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00:00I can't help but get beyond the rejoin with David Stern, rest in peace, and with the 11th
00:06pick, the Warriors select Klay Thompson because with the 10th pick, the Milwaukee Bucks made
00:13a selection and they traded that pick to Sacramento, and that was Jimmer for debt.
00:18And I can't help but get beyond the serendipity of the Warriors and this dynasty where the
00:25Kings make two picks for point guards and then they get Steph Curry, and then the Kings
00:32fall in love with the plucky little shooter from BYU, Jimmer for debt, and Milwaukee drafts
00:39him and they trade him immediately to Sacramento, and the Warriors were among many teams who
00:44really liked Klay Thompson and the way he looked in his shooting workout and all the
00:50rest of it, and so the Warriors, I'm sure, are thinking, you're going to take Jimmer
00:53for debt and Klay's still there?
00:55Wow.
00:56Well, I heard Kirk Lacob say on the way over here that he's like, I can't remember another
01:01time where our draft room and our organization was more in sync on a pick.
01:08It was unanimous, and we were so excited that all of that that you just detailed happened
01:15in front of us because we were 1,000% all in on Klay Thompson.
01:20He talked about Jerry West, kind of meeting with Klay Thompson and then walking in the
01:24next room and tapping everyone on the shoulder and goes, that's your guy.
01:28That's who you're picking.
01:29Yeah.
01:30And so, thank goodness.
01:31It's just so fun to do that, to go back through all of the great picks, right, what the Minnesota
01:35Timberwolves did to allow Steph to come to the play.
01:38Ooh, Johnny Flynn.
01:39All of that stuff, man.
01:40I mean, it's the classic sliding doors moment of how life would have been so, so different
01:47if just one thing had happened in front of you that didn't go that way.
01:50Right.
01:51And it happened twice with Steph Curry and then with Klay Thompson, and the Draymond
01:55Green one was just good old-fashioned solid scouting where he's a second-round pick, and
02:00you liked him more than obviously anybody else, and he was still there, and that was
02:05one you just plucked.
02:06But hearing that clip right there and knowing that Jimmer Fredette went 10 and Sacramento
02:12climbed all over themselves to get Jimmer Fredette, and then Klay was there at 11,
02:17so then you get Steph and Klay and Draymond, and you don't know at the moment that, oh
02:23my God, there's a dynasty right there, but turns out, yes, it was.
02:26You don't even know what you think you know.
02:28I mean, when I listened to what he was talking about with their evaluation of Klay Thompson,
02:34it made me start thinking about all the teams and all the draft picks and all the things
02:39that we say after drafts.
02:41Right, you ripped the 49ers for Trey Lance, but ooh, look, they found Brock Purdy and
02:46Dominic Pooney and all these things.
02:48It's like even if you love a guy, you don't know how well it's going to go, even if it
02:56goes well.
02:57In other words, the Warriors were unanimous on Klay Thompson, but I heard Bob Myers admit
03:02to the guys earlier today, they're like, we didn't think he would play defense like this.
03:08We never thought that he would be that kind of a player who could defend the other team's
03:14number one.
03:16It's just something to remember when it comes to evaluation of draft prospects, the ones
03:22that go well, even the team that drafted them, they obviously love the guy, but even they,
03:28you don't know how a guy is going to handle money, fame, role, fit, all of that, just
03:36life.
03:37You don't know how that person's going to handle it.
03:40As it turns out, Klay Thompson, they knew he could shoot, but I don't think that they
03:46knew that he was going to be this fiery, this competitive.
03:53You look at all of the different permutations of drafts and fit, like you're talking about
03:58in coaching, and Mark Jackson was here and Stephen Klay, and it looked like the kernel
04:04of what could be was born, but then you get a head coach in who is certainly a guy who
04:11might be a perfect fit for this mix, a guy who changed the offense, made it more dynamic,
04:17more befitting Klay and Steph in what they do best.
04:20Michael Thompson, Klay's dad, we're working with him right now.
04:24He is not in the greatest sell spot, so what I told him was, let us know when you are.
04:33Because I think that we really want to have that conversation, and so I would much rather
04:38have it maybe at a little bit of a different time if we can hear him really well.
04:42We're working with Michael right now, and we expect to have Michael Thompson, Klay's
04:46dad, on the show very, very shortly.
04:50Again, one of the things I want to express to him, it's kind of the same thing I expressed
04:54to him the day after Klay Thompson became a Dallas Maverick, which is I know sometimes
05:00it's really, really hard in emotional moments to see through the weeds.
05:06And so today, maybe not tomorrow, but today I'm going to listen to what Klay Thompson
05:12has said the last 48 hours, and I'm going to give him a pass.
05:17Because I know for Warrior fans it doesn't feel great to hear him say this is just another
05:21basketball game, and that chapter is closed, and I don't want to think about the past,
05:26and we're here to win a basketball game.
05:28Those things don't feel good, but I do think that they're born out of professional angst
05:37that has been ongoing for a long period of time.
05:41And where this is headed in the end, and maybe it's already here, and people are just too
05:46busy to realize it.
05:47For instance, Klay's got a basketball game tonight.
05:50But where this is headed in the end is I still think that there is a phenomenal history and
05:56relationship between Klay Thompson and Warrior fans.
06:01I think that that is awkward in moments right now, but it's unchanged.
06:07And it is still, everything is there for that to be a wonderful relationship for him in
06:13the end, and for Warrior fans tonight.
06:17And so while we sit here and talk about the awkwardness of press conferences or whatever,
06:22I do think this.
06:24I think that when his name gets announced tonight, it's going to be a sound that maybe
06:29he's never heard before.
06:31And I do think that no matter how hard he tries to make it just another night, it's
06:35not going to be.
06:36No, and when he's announced last, and he will be announced last for the Dallas Mavericks,
06:41you know, starting at guard number 31, wait, let me check the program, number 31, I got
06:46that right.
06:47I know.
06:49And I wonder if they will give him like more of the home announce that, because normally
06:55the road team, it's like, you just read the five names.
06:57Kyrie Irving.
06:59You're really good at that.
07:00And then we, you know, we go on and then, you know, we throw up the ball, normally it's
07:03the road team first.
07:04And so it'll be the road team first.
07:07And then this night, tonight, when Klay's announced fifth and final, and he comes out,
07:12it's going to be a huge ovation.
07:14And I'm thinking about the Scottie Pippen one, and I was showing you earlier and Stiney
07:19and Goo and what Scottie Pippen got when he went back to Chicago, and it was, you know,
07:24a little bit of a different time because we didn't do full video tributes.
07:27They did a video tribute, and then he came out and he was spotlighted.
07:31And it was, you know, the full on four-way wave and then let's play basketball.
07:35And I do think that tonight's going to be a little bit like that, where, and I agree
07:39with you, when it happens to Klay, it's going to be hard for him to not open up and
07:44accept and realize in the moment, because I don't, I think about Klay and he in his
07:49own mind is thinking, I've got between three and five more years of basketball and I'm
07:55not going to be a warrior again.
07:56And so while I'm doing this basketball thing, I want to beat you.
08:00I want to beat everyone.
08:01I don't want to be somebody who is like opening myself up to a road crowd.
08:07And so as a competitor, there's a little bit of that where it's hard to like allow yourself
08:13to have those feelings.
08:14No doubt.
08:15No doubt.
08:16And I know that he is not one of your favorites.
08:17I got to admit this today for the first time in my life, I'm thankful for this person.
08:22You know who it is?
08:23It's got to be Draymond Green.
08:24No, Kyrie Irving.
08:25Oh, Kyrie Irving.
08:27I love Kyrie.
08:28Yeah.
08:29I think Kyrie Irving today spoke about this at Maverick shoot around in a way that Klay
08:35can't or won't or both.
08:38And I really appreciated it because Kyrie has been the first one to sort of step forward
08:44and be like this idea that tonight is just another game is ludicrous.
08:50It's ridiculous.
08:51And Kyrie comfortably was able to share like Klay's doing well with this.
08:57This is heavy.
08:58This is a lot like I do want everyone to imagine that for a moment.
09:03Okay.
09:04Imagine that you got on a plane and you flew to a city.
09:07And the entire city's media is just waiting for that.
09:11They're gathered at your hotel room.
09:13I saw the video of him today walking from the hotel to the bus.
09:19He didn't take a boat.
09:20Like, I mean, it literally Klay Thompson today in the Bay Area looks like Taylor Swift trying
09:26to get to her suite in Kansas City.
09:28People are just lined up.
09:30Get a shot.
09:31Get a video.
09:32Hold out a jersey.
09:33That's a lot.
09:34And now you're going to go into this arena.
09:36Yeah.
09:37And the whole arena has hats and they're going to show them to you.
09:41And they're all about you.
09:42And people have called this Klay Day.
09:44And if Klay could see what the arena looks like on the big board outside Chase Center.
09:48It's pretty awesome.
09:49There's not a damn thing up there about future concerts or warrior basketball.
09:54It is just a constant flow of different pictures and drawings of Klay and Klay this and Klay
10:01that.
10:02This is a lot.
10:04And then the man's supposed to go out there and shoot threes.
10:06Even before that, Mark, and I'm thinking about him walking in the building today, and I'm
10:10sure he's already done so.
10:11And I know he's gone through shoot around, but he walks in the building today and he
10:15has to ask directions to the visitors locker room because I'm sure he doesn't know where
10:21that is.
10:22And so when he comes in today, he doesn't go to his old, you know what I mean?
10:26It's like, this is his building.
10:28If you've never gotten lost in Chase Center before, now, welcome to the media.
10:32He might still be walking around in the bowels.
10:35Hey, where's Bonte to help me get out of here?
10:38Thank God for Bonte.
10:39And he's the only reason why you and I made it out that night.
10:42Seriously, we would have died.
10:43We would have been like, you would have found us years later in the, you know, whatever
10:48the movie, The Terminal, we would have just been up there with no food and dead a year
10:54ago.
10:55But for Klay, he comes in tonight for the first time and it's like, oh my God, visitor
10:59locker room.
11:00So he goes, all of the fields that he used to have here are different fields.
11:05And so I do think a lot of that plays into the anticipation and it, as you know, Mark,
11:10it's an anticipation sensation, is what it is.
11:13And speaking of all the fields, uh, Grandy, let's hear, let's hear DM 45.
11:18Okay.
11:19Let's go back to what I would argue.
11:20If we were going to make a poll about this, your favorite Klay moment, I would argue the
11:25clear winner is going to be game six in Oklahoma city.
11:29That's why his nickname was game six Klay.
11:32Um, I know he had a lot of nicknames, but there, there's no doubting that that is right
11:36up there with some of, if not the most epic individual performances throughout the Warriors
11:43dynasty.
11:44Grandy, let's get a little taste.
11:45Klay Thompson, where do you face him?
11:46Klay fires away.
11:47He's got another three.
11:48It's an NBA record.
11:4910 threes in a playoff game.
11:5096, 92.
11:51He's got 36.
11:52Westbrook stumbles with a dribble.
11:53Almost, almost.
11:54Klay Thompson has 11 threes in the game.
12:16Do you remember where you were when you watched that game?
12:19Obviously it's in Oklahoma city, so none of us, I mean, a few of you out there listening
12:23might've be crazy and rich enough to have been there, but we're all watching this on
12:26TV.
12:27Yeah.
12:28Where were you?
12:29I'm at a Hutch Quintella's garage with a Hutch Quintella's garage.
12:33Is that a sports bar?
12:34No, no.
12:35Is there actually a human being named Hutch Quintella?
12:38His real name is not Hutch, but he is Hutch and his garage might as well be a sports bar
12:43right there in Oakland.
12:45And Rich Whitaker is there.
12:47And Matt Burroughs, not Burroughs, Matt Burroughs goes about six, five.
12:51He was there and it was a man cave and any big warrior game.
12:56We were there.
12:57Garage door open, jacket on, chill in the air, uh, cold beers a flowing and you're watching
13:04it and you're going, Oh my God.
13:06Yeah.
13:07I was just in the living room with the family, but I remember what I remember about that
13:10night more than anything was the feeling, the feeling, because obviously you're prepped
13:18in the middle of that game.
13:19You're prepped for it ends here.
13:22That's it, right?
13:24This is over.
13:25Um, and, and this is not going to go well.
13:28This series is not going well for the golden state warriors.
13:32And even within that game, you know, you forget that clay Thompson for about three plus quarters,
13:39that three point barrage was not holding Oklahoma city at bay.
13:44It was staying in shouting distance of Oklahoma city.
13:48They were still leading from the majority of the game.
13:52So it was a very angst filled feeling of this is coming to an end tonight.
13:57And every time clay hit one, it sort of felt like an extension.
14:02It felt like getting a get out of jail, get out of jail free card where you're just like,
14:06okay, uh, still alive, not feeling optimistic, but still alive until that three point barrage,
14:14which continued to just defy logic, the, the, the, the, the difficulty level of some
14:20of these shots that he was putting up until suddenly it flipped the scoreboard and, and
14:25the warriors went on the other end and, and then they're starting to pull away.
14:30And so it was just this, this magical feeling, um, Allah mad bum in Kansas city where you
14:38had one individual performance, just put an entire organization in city on his back
14:45and take you somewhere that you didn't think you could go.
14:48And I'm just reminded, as I look at the game log of that series where the first two games
14:52in OKC, you lost by 28 and you lost by 24.
14:56So to your point, when you get in that game and I'm looking third quarter, you're down
15:01six and you know, you just can't quite get over the hump and you're thinking, Oh God,
15:05they can't win at OKC.
15:08This is a game that they won't win and you end the third quarter and you're down eight
15:12and you're thinking, okay, you're right, Mark.
15:14This is where the season ends.
15:16I can't believe it's going to end like this.
15:19And then clay makes a three clay makes a three Harrison Barnes, shout him out with a nice
15:25corner three to cut it to four clay with a two clay with a three, a couple of S Curry's.
15:31I don't know what those are.
15:32And then clay hits the three to put them up three and then all of a sudden it becomes
15:37the Claymaker game in that fourth quarter where they flipped it.
15:41They win by seven and the rest is ongoing.
15:43I just remember thinking to myself, does a hand in the face not matter to you?
15:47No, it wasn't like that's the thing.
15:49If this was ball movement creating threes, all right, shoot a shoot, stay hot and he's
15:56on fire.
15:57But that's not what this felt like.
15:58This felt like leverage was being defied.
16:01I'm like, I don't even know how you're getting those shots off.
16:04You're not open, dude.
16:05You're well behind the three point line.
16:07You're not open.
16:08You're off balance.
16:10These are poor shots and they're going in.
16:13Yeah.
16:1411 for 18 from three, three for 13 from two.
16:18Oh, don't go in there.
16:19Stop it.
16:20Knock it off.
16:21Clay.
16:22Same way.
16:23I try to talk to other people who are in their forties and fifties playing Tuesday night
16:24basketball.
16:25Don't go inside the three point.
16:26Oh no.
16:27Bad crap.
16:28That happens in there.
16:29Dude, it's all bad.
16:30Not go in there.
16:31Dude loves to post it up at 24 hour with that big booty, get that big booty working down
16:36the low block.
16:37Well, he posts one person up and gets one bucket and then he sticks it on the internet
16:40for five years and keeps bringing it back up.
16:43It's so funny we talk about game six, Clay, because if you run through his career in game
16:49sixes, not good, Bob.
16:52Not good.
16:53Yeah.
16:54Except for the one game six where he had, oh, 41.
16:58But other than that, he did have 25 in the finals against Cleveland, but a lot of the
17:02other game sixes are eights and 11s and 10s.
17:06But that game will forever live in infamy.
17:09This is a stupid thing, but it's fun.
17:11Like what would you say to Clay Thompson if you were sitting here right now?
17:14What would you say to him?
17:15I would say thank you for everything.
17:18And no matter what, I love you, Clay.
17:21I will always love you.
17:22And I, that's awkward.
17:25I think I'm out of my 10 seconds.
17:27Would you really say that?
17:29It's exactly what I would say.
17:30I would say, you know what, Clay?
17:31Clay, thank you for the 13 years.
17:33What you brought us, Warrior fans, is beyond any of our imagination.
17:39I love you, Clay.
17:41Did you ever know that you're my hero?
17:43You would not say that.
17:44I might.
17:45That's a disingenuous statement.
17:47It's not because you know me.
17:49I'm a hugger.
17:50I'm a lover and a fighter, one of the rare breeds.
17:53I honestly would say thank you and you're always going to be, no matter what, if you
17:59want to play four years in Dallas, if you want to go to Dallas and Charlotte and Orlando,
18:04whatever you want to do, you're always going to be one of us.
18:07And he knows that.
18:08I would just say to him, I hope you know that your rabbit, like truly, I hope you know that
18:14your rabbit ears lie to you sometimes.
18:17That's what I would say to him.
18:18I hope you know that your rabbit ears lie to you sometimes.
18:23Because look, let's get real for a second.
18:27This guy is ultra sensitive.
18:31He has been mad at the Golden State Warriors for at least a year, if not two.
18:35He goes on social media.
18:38Half the people, if not more, listening to us right now, have called our show within
18:43the last two years and expressed frustration about Clay, tweeted about Clay.
18:49How many Clank Thompson texts did we get the last two years?
18:53How many did I send?
18:54Right.
18:55So like this, this got bumpy.
18:57This got bumpy.
18:58And I think that a big reason why this has been sort of the way it's been over the last
19:05year is that Clay Thompson, more so than a lot of athletes, listens to that and lets
19:12that affect him.
19:13And so this is what I said to his dad a few months ago.
19:17And if I ever had the opportunity, I would say it to Clay, which is that, I hope you
19:21know that that's not everyone.
19:25And even the people that are saying that, this is like, it's sort of how you feel.
19:31Like it's emotional and fleeting.
19:33And I think that about you too, Clay.
19:36I think that your feelings right now are overly emotional and fleeting.
19:40And at some point in your career, same with the fans, this is all going to circle back
19:45and you'll only be able to look back on all of this and smile and feel great about what
19:50you accomplished.
19:51No doubt.
19:52And I think that deep down, he knows that.
19:54But unfortunately, the schedule is such where he doesn't have that opportunity and he comes
19:59in tonight and he doesn't control whether or not the Warriors give out 18,542 captain's
20:05hats, which they will, that's out of his control.
20:08And they're not trying to capitalize on Clay, but they are trying to remember him in the
20:14way that they want to remember him and fans can do it the way they want to remember it.
20:18And Clay may not want any of this, but it's part of the nature of the business and the
20:23association and, you know, I'm thinking about all the other returns of this magnitude and
20:29Scottie Pippen was able to benefit by the fact that his team that first year, because
20:35the strike, they didn't play the Bulls.
20:37And then he went from Houston to Portland.
20:39And by the time he came back, it had been a year and a half, not four months, a year
20:45and a half.
20:46So this is still going to be raw.