- 2 days ago
Willard and Dibs continue to discuss the Warriors' offseason and share why they think the Warriors are running out of time when it comes to capitalizing on their "optionality."
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00:00I don't think anybody can question the resume of Joe Lacob.
00:05I think it's a completely fair concern to wonder,
00:08whether it's about Lacob or anyone else,
00:10what happens to the Warriors when Steph Curry's not here.
00:13I get that fear, especially from a fan base that never knew anything,
00:17quite frankly, but losing, for the most part, before Steph Curry came.
00:21So I understand all that, and I accept sort of your characterization of Joe Lacob,
00:28but what you said is what I hope to be true, but I don't know that.
00:34What's being passed along from those close to the situation
00:38is that Joe is very, very focused on making sure
00:44that the Warriors are in a good spot when Steph leaves,
00:47and their actions so far suggest that,
00:51that that's what's really firing them up right now,
00:54and that should be part of what they think about,
00:57but if it gets them to a spot where they are almost gun-shy
01:03with regard to building some things around Steph Curry
01:08for the remainder of his career,
01:10I know I'm not alone in thinking that's a bad thing.
01:13That is a bad thing for Steph, first and foremost,
01:16but it's a bad thing for all of us, too.
01:19Agreed, but I don't think that they've been in a spot
01:21where there's been a move that they could make
01:23that they failed to make.
01:25Like, the Jalen Brown one, we all want to look at and say,
01:28well, I mean, three firsts and Jimmy Butler,
01:31why didn't you offer that?
01:32Maybe they did, and maybe Boston said,
01:34no, we want somebody who actually plays basketball
01:36before February 1st,
01:38and the idea of four firsts at the deadline last year
01:41and Jimmy Butler, who was already hurt at the deadline last year,
01:45that, for me, if that's what Boston's ask was of you,
01:49that's a no from me if I'm Joe Lacob.
01:51I agree, except for I don't think Boston,
01:53I think it's hard to say that what Boston really wanted
01:57was someone who could play basketball for the full year this year
02:00if they initiated a call to the Warriors
02:03to try to get Jimmy Butler.
02:05Well, if they initiated a call,
02:07and it was four firsts and Jimmy Butler,
02:09then that still, for me, at this point, is a no.
02:12I agree.
02:12How about three?
02:13Well, I don't even know if three was on the table.
02:15Like, the report from Logan Murdoch and the Ringer
02:17was that there was no counter, right?
02:21Right, and was that the counter for the trade deadline in February,
02:24or was that the counter now in the present?
02:27I don't know.
02:28I don't know.
02:28I'm not sure what that was,
02:30but I'm with you in principle of,
02:33yes, it can't only be about what happens after Steph is here,
02:36and I don't think that they're approaching it that way,
02:38but I think that they're looking at it
02:40and they're seeing the reality,
02:42which is, okay, so you get Jalen Brown
02:45and we give up a bunch of picks
02:47and you've got Jalen Brown here,
02:48Jimmy's gone, thanks for being here,
02:50but does that take you to a spot
02:52where Steph Curry is now going to win championship number five?
02:56I don't think so.
02:57Look, the pressure is just upped,
02:59whether it's fair or not.
03:02To me, this is the reality of the situation.
03:05I accept everything you're saying,
03:07and the Warriors are in a tough spot,
03:09and there may not have been a deal to be made,
03:11and people have either said no
03:12or the Warriors have not gotten involved deep enough.
03:19That can all be true,
03:21but the bottom line is the bottom line.
03:25Steph's days are numbered.
03:27He is in this moment on an expiring deal next year,
03:33and you, the organization,
03:35continues to trumpet optionality and flexibility.
03:39Optionality and flexibility are great
03:41unless you decide to not use them, okay?
03:44So you get one of those plane ticket vouchers
03:47because the whole thing was full,
03:50and hey, we're looking for volunteers to come on up here,
03:53and would you grab a $200 flight credit?
03:56Oh, how about a $300 flight credit?
03:58Oh, now we're up to $400.
04:00Okay, I'm in, $400 flight credit.
04:02That credit has a little thing at the bottom of it
04:05and says this expires in 365 days.
04:09Well, what good is that credit
04:11if all you do is just keep it?
04:13So the Warriors, sure,
04:16optionality, flexibility,
04:18money coming off the books.
04:19If you keep that until after Steph retires,
04:23then you didn't do bubkis.
04:26To me, you got to do something about this next year.
04:30You can't do another year
04:33if we brought everybody back.
04:34I agree with that part of it,
04:35and you still have the upcoming deadline,
04:38and you have next off-season,
04:40and I'll give them until next October
04:43to go ahead and use that flight voucher,
04:45and it's funny you said that
04:47because I just was talking to my son, Quest,
04:48about his trip to Europe.
04:50He was there for three and a half weeks,
04:52and his college roommate went with him,
04:54and he was going to be there for 10 days,
04:56and they came to them and said,
04:58full flight, we're looking for volunteers,
05:00to take a flight the next day.
05:03We'll give you a thousand bucks,
05:04and so Quest was going to be there
05:06for three and a half weeks,
05:07and he was thinking, yeah,
05:08I mean, one day off my trip, no biggie,
05:11but he asked his former roommate,
05:13and his trip would now go from really nine days
05:16because one day is going to be flying.
05:18Like, now you're down to an eight-day trip.
05:20You get a thousand bucks,
05:21but you lose a day.
05:22Is it worth it to you to go ahead and do that?
05:25And he was like, no, I kind of want the extra day.
05:28And so to your point about this,
05:31like, you've got all this optionality,
05:33and you're going to have financial flexibility next summer
05:36to where Jimmy will be off the books
05:39or at a lesser number and Draymond the same
05:41and all the rest of it.
05:42So at that point,
05:44you either use your flight voucher or you don't,
05:48and if you don't,
05:49that's where I'm going to be more aligned with you.
05:51Yeah, that's kind of how I feel about it right now.
05:53It's like the Warriors are going to pitch this to us
05:54for this offseason.
05:56I'm already looking forward to the press conferences
05:58because, oh, God, I feel for you,
06:00Don Levy and Lacob and Kerr,
06:02and all of you, you're going to talk,
06:04and people are not going to be happy
06:06when you pitch that, yeah, Al Horford's 56,
06:10but trust us, he can make it three sometimes.
06:14Introductory press conference,
06:15ladies and gentlemen, Frank Vogel.
06:18It's just, I mean, it's not,
06:21it's just, there's no way for it to go well.
06:23But I can wrap my head around it,
06:25but if I had the juice, and I don't,
06:27but if I did, your optionality,
06:30I would just like to put a little expiration date on it
06:33at the bottom of your coupon.
06:35That's what I would like to do.
06:37Great.
06:39Optionality, flexibility.
06:40Jimmy Butler comes off the books next year.
06:43Draymond Green comes off the books next year.
06:45Unfortunately, for the moment, so does Steph Curry.
06:48With all that money that's coming off the books.
06:50Okay.
06:52July 15th, 2027.
06:54Expiration date.
06:56I would like to see something aggressive.
06:59Doesn't need to be this, that, or the other.
07:02Doesn't need to be a superstar,
07:03top five player in the league.
07:05I'd love to see something aggressive
07:09happen by then,
07:10before Steph Curry leaves this league.
07:13And, and I don't think that that's unfair.
07:16It's not unfair.
07:18And I wonder if Steph Curry's actions will indicate
07:21how he feels about it,
07:22because he's eligible to be extended in about four weeks.
07:26And if he doesn't do an extension,
07:29that's only going to add fuel to the speculation fire about,
07:34Ooh, maybe, maybe Steph is looking to go elsewhere.
07:36And I hate to bring this up,
07:38but I will because you did the whole thing with pods earlier.
07:41So I'm going to, you know, equally be inflammatory.
07:44Oh, you know, Jimmy Shapiro, the great media rep.
07:49He sends out these odds emails.
07:51The one I got today is, you know,
07:54while it remains highly unlikely,
07:55Steph Curry finishes his career anywhere other than Golden State.
07:59Here are the odds on Steph Curry's next team.
08:02Oh God.
08:02So there are Steph Curry next team odds.
08:06If in fact he goes elsewhere.
08:08And so I won't go through the whole list.
08:10Charlotte is the favorite.
08:11Charlotte, of course.
08:12Two to three minus one 50.
08:14But the very fact that this sort of an email gets sent tells me that
08:19if Steph Curry doesn't sign an extension,
08:21the speculation will run rampant all year long.
08:27No doubt.
08:28By the way, Sacramento is last on the board.
08:32Can you imagine?
08:33He could commute?
08:35Like, you know.
08:36Can you imagine Steph Curry as a king?
08:39The answer's no, by the way.
08:41The answer's no.
08:43So bonus, Curry, light the beam.
08:46We got some royalty on this phone line right now.
08:51A few of them.
08:53BPA is going to be first.
08:55Yeah.
08:56Hi, BPA.
08:56How you been?
08:59Hey, guys.
09:00How you doing?
09:01What's up?
09:01Um, I think my response to dibs, you know, next, uh, trade deadline,
09:08next off season, next, whatever, whatever, whatever.
09:10I have a three word answer, which is ain't going to happen.
09:14We've been pitched optionality and next off season and next trade deadline for
09:19most of the half, half, last half decade with the Warriors.
09:23And so they're not going to do it.
09:24They're at a pie.
09:25They're front in, in all the same ways that like it gets credit for assembling an incredibly
09:30talented front office.
09:32When he came in right with Jerry West and Bob Myers and Travis Slink, he gets whatever
09:37the opposite of credit is for the state of the front office today with a general manager
09:43would not be hired by a single, single other of the 31 teams in the NBA.
09:47And so, yeah, they're just out of, out of talent, out of pie, you know, at the, at the,
09:52on the management and front office end.
09:54And, uh, you know, you can only float so many rumors through, uh, Tim Kowakami, you know,
10:00through the years or plant the next big chase of a free agent and we're not buying it anymore,
10:05period.
10:06So, yeah, I hope Steph goes someplace and plays meaningful basketball because watching
10:12him play meaningful basketball is one of the high points of my sporting fandom life.
10:16BPA, do you mean that?
10:18I want to, I want to challenge you on that statement.
10:20Do you mean that you hope Steph Curry leaves?
10:24I, I'd like to, I, I think staying here for an organization that's given up is not, I don't
10:31know why you'd want to do that, right?
10:33Like, yeah, but, but do you want to see that you actually want to see that though?
10:40I w I mean like, yes, I w I want to see whatever's left when this guy, when the lights
10:44are on
10:45and brightest and the pressure's on, he's the greatest I've ever seen.
10:49Uh, maybe aside from Jordan and I'd like to, I'd like to see it, uh, just a few more snapshots
10:55of that.
10:55And the warriors organizationally have given up Mike Dunleavy jr.
10:59Ain't up to the gig period.
11:02And, you know, Joe Lake of the VC should recognize a bad bet as a GM and the Joe Lake
11:09up of 10 years
11:10ago, but it would have recognized what Dunleavy is at this point.
11:14And, uh, yeah, in the same way, you know, Hey, Jerry Jones, full credit for what he did
11:18and built the Cowboys.
11:20Jerry Jones also owns what's become of the Cowboys.
11:24And that's, that's why I call Joe Lake up Jerry Jones, like up now.
11:28It's a pretty perfect analogy.
11:29It's where he's going.
11:30It's where he's gone.
11:32Uh, BPA.
11:33Thanks.
11:34Um, yeah, I'm hearing Jerry Jones a lot lately.
11:37I, I, that's, we're a little premature.
11:40That's premature to me.
11:41That's premature to me.
11:43However, he brings up something that, you know, my mind just kind of popped to a different
11:46spot.
11:47If staff were to play somewhere else, are there warrior fans that would temporarily be a
11:51fan of a different team?
11:53That's kind of what that sounded like.
11:55He was insinuating.
11:56Yeah.
11:56I mean, he would like to, uh, see Steph Curry play meaningful basketball somewhere else.
12:02Cause it's not going to be here.
12:05I have no interest in Steph Curry ever putting on a different uniform, nor do I.
12:09And if he becomes a Charlotte Hornets, I'm not going to rush out and get a Charlotte Hornets
12:1430 Jersey with Curry on the back.
12:16You might, you might.
12:18Purple and blue worst scheme ever.
12:20Your daughter might disagree.
12:22I'll buy her one of them little mini Steph jerseys.
12:24She'll be five.
12:25Be adorable.
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