Moses Moody prepared for Warriors' breakout season with motivated attitude – NBC Sports Bay Area and California

SAN FRANCISCO – Warriors coach Steve Kerr admitted he and his staff still have a lot of work to do before deciding on a starting rotation.

Moses Moody ensures he will be an important part of these discussions.

Moody had a rare chance to start Friday night's 109-106 preseason win over the Sacramento Kings at Chase Center and stepped up his game with a consistent and solid performance that will certainly give Kerr more to think about when he adjusts its lineups in the coming days.

Moody, the No. 14 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, scored a game-high 23 points on 7 of 13 shooting, paving the way for a Warriors team that was missing its best player throughout the second half after Stephen Curry walked with a pinched finger on his right hand.

“Just figuring out how to score, reading the defense and seeing what the defense gives you,” Moody said of his night. “I don’t feel like I took a lot of bad shots. Just efficiency.”

This efficiency is exactly what Kerr expects from his team, and Moody is committed to providing it.

Keep in mind that on a night where the Warriors faced a barrage of turnovers (23 total), Moody and Gary Payton II were the only two starters who fully took care of the ball.

“He had a really good camp,” Kerr said of Moody. “He was aggressive when we needed that aggressiveness. He did a good job.”

Moody had plenty of motivation for the coming season. That's because he had a decent scoring average (8.1 points) and shot 46.2 percent from the field last season, but he didn't make the impact he was hoping for.

“I didn’t play as much as I wanted to last year, so obviously I wasn’t where I needed to be,” Moody said. “Over the summer I put a lot of work into the little things and details. That's just my mentality. I'm not necessarily looking for gratification so early. But I’ve done the work, so time will tell.”

Moody shares how he approached the offseason after limited starts last season pic.twitter.com/PTrCALieVk

– Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) October 12, 2024

Moody admitted that the lack of playing time last season (17.5 minutes per game) bothered him, but he realized he had no choice but to accept the situation and make the best of it.

“If someone doesn't get what they want, it's going to mess them up to some degree,” Moody said. “But as an adult who goes to work, you have to look at it that way. That's not the case.” Peeing is about playing with your friends and having as much time to play as you want.

“Accept that, see things for what they are, don’t take things personally and just pull up your big pants and go to work. You want to change the situation and then change yourself. That’s my attitude.”

According to Kerr, the Warriors have the deepest roster he has had since taking over as head coach at Golden State a decade ago, with an abundance of transfer players.

Moody is right in the middle of this mix.

“We have 12, 13 guys who are really good players,” Kerr said. “This is probably the tightest team I've seen here in terms of the number of people rotating. Moses is a rotation player. We have to make a lot of difficult decisions.”

“Moses is a rotation player.”

Kerr on Moody's role ahead of Warriors' season opener pic.twitter.com/KI8JN3wj0w

– Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) October 12, 2024

Moody wasn't the type to complain or make waves when things didn't go his way. There is a belief that this attitude worked against him to some extent.

Moody himself agrees with this assessment, but has no plans to change his behavior in any way.

“That is definitely the case. But if I change my behavior because of something else, then I'm out here doing some silly things and moving away from my principles,” Moody said. “I'm not doing it for anyone else, I'm not professional for anyone else. I'm a professional because mentally for me that's the best way to come to work every day, to go to life, to approach life. I can't change that. If you do it to get something out of it, then these guys get lost. That's when you come out here and do wild things and be unpredictable just because you're so far from your principles.

“I have to be who I am and live it out.”

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