http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/28/us/california-today-basketball-kevin-durant-warriors.html 2016-09-28 15:17:21 California Today: First-Day Jitters for Kevin Durant Wednesday: Golden State gets even better, tense scenes in El Cajon after a police shooting, and the origins of “California.” === Good morning. Welcome to California Today, a Tell us about the Want to receive California Today by email? Let’s turn it over to Kevin Durant “I hit a little bit of traffic as I was on the highway,” Durant said. “And I wasn’t used to that in Oklahoma City.” Pro basketball training camps, including those for the Lakers and the Clippers in Los Angeles, have opened this week. But no team anywhere is attracting more attention than the Warriors. It can be reasonably argued that Golden State has the most talent-laden roster in N.B.A. history. The Warriors were N.B.A. champions two seasons ago and set a league record for regular-season victories last season. But they were so disappointed to lose Game 7 — at home, no less — to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in June’s N.B.A. Finals that they went out and That disappointed people in Oklahoma City, where Durant starred for nine years but could not lift the Thunder to a championship. It thrilled fans in the Bay Area, where a championship parade is expected next June. Durant, a 6-foot-9-inch forward who averaged 28.2 points per game last season, joins the deep-shooting guard Basketball rules did not change. There will still be just one ball. “Everybody’s numbers may not be where they were last year,” Coach Steve Kerr said. “Who cares? It’s about winning.” More than 200 credentialed journalists came for “media day” on Monday, and dozens returned on Tuesday for the team’s first practice of the season. Kerr is trying to take the long view, to June, but that is difficult for a team that started last season by winning its first 24 games and now looks improved. “This is a different team,” Kerr said. “We’ve got a lot of growing ahead. The fans should not be focused on how many wins we’re getting.” He smiled as soon as he said it. “Good luck with that,” he added. The Warriors open the preseason on Saturday in Vancouver, against the Toronto Raptors. The regular season starts on Oct. 25 against the rival San Antonio Spurs. After one practice, Kerr declared things right on schedule. The biggest adjustment Durant may make on Day 2 is leaving earlier for practice, in case the traffic is bad. See reporting in The New York Times on the Nov. 8 ballot initiatives: And dig into analyses of all 17 statewide measures by the • A police officer • Knott’s Berry Farm • • A • Farther north, a blaze that broke out in a eucalyptus grove along Highway 101 • It doesn’t help that it’s been brutally hot. But no place in the country was as hot on Tuesday as • Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law that • Elon Musk, founder of the Hawthorne-based SpaceX, laid out a vision to make humanity a “ • • The name “Oregon” comes from an Old French map, historians believe. “Nevada” is Spanish for snow covered. And “Washington” is a pretty obvious choice. The The first use of the term “Island of California” was around 1510, in a popular Spanish romance novel by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. In Montalvo’s thriller, “Las Sergas de Esplandián,” the mythical island in the Pacific was populated exclusively by black women, who “lived in the manner of Amazons” and only used gold weapons. They were ruled by The conquistadors, such as Hernán Cortés, loved the book and used its legend to refer optimistically to unknown places on the map. In this case, it stuck. Cabrillo himself was no romantic. He helped invade Cuba and joined Cortés to plunder Mexico. He made his fortune mining gold in Guatemala, where he was involved in the slave trade. Still, his journey up the Golden Coast was important. It dispelled geographical myths, mapped landmarks and identified Native American communities. It was — Charles McDermid, California Today goes live at 6 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a third-generation Californian — born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Davis. California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and attended U.C. Berkeley.