- 1 day ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00I drive a Hyundai.
00:01Yeah, yeah, I've seen it.
00:03My son drives a Honda Accord.
00:05I love a Honda.
00:06Yeah, my parents gave it to him.
00:08Yep.
00:09Shout out Walnut Creek Honda and their great service.
00:12I sent you there and they took care of him.
00:14They were amazing.
00:15And thank you for that.
00:16And so we have, like, do you consider those to be talented cars?
00:22No.
00:23Why not?
00:24Because they are, they're the Pat Spencer of cars.
00:27Okay.
00:28Useful, like, productive, not fancy.
00:31Why are those not talented words?
00:33Useful, productive, execution, point A to point B.
00:38The Hyundai and the Honda, they don't have the ha-ha.
00:41I don't need the ha-ha.
00:43Like, I need to get where I'm going at a very high level rate of efficiency.
00:51It's the Dominic Poonie of cars.
00:53Like, you gotta have it.
00:55Dominic Poonie, okay.
00:56Dominic Poonie.
00:56I think he's talented.
00:58Well, he's talented at what he does, which is, uh, hud-hud hike.
01:02I'm going to maul you, but you're not going to throw it to him.
01:06You're not going to put him in your fantasy lineup.
01:07Like, like, uh, and, and you, like, you drive a Honda, like, you ever drive by a Ferrari on the side of the road?
01:15All the time.
01:15Okay.
01:16So, the Ferrari's got the ha-ha.
01:19Yep.
01:19But if it doesn't have an alternator, then what do you got?
01:23You just have a sparkly skill set.
01:26A piece of metal on the side of the road.
01:28There you go.
01:29And I wonder, like, and I don't want to derail you too far, but, like, Kavon Looney, is he talented?
01:35Yes!
01:36Yeah, I mean...
01:37Absolutely!
01:38See, this is what I'm getting at.
01:39This is what I know you're getting at, which is why I'm trying to trigger you with other people who, uh, most people would not say they are talented.
01:47Well, this is why, and my gosh, I mean, if I ever get into a bar fight, which is, like, plus a billion...
01:53I would pay thousands to see you in a fight.
01:56If I ever got into a bar fight...
01:58You and Stiney in a fight?
01:59I mean, for sure...
02:01I'd pay ten grand.
02:01But the reason for the bar fight would definitely be Brock Purdy.
02:04Like, there's no question.
02:06If you ever see me in a bar fight, you already know.
02:08You're like, oh, gosh, they were talking about Brock Purdy in there.
02:11Because I will...
02:13I'll fight you on whether or not that man's talented.
02:17You'll fight to make it right.
02:18Exactly.
02:19You're the president of Brockistan.
02:21Hashtag, absolutely.
02:23But that's...
02:24You know, when people...
02:25When Greg Cosell's on here and he's going processing and decision-making and vision and all those right-packet presence, those are talents.
02:35Those are talents.
02:38They're just...
02:39Here's the other side of this.
02:40It's not just about whether it's a sparkly skill set.
02:43Some of the things are not easy to see.
02:47Jonathan Kaminga, and he is just an example, and he's today's example.
02:51I'm not trying to use today's show to...
02:53Jonathan is incredibly talented.
02:55He's got stuff you can see when he walks in the room.
02:59Oh, my gosh.
03:00You're 6'8".
03:01You're cut out of rock, and you can fly.
03:05Absolutely fly.
03:06Okay.
03:07That's awesome.
03:08That's a start.
03:09That's a start.
03:11That's all anybody's skill set is.
03:13It's just a start.
03:15Pat Spencer walks in the room, and you're like, bathroom's over there.
03:19Who are you here to watch?
03:21Did you come to see your cousin play?
03:23Are you related to pods?
03:25Like, that's what you...
03:26He walks in the room, and I don't see a damn thing.
03:30But now we're watching him play basketball.
03:32Tell me he's not talented.
03:34How can you...
03:35How can you say that he's not talented?
03:37He's clearly talented.
03:39Look at him.
03:39Well, they're all talented, to your point.
03:42Right.
03:42But...
03:43But...
03:44He's attaching himself to winning, and fitting, and having it all be a puzzle piece that fits
03:51together.
03:52Is that not what we're all trying to do here?
03:55Is that not what we're trying to do?
03:57Completely.
03:58Like, I mean, you have this great big voice, and I mean, you have voice talent.
04:03You're a talented vocal artist, and, you know, that's great.
04:07But the reason why you've been so successful is because you also have A, B, C, D, E, F,
04:12other things that have made you able to do it.
04:15So, anyone in any business, you have talent if you're doing what you're doing, but how do
04:20you make that talent translate into winning?
04:22And that's where I think Kaminga, in this system, it's...
04:26He's not falling short.
04:27They are falling short.
04:29Both sides.
04:29That's fair.
04:30That's fair.
04:31Like, he was a high draft pick.
04:33They have given him $24, $25 million this year.
04:37And if he's just going to sit there and watch games, then yes, that is on some level of
04:42failure by all.
04:43Yep.
04:44Right?
04:44I don't know if that extends all the way down to every piece of this, to where it's
04:49like, you have, like, the team has got to, like, force him in there and figure out a
04:56way to make it work.
04:56It's like, ah, there are limits.
04:59There are, like, sometimes, right?
05:01We can, again, every sport, every team you've ever followed, you've got a list of people
05:05where you're like, dude, I don't know why it didn't, it just didn't work.
05:08I'm going to give you three.
05:09Trey Lance.
05:10Trey Lance.
05:11James Wiseman and Marco Luciano.
05:13Those are the three where you've got talent.
05:16Man, they walk in the room.
05:17Exactly.
05:18Trey Lance, like, top three pick.
05:20You've got talent.
05:21And, you know, he was here.
05:22He was there.
05:23Now he's over there.
05:24And still, nobody has really looked at him and gone, yeah, they missed out on you.
05:29You're the dude.
05:30Wiseman got hurt.
05:31And he has not been able to, like, really pop and be the guy.
05:35And Marco Luciano, now he's a Pirates.
05:37And so, maybe the Giants were wrong.
05:40Maybe he's going to be a phenomenal whatever baseman or whatever outfielder.
05:44And he's going to go ahead and pop like Joey Bart did.
05:47But those are the first three that I thought about when you were saying that about talent.
05:51Because those three are very talented.
05:53But talent doesn't automatically mean that you're going to be good.
05:57No.
05:57No.
05:58At all.
05:59And in the end, I do believe that this is a general statement, not just about Jonathan.
06:05I believe it's mostly about the player.
06:07I really do.
06:08I think in professional sports, as a general rule, if you're awesome, you can't hide it.
06:12You can't hide it.
06:13And it's going to be figured out.
06:14And someone's going to love you.
06:16And you're going to be amazing out there.
06:18And, like, yes, that ability to be a winning player will shine through in the end.
06:24And if it doesn't, that's largely on the player.
06:27You know, that's just the way I kind of see it.
06:29Okay.
06:30The Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Jimmy Butler, the town brown jerseys, you've seen them.
06:35They're really amazing.
06:36We got one of each, and we're giving out one of each early this week.
06:42The key word you need to text to 20357 is coming up within the next 10 minutes.
06:47That's this hour.
06:48Then we do it in the 3 o'clock hour, 4 o'clock hour, 5 o'clock hour.
06:51Every hour, every day, every show, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday this week.
06:55Awesome.
06:56Yeah, keep on listening.
06:57All right, let's get out to the phones.
06:58A lot of people want to take a hack at this.
07:01Let's go.
07:02Sean in Richmond.
07:03Hi, Sean.
07:03Thanks for the call.
07:04What's up?
07:06Hey, how you doing, guys?
07:07What's up?
07:09Yeah, man.
07:10So, I'm hearing you guys this debate thing about talent and everything, and I love the argument.
07:16Like, and I see it.
07:18So, basically, what you said about Looney, he had talent to me in college more than what he got in the NBA because of the fact that they took the ball out of his hand and made him pretty much a priority center because he was more a ball handler and everything like that in college.
07:33Now, the other guy I want to talk about the guy that got talent and Harold Miner, like Baby Jordan, all the stuff that he, yeah, USC and all this other stuff.
07:45But then he had all this talent.
07:46Oh, he's the next Jordan.
07:47And as soon as he got into the league, he only won a dunk contest and everything else was like a flat.
07:55And the only thing I'm thinking is that you can have all the talent in the world, but are your talent enough to either carry on in an NBA or is it enough to carry on a team to bring wins?
08:04And I see the issue right now.
08:06I like how Spencer plays.
08:07He reminds me of John Stockton and Price and all them because he's a standard point guard that don't take no mess, and I like him.
08:14Miner got all this talent, but I don't think the talent fits for the Warriors.
08:18That's what I'm thinking the issue is.
08:19It just doesn't fit.
08:20It's like a bad puzzle piece.
08:22And that's the issue I'm thinking.
08:24Sean, yeah, I agree with you there, but then the other side to it is how that translates on another team to me is still completely up in the air.
08:33I don't know.
08:35I'm not saying it won't happen, but I'm also not saying it will.
08:38I just don't know.
08:40The only thing I'd push back on is here's the other definition of the way we use the word talent.
08:46We only use it to mean offensive skills.
08:50That's all we do.
08:51Like when he brings up, come on, Looney.
08:52He was more talented in college.
08:54I know what he means.
08:54I watched Looney at UCLA.
08:56He could shoot.
08:57He'd shoot three-pointers.
08:59He was smaller.
09:00He moved better.
09:01And he was a different offensive player.
09:04I don't think he was the defensive player he was in the NBA.
09:07And why is that not a talent?
09:08Is Draymond Green talented?
09:11Yeah.
09:12See, I...
09:13The way...
09:13He kind of...
09:15And if you think about Michigan State, Draymond Green, he was more like Kavon at UCLA.
09:20Right, but he's brilliant.
09:21Yes.
09:21That's a brilliant talent.
09:23It's just not the one that we see or value.
09:26Sure.
09:27But it's brilliant.
09:28It is.
09:29It is.
09:29And I'm thinking about all the other players who were talented.
09:33And I'm thinking about Markel Fultz, who was the number one overall pick.
09:37And he was number one overall because he was amazing in college.
09:40And he was talented.
09:42And then he came to the association.
09:43And it's like, oh boy, what you did then doesn't work now.
09:47And you have nothing else.
09:48So talent, to your point, is more about how you can apply it at that next level.
09:54And how you can be the player that you need to be.
09:57And Trey Lance, he's very talented.
10:00And he played in the FCS.
10:01And he was amazing.
10:03They lost once.
10:03And he came up here.
10:04And the things he did well there, they don't work here.
10:08Right.
10:09Right.
10:09Yeah, like I...
10:10Johnny Menzel.
10:11And we can go through a number of different guys who were talented.
10:14Right.
10:14I think as fans especially, because even, obviously, talent evaluators in the pros make huge swings and misses all the time.
10:24Possibly.
10:24So it's definitely an inexact science.
10:27But we as fans, like, they've got access to all kinds of stuff that we don't.
10:30They talk to these people.
10:32They put them through testing.
10:33They put stopwatches on them.
10:35They meet with them.
10:36They go meet their families.
10:37They see them.
10:38They talk to their coaches.
10:39They talk to their youth coaches.
10:40I mean, they go crazy on the investment that they're about to make.
10:44And they still screw it up a lot.
10:46But we're sitting here with popcorn on our faces going, hey, look at how he runs fast.
10:53Great.
10:53That is one of a thousand things that you need to have to be a star.
11:01And, by the way, a lot of them are mental.
11:03And I don't mean just smart.
11:04I mean, like, what about when you, and Jonathan's a great example of this, you grow up in a different country, you come into a whole new culture, and now someone's going to give you unbelievable wealth, and you may or may not even be able to buy beer, and they're like, figure it out.
11:25But, and just, it's okay, I don't know if you've got 83 family members who are now calling you, and they all need bread, and all of this is going on, and the kid's brain isn't even fully formed yet.
11:39And they're like, you got this.
11:41Well, I'm sorry, that's part of the talent.
11:43You have got to figure all of that stuff out.
11:46And I think he's figured a ton of those things out.
11:48Like I've always said, I think his head is screwed on completely straight.
11:51Oh, yeah, yeah, no doubt.
11:52But, he's not batting 1,000.
11:56No, and I do think that with Kaminga, as the lone example here in this conversation, I don't think it's a question of him not figuring it out.
12:05I think that he is in a spot where he is playing in a way they don't want him to play.
12:10And I heard Steve Kerr earlier, Steine played the sound from Steve Kerr talking about Guy, and what Guy's doing, and the fact that, you know, actually it was a Pods soundbite.
12:20And Steve was saying, like, yeah, Pods is playing the way that we need him to play.
12:26And that was the cut that I heard, and it's like, wow, JK's not playing the way that they need him to play.
12:31He's playing the way that he needs to play.
12:35And that is a disconnect.
12:36Not only is it a disconnect, by the way, it's a disconnect at an exhausting level.
12:41Do you know what I mean?
12:42Like, it's not, this has been going on for a long time.
12:45Right.
12:46It's been going on for a long time.
12:47But it's tantalizing because, again, the first five games this year, it was like, yeah.
12:52And Jimmy praised him.
12:53Everyone praised him.
12:54Steve did.
12:55He was doing it the way that they wanted.
12:57And then he got hurt again.
12:58And then he came back.
12:59And, you know, Steph was out.
13:01And so he kind of lapsed back into playing the way that he normally has played.
13:05Right.
13:05I just mean, you're at a level to where if you flash this into something relatable, okay,
13:12your family structure, whatever, and I'm not even talking about, like, alcoholism, but
13:18I got a lot of friends who, like, they're not alcoholics, but, you know, a couple of
13:21them made a decision a number of years ago where they're just like, you know what, this
13:24isn't working.
13:25So I'm going to stop.
13:26I'm going to go cold turkey because I'm just, I mean, I'm tired.
13:30I don't feel good.
13:31I'm not right for my family.
13:33I got kids seeing me do things that I don't want them to see me doing or whatever.
13:37And so they go cold turkey, but it's like it all when you got something like that, it's
13:43just year after year after year of it's not fitting like, yeah, you're going to give
13:50up or you're going to try something different or intervention or whatever.
13:55I mean, how can we be sitting here in December, 2025 with Steve Kerr gone, boy, he just not
14:02playing the way we want him to play.
14:03My God, are we still here?
14:05They're, they've got to be, you think we're exhausted, Bob?
14:09Oh, yeah.
14:10Yep.
14:10Wow.
14:11Wow.
14:12They've got to be completely yanking the hair out of the side of their heads.
14:15Well, instead of doing that, they're just not playing him.
14:18Right.
14:18And so you get to yesterday's game and it's, you know, it's a DNP.
14:21You just don't play and we'll go with Guy and Guy played 20 minutes and even you got
14:26to that like late, late, late game scenario, the garbage time stuff.
14:31And, you know, JK didn't even get thrown in there.
14:33Even when you were up big, late, it's like, yeah, you're not going to play.
14:38Okay.
14:38We're going to keep going on the calls.
14:40We see you.
14:40So we're coming right to you.
14:41But real quick, it's time for the two o'clock hour text keyword.
14:48Okay.
14:48Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler, the town brown jersey.
14:51And this should be real easy to remember.
14:55The key word for this hour only is jersey.
14:59So text the word jersey to 20357.
15:03J-E-R-S-E-Y.
15:05You are very good at spelling.
15:07No ding.
15:07That's correct.
15:08Jersey to 20357 for your chance to win one of those three jerseys and do that right now.
15:14We're going to be giving out a different keyword every hour, as are the other shows, today, tomorrow, and Wednesday.
15:21So you're going to have a bunch of chances here.
15:23And the more you text in, the more keywords, the more chances.
15:26For more details, go to 957thegame.com.
15:29Text jersey to 20357.
15:32All right.
15:32Back to the phones for Sanjay in the city.
15:35Hi, Sanjay.
15:36Thank you for calling in to Willard and Dibs.
15:37What's up?
15:40Hey, can you guys hear me all right?
15:41Got you.
15:42Yep.
15:42Yeah, thanks for taking my call.
15:46I just want to talk a little bit about talent with Pat Spencer.
15:49And, listen, I agree with whatever you guys are saying about talent and having to sort of mature into the role you need to play.
15:57And I agree with you on the aspect of he doesn't jump out the room.
16:01Maybe you stack him up as a combine guy.
16:03He's bottom 15%.
16:04Or, you know, the age-old one-on-one debate.
16:07Maybe he doesn't beat Jonathan Kaminga in one-on-one.
16:09But what I really wanted to focus on was the fact that the guy didn't play college basketball, really.
16:14He took the most pivotal years of development, and he played lacrosse.
16:19And I went to a school where, a college where, if you played lacrosse, you were, like, the coolest guy on campus.
16:25So that's why a majority of the guys played.
16:27But they also probably didn't quite have the athleticism to play football.
16:31But Pat Spencer was arguably the greatest college lacrosse player of all time.
16:36So no doubt he has the athleticism.
16:38No doubt he has the talent.
16:39He's in the NBA.
16:41I mean, look at his brother.
16:42He won a national championship at a blue-blood college.
16:45If Pat Spencer was at a school like that for a number of years with his skill set, he may jump off the page when he enters a room.
16:52So now he is playing his way into an opportunity.
16:56I mean, it's irresponsible to say he doesn't have talent.
16:59I mean, comparatively, maybe he doesn't have talent or athleticism compared to other people.
17:03But, you know, you can't ignore the guy.
17:05And he spent four years playing lacrosse instead of basketball.
17:08And he's playing 20 minutes a day in the NBA.
17:11Sanjay, I think it's a great point.
17:13Thank you very much.
17:14I really love that point.
17:15What if you thought about it that way?
17:17Like, in a different sport, he's considered one of the best in recent memory to do it.
17:23So how are we sitting here, man, and this guy walks in with no talent?
17:27I mean, his brother's in the NBA.
17:29He's in the NBA.
17:30He's one of the most successful lacrosse players in recent memory.
17:34And we're over here acting like this guy is a water boy because of the way, I mean, let's be real, too.
17:40Part of this is also, again, just the way someone looks when they walk into a room.
17:44Right.
17:44I mean, he's 6'2", and he's just, you know, bearded, or he's got a mustache, and he's got that undershirt,
17:50and he doesn't really jump over people.
17:52He doesn't go by you.
17:53He doesn't do anything other than, I don't know, score and defend and win and, like, cuss at the crowd.
17:59Well, he is that mother jumper.
18:01I don't know if you know that.
18:01He really is.
18:02Yeah.
18:02He's amazing.
18:03And so I think about, you know, it's easier in football where Brandon Aubrey was a soccer player
18:08and then even Eddie Pinheiro, soccer player.
18:11And, okay, you kick.
18:12Now you kick.
18:13I get it.
18:13It makes sense.
18:14But you don't often see, like, lacrosse player turn into NBA player.
18:19And even if you go back to Julius Peppers, who, as you know, was a North Carolina basketball star,
18:27he also was a good football player, and he chose football.
18:29And it's like, okay, yeah, football.
18:31You're amazing.
18:32But you were, you know, 6'7", and, you know, physical, and, you know, there have been other examples.
18:37Tony Gonzalez among them.
18:38Guys who, okay, you're 6'6", and I can see where you could do both.
18:42This guy's just a 6'2 guy with an undershirt on.
18:45I'm just, like, I'm just, like, trying to throw out, let's toss out some other names in a different sport.
18:51You know what I mean?
18:51Like, if you're standing next to Jared Goff and Justin Fields, who's more talented?
18:57I mean, if you're standing next to him?
18:59Yeah, or if you're just looking at him and you see him.
19:02I mean, Jared Goff is quietly 6'5", so maybe him.
19:06It's definitely him, by the way, is the answer.
19:08Justin Fields is, what, 6'1", or I don't know.
19:10No, I mean, I think Justin Fields is great on size.
19:12He's fine.
19:13Like, he's, you know, he's cut from rock.
19:15He runs really fast.
19:17I mean, he won at Ohio State.
19:19Justin Fields.
19:20Yep.
19:21Like, that's the person that you would be, like, that's the talented player.
19:27And I'm like, no, it's not.
19:29No, it's not.
19:31Jared Goff's the talented player.
19:33Justin Fields has now been in three organizations, and none of them like him?
19:37Yep.
19:38Is that right?
19:38That's about right.
19:39I think we've got our decision here.
19:41That's a bust.
19:44I mean.
19:45Sorry.
19:45Yeah.
19:46It just depends on, like, the sport and the build.
19:49Sure.
19:49And I'm thinking about the kid in Florida right now, Olivier Ryu, who is, I think, 7'9",
19:55the tallest player to ever play college basketball.
19:58And, you know, he was a redshirt last year, and this year he plays, like, a tiny bit.
20:02He's 7'9".
20:03It doesn't automatically mean that you're going to be the next Wenbin Yama.
20:06And, by the way, he's not going to be.
20:08He's not going to be.
20:09No.
20:09Yeah.
20:10So, it just, I mean, talent is always kind of a slippery slope when you look at that.
20:15Well, I think it's, you have to, I think that we've got to be careful when we're assessing
20:20this stuff and the teams when we call this, essentially, because I know where this is
20:25headed.
20:25It is a, quote, waste of talent.
20:29And it's like, well, to me, that's moving the goalposts a little bit.
20:34But just because someone has next-level athleticism, we refer to that as talent.
20:43But, like, being a really good NBA player that's attached to winning and fitting into
20:47a system and working with others and all of these things, having the mental fortitude to
20:52deal with everything that comes in an NBA player in a fishbowl at a young age, all of
20:57these things, that, like, that, to me, that's talent.
21:01That's talent.
21:03And, you know, so talent, to me, is something that maybe you don't see it when they walk
21:08into the room.
21:09That's what we call it.
21:10I think talent is something that you see over a period of time.
21:13Yeah.
21:14And I think Steph Curry might be a great example.
21:16If you go back to Davidson, where, you know, he went to Davidson.
21:20Nobody wanted him.
21:21Right.
21:21And then, even though he was amazing there, it still was like, ah, you know, he came here,
21:26cute little shooter, great little story.
21:28I mean, he would never be what he's turned out to be.
21:32And, yeah, the talent actually rose to the top.
Be the first to comment