- 9 hours ago
Willard and Dibs wonder if the Warriors, when signing Kristaps Porzingis early in the offseason, knew that this might be coming with Kristaps Porzingis.
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00:00Right in front of you here, I'm going to admit something.
00:03Like, I'm moving puzzle pieces around as we speak.
00:06I don't know if your brain is doing the same thing as mine.
00:09But when I hear the Chris Stapps thing, there's the initial.
00:12And I think this is the auto response when you see something like this.
00:16You just go, oh, warriors are idiots.
00:21That blew up in their face.
00:23With each hour that goes by, I'm like, okay, let me think about this.
00:30From their perspective, like we all try to do, I think.
00:33Whenever something ticks you off, don't you try?
00:36Like, hold on a second.
00:37You know what I mean?
00:37I wonder what this feels like or what is this person thinking about?
00:43Let's see if I can walk in their shoes for a second.
00:45Do you honestly believe that Chris Stapps Porzingis having symptoms from POTS
00:53caught the warriors by surprise early in the month of October?
01:00My answer is no.
01:02No.
01:03Okay.
01:04I mean, Rick Celebrity is the GOAT, and he worked with him all last year when they acquired him.
01:09And so is this catching him off guard?
01:12Like, oh, my God, Chris Stapps.
01:14I mean, you're sick.
01:16I couldn't have seen that coming.
01:17Hey, has the analogy to the end of Usual Suspects, has that expired?
01:23Is that movie too old?
01:25That movie is like late 90s, right?
01:28Randy, if I say Kaiser Soze.
01:29Of course I know what you're talking about.
01:31Yeah, but you do.
01:32But what about Pasta?
01:33Like, Pasta's like, oh, my God, Toy Story 4?
01:36That was my first Toy Story?
01:38Pasta's like Kaiser Soze?
01:39No, I don't have Kaiser.
01:41I have a PPO.
01:42Yeah, like what?
01:43Never heard of it in Sutter Health.
01:45Okay.
01:45Sutter Health.
01:46There you go.
01:47Not a Kaiser guy.
01:48Not a Kaiser guy.
01:49Not a Kaiser guy.
01:49Totally.
01:51One of the greatest endings to a movie ever.
01:53Ever.
01:54And I've shared the story about how it got ruined.
01:56Oh, my God.
01:56I came home from a night out in college to a room full of my friends all watching the movie.
02:02Did not realize what was going on.
02:05They were literally approaching the scene with Chaz Palminteri and Kaiser in the police station.
02:12And I just sat down.
02:14I just sat down with them all.
02:16Hey, what are you guys doing?
02:17Everyone's like, shh.
02:18And so we just watched.
02:20So I literally saw the end before I saw the beginning.
02:23Yeah, that's awful.
02:24It's rough.
02:25I went back and watched it, knowing all along what was going to happen.
02:29Still good, as it turns out.
02:31Right.
02:32But anyone.
02:32It's that good.
02:33Yeah.
02:33If you're older than Pasta, which is most of you, but not all of you, or if you're a throwback
02:38like Mark Grandy and you understand Usual Suspects, my mind always goes there when we have a story like this
02:45because I want to work backwards.
02:46And here's what I mean by that.
02:47If you remember the scene in Usual Suspects, Kaiser Soze walks out and Chaz Palminteri, the actor, looks up at
02:54the board and realizes there's little pictures and snapshots of all the things that Kaiser just used to basically lie
03:03to him for a two-hour movie.
03:05So he's, or two-hour meeting.
03:08So he's working backwards.
03:09And that's where my mind went today.
03:12Let's work backwards.
03:13Okay, the Warriors signed Kristaps Porzingis and immediately made the contract tradable.
03:20Why'd they do that?
03:21Why only with Kristaps?
03:23They don't do that with anybody else.
03:24Everybody else has to wait six months before the contract is tradable.
03:28Why did the Warriors make Kristaps tradable immediately the moment that Penn went to paper?
03:34The same reason why they did that with Jordan Poole.
03:37And I was going back in my mind on that whole sequence where Jordan Poole was already in agreement, I
03:44believe, with the Warriors.
03:45And he got punched in a practice.
03:48And the video leaked.
03:50And about a week later, the deal actually got released.
03:53The Jordan Poole had had this deal.
03:54And so I think that the deal may have been a precursor to what happened with him and Draymond.
04:00I could never prove that.
04:01But once that deal was done, it was immediately tradable.
04:05And, like, that deal was one that, okay, this deal will never actually come to fruition.
04:10My memory says your timing might be a little bit off with that.
04:13I think our memory tells us that it was immediate from a contractual standpoint.
04:18I don't believe that that's the way that went down.
04:20I just Googled it, and the contract got announced about a week after the video got leaked.
04:27Right.
04:27But the trade was the next year.
04:30Exactly.
04:31And that's my point.
04:32No, no, no.
04:32But this is, like, they waited the normal six months before a contract becomes tradable.
04:37Because they wouldn't want to trade him when he was making his rookie $5 million.
04:41So, example.
04:42But it wasn't tradable.
04:43They were not allowed to trade him.
04:45Right.
04:45But Pods, for example, like, his deal right now, he's making, what, $5.7 this year?
04:51For one more year, yes.
04:52Whatever his extension is and will be, that becomes very tradable in the offseason.
04:58And I think that that is the case with Jordan Poole.
05:01And, you know, this one was, yeah, you could trade it immediately.
05:05But no six-month waiting period.
05:07The reason why is because they signed him technically before the new league year began.
05:12So, it was an extension, not a free agent signing.
05:15And if you give him an extension, you're immediately trade eligible.
05:17Right.
05:17So, like, I understand where you're coming from, Dibs.
05:19But to me, this is a quirk of this deal.
05:24And I don't think it was done willy-nilly.
05:27I think there was a reason.
05:29I think there was a reason.
05:30And so, when Mike Dunleavy has answered prior to this with regard to why did you sign Kristaps Porzingis to
05:39an extension,
05:39which was announced as a two-year deal, even though it's kind of not a two-year deal,
05:43there's another little quirk of the deal.
05:45Why'd they do that?
05:47Two-year, $40 million deal, but, oh, by the way, it's actually only a one-year deal, and then they
05:50can get out of it.
05:51Why'd they do that?
05:52Why'd they do it before the league year so that it's immediately tradable?
05:56Mike Dunleavy comes out and says, well, we looked at all the free agent centers.
06:00And we kind of had a conversation about availability versus talent, and we went for talent,
06:07which means we think Kristaps is really talented, but we know there's an availability risk.
06:12All right?
06:13That's one way to pitch it.
06:14And then we arrive at the season, and here we are, and Kristaps can't play, and he may never play
06:18again.
06:19And I guess what I'm getting at is the Warriors, they've been trying for a long time to continue to
06:27remind everybody Jimmy Butler got hurt.
06:30And that changed the trajectory of everything.
06:33And if you want to criticize it, I think that's beyond fair.
06:36But the point I'm getting at is I think that they have maneuvered many different ways this offseason in a
06:45way that suggests they know their next real opportunity to do something that matters in this league is not this
06:54year.
06:55It's next year.
06:56It's next year.
06:57Because either Jimmy will be back playing or he won't be on the team.
07:02And is Steph's knee going to be markedly worse next year than it already is?
07:06I don't know.
07:07But he'll make less money.
07:09And Yaxa will have a year under his belt.
07:11And the Warriors will have tons of flexibility to make maneuvers.
07:16And pods will be in place under his contract.
07:19Like, I just look at the framework of this year and it says to me that on the down low,
07:27without being able to say it, the Warriors are aware that what they're really doing is moving things around to
07:32prepare for the next maneuvers that they know they need to make in order to make this roster whole.
07:38Well, and beyond that, I do think that there is a certain amount of lipstick on a pig of where,
07:44you know, the Kaminga thing did not work.
07:46And so you traded him and you brought in Porzingis and you hoped that that actually would work.
07:51And then it didn't.
07:52And so you sign him to a spot where, yeah, it's 19.5 now with a $3 million buyout.
07:58So it's really 22 million.
08:00But the 19.5 becomes tradable.
08:02And when you got Chris Paul in and Chris Paul went out and you got nothing for him but a
08:08salary slot, that was an L.
08:10And so you had Kaminga, you drafted him, and you didn't develop him.
08:14He didn't develop.
08:15You didn't develop him.
08:16Whatever.
08:16I'm not trying to re-adjudicate that.
08:18But that ended the way it ended.
08:20And you got Porzingis.
08:21And so you don't want to bring in another guy making $30 and get nothing for him, which is what
08:26happened with Chris Paul.
08:27So you bring in Porzingis.
08:29And so now it's OK.
08:30It didn't work out.
08:31But you know what?
08:33Celebrating he's a GOAT, if we can sign him and he can actually be good or be available, then that
08:39actually might work.
08:39But if he's not, now you're in a spot where you can trade him potentially at the deadline or even
08:45before and actually get something for him.
08:47I mean, it's an interesting comp.
08:48Like, I'd argue it's trending toward being the exact same thing.
08:52And it's very unpopular with fans when teams do this.
08:55They grab someone that fans, whether they're correct or not, are excited about.
09:00Somebody who can put up some numbers.
09:02The team says, you know what?
09:04That's not a long-term plan that we want.
09:06The league feels a certain way about said player.
09:09And then the Warriors dump him.
09:12But they dump him for a big name.
09:14But a big name that's going to expire soon.
09:17And it just becomes a salary slot.
09:20Never forget that the team that gave up Chris Stapps Porzingis doesn't have Jonathan Kaminga either.
09:25Nobody got anything for that trade except for salary slots.
09:29Both teams essentially said, these are people who are not a part of our future.
09:34So, let's move on.
09:36If you can get something for it, great.
09:38If it turns into nothing, fine.
09:41I mean, I do not want to.
09:43I know it's tangentially a part of this deal.
09:46But let's not re-adjudicate Jonathan Kaminga in this whole thing.
09:50The league has spoken.
09:52He's acquired by another team.
09:53They didn't keep him.
09:55And a new team signed him for $6 million.
09:58Okay?
09:58So, it doesn't matter anymore what a Warrior fan, any Warrior fan on any sort of a planet, feels about
10:05Jonathan.
10:06The league has spoken.
10:07The Warriors held on to him too long.
10:09It was a failed pick.
10:11That's what it was.
10:13And that's the way it went.
10:14And the criticism, I don't even need to call for it.
10:17It's baked in.
10:18It's there.
10:18We know this.
10:19But for the Hawks, I mean, they did what the Warriors basically did in something you defend,
10:24which is they got the salary slot.
10:26So, they acquired Kaminga, and they let him go.
10:29And he was making, you know, $24 million.
10:31So, they got that salary slot.
10:32For the Warriors.
10:33Right.
10:34But with that salary slot, what did they get?
10:37A salary slot.
10:38Which, they turned into what?
10:40Nothing.
10:40No.
10:40They turned it into someone who will, again, be the salary slot.
10:45Right.
10:45And the salary slot now is $19 million.
10:47Yeah.
10:47And I want to remind everyone, like, there's a business aspect of this.
10:50I'm not defending.
10:51But you're the Warriors, and you're trying to be a good team, and you're trying to maximize the Steph Curry
10:55window.
10:56They turned it into more optionality.
10:58Exactly.
10:58And you love optionality.
11:00Exactly.
11:00No, but, see, my whole point is what you just said is not what they're doing.
11:05They're not maximizing the Steph window.
11:09That head coach came on our show last week and said our second best player's never played before.
11:14Well, the Steph Curry window is closed, and it's shuttered.
11:18Like, the window is closed.
11:19And they know this, but they can't say that.
11:22Nor, they can say it, but what they do with their actions is they go ahead and give him a
11:27bargain contract for $10 million less than what he actually could make.
11:32He's Steph Curry.
11:32Right.
11:33He's Steph Curry.
11:34He's box office.
11:35And I'm not saying that they shouldn't have done that because he will continue to fill the building, and their
11:39sellout streak goes all the way back to Oakland.
11:42But in terms of them playing winning basketball, that's not the move.
11:46No.
11:46And so that's fine.
11:47And, again, their response to that would be his second best player got hurt, and he's out.
11:53And they're not wrong about that.
11:55So, listen, the Warriors have made plenty of mistakes throughout all of this over the last few years.
12:02But I don't think that they're at a spot where they should continue to placate a fan base that believes
12:07if you just gave a 38-and-a-half-year-old a good teammate, we got to cook this league.
12:13It's absurd.
12:14Well, that's what you're saying.
12:15Like, their second-best player got hurt, and even if he was not hurt, you're still not going to cook
12:20this league.
12:21No, you're not.
12:22But you could fill in around them and have a prayer of a solid season, but you can't in the
12:30current framework, and they know that.
12:32Well, and you can't in the future framework either.
12:35Well, now that I don't agree with.
12:37So, if this year's a gap year, and Jimmy comes back, and whatever, and Chris Tapps maybe doesn't play anymore,
12:43and Draymond's expiring, so you come back next year, and Steph's 39-and-a-half, and now you're going to
12:48be like, okay, let's go.
12:50So, you're basing that on Steph still being the core of the earth, which he doesn't necessarily have to be.
12:57By then, you've got a ton of flexibility to add numerous good players.
13:02By then, you'll have had another draft.
13:05By then, Yaxo won't be a rookie anymore.
13:07By then, by then, by then.
13:09That's the point.
13:10They can redo more than half the roster by next year, and they, in theory, could turn some of these
13:17either sick or just broken down 35-, 36-, and 37-year-olds into different players.
13:25I'm not saying they will, but they've got a shot at that.
13:28It's a long shot, is what it is.
13:30Well, every good team is a long shot, but they've got no shot to do that under the finances of
13:37this year.
13:38Jimmy tore his ACL.
13:39So, the business aspect of this, I think it's important because I haven't heard enough of it on the station
13:45today.
13:46This idea of, well, you should have just signed no one.
13:51Why would you sign a sick Kristaps Porzingis?
13:55Because, first of all, if you sign no one, it's not dollar for dollar.
13:59It's not like you would have just had $40 million to go shopping for other players because they had bird
14:05rights.
14:05It's not dollar for dollar, number one.
14:08And, number two, if you don't have someone in that slot, then it has every ability to just dissipate at
14:16the end of the year.
14:16It's not a tradable piece.
14:18It's not an expiring contract.
14:21These things are valuable for a team that's reworking the roster.
14:25Not necessarily, but possibly.
14:27So, their thinking might have been, why not?
14:30Why not?
14:31Again, it's not like we're lining up for championship contention right now.
14:36So, there is a business aspect of, even if they knew the risks, that Kristaps may, you know, and maybe
14:43they thought they were going to get more than this.
14:45I don't know that they would have thought they were going to get nothing.
14:48But now...
14:48Right, October 21st and, like, he's out indefinitely.
14:51Now they're facing that possibility, and that's definitely a roll of snake eyes.
14:55But I do think that they very much thought this was possible, but we'd rather have a human in that
15:01slot than no one in that slot so that we can at least attempt to maneuver with that going forward.
15:08And I defend that part of it because at 19 or whatever million that he's making, it becomes somewhat tradable.
15:15Next year is a $3 million buyout, so that's fine.
15:17But I'm looking at going forward, and you've got Steph Curry for two more years making 55 and upward.
15:24And if he's not going to be able to be a one, and he was unable to even make it
15:28through an open practice, he limped off with not a knee injury, but the ankle.
15:33And so you've got a 38-and-a-half-year-old who is already a little bit hobbled, and he
15:38probably won't even play 65 games this year.
15:42And Draymond is expiring, and Jimmy Butler coming off an ACL.
15:45This, to me, feels like a lot of work for Dunleavy to even make this thing be possibly viable next
15:51year.
15:51I get all that.
15:52To me, that's where the special circumstance of Steph Curry comes in.
15:56Like, when you say it that way, I get it, I understand, but, like, Steph is Steph.
16:02No, I get that.
16:03So you invest a lot into a potentially hobbled 39-year-old because, Steph, and you deal with that.
16:11And you were there for the end of Kobe, and I'm hoping this is not that, because I think one
16:16year they went 19 and 63.
16:18They were terrible.
16:19They were terrible, and he was like, he was box office.
16:22He filled the building, and I'm hoping that this doesn't become that, but this feels to me more and more
16:27like it's trending toward that.