OAKLAND -- It has been a challenging few months for the Curry family, but husband and father Stephen Curry indicated Sunday that things are looking better at home.
"We're good," he said after the team's open practice at Oracle Arena. "Thanks for asking."
When the Warriors left for Seattle last Thursday, Curry stayed behind in the Bay Area for what was described as personal reasons. The specifics became clear Friday when his wife, Ayesha, posted a picture from a hospital bed.
She had undergone successful surgery to remove her thyroid and a cyst. Ayesha Curry is recovering from a difficult pregnancy during which she was hospitalized multiple times before giving birth to their son, Canon, on July 2.
This is how Ayesha Curry concluded her post-surgery notice on Instagram: "All went well. God is good. Thank you for your prayers."
Ayesha Curry was batting hyperemesis gravidarum, a condition that can result in severe nausea, vomiting, weight loss and electrolyte imbalance. Known for her forays into the food and restaurant business, she conceded that the smell of food sickened her and described herself as "truly very, very sad" during that time.
It seems those days are over, which is great news for Ayesha and quite the relief for her husband, who will be back in the lineup when the Warriors face the Phoenix Suns in a preseason game Monday night at Oracle Arena.
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Kerr on his center rotation
With three young centers on the roster, all of which are in line for significant playing time, Warriors coach Steve Kerr likely will use a plan very similar to that which he employed over the last two seasons.
All three -- Jordan Bell, Damian Jones and Kevon Looney -- likely will rotate.
"I would say there's a pretty good chance we're playing center by committee for a while," Kerr said.
Jones started the first two preseason games, with Bell and Looney coming off the bench. None has played more 18 minutes (Bell last Friday) or fewer than 12 (Jones in the Sept. 29 preseason opener).
The Warriors last season went with a veteran rotation, usually beginning with Zaza Pachulia, who made 57 starts at center. JaVale McGee made 16, Bell five and Looney four. Yet it was David West, coming strictly off the bench, who played more minutes than any other center.
Jones is key because, at 7 feet, he's strictly a center. Both Bell and Looney are capable of also playing power forward.
"It's similar to the last few years in that we have a lot of confidence in everybody, and they all give us different looks," Kerr said. "DJ has great size and power; I thought he was fantastic the other night. He gave us really good minutes. We'll keep giving him time.
"Jordan and Loon are rock-solid with what they can do. I thought Loon's 14 minutes were fantastic. I felt that way live, and they watching the film, probably even more so. He's just always in the right spot. He knows what he's doing."
Until DeMarcus Cousins is cleared for game action, which isn't expected for at least two months, the three-man rotation will exist, with Kerr choosing his starter based largely on matchups with opponents.
Talkin' 'bout practice?
The Warriors on Sunday had a little fun with their "practice."
Check that. They had a lot of fun.
This was their annual open practice at Oracle Arena, during which they conduct a normal practice for an hour or so. and then open the doors so fans, who have paid $5 per ticket, can come to watch a half-speed workout.
Roughly 11,000 showed up. Every member of the team participated in the workout except Draymond Green, who joined his teammates for introductions but still is sidelined with soreness in his left knee.
The highlights, so to speak, came after the Warriors put down the basketballs and picked microphones for "rookie initiations."
"Jacob Rubin and Nick Kerr were solid," Stephen Curry said. "(Jordan Bell) warmed up toward the end. But it was fun out there."
Rubin, a basketball operations assistant, stood at center court and delivered his version of Drake's "Controlla." It was Kerr, in his first season as an assistant video coordinator after one season with the Spurs, who killed it, though.
Recognizing his audience, the coach's son launched into his rendition of "Blow the Whistle," by veteran Oakland rapper Too Short. Kerr even cajoled the audience to collectively answer Short's eternal call-and-response question: "What's my favorite word?"
"You don't know which way that was going to go," Curry said. "He handled it well."
For the uninitiated, Too Short's favorite is a five-letter word that begins with "b" and sometimes is used disparagingly toward women. The crowd's vocal response indicated a clear familiarity with it.
Too Short's use is facetious -- so much so that both of Nick's parents made light of it on social media.
"Nick was smart; stick close to home and Oakland," Steve Kerr said afterward. "Go for people's hearts, not their ears."
