Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00We are reacting tonight to this.
00:02All the Twitter fingers who's got deals that we need to make
00:06can kind of just shut up a little bit and let us figure this thing out.
00:09Like, we know we can be competitive.
00:12We showed, you know, that toughness tonight.
00:14Obviously, every team is trying to find ways to get better.
00:17And for us, we've been great for a very long time.
00:19This is just a unique year where we have to be able to stay relevant
00:23and give ourselves a chance and just have some life in the playoff series.
00:26And we have a whole lot of confidence that we can, you know, beat anybody.
00:29So, yeah, that's it.
00:31Okay, but it wasn't it.
00:32Because then he also spoke on The Local, the postgame,
00:36and this is what he said with regard to the similar subject.
00:40Anybody who thinks that I'm okay with just being an average basketball—
00:44on an average basketball team is insane.
00:46Take whatever I said, I still stand on it.
00:49But it doesn't mean that you're not in a situation where you're trying to get better,
00:52make appropriate moves that help you do that.
00:54Mike knows that. We've talked about it.
00:56That's the expectation for me, trying to help lead the team where we want to go.
01:00Again, that doesn't mean that you're reckless.
01:02What people's definition of that is,
01:04is when I was talking about the Twitter fingers thing,
01:07like trade machines are fun, but what does that actually look like?
01:09So, we're going to handle our business.
01:11Mike's going to handle his. See where we end up.
01:13So, like, I get it.
01:15I get that there's some people, it sounds like,
01:17feel like the Warriors put them on a yo-yo this week.
01:21And I just don't—I don't buy that.
01:23To me, that means that you were putting thoughts in their head,
01:28or you were maybe a little bit overly emotional with the way you reacted to what they said.
01:33I don't think it was a white flag earlier in the week.
01:36And I don't think anything in the reverse this time around.
01:41I don't think—for instance, I don't take from all of that
01:46that Steph is saying, dammit, we're still good.
01:49We're keeping this roster exactly as it is, and we're going for it.
01:53I don't think he's saying that either.
01:54Well, he's saying that in the meantime.
01:56He's saying the roster's good enough, and we're going to go for it.
01:59And I believe in our guys at the same time.
02:02Mike is going to do what he does.
02:04But for all the rest of you, put down the trade machine.
02:07Watch us play. Watch us gel and get better.
02:10And, you know, Mike is obviously going to work behind the scenes.
02:13And I do think that a stretch five, like Bob said,
02:16Bob Fitzgerald mentioning the idea of spacing.
02:19The number one thing that this team needs is spacing.
02:22And until you get a stretch five, can you get spacing?
02:25Well, absolutely.
02:26And if Buddy Heald can get back to shooting like he was earlier in the year,
02:31that creates spacing.
02:32And Dennis Schroeder and Bob even mentioned Draymond Green benefiting from spacing,
02:37which is why he's shooting 40% from three.
02:39Absolutely.
02:40So you are listening to 95.7 The Game, KGMZ FM and HD1 San Francisco
02:46on Odyssey Sports Station, always live on the free Odyssey app,
02:48Twitch and YouTube, powered by First North Carolina Credit Union.
02:51For a low-rate auto loan, apply online or just ask for First NorCal financing at the dealer.
02:55So are you kind of like, are you buying this journey this week
02:59that the Warriors and Steph Curry are taking you on?
03:02Do you have issue with it?
03:03We are taking your calls right now at 888-957-9570.
03:08Let's go to Jonathan in San Leandro with Willard & Dibbs.
03:11Hi, Jonathan. Thanks. What's up?
03:14I just rolled into the driveway, boys, but I will go in until I speak my piece.
03:19It's an honor to be on the show.
03:21And anyway, boys, how are you guys doing?
03:24We're good, man. We're good.
03:25Thank you for calling.
03:26Thank you for waiting.
03:27And thank you for whatever you're about to say next.
03:32I appreciate the intro, Willard.
03:34I wanted to say that if I were in my 20s, I'm now 34.
03:38I think I would be a little hyped up.
03:40And I think I would do a lot of what I did overreaction.
03:44And now in my 30s, I'm paying for a lot of that.
03:47And now what I do is I sit back and I like to think of everything
03:51before I speak or get myself worked up.
03:54And I think what we're dealing with here is an indication sensation.
03:58And I think that Steph Curry is out there saying like,
04:02Hey, guys, we hear you.
04:05I believe 100% Steph in a way is kind of telling the fans like
04:09if you think that I'm going anywhere,
04:11especially after an indication of a couple of bad games
04:14or a couple of weeks, even if it's a bad month,
04:17which is going in.
04:18I think that that is a big way of Steph saying,
04:21Hey, we hear you.
04:22Look at it.
04:23I know it's a little premature.
04:24I know a bunch of callers going to say it's one game.
04:26It's one game.
04:26I think so too, but it takes one and here we are at one.
04:30So let's go with this.
04:31Let's listen to our guy.
04:33And if Steph is our guy, which he is, we're going to listen to him.
04:36It's an indication sensation.
04:38Bob's telling you too.
04:39There's good things coming.
04:41We just got to be patient.
04:42I'm a huge Sharkey fan and I want to believe,
04:45I want to believe that we got Macklin Celebrini as Fitz's crumbs.
04:49What do you think Devers?
04:50I'll leave you guys with that.
04:51Yeah, it's a great call.
04:52I mean, we owe it all to Fitz and you know, when he was working
04:55for the team that became the Sharks, Macklin was not even a gleam
04:59in the Celebrini's collective eye.
05:02That's going back now 30 something years, 34, 35 years when Fitz
05:06was making that reference.
05:08But man, it's exciting to have Macklin Celebrini and you hope
05:12that they can eventually build around him and make it so they
05:15don't waste the Celebrini window.
05:18Yeah, and I mean to the other point that he's making, like I
05:22get that this is a little bit of a cop-out, but the Warriors
05:26will make an acquisition shortly after the trade deadline.
05:31No matter what, they'll make at least one.
05:34They will acquire Jonathan Kaminga.
05:36They'll give him a jersey.
05:38He'll actually wear it.
05:39He'll come play basketball.
05:41I'm not here to tell you that that's enough and I fully understand
05:46that that is kind of unfair.
05:50But by the same token, wouldn't you argue that in this age where
05:55it feels like we are coming up with narratives after every game,
05:59sometimes after every quarter, then in a way it's unfair for us
06:05to be doing that right now.
06:08The Warriors are not fully themselves.
06:11I don't know if they ever will be.
06:12It's always a living, breathing thing that moves and changes
06:16and someone gets hurt and then someone else doesn't get hurt.
06:19But we have watched, I used this comparison earlier in the week
06:24and I think it's a fair one.
06:26And it's the Sacramento Kings who similarly had a fan base that
06:32was calling radio shows and going to social media on the daily
06:36screaming about how awful everything was.
06:39Now they made a coaching change.
06:41Was that directly what changed things?
06:43I don't know, but they went on a seven game winning streak that
06:47no one saw coming.
06:50How would you feel if starting Saturday?
06:54I'm not predicting it, but how would you feel about this team
06:59if leading up to the deadline?
07:01And don't say starting Saturday because they won last night, right?
07:04What if last night was the start of seven in a row?
07:08Now, how are you feeling?
07:09Well, you're feeling a lot better and you're feeling like you
07:11did when they were 12 and 3.
07:12And would it change what you want to do?
07:14No, it wouldn't change what I want to do because I look at,
07:18you know, what you would be if you won seven in a row.
07:21You would then be 26 and 20, four games to go till the deadline.
07:24Let's say you get to 28 and 22 and you head into the deadline
07:28and if you're 28 and 22, you're now a 7 seed or you're breathing
07:33on the door of a 6 seed potentially.
07:3528 and 22 might be the 5 seed, the way things are looking right now.
07:38Everyone else plays and how everything else goes and you know
07:41how it is in the NBA.
07:42It's really hard to gain ground and climb over a lot of teams
07:45quickly.
07:46But if you get to that spot and you're right on the cusp of
07:49playing and playoff, for me, you're still in need of a player
07:52and I still think that this team has an excess of usable bodies.
07:58And so, yeah, you don't want to ever, you know, give up your
08:01depth expecting everyone to be healthy.
08:03But if you've got 12 usable players and you have a couple,
08:07two or three expiring guys, then let's use those players to
08:11bring in a better rotational player, a stretch 5, somebody to
08:16create more spacing.
08:17So, 28 and 22 can vault you toward maybe winding up 50 and
08:2232.
08:22Yeah, absolutely could.
08:23Now, you know, all of this is baked into the idea and this is
08:27what I think is hard for all of us to sort of process or believe
08:31in, if you will.
08:32And I get why it bothers someone like Steph Curry.
08:35You know, when we were all talking earlier today and you kind
08:40of went on the rant of like, look, this is the mediocrity that's
08:43been here for two and a half years.
08:45Why would this change?
08:47And I would like, I bet, I don't know, but I bet that they would
08:50respond to you and go, this hasn't been the same team for two
08:53and a half years.
08:54We've tried all kinds of things in two and a half years.
08:59We tried something literally last month and made an acquisition
09:03of someone averaging 18 points a game in the NBA.
09:06That's not a small acquisition.
09:10It hasn't worked yet, but you never know when things are going
09:14to click and the people who are already in place are suddenly
09:18going to play better.
09:20I mean, ask yourselves, those of you listening, how many of you
09:23thought that the final five games prior to the injury of Jonathan
09:28Kaminga, you thought you had something cooking there?
09:32I don't know if you do.
09:34And it's not like he's never had good games before, but he was
09:37stringing a bunch in a row.
09:39He was becoming a consistent scorer.
09:41Was it just a five game stretch?
09:44Or did it click?
09:45Right?
09:46Well, we're not going to know that until after the trade deadline.
09:50Most likely.
09:50Yeah.
09:51So again, there's nothing that can happen here, which would make
09:54me project a top four seed for the Warriors.
09:58But if you ask me that, can doing nothing still lead to the five
10:04of the six seed?
10:06I'm not going to dismiss that as not possible.
10:09Schroeder can fit better.
10:10Kaminga might actually be consistent.
10:14Wiggins can return to his role as the three or the four.
10:18And Draymond and Steph could be blessed with health.
10:22And does all of that lead to the five or six?
10:25I can't dismiss that as not possible.
10:27Right, and I won't be the dismisser and say that if you're asking
10:31for all those things to all concurrently happen, that's probably
10:35a stretch.
10:36But you know, you look at things that are more likely than others
10:40like having this team remain healthy for me is not likely.
10:44You've already had Steph miss eight games.
10:46You've had Draymond now with an ailment and he's got a back and
10:50and all the rest of it.
10:51So can Buddy Heald find his form?
10:54I think so.
10:55And Buddy Heald is more likely to have six or seven games like
10:59last night and then have eight or nine games like the last month.
11:03This is Buddy Heald.
11:04I don't think that you're going to look for a consistent Buddy.
11:07He's the antithesis to Andrew Wiggins. Wiggins drives you crazy
11:10sometimes because it's another five for twelve and then he has
11:14flash games, but he doesn't normally go in the tank.
11:17Wiggins is very consistent.
11:19Buddy's very inconsistent.
11:21And I think the most likely thing that you laid out is Dennis
11:24Schroeder, a guy who's played for eight teams, him finding his
11:29footing and finding his role with this team.
11:31And if that happens, well, that's like getting an acquisition
11:34because he's been downright bad in his first dozen games.
11:38So if he fits better and plays better, well, that might be the
11:42acquisition in part that you're looking for.
11:44But the real X Factor in all this is Jonathan Kaminga.
11:48When the ankle gets better, has been the whole time, was it a
11:50five-game blip, an aberration, or was it a true harbinger, a
11:55sign of what is to come?
11:56Because if that's the Kaminga, if he has unlocked something in
12:00his game and he's going to get you 18 to 22 in that fashion,
12:05now we can talk about the five seed.
12:07Yeah, I agreed.
12:08888-957-9570 taking your calls on the journey that Steph and
12:12Steve and Draymond have taken us through over the last week.
12:16For some, it felt like it's gone from a white flag to now.
12:21The narrative is we're not making a deal.
12:24I still think all of this kind of takes on a life of its own.
12:30And I know that none of us in the world in which we live, we're
12:34never going to do this, but it might be healthy of the next
12:37three weeks for all of us to take at least a few days and be
12:43like Wiggins.
12:44And here's what I mean by that.
12:46Did you catch his comments last night?
12:49You want Andrew Wiggins to weigh in on the ESPN trade machine
12:55and the debate and the Jimmy Butler and the white flag and
12:59the responsibility to the organization?
13:02Actual sound or actual sound?
13:04Get out of here.
13:05No joke.
13:06He spoke.
13:06He spoke.
13:07The lips were moving.
13:08Words came out of his mouth.
13:10Yes.
13:10Here's what Andrew thinks.
13:12Here's his opinion on all of this warrior discussion.
13:18Never seen anything.
13:19What happened?
13:21You follow coverage about this team at all?
13:22Man, I just, I go home or I go to my outside room, watch my
13:26TV shows and I just chill.
13:28Yeah, I'll be looking too much.
13:30The general talking points over the last few days is Steph and
13:33Steve have talked about, you know, not wanting to mortgage
13:36the future for like this moment.
13:37You know, do you feel kind of like, I guess, the pressure
13:40that's kind of on these fading, you know, years with Steph and
13:43kind of those type of, I guess, talking points.
13:47You want to win.
13:48That's the main thing.
13:48You want to win.
13:49I feel like we have the roster to do it.
13:51We have Steph Curry and Steph Curry is who he is.
13:53You know, he's one of the greatest people to, players ever
13:56touch a basketball.
13:57We just got to keep playing hard.
13:59I mean, we have the squad to do it.
14:00We started off 12 and 3.
14:01You know, we know, we know we're capable of, we just got to
14:03get back to it.
14:05He had no idea what the hell anybody was even talking about.
14:09Are you surprised?
14:10No, I play basketball.
14:12I go home and I watch my show.
14:13Right?
14:13My follow-up is, what are you watching Andrew?
14:16Because that to me is fascinating.
14:18Like what, when he goes home to watch his shows, what is Andrew
14:22Wiggins watching?
14:24You know, it's whatever.
14:26We all watch shows with our spouses or significant others.
14:29But when you get time to watch your shows, I wonder what he's
14:33watching.
14:33Like the, whatever the opposite of Breaking Bad is, that's what
14:36Andrew watches.
14:37I like to watch movies on Lifetime.
14:39Right?
14:40Like something that's not aggressive.
14:45Do a little shopping on QVC.
14:47You can just have it on in the background.
14:50He probably watches baseball.
14:52Or he might fully go the other direction.
14:55And you know, I like to go watch slasher films and you know.
14:59Right, he's all in on Law and Order Special Victims Unit.
15:02That's right.
15:03The Walking Dead and like, you know, he's into the really, really
15:06violent, aggressive stuff.
15:09I just wondered when he said that, I was fascinated in my own
15:11mind about what is it that he would, he would want to watch
15:14when he goes and watches his shows.
15:16Yeah.
15:17Yeah.
15:17No, no, it like completely in the dark.
15:20Yeah.
15:21So Andrew, what do you think about all this?
15:23Think about what?
15:24We talking about Slates?
15:26And that was Anthony Slater with the questions.
15:28But, and I do think that if I was in Andrew's spot, I would try
15:32to approach it the same way because he is the subject of the
15:35majority of these traits.
15:37So you go to your trade machine and it's all right.
15:40Zion got to put Andrew in there.
15:42Jimmy Butler.
15:43It's got to include Andrew.
15:45Zach Levine, even though I didn't want to put that in the
15:48trade machine, but you got to have Andrew as a part of that
15:50one. Every trade you want to do has Andrew Wiggins in it.
15:54Well, and I noticed this and so today maybe is not the day to
15:57do this.
15:58You know what happens literally after every win and I joked
16:02about this earlier and I think that there are smart people who
16:06are not like changing their opinion based on one basketball
16:10game. But you know what happens when the Warriors win when they
16:14give us an experience like they did last night.
16:16You don't want to trade any of them, right?
16:19So today, doesn't it sound different than it would have yesterday
16:25if I had said in the in a potential deal for Vucevich, you
16:31would need to give up Looney and GP2.
16:34Now, if I'd said that to you yesterday, that's a shoulder
16:36shrug. Okay.
16:39Yeah, make the contracts match.
16:40That's fine.
16:42But then Looney goes out there makes a couple pretty passes
16:46kind of is involved in the ball movement that led to the dagger
16:50shot by Steph Curry in the corner. GP2 heads to the free
16:55throw line hits a big one there at the end.
16:58They make plays that you remember and all of a sudden their
17:02value in your mind changes.
17:04So it's that that's what it is.
17:06I don't think it's that the Warriors won a game and now everyone's
17:09like, oh, they're back.
17:10They're good.
17:11But suddenly it feels it feels harder.
17:14It feels harder to part with any of the people you're going to
17:17have to part with for all of those of you who are screaming
17:20about trades that need to be made even Andrew Wiggins himself
17:24or sure Andrew Wiggins.
17:25I mean when he plays like that and again, I don't want to go
17:28to the just the plus minus of it, but I've used this example
17:31before when Andrew has a positive plus minus they win.
17:35Well last night he was a minus five and they still won plus
17:38minus is a it's a faulty way to look at a game.
17:42But if you just watch how Andrew played he played with force
17:45he played with impact and defensively going up against Ant
17:49Ant man.
17:50He did a great job of slowing him down.
17:53You're not going to stop Anthony Edwards, but being the primary
17:55defender and then on offense.
17:57He took 16 shots.
17:58Yep.
17:59He was aggressive on both ends and when he does that you win
18:02game.
18:02He was really good and he made his free throws.
18:04Yeah, he was really good and he made his free throws Fitz said
18:10while Wiggins was at the line one time he goes Andrew is just
18:14having a great year and I know he does he does make you pull
18:18your hair out, but he is a linchpin conversation in and of
18:22himself.
18:24Once we wrap our heads around who he is and I know for some
18:27fans we never will because you'll never accept someone not
18:31being just an absolute maniacal competitor.
18:35He's not but he's an incredibly talented basketball player.
18:39He looks like the guy prior to all of the family stuff over
18:43the last year year and a half and he has largely been really
18:48good and if you're including him in any deal that you want
18:51to make I think you have to run that through like how many
18:56wing players scores how many of them are that significant of
19:03an upgrade over Andrew Wiggins that we're talking about like
19:06even Butler Butler is better, but how much better yeah, because
19:12Wiggins you'd have to add a bunch more stuff and he's younger.
19:16So I just and he's cost control, right?
19:19He is such an interesting guy in this whole conversation because
19:24he can drive you nuts, but I think you're going to have a hard
19:27time if you trade him getting someone back that's going to be
19:31significantly better at what he does and they need what he does
19:35at what he does when he actually does it and you know, if he
19:39did that all the time, it would be a lot easier to say no deal
19:43and I was joking in the pre-show meeting about dealer no deal
19:46and how we're watching old episodes on rerun and whatnot.
19:49But if Andrew plays like that more often, it's no deal because
19:54you're right.
19:54You can't really replace that and even if you do even if I allow
19:58that Jimmy Butler is better and he probably is better.
20:02He's twice as expensive wants a new contract and has shown that
20:06he might blow up the spot totally blown up multiple spots.
20:10Andrew's only issue was personal deeply personal put aside his
20:15Vax stance which cost him a few games back in the covid era, but
20:19Andrew's always there.
20:21He doesn't really get hurt knock on wood and he's available to
20:25play.
20:25If only he would play like last night five out of six instead of
20:29four out of seven, you know, because it's those nights where
20:32it's like Andrew's just kind of floating and drifting and that's
20:36where you think about trading him.
20:37But if he plays like that, then it's no deal.
20:40You don't want to trade that.
20:42So then it leads me to think about smaller deals where you trade
20:4620 million to bring in a 20 million dollar stretch 5 and maybe
20:50it cost you a first-round pick in 2030.
20:53Then then you think about it.