- 4 months ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00I want to say this about Jimmy Butler, because I think today is the perfect day to say it.
00:05Jimmy Butler's been a great player in this league for a long time.
00:09That's not surprising to anybody.
00:12There was a question about his fit when he was acquired by the Warriors.
00:17I think all of us have at least been pleasantly surprised, if not shocked,
00:23at how well the whole thing has fit in terms of basketball.
00:27But can I point out the thing that I don't think anybody thought was going to go well?
00:34Dude, could you imagine a better teammate?
00:40Imagine it.
00:41Like, look at the glue that is just oozing off of this guy with what we've seen so far in the locker room.
00:51You have a superstar basketball player.
00:53To me, there's three things.
00:55Number one, a superstar basketball player who had no problem walking in and going, I'll be Robin.
01:03And before you go, well, he's getting old.
01:05Yeah.
01:06Okay, he's getting old.
01:07He's younger than Batman.
01:09Okay?
01:10So that's point number one.
01:12Point number two, he has engaged in a relationship that is its own comedy show,
01:20in practice and after games at a press conference to the point where they have launched a new bobblehead
01:28with Jimmy and Buddy Heald as the two people sitting down at a podium because they've got this whole act.
01:38Jimmy and Buttered.
01:40They've got their own bobbleheads coming out.
01:43The Buddies.
01:44We're Buddies' bobbleheads.
01:46Buddy.
01:46Buddy.
01:47Right.
01:47And then number three is apparently Jimmy Butler has decided, I'll be the one to show J.K. the way.
01:58I'll be the one to do that.
02:00Listen to this with regard to Butler and Jonathan Kaminga.
02:08I just want to help J.K. be great.
02:12He's got so much, like, just raw talent, and he's so aggressive.
02:16He's athletic.
02:16He's super smart, and I'm trying to teach him a little bit of what I see throughout the game.
02:21And we've been, you know, kicking it, hanging out, watching film, and just working on our game together
02:26after practice, before practice, during practice.
02:30I just know how great he wants to be and how great he can be.
02:34So it's now my job to help him fulfill that.
02:36That's my job, he says.
02:38One more from Butler on Kaminga.
02:40He will play like that because he has every single individual on this roster in this corner
02:47telling him to be aggressive, be who you are, and will kind of, like, fall in line behind you
02:52and make sure that you have any and every opportunity to be great.
02:55Don't shy away from anything.
02:57You speak up.
02:58You're one of us.
02:59If we can talk to you any type of way, then you can reciprocate that and talk to us.
03:04Did anybody see this coming with Jimmy Butler?
03:06Anybody.
03:08Like, remember, this is the awful human being who ruined everything in Miami and wouldn't
03:14get on a plane, had Pat Riley yanking beautiful hair out of his head.
03:19That's who this is.
03:22This is who we got?
03:24Right.
03:25I did not know that this is what, and I know people will go, oh, this is how it starts,
03:30but wait a minute.
03:30I don't really care what this looks like five years from now because he's not going
03:34to be playing basketball anymore five years from now.
03:36That's kind of the point.
03:37Like, by the time it gets to that point, it will all be over, and if you want to look
03:41at each individual situation, you look at Chicago where he came in, and he wasn't the
03:46dude.
03:47They had Derrick Rose, and he eventually found his way to Minnesota, and he got there, and
03:52he was playing with a bunch of guys that he didn't have a deep amount of respect for,
03:57and at every stop, he got to a spot where things weren't necessarily structurally sound
04:03enough to where he had to toe this line.
04:07And I'm not saying he has to here, but think about what he comes into.
04:10So you get traded to the Warriors, and you come into a place where they've won four titles.
04:14You've got Steve Kerr, who's won all the time as a player, as a coach, and he's a guy who's
04:22won at an unbelievable level, and you've got Steph and Draymond, who are Draymond Green
04:27is Jimmy Butler times two as far as, like, alpha male, and, like, you're going to make
04:32sure that we do things our way.
04:34Steph Curry's one of the greatest players ever, so you come into this situation, and
04:38you win, and then you get into the offseason, and you do what you do, which is travel the
04:43world, and then you have everyone down to your place in San Diego, and you realize that
04:47you're not only allowed to be a team leader, they need you to be a team leader, and then
04:51the JK thing happens, and Jimmy Butler wants to win as much as, if not more than any other
04:57human being, and so you look at this team, and you think, all right, what can I do to
05:02make our team as good as possible?
05:04You're not going to help Steph Curry be a better shooter and a better leader.
05:07You're not going to help Draymond Green want to play harder and win more.
05:12If you're Jimmy Butler, you look at, what can I do as a veteran and as a leader, and
05:17you look at Jonathan Kaminga, and you say, if I can get to JK, if I can reach him and
05:23get him to be the best player that he can be, whether or not it's 50 games or it's two
05:28years, whatever it is, I think that Jimmy Butler saw that as a great opportunity to
05:33truly lead, and so I'm really not that surprised.
05:37I'm pleasantly delighted by what I'm hearing and what we're seeing.
05:40I mean, whether it's a surprise or not, I guess in the end, it doesn't even matter.
05:45What matters is that this is happening, and to me, it's another example of something that
05:50I've tried.
05:51It's very difficult to do, I think, but I've tried to make it kind of something that I use
05:57as a rule in my life, which is, if I've never met a person or I don't know a person, I'm going
06:03to go ahead and make up my mind and my judgments once I have.
06:08Do you know what I mean?
06:09Like, if you were to, back when we used to work at different places, if you were to tell
06:16me, dude, the boss at our place is just the biggest jerk.
06:21It's just an awful, awful human being.
06:24And I know you.
06:26I don't think you're a liar.
06:27I don't think you're a crazy person.
06:29I'd be like, oh, you know, I'm probably going to, to a certain degree, I'm going to believe
06:34this.
06:35But that very well may not be the experience that I have.
06:40I think the jury is still out on this, but take Rafi Devers, for example.
06:45You know, we had a line of people call us from Boston, including Dave Fleming's brother,
06:50and they're just like, this loser won't be a team player, and he won't this, and he won't
06:56have the Papelbon you guys had on?
06:57Yeah, Papelbon was out of his mind.
06:59He might have had a couple of pops.
07:00I have no idea.
07:02But then Rafi gets here, and he's like, where's my first baseman's glove?
07:07Yeah.
07:08Oh, by the way, if Chappie gets hurt, you need me to go play third?
07:11Sure.
07:12DH first?
07:13What y'all need?
07:15So, like, just, it's another reminder, I find, to, like, make up our mind when you're
07:22having your direct experience with a person, because Jimmy Butler, I feel like, has been
07:29dragged through the media circus, through the years, a time or two, and I'm not even
07:35saying, like, maybe in some of those situations he was in the wrong.
07:39Maybe.
07:40But, like, he's got this reputation that now that he's on this team in this city, and
07:45we're hearing from him every night, I just, I don't find that reputation to be accurate
07:50at all.
07:51It's not only a reputation, but there are facts in what he's done, and so I think that
07:56the reputation in different spots is well-earned.
07:58It doesn't mean that when you come to a new situation with more veterans and older players
08:03than he is, and you add Al Horford into the mix, and you're Jimmy Butler, you're not the
08:08OG on this team.
08:10Not even close.
08:11So now you just get to come in and be Jimmy Butler.
08:14Get to the foul line and do what you do, and I heard it was either Draymond or Steph talking
08:19about just the way Jimmy plays, and he plays the right way all the time.
08:23He makes the smart play almost every time.
08:26He doesn't make bad shots.
08:28He doesn't, you know, do the wrong thing.
08:30He doesn't play selfishly.
08:32So you come into this situation, I do think at this point in his career it's easier for
08:36him than it was in Miami, where you've got, you know, Duncan Robinson, and you've gotten
08:42Tyler Hero, and you've got all these pups, and you've got this leadership burden that
08:45maybe you don't want, and you've got a president of basketball, Pat Riley, who is exacting,
08:50as we know, and maybe rubbing you the wrong way.
08:53You come here, and it's Kerr, and Dunleavy, and Lacob, and it's Steph, and Draymond, and
08:59it's, look, we've won championships, and we don't need you to come in here and be the
09:03alpha, just come in here and do what you do, play hard, defend, play smart, and lead,
09:09and make sure you pick on Buddy every chance you get.
09:12So I do think that this situation really suits him where he is in his career.
09:17Yeah, I mean, again, you're not wrong.
09:20Different people can become different things when their surroundings are different, and
09:24their perspective changes, and sometimes that comes with age, or that comes with situations,
09:30right, like Jimmy realizes that the curtain is starting to fall and all of that.
09:35So sure, I'll leave a bunch of room for that.
09:37I'm not going to say that what we're seeing here means whatever happened before didn't
09:41happen.
09:42I'm not an expert on things that have happened with Jimmy Butler before.
09:46I might have my thought on it.
09:48I did, and you remember this, and this was before he was a warrior.
09:51So this wasn't some sort of a warrior take, but I thought for sure when the whole thing was
09:56going down in Miami, I'm like, why is this all on Jimmy?
10:01Why?
10:01Like, Pat Riley does things a certain way that, oh, by the way, doesn't really work anymore.
10:07Pat Riley got mad at LeBron for bringing things on a plane.
10:12Like, what?
10:12Just, right?
10:14Relax.
10:16Relax.
10:17I understand that this didn't work with the Showtime Lakers.
10:20That was, like, 40 years ago.
10:25You know, like, relax a little bit.
10:27And maybe he can't because he's been doing it a certain way, and he's super successful.
10:30But just because we hear somebody having a hard time somewhere doesn't mean that they're
10:37automatically wrong.
10:38Doesn't now mean that they were right either.
10:40I just think that there was a lot to that story that we probably didn't hear, and it gets
10:45very difficult as an individual to sort of win that PR battle with an entire team.
10:52We've watched that a lot.
10:54But Jimmy Butler arrives, and I remember all of our conversations, which was, yeah, look,
10:59really good player, and luckily, it's only for a short period of time.
11:04Right.
11:04Not a great teammate.
11:05Well, I don't know what's going to happen next, but I'll tell you what I see right now.
11:10Great teammate.
11:12All caps.
11:14Great teammate.
11:15He's only been here for a matter of months, but he has, dude, he's thrown a perfect game
11:21as far as being a teammate.
11:23No doubt.
11:23So far.
11:24No doubt.
11:24And just, I think the Jonathan Kaminga piece of it cannot be undersold because Kaminga goes
11:29through what he does, which is, you know, you get DNPs, you have to fight for a contract,
11:34a contract you sign you probably don't love, and now, okay, go be a warrior.
11:40And he signed the contract just a couple of days before you actually had to become a preseason
11:45Golden State Warrior, and now one game into it, it's a very, very small sample, one of
11:4982, but the fact that your head coach is coming out and saying, yeah, JK, he's doing the right
11:55things, and Jimmy Butler's saying, yeah, he and I have had conversations, and we're going
11:59to continue to work together to make sure that he can be the best that he can be.
12:03That couldn't be any possibly better than that.
12:07Like, sure, Steph is going to mentor him, but Steph's a different player, and Draymond
12:11can do the same, but Draymond is a different player.
12:13But if you're Jimmy Butler, Jimmy looks at Jonathan Kaminga and probably sees a lot of
12:18himself in JK.
12:20Like, all right, JK, you can become the player that you want, but do some things that I do.
12:26Get to the foul line and defend and make the smart play as often as you can.
12:31And so, if he's going to stay under Jimmy Butler's wing, pun intended, then maybe he
12:38ends up sticking around, you know?
12:39It's a good thing.
12:40Here's Draymond on Butler as a leader.
12:43He's been a great leader since the day he showed up.
12:45We all heard all the talk about him last year, and that's not the guy who showed up to San
12:49Francisco.
12:50The guy who showed up to San Francisco is the guy we saw tonight.
12:54Great leader.
12:55Encouraging teammates.
12:57Telling guys what he see.
12:59Making corrections.
12:59Selling our team down and getting us good shots.
13:03You know, I had one turner.
13:04He came over to me like, yo, man, we just got to get the ball.
13:06Get shots on goal.
13:08Don't turn the ball.
13:09Get shots on goal.
13:10You know, it's just that leadership.
13:11And then he's just a constant reminder.
13:13Like, he don't let you suck.
13:14He don't let you drop your shoulders.
13:16He's going to be right there.
13:17Like, nah, man, this is what we're doing.
13:19We're not doing that.
13:20You know, and so, you know, continue to build.
13:22He'll be an all-star game this year.
13:24So, you know, it's good to see him back being Jimmy Butler that this league has grown to know.
13:29I love it.
13:30I love it.
13:30I don't know what's going to happen next.
13:32Maybe the Warriors and Jimmy Butler a year from now will hate one another and will be all dragged through some sort of drama.
13:38I doubt it.
13:39And, yes, this Warriors culture, obviously, because of Steph Curry and others, is very, very, just, it's a tight ship, man.
13:50And so, maybe it's just easier for Jimmy to fit in.
13:52Maybe this has only been a certain amount of time.
13:55But I agree with what Draymond just said there.
13:57You hear all of the noise, and then it's very difficult to not have these preconceived notions when somebody arrives.
14:07But he has absolutely not been the cover of the book at all.
14:14He has been way better than that.
14:16And it's early.
14:17And, you know, if you look at all of his...
14:18I'm liking it early.
14:19I'm loving it early.
14:20Yeah, you're nice to say that about it's a great, stunning callback.
14:23But when he's had trouble, it usually hasn't happened immediately.
14:28And it's happened over time.
14:29And I do think that if you look at the structure of all the places where he's wound up not being a permanent fixture or having things not work out, it hasn't been like this.
14:39And you come here, and ostensibly he left Miami because he wanted to get a contract, and they didn't want to give him one.
14:46So he comes here.
14:47Boom.
14:47Here's a two-year deal for humongous money.
14:50And you're playing alongside two other Hall of Famers and a Hall of Fame coach for an owner who is hell-bent on winning.
14:57So, all right, Jimmy, welcome to the team.
15:00What do you think that you have to complain about?
15:02Hmm, let me think.
15:03I got two Hall of Famers next to me.
15:06I've got a coach with security.
15:07I've got an owner who spends.
15:08I've got an unbelievable building.
15:10I've got a staff and resources that will support me.
15:14I don't know if there's anything that I could be disgruntled about.
15:16Yeah, but there's a huge gap between, like, what you're sort of suggesting about being annoyed or disgruntled or angry,
15:24and then also all the way over here stepping forward into leadership qualities that aren't necessarily called for.
15:33Like, Jimmy could have also just been here and been like, well, how about, like, Kevin Durant?
15:39Jimmy could have just been like, I'm just here to ball, dude.
15:42I should have put the ball in the hole.
15:43That's what I'm here to do.
15:44And I'll do it at an elite level.
15:48And I don't think Kevin did anything wrong on this aspect, but he didn't do.
15:51I didn't see him as this kind of a guy.
15:54I didn't see Kevin Durant doing comedy shows after games.
15:58I didn't see Kevin Durant taking young players under his wing in very tense moments and being like,
16:05I'm going to help navigate you through this.
16:07I need you to listen to me.
16:08Right?
16:09If you don't want to listen to Steve, I need you to listen to me.
16:11And we're going to navigate like Kevin didn't do.
16:14And that's fine.
16:15Yeah.
16:15So that's not always good.
16:16That's what I'm saying.
16:17Jimmy is doing what was asked and a lot more.
16:20I also think that two things.
16:22One, Jimmy's more cut from that cloth where he wants to lead.
16:27And he's not just going to sit back and watch things go in a way that he doesn't think is right.
16:32And also, the KD team that he came into was veteran laden.
16:36Totally.
16:36It was, I mean, Steph and Draymond and KD.
16:40And, I mean, you had a stacked roster full of veterans.
16:43Iguodala.
16:44Iguodala.
16:45But have you seen KD do it anywhere?
16:47No.
16:47In his career.
16:48He's not that guy.
16:49And I think sometimes that has been maybe necessary.
16:52Right.
16:52It was probably necessary last year with Phoenix.
16:56No doubt.
16:57And that thing was broken seven ways from Sunday.
16:59You know it better than anyone.
17:01Your good friend John Bloom does, you know, play-by-play for them.
17:04And so.
17:04He sent a text last night after watching KD play one time in Houston.
17:10And it was actually not a kind text.
17:12It was something along the lines of, I don't miss the lazy turnover passes.
17:18Yep.
17:19I was like, oh.
17:20Well.
17:21Okay.
17:23I didn't know there was that kind of a feeling with Kevin on his way out of town.
17:26I get it.
17:26But, like, if you want to go back all the way back, back, back to the Oklahoma City days
17:30when they had Harden, Westbrook, and Durant.
17:33Yep.
17:33And you look at those players now, and you go back to then, and you think, how did they
17:37not win two or three?
17:39And it's because Harden was the sixth man, and he's not much of a leader.
17:44Westbrook is the epitome of the, like, Russell Westbrook.
17:48There's got to be multiple I's in the spelling of his name.
17:50He's a great player, but he's not a leader.
17:52KD's a quiet guy.
17:54Serge Ibaka, the rim rocker, he's not a leader.
17:57So, a lot of times when you look at teams, you've got to have a certain amount of that
18:03leadership construct.
18:04And even OKC last year, they had, like, seven or eight guys, and the majority of their team,
18:09they're all about the same age, and they have a great head coach.
18:12And so, there wasn't any of those fissures or fractures.
18:15And I look at that with this team.
18:17If Jimmy's going to be a veteran leader for JK and maybe some of the other guys, well,
18:22now you may have action.
Comments