Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00talking about Jonathan Kaminga and fitting in.
00:04And where these conversations always go,
00:06for many people, is you either love Jonathan Kaminga
00:10or you're a hater, you're like Steve Kerr
00:13and you hate young people.
00:15Here's what I'll try to say again.
00:17I think Jonathan's a wonderful player,
00:19I want the Warriors to keep him.
00:21I'm not even predicting that him fitting in won't work.
00:24I'm simply saying that I think this is a bigger assignment
00:28than people are giving it credit for.
00:31I think that this is hard.
00:33The Warriors are a different basketball team now.
00:35Jonathan is going for a contract
00:37and he is going to come back and have about 20 games or so
00:42to play with the Warriors.
00:44And this has been ramped up
00:46because now they look like a playoff team.
00:48There's a huge new presence.
00:50The minutes are going to get reallocated.
00:52You know what that is?
00:52It's a reallocation sensation, Mark.
00:55All I'm saying is it's a lot.
00:57This is a lot.
00:58So that very topic, no doubt after we talked about it
01:02in the five o'clock hour, all those Warriors reporters
01:04took it straight to the arena
01:06and they wanted to ask everybody,
01:08hey, what about Jonathan Cominga and fitting in?
01:12Here's how Jimmy Butler answered the question.
01:16I think it's going to be easy.
01:18Hella athletic, can shoot it, can score
01:20in a multitude of ways and can guard.
01:23He can definitely guard.
01:24So I think he's going to come back
01:26and do what he's been doing.
01:28My job is just to make it even easier on him.
01:30So come on back and help us get some dubs.
01:34Okay, super easy.
01:35Come on back.
01:36You're good at basketball, come play with us.
01:39We'll get some dubs.
01:40Come on back and help us get some dubs.
01:42He can ball, he can defend, it's going to be easy.
01:45Let's go talk to Draymond, everybody.
01:47Hey, Draymond, what do you think about Cominga fitting in?
01:52You're integrating another dynamic player
01:54who can switch positions, who get out in transition,
01:58who can score the basketball.
01:59Like I said, we haven't done anything spectacular
02:02offensively, it's not like we've put in a bunch of sets
02:05since Jimmy's been here.
02:06We've kind of taught him a few of the sets
02:08that we already had that we liked and that's it.
02:10You know, and so I don't think he's necessarily
02:13coming back to a completely different offense.
02:15I think he's coming back to a team
02:16with a completely different mentality
02:18and he'll be fine picking that up.
02:20Okay, so this is going to be easy.
02:23It's going to be fine.
02:24Jonathan's good at basketball, we're good at basketball.
02:27It's not like we've reinvented the wheel.
02:29So Jonathan was good before, Jonathan will be good again.
02:33Maybe that's all true.
02:34Sounds simple, Mark.
02:35Okay, now blend that in with Steve Kerr
02:38before the game yesterday.
02:39What makes Jimmy special is that he doesn't try
02:42to be special, he just plays fundamental basketball
02:45and you know, the constant fundamental play,
02:50I mean, he never turns it over.
02:51He just makes a simple play over and over again.
02:53And I want JK to learn some of that.
02:57You know, he's so explosive.
02:58I think it's always hardest for guys
03:00who are the most talented to make decisions
03:02because they've got too many options at their disposal.
03:06I'm hoping that he can learn from Jimmy
03:08and that Jimmy will spend some time with him.
03:09I know he will.
03:11Jimmy's really good about that.
03:13But just understanding that, you know, attacking the rim,
03:16nothing there, jump stop, pass the ball.
03:18That's a great basketball player, especially for us
03:20because Steph Curry's on the other end of the play a lot.
03:23Okay, now, there's some differences there
03:27in what they're talking about,
03:29but I catch a very, very different tone
03:33where Steve Kerr is essentially like,
03:35especially when he uses the word I'm hoping,
03:38that's the one that gets me.
03:40I'm hoping that Jonathan will kind of learn from Jimmy
03:45with regard to make the easy play.
03:49When you attack the basket, if it's not there,
03:52we do this thing called pass.
03:54Right.
03:55Just pass the ball.
03:57So that's from a head coach who clearly is hoping
04:01that there are some evolutionary aspects of Jonathan's game.
04:08That, to me, struck a different tone than Jonathan's good.
04:11He'll come back.
04:12We'll be good.
04:12Everything's fine.
04:13I hear what you're saying and you're not wrong
04:15because the last two times we've talked to Steve Kerr,
04:18which was Monday and then late last week,
04:21he used the phrase playing on two feet
04:24and he said it purposefully
04:25and what he means is exactly what he described there.
04:28You go to the hoop and you drive to the basket
04:31and if nothing's there, jump stop
04:33and find somebody who's open.
04:35And Jonathan Kuminga is more prone at this point
04:38in his career to drive toward the basket
04:41and leave his feet and either try to smash on someone
04:45or make a very difficult shot
04:46and now you've got Butler and Steph Curry.
04:49You had Steph before,
04:50but now you have another scorer in Jimmy Butler.
04:53You have other options and you're a team now
04:55that is pretty Puritan with the ball.
04:57You don't really turn it over as much.
04:59You're down two turnovers per game.
05:01A lot of that is Jimmy Butler,
05:03but I do think some of that is playing off of two feet
05:06and that's what I'm hearing him say
05:08and Draymond and Jimmy are right
05:10Draymond said it like there's not a whole bunch of new sets
05:13so he doesn't have to come in and learn a new offense,
05:17but there is another player ahead of him
05:19in the pecking order
05:21and now you are playing a little bit differently
05:23so that's the adjustment he has to make is playing
05:26and I don't wanna say he plays out of control,
05:29but what I hear Steve Kerr say
05:30is that we want him to play really under control
05:34and make the right decision more often than not.
05:36There you go.
05:37Make the right decision.
05:38Say it again.
05:39He needs to make the right decision more often than not.
05:42That's what we're talking about.
05:43Right.
05:44And that's what we're talking about.
05:47And you watch Jimmy Butler
05:48and he makes the right decision almost every time.
05:51Because he's 35 and he's been around the block 100 times
05:55and so this is not controversial.
05:57This is not mean spirited.
06:00It's not hating.
06:02Stop it.
06:03Oh, you're a hater.
06:03No, I see all the texts.
06:05You're all out of pocket.
06:06Put your phone away and drive somewhere.
06:09This is not controversial.
06:12I didn't suggest that it is.
06:15What this is is the damn facts of the matter.
06:19A 22 year old, very important player,
06:23is joining a team that right now is spinning at a high level
06:27because it is all leaning on 35, 36 year olds
06:33and their unbelievable know-how.
06:36And if you wanna get mad about this, go ahead and do it,
06:39but we work for the flagship station
06:40of the Golden State Warriors.
06:42And I'm here to tell you that we do have conversations.
06:46And if this triggers you, it triggers you.
06:49Yes, over the last four years,
06:51there have been personnel deep inside the Warriors
06:55who have concerns about Jonathan's decision making.
06:58Yes, fact.
07:01If that bothers you, let it bother you.
07:04But that's the real deal.
07:06The Warriors have always known
07:08about Jonathan's leaping ability, his athleticism,
07:12his raw talent, all of those things.
07:14They know this, the same way you know this.
07:17But sometimes they have not loved the decision making.
07:23That's all.
07:24It's not inexcusable, he's 22.
07:27But if everyone's gonna dive into this boat and go,
07:31oh, well the Warriors are a championship contender,
07:33right now, they're a championship contender.
07:37Okay, that means right now.
07:40And that's exactly the dynamic that is created
07:43when people start getting frustrated with Steve Kerr
07:45because he leans on veterans.
07:47Well, you lean on veterans
07:49because you're trying to do right now.
07:51So this whole like, well, he's 22, let him figure it out.
07:54Well, there's no time to let him figure it out.
07:56There's no time for that.
07:58Not when you're trying to win a championship.
08:00The last time this exact subject came up
08:02was when the Warriors were playing the Sacramento Kings
08:04in the seven game series two years ago.
08:07And everybody had this same conversation.
08:09It's like, well, wait a minute, Jonathan Kamingo.
08:12Well, hold on, we're trying to win.
08:14And he went out there, he refused to rebound.
08:16They put him on the bench and let him watch the series.
08:18Now he's two years older now,
08:20he's a much better player, so it's not the same.
08:23But I don't think we're done here.
08:25We're not, he's not a finished product,
08:27which is, that's what Steve, to me, is saying.
08:29Yeah, and he's saying that what we have now
08:31is a team that is trying to play off of two feet more
08:34and they're trying to make the right play more often.
08:37And you look at what they've done, they've won six of seven.
08:40You start out the year 12 and three
08:42and you went into a bit of a free fall.
08:44It was uneven.
08:45Kamingo got hurt, you added Butler,
08:47and now you're playing a little bit differently.
08:49And if you look at their offensive efficiency,
08:51and you had the numbers, I think, yesterday
08:54or the day before where they're now top five
08:56in offensive efficiency since they got Jimmy Butler.
08:59And I know that probably went up after yesterday's game,
09:02which was pretty damn efficient against a college team.
09:06A glorified SEC also ran.
09:08So pretty easy for your efficiency to go up.
09:12But that's all they're saying.
09:13They're not saying that Kamingo isn't great.
09:15And Steve Kerr is just saying,
09:17we want him to be able to get in the paint
09:21and make a jump stop if there's nothing there.
09:23It's no slander, it's no hate.
09:26It's just where you are as a team right now.
09:29I'm actually optimistic about it.
09:32But to me, listening to Steve Kerr talk about it
09:35sort of adds validity to the fact
09:37that this will be a challenge now.
09:40And here's something Draymond talked about
09:43that I don't think we've given enough time to,
09:47and that is the challenge of doing all of this
09:49while you're literally closing in
09:51with only a handful of games left
09:53until you have to figure out a contract extension.
09:56And if you think that's not on a player's mind,
09:59my goodness, it's on a player's mind.
10:00And Draymond, he literally addressed that.
10:03This was after the game in the locker room last night.
10:06As a team, we just gotta let him know
10:08that you don't have to get it back in one day.
10:10You know, you've been out for, what he's been out now,
10:12almost two months?
10:13Two months, yeah.
10:14You missed, and the thing is,
10:16it ain't like it was the first two months.
10:18Like these last two months that he's been out
10:20is kind of when people starting to,
10:21you know, you're in game shape,
10:22you're starting to look towards the playoffs
10:25and gearing up for that.
10:27And so he's missed a pretty important two months.
10:31And in saying that, you can't,
10:34and you're not gonna get it all back in one day.
10:36But as a competitor, like you said,
10:39he does have the contract situation coming up,
10:41all those things.
10:42Naturally, you wanna press a little bit
10:44because you wanna, you don't get this far
10:47being someone who doesn't wanna make those things happen.
10:49And so naturally, you can start to press a little bit.
10:51And I think it's on us as leaders,
10:54on us as teammates to let him know
10:55and also make him feel comfortable.
10:57Like, you know, you don't,
10:59it's not gonna happen in one night.
11:01And as long as he understands that,
11:03and that's a tough thing to understand.
11:04I've been in contract situations before.
11:07That's tough as hell to understand.
11:08Like you wanna come back and make it all happen.
11:11You drive yourself crazy though.
11:12All of a sudden that first night don't go well,
11:14you go home, man, you going nuts, you know?
11:17And so I think he just gotta come back
11:19and more importantly than anybody else,
11:20he gotta give himself some grace
11:22as he kind of works his way back
11:24because man, you drive yourself crazy
11:26worrying about all those things.
11:27And the reality is just build back gradually and play well.
11:31We, you know, we're preparing to go on a nice run.
11:34You'll have plenty of time to prove exactly
11:36who we all already know he is.
11:38I think those are brilliant words
11:39from Draymond Green, number one.
11:41But number two, do you notice that in one soundbite,
11:43he's like, this is gonna be easy.
11:45It's gonna be easy for Jonathan to come back.
11:46Now, let me give you 90 seconds
11:48on why it's gonna be really hard.
11:49And it's on us to make sure he doesn't lose his mind.
11:52Like those two quotes, they don't match.
11:55I know-
11:56They're two different questions.
11:57Totally.
11:58And he wants it to work
11:59and he's trying to release pressure from Kaminga.
12:03And that's great.
12:03It's what a leader does.
12:05So, you know, here's an example of good leadership
12:08from Draymond Green.
12:09Absolutely.
12:10With a young teammate.
12:11So that's all wonderful.
12:13I just think that that last 90 seconds
12:15where you just listened to, that's really important.
12:17That's what Jonathan's facing.
12:19And it can mess with your head,
12:21especially when for two months,
12:22all he's been able to do is sit there
12:24and watch basketball and think about it.
12:25And watch the team suddenly play as well as they have
12:28since the opening 15 games of the year
12:30when they went 12 and three.
12:31So you add Jimmy Butler and you subtract four players,
12:35which means if Jonathan was healthy,
12:37his minutes would only be where they were before,
12:40if not higher, because you lost Slo Mo and Lindy
12:44and Schroeder and Wiggs.
12:46And so for Kaminga, that cleared the way.
12:49It cleared the way for everyone,
12:50but even for Kaminga.
12:51So I'm sure he's champing at the bit
12:53to get back for the contract,
12:55to be a part of this great run and all the rest of it.
12:57But the one thing I hope that Draymond and Steph
13:00are telling Jonathan is the best thing you can do
13:04is ball out in the playoffs.
13:06Whatever you do, like whatever you do
13:08for the final 18 games of the year,
13:11because I'm looking at it and they've got,
13:13they've played 58, they've got 24.
13:15He'll probably miss the next four,
13:18maybe miss the next four.
13:20They're saying mid-road trip is the target right now.
13:24So you got a game tomorrow, you got a game,
13:26yeah, you're looking at probably another week.
13:29Okay, so if he misses four more, just ballparking it,
13:32that means he's got 20 to go to not only play well,
13:37but have them get into a spot where they get playoff games.
13:39And really, you're gonna draw the most attention
13:42and you're gonna make the most headway
13:44on your contract in April and May, in the playoffs.
13:48And I think that is the big message
13:50that they're gonna send to him when he comes back.
13:52I mean, all of it to me is the same thing.
13:55You can almost do it in one word,
13:57what they're trying to do with Jonathan.
13:59Relax.
14:00R-E-L-A-X.
14:04R-E-L-A-X, relax, relax.
14:08I was wondering who that is in the background.
14:12Probably Devontae Adams, my guess.
14:15Maybe it's Robert Sala, I don't know.
14:17Somebody with a-
14:18That was still when he was with the Packers, right?
14:19The wheezing laugh.
14:21Could be your guy, Kevin from The Office,
14:23Brian Bumgarner.
14:26Maybe, I don't think he laughs like that.
14:28No, maybe Ferrari does.
14:30Yeah, that's the word.
14:32That's the word, that's all anybody's
14:34trying to get him to do.
14:35And I have no idea if he's been stewing
14:40or worrying about it or whatever.
14:42I know that when he has spoken,
14:43he has struck a wonderful chord.
14:46He has absolutely said, I really like
14:49what Jimmy Butler brings to the table
14:51and I can learn from that.
14:54Steve's talking about the two of them
14:55getting together in the film room.
14:57So all of that is great.
14:59But if they're saying out loud,
15:02we want him to relax, it's on us to help him relax,
15:05it would suggest to me that there is an awareness
15:08of some dynamic within Jonathan
15:11that probably feels a little antsy right now.
15:16Naturally, right?
15:18I would feel like jumping out of my shoes
15:21if for two months, you couldn't play basketball,
15:24you're watching your team turn a corner,
15:26start to get better, and then tick-tock,
15:28tick-tock, tick-tock, the trade deadline comes,
15:31okay, we're staying, and then it's like the contract
15:34and February's about to flip to March
15:36and I'm still not playing.
15:38Like, yeah, man, I get it.
15:40I get it, this would feel very antsy.
15:43And when they play New York, they play the Knicks,
15:45that will be exactly two months
15:47since he last played basketball.
15:48He got hurt on January 4th.
15:50And that's Tuesday, right?
15:51That game is March 4th and that game is on a Tuesday.
15:55Tuesday, next Tuesday.
15:56Yeah, so they play Thursday, Saturday,
15:58Monday, Tuesday, Thursday.
16:00So that's five games in eight days.
16:02That's a little bit of a gauntlet on the road
16:06and you're in, I guess you're in four different cities
16:08because New York and Brooklyn are, you know, a-
16:11I'm told those are the same cities.
16:12A bridge away.
16:13So, you know, not really a lot of travel there,
16:15but those games are either a day apart.
16:18That's gotta be a fun one for the fellas
16:20to be having an off day in New York
16:23before you take on Brooklyn.
16:24You can go ahead and get hammered.
16:26Wait.
16:28I mean, if you're looking at a road trip.
16:29I mean, you can.
16:31So you've got-
16:32Everybody's got a vice.
16:33You got five games.
16:34Don't tell that to Luca.
16:35You got five games.
16:36You smoke up, Johnny.
16:38You got five games and then you've got New York
16:41on a Tuesday, tough game, tough opponent,
16:43in the garden, an off day.
16:45And then you've got Brooklyn, mostly hapless.
16:49Are you going to do some drinking now?
16:50Oh, it's not Brooklyn and New York on the back-to-back.
16:52Who do they play Monday?
16:53Is it Philly?
16:54Charlotte.
16:55Oh, Charlotte.
16:56Really?
16:57Charlotte.
16:58I'm looking at it right here.
16:59Okay, so it's Orlando, then Philly this weekend?
17:01Correct.
17:02Then Charlotte?
17:03Yeah.
17:04Then New York, then Brooklyn?
17:05Correct.
17:06Good God.
17:06It's a bunch of crappy teams they're playing.
17:07So-
17:08Gotta win these games.
17:09You load manage on Monday against Charlotte
17:11and then you give it all you got
17:13against the Knicks on Tuesday.
17:14Do they load manage?
17:15Wednesday, you just get absolutely hammered
17:19and then you survive Brooklyn.
17:21I don't want them to load manage Monday.
17:22I know what you're saying.
17:23You try to do what happened last night.
17:25You just dominate and you can rest everybody
17:27for the whole fourth quarter.
17:28Yeah, let's sit out the fourth quarter.
17:30And that was virtual load management,
17:32although most doctors and pros would tell you
17:35if you have to go out there and stretch and warm up
17:38and shoot around, even if you just play 22 minutes,
17:41that still is exertion as opposed to chilling
17:44in your streets.
17:45Oh, no doubt, no doubt.
17:46Steph hasn't had to play in each
17:47of the last two fourth quarters.
17:48Right, I just like, don't mess around and lose the game.
17:52They're still an NBA team.
17:54They beat the Lakers.
17:55Just use air quotes, please.
17:56They beat the Lakers like six days ago.
17:58LaMelo will probably be back.
18:00Yeah, LaMelo-
18:01They're scary with LaMelo.
18:01Well, I mean, you could get hot.
18:04Could be like dibs in the playoffs.
18:06You get hot!
18:08You never know.
18:09I'm looking at their injury report.
18:11They got bridges, they got ball.
18:13They could fill it up on a given night.
18:15They've got eight guys currently on their injury report.
18:20Day-to-day, day-to-day, out for season, out for season,
18:22out, day-to-day, out for season, day-to-day.
18:24You want to use air quotes,
18:25use it when you say injury report.
18:27Right.
18:28It's called the tank report
18:29that you're giving us right now.
18:30Ball did not play, he had an ankle.
18:32He didn't play.
18:33He's got two ankles.
18:34Well, one of them apparently was hurt last night.
18:36I called it a right ankle injury management last night.
18:40Management.
18:41Yeah, yeah.
18:42Daquan Jeffries, he's got a knee.
18:44I'm told he has two, but one of them's hurt.
18:46Who are you?
18:47Yeah.
18:48Anyway, you load manage.
18:50No, don't!
18:51You go up against the Knicks, you get hammered,
18:53and then you beat Brooklyn.
18:54You gotta win the game.
18:55You gotta win the game, but they stink.
18:57Yeah, but you gotta go.
18:58It's five game, five game trip?
18:59Five game trip.
19:00You gotta get at least four of them.
19:02Right?
19:03You have to.
19:03It's crazy how we're talking now, but you're right.
19:05You have to.
19:07Orlando is a losable game that you should win,
19:09and then you do Philly and Charlotte,
19:11which right now, put them in the bank.
19:15As long as you show up, play your players,
19:18be a basketball team, you win those games.
19:20Philly is a mess mentally.
19:22Charlotte's not even a basketball team.
19:24Orlando is winnable, but losable.
19:28They're good enough to put together a game.
19:29Sure.
19:30New York, that's obviously losable,
19:32and then you get to Brooklyn, which is a weird team,
19:37but you should win.
19:38So I look at it as three of those are absolute musts,
19:41and I need you to go one and one in the other two,
19:44at least.
19:45Gotta get four on this trip.
19:46Agreed.
19:47I mean, it feels like it,
19:48and Charlotte's lost 15 of 18,
19:51so we can talk about, ooh, ball's coming back.
19:53It is tank mode, and even when they're not tanking,
19:56they're just terrible, but Brooklyn is a team
19:59that they can get sneaky competitive on you.
20:01They can.
20:02They can, and Grandy's guy, Cam Johnson, plays for them.
20:06Watch out for him.
20:07Right.
20:08Fill it up.
20:09Non-future warrior.
20:10He could hit the three ball.
20:12Yeah.
20:13Any night, any given night, he could go off for 23.
20:16It could happen.
20:16Hey, have you guys seen the standings yet today?
20:19I mean, why?
20:20Did something happen to them?
20:21I mean, last night they became.
20:24I know the Warriors are the eight.
20:25They're a half game out of the six.
20:27I know, they're gonna get it.
20:28A half game.
20:29They're gonna get it.
20:30They have a super easy schedule.
20:31They're gonna get it,
20:32and they just gotta hold onto it once they get it.
20:34Five games out of the four.
20:37I mean, let's start getting greedy,
20:39and as I told Steve, you're only 15 and a half back at OKC,
20:42and you have the tiebreaker.
20:44Let's do this.
20:45So, I mean, Minnesota has an easy schedule too,
20:47and is also a good team.
20:49So I don't know, like, they actually almost,
20:51I think, might be harder to catch than the Clippers.
20:54Oh, the Clippers.
20:54Yeah, half game out of the six.
20:57They're gonna get it.
20:58Now hold onto it when you get it.