00:00The best thing about it was, of the three games,
00:04the one that I actually, in my core, care about was brilliant.
00:09And you, I think, hit on the number one thing with Warrior Basketball right now.
00:15I don't notice immediately when Steph is on the floor and when he's not.
00:19I have to look.
00:20It used to be, through the last few years,
00:22very obvious when Steph, it was as if Steph was wearing a different uniform.
00:28And you could see right away, is Steph on the floor
00:32or are we playing at the local gym?
00:35Are we playing to just survive these six minutes?
00:38Right.
00:38So you're up eight and you're hoping to still be tied
00:41when Steph is able to come back in the game.
00:43And now you don't have that experience through four games, of course.
00:46But, man, the depth.
00:48And you mentioned Will Richard and how much it looks like he belongs
00:51and coming to the step forward and Pod's doing Pod's things
00:55and Moses Moody get hot with a healthy thumb.
00:58A lot of guys contributing last night.
01:00They're not all going to shoot like that every night, obviously.
01:03But, yeah, strength in numbers is back.
01:05And this team will acquire DeAnthony Melton pretty soon.
01:09They'll acquire Seth Curry.
01:10Al Horford didn't even play last night.
01:12And he's important.
01:14And I know maybe Memphis isn't great.
01:16And you were home and all of those things.
01:19Yeah, like that's a game that you're supposed to win.
01:21Tonight will be harder.
01:23There's no question about it.
01:24But when I look at what this team can now throw at people,
01:29they are going to present a ton of problems for the opponent.
01:35And I think that they are built to handle an injury here or there
01:41or a load management night here or there.
01:45All of these things are coming.
01:46I hope the injuries aren't bad ones.
01:48But there will be injuries where guys miss a week, two weeks, three weeks.
01:52And this team is equipped to play basketball
01:55and still compete at a high level during those times.
01:59So I think four games in, we've got to look at this and go,
02:04okay, whatever our thoughts were a week ago, what are they now?
02:09Like, what are your hopes, your expectations, your predictions now
02:14based on what we're looking at?
02:18Three good wins to start off the year, but more so the other stuff.
02:23It's the depth that you're looking at.
02:26And let's be honest, Jonathan Kaminga is playing the way that they want
02:30Jonathan Kaminga to play, and he looks flipping brilliant.
02:33Oh, yeah.
02:34It changes everything.
02:35It does, because now you've got your legitimate No. 3 score
02:40when you have everyone, and if you don't have Steph or Jimmy
02:43for a game or longer, hopefully that's not the case.
02:46But you know that Kaminga can step up his game, be more of a volume score,
02:50and he can get the job done.
02:52The only thing right now with Kaminga, and it wasn't the case last night,
02:56is the free-throwing.
02:577 of 8 last night, so that box got checked again.
03:0125 and 10.
03:02And Kaminga, just rolling out a double-double with 25 and 10.
03:07That's a grown man performance right there.
03:09Okay, first of all, and I know what you're saying is kind of in reference
03:12to earlier games, but the tale of the tape right now is that he's shooting
03:1780% from the free-throw line.
03:18Okay, yeah.
03:1980% from the free-throw line.
03:21His career high prior to this was 74.6, and even that was the only time in his career
03:26he shot north of 70.
03:28His career high in points per game was two years ago at 16.1.
03:33This year, 18.
03:34His career high three-point shooting percentage three years ago, 37%.
03:40So far this year, 42.9.
03:42His career high in overall field goal shooting percentage two years ago, 52.9.
03:49This year, 58.1.
03:53His career high in rebounds per game prior to this year is two years ago when he averaged
04:034.80 games.
04:04And this year, he's averaging eight.
04:09He is shooting fewer shots per game this year than he did either of the last two years
04:17in more minutes per game and scoring more and rebounding more.
04:25My man, the light bulb all the way on.
04:29And he said all the right stuff last night.
04:31And I, who had any idea that this is what he was going to bring to camp this year?
04:38I didn't think that it would be this good.
04:39You and I went round and round in the summer about how I thought that it could work.
04:44I thought that it would be salvageable.
04:46Well, this is not salvageable.
04:48This is working at a very high level.
04:50And this is, this is like, don't trade me.
04:53Don't trade me, bro.
04:54Don't trade me.
04:55Like, why would you ever think about trading this player?
04:59You wouldn't.
05:00Exactly.
05:00So if this is the player, and the deadline I think is after 50 games, so talk to me in
05:0546 more.
05:06If he stacks a bunch more of these, 25 and 10, heck, even the averages, you're talking
05:11about 18 and 8?
05:12Yep.
05:13If you're an 18 and 8 guy, well, you would try to trade for a guy who's 18 and 8.
05:17So why would you trade anybody this good and this much of a good fit?
05:21Like, what I love, what I'm seeing is that Jonathan Kaminga has really big ears.
05:25And what I mean by that is he has been listening.
05:30Maybe it took longer than the Warriors wanted it to, but he soaked it in.
05:34He is now applying it.
05:36And that trust that seems to actually be there that we didn't think was there, whether it
05:42doesn't matter if it's in Steve Kerr.
05:44It sounds like he's trusting Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green.
05:47And that trust, I wonder if Jonathan understands, Jonathan has raised his value in this league
05:53financially just in the last four games.
05:56Period.
05:57Like, that you don't, the whole, like, I want to be a one is not always about 28 points
06:03a night.
06:04It's about this.
06:05This is an all-around basketball player who now suddenly has floor presence, decision-making,
06:11smarts, rebounding, passing, scoring at the rim, scoring outside.
06:17Oh, my God.
06:18Yes.
06:19Now you actually look like the dude you said you were, but you're doing it in the way that
06:23the team asked you to do it.
06:25Yeah.
06:25Absolutely fantastic.
06:27And I think that a lot of it, for me anyway, is he now has security.
06:31He's got security that he got the bag.
06:33He didn't get the giant jumbo, super large glad bag, but he got a nice bag.
06:39He's getting 22.5, if the team picks up the option, he gets 24 more, and that's not nothing.
06:45So I do think that that security, combined with what you said right off the top of that
06:50little blurb, which is, playing like this is what is going to get you that next big bag.
06:56It's not 28-7 for a losing team.
06:59It's playing the right way for a winning team and showing all the little things they've been
07:03waiting for.
07:04He's doing it the right way, and it's going to net him a lot of money down the road.
07:08How has all of this, and namely the play of the young players, not just J.K., but what
07:15we've seen early from Moody, Pods last night, fantastic.
07:18Will Richard looks like a seasoned player.
07:20How has this changed or updated your expectations for the Warriors this year?
