- 2 days ago
Willard and Dibs react to Mike Dunleavy's strange press conference from yesterday and try to make sense of the Warriors' plan this offseason, in the future, and for Steph Curry.
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00:00The Mike Donlevy press conference was just odd.
00:03Awkward.
00:04What was your reaction to it?
00:07My reaction was, it's just a little bit awkward.
00:10And at times he says things that turn out to maybe not be true.
00:14Draymond Green was never formally offered into trade.
00:17Okay, formally is a little bit of a nuanced word in that.
00:20But then he comes out in the press conference yesterday.
00:23And I think that he was a little bit too free-flowing.
00:26Like, Steph Curry, well, it's up to him.
00:28Boy, I hope he can play 43 games.
00:31It just felt a little bit, I guess, awkward is the word I'd use.
00:35It just felt like there were things that were butting heads with each other.
00:40You know, like, okay, for example, here's Mike Donlevy,
00:47who is responding the idea of run it back,
00:51which is a phrase that a lot of the fans don't like.
00:54And so he was told, hey, a lot of people didn't like the whole run it back thing.
01:00What do you say to those fans?
01:02Listen to this.
01:03I would go back to last summer.
01:04I think going into the season, we felt really good about our team, right?
01:07Coming off of, you know, Western Conference semifinals.
01:10Steph got hurt, missed four games.
01:12We added to the team.
01:13With Horford, with Melton, you know, brought Kaminga back,
01:16and then eventually turned him into Porzingis.
01:18So we really liked our team last year.
01:20Everybody was excited about it.
01:21Then we got hurt.
01:21So short of health, I feel really good about this team.
01:26We need to stay healthy.
01:27That's always the case.
01:28We've talked about at the end of the season the things that we need to clean up internally,
01:31control the things you can control, the turnovers, the game plan execution,
01:35late game stuff, all those things that, you know, Steve coming back, he's on top of.
01:39He's excited to tackle.
01:41But as far as this is a really good team that I would say underperformed last year
01:45based on injuries and some things we can control.
01:47So if people see us as, you know, running back a 37-win team,
01:51I would say we've added to that team, you know, from the way it started last year
01:55with a player like Porzingis.
01:56And then most importantly, we get into the season,
01:58we see how our guys come back from injuries like Moses and Jimmy.
02:02And then we have multiple ways to get better during the season,
02:05which is something we've done the last few years,
02:07whether it's adding Butler, adding Porzingis, you can go as far back as adding Andrew Wiggins.
02:12Like, I'd say we're pretty good about improving our team in the middle of the year.
02:15The most important thing right now is we got to get up to a good start.
02:19You know, we can't get in a hole because of the guys we have out.
02:21So we're going to have to do some lifting early on to hold down the fort.
02:25And then after that, I feel pretty good about our ability.
02:27If we need to get better, adding talent like we can and we will.
02:30Okay, so yes, he's banging the drum of we can get better during the season,
02:36but he's also banging the drum of this is just a health thing.
02:39We love this roster.
02:41We love the group that we have.
02:44We like our roster.
02:48Next comment.
02:50I think as far as player movement over this past summer, you know,
02:54no different than trade deadline, prior summers, different things like that.
02:57We're super aggressive.
02:58I mean, if people knew the cold calls I made offering a lot of stuff for players,
03:06you know, I think they'd realize how hard we're trying.
03:08We love this roster.
03:10Oh, by the way, we called everybody and offered everything for anybody.
03:14Pretty much.
03:14And I know that's not what he said.
03:16I'm being, you know, I'm a little exaggeration here,
03:21but I just, it felt like there was a lot of different messages coming out of yesterday.
03:25Some of them didn't match up with one another.
03:27And I do think that the messaging is complicated because you can love the roster and you should
03:33because free agency is basically over.
03:35I know some players are still out there.
03:36I don't think that Kaminga has signed, for example.
03:38Maybe, maybe now the Lakers have been sold.
03:41Maybe they can up their offer to Kaminga and he becomes a Laker.
03:44But basically the off season is over.
03:46So as a GM, I hope you love your team because this is most likely going to be your team.
03:52But at the same time, like you mentioned, if you're out there cold calling teams,
03:56you have no idea how much we were out there, which basically tells me you were shopping a lot of
04:01picks,
04:02a lot of players, everything not named Steph Curry.
04:04This came on the same day that Mike Dunleavy is down at 49ers camp at the joint practice between the
04:11Niners and the Titans.
04:12He's hanging out with John Lynch out there.
04:14And I just kept thinking to myself, as these quotes are all sort of coming through,
04:19I'm not totally sure that the Warriors should have held this press conference.
04:24I think it's great that they did.
04:25Maybe it's weird for somebody in this business to say, why'd you hold the press conference?
04:29I just, I couldn't get over the feeling that the Warriors were trying yesterday to kind of shape the narrative.
04:38They're very aware of what the fans have said about this summer.
04:44And it feels like the Warriors did nothing.
04:50And therefore, they wanted to put out the message that sure they did.
04:55Either A, we tried like hell.
04:57And then the second piece of it is, but don't undersell what we do have.
05:02Because we love those players.
05:04And I think it's very, very difficult to pitch those two messages at the same time.
05:09We love our players and tried like hell to get rid of a lot of them.
05:13That's, that's, and again, I'm pushing this a little bit, but that's, I'm just sort of, I'm telling you how
05:21I think that's going to land with the fans.
05:23And it's the nature of the business where you can love your team, but also want to go out there
05:27and try to upgrade.
05:28And I'm just kind of stuck on the whole idea of cold calling where that feels to me like you
05:33canvass the entire league and maybe even leagues in Europe and abroad.
05:37And you're just trying to see what's out there and see if you can make some sort of a move.
05:41And you can also love your roster while still be cold calling.
05:45But I'm just kind of struck by the thing that he said about health, you know, because last year we
05:50got derailed by injuries and he's right.
05:53And so Jimmy Butler will not play 60 games this year.
05:57Moody won't play 60.
05:59Curry, he's not sure if he'll play more than the 43.
06:02And so as you go down the roster, like the availability is the number one ability.
06:06And this team is not trending toward having your core eight guys play 70 games.
06:12Greg Cosell is still an hour away.
06:14If you want to weigh in, 888-957-9570 on as a fan, how this all landed with you.
06:20Now let's talk about Curry.
06:23Okay, this hit me.
06:25First time I heard this this morning.
06:28And I have a question.
06:31And it's going to call for a hypothetical.
06:34But I have a question.
06:36I want to play a couple things for you and then I'll give you the question.
06:41First of all, here's what Mike Dunleavy said with regard to a potential Steph Curry extension.
06:49Again, August 29th.
06:51That is, what do we got here?
06:5417 days away?
06:55Yep.
06:56That's when he's eligible for this two-year $130 million extension.
07:00And this is what Dunleavy said about that.
07:02Obviously, he's eligible for an extension coming up at the end of this month.
07:07And, you know, we'll talk through all that stuff and can't speak on it much right now.
07:11But, you know, I'm pretty confident Steph will finish his career here.
07:14But, you know, ultimately it's his call, his decision.
07:18Whether that's allowing his contract to run out and move on or, you know, look, if he comes to me
07:24and wants to be moved, you know, Joe and I will talk it through.
07:27We wouldn't love it, but he's earned the right to where he wants to do those things.
07:31So, but as far as the messaging or any idea that he would be anywhere else, that's not a thing
07:38we're looking at or he's looking at.
07:40Okay.
07:40This is fascinating to me, the way that he just played this.
07:45So, I know that sounds maybe simplistic on the surface.
07:49And that's where I am.
07:50I thought that was pretty simple and straightforward.
07:52Yeah.
07:52Jeff Curry has told us he wants to finish here.
07:55Obviously, we want him to finish here.
07:58Now, if he comes to us, then, you know, he deserves the right to finish this however he wants to
08:07finish it.
08:08And so, we will grant him that wish.
08:11It's interesting.
08:12You don't often hear general managers, who are also the voices of ownership, you don't often hear them say that.
08:19We give the player all of the power in this case.
08:22That doesn't feel like a very Joe Lacob thing to do, but we're talking about a set aside here.
08:27This is Steph Curry.
08:29But keep in the back of your mind, what do the Warriors know?
08:32Let's say, just for giggles.
08:37Hypotheticals.
08:37Let's say that in the Warrior front offices, they were one of these people that call 95.7 the game
08:46and go, you know what?
08:48You got to trade this guy.
08:49It's over.
08:50Why wouldn't you trade this guy?
08:52But what do they know?
08:54They know that the fan base would riot.
08:57It's just the facts.
08:58If Steph came out and said, man, this is happening against my will.
09:01No, yeah, exactly.
09:02If the Warriors decided to control the Steph Curry finish, the fan base would riot.
09:09So they accurately hand the keys over to Steph, but then pair that with his answer about Steph Curry's health
09:20and what they're expecting there.
09:23So listen to this with regard to the knee problem for Steph.
09:27With the knee, other injuries, and then his age, it's definitely something we have to manage.
09:32My hope would be he plays more than 43 games last year.
09:35I hope he plays more than that this year.
09:37We expect that.
09:37But you can't, you know, you take nothing for granted.
09:40So it's on the radar.
09:42It's something we have to be mindful of.
09:44And this thing's delicate.
09:46You know, it's delicate for him, but it's delicate for the rest of the guys on our team.
09:49Injuries move a lot of the needles in this league in terms of success and who wins and who loses.
09:54And you can't run from that.
09:55It is what it is.
09:56And we got to do our best to try and stay healthy, build depth, and hope for the best.
10:01That does not sound like he's talking about someone around whom they would like to build.
10:07Well, just the start of that where, you know, he's got the knees and other injuries and age.
10:13Like if I can just give you a quick three-piece rat-a-tat-tat on Steph.
10:17He's got runner's knee.
10:19He's had other injuries.
10:20And he's old.
10:21He's getting old.
10:22He's going to be 39.
10:23But, hey, he makes the call.
10:25It's all up to Steph.
10:26In other words, if we do trade Steph Curry, it's going to be because he came to us and said,
10:32I want to try this somewhere else.
10:33It won't be because we're afraid he won't play 43 games, knees, ankles, age.
10:39It'll be because of Steph.
10:40Is it possible, here's my question, that the Warriors are playing a passive-aggressive game here?
10:46It is possible.
10:48Absolutely.
10:48And the concept would be the Warriors know that Steph Curry being the centerpiece of a team that competes at
10:56a high level is probably very over.
10:58But they also know from a public relations standpoint, there ain't a damn thing they can or should do about
11:04it.
11:04So, they will continue to say, you want an extension, you get an extension.
11:09You want to finish here, you get to finish here.
11:11Now, if you don't want to finish here, we'll let you not finish here.
11:14Right.
11:15Because you-
11:16You've earned that.
11:16You are in control, not us.
11:18We're just the puppets.
11:21You are the arm.
11:23And so, you control this whole thing.
11:26Meantime, what did they do this offseason?
11:28Boy, I made tons of cold calls.
11:30Didn't do anything.
11:32Kept the optionality.
11:33Right.
11:34They have that.
11:35Right.
11:36Like, does it make sense that they kicked the can down the road on someone who is about to turn
11:4039 years old?
11:42In other words, the Warriors, is it possible that even they are open to doing this differently over the next
11:54couple of years?
11:55Because they know that that's actually the quickest way back to competition.
12:02And also, it might be a spot where Steph Curry wants to go out there and still compete for a
12:07title, and you don't really have that construct.
12:08And as you were laying that out and hearing Mike Dunleavy, it struck me that Steph Curry's not said one
12:14more year, two more years.
12:16It might be three more years.
12:17It might be even more.
12:18There might be none.
12:19Well, if it's three more years, and you're the Warriors, and you're thinking, all right, we're going to give them
12:2363, 68, and 74 million a year, and we're not going to win,
12:27but we're going to have Steph Curry bobble head night for the 14th time,
12:32I do think that it becomes a much more dramatic sort of a thing where if Steph is playing three
12:38more years,
12:39like, by that point, Yaxel will be a restricted free agent.
12:42That's a great point.
12:43And then think about what the Warriors just said there.
12:47Does Mike Dunleavy, when he describes Steph Curry's knee, does that sound like someone he wants to give $130 million
12:53in two more years to?
12:54Or would you like, if you're the Warriors, privately, to just wait until the end of the year when the
13:02story could be completely different?
13:04If Steph Curry misses half a year again, now what are we talking about?
13:09You sure he's a free agent?
13:11What's he worth?
13:13Right?
13:14He's going to be 39 and nowhere near, quote-unquote, max worthy if you take out all of the Steph
13:22-ness of it.
13:23Right?
13:23Right, and that to me becomes a game of chicken because Steph Curry has never been somebody who has stepped
13:29out and said,
13:30yo, this is what's going on.
13:31But I can't help but think about the expression, don't mistake my kindness for weakness.
13:37Because Steph Curry has kindness.
13:39And if they say, you know what, Steph, we're going to wait on this extension,
13:41all he has to do is drop one little nugget to Marcus Thompson II and say,
13:46yeah, Curry wanted to engage, but the Warriors didn't.
13:49Mushroom cloud!
13:51I tell you what.
13:52This was a fascinating press conference in my mind.
13:56And I wonder in their heart of hearts how the Warriors actually want to play this.
14:01You're not sanctuary in the church today.
14:01I'll be happy to be happy to this meeting.
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