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00:00I get that for some reasons, some are evident and some are not, a number of reasons, this
00:07player has become the centerpiece lightning rod to the whole thing.
00:12And what I want to say today is that it should not be that.
00:17It should not be that.
00:19We can get to anything that we and you want with regard to whatever anybody wants to say,
00:24because what you want to say is welcome here.
00:26That's true for me, for dibs, for you, 888-957-9570.
00:31If you have something you want to say, then that is welcome here.
00:36With all of that said, I don't want to tell anybody today that JK is good at this and
00:44not good at that.
00:46I think we can fill those blanks in, been true for a long time.
00:50It's a little bit more intricate than that.
00:54Here's what I want to say.
00:55I feel like in some way, shape, or form, this conversation is arriving at a spot where
01:01we're losing a grip on warrior basketball.
01:04Warrior basketball, that's what this is about.
01:09And so I am fully prepared as a fan for the Warriors to play basketball games in which
01:18Jonathan Kaminga plays less than 20 minutes if that's what it takes.
01:23The same way, I am fully prepared for Jonathan Kaminga to play 35 minutes if that's what
01:29it takes.
01:31What I don't want to see the Warriors do is play Jonathan Kaminga because they're supposed
01:35to.
01:37I want this to be a full-blown meritocracy.
01:41There are very few games left.
01:44They are very important.
01:46The Warriors need to win them.
01:48And damn it, this has got to stop being about whether J.K. looked good in the sixth minute
01:53and then how did he look in the 18th minute.
01:56Now what's happening in the third quarter?
01:58Now we're, oh wait, Steve Kerr hates young people.
02:01Here we go.
02:02Dummy, you got to stick him out there and let him cook so he can take you two months
02:06from now to the prom.
02:08Stop.
02:09This game has got to be won, period.
02:13That's what the Warriors need to do when they play.
02:14You have to win that game.
02:16And if Jonathan is not doing what Coach Kerr thinks he needs to be doing in that given
02:22moment, then he sits.
02:24And if he is, then he stays.
02:26And that's true for a lot of the players.
02:28I am fully prepared for Jonathan Kaminga because I would say this period of, well, let's see
02:34how he's fitting in, I would say there's very little time for that left.
02:40How was he played?
02:41How many games now?
02:42I think six.
02:43Six or seven?
02:44Yeah.
02:45It is six.
02:46Six games.
02:47Yeah.
02:48You need two or three more.
02:49Right.
02:50And off we ride, getting your playoff rotation ready, provided that you are still ticketed
02:54for the playoffs in some form.
02:57I am prepared for him to play fewer minutes if he doesn't earn more.
03:02I don't want him to play just because of his name.
03:05And he won't.
03:06And that's what you saw on Saturday, where I don't think that he played that well.
03:09In the first half, he was scoring.
03:11He was doing pretty well, but he was not defending and no one was defending, so I'm not going
03:15to single him out and say he was the reason why they gave up 40 points in the first quarter.
03:20Although when he came in, the defense didn't get better.
03:23And I thought in that stint in the third quarter, when he came off the bench, he was mostly
03:28disinterested.
03:30He was not impactful.
03:31How do you go entire 22 minutes of basketball and not commit a foul and only get two rebounds?
03:38That tells me that you are not in the mix and you're 6'8", you're a leaper and you're
03:42playing on a team that needs all of that and more.
03:46They need somebody to get on the floor.
03:48They need somebody to be an aggressive defender.
03:50They need somebody to go up there and rebound the basketball.
03:53And he didn't do that.
03:54And so he didn't play in the fourth quarter.
03:56So I think that Steve Kerr is right with you as far as, you know, you're not going to give
04:01him a scholarship because it's a contract year and Kaminga's only got 11 more games
04:06and he needs this and he needs that and we need to see what we need to see.
04:10You need to win games.
04:12And I don't know if you're going to win on Saturday anyway.
04:15You made a good point about that.
04:16Like when you tuned in three minutes in and you're like, oh boy, I just had a feeling
04:20going into that.
04:21I had a bad feeling about that game on Saturday.
04:23Bad spot.
04:24Long homestand.
04:25You did well.
04:26You go all the way cross country.
04:27Atlanta had been waiting and Atlanta has been playing pretty well actually since Risa Shea
04:33has been playing better basketball and Trey Young is shooting it better.
04:37And so I do think that Atlanta is quietly a little bit of a tough matchup for the Warriors
04:40anyway.
04:42So yes, you're not going to get into a spot where Kaminga is going to get scholarship
04:46minutes, but you do still, I think that when he's playing his best, you need him.
04:51He gives you something that you don't have elsewhere.
04:54Maybe when he's playing well, right?
04:57Kind of true about all of them, but he's been playing well.
04:59I think in these six games, you could look at it and say, you know, for the six, he's
05:03playing well.
05:04He's had some moments.
05:05He's, I don't think any of the games other than the first one, he's either looked some
05:09good and some bad in all of them.
05:11I thought in the first one, he looked all good.
05:13And ever since that, it's been some good and some bad, some good moments, some bad moments.
05:17I'm not, I'm not here to kill the kid.
05:19I don't, I don't think that, that he's awful at basketball.
05:23I don't think the Warriors need to trade him or like, it's none of that at this point.
05:28Like, this is just kind of how I look at the end of seasons.
05:31It doesn't matter what sport it is.
05:33Where are they right now?
05:3411 games left.
05:36Okay.
05:37I don't care what your name is.
05:40If you play well, you stay in the game.
05:43If you are not playing with heart and with energy and with drive, there's a spot for
05:48you next to the coach.
05:50That's how basketball works, baseball, football, and life, life, period.
05:56Speak on it.
05:57So like, I just, I, I, I, I struggle with the idea that Jonathan is different.
06:04It's funny when you say, when you say, Hey, um, you know, JK is held to a different standard.
06:12I could argue that in both directions, both directions, like as in JK needs to be a star
06:19to stay on the floor.
06:20Well, I would argue that some of you feel like JK should be in the game no matter what,
06:26just cause he's JK and he can jump.
06:28I don't think that either.
06:30Let's hold all of them to the same standard, except for the set of sides.
06:35Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler, and Draymond Green.
06:37Those are future hall of famers.
06:39They are, they're different.
06:41They're different.
06:42But outside of that, the rest of you are here to help.
06:47And if you're helping, you get more.
06:49And if you're not helping, you get less.
06:52And, and, and so I am fully prepared for Jonathan Kaminga to either like really step into this
07:00and do well down the stretch, or I am prepared for Jonathan Kaminga to get a big old heaping
07:05helping of Tim Lincecum and Pablo Sandoval, which is if you get to the, we get to the
07:10end and you're not in the right spot, you watch, sit and watch.
07:16I mean, honestly, if, and I don't know where Steve is exactly on this, I have no idea,
07:23but there, there are moments if you're not going to be an all around player, if you're
07:27not going to defend and you're not going to rebound, hell, I don't care if he gets
07:31a DNP.
07:32I do not care.
07:33Yeah.
07:34I doubt he ever.
07:35I doubt it.
07:36And I'm not suggesting that.
07:37I get it.
07:38I'm suggesting that the Warriors need to win the game every night, period.
07:41And I do think that's why he didn't play in the fourth quarter against Atlanta because
07:45he didn't play great in the third.
07:46And so they wanted to win the game.
07:48They're not trying to just give him 25 or 28 minutes just so that he can stretch his
07:53legs out and feel good and, and play basketball.
07:56They're trying to win all these games.
07:57And Saturday was a bad, a bad mix where you didn't really have other people who were playing
08:03well anyway.
08:04And so you went with a different group and coming in, didn't contribute and you lost.
08:07All right.
08:08We'll let you hear what Steve had to say about this.
08:10And then Steve's going to say more about this in 34 minutes, because he can be right here
08:13live on the air.
08:14Okay.
08:15Dibbs is back.
08:16We're taking your phone calls.
08:18888-957-9570 is the number.
08:24And sure.
08:25What is it you want to see the Warriors do going forward about Jonathan Kaminga, his
08:30minutes, his style, whatever it is you want to say.
08:33And obviously we can take that to other members of the team too.
08:36That's kind of the whole point.