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00:00Happy Thursday. Welcome in. It's Willard and Dibs, but no Willard or Dibs.
00:05It's Nick Friedle of The Athletic. Covers the Warriors better than anybody out there,
00:10along with Grandy here on 95.7 The Game, day before a national holiday.
00:16Happy early 4th. I could just spend it with Nick Friedle. What's up, Nick? How you doing?
00:20It's great to be with you, buddy. I am happy to help and get in here and get rolling
00:26because you and I both know that there is so much passion around this Warriors fan base.
00:32Always, always, and there always has been, but I think today, for at least a portion of that base,
00:40there needs to be a reality check. Because this team, no matter what the hell it was going to do
00:48in free agency over the summer, they were not going to get that much better.
00:53And the reason why, and we can get into this all day, I can't wait to hear everybody
00:58until 6 o'clock who calls in.
01:01Yeah, call in and yell at Nick. Come on, let's get it going.
01:05It hits us on the text line. I can't wait. Watch it on YouTube.
01:09I mean, since the last time I was in here, we've got the direct access all over the place.
01:14This team was never going to be good enough and rebuilt over the summer because Jimmy Butler
01:22got hurt. And it happens in pro sports. And it's the worst part of the game.
01:29And nobody could control what happened. But when Jimmy Butler, who's making $60 million a year,
01:35gets hurt and he can't play. And Steph, who's 38 years old with a bad knee,
01:40is making $60 million a year with the cap rules that are in place. You can't do that much.
01:47So everybody just losing their minds saying, oh my gosh, the Warriors again.
01:52You want to be mad about Wiseman? Fine. You want to be mad about Kaminga? I get it.
01:58They screwed up. They did not make the right picks. But to sit there and go, oh my gosh,
02:03they're losing all these guys. And Anthony Simons. Oh no, he went to Philly. What are they doing?
02:10Oh no. Let's get a reality check for four hours today, Granny Man. Because I just cannot believe
02:17what I'm hearing from some people that love this team. They've gone overboard. When Jimmy got hurt,
02:25that was it. You're not winning too much after that. You can still put together a solid team
02:32and you can put together a team that can find ways to be entertaining around Steph Curry when he's out
02:38there. But let's all take a deep breath and go through the reasons why this is where it is.
02:46And the biggest reason why is because Jimmy, unfortunately, got hurt on a max deal. And in
02:53the league, that's about the worst thing that can happen. And he's old. And he's old. And he has
02:59a history of not being the happiest when things come to an end in certain places. And that's all
03:04well and good too. But at the core of this, Jimmy hurt his ACL and that has toppled over whatever
03:12the
03:12ending was going to look like. Well, I saw your tweet and that was in response to Warriors fans
03:17response to Anthony Simon signing with the 76ers. Oh, I saw it. I'm like, are you kidding me?
03:23You're the hottest thing on Twitter right now. I've seen it. Well, yeah. Yesterday I get,
03:27I get aggregated terribly by some place. Yeah, from the show, unfortunately. Right. From,
03:31from, from us talking and I'm going, huh? I looked at my phone. I was like, what? I, I guess
03:37literally. They put a community note on it for you. I saw that. It was like, all right,
03:41where do you think he's going? I said, I think it's 50, 50. And, uh, for pure clarification on
03:47all of it, that was before the Philly stuff even happened. That stuff happens, but that's fine.
03:52The whole point to all of this is I think people get so caught up, especially in the summers and
03:58they see this team making moves and that team making moves. And why weren't we in on Jalen Brown?
04:04Because Jalen Brown is making 60 million a year for the next three years. And there is question,
04:10at least in some circles of the league as to whether or not he is going to live up to
04:17that
04:18type of cap hit and space. He's a great player. He had a great year, but people just losing it
04:25thinking, Oh my gosh, why didn't they do this and that? And this Jimmy Butler got hurt and it altered
04:32the course of everything over the next couple of years for the golden state warriors.
04:36I'll just say the, the reaction from fans. I don't think it's about Anthony Simon specifically.
04:41It's about just the idea of you're being your, your, the rest of your off season plans,
04:48even if it's not much of an off season plan, because of the reality you're talking about
04:52is being held up by the LeBron decision. And if LeBron comes here, if LeBron doesn't come here,
04:58that has to happen first. And then you can go about your business elsewhere. They have an ability
05:01to sign someone like an Anthony Simons or a, the other one was Colin Sexton who went with
05:07the Lakers yesterday morning. Right. And I know those aren't players that are going to change the
05:11course of this franchise. They're not going to make them from a play-in team to, you know,
05:15a championship contender team. But the, I would imagine the frustration from warrior fans,
05:19because I felt a little bit of it myself too, is coming from the idea that, well, you might not
05:23even get LeBron and it's still going to cost you whatever else you might've been able to do
05:27this off season. And I understand, but Grady, man, Anthony Simons and Colin Sexton. Oh, I know.
05:34It's not like those are not, are not lit. Okay. Let's all, let's all take it. Last season was so
05:39bad, Nick. Hey, who are you telling? They're running it back. Oh, you know it better than anyone. Who are
05:45you telling? Oh my God. I mean, I, and you and I have talked about this a lot. I am
05:50very lucky and I am so
05:52happy to be back here. And I know how good I have it day to day because nobody wants to
05:57sit there and
05:58go, Oh, you get paid to watch the war. The number of times I see you in the media elevator,
06:03you're
06:03like, Randy, Oh my God. Well, it's just like every day you're just thinking, Oh, I love the back and
06:10forth nature of this job. And there is not a single day. I promise you, especially after the last few
06:16years that I've experienced that I don't remember how lucky I am to be within it. The point is when
06:22you're watching the same games with, with no Steph and no Jimmy, it looks a little bit different,
06:29which is why I say all this that I'm, I'm going off on a rant early here, but I understand
06:35fans
06:35frustrations. I mean, they pay their hard earned money. They spend their hard earned time. They could
06:41be doing anything. They're following this team. If you're still upset about them whiffing on Wiseman
06:47and Kaminga, not becoming the player that they wanted. I get that Mark Grandy. What I do not
06:54understand is when people go, Oh, well, are we really going to wait for LeBron? What if he goes
07:01to Cleveland? What if he goes to Cleveland? What if he goes to Philly? What if he goes anywhere that
07:06is
07:06not San Francisco? Okay. Life goes on because this team is not close to where everybody wants them to
07:17be, where they were for so many years. They're not close. LeBron can, in the span of the next four
07:23hours of our show can come in. Hey, I'm signing with the Warriors and that's fantastic. Great. But he's
07:30not at 41 years old going to be the difference maker that takes them from wherever they are right
07:36now, back up to the front of the Western conference. So I just want everybody to have
07:41some space in between. You can be all upset because they've made all these moves or, Oh,
07:46we got to wait for Giannis or, Oh, we got to wait for this guy or that. Fine. Have at
07:51it. Like they
07:52deserve all the criticism for all this stuff in the here and now though, if you have a chance to
07:57sign LeBron James, even at 41, you wait to see if you can do that. And if you can't,
08:04then you move forward, but you do not lose any sleep over. Oh, you know what? We missed out on
08:10Anthony Simons and Colin Sexton because those guys, while solid players are not the difference
08:17maker on whatever team you're putting together. Yeah. I would agree with you there. And I don't
08:22think, thank you. You're welcome. I don't think there's like any warrior fans out there.
08:27At least I don't think there are, maybe there are, but not that many that are saying you
08:31shouldn't be going after LeBron. Like it makes total sense. Why would you not do it? He's a
08:35free agent. He's theoretically going to sign for not a gigantic amount of money, which is the only
08:40way you'd be able to get them here in the first place. And a lot of these places would only
08:43be
08:43able to get them for, you know, the mid-level or less. There's a rumor out there that maybe he'd
08:47signed for the minimum. Who the hell knows? I find that very hard to believe, but we'll find out
08:52whenever he goes, but it makes perfect sense. The frustration for warrior fans is you're at
08:57his, the whim of LeBron's decision. And if he decides to say, no, I'm going to Cleveland,
09:04I'm going to Miami, I'm going to Philly, wherever he's going to go. You're stuck with essentially
09:07the same roster last year that, as you talked about, was a really difficult watch. And the
09:12only difference is essentially Yaxo Lendeborg in for Jonathan Kaminga. And that's the only real
09:18difference. You're giving me PTSD already, Grandy. And I'm, that was so bad. Like, and
09:22you could say there's nothing the organization could do and maybe realistically you're right,
09:27but we know how, how bad that was for Joe Lake up the second half of last year. And it
09:33feels
09:33like they're just, I mean, damn, did they do, damn, did they don't, I guess, but they're
09:38just going to be going into next season potentially with the same exact roster. And this would be
09:42my question for you. And you follow this as closely as anybody does doing what you do day to
09:48day. And for any fan who wants to call us, call us up and tell me. 888-957-9570. Thank
09:56you. You're
09:57welcome. When you are trying to break down what you wanted them to do heading into the summer,
10:03let's hear it. Let's hear what the moves are, what they should have done, what they should have
10:09done. Yeah. Because the, the, as I'm looking at all the different things, like I was a little
10:14surprised on Melton just cause he really kind of hit a wall in those last few months. He wasn't
10:20the same players when he had come back, but fine. That was pretty good value. Honestly. Like
10:24Steve Kerr really likes him. I didn't think he was coming back. There's, there's confidence
10:27within. He's well-liked. Great. Okay. Not a bad deal. Horford for two years. Oh my gosh. They're
10:39staying out there. Fine. But why would anybody have confidence in that given what just happened
10:46last year? And for two years, that, that was like, uh-huh. What? Two years. That news
10:53surprised me twice. First that he opted out of the one year and then second that he got
10:57two years. You know, that, that feels like one of those wink, wink. Hey, uh, if you come
11:02out to the bay, we, we got you for three and we'll figure it out. Okay. Put that
11:07aside. Porzingis. Fine. Roll the dice. But that contract, as we've now learned is, is
11:14not as punitive as it could be. They can train them this second. And you can move them. They
11:19can theoretically just waive them and only cost them $3 million. Exactly. So, okay, fine.
11:24What else, what else have I missed that you watch the Warriors and you go, oh my gosh,
11:32they have screwed this up terribly. Steph is 38 and on a max deal. Jimmy is 36 with a busted
11:41knee on a max deal. There is your problem. Draymond, like who knows what's going to end up
11:46happening, but he no longer is living up to the salary in which he is, uh, in which he has
11:54earned
11:54through that contract. That's another problem. But this summer, because of what we've seen around
12:00the league, like tell me, call us, tell me what you wanted them to do and how they've screwed it
12:08up
12:08so badly. If you want to talk about what happened five or six years ago, great. I understand that I'm
12:14talking about right now. What are we not seeing? What do I, am I missing that the fan base has
12:22been
12:23so pissed off about that they can't come to grips with whatever the reality is right now?
12:28I think some of it is what you're talking about. Maybe a misunderstanding of, uh, what it would take
12:33to get a deal done or the value of the pieces that you'd be trading away. Like what Steini and
12:38Evan
12:38were talking about earlier. I think it's really interesting. All the biggest moves in the, the free
12:43agency period. It's less free agency and it's more just trades trades Giannis and Kawhi and Jalen Brown
12:50and even LaMelo and all these other ones. You have to have one draft picks that you're willing to move
12:55off of. And the Warriors have shown an extreme hesitance to do that for good reason. I think for
12:59the most part, but also that's a source of fans frustration. And the other part is you have to have
13:03the salary to make it work, but also that the other teams at least don't terribly dislike in the
13:10first place. And the Warriors might not have any of that. And they don't because Jimmy who has a huge
13:15salary, uh, isn't going to be able to play for at least half of next year. Right. And, and, and
13:22we
13:22don't know what's going to happen, but Mr. Grandy that it's just, I'm watching this from a distance
13:29over the last couple of years. And now I'm back in it day to day. And it's not that nobody
13:34deserves
13:35criticism because my gosh, for them to get to this point and stuff's about to be out a few more
13:42years, maybe I get why people are all upset and why it's built over time. What I do not understand
13:51is specific to this summer. As I watched the feedback, not just on social media, but I listened
13:58to the station all the time and people are calling in and saying, Oh my gosh, they should have gotten
14:04Jalen Brown. Really? Like I, I really, if you plug Jalen, if let's, let's play it out.
14:11The Celtics, they could have said, all right, we'll take Jimmy's contract because the contract
14:16lines out. Yep. And, and Mike Dunley has said repeatedly, and we will stress this all day
14:22long. One of the most valuable commodities in the league right now are first round picks.
14:27They do not want to move first off first round picks because it's cost certainty. And if you
14:33hit, you're in really good shape. Look at the San Antonio Spurs. Yep. But if you played
14:38it out and Jalen Brown was going to come to the Warriors and Brad Stevens of the Celtics
14:42said, okay, we'll take Jimmy and two first round picks and two second round picks and
14:47a pick swap or whatever it took. That's making the Warriors that much better.
14:53Well, let's talk about it. Cause I think that's where a lot of fans minds are too. I see a
14:56text
14:57from the 408 about it. We got a couple of callers that want to talk about it as well. We'll
15:00do that when we come back, Nick, I see you, Matt, I see you. It's Nick Friedle. Grandy
15:04with you on Willard and Dibs on this Thursday, 888-957-9570. Back with more next on 95.7
15:10in the game.
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