Speaker 1: They're tuned into Heat Check. But just a quick.
Speaker 2: On this episode of the Heat Check, we answer a
Speaker 2: very important question, what is happening with our dubs? Our
Speaker 2: dubs are in pre fall right now, and I need
Speaker 2: to know what is going on folks. So yeah, it's
Speaker 2: a Golden State episode. We break down everything. Not only
Speaker 2: do we get into my opinions, but we also are
Speaker 2: joined by two special guests, The light Years Boys, two
Speaker 2: of the hottest podcasters on these blue wire streets. I
Speaker 2: think they're honestly probably the best follow on Twitter for
Speaker 2: a team duo, like somebody that covers an NBA team.
Speaker 2: Their engagements through the roof. They're funny as fuck. They're
Speaker 2: not afraid to say what truth it is, and so we.
Speaker 3: Get to the truth. What's happening with our dubs?
Speaker 2: So much to get into Nick drop that beat by
Speaker 2: now you probably know you probably know the truth about
Speaker 2: what's going on with the Golden State Warriors. But if
Speaker 2: you're living under a rock right now, Warriors as we
Speaker 2: sit are six and nine. It's bad and oh and
Speaker 2: eight on the road, oh and eight on the road,
Speaker 2: losing to teams like the Detroit Pistons, like the Orlando
Speaker 2: Magic like the Charlotte Hornets without LaMelo, the worst start
Speaker 2: ever in history for any defending champion ever, that's a stat.
Speaker 3: So what's going on?
Speaker 2: Well, well, things are not going as well as they thought.
Speaker 2: Things started about as bad as possible before the season
Speaker 2: even began.
Speaker 3: As we all know.
Speaker 2: If you don't know this, I don't know, you must
Speaker 2: not be following the game.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: The Warriors got involved with what Steve Kerr called the
Speaker 2: greatest crisis in his time with the team, The punch
Speaker 2: heart around the world. Draymond Green cold cocked Jordan Poole
Speaker 2: and knocked him smooth a fuck out, and then the
Speaker 2: video was leaked, and then that was even worse. The
Speaker 2: Warriors had to go into full crisis mode. Draymond is
Speaker 2: going to be suspended. They're finding in somebody who's they're
Speaker 2: running an investigation, who's the one who leaked the video
Speaker 2: and sold it to DMZ? And you know what, nothing's
Speaker 2: really ever been good since. Like Jordan Poole, the guy
Speaker 2: who got cold cocked, he hasn't been the same. He's
Speaker 2: not starting. He was six Man of the Year of Canada.
Speaker 2: He hasn't been good. The whole season has been one
Speaker 2: long crisis after crisis. But it all comes to a
Speaker 2: head last night, two nights ago, because you're probably listening
Speaker 2: to this on Friday, absolute ass whooping by the Phoenix
Speaker 2: Suns one thirty to one nineteen, and what's stepf do
Speaker 2: on that night? Check's notes had fifty.
Speaker 3: Put up fifty points a fifty.
Speaker 2: Nugget piece, and you know what, he didn't seem happy.
Speaker 2: Think of that a historic night for Steph and the
Speaker 2: team basically still.
Speaker 3: Got blown out.
Speaker 2: Before last night, Steph had fifty or more ten times
Speaker 2: in his career. Think about that, actually, for just one second.
Speaker 2: Steph Curry has had fifty points or more ten.
Speaker 3: Times or more. That's crazy.
Speaker 2: They've only lost twice in those ten times. This is
Speaker 2: the bottom line about this loss. If Steph Curry puts
Speaker 2: up thirty a normal thirty point night, which is what
Speaker 2: he's averaging right now, this team loses by thirty one points.
Speaker 2: Pretty much how the game felt not close. Mikal Bridges
Speaker 2: absolutely sunned Klay Thompson on the bench, splashing a three
Speaker 2: and then throwing the three fingers in Clay's face to
Speaker 2: essentially Clay for throwing up four for four rings just
Speaker 2: like three more points and you guys face.
Speaker 3: I'd say it's rock.
Speaker 2: Bottom right now for our dubs. Right now, our dubs
Speaker 2: are in peril. We need to support them, and we
Speaker 2: need to identify what's going wrong, and we need to
Speaker 2: really sort of analyze and diagnose how it gets better.
Speaker 2: The Light Years boys called it the worst loss of
Speaker 2: the year by far. So what is wrong in Golden State?
Speaker 2: I have five things that I think are wrong. One,
Speaker 2: no depth or veteran role players. Two claim is booboo
Speaker 2: right now. Three they have a bottom three defense in
Speaker 2: the league. Trash defense the thing that the Warriors do
Speaker 2: really well, they suck at. Four young guys that are
Speaker 2: supposed to step up not performing in some ways regressing.
Speaker 3: And five the vibes are bad. It's bad vibe.
Speaker 2: All the things you think of when you think of
Speaker 2: the Warriors, the shimmying the night night, the pretending to
Speaker 2: boo boo on the court, None of those things, yeah
Speaker 2: he does that. None of those things are happening right now.
Speaker 2: Nothing not the three turn around look at the crowd.
Speaker 2: Not a smile, not a wink, not a laugh. So
Speaker 2: first and foremost, let's talk about the no depth, none
Speaker 2: for a team that was rolling twelve deep last year.
Speaker 2: The guys off the bench this season have largely.
Speaker 3: Been on milk cartons.
Speaker 1: Let's be honest.
Speaker 2: Here are the players off the championship team who are
Speaker 2: no longer with the Warriors. Naman be A Lecha. I
Speaker 2: think Damian Lee, Gary Payton is Second, Otto Porter, Juan Toscano,
Speaker 2: Anderson Jta, Quinn Weatherspoon, and Chris Chiosa. Like, maybe you
Speaker 2: don't think this is like a good role player. Maybe
Speaker 2: this like this doesn't move you. But if this doesn't
Speaker 2: move you, let me introduce you to the role players now,
Speaker 2: because it's really bad. None of those guys, with the
Speaker 2: exception of Gary Payton the second is really known to
Speaker 2: any non Warriors fan. But you take him as a whole,
Speaker 2: and they all play well. They all know their role.
Speaker 2: Damian Lee was really really good. Anno Porter was a
Speaker 2: plus fourteen in the nineteen playoff games last year and
Speaker 2: a plus one ten overall for the playoffs. That's pretty
Speaker 2: good for a guy off the bench. Gary Payton was
Speaker 2: a combined plus thirty five in his final five games
Speaker 2: against the Celtics. Damian Lee spent four years in the
Speaker 2: Warriors system. Toscano Anderson three those guys knew the ropes,
Speaker 2: they knew what Warriors basketball look like. They replaced those
Speaker 2: vets with Jamichael Green and Dante DiVincenzo, two players with
Speaker 2: zero experience playing in the Golden State system. So is
Speaker 2: it a shock that the Warriors are falling apart when
Speaker 2: the second unit is on the floor. And now you've
Speaker 2: got Jordan Poole that has to be the floor general.
Speaker 3: Sorry, they don't call.
Speaker 2: It a pool pool regiment.
Speaker 3: They call it the pool party. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2: They call it the pool party. Pool Jordan Pool wants
Speaker 2: to come in and get buckets. It's not, uh, the
Speaker 2: pool orchestra, you know, it's the pool party. We're getting
Speaker 2: fucking lit, you know what I'm saying. And now Jordan
Speaker 2: Poole has to be the guy that runs this ship.
Speaker 2: I don't They don't call it the pool pilot.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 4: Number two.
Speaker 3: Clay Clay top is just terrible. Just said bad. It's
Speaker 3: booboo right now. And I hate to say.
Speaker 2: I love Clay Thompson. Clay Thompson grew up in Portland.
Speaker 2: You have a special love for Portland guys. John Hollinger
Speaker 2: said this, and I was like, damn, damn, it's so true,
Speaker 2: and it's such a shot, it's like a it's like
Speaker 2: a knife to the heart. John Hollinger said, quote, I
Speaker 2: didn't think I'd have Klay Thompson turning into Russell Westbrook
Speaker 2: on my bingo card. But here we are. Problem is
Speaker 2: that savage statements kind of true. Is not Clay is
Speaker 2: He is in a slump. He's in a terrible shooting slump.
Speaker 3: He is not himself.
Speaker 2: And this is, let's be honest, it's hurting the Warriors,
Speaker 2: hurting the Warriors in every single facet of the game.
Speaker 2: And he's one of the best shooters of our generation.
Speaker 2: And what his shooters do when they're in a slump,
Speaker 2: they fucking keep shooting.
Speaker 3: That's what they do.
Speaker 4: Have you seen Russell Westbrook, That's what he's doing.
Speaker 3: And he's not even a shooter. And the Warriors.
Speaker 2: Problem with that little mentality is the Warriors are losing
Speaker 2: games because he's chucking from the logo and he's bricking
Speaker 2: and everyone knows, his teammates included, no, that's shit's not
Speaker 2: going in soon.
Speaker 3: As as soon as he lets it fly, everyone starts.
Speaker 2: To look the other way, to go back on defense,
Speaker 2: and not because he's gonna make it, not because he's
Speaker 2: gonna make it.
Speaker 3: He's had exactly one.
Speaker 2: Twenty point scoring game this year. He has had eight
Speaker 2: games with five or more mysteries. He is shooting an
Speaker 2: atrocious thirty five percent from the field, not from three
Speaker 2: from the field this year, and worse, everything is drawing
Speaker 2: the front of the rim. He's got no lift in
Speaker 2: his legs. We'll get into that. But it all came
Speaker 2: to a head last night because not only was Klay
Speaker 2: Thompson two nights ago, not only was he terrible six
Speaker 2: for seventeen from the field, three for nine from three,
Speaker 2: but it was just the teammates looking at him like, dude,
Speaker 2: what the fuck are you doing? Steph just looking resigned,
Speaker 2: like like, Steph, if you look back at the tape,
Speaker 2: because I did this afternoon. He's Steph's just like he's
Speaker 2: got his hands in the air. As soon as Clay
Speaker 2: lets it fy Jordan Poole, he puts his.
Speaker 3: Hand on his head.
Speaker 4: Who does that.
Speaker 2: He's like, oh no, yes, Draymond shaking his head, just ugh, yuck.
Speaker 2: Three seconds into the shot clock. Two seconds into the
Speaker 2: shot clock, chuck, chuck. Very crucial point in time too,
Speaker 2: in the third quarter, when is the last ask mean, riddle,
Speaker 2: mean this, when is the last time you have ever
Speaker 2: seen Steph Curry look absolutely exasperated by Klay Thompson like
Speaker 2: this fucking guy?
Speaker 3: Never never? Now?
Speaker 2: The answer is now only. So this is and Clay
Speaker 2: Clay wasn't bad in the finals or in the playoffs
Speaker 2: because a lot of people are like, oh, he's never
Speaker 2: gonna be the same again. He's not at full strength.
Speaker 2: That injury really fucked him up. And to that, I say, yes,
Speaker 2: he's not gonna be twenty nineteen Clay again. However, he
Speaker 2: averaged nineteen four.
Speaker 3: And two in the playoffs. It's pretty good.
Speaker 2: He averaged seventeen three and two in the finals. That
Speaker 2: was five months ago. So why is he so bad
Speaker 2: right now? This is what I think happened. I've been
Speaker 2: doing some thinking. I put my thinking cap on and
Speaker 2: trying to get into the Claye Thompson soul.
Speaker 1: One.
Speaker 2: I mean, he played great, and then you go into
Speaker 2: an off season and you've been partying and celebrating and
Speaker 2: now you need to get back into it. But what
Speaker 2: happened the last time you were in an off season
Speaker 2: where you weren't just rehabbing or rehabbing and rehabbing, because
Speaker 2: let's be honest, Clay Thompson wasn't able to play pickup
Speaker 2: games last summer.
Speaker 3: No, he wasn't.
Speaker 2: He was in a pt room, stretching out his acl
Speaker 2: doing work on his achilles, doing mobility stuff, doing strength work.
Speaker 2: He wasn't up and down at Lifetime Fitness with Devin Booker. No,
Speaker 2: so this is the first year he was able to
Speaker 2: really do those off season runs that they talk about,
Speaker 2: five on five drills all that stuff.
Speaker 4: So what does he do.
Speaker 2: He's like, no, I'm good, I'm not gonna do that
Speaker 2: because that's where I pop my achilles last time.
Speaker 3: So he stays away.
Speaker 2: There's articles written about Klay Thompson is not doing pickups,
Speaker 2: he's not doing scrimmages, none of that. His training camp
Speaker 2: he comes in late and he's out of shape. I
Speaker 2: mean not out of shape for you and me, but
Speaker 2: out of shape for an NBA player, and his conditioning
Speaker 2: has declined. And thus, when he starts playing games, when
Speaker 2: your conditioning isn't right and your legs don't have lyft
Speaker 2: because you're not strong or you know, endurance, which only
Speaker 2: comes from playing basketball, not from doing anything else, you
Speaker 2: can only do it by playing basketball when that conditioning
Speaker 2: is not up to par and you're playing thirty minutes
Speaker 2: a game. Now you're hitting the front of the room
Speaker 2: in your threes. Now you don't have lyft. Now you're
Speaker 2: not able to sustain a full game and play at
Speaker 2: that level. So now your performance is declining. And now
Speaker 2: what happens me Shannon Sharp, Skit Bayless, Steve all these.
Speaker 3: Pundits are who else?
Speaker 2: Charles Barkley, Clay's not the same, Clay's washed. Something's wrong
Speaker 2: with Clay. I don't know, man, he shouldn't be on
Speaker 2: this team. He's never gonna return back to where he was.
Speaker 2: And Clay's like, dude, I'm still getting back to where
Speaker 2: I'm supposed to be. I didn't play any basketball this offseason.
Speaker 2: You're bad, Clay. But also I get it. That's what
Speaker 2: trauma does, that's how mental anguish works.
Speaker 3: He's got his.
Speaker 2: Own stuff to work out, and then what happens when
Speaker 2: the world comes after him emotionally. It's the first time
Speaker 2: that Clay physically isn't able to do what he wants
Speaker 2: and everyone has expectations that he will, and emotionally that
Speaker 2: shit has a toll. And now he's fighting with Ronnie
Speaker 2: two qu over his rating and he's calling him a clown,
Speaker 2: and he's popping off at Devin Booker getting ejected from games.
Speaker 2: And now he's doing articles with Ramona Shelbourne on his sailboat,
Speaker 2: and now he's doing one on ones with Chris Haynes.
Speaker 2: And now you're like, I think Clay's in his feelings.
Speaker 2: I think Clay. Now he's saying, listen, just remember I
Speaker 2: was a part of those four championships. Never forget that shit.
Speaker 2: I'm still that guy. And it's like, Yo, Clay, nobody
Speaker 2: ever said you weren't a part of those four championships.
Speaker 2: We're just saying you're boo boo right now.
Speaker 3: And I think that.
Speaker 2: Steve Kurz comments show that this theory has some truth
Speaker 2: to it.
Speaker 5: It took a lot of quick shots.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 5: Clay continues to come down and try to shoot his
Speaker 5: way out of an early season slump every night, and
Speaker 5: he's he's pressing, and he's pressing tonight. And the guy's
Speaker 5: got a lot of weight on his shoulders with the
Speaker 5: injuries and where he feels like he is right now
Speaker 5: where he wants to be, you know, So we have
Speaker 5: to help Clay, help him get out of his own way.
Speaker 3: And when he get out of his own way, get.
Speaker 5: Through his frustration, the game will come to him and
Speaker 5: he'll be He'll be fine, and he's going to play
Speaker 5: at a really high level because he's still got it.
Speaker 5: Clay still got it. But right now he's he's playing
Speaker 5: in a frustrated manner. It's leading to a lot of
Speaker 5: quick shots and he knows that, and we've got to
Speaker 5: help him through that. And we know how much Clay
Speaker 5: has done for this franchise and and our city, the
Speaker 5: Bay Area, So we're going to help him, help him
Speaker 5: through it, and he's going to get there.
Speaker 2: Support Clay, support him. So I don't think that this
Speaker 2: is a long term problem. I think he just needs
Speaker 2: to get back in a condition he eventually will be himself.
Speaker 2: He's never gonna be twenty nineteen Clay again. But that
Speaker 2: pure shot doesn't go away. But in the present, like
Speaker 2: I said, he's had not one but two interviews dropped
Speaker 2: this week, one from Chris Haynes, one from Ramona Shelburne,
Speaker 2: and they feel very email. Honestly, he's trending right now
Speaker 2: on Twitter at this very moment, and Clay returning to
Speaker 2: some version of at least where he was in the
Speaker 2: playoffs last year is absolutely critical and if he doesn't,
Speaker 2: it's night night sleep mask for them. Number three, This
Speaker 2: is a bad defense, like just really bad, top three
Speaker 2: or bottom three defense in the league, top three worst.
Speaker 3: Only the Rockets, Pistons, and.
Speaker 2: Spurs have a worse defense than the Golden State Warriors
Speaker 2: right now. I don't know if it's because a Gary
Speaker 2: Payton not being there, maybe because Clay isn't mobile right
Speaker 2: now as he's getting back into things. He's a big
Speaker 2: two way defender for them. Andrew Wiggins can't do it all.
Speaker 2: But they are fucking horrible, like horrible defense, currently ranked
Speaker 2: twenty seventh in the NBA one fourteen point one, after
Speaker 2: being second in the league at one point. In another
Speaker 2: number one in the league, they were just like a
Speaker 2: little ball constrictor on really great offenses like Boston. They
Speaker 2: may Boston look like they were kids, like they didn't
Speaker 2: know how to play basketball. They are twenty second in
Speaker 2: steals right now. They were fourth last year, twenty fourth
Speaker 2: in blocks. They're in a defensive rebounding percentage they were
Speaker 2: sixth that that last year. They're twenty second and second
Speaker 2: chance points given up. They were ninth last year. This
Speaker 2: is just a terrible defense, just in every way, like
Speaker 2: top the bottom, just trash. And I think some of
Speaker 2: this is obviously because those good defenders are missing, but
Speaker 2: the returning players aren't as good as they were last year.
Speaker 3: Either.
Speaker 2: Clay's not good, Looney's not good, Jordan Poole is never good.
Speaker 2: Draymond Green is playing okay, but not nearly to the
Speaker 2: elite level that they need them to. Are they going
Speaker 2: to continue to be Boogle? Probably not well they have
Speaker 2: an elite defense, definitely not unless they have a trade.
Speaker 2: Barring a trade, this defense is middle of the road
Speaker 2: at best. Number four young guys not performing. Joe lacub
Speaker 2: is like so fond of saying, we've got these two timelines.
Speaker 3: We've got two timelines.
Speaker 2: We've got the young guys, We've got the dynasty guys,
Speaker 2: and they're all gonna operate together and it's just gonna
Speaker 2: flow seamlessly. You've got Staph Clay Dre and then you've
Speaker 2: got the young guns that are the next generation of stars,
Speaker 2: like Kaminga and Moody, and he wants them both to
Speaker 2: coexist and play basketball together on the court the same time.
Speaker 4: I'm not sure.
Speaker 3: So sure that's possible.
Speaker 4: Last year they thought that.
Speaker 2: Was a win for the two timelines.
Speaker 3: Was it a win?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: Why because the young guys didn't play a fucking lick
Speaker 2: when it mattered, right, They didn't. Wiseman wasn't around all year,
Speaker 2: Moody played very rarely in the playoffs. Kaminga played spot minutes.
Speaker 2: They did not need them.
Speaker 3: It was like eight veterans.
Speaker 4: It would all have got a little bit of minutes.
Speaker 3: He was a veteran obviously for them.
Speaker 4: But the problem is not only.
Speaker 2: Are the young players playing bad, like they're unusable in
Speaker 2: some ways, they have regress to the point where James
Speaker 2: Wiseman has been sent down indefinitely to the G League.
Speaker 2: Jonathan kaminga horrible, horrible He had a promising rookie year.
Speaker 2: He was averaging nine three to one on limited minutes.
Speaker 2: He's averaging five to two and one to the point
Speaker 2: where they're just not using him now.
Speaker 3: Moses Moody or Moses Mody, he.
Speaker 2: Was supposed to take a huge jump. Everybody was saying
Speaker 2: how good he looked in Summer League. Everybody was saying
Speaker 2: he was supposed to be the next big thing. How
Speaker 2: much he could help them, and you know what, he's
Speaker 2: regressed in every single category.
Speaker 3: Jordan Poole.
Speaker 2: Jordan Poole just got paid one hundred and twenty three
Speaker 2: million dollars guaranteed, got on teed and he sucks. He
Speaker 2: won't shoot. He's like, as soon as he got knocked
Speaker 2: the fuck out, it's like he forgot he was a shooter.
Speaker 2: He's averaging thirteen a game off the bench. He's a
Speaker 2: minus ninety five for the season. And we already talked
Speaker 2: about Wiseman. I talked to a couple of high up
Speaker 2: Warriors folks at the summer League about this team and
Speaker 2: how good they were going to be and what we
Speaker 2: should expect from them. And obviously, since I'm a loyal
Speaker 2: Dubs fan that I am just lifelong, I said, uh, well,
Speaker 2: obviously this is champion ship team again, right, this championship
Speaker 2: caliber team. And they said, you know now that our
Speaker 2: role players like Gary Payton and Auto Porter are gone,
Speaker 2: Bill Leach is gone. If Kaminga and Moody aren't good,
Speaker 2: this team isn't. We're not gonna be good, period. And
Speaker 2: I was like, ooh, that's saying a lot. They're like,
Speaker 2: we need them to be good in order for this
Speaker 2: team to be good. And let me say this, that
Speaker 2: does not bode well for this team whatsoever, because neither
Speaker 2: one of them are being used, let alone good. Safe
Speaker 2: to say the two timeline thing is not working out
Speaker 2: like they were hoping it would.
Speaker 3: Number five, most importantly.
Speaker 2: Terrible vibes that the Warriors have just terrible. Still put
Speaker 2: up fifty right against the Suns. I did not see
Speaker 2: him laugh one time. We never saw shimmy one time.
Speaker 2: This team is used to having fun, beating up on everybody, laughing, dancing,
Speaker 2: boobooing on the core. All these things. There were teams
Speaker 2: that wins with constant motion, stifling defense, beautiful passes and
Speaker 2: of course just like killer threes, a barrage of threes,
Speaker 2: a deluge of threes, a tropical hurricane of threes, and joy,
Speaker 2: lots of joy, no joy. The vibes are just abysmal
Speaker 2: right now.
Speaker 3: They feel.
Speaker 2: If you saw this team and their lack of enthusiasm,
Speaker 2: you would think this was a team that hadn't won
Speaker 2: anything in like the last twenty years, Like this is
Speaker 2: the Orlando Magic, Orlando Magic having more fun than the Warriors.
Speaker 2: Detroit Pistons when they beat the shit out of the
Speaker 2: Warriors in Detroit, which I was live for. They look
Speaker 2: like they were having a lot more fun than the Warriors,
Speaker 2: And I think that's because Draymond Greed decided he wanted
Speaker 2: to punch his teammate. That doesn't go away, folks, that doesn't.
Speaker 2: You don't just like get over that he physically assaulted
Speaker 2: his teammate. He's still with the team and the other
Speaker 2: guy's still with the team, and I think that's a
Speaker 2: vibe killer. The Warriors were a team that everyone used
Speaker 2: to fear, and now it feels like no one is
Speaker 2: afraid of them. Things are so bad right now that
Speaker 2: Steve Kirk compared how the Warriors are playing to what
Speaker 2: to what like the the Detroit Pistons, to what like
Speaker 2: the OKAC thunder No to the Drew League, to the
Speaker 2: fucking Drew League where guys who don't even play in
Speaker 2: the league come to become something European players, guys who.
Speaker 3: Just are off the streets. This is what you had
Speaker 3: to say.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Like, I think, if you know, when you come
Speaker 5: down and you don't make a team guard and you
Speaker 5: just shoot the first open shot, guys aren't tired at all.
Speaker 5: They're not having to fight defensively, so everybody comes down
Speaker 5: and they're feeling good, Like I didn't even have to
Speaker 5: guard at the other end.
Speaker 6: Now I'm wide open.
Speaker 5: They're playing in transition, a lot of long rebounds leading
Speaker 5: to transitions, so you're out of out of place defensively.
Speaker 5: So there's no collective grit. We lack grit right now.
Speaker 5: And if when you don't have grit, the game is
Speaker 5: really easy for the other team. These are NBA players.
Speaker 5: They spent all summer shooting thousands of jump shots, just like.
Speaker 6: Our guys too.
Speaker 5: And so when those jumpers are are easy and the
Speaker 5: game is easy and they don't feel feel any physicality, Uh,
Speaker 5: it's a Drew League game we're playing. We're playing a
Speaker 5: Drew League game right now.
Speaker 2: Yikes. Yikes.
Speaker 3: In other words, there's no execution.
Speaker 2: It's basically just to pick up guys with Klay Thompson
Speaker 2: chucking five seconds into the shot, cluck, my.
Speaker 5: Lord, We're never gonna panic, Like, there's no point in
Speaker 5: you know, in panicking. What we have to do is
Speaker 5: is stay with it and uh and and find it.
Speaker 5: But in order to find it, we've got to we've
Speaker 5: got every get everybody on on board, on on on
Speaker 5: the same page in terms of just worrying about winning,
Speaker 5: and that's it. And I think for you know, for
Speaker 5: right now anyway, I think we're just scattered or it's
Speaker 5: a pickup game. You know, it's a pickup game out there.
Speaker 5: So there's no no execution at either end, no no
Speaker 5: sort of commitment to the group to get three stops
Speaker 5: in a row to execute on offense. And it obviously
Speaker 5: starts with me. I'm the coach of the team, So
Speaker 5: I have to figure out a way to get that
Speaker 5: that production, that sort of commitment to the team and
Speaker 5: to each other and to winning that that it's going
Speaker 5: to require.
Speaker 2: Basically, what that translates to is that my players aren't
Speaker 2: doing what I'm telling them to do, but for whatever reason,
Speaker 2: I can't motivate them. So I'm going to take the
Speaker 2: blame instead of blame them to the point where they
Speaker 2: tune me out even more. That's what that means. The
Speaker 2: Warriors dynasty, as we know, has been built on quick
Speaker 2: scoring runs.
Speaker 4: You go and grab a drink.
Speaker 2: By the time they come back, you come back, they've
Speaker 2: gone on a fifteen seventeen oh run.
Speaker 3: That's what they do.
Speaker 2: They shimmy shimmy, they shake, they clown, they rock the baby,
Speaker 2: they go night night, and then you're getting none of
Speaker 2: that this year, not zero. A lot of that I
Speaker 2: think is due to the incident, the Draymond incident, and
Speaker 2: I think some way they're gonna have to get over that.
Speaker 2: But all of that to say, I need help. I
Speaker 2: need help from the light Years Boys. What is going on?
Speaker 2: Our dubs obviously are in trouble. If they don't fix things,
Speaker 2: they could be partying like it's twenty twenty, twenty twenty
Speaker 2: one all over again, losing in the play on tournament,
Speaker 2: all the way out of the plan. Hate to see it,
Speaker 2: So let's go to our guys to get their take.
Speaker 2: Sam svin Diari and Andy luch All right, let's welcome
Speaker 2: in SAMs Vandiari, who comes in late because he has
Speaker 2: a million jobs, and Andy Lou to the show.
Speaker 3: Sam and Andy.
Speaker 2: They host one of my favorite podcasts on the Blue
Speaker 2: Wire Network called light Year's Podcast, a reference to the
Speaker 2: fact that the Warriors are light years ahead of everyone else,
Speaker 2: which I think is low key kind of awesome. Since
Speaker 2: I'm a huge Stubbs fan, the boys are the go
Speaker 2: to for all things Warriors.
Speaker 3: We did in an hour interview.
Speaker 2: They were really generous and gracious with their time in
Speaker 2: the middle of the work day.
Speaker 3: We talked about how.
Speaker 2: Much the punches loomed over the season, which was a lot.
Speaker 2: What is up with Klay Thompson, how do they fix that?
Speaker 2: How do they think that gets fixed? Can the Warriors
Speaker 2: season be fixed? And what will that take? And is
Speaker 2: Kevin Durant still a possible Warrior for trade? Some surprising
Speaker 2: answers from two of the most tapped in guys, probably
Speaker 2: some of the best follows in the NBA and in
Speaker 2: the Warriors space. Great interview, So let's get into it.
Speaker 4: Our listeners aren't as.
Speaker 2: Tuned in or plugged in on every detail of what's
Speaker 2: going on with the Warriors. So I think you guys
Speaker 2: are the really the vein and the artery into the
Speaker 2: soul of what the fan base feels on this team.
Speaker 2: So I wanted to get you on when it happened.
Speaker 2: What were you like thinking? What was your take on
Speaker 2: it when it happened? What's your take on it now?
Speaker 1: Oh, so, look, this is when it happened. I was
Speaker 1: actually shocked. So we knew as Warriors fans that Draymond
Speaker 1: wasn't happy that he was not in line to get
Speaker 1: an extension. Versus Jordan Poole, I think Jordan Pools specifically,
Speaker 1: not not so much Andrew Wiggins, but the feeling around
Speaker 1: the team in the offseason was that everything was happy.
Speaker 1: Jordan Poole is happy, Draymond's happy. Raymond came out on
Speaker 1: a press conference said, hey, listen, I know that at
Speaker 1: this point in my career, it makes a lot more
Speaker 1: sense for someone like Jordan Pule to get his money first.
Speaker 1: And so we all it was great. They went to Japan.
Speaker 1: Everyone was petting porcupines and Draymond was speaking Japanese. It
Speaker 1: was all fun and games, and no less than a
Speaker 1: week later, he knocks pulled out. And I think with
Speaker 1: that punch, I do think it affects where the Warrior's
Speaker 1: at today, especially Emo emotionally, because everybody who I mean,
Speaker 1: you don't need to be a Warriors fan to know
Speaker 1: that the Warriors are usually the happiest team in the NBA.
Speaker 1: You see Steph smiling no matter what happens on the court.
Speaker 1: Last night, Steph Gray dropped fifty points. I didn't see
Speaker 1: him smile one single time. Now I'm not saying that's
Speaker 1: Draymont's fault. But I do think a lot of the
Speaker 1: emotions around the team, even though they're not fighting about
Speaker 1: that now, I think a lot of it is under
Speaker 1: I think it's under mentioned that that changed the trajectory
Speaker 1: of how this team was always going to feel going
Speaker 1: to the season. And you know, outside of Clay and
Speaker 1: Pole playing terribly, I think that Draymond punch really changed
Speaker 1: the way, really changed the way this team started the season.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like there was any real reason for
Speaker 2: it other than just normal smack talking, because Draymond came
Speaker 2: out and was like it had nothing to do with
Speaker 2: his contract. I don't care what another man makes.
Speaker 1: I don't count his pockets pure lies. I think when
Speaker 1: he said that, I just that's the only reason I haven't.
Speaker 1: It's not that I have sources, but yet nobody has
Speaker 1: really hurt otherwise that it's something else. It's it's the
Speaker 1: fact that Draymond knows that he's the second most important
Speaker 1: player on the Warrior, second or third most important player.
Speaker 1: Maybe Andrew Wiggins has become the second, but he's certainly
Speaker 1: more important to them winning than in the last five
Speaker 1: years and maybe even last season. Jordan Poole, right, And
Speaker 1: I think he looks at that and says, I've only
Speaker 1: ever made max, you know, one hundred million dollars on
Speaker 1: my contract, and here's this dude that's going to make
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty three million guaranteed at twenty two
Speaker 1: years old. He's lying. Everyone's lying if you're saying you
Speaker 1: don't look at that and realize, dude, I'm the best
Speaker 1: defensive player of my generation and I can't get paid
Speaker 1: as much as this guy who doesn't impact winning, especially
Speaker 1: in the postseason that I do. And honestly, Draymond's right, right,
Speaker 1: I would agree with him, but such as life, life
Speaker 1: isn't fair, right, Life isn't fair, is what I would
Speaker 1: say to Draymond. And these things are just going to happen.
Speaker 1: And I think it's it's fine to be men, but man,
Speaker 1: he knocked the kid out and the and then it leaked,
Speaker 1: and then it leaked, which I think made it a
Speaker 1: million times worse because you know, you've you've got Jordan Poole,
Speaker 1: who's not he's not really a made man in the NBA.
Speaker 1: He's really still trying to figure it out, even though
Speaker 1: he's got this big contract. And you I think you're
Speaker 1: seeing some of those effects, like he's getting attacked defensively,
Speaker 1: he's offensively. He's now the focal point of scouting reports
Speaker 1: along with Steph, and I think it's affecting the way
Speaker 1: he played. Yet he had he went over five last
Speaker 1: night in twenty seven minutes. Oh, the zero is not
Speaker 1: an issue? Took five shots? Yeah, I mean, what are
Speaker 1: we doing here?
Speaker 4: That's that's insane? Two points on the night.
Speaker 2: The question, I think there's there's a lot of people
Speaker 2: who are fan base is, you know, fans of other teams,
Speaker 2: and they don't understand why Draymond is so important to
Speaker 2: this team, and they think that he's going to be
Speaker 2: gone and that this all signals that, especially considering that
Speaker 2: Steve Nash or Steve Nash, Steve Kerr comes out and
Speaker 2: Steph comes out during that Ramona Shellburn piece and says,
Speaker 2: you know, the ends, the end of everything is really hard.
Speaker 2: It's there's never anything good that goes with that. Does
Speaker 2: that mean to you that that Draymond's gone after this year?
Speaker 1: The answer is maybe, which is the right answer, which
Speaker 1: sucks because nobody wants to hear that on a show.
Speaker 1: I would say maybe, but my take, is this coming
Speaker 1: coming into the season, I would have said yes. I
Speaker 1: would have just said, hey, he's gone. You I know,
Speaker 1: Wiseman and Kaminga, this is before the season. You know,
Speaker 1: have a lot of promise, and they really haven't shown
Speaker 1: that yet. But maybe you think they get to some
Speaker 1: effecsimile of a defensive presence. You think that offensively, Jordan
Speaker 1: Poole Andrew Wiggins are going to be good enough along
Speaker 1: with Steph and Clay that you know it's gonna it's
Speaker 1: gonna help you overcome some of the Draymond ball handling
Speaker 1: and screening. Right, But you watch the first ten to
Speaker 1: fifteen games of the season, even though the Warriors are
Speaker 1: six and nine, They're not winning a championship without Draymond.
Speaker 1: They're not winning a playoff series without Draymond. And Steph
Speaker 1: knows that. Draymond knows that. Steve Kerr knows that. And
Speaker 1: I think that's where you start to see some of
Speaker 1: the issues with the Warriors where they're spending so much time, effort,
Speaker 1: and resources on someone like James Wiseman and frankly someone
Speaker 1: like Kaminga, and none of that's even come close to
Speaker 1: what we're not talking about, Like oh kamingas you know,
Speaker 1: he's looking good. He's he just needs more minutes to
Speaker 1: get there. It's like, no, he might just suck at basketball.
Speaker 1: And same with Wiseman, like he's so bad at basketball.
Speaker 1: He's in the G League, Like we're not we're not
Speaker 1: talking about Oh, he could play ten minutes and if
Speaker 1: he played, and his per thirty six is so good
Speaker 1: that if he plays thirty minutes, he's a star. Like
Speaker 1: the Warriors just need to give him that. No, he sucks,
Speaker 1: like he sucks. He needs to play in the G
Speaker 1: League to just try to be in the NBA four
Speaker 1: years from now. Because as of right now, James Wiseman
Speaker 1: playing in China four years from now, that's how bad
Speaker 1: he is. And things could change quick, right, Things could
Speaker 1: change quick, Like Jordan Poole, Things changed very fast. Jordan
Speaker 1: Pole is the worst player in the NBA year one.
Speaker 1: It changes fast. But as of right now, that's how
Speaker 1: bad those guys are. And if I were Draymond Green,
Speaker 1: I would I And it's not like he's having a great,
Speaker 1: great season, he's having a good season. I would just
Speaker 1: PLoP my tape on the table to Bob Myers and
Speaker 1: Joe Lake and be like, guys, look, I know you
Speaker 1: don't want to pay me, but what else are.
Speaker 2: You gonna do?
Speaker 1: You wha rebuild? Right that you're gonna rebuild, what else
Speaker 1: are you gonna do?
Speaker 2: There's people who think that it's the Warrior's fault that
Speaker 2: James Wiseman hasn't progressed.
Speaker 1: I think the Warrior system does him no favors. It's
Speaker 1: a very I wouldn't say like it's an intricate system,
Speaker 1: but it's a system that relies on basketball IQ, of
Speaker 1: which he has zero because of a few factors, right,
Speaker 1: I think because innately he doesn't have that type of
Speaker 1: IQ to play in the system. He also hasn't played
Speaker 1: many games in three years, so I think those are factors.
Speaker 1: He's definitely a guy that belongs in a more like
Speaker 1: a like a standard modern NBA offense where it's just
Speaker 1: pick and roll, pick and pop, that type of stuff
Speaker 1: where the Warriors don't really do that. The Warriors want
Speaker 1: you like you can see kaminga struggle with that a
Speaker 1: little bit. But I actually am bullish still on cominga
Speaker 1: because I do think he can figure that stuff out.
Speaker 1: It doesn't seem like Wiseman can figure that stuff out.
Speaker 1: On the Warriors. So I think, I to your point,
Speaker 1: that does him no favors. But I also think at
Speaker 1: the same time, you know, you gotta you gotta be
Speaker 1: better than that. Like the guy. The guy is so
Speaker 1: the guy is just so bad every time he steps
Speaker 1: on the floor offensively and defensively. It's it's jarring. It's
Speaker 1: actually it. It's making jokes about it. Legit makes you
Speaker 1: feel like a bad person.
Speaker 2: I said this his what was it twenty twenty twenty
Speaker 2: twenty one when we.
Speaker 4: First met and I said to you, guys, I said,
Speaker 4: he looks like.
Speaker 2: A deer in headlights and that joke was fine then.
Speaker 2: And now it's like twenty twenty two to twenty twenty three,
Speaker 2: and he still looks like a deer in headlights now,
Speaker 2: but now an entitled deer in headlights that wants the ball.
Speaker 4: You know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Your way to put it.
Speaker 4: It, does it feel like twenty twenty twenty one again exact?
Speaker 1: It's so for those right that that didn't watch the Warriors,
Speaker 1: that that was the season where Steph average thirty plus points.
Speaker 1: I think he averaged forty points on fifty to forty
Speaker 1: ninety for an entire month to get them to to
Speaker 1: get them to the playing game. He had to drag
Speaker 1: the Warriors to the playing game, playing next to kell
Speaker 1: ubray Ken Basmore JTA heavy minutes. Draymond Green kind of
Speaker 1: was in and out that season. He wasn't very good.
Speaker 1: Jordan Pool was young, so he was dragging like a
Speaker 1: band of misfit toys to the playing game where they
Speaker 1: lost to the Lakers and the Grizzlies. And and I'd
Speaker 1: argue that that Steph is playing better this season. He
Speaker 1: had fifty points last night, right, like I mentioned earlier,
Speaker 1: on literally like five shots, which is ridiculous. And he's
Speaker 1: dragging the Warriors. He's dragging the Warriors to wins at
Speaker 1: home against bad teams. I know the Kings are having
Speaker 1: a good season, but he's having to play out of
Speaker 1: his mind just to beat teams at home, and he's
Speaker 1: playing out of his mind on the road and they're
Speaker 1: not even coming close to win. They went zero to
Speaker 1: five on a road trip that they lost to Detroit,
Speaker 1: they lost Orlando, they lost to Charlotte. I mean, those
Speaker 1: are three of some of the worst teams in the NBA.
Speaker 1: They lost to all of them. And let me tell you,
Speaker 1: they weren't even close, Like, at no point in those
Speaker 1: games was a like, yeah, the Warriors are gonna be
Speaker 1: like they're gonna come back, like they choked some of
Speaker 1: those games. But it's this is a team that just
Speaker 1: is bad. They might be worse than twenty twenty twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one because they have better players. Clay's playing Wiggins
Speaker 1: is he's better, right, Jordan Poole is better and they're worse.
Speaker 1: It's it's actually impressive the way the Warriors are two
Speaker 1: in this It's actually impressive.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's crazy to me too, because if you look
Speaker 2: at offensively, they are tenth in offensive rating. But Steph
Speaker 2: is balling out to such a degree that if you
Speaker 2: were to take Steph and put him into like a
Speaker 2: regular night, like they would have scored one hundred and
Speaker 2: two points last night total, Right, They scored what one, yeah,
Speaker 2: one nineteen to one thirty. So without if Steph only
Speaker 2: scores instead of fifty, the scores you know, twenty seven,
Speaker 2: you don't even hit the hundred mark, right, and twenty
Speaker 2: seven is a pretty decent scoring night.
Speaker 4: Why do you think things look so stagnant?
Speaker 1: So as bad as I talked about the young kids
Speaker 1: being those kids didn't play last night and they went
Speaker 1: with a vet heavy rotation. And Klay Thompson and Jordan
Speaker 1: Pole have been awful. Klay Thompson's more awful than Jordan Poole.
Speaker 1: But you've got two shooting guards. One of them shoots
Speaker 1: too much on the other doesn't shoot. And that's really
Speaker 1: the If Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole played to the
Speaker 1: same level that they did last season, this team right
Speaker 1: now six to nine, probably nine and six, and they
Speaker 1: probably be nine and six, which is you know, you'd
Speaker 1: be asking me like, oh, do we panic about the Warriors,
Speaker 1: but you know, I'd say, like, no, not really right,
Speaker 1: they'll get better from there. But instead, those two dudes
Speaker 1: have been terrible and kind of to break down each one.
Speaker 1: Klay Thompson wants so bad for it to be twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: so bad it's like he's like that old uncle that
Speaker 1: wants to relive his college career or a high school career,
Speaker 1: and he wants to just you know, what's the point
Speaker 1: that it was Uncle Rico, Right, he's talking about how
Speaker 1: he wants to throw a pig skin of cord him out.
Speaker 1: He's talking about how he wants to be that guy again,
Speaker 1: and that's Klay Thompson, and you know, part of that
Speaker 1: is enduring and daring. I never, I never will slander
Speaker 1: Klay Thompson. That's my guy. That's every Warriors fans guy
Speaker 1: for obvious reasons, four titles towards Aco Achilles, all that.
Speaker 1: At the same time, he I think mentally is just
Speaker 1: not where he needs to be. And also he's out
Speaker 1: of shape. He didn't play at all in the offseason,
Speaker 1: and I think that's part of it. Jordan Poole, on
Speaker 1: the other hand, he's coming off the bench. He thinks
Speaker 1: he should start, and he's probably right, but he's not
Speaker 1: going to And when he comes off the bench, they're
Speaker 1: putting him with guys that he has to carry. And
Speaker 1: as a kid that's still trying to make it in
Speaker 1: the NBA, he's trying to figure out how to carry
Speaker 1: teammates rather than be the guy likely he was last
Speaker 1: season playing next to Auto Porter, playing next to G two,
Speaker 1: where he has a great defensive four round him, so
Speaker 1: he can just go out there and just get buckets right.
Speaker 1: He could just do his thing right. Now, it's like,
Speaker 1: how do I get guys involved? How do I figure
Speaker 1: stuff out? On defense, Well, GP two is not gonna
Speaker 1: save me. Andre Goodald's not out there to run the offense.
Speaker 1: I'm the guy that has to do all that. That
Speaker 1: makes life very difficult, which is why when you see
Speaker 1: him with the starting lineup where Draymond Wiggins and Steph
Speaker 1: are out there, he's going off. So those two guys
Speaker 1: are the biggest problem. And then outside of that, I
Speaker 1: think that's the offensive issue. And then outside of that,
Speaker 1: I think defensively, they just they don't have enough smart players.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's what happens when you've got seven kids
Speaker 1: on the team that are like twenty one. I don't
Speaker 1: know what I was doing at twenty one, but I
Speaker 1: definitely wasn't smart. So these guys definitely aren't. And it's
Speaker 1: it's I mean, it's obvious.
Speaker 2: This is what I think is happening with Clay. I
Speaker 2: want you to tell me whether you think this is right.
Speaker 2: Because it was averaging seventeen three and two.
Speaker 3: In the finals.
Speaker 4: That's pretty good.
Speaker 2: It's not twenty nineteen Clay, but that's a serviceable claim.
Speaker 2: And defensively he played pretty well against Jalen Brown. He
Speaker 2: wasn't you know, two way Strapham Clay but he was
Speaker 2: pretty good.
Speaker 4: But this is what I think happened.
Speaker 2: I think that the trauma from the injury bled into
Speaker 2: the off season because that gets you back to that
Speaker 2: place again, and you're like, I don't want to injure
Speaker 2: myself in a pickup run, so I don't play. I
Speaker 2: just don't play and pick up runs because I associate
Speaker 2: pickup runs with tearing, something tearing and Achilles being out
Speaker 2: for another year again, so his conditioning declines, and then
Speaker 2: because his conditioning declines, his play automatically declines as well,
Speaker 2: and everybody notices, and everybody says and points it out.
Speaker 4: Clay is not the same, play is not the same.
Speaker 2: He sucks now, and then emotionally he spirals from there
Speaker 2: because he wants to get back to that place, but
Speaker 2: he also wants the respect from the people for what
Speaker 2: he's already done and some grace to get him back
Speaker 2: to where he wants to go. And then emotionally he
Speaker 2: sort of spirals, and then he's now pressing to show
Speaker 2: the world he's still elite when he's really not elite
Speaker 2: right now because of all those things.
Speaker 4: Do you think that's right?
Speaker 1: I would agree, I would agree. I think it is
Speaker 1: a spiral spiral effect from from I think just not
Speaker 1: being ready to play bask It's it's a little shocking
Speaker 1: because I do think if it's some this mental stuff
Speaker 1: I think affects everyone. I would say, like, if it
Speaker 1: was one person that I thought it would affect, it
Speaker 1: would be Clay, just because kind of the shooter mentality.
Speaker 1: He's always had the calmness, the poise. It's why he
Speaker 1: made eleven threes in Okay see Game six. It's why
Speaker 1: he's Game six Clay. It's why he pulled the Warriors
Speaker 1: out of so many situations. It's the mental toughness. But
Speaker 1: there's always going to be things I think that all
Speaker 1: humans are going to struggle with, and I think that's
Speaker 1: what Clay struggled with. And it's also shocking because this
Speaker 1: is coming out, like you said, after what he did
Speaker 1: in the NBA Finals, he came back. He actually led
Speaker 1: the Warriors in minutes, which is insane. I thought he
Speaker 1: was back coming into this. You know, my co host
Speaker 1: Samus Fendiari and I thought that. You know, we we
Speaker 1: were bullish. We were like, well, Clay's gonna come back
Speaker 1: and he's going to be nice like last season he
Speaker 1: was seventy five percent. He's gonna come back, he's gonna
Speaker 1: be eighty five percent of what he has, and right
Speaker 1: now he's like fifty percent of what he was before.
Speaker 1: And I I didn't I didn't see that coming. And
Speaker 1: then you you compound that, like you said, with the
Speaker 1: fact that he just go and keep shooting. And for
Speaker 1: the first time last night, I know that Stephan Draymond
Speaker 1: has talked to him about being having a better shot selection.
Speaker 1: But that's what makes Clay clay. He's just gonna shoot
Speaker 1: that stuff. But I think for the first time last
Speaker 1: night we saw Steph and Draymond. They were they were
Speaker 1: they were exasperated, and they showed it on the court,
Speaker 1: which you never see from Steph. You see from Draymond
Speaker 1: every day, but you never see from Steph. And that
Speaker 1: that's where it's that's concerning to me. Yeah, they lost
Speaker 1: to Phoenix. They lost the Phoenix. Fine, I mean they
Speaker 1: do that. Phoenix is a good regular season team. But
Speaker 1: it's the it's you look at this team and you
Speaker 1: look at how they are mentally and you're like, Ooh,
Speaker 1: I don't know if they're gonna make it back from this.
Speaker 1: And if they do make it back from this? How
Speaker 1: good can they actually be when they do make it
Speaker 1: back from this. It's a lot going on with this team,
Speaker 1: and you know, almost it almost feels like a Lebron
Speaker 1: team where I think Steph is gonna have to go
Speaker 1: into to Bob and Joe's office at some point and
Speaker 1: just say, hey, we gotta, we gotta, we gotta do
Speaker 1: some drastic which is what Lebron would do and uh,
Speaker 1: which is what he's good at. I think, uh, Steph
Speaker 1: doesn't do that. But I think Steph also looks at
Speaker 1: his basketball mortality and says, I got two years, like
Speaker 1: I could win five. Yeah, maybe I could win five championships.
Speaker 1: You're telling me I could be on the on the
Speaker 1: Kobe level championships. I could. I could go one up
Speaker 1: on Broun, because Bron's definitely not winning one right in
Speaker 1: the next few seasons. He's like, Dude, I could win
Speaker 1: five and be a mortal forever. And I'm not freaking
Speaker 1: wasting my time with the crap shit I have around me. Right,
Speaker 1: So he's not gonna request a train. It's not what
Speaker 1: I mean. But it's like, what can we get for Wiseman? Yeah,
Speaker 1: what do we get for Kaminga.
Speaker 2: You know, do you think that urgency actually exists for
Speaker 2: him right this second, or do you forecast that that
Speaker 2: urgency to have that move be made and to have
Speaker 2: that conversation is something that's going to take place in
Speaker 2: the future.
Speaker 1: I think both. Actually, I do think there's urgency right now.
Speaker 1: They're six and nine. I mean, they're not that far
Speaker 1: out from home court advantage. I think they're only a
Speaker 1: couple of games. But it's like, you watch the team,
Speaker 1: just watch them. They're not a not a whole court team.
Speaker 1: All you gotta do is just watch them for ten minutes.
Speaker 1: And and I and I think the trade down line
Speaker 1: is in the February. So it's Valentine's Day, right, So
Speaker 1: it's sometime in February, So they got they got some time.
Speaker 1: But they act though, I mean, are they going to
Speaker 1: be five hundred? I think they know they need to
Speaker 1: make a move. I think they know that. I think
Speaker 1: they know that. I think it's not even urgency. I
Speaker 1: think it's just fact they're not they're not winning the
Speaker 1: championship as is. But what is the move? Do they
Speaker 1: trade Wiseman for G two?
Speaker 4: We don't want him, we don't want him.
Speaker 1: I think that's that I don't want him, hasn't played yet.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we don't want Wiseman. We know what wise Man.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Portland has incredible vibes. I watched some of the
Speaker 1: Portland games the last few weeks. Simon's better than McCollum.
Speaker 1: Do you have a higher ceiling than McCollum.
Speaker 2: I think so because he's six five six six instead.
Speaker 4: Of like six three.
Speaker 2: And then I think Shaden Sharp's upside is just ridiculous. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I what fourteen points in twelve minutes the other night.
Speaker 1: Yeah, just sick.
Speaker 4: And Jeremy Grant's a lot better than I thought too
Speaker 4: on this team specifically, And I think because you guys
Speaker 4: would love some Jeremy Grant right now.
Speaker 6: So Jeremy Grant.
Speaker 1: Is it interesting? So I've thought about this. Jeremy Grant,
Speaker 1: I think is a classic. I think Cominga is going
Speaker 1: to go through this, and which is why I'm not
Speaker 1: bullish on some of the kids. As a warrior. Jeremy
Speaker 1: Grant went to Detroit to do two things right. He
Speaker 1: got his money and he got his buckets. And I
Speaker 1: think when you look at someone like Jonathan Kaminga, Johnathan
Speaker 1: Mingo wants two things right now. He doesn't want to sacrifice.
Speaker 1: He doesn't want to he doesn't want to play team
Speaker 1: winning basketball. And I get it, right, I get it.
Speaker 1: He thinks he's a lot better than than what he
Speaker 1: should be doing on the Warriors. He wants to get
Speaker 1: his contract and he wants to get buckets. You look
Speaker 1: at someone like Jalen Green's same thing, right, they get
Speaker 1: free reign to do whatever they want. But then you're
Speaker 1: talking about the third team, so you're talking about the
Speaker 1: team after that. So now Jeremy Grant's on Portland and
Speaker 1: he's saying, you know what, I got my money, I
Speaker 1: got my points. I'm trying to win. And I think
Speaker 1: that guys like Wiseman and Kaminga are like six years
Speaker 1: away from that. They need to understand that they're not
Speaker 1: good enough to carry a team like that and win.
Speaker 1: And I think Jeremy Grant realized that he knows that
Speaker 1: he's not good enough to be that guy. So he's like, cool,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go back and I'm gonna I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: this guy with port that. I think that's what Cominga's
Speaker 1: career arc is. It's a standard career arc for a
Speaker 1: lot of NBA players, because not all NBA players are superstars, right,
Speaker 1: So that's that's the predicament. I think the Warriors.
Speaker 4: And he said.
Speaker 2: Something to in this article that I just read that
Speaker 2: was so I thought, so self aware. He's he's basically saying,
Speaker 2: I'm not the fact that I can't get buckets and
Speaker 2: be the number one scoring option. But I can't be
Speaker 2: the leader of a team like I can't make sure
Speaker 2: everyone's good. I can't be the focal point of a
Speaker 2: team like I can get buckets, but ultimately I need
Speaker 2: someone else Otherwise I'm gonna draw double teams and I'm
Speaker 2: gonna be garbage.
Speaker 4: And there's not that.
Speaker 2: And he said it gave him a lot of respect
Speaker 2: for guys who are actually true number ones. To realize
Speaker 2: I thought I was a number one. I wanted to
Speaker 2: be a number one. I wanted to be paid like
Speaker 2: a number one. And you know what, I realized, I'm
Speaker 2: not a number one. But he can guard point guards,
Speaker 2: and he he protects Dame from a defensive standpoint to
Speaker 2: the point where this is a top five defensive.
Speaker 4: Team in the league. Right now, are they, Wow, that's
Speaker 4: sixth in defensive rating.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's I mean, isn't that what angel. Isn't that
Speaker 1: what happened to Andrew Wiggins? Yeah, I mean that's exactly
Speaker 1: what happened to Andrew Wiggins. Who I mean, he's that
Speaker 1: guy that protects Steph defensively. Well, Steph is actually pretty good,
Speaker 1: so he protects Jordan Pool defensively now, So it's like
Speaker 1: he's the guy that realized I can't be the number
Speaker 1: one option. I just I can't, It's not possible. Now
Speaker 1: he became a Warrior and second best player on a
Speaker 1: championship team. I mean, just simply put right. And so
Speaker 1: I think to pull it back to the Warriors, you
Speaker 1: can't cheat development and life lessons for these guys. You
Speaker 1: can't tell someone this like Andre Goodala for all he
Speaker 1: can do, he can only tell Kaminga all these things.
Speaker 1: Kaminga has to go through it, right. It's just it's
Speaker 1: just like life. You know, your boys or your girl
Speaker 1: can only tell you you know that guy's not good
Speaker 1: for you or that girl so many times, but you
Speaker 1: gotta go through it for you to actually realize that
Speaker 1: or not. And I think it's that's what makes that's
Speaker 1: what's making this so hard for the Warriors, which I
Speaker 1: don't think they want to cut bait on these guys.
Speaker 1: They definitely don't on Wiseman, Cominga and Moody. But man,
Speaker 1: if you're talking about the chance to win a fifth
Speaker 1: title versus the chance of maybe sort of being competitive
Speaker 1: four years from now, that's now. This is where the
Speaker 1: time two timelines are actually hurting the Warriors.
Speaker 6: I don't know.
Speaker 1: Last year it wasn't a victory for the two timelines
Speaker 1: because at the end of the day, the Warriors could
Speaker 1: just say, dude, we got eight nine ten veterans. We
Speaker 1: can just go with those guys who win a championship. Now,
Speaker 1: they tried to go with those two timelines, and it's ugly.
Speaker 4: It's ugly.
Speaker 2: I remember talking to I want to say, it was
Speaker 2: either MoU or can't Lake up, two guys that are
Speaker 2: high up in the Warriors organization, and they said, if
Speaker 2: Moody and Kaminga aren't good this season, we are not
Speaker 2: going to be good. And I remember being like, Wow,
Speaker 2: that's a that's not good from the actual horse's mouth.
Speaker 4: To hear that one thing.
Speaker 2: To hear, like, you know, some Golden State blog say that, right,
Speaker 2: It's another thing to hear the owner's son say that,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 4: And that's kind of what I feel like is happening.
Speaker 2: You know, all these different role players who are young
Speaker 2: and all the ones that departed off the championship team
Speaker 2: that I kind of wanted to get your thoughts about.
Speaker 2: You lose Biolichia, you lose Damian Lee, GP two, obviously,
Speaker 2: Otto Porter, JTA.
Speaker 4: Who do you who do you think the Warriors miss most?
Speaker 6: Dude?
Speaker 1: They miss all of them. I mean, I'm gonna give
Speaker 1: you an answer, but they so here. Here's what overall
Speaker 1: the problem. I mean, there's a lot of issues, but
Speaker 1: one of the big, big, big issues is that Damian
Speaker 1: Lee and JTA. I made fun of them a lot.
Speaker 1: They're ready to hoop at all times. They're ready to
Speaker 1: come in there, and it's a it's a mid November
Speaker 1: game and they're just coming out there. They're like, yo,
Speaker 1: let's go, like I'm gonna give you eight minutes, but
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you eight minutes, right, And Kamingo's like,
Speaker 1: I'm coming in here, I'll give you eight. And it's
Speaker 1: maybe I'm kind of sticking off half the time, and
Speaker 1: you know, I'm trying to he doesn't even know what's
Speaker 1: going on out there. JT and Damien Lee. The two
Speaker 1: worst guys though the five you mentioned are and they're
Speaker 1: ready to go. And the Warriors missed that. They missed
Speaker 1: players that are willing to sacrifice. They miss players that
Speaker 1: know how to play defense. They missed players that can
Speaker 1: do all that. Now, now, of those, I think when
Speaker 1: you talk about missing defense, they missed Jake GP two
Speaker 1: the most they do. You can argue whether it's GP
Speaker 1: two or Arto Porter, but I think it's GP two.
Speaker 1: They miss a guy that is a absolute game changer defensively,
Speaker 1: and he papered over a lot of the mistakes that
Speaker 1: Klay Thompson made, a lot of the mistakes that Jordan
Speaker 1: Poole made, and he just gave the Warriors another guy
Speaker 1: that made him that made them a lethal defense. The
Speaker 1: Warriors were the best defense in the NBA when they
Speaker 1: could put GP two out there. They put GP two,
Speaker 1: Clay Draymond Loony and Wiggins out there. I mean, my god,
Speaker 1: I mean that was that thing had Celtics in a chokal.
Speaker 1: The Celtics look like a I mean, they look like
Speaker 1: a JV team trying to dribble against GP two and
Speaker 1: and Wiggins and those guys. Right, So I think they
Speaker 1: miss him the most. And I think to your point
Speaker 1: about Kent Lakeup saying Moody and Kaminga need to play well,
Speaker 1: I think they they thought that Kaminga would be that,
Speaker 1: like some version of GP two whards like I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna be a dog and just hound guys and finish
Speaker 1: at the rim and just have that mindset. But Cominga
Speaker 1: doesn't have that mindset, right, And and then Moody is
Speaker 1: another guy that I think is just not He's not
Speaker 1: fast enough. He's not he's not quick enough to be
Speaker 1: that defensively and then offensively, uh, he shoots too much.
Speaker 1: And I think you put you put those two guys in,
Speaker 1: they just don't have the willingness to sacrifice an i
Speaker 1: Q offensively and defensively. So I think they missed GP two,
Speaker 1: which is why, which is why I think you know
Speaker 1: they're talking about saying like, hey, I don't think it'll happen,
Speaker 1: like you said, only why would Portland do it? They're
Speaker 1: not rebuilding. Although I think you know nurkicch wise man,
Speaker 1: I don't know. Maybe that's the maybe that's your future center.
Speaker 1: But yeah, right, I don't know if Dame would actually
Speaker 1: I don't know Dame is very Steph like. Actually, but
Speaker 1: they missed Chip two. They Dante DiVincenzo was real. He's
Speaker 1: actually really good for the Warriors. They need more. The
Speaker 1: more they have, the Warriors of the worst defense of
Speaker 1: the NBA, and it matches the eye test every second.
Speaker 4: It's yeah, twenty fifth, but it looks like the bottom
Speaker 4: of the bottom. Honestly. There's obviously trade deadline talks all
Speaker 4: this stuff.
Speaker 2: Who who do you think besides KD the Warriors could
Speaker 2: actually pick up that would help this team outside of
Speaker 2: like a collection of you know, role players like Jay
Speaker 2: Crowder and things like that, because I think about maybe
Speaker 2: Julius Randall, I think about Miles Turner, maybe some other
Speaker 2: guys like Yakub Pardle.
Speaker 1: You just just glossed over. You just said, you know,
Speaker 1: outside of KD, like like like that's a like that's
Speaker 1: a realistic I don't think.
Speaker 2: That's a realistic possibility. That's why we're just like and
Speaker 2: that's why we're just kind of putting it to the side.
Speaker 1: I wonder if it is. I wonder, I wonder if
Speaker 1: I don't know, I wonder if it is. I think
Speaker 1: that when when Durant first came to the Warriors. You
Speaker 1: could argue that not good for him, and maybe it
Speaker 1: wasn't good for the Warriors overall. Just from an optics perspective,
Speaker 1: obviously I loved it. I think it was great. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Then the then KD goes to Brooklyn and we know
Speaker 1: how that's gone, and the Warriors win another championship. So
Speaker 1: wouldn't make sense for the Warriors to do it again
Speaker 1: right this offseason when we're Katie requested the trade. But
Speaker 1: now you're looking at both teams and you're like, from
Speaker 1: an optics perspective, win win when they both need each other.
Speaker 1: You know, I think back to the to the to
Speaker 1: the Avengers. I think back to Thanos, you know, you
Speaker 1: know Kat's coming back to the Warriors. The Warriors are
Speaker 1: coming back to KD. You know what I mean, Like
Speaker 1: this is a perfect match I think at this point
Speaker 1: in their career to put those two guys together again,
Speaker 1: I don't care who you give up, because a shit,
Speaker 1: just just give it up, right but who? But but
Speaker 1: now you can argue the Warriors are six and nine,
Speaker 1: they're not winning like this, so go get them. And
Speaker 1: Katie's sitting there and he just he just talked about
Speaker 1: how he had to play with Edmunds something like quoting
Speaker 1: guys by name and saying how bad. Just I know
Speaker 1: he didn't mean it like that. Katie never really does,
Speaker 1: but sheeesh right, And so I mean that's the fit. Yes,
Speaker 1: we can talk about Yaka Pearle. I think that'd be
Speaker 1: a good fit. You know, I think I think maybe
Speaker 1: uh Sadik bay or Bojan Bogdanovic. Maybe those guys are
Speaker 1: good fits. On Detroit. You can talk about you know,
Speaker 1: you mentioned Jay Crowder. There are some maybe some wings.
Speaker 1: I think the Warriors kind of need a wing right now.
Speaker 1: But end of the day, man like is Kevin is Katie?
Speaker 1: Is that not the move? Like would you trade Wiseman
Speaker 1: for Yaka Purdle?
Speaker 6: I don't.
Speaker 1: I would, but I don't know if the Warriors would.
Speaker 1: They're sitting there and they're like, well why, like like
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to sign him again, like Doc Prdos
Speaker 1: may not even close games in the playoffs, Like what's
Speaker 1: the What's kind of not what's the point, but like
Speaker 1: how much does he actually make us better? And I'm
Speaker 1: giving up a guy that maybe I'm still high on
Speaker 1: who has a high upside. Number two pick all of
Speaker 1: that so I think, to me, it comes back down.
Speaker 1: I mean, if they're gonna make a trade, I still
Speaker 1: don't really think they're gonna make a trade. If they're
Speaker 1: gonna make a trade, it's gonna be for Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: like that. That's what That's what I would say, like
Speaker 1: Joe and Bob like that's the one where, without a doubt,
Speaker 1: if there is an inkling of Katie wants it to happen,
Speaker 1: steph wants it to happen. And I don't mention any
Speaker 1: of the names for a reason. If Stephan Katy wanted
Speaker 1: to happen, like I think that's the one that well
Speaker 1: that that could happen.
Speaker 2: What's interesting to me about that is I said to
Speaker 2: someone who was around the Warriors organization in a high
Speaker 2: capacity no longer is, and I said, where do you
Speaker 2: think Katie ends up?
Speaker 4: This is summer League. Where do you think Katie ends up?
Speaker 4: Where do you think he?
Speaker 2: Uh?
Speaker 4: And he goes, well, I know where he.
Speaker 2: Wants to go, And I go where Phoenix like Toronto,
Speaker 2: and he goes he wants to go back to Golden State.
Speaker 2: And I go, you think so? And he goes, I know,
Speaker 2: so I'm one hundred percent positive. I spoke with KD
Speaker 2: about this and then you know, he changes his mind
Speaker 2: so fast so often, but that and I wouldn't.
Speaker 4: I don't think this person would lie.
Speaker 2: This person's you know, cream of the crop in terms
Speaker 2: of integrity, So that.
Speaker 4: Has surfaced through his mind at least one time, you know.
Speaker 1: I don't. It doesn't surprise, It doesn't surprise I didn't
Speaker 1: know that, but it doesn't surprise me, right, I think
Speaker 1: for someone like him to realize you don't know what
Speaker 1: you have until it's now gone. I think there were
Speaker 1: like different reasons. Again, like I think part of the
Speaker 1: reasons that made him so miserable at Golden State was
Speaker 1: less so about Golden State but what people were saying
Speaker 1: about him, what his own colleagues were saying about him.
Speaker 1: Clay had a quote that you know, I don't really
Speaker 1: care what media says about me. I care about what
Speaker 1: my what my peers say about me. And I think
Speaker 1: Clay's Clays his peers love him. I think I think
Speaker 1: players love him, and I think that's you know, Clay
Speaker 1: is always going to be secure in that. I think
Speaker 1: part of Katie's insecurity is that is that, you know,
Speaker 1: some players feel that he took the easy way out,
Speaker 1: and I think that's what always made the run at
Speaker 1: Golden State tough. But now I think this is the opportunity,
Speaker 1: uh for for I mean it's it's it's a fairy
Speaker 1: tale ending story for Warriors fans, right, And so I
Speaker 1: think I just think it's it's almost like Lebron going
Speaker 1: back to Cleveland. It's not the same because that was
Speaker 1: objectively a great story and a great ending. But if
Speaker 1: you're durrant and and you have the opportunity to say,
Speaker 1: you know what, I can get out of Brooklyn and
Speaker 1: also I can save Golden State, I mean, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's a perfect story. I think the Warriors would do it.
Speaker 1: I just the second question after that is like, so
Speaker 1: is it gonna be Draymond? Is it gonna be Clay?
Speaker 1: Can't be Wiggans, Who's gonna be?
Speaker 4: Could Wiggins?
Speaker 1: It Couldah's that's tough, right because you know I'm sitting
Speaker 1: here and I'm like, I would say Wiggins too, but
Speaker 1: you know he he took a pay cut for the team.
Speaker 1: And I think part of what the war like, part
Speaker 1: of what good organizations do is is you don't you
Speaker 1: don't wanna you don't want to say, hey, you know,
Speaker 1: you took a pay cut and now we're gonna send
Speaker 1: you to Brooklyn a shitty situation. I think that's tough.
Speaker 1: I think Bob Meyer is not someone that would do that.
Speaker 1: But again it's like, well they do that to Clay,
Speaker 1: you know what, They're gonna send him over there. So
Speaker 1: Draymond's probably your best bet, right because Draymond's the guy
Speaker 1: where you'll probably have the most friction with with the
Speaker 1: front office.
Speaker 4: Raymond kaminga Wiseman picks.
Speaker 1: I think so, Yeah, I think so. And you know,
Speaker 1: Draymond can't yell a KD anymore, and Draymond can't punch Pool.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, it comes back down to this, though,
Speaker 1: can you win a championship without that guy as your
Speaker 1: defensive anchor? I don't, I actually don't. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: you got Stephan Katie, it solves you know, ninety percent
Speaker 1: of your problems. But I'll scoring.
Speaker 2: Wiggans and if you're not giving up Wiggins, then you
Speaker 2: still have Wiggins and Katie and Clay and possibly Steph
Speaker 2: and Pool and probably a collection of other role players
Speaker 2: that you'll get for nothing at the deadline, you know,
Speaker 2: And lousy yeah, and moody yeah, moody y or yeah
Speaker 2: looney yeah looney.
Speaker 4: So I did a thing.
Speaker 2: With locked On, like a cross promotion, and I previewed
Speaker 2: I don't know if you know this. I previewed like
Speaker 2: all the NBA teams, and uh, it was on all
Speaker 2: these different lockdown feeds, So I was listening to different
Speaker 2: locked on fees just to make sure that it was
Speaker 2: like in there.
Speaker 4: So I was listening to the Golden State locked on
Speaker 4: feed and I don't really think much of it at all.
Speaker 2: Until, uh, you guys got cut got strays from this
Speaker 2: same guy.
Speaker 4: He came after you guys for what reason? Like is it?
Speaker 4: What's the is there a backstory here? It was just
Speaker 4: so unwarranted.
Speaker 1: I don't know how you get dragged into these things.
Speaker 1: You know, it's you got the KD stuff where where
Speaker 1: you know? He did he? You know, he didn't like
Speaker 1: me for whatever reason. And I always go, you know,
Speaker 1: Katie never talked to me, you guys know that, right
Speaker 1: like he he never he never even acknowledged me. I
Speaker 1: don't take I don't this is not my fifteen minutes
Speaker 1: of fame. I don't even you know, I like the
Speaker 1: guy the guy seems cool, he seems nice. Never I never. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know him and he doesn't know me. So
Speaker 1: this really has nothing to do with us. But you know,
Speaker 1: people like drama. I like drama actually, so I'm not
Speaker 1: even gonna I like drama. I like chaos. I like
Speaker 1: watching you know, love is Blind. It's it's my shit.
Speaker 1: This stuff was was funny. So here here's what I
Speaker 1: think happened. I do think, you know, if you don't
Speaker 1: already subscribe to the light Years podcast, I think there's
Speaker 1: a lot of uh in Warriors Twitter Warriors fandom that
Speaker 1: people because it's so passionate and the Warriors are so good,
Speaker 1: people tend to take different places, to take different stances.
Speaker 1: And I think there's a lot of fans that say, well,
Speaker 1: you can't you can't criticize James Wiseman. He's too young,
Speaker 1: he's this and that. You got to be a real
Speaker 1: Warriors fan and cheer for the team. And then you've
Speaker 1: got the segment that are like, you know, we're gonna
Speaker 1: stand behind Klay Thompson and this and that, and trust
Speaker 1: the front office no matter what, and and and all this,
Speaker 1: And I think there's a lot of fan policing that
Speaker 1: goes on, and I think people get really annoyed and
Speaker 1: jealous of Salmini's show because we just, you know, we
Speaker 1: just tend to screw around and have fun. And I
Speaker 1: think people a lot of people take this more seriously
Speaker 1: than they should. And I'm always like, we're just We're
Speaker 1: just you know, dudes or women, you know, just sitting
Speaker 1: behind some mics and chopping the shit up. And I
Speaker 1: think people take it too serious. So guys obviously emotional,
Speaker 1: it's obviously jealous of the light Years podcast. It's fine,
Speaker 1: it's oh my.
Speaker 6: Dude, guys, I'm out, Yeah, I have I have a
Speaker 6: guess as to who Andy was talking about.
Speaker 2: Do you think there's this like dislike by old school
Speaker 2: media to this non media coverage that happens to be
Speaker 2: wildly popular and successful, especially on the places where it
Speaker 2: matters most like social media.
Speaker 6: I think I only see it from people who are
Speaker 6: in old media who are unsuccessful, because Andy and I
Speaker 6: have great relationships with a lot of the more senior
Speaker 6: writers who are doing very well. They hop on our show.
Speaker 6: They get what we do. You know, they treat us
Speaker 6: like we're just another like radio show or talk show
Speaker 6: that they go on. They understand it's a good way
Speaker 6: to you know, get their content out there to the masses.
Speaker 6: It's really only like the subset of people who are
Speaker 6: insecure about their own job and you know, maybe are
Speaker 6: not all read, or maybe or not resonating that seem
Speaker 6: to to have this beef.
Speaker 1: Sam and I just have fun. We don't. We don't
Speaker 1: take it. We like hearing from fans. We don't agree.
Speaker 1: I don't even agree with Sam half the time. But
Speaker 1: doesn't really matter, right, I think a lot of the times,
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of media, Yeah, a lot
Speaker 1: of media, don't. They just want people to agree with them.
Speaker 1: They're just like, hey, like we we want people. We
Speaker 1: we feel like we are smarter than you and what
Speaker 1: we say is more important. Whereas I do think Sam
Speaker 1: and I said Aaron, we're just like nah, we just
Speaker 1: or at least for me, I just say shit, like hey,
Speaker 1: whether people like it or not, I don't really care.
Speaker 1: I would just say stuff and it just turns out
Speaker 1: people like hearing it, and I never I will never
Speaker 1: say I'm right obviously when I'm right. I'll say I'm
Speaker 1: right when I'm wrong. I never say anything obviously. But
Speaker 1: outside of that, I think we.
Speaker 6: I obviously believe what I say is true. That doesn't
Speaker 6: mean I have one hundred percent hit right, like like
Speaker 6: like everyone else, I have my missus, you know, like
Speaker 6: the hobbyist one would be like Andrew Wiggins. I did
Speaker 6: not his play coming around the way. I thought it
Speaker 6: was like it's life.
Speaker 2: You know, you guys were very mad at me when
Speaker 2: I said James Wiseman was a deer in headlights and
Speaker 2: would never develop.
Speaker 4: And here we are two years later and you.
Speaker 6: Guys are now called your shot early. I mean, I'll
Speaker 6: give my one. Wiseman take nothing. I don't think he
Speaker 6: wants to be a center. I think he thinks he's
Speaker 6: a guard. I think watching him and it's just frustrating
Speaker 6: because it's like they want him to do center things
Speaker 6: and you see all he wants to do is like
Speaker 6: try to be Kevin Durant.
Speaker 2: What are you guys most optimistic about Steph winning the MVP.
Speaker 1: You know that it's so far that at that point,
Speaker 1: like I don't don't it'd be cool, but I don't care.
Speaker 1: It also probably means the Warriors like the Warriors, Steph
Speaker 1: winning the m v P probably means that he scored.
Speaker 1: I mean we're watching it. He's scoring a lot of points.
Speaker 1: Stats are great, but the team sucks. Team sucks, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know Sam Will. It's it's a
Speaker 1: dark time in the Bay Area, which is sad that
Speaker 1: just want a championship four months ago.
Speaker 6: I would say the reason to be optimistic is their
Speaker 6: starting lineup still kind of kills most teams. So like, yes,
Speaker 6: they're not going to win a title with this roster,
Speaker 6: but they need to tweak the bench, which I think
Speaker 6: is easier than being like, yeah, we need like another superstar.
Speaker 6: You know, that's a little harder. So like, if I
Speaker 6: was to hold on to optimism, it's like they should
Speaker 6: be able to find an auto porter or you know,
Speaker 6: someone like that in the trade market, and potentially that's
Speaker 6: the kind of thing that gets them move in a
Speaker 6: good direction. But I don't even know if I believe that.
Speaker 6: So that's just me. That's just me. You're asking me,
Speaker 6: give me the optimistics, but that's my optimistics.
Speaker 2: Do you think that a valuable defensive role player unlocks
Speaker 2: Jordan Pool or does Jordan Pool psyche command.
Speaker 4: Him to start?
Speaker 6: I think if you put smarter players around him who
Speaker 6: can defend, he will look more like the Jordan Poole
Speaker 6: we saw last year. He played really well off the
Speaker 6: bench last year. He also played well as a starter,
Speaker 6: and like ninety percent of the reason he plays well
Speaker 6: as the starters because who do they have in the
Speaker 6: starting lineup? Smart defenders? Also also Steph. Everyone plays better
Speaker 6: with Steph. But it's like, yeah, playing next to Wiggins,
Speaker 6: Draymond Looney, that type of stuff, Like it's different than
Speaker 6: play next to Anthony Lamb, who no one knew about
Speaker 6: a month ago, and whatever, you know, non voting age youngster.
Speaker 6: They want to throw out there with him.
Speaker 2: Right, Reddit Warriors asked me for my next my I
Speaker 2: think they had the next twelve games, but the next ten.
Speaker 2: How many wins do you think? What do you think
Speaker 2: the record is?
Speaker 6: What you do?
Speaker 1: I don't even have to look at the schedule, I
Speaker 1: because because the Warriors could lose to I mean, it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter who you play. They lost a freaking They've
Speaker 1: lost to Charlotte without them like they can watched.
Speaker 4: Them lose that Detroit game in Detroit. For that forty
Speaker 4: was in the building.
Speaker 1: He wasn't Detroit.
Speaker 4: Why forty came to watch you guys lose through the Pistons.
Speaker 1: And by the way, they weren't closing that game, like
Speaker 1: they didn't have a shot forty.
Speaker 6: Came to watch Isaiah Stewart emasculate James Wiseman nice.
Speaker 1: I would say, like five and five, yeah, bro.
Speaker 6: I go five and five two. This this team just
Speaker 6: screams five hundred. It's like Steph goes for fifty and
Speaker 6: maybe it's enough and maybe it's not. He has to go.
Speaker 1: For forty to be the Kings at home, Like I
Speaker 1: just I can't get It's just you're watching that and
Speaker 1: you're so happy because your Steph is so amazing, But
Speaker 1: at the same time, the back of your head, you're
Speaker 1: just like that's what they needed. That, that's what they
Speaker 1: needed to do that seven, which is eight.
Speaker 4: How do they get the good vibes back? How do
Speaker 4: we get the like happiness vibes back?
Speaker 1: No one's happy, right, No one's well.
Speaker 6: Bring back one to Scott Anderson. Where's Kent Bazemore.
Speaker 1: At I'm seriously.
Speaker 6: Honestly though, like that's who embraced being bench vets and
Speaker 6: don't really give a shit about their stats because they
Speaker 6: know that like their role is to be the good
Speaker 6: vibes guy. Probably would help instead of a bunch of
Speaker 6: kids who are like but hurt. They're not getting the
Speaker 6: minutes they think they deserve. And I can't even I
Speaker 6: can't even blame the kids in some ways. It's like
Speaker 6: it's you've created a very untenable situation by like by
Speaker 6: merging the two and it's hard enough, you know, So.
Speaker 4: Fine, what does fine mean? This fine mean playoffs? This
Speaker 4: fine mean finals? Does fine mean? What?
Speaker 6: Uh? Contending? Uh? They want to they want a title?
Speaker 6: Last year? Like, is anyone gonna be content with like
Speaker 6: Steph got him to the first round?
Speaker 4: No shot?
Speaker 6: You know, it's just like it's you you know that
Speaker 6: there's a core of a title team here, like they
Speaker 6: did it with at least six of these players. They
Speaker 6: just need to, you know, figure it out around those guys.
Speaker 6: It's my bigger thing, Steph.
Speaker 1: I think this is the year Steph is going to
Speaker 1: ask for change, like he's I was. I was saying
Speaker 1: it earlier. Sam. He knows it's only it's one year left,
Speaker 1: two years left. There's not much left in the tank
Speaker 1: for Steph Curry. I know, we think he can go
Speaker 1: to forty, but there's not much left in the tank.
Speaker 1: It's the Lebron. It's like the Lebron there's two three
Speaker 1: years left and if he wins five, I mean, you know.
Speaker 6: Well, and that's the and that's the larger point. Fuck
Speaker 6: them kids, even if they drafted correctly, even if they okay, So,
Speaker 6: who's the best player available Number two? Probably LaMelo who
Speaker 6: is the best player available at well? Either way or
Speaker 6: like you know, Franz Wagner the following year. Neither of
Speaker 6: those guys are ever going to be Steph Curry. And
Speaker 6: that's kind of the point. Even if they nailed those
Speaker 6: picks and they were productive players, this team's in better position.
Speaker 6: This is probably the best player that's ever going to
Speaker 6: be on Joe Acob's Warriors. He's gonna probably die before
Speaker 6: they get a player of Steph's caliber. He's sixty five
Speaker 6: years old. Let's be let's be honest about it. This
Speaker 6: is like a what is he top ten player of
Speaker 6: all time? Yes? I mean, is he like that alone?
Speaker 6: Just do the math, like the odds you're going to
Speaker 6: have a player who matters as much to your franchise Again,
Speaker 6: are is limited? You know, like, so just go all
Speaker 6: in deal with the future when the future comes, you know,
Speaker 6: would you rather would you rather have Okay, it's officially over.
Speaker 6: Steph's thirty seven, he's old, he's washed. Time to rebuild
Speaker 6: or like try to be super cute with it and
Speaker 6: then feel like you left a couple of chances on
Speaker 6: the table.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I saw that Steve Kirk quote.
Speaker 2: He said that he thinks this could be the last
Speaker 2: year or maybe next year is the last year of
Speaker 2: the dynasty, and that they're in the final stages.
Speaker 4: Yes, that's that is super dramatic.
Speaker 2: Do you think that was like a veiled like message
Speaker 2: to like, hey, this.
Speaker 4: Is it guys?
Speaker 2: Like I know you think in Silicon Valley there's like
Speaker 2: just forever or I guess what do you kind of
Speaker 2: what are your what is your.
Speaker 4: Take on that?
Speaker 1: Steve is is I think he knows he is dramatic,
Speaker 1: but he's smart. He knows that if they don't do
Speaker 1: something that nothing like I don't think much changes materially
Speaker 1: on this team. Back to Sam's point, Victor Wenbinyama, who
Speaker 1: who is like the best draft prospect that we've seen
Speaker 1: at video games since Lebron He has like a five
Speaker 1: percent chance of being better than Steph, one percent chance
Speaker 1: of being better than Steph, and that I think is
Speaker 1: so you're talking about Wiseman and Kaminga, like those guys
Speaker 1: might have a zero point one percent chance of duplicating this.
Speaker 1: So back to Steve's quote, Yeah, I think he realized.
Speaker 1: I think twenty twenty, twenty twenty one. You can argue
Speaker 1: I think Steve's argument wasn't and I'll clase out. But
Speaker 1: here we are two.
Speaker 6: Years the whole year, and he's thirty three, and you know,
Speaker 6: guards of his age don't tend to get better at
Speaker 6: this stage. Like yep, I I can understand the doubt
Speaker 6: until you started seeing him play again and and like
Speaker 6: there was a whole COVID layoff, like no one really
Speaker 6: knew what was going on there.
Speaker 1: It wasn't even a championship played that season, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, like that thing that thing, yeah, you know.
Speaker 6: So yeah it was that what was that that? Uh
Speaker 6: was the Disney World Tournament but uh.
Speaker 1: Didn't pad to this day to this day.
Speaker 6: But like I do think, yeah, and it's obvious Steve's
Speaker 6: point is like you know, kind of sees the moment
Speaker 6: like Steph looks like he's gonna do it for the
Speaker 6: next five years, but like who knows, right, he's thirty four,
Speaker 6: He's already in uncharted territory for like a guard of
Speaker 6: his size continuing to play at this level like you
Speaker 6: kind of have to treat every year like it could
Speaker 6: be the last.
Speaker 1: Lebron's done, Like his career is over. You watch him
Speaker 1: play and you know he'll still go for three.
Speaker 6: He's on the shop more than he's on the Lakers
Speaker 6: these days.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's done, Like he is finished, and that stuff
Speaker 1: just happens quick. And although it feels like he's been
Speaker 1: he's it's been supposed to happen for years now, but
Speaker 1: I think you can argue that you can finally say
Speaker 1: at this point he's done. And I think that's gonna
Speaker 1: happen to Steph at some point, but he is going
Speaker 1: to be done.
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's the point. Like when they when they won
Speaker 6: that AU Tournament, I mean, I still felt like Lebron
Speaker 6: had like three to four more years in him. And
Speaker 6: now we're two years later and it's like it's just
Speaker 6: very clear he's in like Wizards Jordan phase of his career,
Speaker 6: you know, where it's like he's obviously still really good
Speaker 6: and it's fun to watch him in the sense of, like,
Speaker 6: you know, all time great, but it's like his days
Speaker 6: of you know, oh shit, it's Lebron and he's going
Speaker 6: to destroy us or over right, And that's kind of
Speaker 6: the uh, that's kind of the point with Steph where
Speaker 6: it's like it looks like he's in the middle of
Speaker 6: his prime, but like, be real about it, you don't
Speaker 6: know if he's going to lose a step next year
Speaker 6: or a year after that. Like these things happened, go
Speaker 6: for it, like to let live with it.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm Brady might be done, you know, although
Speaker 1: you know the divorce might helped him out. But like
Speaker 1: that's another guy that played into the forties and.
Speaker 2: And FTX losing six hundred and fifty million dollars as well.
Speaker 2: By the way Steph Steph ended up, that was probybe
Speaker 2: the worst alignment brand alignments where he's like s.
Speaker 6: Orders are fully aligned with him. It's not just Steph,
Speaker 6: it's like the they Monday they gave away Jordan Poole
Speaker 6: bobbleheads with FTX. Yeah, and it's just kind of like,
Speaker 6: well they clearly already printed them, you know.
Speaker 2: So any other parting thoughts, as you guys have given
Speaker 2: me so much time, thank you for jumping on.
Speaker 4: I know you were almost unable to.
Speaker 6: I was double booked. I thought it was going to
Speaker 6: go for an hour. I saw I got a half
Speaker 6: hour back, and I saw I still had a link
Speaker 6: to streamyard.
Speaker 1: So I took much of let's let's go all right.
Speaker 1: A final to the Western Conference is bad. It is
Speaker 1: not good. I know that there's a lot of good
Speaker 1: teams hypothetically, but it is not a good conference. As
Speaker 1: a Warriors fan, you are still not scared of any
Speaker 1: of these teams. Uhawhy is questionable tonight. He is questionable
Speaker 1: in his life. That's how he is. So who knows
Speaker 1: if he's ever gonna be back. But I think you
Speaker 1: can argue the Warriors still have like a chance of
Speaker 1: making the NBA finals, and once you make the finals,
Speaker 1: all that matter.
Speaker 6: So and that's why they should go for it, because
Speaker 6: Andy is right, Like I think Memphis is probably the
Speaker 6: best other best team in the last Yeah they're good
Speaker 6: and uh you know they're nice, but.
Speaker 4: They're not like they're very vulnerable.
Speaker 6: It's not the ninety six Bulls, you know, you're not
Speaker 6: like staring down the Kadie Warriors, where you're like Yaka
Speaker 6: Peertle is not going to make a difference here. It's
Speaker 6: like it's very much a couple tweaks and get back
Speaker 6: on track and you can easily win the West kind
Speaker 6: of situation.
Speaker 4: Correct, correct, Yeah, I agree with that.
Speaker 2: I agree with that as well, specifically considering I watched
Speaker 2: Memphis play the Wizards, and mind you, there was no Jaw,
Speaker 2: no Bane, no Jaron Jackson. But like Jared Jackson, I
Speaker 2: don't think is a very basketball player. Like I don't
Speaker 2: think oh, I don't think offensively, I don't think he's.
Speaker 1: A lot of threes.
Speaker 2: A lot of threes, just a lot of flat fifteen
Speaker 2: year old girl threes.
Speaker 4: Like just so gross, just so bad.
Speaker 2: I like him as a person, like him as a defender,
Speaker 2: But I don't know. I think that they're very a
Speaker 2: very vulnerable team. Jaw obviously has had ankle issues that
Speaker 2: whole time, you know, last year, this year still, that
Speaker 2: was the reason he didn't play in the Wizard's game.
Speaker 2: Desn't Vane's been out, so you're you're an injury away.
Speaker 2: I think the MAVs have real problems Utah about.
Speaker 6: Yeah, Clippers, I don't.
Speaker 4: I mean, whatever, Who do you think is the best
Speaker 4: team in the West?
Speaker 6: Probably Memphis right now. Like as much as like the
Speaker 6: idea of the Clippers is good, Like at a certain point,
Speaker 6: it's like I kind of need to see Kawhi play
Speaker 6: ten games in a row, like five.
Speaker 1: Games in a row.
Speaker 6: Yeah, games in a row, even if he's one days
Speaker 6: healthy in the playoffs, I don't believe he's gonna make it.
Speaker 1: Through because he has to play in playoffs. You have
Speaker 1: to play. What if he just doesn't play?
Speaker 6: Denver I think is good, but like, I don't know,
Speaker 6: they feel they also feel a tweak away in the playoffs,
Speaker 6: like who are they going to guard type of situation now,
Speaker 6: I don't know. It's all kind of it's there for
Speaker 6: it's there for the taking. It's like all Andy said
Speaker 6: it correctly. It's a lot of like forty eight win teams.
Speaker 6: It's a lot of like good teams, not no great teams.
Speaker 1: You don't gotta play. You don't gotta plays Boston and
Speaker 1: Milwaukee to the finals. And once you get to the finals,
Speaker 1: you're just one steph Curry or performance away from stealing
Speaker 1: that thing.
Speaker 6: Just little little game four in the garden and.
Speaker 1: You are good to go. Number five on the way.
Speaker 2: For the non Dubbs as I've always said, are going
Speaker 2: to be fine.
Speaker 4: Championship aspirations still on.
Speaker 2: Much love to Sam and Andy for joining the show
Speaker 2: for a third straight year. Actually now and actually the
Speaker 2: Warrior season kind of feels like the first season that
Speaker 2: I met him twenty twenty twenty twenty one, where it's
Speaker 2: just Steph and a bunch of dudes, just a bunch
Speaker 2: of role players out there doing nothing. Give him a
Speaker 2: follow Some of the best followers in the NBA social
Speaker 2: ad at Andy k H l I U and at
Speaker 2: Sam E.
Speaker 3: S f A N.
Speaker 2: D I A r I Savage funny, honest love them.
Speaker 3: That's all the time that we after the heat Check.
Speaker 3: We'll be back Monday with an all new episode.
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