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00:00Now, back to Stiney and Guru on 95.7, The Game.
00:05All right, it's basketball season, ladies and gentlemen.
00:08Warriors have their first exhibition game on Saturday
00:11against the LA Clippers, Los Angeles Clippers.
00:16And there's an issue that we still are addressing
00:23five years into his career.
00:24Jonathan Comingo, where does he play on this team?
00:27Everybody wants him to play, Guru,
00:30but where's the best place for him to play?
00:32I'll never forget the soundbite,
00:33and I think we're about to hear it.
00:35You correct me if I'm wrong, partner,
00:36but there's two issues, if you want to call them that.
00:39One, where does he play, and how much do you pay?
00:43Okay, because there's two things going on,
00:45and there's some reports that, you know,
00:48he's talking to Dunleavy in regard to his rookie contracts.
00:53Stiney, if he's going to get broken off
00:54almost 200 M's, we'll see,
00:56but I'll never forget when Coach Kerr,
00:58I believe it was after last year,
00:59saying that he thought he was a natural three.
01:03No.
01:05Wow.
01:06No, this is what Steve Kerr said back in April.
01:10This is after the Warriors concluded their season
01:12at 46 and 36, and Comingo played some,
01:17but Wiggins and Draymond Green are the forwards,
01:20and so Comingo is scratching and clawing for playing time.
01:24So Steve Kerr was asked last year, what is he?
01:27What can he be?
01:28Take a listen.
01:30I think what J.K. is looking at is
01:32how can he make himself more versatile
01:34to be available in different lineups, you know?
01:37Can he be a three?
01:38It's a big question, and I don't know the answer to it,
01:42but I know that as we continue to help him,
01:45and he continues to learn how to create spacing
01:51and get a shot off a little quicker
01:52and be more comfortable catch and shooting,
01:56but also making the right reads,
01:59because as a three, you handle the ball more.
02:01Can he become a better passer?
02:02I think he sees the floor pretty well,
02:06but his fundamentals in terms of passing have to improve
02:11if he's gonna play the three.
02:14So that was Steve Kerr.
02:15Wow, man.
02:17Talking about his fundamentals have to improve
02:20for him to play the three,
02:22and that's why over the course of his short career,
02:25Kerr's primarily used him as a power forward, as a four,
02:29and then that obviously is Draymond Green's position,
02:33so if Kerr doesn't think he's good enough yet to be a three,
02:37that means the only time he can play is as a four,
02:40which means the only time he can play
02:42is when Draymond Green's not on the floor
02:43or is playing five.
02:44And that's not good for the Warriors at all.
02:47Well, I think the idea would be can that lineup work,
02:53but Steve Kerr, I guess, is still trying to get Cominga
02:58to convince him that he can play three,
03:00but this is the sound that I wanna get to,
03:03and this is gonna be about three or four minutes,
03:05but it's Draymond Green talking about Jonathan Cominga
03:10and what his position is.
03:12Now, Steve Kerr doesn't think he's a three yet,
03:15and he's playing him primarily at four,
03:17but this is the Draymond Green, ladies and gentlemen,
03:21that is special.
03:23This is where Draymond Green can give you insight
03:26into the game that is unparalleled.
03:29So, Evan, let's take a listen to Draymond Green.
03:34This is from yesterday.
03:37Draymond Green met the media,
03:39and he was asked about Jonathan Cominga
03:42and what position that he thought he naturally was.
03:46So, I want you to take a listen to the question,
03:49and Draymond Green's a long answer,
03:52but bear with it, because it's wonderful.
03:54Take a listen.
03:56You know, when you come into camp,
03:59when you try to come into camp
04:00and show what you have, it's gonna be awful.
04:02So, I think he's doing a great job
04:05with his phones and his system,
04:07trying to find more spots.
04:10As camp settles down, you know, you settle into camp,
04:13and you know, you start to play preseason games,
04:16then all of that stuff starts to happen,
04:17but you come into training camp
04:20trying to show what you worked on, it never does.
04:23I guess one of the questions, you know,
04:24as Steve kind of tried to figure out all these combinations,
04:27is like, you know, how much small court can you play?
04:29Like, what kind of bumps you need to cover down?
04:32How do you view, you know, his ability
04:34to play small court, and maybe play in lineups
04:37where it's gonna remain with him?
04:39I think he's a three.
04:43It's always been my opinion.
04:45That's not gonna change my opinion.
04:48You know, to play the four,
04:51it requires a certain skill set.
04:55So oftentimes,
04:58people approach the four as if it's not a position.
05:02They think like, oh, I can just move a guy there.
05:04But it's a position that you have to know how to play.
05:08It's like, you know, you never hear a...
05:14You don't think anybody can play point guard.
05:17The four is the same thing, you know?
05:20It requires a certain skill set, a certain knowledge,
05:23a certain understanding of that position to do that.
05:30He's never done that.
05:33So, can he adjust and learn that?
05:39I don't know.
05:40Can a receiver learn how to be a quarterback in two years?
05:46So, you know.
05:51My opinion.
05:53So is that type of nuance you think that's lost
05:55in all of the professional basketball?
05:57100%.
05:59And that's why you've seen teams lose to us.
06:02Year after year, because so many teams are like,
06:04oh man, that guy is Draymond's size, or he's bigger.
06:08So he can go do that.
06:10And no, he can't.
06:11And it has nothing to do with how good or not I am.
06:16I just know how to play that position.
06:18I know how to play the five.
06:21I didn't just, I didn't just end up
06:27being able to slide to the five.
06:30Growing up, I played the five defensively
06:32and I played point guard offensively.
06:36So I know how to do that.
06:38But if I didn't do that growing up,
06:42I wouldn't just know how to do that.
06:43So for years, you've seen guys take,
06:46teams take a guy that's a certain height and be like,
06:48all right, we're gonna put him at the five.
06:50And then we get layup, layup, layup, layup, layup.
06:54And then they'll come down
06:54and they're shooting bad jump shots.
06:56But I know how to protect the rim.
07:00So, yes, I think that is a part of what gets lost.
07:06You know, Kevin Durant, Kevin Durant is seven feet.
07:11He's not a five.
07:12Couldn't play the five if you wanted him to.
07:14Cause he don't know how.
07:16And that's no shot at Kevin, right?
07:20But he's five man size, right?
07:23Height.
07:25But he's not a five.
07:27And if you try to put him at the five,
07:28he gonna look at you like he crazy.
07:31You put him at shooting guard before you put him at the five.
07:34His skillset matches that more than it matches the five.
07:37But, you know, around this league,
07:40it's all right, it's just here.
07:41Like around the league, you see that happen all the time.
07:43And I just don't think that's,
07:45I think that's why you see those lineups
07:47for people who fail so often.
07:49Because you have to know how to do it.
07:51It's not just like, oh, I could just throw somebody there
07:54and that's just gonna work.
07:58All right.
07:59Wow, man.
08:01I don't even know where to start there.
08:03It's so brilliant.
08:04And this is why, one of the reasons Traymond Green
08:08is one of the smartest players in basketball.
08:10All right, so here's what I'm gathering
08:13from everything I've heard.
08:15That Steve Kerr doesn't think Jonathan Kaminga
08:19is ready to hold down the starting spot at small forward.
08:25Because offensively, some of his skills
08:28aren't ready for that position yet.
08:30But Traymond Green doesn't think Kaminga's a four
08:35because on the defensive end of the floor,
08:38he doesn't have the skillset, at least right now,
08:41to be a four.
08:42To defend fours, to know the schemes defensively,
08:46to protect the rim when he has to.
08:49He's not a great rebounder from the four.
08:52And so I'm just thinking about this team right now.
08:57And it's all about combinations.
09:00And I'm just wondering, are we gonna see another year
09:04where Kaminga can only get on the floor
09:08when either Wiggins or Traymond Green's not on the floor?
09:11Oh, man.
09:12And just the more and more I hear,
09:16or think about those soundbites,
09:20I don't, and I don't think they're gonna pay him.
09:23I think they still are waiting to see some things
09:26from Jonathan Kaminga to make them assured
09:29that he can be a three, if that's what the goal is.
09:33So I don't know how you get around this issue,
09:38but it doesn't-
09:40Because it is an issue.
09:41I mean, Steve Kerr isn't crazy about Kaminga at three,
09:46but he's gonna have trouble getting on the floor at four
09:53The only way you can get on the floor at four
09:54is if Traymond's a five.
09:56So what are we gonna do here
09:58if we're the Golden State Warriors?
10:00Well, the question to me is,
10:01what did Jonathan do over the summer?
10:04And I love Traymond saying,
10:06that's not when you come back to show what you worked on.
10:08But Stani, it's just incredible
10:11that I feel like two trains,
10:12or they're coming at each other
10:14and they're about to collide
10:15because we can't ignore the rat on the table,
10:18which is his money.
10:19His money, he is due.
10:21So you're going to have to face that question.
10:24I mean, how can you pay Jonathan Kaminga?
10:26And I want him to get his chicken, Stani,
10:28but how can you pay him if you have these thoughts
10:31or you're not so secure enough to know
10:34where he's going to play?
10:35And I was just thinking while Traymond was talking, Stani,
10:39I mean this.
10:40Can I just give you my dream lineup
10:42for the Warriors this season?
10:43Okay.
10:44Curry at one, Wiggins at two, Wiggins at two,
10:48JK at three, Draymond at four, and TJD at five.
10:53To me, that's my dream Warrior lineup,
10:56but listening to the coach
10:58and also listening to the savant that is Draymond Green,
11:03I don't want to bring in yesterday's conversation
11:05about Luciano and the scouts
11:08and everybody not being able to know early
11:11that he wasn't ready or he wasn't a shortstop,
11:14but Stani, can I try to apply some of those principles
11:18towards Kaminga going into his fourth year
11:22basically being an enigma in regard to at some point
11:26you're going to have to call the dogs off.
11:28Either you are or you're not.
11:31Yeah.
11:32Yeah.
11:33I don't know what the answer is.
11:36It's a big question though.
11:38It is a big question.
11:39And they do have to figure out
11:41what they're going to pay Kaminga.
11:43They have between now and October 21st
11:46to sign him to an extension.
11:48I mean, just reading the tea leaves,
11:50it doesn't feel like he's going to get one
11:52because it feels like he's asking for more
11:54than the Warriors want to give him.
11:56What about the fit part of it?
11:58Well, that's what they got to figure out,
12:00I think, this year.
12:01And just taking it to its logical conclusion,
12:05I think what Kerr really believes
12:08is that Wiggins and Kaminga can't play together
12:12because they overlap too much.
12:14And so, when we talk about what's going on
12:18with the Warriors this season and how good they can be,
12:20this is why I do believe,
12:22and I think a lot of Warrior fans feel the same way,
12:24but feel free to chime in at 888-957-9570.
12:29I think this is, they're going to go into the season
12:32and they're going to try some things
12:34and hopefully they'll win some games as they're trying.
12:37But I do think the goal is to make a move by the deadline
12:43with either Kaminga or Wiggins.
12:46And I just wonder if that's,
12:48well, I don't wonder if it's possible,
12:49I think it's possible,
12:51but I do think that's in the back of the Warriors' minds.
12:54That they feel like they have a move in them
12:58at some point this year.