- 2 days ago
Willard and Dibs continue to discuss LeBron James' impending decision and wonder what the Warriors' plan is.
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00:00You want to break down because we are want to do this as always.
00:05I want to break down what Draymond Green said on the Draymond Green show.
00:08We'd love to.
00:09Oh, yeah.
00:10All right, let's hear it, Grandy.
00:11What did Draymond say?
00:13And us being brothers, I'd be remiss if I don't take the opportunity to throw my pitch in there.
00:19You know, I'd be crazy if we're together for X amount of days and at no point am I like,
00:26yo, we need to chop it up.
00:28Like, what the hell is going on?
00:29What are we doing?
00:31And so there's that.
00:33Of course I did that.
00:34And, of course, the pitch was crazy.
00:36I think I'm pretty decent at it.
00:40Does it change anything?
00:41Does it make anything happen?
00:43I don't know.
00:44I hope so.
00:45With the things that I shared in it, I believe it definitely is going to make the brain work a
00:51little bit.
00:52You know, I don't think there's a decision that's been made, but say if there was, it'll make you think
00:58twice about it.
00:58But, you know, and so that's that.
01:02But I wasn't going to hang out for a recruitment pitch.
01:08I love the word pitch right now.
01:11Are we, like, I don't know.
01:13I get it.
01:14I'm not, like, mad at it.
01:15But honestly, is that how we think this is actually going?
01:20We think that LeBron James is going to be pitched on something?
01:24So Draymond's going to, hey, LeBron, I'd be remiss.
01:28And it's remiss, not remiss, but I'll allow that to pass.
01:34LeBron, I don't know if, I need to make my pitch.
01:36I don't know if you know, but I play with Steph Curry.
01:39Wait, you play with Steph Curry?
01:40Wait, Steph's on your team?
01:42Yeah, yeah, LeBron.
01:43I don't know if you watch a lot of NBA, but our head coach, Steve Kerr, has won nine.
01:47Wait, Steve Kerr has won nine titles?
01:49Yeah, Chase Center.
01:50You guys play at Chase Center?
01:51I thought you still were at Oracle.
01:53So you're pitching a guy on something that he knows 99.99% of.
02:00Like, he knows everything other than maybe, I mean, Rick Celebrini is really good with the Theragun.
02:06Oh, I didn't know that.
02:07I'm trying to piece all this together in my mind.
02:10Let's take it further.
02:12So what was it?
02:12They went to Puerto Rico for four days?
02:14Yeah.
02:15Is that right?
02:15Okay, so they go to Puerto Rico for four days.
02:17They're golfing?
02:18That's mainly what they were doing together?
02:19I'd imagine.
02:19Okay, so they're on a trip together.
02:23When you travel together, that's a different kind of friend.
02:25That's a close friend if you all travel together.
02:30So you go to Puerto Rico, they're golfing.
02:32And Draymond looks at LeBron and goes, all right, dude, we're away from all the cameras and mics.
02:37I need to pitch you.
02:39Forget even that idea.
02:40I want to pitch you.
02:42Thanks, Joe.
02:44No, but instead he goes, hey, LBJ, pour another glass of wine.
02:51What are you thinking?
02:53And LeBron goes, as if he's a middle school girl with a crush.
02:57I'm not telling you.
02:59Is that really?
03:03I just want to know, what is it that we're actually believing right now?
03:06What are we buying in terms of how this is going?
03:09LeBron doesn't know what he's doing.
03:11Everybody's scrambling to pitch him.
03:13They're putting all their other free agency stuff on hold.
03:16And his best friends in the world are like, hey, Bron, what are we doing?
03:20And he's like, not telling.
03:21Right.
03:22This is what we're being told.
03:24Do you buy this?
03:25I don't buy this.
03:27I don't know what to buy because, like, the other side of it would be, yeah, so, hey, LBJ, like,
03:33what are you thinking?
03:34And he says, well, I'm going to Cleveland.
03:37What am I?
03:37Whatever.
03:38It's done.
03:39That gets out.
03:40It's leaked.
03:40It's done.
03:41He makes his decision.
03:43It's all out and about.
03:44I don't know if he actually has made a decision.
03:47And if he has, it might just be LeBron and Rich Paul and Mrs. LeBron James and not even Bronny.
03:54Like, Bronny, you go where I say you'll go.
03:56Bronny knows what's going on.
03:58I mean, I don't know if he's even decided.
04:00It might be where he's hoping for all these other teams to make the moves that he wants them to
04:04make before he actually decides decides.
04:07I have no idea.
04:09888-957-957.
04:10We can get into the Warriors' plan, whether or not this LeBron thing, from an entertainment standpoint, has run its
04:16course,
04:16which I think we can talk about.
04:18But let's go out to the phones.
04:20I think, actually, there's a pretty special caller here that's our first caller of the day.
04:23Okay.
04:24He goes by the name of Cody in San Rafael.
04:27All right.
04:29Cody, what's going on, man?
04:31You're on Willard and Dibs.
04:33Willard and Dibs.
04:34God, it's been so long since I talked to you guys.
04:37How are you guys doing?
04:37Seriously, man.
04:38Man, I need a shot of Cody.
04:40It's been a while.
04:43So, hey, first of all, thanks for the golf round today.
04:46Great playing with you guys.
04:49Willard, your game is very tight.
04:52I appreciate it playing with you.
04:54And Dibs, I'm anxious to see your game when you get healthy, bro.
04:58Those two shots today were really impressive, honestly, with what you've been going through.
05:02Yeah, thanks, Cody.
05:03I appreciate that.
05:05Yeah, we had a – go ahead, Cody.
05:09So, hey, no, I just wanted to say on the question of should the Warriors – are the Warriors fans
05:15okay with the Warriors middling, you know, and to, like, not making a decision.
05:20And I honestly think – I don't know if there's quite another option because, like, what are they really –
05:30what are we really talking about here?
05:31Are they really going to sell the farm, get rid of Curry, get rid of Draymond?
05:36Because that's the real option, right?
05:38It's, like, if you're going to commit to the youth, you have to either sell old and buy young and
05:44kind of get rid of everything.
05:45And I don't think I'm open with that.
05:49And I don't know about other Warriors fans.
05:50That's a tough sell to kind of get rid of everybody and just kind of go young.
05:56I don't know what you guys feel about that, but that's a hard sell right there to get rid of
06:01Curry and everybody and go young.
06:04So, I agree with you, Cody.
06:05We're going to respond to what you said here on the Warriors in just a second.
06:08But let me say to you, dude, you are a pleasure to be out there with today.
06:12You're a ton of fun.
06:14I know Dibs especially loved how fast you play.
06:17And the mullet was unbelievable.
06:19You got a mullet, you got a cowboy hat, but only sometimes you play quick, you don't take yourself too
06:26seriously.
06:27Dude, you got this thing figured out, and I hope that wasn't the last time we play together.
06:33Well, hey, man, I hope that you can see you guys soon.
06:35Thanks for taking my call, man.
06:36Thanks for the golf today, and thanks for the good times.
06:39And I appreciate you guys, and looking forward to listening for many years to come.
06:44Appreciate you, man.
06:44Drive safe.
06:45There it is.
06:46That's Cody in San Rafael, my partner.
06:49Out there on the golf course today.
06:51He was great.
06:51He was really great.
06:53And, I mean, his point, I think, has kind of already been resolved where fans might want him to do
06:58one thing.
06:59The Warriors have decided that they're going to go all in on Steph and veterans.
07:03Like, you bring in Chris Dapps and Al, and Draymond sticks around, and now you're chasing LeBron.
07:09They're not going to do this whole go young movement until this is all over.
07:14No, see, and that's the sort of vortex.
07:17That's the middle in which they sit, and they're very stuck there, so it seems.
07:23But, yes, there's an emotional side to this.
07:26I think there are Warrior fans out there, and we've taken their calls, who say, like, you should have moved
07:30on from this a year ago or two years ago.
07:33And it's like, from a basketball standpoint, I can't even tell you that you're wrong.
07:38But from an emotional storytelling standpoint, you are.
07:41You're wrong.
07:42Like, most Warrior fans do not want the Warriors to move on from Steph Curry and the other veterans on
07:49this team.
07:49Maybe some of the other veterans.
07:50But anything that surrounds Steph Curry, nobody wants to or most people don't want to move on from that.
07:58So if that removes the youth movement, then what's the other side to this?
08:02You know, you could say, well, okay, we don't need to go fully young, but do you need to lean
08:07in so hard to old?
08:09Well, and that's a fair rebuttal, but at the same time, I don't think that Steph Curry, the remainder of
08:15his career,
08:16does not need to necessarily be full-blown championship contention, but it's got to be viable.
08:23You've got to try.
08:24You've got to put some actual veterans on the court who know what they're doing and know this system and
08:30all of that.
08:31So I think the Warriors are sitting there going, we know that this isn't going to play well in the
08:35public.
08:36But then again, maybe nothing will.
08:39We can lean all the way into old and veterans, and you won't like that.
08:44We can go all the way young, and you won't like that.
08:47So maybe we take the PR hit, just try to get some injury luck, be as good as we possibly
08:55can,
08:56and then when this whole thing is over, whenever that is, two years, three years,
09:02we'll have flexibility to try to do something about it.
09:06That might be what they're thinking, and I know that's not going to play well with the public.
09:10I think they know that, too.
09:11And I don't know what the other alternative is, because you had a lottery pick,
09:16and yeah, you took a guy who's almost 24, Yaxo Lendenborg.
09:19I think that was the right pick, and he's a good player.
09:22But beyond that, you don't just get to go out there and grab 25- and 26-year-old players
09:28who are at their peak because you want to go younger.
09:30The good players are already taken, and they're spoken for, or they're going to go out there
09:35and get free agent dollars that you can't afford to spend.
09:38So you're kind of pot-committed on the course that you went about,
09:42and you did that when you traded for Jimmy Butler, and if Jimmy didn't get hurt,
09:46it might have looked better as far as, like, you know, the course you decided to take.
09:50Jimmy being hurt and Kerstapp's not being able to play all the time.
09:54I do think that you're in a spot where you're going to have to double down on age.
09:58And I think that that's why you're hearing the Warriors.
10:00In fact, Randy, maybe we can kind of play what Anthony Slater said on SportsCenter earlier today
10:07because two things hit my brain when I listen to this.
10:10One of them is what Anthony's actually talking about, and that's the LeBron chase.
10:16But the other part of it is, and I'm not calling Anthony a mouthpiece for the team.
10:20He's not.
10:20He's a reporter.
10:21He's a good one, and he's tapped in.
10:23But if he's sharing this publicly, this tells me that to some degree,
10:29the Golden State Warriors are attempting to lower expectations and emotion.
10:35That's what they're trying to do.
10:37Listen to Anthony Slater today on ESPN.
10:39Their decision makers really from the beginning of this free agency
10:42have not expressed much optimism to me that they're going to ultimately be the destination.
10:46They know they're in on it.
10:47They've identified from the beginning Cleveland as what they believe is the most likely destination.
10:52But they also have an advantage, and they know it, and it's what you just played.
10:55Draymond Green is pitching LeBron James on vacation.
10:58And I was in Tahoe the other day, and Steph Curry said he's been in contact with him.
11:02Not many people in this process can reach LeBron James directly, but the Warriors players can.
11:07And I thought one of the most interesting parts of Steph's pitch is basically the historic nature of them potentially
11:12teaming up.
11:13Year 18 for Steph, year 24 for LeBron, the battles they've had.
11:16He called it maybe it could be one of the most unique stories in NBA history if they teamed up.
11:21Okay, so to me, there's Anthony Slater saying, sure, they're in this, and they've got a built-in advantage.
11:28But we just want to let you know they don't think they're getting him.
11:32And that tells me maybe, again, we can take that at face value, but I do think the Warriors are
11:39probably going into a moment in time where they're going to try to lower the expectations of their fan base,
11:47kind of take the sting out of all of this to the best of their ability.
11:50If something goes well that excites people over the next three weeks or the remainder of the month of July,
11:57great.
11:57But if it doesn't, it feels to me like they're preparing people for, yeah, yeah, this is kind of it.
12:05Right, but you're preparing them for what, which to me is disappointment because if you don't get LeBron, and odds
12:12are you probably won't get LeBron, like what's the pivot?
12:14And so I think that the fan base is okay with the under-promise and over-deliver part of it
12:20if it comes to LeBron.
12:21But if you don't then get LeBron, what are you going to do?
12:24Because I mentioned this about seven weeks ago, and you kind of threw up in your mouth a little bit
12:29about the idea of run it back.
12:31And here we are with here comes Al, here comes Chris Tapps, here comes Melton.
12:36And if you don't bring in anybody else, like you're running it back.
12:40Well, the throw-up-in-my-mouth thing was when you brought up Russell Westbrook.
12:43Oh, well, yeah, there was that.
12:45He's still out there, I think, right?
12:46I don't like the idea.
12:47He is.
12:48I don't like the idea of run it back more so as a slogan.
12:52I don't think the Warriors will see it that way because one thing I've learned is run it back never
12:58ends up looking that way anyway.
13:00There is no way to redo a season.
13:02You have your players.
13:04Some are going to get hurt one year.
13:06Some of them won't the next year.
13:07Some of them didn't last time.
13:09Some of them will this time.
13:10You could go into this season, and all of them could get hurt, or you could go into this season,
13:15and very few of them could get hurt, and Jimmy Butler could return and be effective.
13:19And what does that all lead to?
13:21I don't know.
13:22I don't know.
13:23The Western Conference, outside of the Spurs and the Thunder, feels like it's being flipped upside down, thrown out all
13:29on the table, and we're going to reboot this.
13:31I have an idea of some other teams who are going to be good, Denver, the Lakers, Minnesota.
13:35Utah.
13:36But all of them also have major changes they've undergone, and so I don't really know what their season's going
13:42to be like.
13:42So I just don't want to call it, run it back, but if the roster has a lot of overlap
13:50from last year, I don't think that's necessarily a deal breaker on the surface.
13:57I'd love to see them add some new energy, and their draft picks will be a part of that, and
14:03I'm not going to do some sort of victory lap if, say, a DeMar DeRozan is on the team.
14:08That's not the worst idea I've ever heard.
14:10Right, I mean, that would be a pivot point, but if you don't get LeBron, and I'm not sure if
14:16they will, whatever, it might eventually get decided, but beyond that, you will get to a spot where if LeBron
14:23goes somewhere else, you're going to have to figure out who else you want to add, fresh blood, somebody who
14:28could be on this team to go out there and help you in play, and maybe it's Trey Murphy, which,
14:33you know, reportedly the price for him is coming down.
14:36I'm not sure if that is reality or if it's completely a myth, but at some point, if you don't
14:42get LeBron James, you're going to have to bring in somebody else, I think, or the fan base is going
14:46to be appalled.
14:47Yeah, well, and the fan base may be appalled, and they may need to deal with that.
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