Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Joe in San Jose is next up. Hi, Joe. Thanks for calling.
00:04Hey, how are you guys doing today?
00:06We're good, man. How are you?
00:08Good. Awesome, actually. I'm really excited about our matchup.
00:13You know, back when the Warriors were holding on to the sixth spot a couple weeks ago,
00:17we were looking for that 3-6 matchup with the Rockets, and it's funny how it works out.
00:23You know, I think it's great. I'm very happy that we're playing the Rockets.
00:27I think we're going to beat the Rockets. I think we're going to beat the Rockets in five, personally.
00:32But firstly, I wanted to do a little cap tip to the Dibber.
00:36I think yesterday Dibbs, I think, called the game by Warriors by six points,
00:42and I think that's what ended up happening. So tip the cap to Dibber.
00:48Secondly, like you said, Mark, I think you quoted Jimmy Butler a week or so ago.
00:56In an interview, he was talking about how this is a game of runs, like you just said,
01:01and I fully agree with everything you said about blown leads and whatnot.
01:07I think where the problem is, and the stress comes in, because I also agree with you,
01:11last night was very stressful, very hard to watch. I don't like games like that.
01:16I mean, 59 seconds left in the game, the Warriors are up by six points,
01:20and we almost watched a debacle happen. I mean, it was crazy.
01:27But the main thing I wanted to talk about is all of this nonsense that I keep hearing people
01:34coming at Kerr over Kaminga, and I am of the mindset that we need to trust in our coach.
01:42I mean, he's got his four ships. Hopefully we'll get another one this year.
01:50I mean, at some point in time, you know, you've got to have faith in the system.
01:57You know, he has to see something in Jonathan that it didn't match up right,
02:04and I fully agree with the DNPs that he's been giving him lately.
02:07I mean, Kaminga, since he came back from the injury, to me, it seems like he's definitely been struggling
02:15to find his role, how to fit in in the Jimmy Butler era.
02:19And what is Steve supposed to do? You know, you have a player like Jimmy Butler.
02:23You traded the world for him. You get him in.
02:25If Jimmy Butler is going to play 40 minutes, you're going to tell Jimmy Butler,
02:31no, no, you've got to sit, Jimmy, because I've got to get the kid in?
02:34I mean, no, I mean, that's not going to happen. I mean, it's just not.
02:39And Kaminga's very young, very athletic, super talented, but he's streaky.
02:44He's really, really streaky, and he's not the most reliable thing on the floor.
02:48I don't, you know, there are games he'll come in, he'll have a great game,
02:51and then there are games when he really, you know, goes one for eight from three,
02:56and, like, is constantly trying to shoot the three ball instead of, you know, driving the paint.
03:02So, you know, I don't blame Steve Kerr at all.
03:05I want people to back up off our coach and just let him do his job.
03:09I mean, he's amazing. We're very blessed and lucky to have him.
03:13Joe, thank you very much.
03:15I wonder if we can kind of switch up this conversation to a new direction a little bit
03:22because, you know, I hear totally what Joe is saying.
03:25By the way, just for a stat piece, if you want, Jonathan Kaminga, since returning from his injury,
03:33you want to know what he is from three-point range?
03:35Oh, I know. It's, like, three for 20-something.
03:38It's six for 35.
03:39Yep. About the same thing.
03:41Okay. So, just, first of all, let that sink in.
03:44Yep.
03:44Okay? Six for 35.
03:46About 20%.
03:46Really bad.
03:48Yep.
03:48It's really bad.
03:48But, what if I told you, and I'm not saying that I went around and had a private poll with everybody in the locker room,
03:58but what if I told everybody, this is not, this is not coming solely from Steve Kerr?
04:06What if I said that?
04:08Because, like, I think one of the things that is absolutely erroneous with this conversation
04:14is that we have headed down this road of, there's this chasm between Steve and Jonathan.
04:22Steve doesn't like Jonathan.
04:24Steve holds Jonathan down.
04:25And now, here, we've arrived at big games, and Steve won't play Jonathan.
04:30What if we entered something else into our brains?
04:33What if I told you that Steve is one of many, many, many in the organization who think that in those moments
04:43that that was the right thing to do?
04:45It doesn't matter if anybody agrees or disagrees.
04:48Does that change anybody's approach?
04:50Does that change anybody's thought?
04:53Well, it should.
04:54Would anybody's coming to opinion change if Steph Curry, and I'm just making something up here,
04:58but what if Steph or Jimmy Butler just walked into the room and went,
05:02this is absolutely what we should be doing right now?
05:05Would that change anybody's thought?
05:06Would it change Steve Kerr's thought?
05:08I don't know.
05:08It would if Draymond and Steph and Jimmy all went to Steve and said,
05:13you know what, I really think that Kaminga can help us in this way, that way, this way, and that way.
05:18I would imagine that they're going to give him a chance to play,
05:21or if they did something to the contrary and went to the coaches and said,
05:25guys, I don't know if this is going to work.
05:27I don't know if you see what we're seeing out there on the floor,
05:30but it's not really working in what you're asking us to do.
05:34Both things can be equally true.
05:36Players of that level can exert influence on a coaching staff based on what they see
05:41and what they feel out there on the floor.
05:44You've got two four-time champs and another guy who's a 35-year-old veteran of many different teams,
05:50and so they have influence, and not that they're going to always exert it,
05:53but there's a reason why Kaminga has back-to-back DNPs in this spot,
05:58and it doesn't feel like he's any closer to playing in the Houston series,
06:02and I don't even know if he will.
06:03I have no idea about that.
06:05I would not be surprised if he didn't play.
06:07I guess I wouldn't be surprised.
06:09I would guess at this point that you will see him at some point in the Houston series,
06:14but I don't know.
06:15But these games Sunday and last night, these were not the Houston series.
06:21These were not games that the Warriors felt they could afford to lose one game,
06:26one quarter, one possession, and so this is the way that they played those.
06:32Now, listen, what you're saying kind of makes me think of what Draymond was talking about
06:38after the game last night.
06:39Take a listen to a couple of things from Draymond, okay?
06:41First of all, I loved this one when he was talking about if it was special
06:50to watch Steph Curry and his flurry at the end of the game.
06:54It was even more special for me to see because when I shot that three in the corner,
06:59he very nicely told me that it wasn't time for me to shoot.
07:01He came over to me and said,
07:03Hey, man, we got to get into a certain action that we call and we like to run.
07:07I was like, all right, no problem.
07:08That was a very nice way of telling me don't shoot right now.
07:11No problem.
07:12I got him to ball the next play.
07:13He hits a three.
07:14Yeah, there you go.
07:14And what did Steph do?
07:15Then he hits like, this is how the NBA works.
07:19That's pretty funny.
07:19How big is the dog?
07:22That's the dog.
07:23It just doesn't look like it because he's 6'2 and kind.
07:28But that's the dog.
07:29And if the dog says, don't shoot or don't make that play, don't pass it there, don't do that,
07:40then you don't do that.
07:43And so I don't think anything that you watch with Warrior Basketball doesn't have Steph Curry's fingerprints on it.
07:53And I wonder how different this conversation would be if Steph Curry ever walked to, and he can't, and he won't, and he shouldn't.
08:03But if he was able to walk into the room and be like, dude, this is absolutely the right thing for us as an organization right now.
08:10I wonder how that would change the conversation.
08:12It would change it dramatically.
08:14I think so, too.
08:15I mean, the guy with that level of gravitas and that level of basketball experience and championships, if he wants to offer up an opinion, it's going to be heard.
08:24And I don't even know if it needs to be spoken about Jonathan Kaminga because you look at what they've done when Jimmy Butler has come in.
08:31And Jimmy Butler does a lot of the things that Jonathan Kaminga would do.
08:34And so when you look at what's needed from a player off the bench on this Warrior team, you need what Gee brings more than you need what J.K. brings because Gee will hustle, dive, flop, flail, rebound, exert, all the little things that Kaminga has not shown a propensity to do.
08:54And then listen to this from Draymond.
08:56And, again, if there was any discord on that bench with regard to decisions being made by Steve Kerr, do you think that we would hear this?
09:05With Jimmy's different playoff Jimmy, we just spoke about him.
09:09But we also have a coach that make the game beautiful.
09:13You know, the system that, you know, he's implemented here over the last 10 years was unlike one we had ever seen before in this league.
09:21You know, it was kind of a mixture of some greats that he played for, watched for years, and his own twist.
09:29And so I think, you know, it's definitely not just one person.
09:34But we're not going to fool ourselves and act like it's the same without that one person either.
09:37You know, he's a driving force to it for sure.
09:39Yeah, okay.
09:40So, like, and again, I'm not reporting anything right now, but I can tell you what my perception is.
09:46And I think it's a pretty damn good hunch, too.
09:48This is not some vendetta.
09:52This is not some rogue decision that Steve Kerr is making.
09:57This is what all of the Warriors organization thinks is, or was, the right thing to do in those two games.
10:06All of them.
10:08I think all of them.
10:10They're only going to act based on what they think is the right thing to do.
10:13They're not going to go into vendetta mode in game 83 of a regular season in a game you need to win to avoid an absolute make-or-break game to just earn a berth against OKC.
10:26They're not just going to play around.
10:28Now, if it's game 50 and you want to send a message to a guy, or game 31 and you want to sit a guy down and do whatever you want to do, fine.
10:36You do that in December or January, not in April.
10:39This is time where you need to go out there and put your best foot forward and win a game.
10:43And they thought that Guy Santos, as the ninth man, would be that guy.
10:47And so they played him.
10:49Man.
10:50Today kind of feels like day one whenever you go on vacation.
10:53I feel like the flight just landed and we got to our hotel room and took our shoes off.
10:59What do we do first?
11:00You do that thing with your feet and you rub them around in the carpet of the hotel.
11:04That's gross.
11:05It is.
11:05But you just sit there and just like lay on the bed, even though it's probably got bed bugs or whatever.
11:10That's the first thing you do, Mark.
11:11I don't.
11:12You peel back the sheets.
11:13Nah, I'm not one of those peeps.
11:14I get it, but I love Mike.
11:17I got history.
11:18I'm a risk taker.
11:19Yeah.
11:19You can live on the edge.
11:20You live on the edge.
11:22You pull back that sheet first thing and you pull out the black light.
11:26Oh, I'm just like, put the hands, lock the hands behind your head and go.
11:32That's what today feels like, man.