Baron Davis doesn’t look back on his days with the Warriors under coach Mike Montgomery very fondly.
If anything, they were like a “funeral” to the retired two-time NBA All-Star.
Chatting with Draymond Green on “The Draymond Green Show,” Davis revealed how bleak the Warriors’ internal environment was under Montgomery, who coached Golden State for two seasons from 2004 to 2006, specifically come practice time.
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“... Nobody was on the court, dudes were still on the training court, one dude was lifting, [a] couple [of] dudes on the court,” Davis recalled. “I was talking to Chris Mullin, and I said, ‘God damn, what is wrong with yall?! It’s like a damn funeral.’”
Davis, who also admitted that he told Montgomery not to talk to him for a year, expanded on why it felt so somber inside the Warriors facility.
“Every day that you walked in it was like a funeral,” he added. “Like, damn, man, somebody doesn’t want to be here today.’
“I was like, ‘Yeah, we can’t keep doing this, dog. I can’t keep coming to the gym, and it ain’t cracking. Why are we depressed? We hoop!’”
Golden State Warriors
Ultimately, the former guard pointed to Montgomery’s coaching style, which he claimed was not centered around fostering healthy player relations, as the culprit for the negative atmosphere within the team at the time.
“It was really because of how, like, we were practicing, you know what I mean?,” Davis told Green.
But what exactly about Montgomery’s coaching was specifically irritating to Davis?
“I had Mike Montomery the year before, and he coached like we were stupid,” Davis said. “He talked like we [were] stupid.”
Curious to know more, Green asked for an example.
“You know a coach like just keeps coaching and telling you everything to do. And then when you like do something, he’s like, ‘No, don’t do it!’, Davis added.
“I’m like, ‘Woah, homie!’ You know, people coach every play, and they will understand that this is a performance. You know what I mean? Yo, you got to chill.”
Two years into Montgomery's tenure in Golden State, the former coach was replaced by franchise icon Don Nelson, paving the way for the "We Believe" Warriors team that turned a funeral into a party.