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00:00I don't like this, but it's how I feel in this particular case.
00:04It's kind of what I want to say to Warrior fans.
00:08Can we just do what we're doing?
00:10Do what we're doing?
00:11Can we just do what we're doing?
00:13So like, right now it's 3.02 and you and I are talking about sports.
00:17So you want me to just sit here and do that?
00:19Well, yes. Actually, you're contractually obligated to do so.
00:22Okay.
00:23There are times that you go on the radio when you're not contractually obligated to do so.
00:28That happened at 8 o'clock this morning.
00:30That won't happen again.
00:32Well, not with that effort.
00:34Not with that attitude.
00:36So yes, I know what you're saying though.
00:37Can we just do what we're doing?
00:40Can we do what we're doing?
00:41The Warriors are doing game number 76 and they're taking on a really good team with a really tall guy.
00:46And you don't have a lot of your normal Warriors playing.
00:49Let's just do that and see if they can win the game.
00:53Well, that's super micromanaging type answer.
00:56I thought that's what you were looking for.
00:57Well, that's part of it.
00:59But the more macro way of talking about it, I guess, would be the whole everything for Steph angle.
01:06And I don't know.
01:10Like, I find, this is part of the rub, I think.
01:14I find what the Warriors are going through to be rather inevitable and obvious and inescapable.
01:23At this time, not forever, but at this time, this feels obvious, inevitable, and inescapable.
01:34Yet, there is this discomfort.
01:39And again, we're back, maybe echo chamber, but there's discomfort with Draymond's antics, Steve's rotations, and general age.
01:53And I guess that that would be kind of my question.
01:58It's like, how is it that they were supposed to avoid that and scratch all of your Steph Curry itches?
02:06Well, they could have done it one of two ways, and they decided to go down this road.
02:12And once you start down this road, there's no turning back.
02:16And it goes back even before the Jimmy Butler trade, but that, for me, is when you basically sealed the
02:21deal on your direction.
02:23You traded for Butler.
02:24You gave him a two-year deal worth almost $110 million.
02:28He eats up a ton of your salary slots, and he's an older guy.
02:33And so you went all in on Jimmy Butler, and then you added other old guys.
02:37You went all in on going old to help build around Steph Curry.
02:41And you got rid of Kaminga, you got rid of Jordan Poole before you decided that, in your opinion, front
02:48office, this was the way to maximize the Steph Curry window.
02:51So other than years ago, not giving Draymond Green the extension, four years and $100 million, and not going out
03:00and trading for Chris Paul, you know, trading Jordan Poole and getting Chris Paul.
03:03You could have navigated the end of the Steph Curry era a whole bunch of different ways, but you chose
03:09to go down this road this way.
03:11So here we are.
03:13And I like what you're saying about, can we just do what we're doing right now, which is, Steph has
03:18one more year.
03:20Draymond's got one more year.
03:21Jimmy and Moses are hurt.
03:23Chris Dapps is a maybe and all the rest of it.
03:25There's no undoing what you have decided to do.
03:28And there's no, I have, when I say that, I have no issue in pointing out the sort of micro
03:36flaws, the decisions, the Wiseman's, or if you want to go down, you know, the Kaminga route, whether it was
03:46like they should have picked somebody else or they should have handled who they did pick differently.
03:51That, to me, is all fair.
03:53That's fine.
03:54That's like normal, you know, sports debate, and let's talk about what they did, and boy, they probably should have
04:00done it this way.
04:02Again, I'm more in the whole, the macro, though, of where you've arrived.
04:06Because even if those things went differently, I would argue you're still in Stephville.
04:11Even if Wiseman was really good and Kaminga was flying and cooking and still here, you're still in Stephville.
04:20And everybody who has any sort of say in the organization at all, all collectively 100% believes that Draymond
04:34Green has a massive positive effect on winning big games.
04:40Because they all, like, none of them disagree with that.
04:43Yeah.
04:43There's not a one.
04:45And Steve Kerr, too.
04:46If you're in the we-don't-want-Kerr camp, it's all intertwined.
04:50Yes.
04:50And, you know, most notably, Steph is the one who thinks that.
04:53And Steph is quoted in this article from Anthony Slater on ESPN.com and talking about what Draymond means.
04:59And Steve Kerr continues to say how important Draymond is.
05:03And so Steve, Steph, and Draymond, they are intertwined.
05:06And it seemed like Klay was a part of that as well.
05:08But as you mentioned in the crossover, that last year Klay was here, you could see that things were starting
05:14to break apart.
05:15He didn't play with the same joy, and he wasn't getting the contract from them that he probably wanted.
05:20And it got to the point where it was time for him to go somewhere else.
05:24I'm on record saying I don't want this team to do a deal where they're sending four first-round draft
05:30picks out.
05:31I'm on record saying that.
05:33I'm not sitting here telling any of you that I think the Warriors should just stick in this mud for
05:38the rest of our lives.
05:40I'm just talking about, like, where we've arrived now.
05:43I find inevitable, inescapable, and now I already forget the third word I used.
05:52But whatever.
05:53You get the idea.
05:55Right.
05:56And so this is what we're doing.
05:59Can we just do what we're doing?
06:02This is what you're doing.
06:03I think we just, without, like, everybody going, you're all awful, and you've messed this up, and you're old, and
06:10it's laughable, and fire this, and fire that, and all of these things.
06:15I just, I don't, I don't find where the Warriors have arrived to be that offensive or confusing.
06:23No, it's pretty, it's pretty simple.
06:25And you have a team of older guys, including your superstar.
06:28And if you want to think back to the last 12 months, he's now been hurt, like, four or five
06:33different times.
06:34He had the hammy in the playoffs, and, you know, he's had the runner's knee now, and he's had just
06:39little things pop up.
06:40And it's what happens when you're 38, and you're a high-mileage, run-around basketball player like he is.
06:45And I don't want to get all morbid, but think about anybody, and you have a couple parents who are
06:51both in their 80s.
06:52And, you know, you think about 10 years from now, if they're still with us, God help us all, there
06:59are going to be certain things that they just can't do.
07:01And there's already things that they just can't do.
07:05And so, yeah, you look at that, and it's the reality of being 82, 84, whatever.
07:10And, you know, my father-in-law, Pop Pop, is 82.
07:13And, you know, we're already starting to think about, like, you know, what the next 5, 10, 15 years will
07:18be like.
07:19And it's just the nature of everything, and so in an NBA sense, you have a 38-year-old superstar
07:25who's got chronic runner's knee now.
07:27You have to understand that even if he comes back next year, he's not playing 82 games.
07:32Do we know there's chronic?
07:34I just kind of threw that in there, but he's got a runner's knee.
07:37Yeah, which can then go away.
07:39Sure.
07:40As quickly as it arrived.
07:41Yeah.
07:41Yeah.
07:42It can.
07:42It can.
07:43I mean, he also has had a long career of ankle issues, and he's had a history of knee.
07:49Injuries, and broke a hand, and all the rest of it.
07:52So, the reality is, he's 38.
07:54And next year, he'll be 39 at some point during the year.
07:58And so, to think that he's going to play 82 games and 35 minutes a night, those days are over.
08:03No, completely.
08:04Well, 82 games for veteran stars.
08:06I mean, I don't think that exists.
08:09Does that exist?
08:10Not really.
08:10I mean, 82 games for anybody, but, like, if you want to talk about the Steph Curry window.
08:15Pods will do it.
08:16Right.
08:16He's 22 or 23.
08:18Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:20And you look at next year, and if you have a team that is equally as old next year as
08:25they are this year,
08:27you're going to have to be, you know, holding your breath the majority of the 82 games to try and
08:31keep everyone together.
08:32Here's Slates on NBA Today, ESPN, with the latest on Steph.
08:37I talked to Steph last night.
08:38He did say he felt great coming off the scrimmage, but he used the same word with me that he
08:41used with you on the sideline weeks ago,
08:43which was unpredictable.
08:44It really is an unpredictable knee injury.
08:46So he's hesitant over the next few days, hoping that the knee, you know, responds well enough for him to
08:51get in the game Sunday, Tuesday,
08:53and play maybe four regular season games before the play-in.
08:56I do think some people from the outside looking in are saying, why?
08:59You know, this kind of is a lost season for the Warriors.
09:01They're in the 10th spot.
09:02Everything's already gone wrong.
09:03Jimmy Butler's out for the year.
09:04But, you know, I've talked a lot to Steph Curry about Draymond Green for a story I have on the
09:09site today.
09:09And I thought one of the interesting things he said is he's seen Draymond, you know, keep his body ready
09:14and play every game this season.
09:15And he's around this team, which, you know, it's a really dark time for the franchise.
09:19They've watched two of their players basically carried off the floor with career-altering injuries.
09:24And I think he just wants to lift the spirits of this franchise, you know, provide a little light at
09:28the end of the tunnel.
09:28I don't think there's some idea in his mind they're going to roll off and win the title out of
09:32the 10th seed.
09:33But I think they believe they can win a play-in game in Portland.
09:35They can win a play-in game in Phoenix or L.A.
09:37And they can get a crack at the defending champs.
09:39And I think that's enough for Steph Curry to try to want to get back.
09:42Okay.
09:42There it is from Slates.
09:44And even in there, he referenced the article that he did then post today on ESPN.com about Draymond Green,
09:52about his future, about his current, about his strategy, all of the stuff.
09:59And I do think that Draymond is a little bit of a linchpin in terms of where and how this
10:06is all going to go for the Warriors next.
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