Warriors’ Joseph already showing leadership in return to practice originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – Warriors guard Cory Joseph practiced Wednesday for the first time since sustaining a lower back lumbar strain over the summer that also held him out of suiting up for Canada in the FIBA World Cup.
Joseph doesn’t know what exactly caused the injury, remembering his hips feeling tight and out of place and certain movements made his back spasm. The Warriors had a light day of practice Wednesday and didn’t scrimmage, but Joseph was able to go through all shooting and defensive drills and 5-on-0 work. Everything the Warriors did, Joseph participated in and he was happy with how he felt physically.
“It feels great to be back on the court,” Joseph said. “Making good progress, which I’m happy about. Just got to continue to keep going.”
The veteran point guard is entering his 13th NBA season and perfectly fit what the Warriors were trying to find in the offseason: Smart, high-IQ players.
Joseph, 32, ranked eighth in the NBA last season with a 3.9 assist-to-turnover ratio as a member of the Detroit Pistons. In 62 games, Joseph averaged 3.5 assists and 0.9 turnovers while playing 19.8 minutes per game. He has averaged 3.0 assists and only 1.0 turnovers per game for his career, and never has averaged more than 1.4 turnover per game.
For a team that led the league in assists per game last season — but also turnover per game — Joseph’s style is welcomed by the Warriors. So is his leadership and story of his career thus far.
The start to Joseph’s career mirrors that of Warriors rookie guard Brandin Podziemski. Joseph was selected by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the 2011 NBA Draft at 20 years old after only one year in college. Podziemski, 20, played one full season in college before being taken by the Warriors in the first round of the 2023 draft.
In San Antonio, Joseph could lean on Hall of Fame coach Gregg Popovich, as well as Hall of Fame players Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, plus star point Tony Parker and even T.J. Ford, who was in the final year of his career when…
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