Speaker 1: How in the world does it shock anyone that a
Speaker 1: team that made five consecutive finals and had three rigs
Speaker 1: in five years, How would they be shocked that that
Speaker 1: same team would make it to the finals again after
Speaker 1: their top two guys got healthy again. I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't know. This team had the fourth best odds to
Speaker 1: win it all, but let's be honest, this team looked
Speaker 1: like they were different than that team. The team they
Speaker 1: team like like look like trash. They were in the
Speaker 1: watery two years in a row, and you wondered if
Speaker 1: they would ever be like as healthy or as dominant
Speaker 1: as they were after Clay's injury. Right, Clay's up there
Speaker 1: in age, Clay got inn acl and an Achilles' tear
Speaker 1: and back to back come back, thinking he's gonna get
Speaker 1: back under the court, go scrimmage, sus scrimmage, wasn't supposed
Speaker 1: to be doing it, tears his ac al boom boom.
Speaker 1: Steph Curry breaks his hand out. I think he played
Speaker 1: six seven games that year. Don't quote me, but I
Speaker 1: think it's about that. Two solid years offered Clay two
Speaker 1: years in the lottery, and people started to question, is
Speaker 1: this Warriors team the same Warriors team? Without Kevin Durant,
Speaker 1: I started to question, and that's when Warriors Twitter decided
Speaker 1: that they were gonna hate me. But don't mistake it.
Speaker 1: Don't mistake it my dislike of Warriors Twitter. With the
Speaker 1: team itself, I very very much liked them, and I've
Speaker 1: said this time after time. Those Twitter Warriors, though they
Speaker 1: have such short memories, but there were very real questions
Speaker 1: that even they had coming into the season. They weren't
Speaker 1: all hearts and roses and popcorn and lollie pops. We
Speaker 1: all thought, would Clay be Clay or when he got
Speaker 1: healthy healthy, would he be a slow, older, less mobile
Speaker 1: version of Clay. Could Golden State overcome the fact they
Speaker 1: never really had a true center? How would they actually
Speaker 1: operate with said no true center without Kevin Durant, the
Speaker 1: fact that they had multiple lottery picks that they could
Speaker 1: have used to get a star. Was it a mistake
Speaker 1: to draft Kaminga and Moody at seven and fourteen instead
Speaker 1: of getting someone like Bradley Beale or trying to go
Speaker 1: after someone like Karl Anthony Towns or Ben Simmons, Like
Speaker 1: lots of people in the Bay thought that they should
Speaker 1: go out and get a star instead. Of drafting those
Speaker 1: two young guys and they'll never of course submit it
Speaker 1: today though no o that was part of the plan
Speaker 1: were light years ahead. Bah blah blah. They had role
Speaker 1: players that were overpaid and awful. Kelly ou Bray, for example,
Speaker 1: who said he was going to be the next Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant and he was making like eighty million dollars with
Speaker 1: including the luxury tax payments that Warriors owed. Andrew Wiggins
Speaker 1: was overpaid and awful at that point in time. James Wiseman,
Speaker 1: who I said would miss the entire year, who also
Speaker 1: missed the entire year to a lesser degree. Kent Bazemore,
Speaker 1: who was just literally happy to be there, always the
Speaker 1: vibe every time he was in. Some mistake made that
Speaker 1: would cost them not only like points a possession many games.
Speaker 1: How would all this work moving forward? How would they
Speaker 1: shed those guys and get other guys back because they
Speaker 1: didn't have much cap space. Their big pickup this year?
Speaker 1: Was it iguadala? Was it be a leecha like? Was
Speaker 1: it Otto porter? Ugh? How was this gonna work? Gary Payton,
Speaker 1: the second at that point in time, the man was
Speaker 1: operating as like just the guy who hangs around. He
Speaker 1: was literally not getting paid. Can I just hang here?
Speaker 1: Can I just be around? Wiggins? Go back, going back
Speaker 1: to Wiggins. Wiggins was a combined negative seven in the
Speaker 1: play in games against Memphis and LA playoff Wiggins. Were
Speaker 1: we going to see that again? When it mattered most
Speaker 1: the gross ass bricking' ass like literally non clutch ass Wiggins.
Speaker 1: I needed to know, We all needed to know. Would
Speaker 1: injuries derail the Warriors all over again? Lots of questions
Speaker 1: which were very valid at the time, But just like
Speaker 1: the Celtics, Honestly, some of the Warriors, what they did
Speaker 1: was very similar to what the Celtics did in the offseason.
Speaker 1: They got help for Steve Kerr on the bench, guys
Speaker 1: that were focused on development, Guys who could execute that
Speaker 1: and were known for that in Kenny Atkinson and John
Speaker 1: Malayla Malalayla as well. Hard to say they got rid
Speaker 1: of the dead weight, just like the Celtics did. They
Speaker 1: got rid of Ubre. You're gone, Camp Bezemore, You're gone,
Speaker 1: Alan Smiley, Jeck, You're gone. Eric Paschal, Fine, you want
Speaker 1: to go play with your best friend in Utah? Go go.
Speaker 1: People wanted them to go and get a big guy
Speaker 1: like JaVale McGee. Maybe try to find somebody else that
Speaker 1: they could have contribute right now, or a small five
Speaker 1: like Nicktum. Nick Batum said no to the Warriors said
Speaker 1: yes to La and instead they also picked up key
Speaker 1: role players quote unquote key role players like Auto Porter.
Speaker 1: He ends up being really important for them, Biolichia ends
Speaker 1: up being somewhat important for them, and to a degree
Speaker 1: in the middle of the year when Steph Curry gets hurt,
Speaker 1: even Chris Chiosa ended up being somewhat important for them,
Speaker 1: and Gary Payton played some point guard when Steph was
Speaker 1: injured too. The tweaks and the coaching changes worked. Gary
Speaker 1: Payton stepped up and became one of the best on
Speaker 1: ball defenders that they had after literally playing for nothing.
Speaker 1: He literally stayed around the team after they cut him,
Speaker 1: and he became this huge role player and this on
Speaker 1: ball defensive presence. While Clay got healthy, Jordan Poole stepped
Speaker 1: up to a place where people thought he would win
Speaker 1: Most Improved Player of the Year. Ten games. End of
Speaker 1: the season nine to one. As we know, they looked unstoppable.
Speaker 1: Splash Brothers appeared to have not missed a beat. Then
Speaker 1: injuries did plague the Warriors just like we thought. Just
Speaker 1: as Clay came back, Draymond goes down for what thirty
Speaker 1: six games with the back injury and a back injury
Speaker 1: that looked like it could be night nice sleep mask
Speaker 1: for his career. Wiseman had setback after setback after setback.
Speaker 1: Didn't play one game. Steph sprained his ankle at the
Speaker 1: end of the season. Missed the final twelve games of
Speaker 1: the year. Folks and people wondered if he would be
Speaker 1: ready for the playoffs. He came back in time for
Speaker 1: the playoffs, but looked hampered, hobbled. The return of Clay
Speaker 1: in the middle of the year coincided with Jordan Poole
Speaker 1: having a mental meltdown. We talked to the Light Years
Speaker 1: boys and they said, not really sure what's going on
Speaker 1: with Pool. He does understand that he's no longer a
Speaker 1: starter and he's not having a very high ability to
Speaker 1: cope with that situation. He now couldn't score. He now
Speaker 1: was turning the ball over like crazy. What was he
Speaker 1: going to be on this team now that he was
Speaker 1: a role player. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: as all dynasties do, they figure it out. They figure
Speaker 1: out a way to lean into the fabric of their
Speaker 1: identity and stick true to that ball movement. They did
Speaker 1: nothing at the trade deadline, by the way, unlike the
Speaker 1: Celtics ball movement, sharing the ball selflessly, relentless defense that
Speaker 1: turns into what a deluge of a masculating, humiliating bucket
Speaker 1: after bucket after bucket until you surrender and succumb you
Speaker 1: basically have you basically have like a symbolic ballgag in
Speaker 1: your mouth when you're done with that. During the playoffs,
Speaker 1: they have been number one in points per game, number
Speaker 1: one in offensive efficiency number one, and assists number one,
Speaker 1: points on cuts, number one in points off screens, so
Speaker 1: many number ones. Add this to their number six team
Speaker 1: defensive rating this season and that makes them a nightmare
Speaker 1: for most teams. So not much has really changed. However,
Speaker 1: a ton has changed in terms of how this team plays.
Speaker 1: When you get your guy back, like Clay, he doesn't
Speaker 1: need to be back all the way in order to
Speaker 1: be effective Steph Clay Drey just needed some effective role
Speaker 1: players to do their job Wiggins, and now the Wiggins
Speaker 1: is doing his job and Jordan Poole is doing his job.
Speaker 1: Kevon Looney is doing his job. This team looks somewhat unstoppable.
Speaker 1: An overlooked aspect though, of this Warriors team this year,
Speaker 1: is that Steve Kurry, Steve Kerr is really coaching well,
Speaker 1: like he has changed some of his things that he's
Speaker 1: done in ways that have made this team better. He
Speaker 1: gave a speech at Harvard this year. The quote was interesting.
Speaker 1: He said, I think the biggest lesson that I I've
Speaker 1: learned is that culture is way more important than scheme.
Speaker 1: I would say coaching is maybe twenty to thirty percent
Speaker 1: strategy and everything else is about communication and what your
Speaker 1: players feel when they come into the building every day.
Speaker 1: Side note that is what we would call a subtweet
Speaker 1: on how he let Kevin Durant get away like that
Speaker 1: right there? How your players feel when they come into
Speaker 1: the building every day. Oh, I don't know. You mean
Speaker 1: the fact that Kevin Durant felt isolated from the rest
Speaker 1: of the group and the fan base and media basically
Speaker 1: said that he was an other and everybody else were
Speaker 1: the real Warriors. I don't know, Okay, anyway back to that,
Speaker 1: I feel like he's been pretty good at understanding culture,
Speaker 1: but I think he's also now understood how important it
Speaker 1: is to hire the right assistance around you to do
Speaker 1: the jobs that you don't know or aren't able to do,
Speaker 1: whether that's because of skill or time or whatever. And
Speaker 1: now he's got some talent around him he always has.
Speaker 1: I mean, he lost Willie Green. That's a big that's
Speaker 1: a big time assistant coach that he ended up losing.
Speaker 1: He came down with COVID at a critical juncture against
Speaker 1: the war Grizzlies, and then he gives the job to
Speaker 1: Mike Brown to concoct a new scheme around Looney to
Speaker 1: combat Jaron Jackson and Steven Adams. Big reason that they
Speaker 1: ended up winning that series. He gave the power away
Speaker 1: to someone and his players as well, to come up
Speaker 1: with something in order to stop the other team that
Speaker 1: was doing something effectively that you didn't not encounter on
Speaker 1: your own. And he's also doing some of his best
Speaker 1: scheme work. The rotations that used to not make sense
Speaker 1: last work last year. Now they work. He didn't want
Speaker 1: to do small ball last year. People forget that. He
Speaker 1: just wanted to have big centers all the time. He
Speaker 1: leaned into the Wiseman. The only reason that they stopped
Speaker 1: playing Wiseman last year is because he got hurt, so,
Speaker 1: like I don't know, he ends up having to go
Speaker 1: to Draymond and sees how effective that is and then
Speaker 1: he leans into that this year. We'll see what happens
Speaker 1: next year when Wiseman's fully healthy. He closed out the
Speaker 1: Mavericks using three guards and two wings, and he's learned
Speaker 1: from the Memphis game last year. He's changing defensive schemes
Speaker 1: quickly to confuse offenses. He's doing a really great job
Speaker 1: of finding matches, matchups that benefit the Warriors, not only
Speaker 1: offensively but defensively, hiding guys that are defensively liable. And
Speaker 1: he's using the entire roster because it makes sense. Guys
Speaker 1: like Otto Porter Bilichia, Damian Lee, even Jonathan Kaminga have
Speaker 1: been used at times and have played important roles at
Speaker 1: certain situations. During this postseason, want Toscano Anderson has seen
Speaker 1: his playing time diminished by twenty five percent, hasn't complained,
Speaker 1: but still has contributed. The roster, even in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: can run like ten eleven deep. And that was before
Speaker 1: Moses Moody got seventeen points in a game in the
Speaker 1: final three games against the mass And because I have
Speaker 1: to finish talk about Andrew Wiggins. I briefly mentioned he
Speaker 1: was better that he's an All Star starter because of
Speaker 1: K pop, but still he is. Wiggins was terrible, terrible
Speaker 1: in any crucial situation. Wiggins has been in the past
Speaker 1: before this year, someone you can rely on time and
Speaker 1: time again to fuck up this year, when when the
Speaker 1: lights are bright and the Warriors go down or the
Speaker 1: lead that they have is diminishing, Wiggins gets the ball.
Speaker 1: You gasp and he hits it. You screech, your muscles
Speaker 1: tense up, and then you're like Wiggins, he's dunking on Luca.
Speaker 1: Remember I said that last playoffs, in the play in games,
Speaker 1: he was negative seven on the floor. This year he's
Speaker 1: plus seven. Better decision making in high pressure moments. But truthfully,
Speaker 1: let's be honest, less high pressure moments going to Wiggins.
Speaker 1: You're the fourth option now, not the third option. Now
Speaker 1: you're on you get the ball the fourth most, you're
Speaker 1: the open corner three guy. You don't have to deal
Speaker 1: with shouldering the burden in high pressure moments nearly as much.
Speaker 1: And also you get to defend first and foremost and
Speaker 1: then be a part of the flow of the offense
Speaker 1: instead of being the focal point of the offense. Not
Speaker 1: a shocker that Golden State became the odds on favorite
Speaker 1: to win the title, moving past the nets in February
Speaker 1: to four hundred plus four hundred. They moved down to
Speaker 1: plus three twenty five in April and now stand at
Speaker 1: minus one fifty five to win it all to beat
Speaker 1: the Celtics, and how they got there was not the
Speaker 1: easy road, it turns out, but it was the most
Speaker 1: effective one. And it turns out that those those Silicon
Speaker 1: Valley we can win at the same time we build
Speaker 1: for the future. It turns out those folks are right.
Speaker 1: So congratulations to the Warriors on another title. I hope
Speaker 1: I don't mush you. I sincerely, sincerely hope. I don't
Speaker 1: mush you because that would be a real shame.