What is krakolacing fellow thermonuclear A efforts. I am Dan Valley coming at you
with podcast number twenty seven of thirty three of our twenty twenty three twenty twenty
four NBA preview series. We're on to the Golden State Warriors look ahead.
You know what that means. I believe this is year four of him mcgreen
to come back on and do this. We're talking to Sam Acindiari, the
co host of the internationally famous Light Years podcast. As far, I just
feel like I see and hear you guys everywhere, even if it's not necessarily
in my podcast. Speed Sam, thank you for coming back and how are
you doing. I'm good? You know. I love the our yearly check
in preseason check in, where I generally have an optimistic tone. I don't
know, I've kind of like listened back and just listened to some of my
old stuff. I definitely am like the old guy who's just excited to spring
training baseball, like nothing can go wrong. You can't break my vibe.
And then you know, they start playing and either of the season goes well
or it doesn't, but today everything's perfect. Look. The training camp mindset
impacts everybody. When I do over unders, I'm like, I have to
pull back wins from everyone because I just think everyone's going to hit their over
I am five teams are not winning fifty games, right. I am a
little surprised because you were able to talk yourself and then attempt to talk Andy
and then attempt to talk to your listeners into the CP three stuff like before
the game's ever happened. I'm not going to lie you. Going that route
actually did surprise me. You know what. Part of it was just a
reaction to last year. I do last year was such a miserable year,
and we can trace it all back to the punch. It was nice to
see the Warriors just go to a new chapter. And the way I look
at the Chris Paul thing is one year could be traded midseason. Quite frankly,
they've used the word optionality an obnoxious amount of times all off season.
I don't know, it's it's like it's like they officially are throwing away two
timelines as a motto, and they're like, you know what, Steph's still
one of the best players in the league. We can win a title.
Let's worry about the future. In the future, it's Chris Paul the perfect
fit. No, but he does do certain things that can help the team,
and if it's weird, we can trade him at the deadline anyway,
because everyone always wants an expiring contract. I don't know. I didn't think
that Jordan Poole, four years, one hundred and twenty three million off of
the season he had, was going to be very movable. So when they
were able to get him for like, you know, an older but still
steady backup point guard type, like, I'm okay with it. Yeah,
it's I you know, I want to get into the Chris Paul stuff,
but it's just like it costs you. Basically, I call it a fake
first rounder. And then Patrick bald went out and there was a second in
there, and it's so it's like it wasn't even necessarily unless you believe that
Jordan Poole was actually a bridge into the next timeline. I don't think he
was. It doesn't even feel like it was. Oh it's mega urgency.
It's just this kind of made functional sense if you wanted to be a better
basketball team. Yeah, and it's like, look, I think Jordan Poole
is better than he was last year. I think if Plaerio was two years
ago is probably a better barometer of who he is as a player than the
one who was really frustrating last year and went through just obscene shooting slumps,
first stretches the time. But I don't think you're trading. I don't think
this is okay. See training James Harden and you know, I think he's
gonna have a nice, long career. But that whole thing wasn't working an
end of the day, Steph Curry's the greatest player in franchise history, and
I have a very hard time matching they'll ever get a player better than Steph
Curry in my lifetime. You kind of just just go for it. It
wasn't working, onto the next one, lean into vets, lean into trying
to be spursy and just kind of see if you can, you know,
if you can pull one more title out of this core. The before going
a little bit deeper into the CB three stuff, what is there? We
know the punch, but is there anything else that you can illuminate on?
What went wrong? Were the vibes that all like, even breaking down to
their road defense of splits, It's just like everything was so some of the
injuries as well. Everything about this team was such a an inconsistent slog if
like, but like, is there anything you can shine on what actually went
wrong last season? And the punch was the manifestation for too many competing agendas
on that team. Jordan everyone everyone thinks it's about or Draymond and Jordan Poole,
and on some level it is, but it was more about Clay and
Jordan Poole. He could not get over the fact that he wasn't allowed to
he wasn't the starter. He thought he was better than Clay. He might
have been at some points, but you know, Steve wanted seniority and you
just kind of wanted him to buy in. I tend to believe I tend
to think if Jordan Poole bought into playing defense, he might have just made
him a starter and told Clay to come off the bench. Oh wow.
I don't know if that's true to be, to be honest, but I
think the coaching staff was like, We're not just gonna start you. To
start, you gotta like kind of earn it quote unquote, and he thought
he already had. There was the James Wiseman thing where they cleared minutes for
him, and he just clearly was unuseful. The coaching staff didn't want to
play him. The front office kind of wanted him to play. Jonathan Kuminga
is another player who thought he earned more minutes than he wanted. I mean,
if you looked at the roster they had last year, you had the
bones of the team that won the title of the year prior, you know,
Steph Clay Draymond. You could throw Loony Wiggins the other guys into there,
and then all guys who are young wanting to prove themselves not win.
So it was it was the two timeline thing. You know, it didn't
get them the year before, but the year before they really had three young
guys. They didn't lean in this way like they had Otto Porter, not
Patrick Baldwin. I'm not gonna say Patrick Waldon wasn't even a problem. But
he's a nineteen year old rookie, Like he'd more deer in headlights in the
locker room than anything. Right, Andre Goadala didn't play all year. That's
the guy you thought could be a veteran helping the bench. Jamichael Green,
who you signed, not that guy? Like it the whole thing disintegrated into
individual agendas, is the way I would put it. What I found interesting,
And this happened a little bit more a lot of it with Ayton in
Phoenix. Like to compare it to the Pool situation, I always just assume
it's like that man men line, that's what the money's for, right.
You're not happy with roll And obviously Jonathan Kaminga wants his next contract, Moses
Moody doesn't. I was a little surprised, even after the punch that shit
went so sideways with Jordan Pool. I actually thought it was gonna be fun.
It's like, oh, he got his contract, and I said the
same thing with eight and I was like, they're paid now, like role
doesn't matter. I was clearly wrong. Yeah, I mean, Jordan Poole
wants to be an All Star, and you know what, like I think
he could. I don't you know, if you asked me, is he
give be an ulsto is here? Probably not, but it would not surprise
me. He's only twenty four. It would not surprise me if he turned
himself into an All Star. You know. Uh, that was never gonna
happen. Coming off the bench for the worst. That sort of thing right,
And I feel like the punch is kind of the manifested should have know
your place, you know type of thing. So yeah, and Aten's wired
the same way in the sense of Ayton has this idea of how he wants
to play and felt like he was held back a little bit. So so
it's not always about the money, you know. Sometimes it's about wanting to
prove you can do something. And that's like, that's why young teams don't
win titles, you know, that's why you know, that's why they're filled
with veteran guys. They're filled with like Dario Sarich types who's been around the
block and he's like, Oh, this is a team where I know exactly
what my role. I can help this team this way. I'm not out
here like saying I need the ball to prove I can score twenty. I
know I'm not that guy, right. So the Chris Paul move was and
I think because it happened so early, but because of what it represented for
Jordan Poole and then what CP three means to the Warrior fan base, it
got lost in the Dame stuff, even in the hard and stuff, in
every whatever the Celtics are. It feels like four seasons ago. Yeah,
it was, though, the single most polarizing moves of the off season.
I think, like, I know, there's other interesting stuff. So what
have your to start here? What have been your general impressions now that we're
into training camp in the preseason of the CP three experience So far? Everything
positive so far. I'm honestly curious to see what happens when Draymond actually comes
back from injury. Not because I think they're gonna clash, although they absolutely
could, but mostly because, okay, no Draymond in camp. We're just
gonna let Chris start. We don't have to work through any of that uneasy
tension. And he's you know, I mean, he's a first spout Hall
of Famer. He's professional like shocker. He knows how to play basketball even
though he's older. He knows how to help his teammates. The young guys
like him, the veterans like working with him. Like that. Stuff doesn't
doesn't surprise me. It's just like positive to see it. I don't think
we can really learn anything until he comes off the bench, and I do
think that's where Steve's gonna land with this. I think my prediction is Steve
Kerr is gonna rotate the main six guys more than you think. It's not
going to be as much of a set starting lineup. He may bring Dram
off the bench a little bit and start small with Chris Paul. He may
yeah, he may bring Clay off the bench or Looney off the bench at
times too, just to make all those guys, you know, realize,
like, hey, you're all on equal footing. You're clearly the main guys.
But someone has to come off the bench every now and then. You
know, what do you think? What are you most intrigued by? Aside
from we all know what he might be able to do for them during the
non STEF minutes? What most intrigue you about his fit and what he can
do for this team? Well, the non STEF minutes, the number one
you already alluded to that the number two would be him next to Steph with
Draymond off the floor is pretty intriguing because how many players is Steph played with
who can actually dribble basketball? Oh shit, you know what I'm saying.
It's it's like and Kevin Durant. Everyone's like, this is unfair, you
know, But like every other Warrior team is it's kind of filled with dudes
who are smart and long, but not necessarily guys who can create their own
shot right right. And you know Jordan Poole when he was going, they
were unstoppable together because now you have that second shot creator next to him.
But Jordan Poole is inconsistent with regards to playmaking. Chris Paul is obviously not
an inconsistent playmaker. He's in point god, whatever you're gonna call it,
right, I'm curious to see what it looks like when you get like Chris
Paul Steph. Maybe you got Wiggins and kuminga two hyper athletic wings and Dario
Sarich stretch five, Like what is that line up? What are those type
of things like, because I think they'll blow people out offense, Like maybe,
yeah, a little slow in the backcourt. Maybe I wouldn't want that
backcourt guarding a Jahn Morant, But like, not that many teams you're playing
that can really expose that sort of lineup. So I'm kind of excited to
see some of the combinations they could run with Steph and CP together. What
is your biggest concern about, like him coming in it's not as much him
because I don't really think he's gonna be as much of a mouth like people
think that they're just gonna hate each other. Like every season CP three team
does well year one, it tends to be like your two three where he
grades on you a little bit, but everyone gets a little initial bump there.
And again if it's like if it's like a Westbrook Lakers experience where it's
just like, oh, this is gonna work, dy A'll get rid of
him in three months in February, you know, so that would not be
ideal, of course, but you know there's an easy out there, right.
The thing that concerns me is the thing that anyone would say at the
words do they have enough size? In general? Forget Chris Paul next to
Steph just like a lot of this roster hinges on Jonathan Kuminga actually taking a
step as opposed to being like a theoretical player who has these exciting flashes.
You know, if he takes a step, that's another six or eight wing
that's like your hair, some Barnes type, and then you can you know
they're still undersized. But it's kind of a warriorsy thing between Wiggins Clay Draymond.
You know you throw Kuminga in, there's a lot of wings to mess
with, right, Yeah, if he doesn't come around, I just don't
know what their best lineup combinations are because we know Draymond and Looney don't work
well together in most playoff matchups. Like, you can't play those two against
Ad for example, he just won't guard both of them and he'll and then
he'll get back and cover them if they ever try to shoot the ball in
any capacity. You know, they need to kind of find a way to
find that fifth guy to go with, you know, Steph Clay Wiggins and
whichever the two bigs that play. Yeah, I mean in Kaminga feels like
because that would have been my biggest question. I know a lot of people
like Bulkan the Warriors plays fast as they want to. Chris Paul's on the
floor, and I was like, even if he's not actually in front of
the break, like he knows how to trail it and get the ball moving.
Mine was just like, what are those that you mentioned Steph Curry and
Chris Paul. It tan't the on offense. I just don't like, what
is that? How do you build out the optimal defensive lineup around him,
and it feel like Jonathan Kuminga is mission critical to maybe doing that, especially
if you're mentioning, well, let's not have Draymond Green on the court at
all times during those those minutes. Yeah, I mean, Kuminga is the
question mark in the top the theoretical top eight nine of their rotation. You
know, like Darius arch is gonna come in and be the player he's been,
which is a solid backup big right, we know what he's doing,
Looney, we know what he's doing, you know, like we know what
those guys are doing. Kuminga is the one swing piece where it's like he
hasn't really proven it in the NBA. He's had some stretches where you're like,
I think he might be good, but he hasn't done it with consistency.
He obviously got benched in the playoffs that felt more disciplinary at times,
that felt more like Steve trying to get him to buy in than than like
a matchup thing. But all roads kind of lead back to him as their
one development gamble. So when you're looking at him, if we look back
on this season and it is the breakout campaign for Jonathan mingof he would have
finish this sentence, Jonathan Kamingo broke out, because like, what is the
one or maybe even two things that you'll be watching them most closely about.
How he fits in fairs within this rotation? Rebounding that's the one. It's
Yeah, I think I would like to say his jump shot, but I
don't think it's realistic to expect him to be a great shooter yet by any
like or even just like a confident one. What they need him to do
is be a guy who can use athleticism to make effort plays, and rebounding
is the one they continue to focus on with him. So uh, if
he becomes the more aggressive real Like, remember two years ago in the playoffs,
Andrew Wigans started rebounding like crazy and we're all like, huh, you
know, where has that been for seven years? Right? But like that
was what they needed. That's kind of what I'm looking at with Kuminga.
Can he do what Andrew Wiggins did, what Harrison Arnes did? Can he
be that type of wing You know, we're not going to run isolations for
you, but your presence is felt by hitting an open shot, you know,
cutting and you know dunking the ball off Steph's gravity and rebounding and making
the little place that's kind of what they want from him, and that's been
the issue the past two years, where he sees himself as you know,
a guy gets a ball in his hands and doing certain things. It's in
some ways it's really reminiscent of kind of young Andrew Wiggins. So it felt
like, at least when I was watching them, they were more of those
little defensive plays from him, even if sometimes it probably took him out of
position to get rebounds, which is like, but so that's encouraging. Are
they prepared because you mentioned this, like there's an urgency just because Steph is
Steph right now, but you look at this roster makeup or they it does
seem like they're prepared to give him a longer rope this year, or at
least I think there's so many freedom to fail, but like it feels like
there's a really big belief that he is going to make that leap into consistency
this season. My re on the way they built the roster out is we're
bringing in a lot of low maintenance, no nonsense veterans. Cory Joseph comes
to mind, just ten year pro, you know, he good locker room
guy. He's gonna help the younger players. They brought GP two back.
Beloved ultimate teammate, would never complain if he if he gets a DMP three
games in a row, he's still going to be doing the good teammates stuff,
Dario. Sorry, they brought in a bunch of those guys, and
in some ways it's because last year they over index going young and the other
The other way you can look at it is, you know, if you
want to give a guy like Kuminga the space to succeed, surrounding him with
those type of guys is going to be way more beneficial for him. I
think Rudy Gay is gonna end up getting the last roster spot they have,
and I think he's gonna be getting it mostly because they view him as like
the guy who can be in Kuminga's ear and help him and just like all
these you know, good teammate, veteran bench guy things like. I think
that's really what they're betting on, and they're trying to insulate it where it's
like we can get it out of him because we're gonna we're gonna build a
very like adult professional team, the Klay Thompson stuff, like, are we
supposed to really read anything into the hole? Will he be defending some power
forwards? Like what is it actually changing about what he did defensively last year,
which was still miles away from how they were using him defensively a few
years ago. So I just don't understand why there's all of a sudden this
uproar on St. Steve. Just I think he knew exactly what he's doing.
He knew it. Getting you say power forward, it like makes people
think he's going to be defending Karl Malone like that even exists in the NBA,
you know, like he's a wing. He's gonna be guarding bigger wings.
That's what they want from him. I think we all know he's not
going to be guarding point guards anymore, right right. Clay's best attribute is
his strength Defensively, He can muscle up with an Aaron Gordon. He can
muscle up a Kawhi Leonard as well as any wing. Can you know he's
he's strong. But if he's gonna be the guy guarding those type of wings,
there has to be a little more focus on off ball defense. A
little more awareness in terms of being a help defender, and just you got
to help a little more in the glass too. You know, no one's
asking Clay to become a ten rebound per game guy, but you can't have
it. Can't be like, you know, Clay of the earliers of Dynasty,
where it's like twenty five points, one assist, two rebounds. You
know, I need a little more out of you there. And I think
that's what he means my power forward. Power forward. It's essentially it's like,
you're gonna you're not gonna be on ball, You're gonna be off ball.
So I need you to actually be a help defender. I need you
to not fall asleep off ball. I need you to box out off ball,
those sort of things. And when you talk about it that way,
you're like, you know what those are reasonable asks? You know those are
a reasonable ask. But when you say he's going to play power forward,
people's minds go to, oh, no, he has to guard Giannis one
on one man. Is there any like does he have to do anything different
offensively? Not even just this season, but as he's getting older, because
it felt like last year he'd like he shot the hell out of the ball
for a lot of the season, but they were just like these wild swings
from him, and then it felt like he reverted to some of the I'm
automatically gonna shoot her, I'm gonna try and put the ball on the floor.
Is there anything smarter to just chang? Yeah? Be smarter, That's
what it is. I think the big takeaway like the Lakers series, obviously
that's the worst playoff series I've seen him play. He was I mean,
he tried to like talk about game six, Clay and then goes out three
for nineteen, you know, like it was. It was. It was
kind of a shitty way to go out. I think, you know,
he's not going to turn into like a pick and roll playmaker. I don't
think they're gonna start posting him up like Mark Jackson's right of the offense again.
Maybe here and there, but like he is good at it. But
it's like, I don't know how many how many post fadeaways a game do
you really need? Right? I think it's more just about re cognition being
a little more of a decoy understanding when you actually have four feet of space
versus a guy right in your face. Clay thinks he can hit a shot
on anyone, because he's proven he can hit a shot on anyone, and
that leads to him going, you know, kind of like that the Kobe
stereotype of like shooting with three hands in your face, Like just do less
of that and they'll be fine. Because even if he's thirty four next spring,
even if he's older than that, no one's leaving him wide open,
right, so he's willing to use if he's willing to just use his gravity
to open up stuff to get Wiggins a donk or stuff like that, like
he's still an effective offensive player. There's a little bit of a pointless question
because I don't think either way he leaves. But would you bet for against
there being a Clay extension because it seems like he was pretty open to it.
I think he just talked to uh Anhi Slater the athletic and it seems
like he was pretty much all four exp I was, yeah, he talked
to Slater, And when I saw that the way or when I when I
listened to the way he actually said it, I was like, damn,
he kind of sounds like he's like asking for a contract, Like it's not
like him being like I want a Max and the Warriors being like, no.
It seems like it's kind of like Warriors aren't offering him a contract.
It's like, you know, guys, I don't want that much. You
know that type of thing. I said on my show, I'm betting against
it being signed before the season. I think the Warriors want the optionality in
the season like him and CP three is expirings and see what's going on there.
But I do think he will be resigned next offseason. I just think
it's gonna be one of those things where they probably don't come together in the
next week, and that's fine. He'll play it out, he'll get extended.
That's just my guess. Andy, my co host, thinks. The
other way is like the way he's talking, it sounds like a guy he's
willing to sign if he gets offered what Draymond got offered. He wants to
sign it just to play it safe, right now? Would you if you're
the team just removing what he emotionally means to this branch is like, do
you pounce at that? If he's willing to sign like the Draymond on Pype
deal, or maybe even for a little less I think I think you have
to because I just don't see that as a contract that's toxic for you,
you know, like taking all emotion out of it, which you kind of
have to do. The decision the Warriors need to make is are we willing
to give up flexibility? Are we willing to give up the flexibility that not
extending Clay gives us? Like I don't know what if Joel Embiid becomes open
and we want to be players in something like that, it's better to have
expiring contracts than a newly you know, inked up guy for four or five
years who's older, right, that sort of thing. And I'm not saying
they would trade Clay even if he did came available, but it seems like
they're valuing the fact that, you know, if this doesn't work the way
we want it to, we can pivot to a new era of Steph or
next to someone else without a Clay or Wiggins or something like that. But
what that's But back to your point, I mean, it's hard if he's
if he's willing to take twenty to twenty five given the market, like that
makes him what the eightieth highest paid player in the NBA or something dumb like
that. It's like of like the salary cap moving forward, like that's what
the number would just settle into. And probably less if it's at like a
either if it's a declining rate or a steady, steady rate. I mean,
that's that's uh, that's Lonzo Ball, Marcus Smart, Dylan Brooks,
Malcolm brogged In, Norm Powell money, Heldon Johnson money. You know,
I don't think that's a number that like that. It's pretty team even as
he gets older. That's that's how much Boyon Bogdanovich makes. That's Evan Fournier
money. You know, I just think, well, I'm not saying all
those are great contracts, but but you know, you know what I'm saying,
Like, I just I can't see the Warriors passing up if he's willing
to go that low on number. Uh. Andrew Wigs was kind of all
over the place after the adductor injury and then his dad was sick and he
was absent from the team. Do we read anything like long term into the
kind of that inconsistency rollercoaster specifically on offense, or is it just let's chalk
it up to the hell fire that was last season. I think you're correct.
I think I think last year is a miserable season for him. He
had an injury. He's been pretty durable his whole career, but you know,
he was injured. Then he had a family matter, and you know
he ended up playing what only forty six games like that, right, a
really low number. I think that's another reason I'm like quasi bullish on this
team, because I think he bounces back. You know, maybe he'll never
hit the highs he hit in the twenty twenty two playoffs ever again, but
there's a lot of room between that guy and just the no show guy last
year. He's very comfortable in their system. The role is tailor made for
him where he never has to dribble the ball. He gets to use that,
he gets to do the things he's really good at, and then there
are moments where he gets to take over because teams are triple teaming Steph Curry
and next thing, you know, Wiggins has twenty two points on mostly like
open catch and shoots and like cuts right, like those type of things.
So I I, you know, I think I think he bounces back.
I also think it's not that hard for him to bounce back in this Warrior
system because the role fits him. That's why I keep saying Kuminga is the
swing piece, because he's the only one they're asking to do something no one's
technically actually seen him do to date. So and also, by the way,
a down season for him now where it's like, okay, the defense
was mostly there and he still shot almost forty percent from three on seven at
tens per thirty six minutes, like that's I mean, I would say the
down season is he didn't play and you know, like and then when he
came back in the playoffs, he couldn't hit any threes because well, he
hadn't played for an extended period of time and there's rust there, right.
But yeah, Like to your point, if you look at his permanent numbers
in the games he played in the regular season, it looks the exact same
as the year before. I was praising him about, right, right.
The other thing that is fastinating about this team to me anyway, what is
Moses Moody's role this year and what would be watching just most closely for when
he even last year felt like I don't know, there's I don't want to
call it feel but it felt like he just fit and worked, and that's
what made it frustrating that he had an extended period where he was out of
the rotation in favor of Anthony Lamb. You know, I kind of thought
he was going to establish himself in the rotation last year and things just didn't
break for him that way. I do agree with you. He has a
level of feel and like he should be an easy plug and play player for
them. I think he's gonna be another shooter off the bench, another guy
who's long, who can guard multiple positions on defense, another guy who competes
pretty hard. I wouldn't be surprised if he pushed himself above twenty ish minutes
a game and they used him use them a lot and to kind of let
them keep Clay's minutes lower. But yeah, I mean he is kind of
the buried one of the topic because I'm spending so much time at Kuminga,
right, uh right, I mean, And it's also just like Cominga's not
I know, he can guard wings, but like when you're talking about offense,
like Kaminga isn't necessarily like a wing on offense like you have Wiggins.
And No, he's kind of like he's kind of like the role man.
He does a lot of the like a lot of the you know, okay,
pass past kumga cup for a dunk, you know that sort of stuff.
So right, and so having that, if you're gonna start Clay and
Andrew Wiggins, having like that secondary wing come off the bench, is I
mean pretty important. So so you think he's gonna play consistently over twenty minutes
a game this year, I'm penciling him at like eighteen ish, but I
would not be surprised if he got all the way up to like twenty five
ish minutes a game. When you start naming all the names that are going
to have to play, this rotation is a quasi deep roster. Now we
might have thought that a year ago, but you know, young players turn
the opposite way and next thing you know, you're like, we don't have
anyone we trust, you know, So could go either way, but I
think there's opportunity for him to kind of be the bench unit show. Does
that make sense? Right? And I don't mean to disparage Gary Payton by
not calling him Gary Payne. The second by not calling him a wing.
I don't know what he would be classified as, like a center guard.
I don't like, I don't really know what to call him. I mean,
I kind of think what the Warriors want Kuminga to do is just do
what GP two does, but be six inches taller. That's that's like literally
what they want. And it's like play defense, use your athleticism to be
a ball hawk, and then just like use athleticism to be kind of the
five man on offense. And you know, no one really knows, but
we didn't run any plays for you, but you got twelve points of fifteen
minutes type of thing. It's there if he can figure it out. A
lot of that's just GP being really intuitive though, speaking of quasi depth,
Steve Kerr seems in love with pods on both ends of the floor, which
is not something that's coming. I was just looking at a quote, Yeah,
do is there? I mean, there's no chance he like plays a
real role on this team, But do you have any general early impressions of
his game, what he could be, how he might be useful down line
to this? Yeam, I think there's a reasonable chance he helps them eat
regular season minutes this year. He's a rookie. I will be shocked if
he plays meaningful minutes in a playoff series at any point this year. But
the thing Steve keeps pointing out to and it showed in the first preseason game,
is he's really quick mentally, He like completely understands what to do.
And that's gonna Steve's gonna fall in love with you if you're thinking one play
ahead at all times. You know, like that's just his type of player,
And honestly, if it keeps translating, he will throw him out there
a little bit. Like Steve Kerr is not afraid to play guys who have
high feel and or good passers, regardless of their size, regardless of a
combinations, Like we know he's up to that sort of thing, right,
So, I don't know, it's it's been fun to see a rookie who
kind of has the opposite skill set of the last few rookies they drafted,
you know, like Pods's he's not undersized, but he's not particularly big,
and he's a particularly impressive athlete by NBA standards, but he has incredibly high
feel and like a lot of touch. So it's like it's like they it's
like they had to go the complete opposite way of the players that drafted the
last couple of years. I don't have any Draymond or Steph Curry questions,
but we have to talk about them because they they're Draymond and Steph Curry.
Like, do you have any new thoughts or concerns about either of these players?
Do you expect even when Draymond and Chris Paul You know you mentioned CP
three playing with Steph, do you maybe see instances where the Warriors try to
go full bore and maximize those non Steph minutes and see a lot of Draymond
and CP three together. I know they're reluctant and shown to stagger Draymond and
Steph, but like, how do you view like maybe those two CB three
and Draymond operating together? I think they can. I think it'll be interesting
because Draymond is kind of the point guard was on the floor. Some of
that's because he doesn't really have a role if he's in the ball in his
hands, but they do so much, you know, rip and Ron off
the rebound because he trusts Draymond to make decisions, go straight into a DH
O and then just let Steph cook that sort of stuff. It'd be interesting
to see how he plays with Chris Paul more from a pace perspective, because
Draymond's mentality is like run, run, run, right, He's not a
half court offensive guy, so he's trying to get the team into transition as
much as possible. Chris Paul is the opposite. You know, I'm gonna
slow it down and I'm gonna make the right play, and because that's how
I like to play, right, So I don't know it it'll be I'm
curious to see how those two team together because on the one hand, they're
both so smart that something has to work with the two of them. On
the other hand, like just on paper, the fits awful right, and
but you almost want to see it or experiment with it because if if there's
any chance of you having that optionality and higher leverage moments, like it can't
always just be about staggering because the minutes that matter, like you technically want
all your best players on the court. Maybe that ends up being the five
man unit with Looney and CB three just on the bench and it's Wiggins and
Klay Thompson or there with them. But I'm hoping they like do it just
made them like experimenting a bunch with like sort of some of these different lineup
and stagger patterns to see what they really have in the CP three fit.
Yeah, I do think it's possible that they're well, I know they're gonna
experiment in the early season. I know we're gonna see some Steve Crow lineups
where you're like, I don't know, man, I don't know about that
one. I don't know, you know, but it's you know, better
to do that stuff early than later, right, Like, So, I
don't know. Steve Kurtz kind of a mad man. Sometimes he throws out,
you know, a lineup where the tallest players six' five and you're
like, what are we doing right now? We just saw we just saw
him play mckel bridges at center in FEEBA ball, So you know he's not
afraid to zig, right, So how big of a loss do you view
as Bob Myers to this organization and what level of trust do you have in
Mike Dunleyley Junior and also Kirk lakeub of like okay, like we're gonna be
more than just like ride out this goodwill that we have from the four championships,
and we're really going to try and maximize what we have left of this
just the best player in franchise history is probably one of the ten greatest players
of all time, Like he's still in his prime window. Yeah, I
mean in I have as much faith as one could reasonably expect to have given
it happened in May. Mike Dunleavy was his right hand man, and so
is Kirk lacub. A lot of the Warriors' decisions are kind of consensus brain
trust decisions. They're not like a one man operation. This isn't like a
I'm trying to think of a good example, like Darryl Morey tends to just
kind of like everything goes through him, right type of thing. I don't.
They don't. They don't operate. It's it's a consensus type of thing
with the Warriors. So I don't know. We'll see, Like it's hard
to argue with the results during Bob's tenure, right, So I'm curious to
see how this goes. But in terms of first off season and moves,
they're saying all the right things. I like the moves that they made.
They also didn't paint themselves into a corner with aggressive gambles, Like, yes,
Chris Paul is weird, but there's a very there's like a very easy
pivot off it, you know what I'm saying. So it's like, I
kind of like what they did, and I'm willing to let it play out
a little bit before making a definitive decision. And do you think and you've
kind of alluded this, but I want to make sure that I'm not like
misquoting it here, that they have the guts, the gall too if a
mid season opportunity arises, whether or not Chris Paul's being a good fit,
that they would make that kind of a shake up if the right player becomes
available, rather than kind of playing it safe. I do, and I
think that could potentially be the biggest shift between this front office and the Bob
Myers one. Bob is very what's the word I want to say, Bob's
Bob's pragmatic. He's not a guy who's gonna like wholesale half his roster at
the trade deadline. He's a big like, let's see it play out,
let's move this slowly, let's not try to panic that sort of thing.
Now. I'm not saying Dunlevy's like going to panic trade left and right,
but I do get the impression he's gonna be a little more aggressive. And
yeah, if the case scenario for the words happens where Chris Paul and Draymond
are just not working and this and that, I do think he trade Chris
Paul at the trade deadline. I do think you he'd just be like,
it's not working, you're on this is the business, you know. I
mean, he said, I'm not trading Jordan Poole. What do you mean?
We want him here forever and trade him two days later? You know.
Yeah, And he was pretty he was pretty steady about it. He's
kind of this has been brought up to me, but it's like he's a
lifer. He's not. He's been traded himself multiple trips. He's kind of
gotta he's desensitized to like that side of the business. So I don't think
he would hesitate to act if he thought it made the team better. There's
also they have a sneaky like they can still trade a couple first in their
swaps, and there's kaminga and there's movie CP three expierment, Like they have
a sneaky they're not gonna outbit everybody, but they they still have real stuff
to move without touching their their particularly when you look at like Steph's age.
If they want to put some of those later picks on the table, they're
theres gonn be some teams just like, man, are they going to be
good on stuff's forty? You know, like like a lot of you know,
like it kind of just what you saw with the Bucks trade, right,
like that is a that is a bet against the Bucks future that Portland
made, you know, and it could be a fair one given the ages
of the guys when they get there, you know. So they do have
stuff, and I think the expiring contracts are a big piece of that too.
So I think they're I think they're open to it. I just think,
having seen how they operate, they're not trading picks in twenty twenty eight,
twenty thirty like that sort of stuff unless it gets a guy who they
think could reasonably be a bridge with Steph like that, like like it would
happen. It's not going to be like, oh, we're going all in
on og Ananobi type exactly, and and apparently that's what miss I wants for
og So yeah, exactly, it's got to be like we're getting a true
number two star with Steph for one, we are entering the cookie cutter portion
of the podcast. Now, are there any strengths or weaknesses that we have
and discussed that are maybe flying under the radar or not being talked enough about
with regards to this team. I mean, I think everyone thinks they're going
to be too small, So I don't know that weaknesses are being under discussed.
I just I don't think enough is being put into how terrible their bench
units have been. When Steff's off the floor and Chris Pault thirty eight should
be able to command a net neutral bench and they have a good combination of
players to go with it. I kind of think they're being slept on.
And how many wins they can potentially just rack up in the regular season playoffs
could be a different animal, because I'm not sure if they have the five
million units they've had in the past that you can trust. But I think
I just don't think about how reliable that's starting five last year was when they
played together with statistically a killer it is. It is, and it's good,
and it's also like you know, it doesn't work against specific teams because
of Luney and Draymond's offensive limitations, but like against the field poins, So
I don't know. I feel like it's being slept on how much Chris Paul
can actually help the bench and just contribute to wins like they could they should
win fifty games. Do you think that they're going to change, not like
overhaul the way that they're used to playing, but like, are we going
to see more of, like maybe a traditional offense when Chris Paul's running point
on his own or is he really going to be kind of like grossed into
the way that the Warriors want to play. I think they're gonna They're gonna
make him play the way the Warriors want to play when he's playing with Steph
and Clay and just there's just so much stuff that they do that you'd be
foolish not to have him figure out how to work in that system, right.
But I think when it's backup units with no Steff on the floor,
they might go with the traditional CP double drag screen offense and just make Kuminga
the role man and Sarwich and just like, look, man, we don't
need to reinvent the wheel. When Steph's not out there, go with what
works. It'll be steady defend, get some high percentage shots and boom,
throw stuff back in there and cause chaos. When when you're looking at sort
of the ten man rotation, the top ten guys who are gonna play,
does it feel like there are just ten locks for this, Like it's just
you have the top six their CP three and then we go right into well,
Gary Payton, the second, Johnathan Amga, Moses Moody, and Dario
Saariz. Like, where is the do you expect if Rudy Gay makes the
roster to actually crack that top ten type thing or is anyone else? No?
I think you're right. I think the reality is Steph's gonna miss a
handful of games, Chris Paul miss a handful of games. And you know
that's where the Corey Joseph's of the world come in. That's where maybe Pajemski
gives them a little thing here and there. That's where Rudy Gay can give
them some minutes because Draymond maybe is you know, missing a few games here
or there, and that's how those guys get their minutes. Like end of
the day, four of their top six are over thirty and two of those
guys are over thirty five, there's gonna be games missed, there's gonna be
precautionary rest, even though Adam Silver says we shouldn't do it anymore. And
there's gonna be opportunities for the rest of the roster. But to your point,
fully healthy locked in playing the Nuggets, playing the Lakers, you know,
games they want to have. I don't expect them to go much deeper
than those guys. I'm gonna put you on the spot because you've already mentioned
it'll be a lot of as we matchup dependent be fasterward to the end of
this year. What ends up being their most used crunch time unit. I
think it's gonna be. I think it's gonna be the one that everyone expects,
which is Chris Paul and the hyper small ball unit. I think it's
gonna be Steph. You're talking about just what's the most used crunch timelineup right?
Yeah, just like high stakes moments, And I know they can do
a bunch of different things, but like, what's gonna end up being a
five minutes Steph, Chris Paul, Clay Wigans Draymond, which is tiny,
right, but I think they're gonna go with that in those like three minutes
left. We need to take this game home. Let's get them out there.
My Galaxy brain was I feel I could it be because like Loony,
Draymond wigging Paul and Steph, But like the idea of having, like in
a playoff game and it's crunch Clay's on the bench just feels dirty. So
I couldn't. I wouldn't be able to go with that one. But that
was the one that I kind of thought a lot about. I do think
we're gonna see games this year where Clay doesn't close. We'll see games where
they go with Looney instead of Draymond. We'll see games. We won't see
games where Steph doesn't close. I'll put it that way. Well, that
would be stupid. I think we'll send every I know. I think we'll
see every other guy of that you know, Big six be on the bench
for crunch time at some point this season. And I actually get the feeling
that that's kind of Steve wants that to happen. He wants them to close
a game with Clay on the bench once just to be like, you're important,
but you know we can win other ways. You know, I wants
to close once with Chris Paul on the bench just so he understands, like,
it's not you know, it's not twenty seventeen where you're the point God
or something like that, you know, and and on down the line.
Close without Draymond because of Looney, is a better matchup against like Sabona or
something, just because hey, that's what we want to do. I do
expect there to be, Like my biggest take is they're not going to have
a consistent starting or closing lineup. It's going to be the same seven or
eight guys, but they're going to rotate them a lot. Though. I
wouldn't be surprised if they started kuminga for random games and they went with the
Steph Clay Wiggans kuminga Draymond lineup. You know, I wouldn't be surprised if
that happened. So I just think there's a lot of I would say opportunity,
but I think I think that they're going to be a little more mix
and match heavy than they are traditionally. If they're going to be that experimental,
this actually makes this question have some substance when it normally doesn't. What
is a weird old lineup? Maybe they won't try it. Do you think
that they should. I want to see Steph. I want to see the
one I said earlier. I'll keep it. I'll keep it simple. Step
Wiggins, Kuminga sarich Okay. I got the two hyper wings, the stretch
five who can pass and do kind of the boget uh you know, be
Elita like you know, be kind of a a hub of offense from the
elbow. Big. You got CP and Steph together, I don't know,
it could be a lot of fun. I just want to see this Steph
plus kids line up. Just let's sell the two timeline out there. Well,
so that's kaminga moody pod Steph and uh I really look, I'm just
gonna throw he's on a two way. I just wanted to lose Mongarooba out
there. I'm in love with Who's still, don't I do? I would
not be surprised if he got his way into the rotation. They he's he's
a warriorsy player. We'll see, We'll see if he develops fast enough.
But like the skill set fits how the Warriors want to play for sure.
Uh. I celebrated every quarner three he hit last year. So I'll be
all about that. No, it's interesting. We just did our over unders
pods for the league. The Warriors total to move down since we did it
was on two days ago. It's at forty seven and a half right now.
Would you take the over the under on that? I take the over.
I think they won forty four games last year. Uh, and they
swapped a bunch of mouth contents for Chris Paul, who tends to rack up
wins. I think they'll be a safe bet for forty eight wins if they
stay reasonably healthy. In general, let me put it this a way,
They're either gonna win over forty eight or they're gonna win under thirty eight.
That's my prediction. I think they're either gonna either Father Times catching up and
there's gonna be a lot of injuries and that sort of type of season,
which I you know, don't want to happen, but it's always possibility,
right, or they're gonna be a normal NBA team with you know, maybe
Steph plays sixty three games, maybe Chris Paul played sixty games. You know,
like, nothing substantial, but nothing that terrible either, And I think
given the veteran upgrades they made, that's probably a team that gets you close
to fifty wins, maybe even mid fifties, but I feel forty eight a
safe bet. Uh. This question has been interesting because of how wide open
the West is and looking at just the regular season, because like play us
a different animal. Are there any teams that you would guarantee to have a
better record than the Warriors in the West right now? Yeah, Denver.
I think Denver's combination of like they're defending champions. Every one of their core
players is younger than the Warriors' core player, Like they're all in like the
perfect age sweet spot where I'm not concerned about health and they just rack up
wins. Man like, I would be very surprised if Denver isn't a top
two seed. Again, Oh yeah, I'd be shocked. Other than that,
I don't know if Phoenix should be a flamethrower, but I wouldn't be
surprised if they were kind of like the Warriors were. It's unclear about how
many of them are sitting in lineup every night and that sort of thing,
and then everyone else, Like, I don't know, I could, I
could. I could paint a case for two being the two seed or the
play in for eight eight eight teams in the West, and the Warriors are
one of those teams. So I think I just I'm more. I have
more faith in the Suns than you do. I think. I think there's
a clear top two and everything else is wide open. Sam, I know
you have to go. Can you just tell our listeners where they can find
you and all the great work that you do. Yeah, Sam's fandi are.
You can find me on Twitter, check out the light Years pod,
Apple, Spotify, all pod players. Yeah. I appreciate you. Yeah,
I appreciate you as well. Thanks as always for coming on. I
will talk to each you