Warriors Podcast: Moses Moody

Tim Roye sits down with Golden State Warriors rookie, Moses Moody! Together they discuss Moody's journey from Arkansas to the NBA, how he has adjusted, what he is learning and more!

Moody talks about his adjustment coming from Arkansas to the NBA and what it is like playing with this year’s Warriors team.

Moody (2:43): “It is fun. They make the game a lot easier. When I’m out there with Steph, Klay and Wiggs, I got a lot of open shots. It’s a lot easier to play with them, a lot of fun to play with them. A lot of fun to play, period.”

Moody and Roye discuss the Warriors recent win in San Antonio, with the Dubs only having nine players available, playing without Nemanja Bjelica, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala, Otto Porter Jr., Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins. Moody recorded a season-high 20 points in a season-high 37 minutes as the Warriors overcame a 17-point deficit to win 124-120 on the road. Moody also made a career-high six 3-pointers, the second-most ever made by a Warriors rookie, trailing only Stephen Curry’s rookie record of seven threes made on Feb. 10, 2010 against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Moody (4:07): “Going in, it could be pressure, knowing that you don’t have those guy and us being competitors, we’re not okay with losing. So knowing we are kinda short-staffed and going into San Antonio, an away game, and forcing ourself to come out with a win. Pressure is only motivation to perform. Not in a negative way, but at the same it was a free swing. We were expected to lose, wasn’t supposed to win, figuratively speaking. That made us more relaxed and allowed the game to be more fun and fluid.”

Moses Moody performed a feat that is not done too often in today’s basketball: playing three games in three days in three different cities. Here is a look at his journey.

Moody (5:13): “It was a journey. Traveling on the road to the next game had a little AAU feel, took me back a little bit.”

Moody talks about playing for Arkansas Head Coach Eric Musselman, who coached the Warriors from 2002-2004. In Moody’s one year at Arkansas, he averaged 16.8 points per game and was named SEC Freshman of the Year, First Team All-SEC, SEC All-Freshman Team and AP Honorable Mention All-American as the team advanced to its first Elite Eight since since 1995.

Moody (9:33): “It was fun. Just him being that passionate. They often say that a team takes on the personality of their coach, so I feel like that was the case in times. I’m more of a mild-mannered type of guy, but when I’m in a basketball game, I’m locked in, going for everything, just trying to come out with the win. So, we have the same mentality, just opposite approaches to it. That was good, opposites attract. Having that dynamic between us two was good for the team, I feel like.”

Moody has bounced around between the Warriors and the Santa Cruz Warriors this season. The rookie guard has played in nine games (all starts) with Santa Cruz, averaging 27.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.66 steals in 32.3 minutes per game.

Moody (12:49): “It’s done a lot for me, especially since I haven’t been getting that many minutes with Golden State, so it’s reps. It’s an opportunity to play and I feel like when I do play at Santa Cruz, it’s not as much pressure. It’s more like I can go out there and be free, have fun and play like I did back at home. So that’s been good. And I am able to work on different things I’m not able to work on in Golden State games because I have to figure out my niche, figure out my role and kinda stick to that right now before I grow and expand my game. [Santa Cruz] is the place for me to experiment, have fun and figure things out.”

Moody and Roye discuss where his rookie season is headed and playing some meaningful basketball after the regular season.

Moody (18:28): “That’s another experience that comes along with this journey that I’m having. I wouldn’t sacrifice it to be playing more minutes on another team because I’m able to go through this year and gain knowledge, gain experiences and learn all of this from the backseat. So that’s even easier. If I was driving the car, then I wouldn’t really notice all the things that are really going on. I would just be so focused on playing, but right now I’m able to pay attention, listen, learn and figure everything out and hopefully I get a ride all the way to the finals to just gain all that knowledge and experience.”

Listen to the full podcast below: