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00:00I appreciate you and our audience and our surroundings for being able to, even though
00:09we disagree a lot, appreciate the nuance of the Jonathan Kaminga situation because there
00:18are a ton of national NBA writers who I believe are grabbing clips of Jonathan driving to
00:25the hoop last night and going, see, that's why he doesn't play.
00:31Don't be a jerk.
00:33Don't do that.
00:35Don't have this kid go through what has probably been the most difficult professional three
00:42weeks of his life and get totally put on the shelf and then when he comes in, I'm not saying
00:48he met the moment last night at all, but if he's going to come in and take one bad drive
00:52to the hoop and then grab the clip and put it all over social media and go, see, see,
00:59now do you understand why he doesn't play?
01:02That's kind of weak.
01:03And by the way, that's not why he doesn't play.
01:06That's not why he doesn't play.
01:08Have you ever heard Steve Kerr come on this show and we're asking him about Jonathan Kaminga
01:13and Steve goes, well, he doesn't play because when he drives the hoop, he sucks.
01:16Right.
01:17No, no, Jonathan's skill set doesn't pair perfectly with what the Warriors have found
01:24as far as a rotation and a lineup that really does work.
01:28That's all that's going on here.
01:31And so there's just a lot of cherry picking going on, which I get.
01:33I get it.
01:34It's the playoffs.
01:35It's social media.
01:35I understand.
01:36But don't do that.
01:38No.
01:38And you are allowed to do that.
01:40But I do think that it's kind of a weak sauce take.
01:43And the guy had a 12-day break where he didn't play any basketball other than scrimmaging.
01:49And I know he had some great comments yesterday after the game talking about how he stays sharp
01:54and stays focused and the rest of it.
01:56So his first action after Jimmy gets hurt, they run a screen roll and he dives to the hoop
02:02and he gets the ball back from Steph and he goes up with the left hand and it's a layup
02:05and it's contested.
02:06And, well, he barely even got it above the rim.
02:09He didn't even get it above the rim and it was a miss.
02:11And it's like, oh, boy.
02:12Oh, Kaminga.
02:14Well, it had been 12 days since he actually played an NBA game.
02:17So he's going to give the guy, I will anyway, the grace to kind of warm in to the game.
02:24And he knocked down a couple of threes.
02:25He was 4 of 12.
02:26And he was all right.
02:28If you want to rank like all the Warriors who played, he was fine.
02:32He was not the best and he was not the worst.
02:34No, nobody did great.
02:36Nobody did great.
02:37Right.
02:38For the most part, right.
02:39You know what I mean?
02:39I'll take Quentin Post's shooting, but Quentin Post also, he gets so cooked on things on
02:45the other end of the floor so often.
02:47He just gets lured into things.
02:49Like I would love for Quentin.
02:50Quentin needs to get a crash course on how to not have a veteran draw a foul on you.
02:55It's just every time.
02:57And he always has that look on his face like, God damn it.
03:00I got, you know, I got God again.
03:01Yes, you did.
03:02And I get, like, he's a rookie.
03:05So, you know, it's going to happen.
03:07But, yeah, for me, just, you can have the opinion.
03:13Just don't cherry pick it in that sort of a way.
03:15Now, the flip side of it, because I've also heard this today.
03:19Some of you Kaminga people, and I'm sorry to call you that.
03:21Some of you Kaminga people have just, like, you're the most stubborn human beings I've ever
03:26met in my life.
03:27I don't know.
03:29Like, some of you came out of yesterday, and you're like, see, they're going to need him.
03:33They're going to need him no matter if Jimmy plays or not.
03:36Where are you getting this thought?
03:39Why?
03:41What?
03:41What is it that you're not understanding?
03:45This has been explained to you by the team ad nauseum for three weeks.
03:50Nothing happened last night that changed it.
03:53Nothing.
03:54So, if you, like, just, again, you're allowed to have your opinion, but good Lord, you're
03:59stubborn.
04:00Nothing happened last night that says, now the Warriors absolutely, they're going to need
04:06Kaminga's athleticism in this series.
04:08What did you see?
04:09What athleticism did he show that changed the basketball game last night?
04:13Well, he got to the basket a handful of times, and he made about half of them, half
04:18the layups that he attempted, he actually made.
04:21And then the other ones went over the backboard.
04:23Well, the one did, the one I was referencing, his first shot, which didn't even get above
04:27the cylinder.
04:28And if you think about all the things that he does well, and if one of them, you'll grant
04:34me, just for the conversation, is going to the basket and finishing, Jimmy Butler does
04:39that better.
04:40So, what else does Jonathan do really well that isn't duplicated by either Jimmy Butler
04:45or someone else?
04:46And the answer is, not a thing.
04:48There are better passers, there's better three-point shooters, there's better defenders, there's
04:53better ISO players, and there's better finishers.
04:55So, all the things that he does well, if Jimmy is healthy and playing, Jimmy does about 90%
05:01of those things.
05:02And that's why he's not been in the rotation.
05:04Now, if Jimmy Butler is hobbled or compromised or not available at all, well, then, yeah, you're
05:11going to need Jonathan, and you're going to need him to play better than he played.
05:15He played okay, but if you're going to beat Houston in Game 3 without Jimmy Butler, and
05:20Kaminga's going to play 26 minutes, you're going to need him to be better than he was last
05:24night.
05:24Yeah, absolutely.
05:26And then there's this.
05:28Thank you for texting in and listening.
05:29We appreciate it.
05:30The Boxer and Gerson work injury attorney's text line, 925.
05:33Steph Curry literally said that Kaminga will be needed whether Jimmy plays or not.
05:38So, there's that.
05:39I mean, this is why I came at Steiney and Goo.
05:42What, like, do you guys not get what professionals say to a microphone?
05:48They're not going to rip their teammate.
05:50He's their teammate.
05:51Just because Steph said, yeah, no, I don't have any problem with the physicality in this
05:57series, doesn't mean that Steph doesn't have a problem with the physicality in the series.
06:02Steph is not going to come out and be like, well, we do need Jonathan if Jimmy can't play.
06:06But if Jimmy plays, we don't.
06:07They're, like, that's not how you handle the media.
06:11These guys are seasoned pros.
06:13They're going to say whatever keeps them in their best position to succeed.
06:17Their best position to succeed is, A, don't sound like you're whining and complaining.
06:23Don't let the Rockets see you sweat like that.
06:25And their best position is to keep Jonathan in the best of a positive frame of mind as they can through this situation, which is not easy.
06:35And that's what Steve Curris said all along about Jonathan Kaminga, and Kaminga even said that himself in the postgame.
06:41Like, he was asked about how do you stay ready and what do you do to stay ready?
06:45And it's like, well, I go out there and I work and I scrimmage when I can and I play.
06:50And, of course, I stay ready because you never know in this league.
06:53And Steve Curris said it to us earlier in the week about Jonathan and staying ready.
06:58And they've imparted that message.
06:59And, unfortunately, when Jimmy Butler gets hurt like that, now you need Jonathan Kaminga.
07:05And if you hadn't been preparing him and making sure that he was ready and staying ready and all the rest of it, well, then you've got no hope.
07:12But Kaminga clearly had been staying ready.
07:15And so when he got on the floor last night in the first quarter, he went out there and he was ready to go.
07:20Let's take a quick call on this.
07:21I also want to let you know that there is maybe something interesting from Jimmy Butler's agent that we want to tell you about.
07:29We'll have that for you coming up next.
07:31But let's go to Art in Roseville.
07:33Hi, Art.
07:33Thanks for calling.
07:35Hey, how you doing?
07:36I was thinking about Kaminga and such a gifted athlete, you know, four seasons in.
07:43And then he just displays a lack of situational awareness, you know what I mean?
07:48Even though he's got this God's gift of physical talent that you have other guys roll up in front of him like GB2 or that kid Spencer last night or Pods or even like Ty Jerome for Cleveland.
08:00They always seem to be in the right place at the right time.
08:04They don't have to be directed.
08:06And I just feel that, it's sad to say, I feel like Kaminga doesn't have that.
08:10And I think that's what's killing him.
08:11So that's all I have to say.
08:12Thank you guys.
08:13Have a good day.
08:13Art, thank you.
08:14Yeah, I look, that's part of it.
08:16He's still a 22-year-old player, still a little bit short on minutes considering he's a lottery pick.
08:22But also, also someone who has not picked up what some of the coaches have wanted him to do as quickly as they would like.
08:29I think both of those statements are fair.
08:30Not easy to do when you didn't have high school basketball and your only year after that was G League Ignite,
08:38which is kind of like an AAU plus experience where everyone's out there trying to get theirs and trying to make sure they get drafted.
08:45And if you do look at his draft class, I think he's 14th on the list in total minutes played.
08:51So he hasn't had the touches in the time that, by the way, number one on that list, Jalen Green.
08:58Wow.
08:58He's number one in the draft class in minutes played.
09:01Number one.