‘You gotta do this, and you gotta do that,’ completely unfiltered,” Kerr said. “Somebody whose experience and wisdom made everyone stand up and listen. I knew right then that we were talking to the right guy, and I’m just thankful we have him because he’s been instrumental in all that we’ve done.

“Ron Adams, he’s our Tex.”

Adams is known as a curious thinker and reader with strong interests outside of basketball. Adams is eager to talk big ideas such as philosophy, religion, sociology and politics.

When the Warriors lost Kevin Durant for several weeks during the second half of last season, Stephen Curry changed his leadership approach by increasing his intensity.

"You just saw him practicing and he started becoming more aggressive," David West recalled to ESPN. "When we were going 5-on-5, he was going 100 miles an hour and everybody is like, 'Oh s---. This m-----f----- is serious.' And that was also at shootaround. He got everybody going. It was during that stretch that he became a little bit more vocal, more demonstrative about the urgency we needed to have to keep the season alive when you lose somebody like KD."

Durant noticed the change in Curry as well.

"Hell yeah, I saw it," Durant said. "As a leader, as one of the best players in the league, you see one of your teammates go down, you feel as though you have to pick up the slack. ... Mentally, he was just locked in and he's been that way ever since. That focus carried us to a title last year."

"I've had to learn when it was time to say something," Curry said. "I wasn't always considered one of the best players on the team. I had to grow into the role of leadership, and in many ways, I'm still growing into it. But I know how to work hard, and I like to let that speak for me."

Curry has tried to emulate the leadership he learned from his coach at Davidson.

"Coach Bob McKillop is the best example of how I always wanted to lead a team," Curry said. "He wasn't loud, but his message and tone was consistent enough that you knew what he stood for and guys followed. He knew when and how to get his point across and that's what I try to do here."

"I think it's how hard he works combined with his humility off the floor," said Steve Kerr. "He's just a decent human being; such a nice player. He's obviously a superstar player, but he acts like he's the 12th man. I can get on him in film sessions and he never seems to mind. He leads by example. He's a great guy, a great teammate and the players respect him. That's what a captain is about."

The NBA will not issue any discipline to Zaza Pachulia for his incident on Saturday with Russell Westbrook.

Pachulia was accused by some of purposely falling on the legs of Westbrook. Nick Young's foot makes contact with the back of Pachulia's legs, which may have brought him down.

Zaza falls on Russ.

Westbrook's reaction shows his feelings about it. pic.twitter.com/bn24Bepo4R

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 25, 2018

Russell Westbrook on Zaza Pachulia falling on him, and asked if he’s a dirty player: “Yeah. For sure.” pic.twitter.com/w9ZH0AwVP1

— Royce Young (@royceyoung) February 25, 2018

In March 2012, the Warriors' front office needed to convince Joe Lacob to approve their trade of Monta Ellis to the Bucks for Andrew Bogut.

The trade improved the Warriors' defense by bringing in Bogut, but it also made Stephen Curry their franchise player while also freeing up the second backcourt spot for Klay Thompson.

Curry was injured at the time and still had an ankle surgery ahead of him.

“I remember Kirk, my son, actually, saying Steph is the future,” Joe Lacob said. “That's when it kind of really hit me. Steph is the future. We're going to build this whole team around him. You cannot think of it any other way. That's actually the first moment that I realized we were building everything around Steph. That's the moment when it all went on Steph's shoulders.”

If Joakim Noah agrees upon a buyout from the New York Knicks before the deadline to become playoff eligible, he is expected to receive interest from a number of contending teams.

The Warriors, Timberwolves and Thunder are believed to have interest in signing Noah.

Minnesota would give Noah the opportunity to reunite with Tom Thibodeau.

Noah remains away from the Knicks following a January altercation at practice with Jeff Hornacek. Hornacek pushed Noah and Noah pushed him back before the two were separated.

Noah hasn’t addressed his status publicly since leaving. 

Noah signed a four-year, $72 million deal with the Knicks in 2016 and he has two seasons remaining on the deal. It would benefit the Knicks to wait on parting ways with Noah unless he took a significant reduction off the contract.

When the Golden State Warriors play at the Wizards this month, the team will go on a private tour of an undisclosed locale.

Steve Kerr left it up to the players to determine how they would spend their time and they selected a venue in which local kids would join them. The session will be closed to the media.

"It's their championship. They got disinvited to the White House, so it's up to them what they wanted to do. So they made their plans," Kerr told ESPN. "I want the players to have a good day and to do something positive and to enjoy what they're doing."

Before Donald Trump revoked the Warriors' invite, the players were prepared to vote against visiting the White House, sources said.

"We're not trying to divide and separate this country," Curry said at the time of Trump's tweet. "We're trying to bring everybody together and speak about love and togetherness and equality. I think that was demonstrated in response to what happened this morning, which is a powerful thing for sure."

"At the end of the day, it's about us celebrating a championship, so there's no point in getting into the political stuff and all that," Draymond Green told ESPN. "It's about something we did great. Why make it about [politics]?"

The Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings have scheduled a preseason game in Seattle next season on Oct. 6th.

The NBA hasn't played a game in Seattle since the Sonics relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008.

Kevin Durant began his career in Seattle with the Sonics, while the Kings nearly relocated to Seattle in 2013.

The contract to play the game in Seattle has yet to be completed.

The Warriors have also recently played a preseason game in Vancouver.

Steve Kerr has compared the 17-18 Warriors to the 97-98 Bulls in terms of how they're suffering from fatigue after multiple trips to The Finals.

“1996 was the 72-win team,” Kerr said. “Then, '97 we picked up where we left off, won 69 and it just never felt like we hit a wall. We had some injuries, maybe some speed bumps, but it never felt like we hit a wall.

“We hit a wall in '98. You could feel it, exactly what I'm talking about (right now with the Warriors), you could feel us losing focus, losing momentum.”

The Warriors don't have the same things to prove as they did last season when they had to bounce back from blowing a 3-1 lead while also incorporating Kevin Durant onto the roster.

“By far the most needed break for any team I've ever been a part of — GM, coach, player, however many years that is,” Kerr said. “I've never felt a situation like this where it felt so necessary to get away for a little bit.”

Kerr recently allowed his players to coach a blowout win over the Suns.

“It's a team-wide thing, but stars always set the tone,” Kerr said. “There's a reason they get the most money. They have the biggest impact on winning and losing. When we're locked in at the beginning of games, it shows. There's no coincidence that when we've been in this bad stretch the last month, we're losing first quarters night after night. It sets a tone.”

Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green have combined for 8,470 minutes on the court together since 2012. The trio has already logged more minutes than the Big Three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

“We've kind of set a standard of excellence in the league.” Curry said Saturday. “That's pretty cool to think about sustaining that high level of play for so long.”

While the hierarchy has changed due to the addition of Kevin Durant, the trio realizes they will always be the core that started their run.

“We've all grown together,” Green said. “When I first came into the league, Steph wasn't the Steph of now, Klay wasn't the Klay of now, and I clearly wasn't in the position I'm in. My first year we went to the second round (of the playoffs) and then lost in the first round (the following season). We've kind of taken off from there. Obviously, all being drafted to the Warriors, growing that way and becoming who we've become, it's been great. To be part of it is awesome.”

Klay Thompson confirmed he wants to remain with the Golden State Warriors as he gets closer to free agency in 2019.

“Absolutely,” Thompson said. “I’ve always said that. Playing for one team your whole career is definitely special. Only so many guys have done it in professional sports, so it’ll be a goal of mine. Hopefully it all works out.”

Thompson signed an extension with the Warriors in 2014.

“It’s so far away,” Thompson said of his pending free agency. “Anything I can do to stay with the Warriors is first and foremost. God willing, it happens. If not, I don’t even think about that.”

“He’s certainly shown his worth here,” Warriors general manager Bob Myers said of Thompson. “It’s pretty undeniable how important he is. There’s not a lot of guys that can do what he does and be as humble and selfless as he is.”