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00:00The Golden State Warriors have become a national factor with this guy on the bench.
00:06They, like, not even playing at all.
00:08They have gone, where are we at, are we 12-1 with Jimmy Butler in the lineup?
00:1212-1, is that where the Warriors sit right now with Jimmy in the lineup?
00:16All of that is sans Kaminga.
00:18So it might only be 15 minutes, but there's a lot of hand-wringing about this.
00:23There's a lot of talk about this.
00:27And there has to be a lot on Jonathan's mind, from his ankle, to not disrupting the team,
00:32to the contract that's out there.
00:34I think that 15 minutes tonight, if you play really well, and you look like you pop off
00:42the screen with your athleticism, I think that can go a long way for a lot of people,
00:47starting with him.
00:48No doubt.
00:49And 15 minutes, and slowly it'll ramp up as we get closer to the end of the year.
00:53And I just hope that he's able to play and get through it injury-free, because when you
00:58have an ankle, and it's been 10 weeks, it's going to be tough for him to feel fully confident,
01:03even though he's scrimmaged and all the rest of it.
01:04So yeah, I'm looking forward to just seeing a little bit of Kaminga, and get comfortable
01:09again, and don't even really worry about how well you play.
01:13And Steve has already said it, like, we're trying to win games.
01:16So we're not going to go out here and just spoon-feed Jonathan to try to make him feel
01:20good, or to try to get him his numbers, and all the rest of it.
01:24They're trying to win the game.
01:25So if Kaminga's out there and not really in the flow, he's not going to play that much.
01:30Let's hear, let's let y'all hear what some of the key players here have been saying about
01:36this as we get back to Jonathan Kaminga on the floor.
01:40Like this is the last puzzle piece tonight, right?
01:43Again, not tonight.
01:45It's not going to fit perfectly tonight.
01:47But I know a lot of Warrior fans who are like, look, if this is actually going to go
01:51somewhere special, it's because he comes back, it fits, and they become that much more dynamic.
01:57Here's what Steve Kerr said to us just a couple of days ago on the reintegration of Jonathan
02:03Kaminga.
02:04That's the challenge, right?
02:05I mean, when a player of his caliber comes back, it's not easy coming back to a winning
02:11situation.
02:12It's actually easier when the team is struggling.
02:14The other factor here, I think, is, you know, last time JK played, which was 10 weeks ago,
02:20we were a completely different team.
02:22And so I thought he played his best basketball of his career during that maybe five, six
02:27game stretch just before the injury.
02:29But now he's returning to a completely different team.
02:32So he has to adapt to that and we have to adapt to him as well.
02:36So look, we all know that the whole thing is winning.
02:40The bottom line is, what is it going to take to win on Thursday night?
02:45And that's how I'm going to coach.
02:46That's how we're going to play.
02:48I think there's no doubt that JK can help us do that.
02:53And as he goes, I think he's going to get more and more comfortable and he'll have more
02:58and more of an opportunity to help us win.
03:00It's one of everybody's favorite phrases now in sports, ramp up, right?
03:04Well, this isn't just the ramp up back to health for Jonathan Kaminga.
03:09This is the ramp up now to the playoffs.
03:12And I wonder if everybody saw what the Wolves did to the Denver Nuggets in Denver last night.
03:16Wow.
03:17Like that was a snooze of a fourth quarter.
03:19The game was over.
03:21Minnesota is terrifying.
03:23So Steve's right.
03:24There is no rest or relaxation here.
03:28You are like, you lose tonight, you're back in the play-in.
03:31Just like that, yep.
03:33You lose tonight, you're in the play-in.
03:35Okay?
03:37And you're trying to reintegrate Jonathan Kaminga.
03:40So I like, I don't know.
03:42Everybody wants to be like, oh, you know, even Fitz was like, relax, it's not a big,
03:46I don't know, man.
03:47I don't really agree.
03:48I think it's kind of a big deal.
03:49No, it's a big deal.
03:50I don't mean he needs to come out and score 25.
03:53I just mean like this has got, it's got to look right.
03:57And fairly quick, not tonight, but fairly quick.
04:00But if it doesn't look right, then you're not going to force it.
04:03And you mentioned it.
04:04Since they got Jimmy Butler, 12 and 1 when he plays basketball.
04:08And so you've been rolling and you're not going to break up something that is absolutely
04:12rolling.
04:13If Kaminga is not right, if he's not fitting, if you're starting to struggle or if you're
04:17maybe losing games.
04:19And Fitz also mentioned the gauntlet that they have coming up with three games and four
04:24nights and very tough opponents.
04:25You've got New York and Milwaukee and Denver.
04:28And so, yeah, you're right, Mark, you can't afford to give up games just trying to ease
04:33him in.
04:34But at the same time, you're not playing with that desperation just yet.
04:38So you're trying to balance the two things.
04:40Ramona Shalburn on the contract that sits there for Kaminga and the pressures that that
04:46puts on him as he comes back.
04:49He turned down a lot of money.
04:50You know, you have to assume that that is still there for him on some level.
04:55I don't think he's done anything to not earn it.
04:57And as long as that's still there, whatever he turned down, then he should be fine.
05:01But let's see how he plays.
05:02I mean, I think there's a market for him.
05:03I think he'll have options if the Warriors go in a different direction or if they don't
05:07offer the same amount, if they don't increase the offer, et cetera.
05:10I do think he has a market.
05:11It's just a question of, do they let him get there?
05:15How much financial uncomfortability do they want to feel?
05:18Because if they sign into another big deal, that kind of really locks them into the team.
05:23So this is a 17 game work in progress for everybody to see how this fits with him.
05:28Is he OK being the number three?
05:30I don't know.
05:31He showed he can be the top two player on a team here.
05:35And there might be some team out there thinking he can be the main guy.
05:38So, you know, it's a wait and see.
05:41But that is kind of how the Warriors have done things.
05:42And the timing, too.
05:44Yeah, timing, too.
05:45OK, Sacramento tonight, Knicks on Saturday, Nuggets on Monday, Bucks on Tuesday.
05:53Here are your shoes.
05:54Yeah, go have fun.
05:55Pow, pow, pow.
05:56I mean, straight up tough opponents and high leverage games and high pressurized environment.
06:01And as you mentioned, you know, Minnesota, the way they're playing, they've now won six
06:05in a row, matching your winning streak of five in a row and actually besting it by one.
06:10But yeah, if you happen to come up short against Sacramento and Sacramento's playing for a
06:15lot still, obviously, they're they're trying to climb in the play in tournament.
06:19And even though you should beat Sacramento the majority of the times, especially at home,
06:24you can't afford a hiccup right now because a hiccup would drop you a half game behind Minnesota.
06:29You'd be the seventh seed and you'd have the Clippers one game behind you.
06:33So it's you know, there aren't going to be any easy stretches or easy games over the
06:38last 17.
06:39So that does kind of make it hard as you try to ease Jonathan back in, because you do have
06:44to put winning first in this spot.
06:47888-957-9570.
06:48If you want to talk a little Warrior basketball.
06:51One more.
06:52Anthony Slater was on the roast yesterday.
06:55His message to fans concerned about the reintegration sensation.
06:59I would tell those fans that they are being a little misled by this 12 and 2 stretch and
07:05this idea that 12 and 2 means this exact nine man rotation that you saw the other night
07:09can just beat the Thunder in a series like they need more talent.
07:12And Jonathan Kamea is a talent.
07:14He does stuff that other players on this roster don't do, particularly from a scoring perspective,
07:19from an athletic perspective.
07:21That type of player will be needed in a series, you know, when you're facing Denver and Aaron
07:25Gordon's on the floor, Michael Porter jr.'s on the floor, Jamal Murray's on the floor
07:29when you're facing the Thunder and it's Jay Gildas, Alexander, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren,
07:33like talent matters in this league.
07:35This is a high level lottery pick.
07:36This is a guy who's going to be entering, you know, he's heading towards a big contract
07:40in this league somewhere.
07:41You know, the Warriors, you know, are outwardly saying it's going to be with them.
07:45So that's what I would say.
07:46He thought those is a nice story.
07:48Santos was, you know, great the other night against the Detroit Pistons in March.
07:52Jonathan Kamea, in my opinion, will matter more come May against the Denver Nuggets or
07:57the Oklahoma City Thunder.
07:58Yeah, I can buy that.
07:59May.
08:00Can we get to May?
08:01That's a fair point.
08:02Yeah.
08:03It'd be great to get May basketball.
08:04Yeah.
08:05Yeah.
08:06That would mean you get to the second round.
08:08The first round usually wraps at the very, very end of April.
08:10Somewhere right at the very end.
08:11Yeah.
08:12Yeah.
08:13And I agree with him as far as the impact, but you do have to get Jonathan from where
08:17he is now, playing hopefully tonight for the first time in 31 games, 10 or so weeks,
08:23from getting back on the court to getting back to where he was before he got hurt.
08:29If he's the player that he was before he got hurt, and I'm not even thinking about the
08:33points because you're not going to look to him to get you 25 or 30 a night, but if he
08:37can be that impactful, that confident, that effective, well now you get to April and May
08:43and you may have some real action.
08:45I do want to say, and not to steal any thunder from Evan Giddings, who's got Warriors Live
08:50here coming up at the top of the hour when he does the injury report, but Kaminga is
08:55in.
08:56Kaminga is in.
08:57Demantis Sabonis is out for the Kings.
09:00Those have both been announced.
09:01And Steve Kerr, in fact, just talking literally moments ago with regard to Kaminga tonight,
09:08said there is no specific minutes restriction, but it will be a careful amount.
09:15So probably short bursts.
09:18So I would bet that you're probably going to see like maybe three different stints from
09:23Jonathan Kaminga, and they're probably not going to, they'll probably top out around
09:26five minutes.
09:27That's what I thought.
09:28You know, I'm thinking that 15 minutes, and it can never be that precise because you may
09:32not have a stoppage and he may go over five minutes, but they're going to be pretty Spartan,
09:38I think, with throwing him out there for a long stretch of time right away.
09:42I think the three stints is probably right.
09:44And, you know, you use them up in each of the first three quarters, I would imagine.
09:49And if you get to the fourth quarter, if you really need him, you can pop him back out
09:53there.
09:54But the way you've been going with your nine man rotation and winning at this rate, you
09:58feel like you should be able to win without having to really rely on Kaminga late.