JK will play if he helps the Warriors win

KGMZ-FM / 95.7 THE GAME

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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.

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