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00:00Then out to the River Islands guest line we go.
00:03It will also be on YouTube.
00:05If you have no idea what kind of a face accompanies the deepest voice that you've ever heard in your life,
00:12you should go to YouTube, and you will be able to look at the face of Odyssey Sports NBA insider Nick Friedle.
00:20Check out all of Odyssey's newest sports podcasts on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
00:26Hello, Nick. How are you doing?
00:28Greetings from Oklahoma, guys. How are we doing?
00:30Look at you. Look at you. All ready to go in middle America.
00:34You know what I was thinking about tonight, Skip?
00:36So I was listening. I was driving around last week, and I was listening to you do the hit with the morning guys,
00:42and you said something along the lines of, in all my years covering the NBA, as far as the travel schedule,
00:48what they've handed to the Warriors here at the start of the season is among the worst you've ever seen.
00:53And so that was rattling around in my head.
00:55And you know when you go, like, hug someone and slap them on the back and say hello, but they have a sunburn?
01:01And they're like, ah, ah, ah.
01:03Like, that's what this feels like.
01:05If this was the hardest start travel-wise to a season, now they're going to get this six-game road trip?
01:12Are they going to play the Thunder and the Spurs three times in the next four nights?
01:16Good Lord, Nick.
01:17Uh-oh, Mark.
01:20Yeah, uh-oh.
01:22That's the answer there.
01:24And I like the analogy because when you sit there and you know you're not feeling good,
01:29and then somebody comes up behind you and you're burned, you go, oh, gosh.
01:35The Warriors just have to get through this.
01:37And it's specific to this trip at the start of what's going on.
01:40If they split this trip, guys, that is a good thing.
01:44That should be the goal.
01:46Get through this trip three and three.
01:48Get home.
01:49See how things are going.
01:51Get everybody healthy and feeling good.
01:53Find your rhythm.
01:55This schedule is brutal.
01:57It is absolutely the worst one I've ever seen to start a year.
02:01But the Warriors aren't playing really well.
02:03And you still have to play to win.
02:05And I think we all can look back at that Milwaukee-Indianapolis trip and go, oh, that's when it started to slide.
02:13And they haven't been the same since.
02:15So you get Steph back tonight.
02:16You hope that he finds a rhythm quickly.
02:19But to your point, Mark, the problem is you go right to San Antonio.
02:22You play tomorrow.
02:23Then you play Friday.
02:24Then you've got New Orleans, Orlando, Miami.
02:27If you can split this trip three-three and go back to San Francisco,
02:31you should feel pretty good if you're the Warriors and you're a Warriors fan.
02:36Yeah, and so, I mean, how do you go about doing it?
02:38Not in the six-game long haul of this trip, but specifically tonight against a younger, more athletic team,
02:44a team that is still going to be very hungry, and they're playing amazing basketball.
02:49What's the big key tonight, Nick, for the Warriors to be able to sneak off with a victory?
02:53I think you've got to get Steph going early, Mr. Dibbs,
02:58and you've got to get Jimmy to control the pace.
03:02And we've talked so much about it.
03:04Jimmy has the ability to slow the game down to get to the line.
03:09He provides a completely different look for what the Warriors do.
03:13If you can get those two going early and you can keep it close,
03:18you'll feel good about your chances down the stretch.
03:22But what I would tell you from a broader standpoint, not just tonight,
03:25I think you've got to split one of those two games in San Antonio
03:29because this is tough against the champs.
03:32Steph's coming back after missing basically a week here.
03:35So, yes, you have a chance when he's on the floor,
03:39and that makes everything a little bit better, and the Thunder a little bit banged up.
03:44I think offensively you try to get him going,
03:47and you create the space that he provides for everybody else that way.
03:51But as you're looking at the next few days, tomorrow's going to be brutal
03:56because it's a back-to-back, although Horford's going to play in that game,
04:00so his length should at least help a little bit on Wemby.
04:04But you've got to split one of those games in San Antonio to feel good
04:09about the second part of the trip.
04:11Specific to tonight, though, if you get Steph rolling and you find his rhythm,
04:18I think it's going to get Jimmy into the spots that he needs to be,
04:23and I think it will rev up the rest of this team
04:26that's always seemed to be looking for reasons to get amped about certain games.
04:31There aren't much bigger games than when you're playing the defending champs.
04:35It's Willard and Dibbs, and we're hanging out with our buddy,
04:37Odyssey Sports NBA Insider, Nick Friedle.
04:40Check out all of Odyssey's newest sports podcasts on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
04:45We have a saying on this show, Nick, and that is that all roads lead to Kaminga.
04:50So let's take another road, shall we, and let's talk about him.
04:53What a wonderful start to his season.
04:56However, the last few games, it's suddenly gone a little off script, if you will,
05:01with Steph out.
05:02What have you seen?
05:03What's going on with him last few games?
05:05The hardest part, Mark, is that when you watch Kaminga,
05:08you see a player that everybody's seen before in the last week or so.
05:12So he had those moments where you thought, ah, he's really turned the corner.
05:17And the scoring was there, but as Kerr said many, many times,
05:20I know he told you guys, it's not just the scoring, it's the passing,
05:24it's the rebounding, the defense was a little bit better.
05:28Everything was fitting into what the Warriors needed.
05:32And without Steph on the floor, like so many other guys,
05:35Kaminga's really struggled.
05:36And he has not been able to have the impact on the game that they would hope
05:42that he would.
05:42So you'd think with Steph back, it would allow everybody to take a deep breath,
05:48but especially Kaminga, because he has not played well the last few games.
05:53This is the problem with Kaminga, though, guys on a whole.
05:57If you're a Kaminga fan and you're saying, all right,
06:00the Warriors should give him a bunch of money after the season
06:04and they should make all of these things happen
06:06and he should be a future piece of this team,
06:09then you can't have the dramatic step down that we've seen over the last week.
06:16You need some level of consistency.
06:19It's why he was so good those first couple weeks
06:22and everybody was singing his praises and saying,
06:24this is the player that he can be.
06:26I thought, guys, in the last few days, the most telling comment made by anybody
06:31was Draymond in Denver the other night.
06:34And he's talking about how we believe in Kaminga.
06:37We know he can be better than what he's shown recently.
06:42But what he really said was, this is what he wanted.
06:45Kaminga wanted more minutes.
06:47He wanted more responsibility.
06:49He's getting it.
06:50And at least in these last few games, he hasn't responded the way they want.
06:54So, anybody can go through a tough stretch.
06:56It happens to the best players in the game.
06:58But if you're Kaminga and you started off so strong,
07:01it is jarring to have this week where Steph goes off the floor
07:05and everything kind of falls apart for a second.
07:08And keeping that in mind,
07:10do you think that it's risky if the Warriors decide to bring Kaminga off the bench
07:14and maybe go with Moses Moody to start games?
07:16Is he in a spot where that might disrupt the good start to his season?
07:20I think so.
07:22Because, Dibs, when you look at Kaminga,
07:24this is a player, at least to start the year,
07:27that was playing on a lot of confidence.
07:30He knew and felt like he belonged.
07:34The contract situation was what it was.
07:36It was over.
07:37He came in.
07:37He was playing well.
07:39Okay, here we go.
07:40And then, boom, it kind of reality hit again in the last week.
07:44So, if you start messing with that, he's still 23 years old.
07:49He's still trying to get that big deal in his future.
07:53If that doesn't happen, I think there are more questions that come out.
07:58But if you're Kaminga and you started so strong,
08:01I'm sure all those guys, and Jimmy comes to mind specifically,
08:05are saying, hey, look, just relax.
08:07We know you can play.
08:08We know what you can do.
08:10You just have to show it again.
08:12And the problem for Kaminga is, when he's not hitting those shots,
08:15how does the defense look?
08:17I know he had a nice rebounding night the other night.
08:20But is he fitting into the rest of the categories where they need him
08:24to be successful?
08:26That hasn't always been the case in these last few games.
08:29But, Dibs, if you take him out of the starting line,
08:32I bet I don't think we're there having that conversation yet.
08:35But if in a week from now, on this trip, he continues to struggle,
08:39I think that could be a real question.
08:43And I think that question opens up a lot more questions
08:46that they'd rather not face right now.
08:48Mick Fridell with us.
08:49Hey, can we listen to some Steve Kerr together?
08:51I want to play something that he said getting ready for this road trip
08:57and get your reaction kind of a buy or sell on the thought
09:01that he's talking about.
09:02Here's Steve Kerr.
09:03We're not playing very well, clearly.
09:05We had a great fourth quarter, end of third,
09:07and then fourth quarter, the ball started moving.
09:09There was some flow.
09:10But overall, we haven't played real well.
09:13But I'm very confident in this team.
09:15It's going to be a tough trip, as you mentioned, two back-to-backs.
09:19We kind of felt like getting through this early part of the schedule
09:24in one piece.
09:26And if we're healthy and win our share of games,
09:29it sets up the rest of the season well for us.
09:32So obviously, we gave a couple games away.
09:35But all in all, we're pretty healthy, and we're going to get there.
09:40I can picture the team.
09:43I can see what kind of team we're going to be,
09:46but we don't really have our identity yet.
09:49I can picture the kind of team that we're going to be,
09:53but we're just not there yet.
09:56What do you picture with this team, Nick?
09:58Mark, the only thing, if you're a Warriors fan,
10:03that you need to picture and hope for,
10:05and this is where I have to remind myself of the same thing, too,
10:09as they start this trip.
10:11It all comes down to April.
10:14Are they healthy in April?
10:16That really, to me, is the single biggest question.
10:19I know there is so much interest around this group,
10:23and there are way too many times already early,
10:25and we go back to that Milwaukee, Indianapolis roadie,
10:29where they didn't look good,
10:30and they were just going through the motions,
10:32and they got beat twice.
10:34Everybody has got to keep the perspective in mind.
10:39If you are healthy going into April, you have a chance.
10:43If you are not healthy in April,
10:45then none of this other stuff matters.
10:47So that's why I understand what Kerr is saying,
10:51and he said he's been consistent with this, guys.
10:54You need 20 games.
10:55You've got to figure out your rotations.
10:58Pods has been up and down.
10:59Moody has had some really good games
11:01and some games where he's kind of disappeared.
11:03We've hit on Kaminga.
11:04Will Richard continues to kind of,
11:07the momentum is building for him to be a rotational piece down the line,
11:11but I understand the greater point that Kerr was trying to make
11:15in that there are lots of different things that happen over the course of a season.
11:18What I would say personally, in my own opinion, watching this team is,
11:23you can only go through the motions so much,
11:26but the key over anything else is,
11:30are you healthy when the games matter the most?
11:32If they are healthy, then they will have a chance.
11:36If they're not, and you start to see them losing games when guys are out
11:41or continue to go through the motions like they did on that trip a week ago,
11:45then there might be much bigger problems.
11:47But no matter what happens, if you maintain some level of health,
11:52you're going to be okay in my mind.
11:55And if that doesn't happen, Mark,
11:57none of the other conversations are worthy at this point.
12:02That makes sense, but then again,
12:04if you struggle early like they did last year,
12:06you end up chasing games in March and April,
12:08and it makes it really difficult to be healthy that late.
12:12Nick, with that in mind,
12:13do you think Steve Kerr is going to start paring down the rotation,
12:16or is he going to keep it a bigger rotation to try to give guys more rest?
12:21I think he's going to keep it larger for now, Dibs,
12:24just because of the back-to-backs on the schedule,
12:27the travel that comes with this.
12:29Because I would look towards maybe the start of December as a line of demarcation
12:36for, all right, here are my nine or ten guys that I want to try to stick with.
12:40Right now, he's trying to find the different formulas that work.
12:44He was riding with Kaminga.
12:46I think he still will for the time being,
12:48but as we have discussed,
12:50there are reasons that that may not sustain itself.
12:53So, for the time being, if you're Kerr,
12:57you're saying to every one of your guys,
12:59if you play well, you will be out there.
13:01But what you're trying to figure out is,
13:04you know that Steph and Jimmy and Draymond are going to be out there.
13:07Who else do you trust night-to-night with them?
13:11I would say Horford would be in that group.
13:13I still think he will be.
13:15He has really struggled early in the year,
13:17although, guys, he hit a few more shots the other night,
13:19and I think that gets him on track.
13:21The problem, though, and this goes into our whole conversation here today,
13:26Horford hadn't even played that much
13:27because they have somebody back-to-backs.
13:30So, it's like, all right, is Horford going to be in there?
13:32No.
13:33All right, well, let's see how he looks tomorrow.
13:35Oh, he doesn't really look good the next day
13:37because he doesn't have any kind of rhythm.
13:39So, Horford should be out there when the games matter the most.
13:43And then you start to add on
13:45which younger players are going to take that step.
13:48I mean, what does Melton look like when he comes back?
13:51Does Seth have any kind of major role
13:54whenever he finally gets in and starts rolling here?
13:57So, there are a lot of different layers there.
13:59But, again, no matter what the hell happens in these next few weeks,
14:03the schedule is brutal.
14:05You want to see them have some consistency that they haven't shown yet.
14:09But it's all about maintaining some level
14:13of having all these guys out there when the games matter the most.
14:16If you have that, even if it doesn't look good
14:19in these first couple months,
14:21I still think they're going to have a chance
14:23when the biggest games are played.
14:25Nick, we always love our time with you.
14:27You're not wearing that.
14:27I know it's a Syracuse shirt,
14:29but you're not wearing that orange thing to the game tonight, are you?
14:31Hell no.
14:34I don't want anybody thinking I went to Oklahoma State either.
14:37I mean, I got to look professional, throw my blazer here,
14:41but this was just for you guys.
14:43All right.
14:43Great.
14:44Well, send a message for us as well.
14:45Tell all the Oklahoma City fans we still think they're cupcakes, okay?
14:49No way.
14:53No way.
14:54I said it.
14:55I said it.
14:56All right.
14:56See you next time.
14:58See you later.
14:59All right.
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