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00:00SF Chronicle, Ron Krojcik, that's the man, and glad to have you here on Willard and Dibs and 95.7
00:06The Game.
00:07Ron talked to Steph Curry at length last week, and he joins us now on the River Islands guest line.
00:13Hey, Ron, what's going on?
00:14How are you guys doing?
00:16We're doing fantastic.
00:19So, I'm interested.
00:21You speak to Steph, and it seemed like you came away with, I don't know, a less than confident feel,
00:27either from you, from him.
00:29How would you describe what you viewed in that discussion about his knee?
00:35Yeah, I would say he was less upbeat than he typically is.
00:40I mean, he's an upbeat person, as you know.
00:44The conversation about the knee was not in great detail.
00:47I had time with him for another story for the future and flipped in a few questions about his knee
00:53at the end.
00:54So, it was fairly straightforward and brief.
00:58But, he didn't, like, try to put on a front or say, oh, it's great.
01:03It's getting better.
01:04You know, I asked him, how's the knee?
01:06And his response was, it's feeling all right.
01:09So, you know, as I rode, I mean, it was sort of not as enthusiastic as Steph usually is.
01:16But, I guess that's in some ways to be expected, right?
01:19He thought he had hoped to come back after the All-Star break, you know, last Thursday against the Celtics.
01:24And his knee obviously was bothering him.
01:27And now it's been pushed back, you know, 10 days from then.
01:30So, another six, seven days at least.
01:33So, I think he's frustrated, you know, as I wrote.
01:36And as he said, it's not gone.
01:38The recovery has not gone as quickly as he had hoped.
01:41And how was his mood overall?
01:42Did you get a sense for, you know, where he thinks they are or where he is as he, you
01:47know, starts to wind down the end of his 30s?
01:51Yeah, we didn't get into the big picture stuff.
01:55I think he, I mean, throughout most of the conversation, he was positive.
01:59He was upbeat.
02:00But it wasn't sort of specifically focused on his knee or where the team's going right now.
02:07I think he just, you know, he loves to play.
02:10And he's aggravated that he's been out as long as he has.
02:14Because it's only been, what, seven games, but it's been spread over almost a month.
02:20I think January 30th was when he went out, you know, with the All-Star break in there.
02:25You know, he missed almost a month and only seven games because the schedule was a little spread out and
02:30then they had the break.
02:32You know, he made a point of saying that he still thinks there's time to get in the playoffs.
02:39And, you know, the way the standings, he made a reference to the standings, you know, they're not going to
02:44fall below 10th, right?
02:46He didn't say this.
02:47This is me talking.
02:48But I think he knows they're going to have a shot, whether through the play-in, most likely through the
02:53play-in, to get a playoff spot.
02:56And he repeated a line that, you know, he and Draymond and Kerr have been using for a while now
03:02that they just want to get in a playoff series and have a chance.
03:05You know, as last year showed against the Rockets, in the playoff series, they have a pretty good track record.
03:12But the question is, if he misses an extended period of time, even more than next week, you know, then
03:19what happens?
03:20Because it's a tough, tough road without Steph, as you guys know.
03:24Ron Kroichik, SF Chronicle, with us here, Wither and Dibs, 95-7, the game.
03:28Yeah, Ron, I wonder if you come away in talking to him, is the concern sort of just about the
03:36frustration right now?
03:38Or are there larger concerns?
03:40Are there long-term concerns?
03:42About his knee?
03:43Yeah.
03:44Yeah, I don't think there's long-term concerns.
03:47I think he's just worried about – I don't think he was expecting it to take this long to heal.
03:52And I think it hurts still when he runs, and there's still swelling.
03:59And as I wrote in, you know, the previous story I did off of, you know, Thursday when they got
04:04back to action,
04:05and I talked to a couple doctors, as you probably saw, and they all said there's a pretty wide variance.
04:11You know, this condition, this patella femoral syndrome or runner's knee, has a wide range of recovery times.
04:20It really depends on the specific athlete and how his or her knee responds
04:26and whether the pain lingers and the swelling lingers.
04:29And in Curry's case, it has, you know, for three, four weeks now.
04:33So it could, you know – I mean, everything I was told, it could be fine very soon, or it
04:40could linger.
04:41I mean, as I pointed out in that earlier story, he's got a lot of miles on those legs.
04:45You know, I mean, pretty much nobody runs as much as Steph Curry in the NBA.
04:52So, you know, you've got to think it's probably related to the accumulation of wear and tear on those knees.
05:02So, we'll see.
05:04How much of the frustration was stemming from the fact that, you know,
05:07they now have a guy seven foot whatever in Porzingis, and, you know, he had one practice with him,
05:13and is he frustrated that he can't actually be out there and play with him in a real game?
05:18Yeah, I mean, I think he's eager to do that.
05:20And as you saw in my story, I quoted Steph as saying that, that it's exciting
05:25because they haven't really had a seven-footer in Steph's 17 years
05:30who is that offensive-minded was the way Steph put it.
05:35You know, Bogut, I guess, was 17, but he wasn't looking to score.
05:38Bogut was a rebounder and a defender and a screener.
05:41Quentin Post now is a seven-footer with some outside shooting touch, obviously,
05:46but not nearly as established or proven or anywhere near, you know, Porzingis' level.
05:53And Horford is sort of an offensive-minded center, but he's 6'9".
05:57He's not seven feet.
05:58So, that sort of Steph's point is, you know, that he was watching on TV that first game against the
06:04Celtics
06:05and the Warriors dropped it into Porzingis and immediately the Celtics double-teamed him.
06:08And that was Steph's point was that creates all kinds of space and advantages elsewhere on the court,
06:14and the Warriors have never really had that.
06:16They've never had a seven-footer who is good enough offensively to force other teams to double-team like that.
06:23So, I think Steph is frustrated that he's not able to be out there.
06:27I mean, Porzingis, obviously, is now out as well for the short term.
06:31But I think Steph's very eager to play with him, no question.
06:35Rod, I wonder just kind of your thoughts.
06:38This all makes sense to you, which is that what a needle they are trying to thread, right?
06:45Steph is injured.
06:47He's about to turn 38.
06:49Kristaps' injury history is what it is.
06:51Jimmy Butler's ACL is torn, and Draymond Green's role is evolving before our eyes.
06:58Yet, the Warriors' stance is stay the course.
07:02Does that add up to you?
07:07Well, I mean, this whole process the last few years has been fascinating and sort of threading the needle.
07:13But, I mean, I think you and Mark, you might have even talked about it briefly.
07:18They're trying to sort of blend eras and generations, right?
07:22They're trying to squeeze everything they can out of Steph and Draymond and now Jimmy.
07:27And while they're trying to usher along the younger generation, there's a big gap there between the 35 and overs
07:34and the 25 and youngers.
07:36There's not much in between, right?
07:38There was with Wiggins and Looney, but they kind of moved on from those guys as a way, you know,
07:46that was what kind of cleared the way for Butler, which obviously helped.
07:50But, yeah, to your point, this year has probably been pretty sobering for them because Steph's still playing at a
07:56very high level, obviously.
07:58Draymond is clearly diminishing in his production.
08:03So, the margin for error is thinner than it's been in a long time.
08:08And when they were all out there, you know, before Jimmy got hurt, it seemed like they were finding a
08:13bit of a groove.
08:1512 out of 16 and, you know, all that.
08:18But, you know, that's gone now.
08:19I mean, Jimmy's gone for a year.
08:22So, yeah, it's a tough, it's a tough, it's a big ask right now, I think.
08:28I mean, yesterday they obviously got a lot from those young guys with Pajemski in his big fourth quarter and
08:34Moses Moody.
08:35Moses Moody's been playing well lately, no question.
08:38But can they get that from Moody and Pajemski and the young guys all the time?
08:43You know, I think Melton has proven he's a reliable producer and scorer.
08:50But, you know, it's been up and down with the young guys.
08:53So, yeah, to your point, Mark, it is a delicate needle to thread, no question.
08:59Do you think that it's fool's gold that they're pot committed on exactly what they're trying to do?
09:05Well, I mean, how do you not try to extend their championship window when you have one of the best
09:11players ever, right?
09:13I mean, I don't buy the people who say, oh, they should trade Stafford.
09:18But, you know, he's 37 years old and he's still scoring 27, 28 a game.
09:24He's still the most entertaining player in the league.
09:26He just won a championship, you know, a few years ago.
09:30I mean, I think they're in a tough spot.
09:32I mean, I think they might have to move on from Draymond,
09:36which I think is kind of made evident by their willingness to include him in a potential Giannis trade,
09:43which obviously didn't materialize, but it's pretty well established that to get Giannis,
09:48they would have had to include Draymond in his salary.
09:51So that's going to be one of the many interesting things this summer is do they stick with Draymond
09:57or do they move on from him?
09:59And obviously, Steph's going to, I assume, give his blessing either way.
10:03I mean, Steph's always said he wants to finish with Draymond, but maybe, I don't know,
10:08I just didn't come up in my conversation with him, maybe he's starting to realize that's not feasible.
10:14I don't know.
10:15But they need to do, they clearly need to do something significant this summer
10:21and these moves they made at the deadline set them up for that, right?
10:25They could bring Porzingis back if they like him,
10:28but they could also let his contract expire and try to get some, try to find another solution.
10:34But they clearly need something to get them from October to February next year
10:40while Jimmy's finishing his recovery.
10:44Ron, you be very careful with that whole including Draymond in trade discussions things.
10:49I don't want Mike Dunley knocking on your door now, okay?
10:54He's got my number, you can find me.
10:55Okay.
10:57I mean, it's, you know, that, I mean, that was probably a case of semantics, right?
11:03No doubt.
11:04They didn't, they didn't specifically like send them an email with the names of the players.
11:10But, I mean, we're not dumb.
11:12We can figure out the salaries to match Giannis.
11:15Yeah.
11:15It was going to have to be Jimmy or Draymond.
11:17And I don't think, from everything I know and have heard, they've committed to Jimmy
11:22because they saw how much better the team got since Jimmy arrived.
11:27And who could blame them for that opinion?
11:30So, I don't know.
11:31Draymond's still been very good in certain games.
11:33He just, it hasn't been as steady as it used to be, obviously.
11:37Yeah, no, it's implied.
11:38I think we all agree.
11:40Ron, thank you very much.
11:41Good, good work for sure.
11:42And great to hear a little bit more about it.
11:44Appreciate you.
11:46Thanks for the time.
11:47Appreciate it, guys.
11:47Okay, there he goes.
11:48Ron Kreutich, SF Chronicle.
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