- 5 minutes ago
Willard and Dibs react to last night's Warriors win over the Nuggets and focus on Yaxel Lendeborg's 31 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 assists. What does Lendeborg mean to the Warriors?
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00:00The Warriors got more than a win.
00:02No, they got a win.
00:03No, no, no.
00:04No, they're 1-3.
00:05No, no, no.
00:05They got a win.
00:06No, no, no.
00:07My opinion, last night was a lot more than a win.
00:10Well, I mean, in the standings, they're 1-3, so great.
00:14You're not wrong.
00:14I just think it was more than that.
00:17In fact, when I look at last night, what I see is everything's different now.
00:27Everything's different now.
00:28And that's not overstating, like, okay, they won one game, and now Yaxel's a star.
00:38Although, 31-12, and was it five?
00:41How many assists did he have in that game last night?
00:43Was it five or six?
00:44I think it was six.
00:46These are some gaudy freaking numbers, dude.
00:49At Denver.
00:51Going one for eight from three.
00:53One for eight from three.
00:54Taking the ball right at Jokic.
00:57Jokic, just like, oh, Jokic, yeah, let's just go to the hoop.
01:03I'm telling you, man, I think what it signals is it changes everything for the organization.
01:13I think it allows, you saw it last night, this is going to allow Steph Curry to take a lesser
01:17role, and he needs to.
01:19You can talk about them ramping him up differently.
01:21I don't really think that they're ramping him up.
01:23I think this is Steph.
01:25I think this is just how it's going to have to be now.
01:27There's going to be some back-to-backs that he misses, and they need to take every opportunity to turn
01:32his 35-minute nights into 27-minute nights.
01:37And Jokic will allow them to do that.
01:41And did anyone else get the feeling when you're watching that game last night?
01:45Because it wasn't a laugher for most of the night.
01:48And when you're watching the game, and Jokic's on the bench.
01:51Forget the non-Steph minutes.
01:53Forget the non-Jokic minutes.
01:54How about that?
01:55You're watching the game, and you're like, I think they need to put him back in.
01:58And then they would put him back in, and things would get better.
02:01He had that kind of an effect on the entire floor.
02:07Steph a lesser role.
02:09This allows the search for more players.
02:12And instead of talking about it like Steph's wingman, what if we just talked about it in terms of good
02:18players?
02:19How about if the Warriors, with a bunch of cap space and a bunch of expiring deals and draft picks,
02:27like all of these assets,
02:28how about if they manage the assets and get good players?
02:32And as we know in the NBA, when you want to go get good players, what do you need?
02:36Sometimes the good player needs to want to come, even if it's a trade.
02:40So does the franchise look more attractive today than it did yesterday at this time?
02:47Probably.
02:47I mean...
02:48I'd argue yes.
02:48Especially when you think about, you know, Steph Curry not necessarily being like the sun in your solar system.
02:56He still is a main planet, but right now there is no sun.
03:00And you look at just how that game played out.
03:03And Steph Curry, he played 27 minutes, and he had 24 points.
03:07He did not miss a single shot.
03:09Three, two, or one.
03:12And meanwhile, Draymond Green, 27 minutes.
03:14He had three points and five turnovers.
03:17Okay.
03:18Yep.
03:18It's going to be a tough year.
03:20He didn't shoot the ball.
03:20Right.
03:21But when he had the ball, he gave it to Denver.
03:23See, but I don't like...
03:25Okay.
03:25It's going to be a tough year.
03:27I don't know if Draymond Green is going to be on the team for the entire year.
03:30And I also...
03:31I don't take last night and start thinking about a top six seed again.
03:36Like, maybe that will happen.
03:38Anthony Edwards is out two months and...
03:41Half the Thunder are out.
03:42The Thunder have had major injury.
03:45The Heat got Giannis in their 0-4.
03:47Or the Knicks won a title in their 0-3.
03:50I don't know what the hell is going to develop here.
03:53But if I said these three things...
03:56This is why last night was more than just one win.
04:00There's three things for me that stand out.
04:02I mentioned two of them.
04:03One, Steph Curry can now take a lesser role.
04:06Two, this absolutely changes the conversation the Warriors can have with potential acquisitions.
04:12They look more attractive now because they've got a really good, exciting...
04:17Young player.
04:18But number three, and maybe this is most important.
04:21I thought Yaxo last night welcomed the fans to the season.
04:26You know this.
04:27I know this.
04:28I went to a sports bar last night.
04:30The Valkyries were on.
04:32The Cowboys and Eagles were on.
04:33And the Rays and Brewers were on.
04:35And maybe that's because the Warriors were on Peacock.
04:38And also, my man who was running the bar over there didn't look like he was real, real big into
04:44sports.
04:44Which is weird.
04:45I don't know how he got hired.
04:46But he didn't...
04:47You know when you need to coach the guy into what channel things are on?
04:51No doubt.
04:51Which is always a...
04:52And what were people most locked into?
04:55In that three screen breakdown?
04:58It was definitely a split.
04:59Like the Valkyries had a contingent.
05:02And then also just Monday Night Football has eyes.
05:05And most people were like us.
05:07They were on both.
05:08And the World Series was like over here.
05:10And then the Brewers scored 100 runs.
05:12And everyone was like, forget that.
05:14And then they changed the channel.
05:16Oh, they did?
05:16At 10-0?
05:17At 10-0?
05:17They just turned the thing off?
05:19Wow.
05:20Yeah.
05:21And they put Monday Night Football on both TVs.
05:23But the Valkyries had, you know, a passionate group.
05:27And some eyeballs.
05:29And the Warrior game was not on.
05:33The Warrior game was not on.
05:36In the middle of downtown San Francisco.
05:39Right.
05:39And it was on Peacock.
05:40And it was on Peacock.
05:42So that's part of it.
05:43But I thought last night, and I wonder how many fans, if you agree,
05:49the mopey donkey three-game start, the Warriors are...
05:54Like, how many times have you had this conversation already?
05:56Dude, I don't know if the Warriors are going to win 30 games this year.
05:59This is what everyone's been out in the streets saying.
06:02And Steph is going to miss some games.
06:05And we don't know when Jimmy and Moses are going to be back.
06:07And the Kristaps thing.
06:09And it really just felt hard to find some sort of a light.
06:13And then last night happened.
06:15So that was my takeaway.
06:17I thought last night, Yaxo Lendenborg told every single Warrior fan,
06:22hey, we got something cooking this year.
06:24I don't know if this is playoffs or not.
06:26But we've got something cooking here that's going to mean something
06:29for a long time with this organization.
06:30Most exciting young player to put that jersey on in over a decade.
06:35Maybe since Steph.
06:36And you go back to even Draymond and Klay.
06:39They were great players and they were exciting, but not this fast.
06:42I mean, he's four games in.
06:43And he's been unbelievably electric.
06:47And not only his podium game, but his encore game as well.
06:50And you mentioned him taking it to, you know, Jokic last night.
06:54And he had a couple of massive dunks.
06:57One on an alley-oop where I didn't realize he could get that high.
07:01And just the ferocity with which he dunked it.
07:04It was pretty fun to watch.
07:06So, I thought that was a big deal.
07:09You know what I mean?
07:10And I'm aware that it was one basketball game.
07:13But for me, I don't know where your head went.
07:15Like, that's pretty quickly, I'm like, this isn't about the win.
07:20This is about the introduction.
07:23My man.
07:25Wow.
07:27And there's stages to this, don't you think?
07:29There's levels.
07:30Like, there was the summer league.
07:32And we went, oh, okay.
07:34And then there was training camp.
07:35And what his teammates.
07:36And Coach, Steve Kirk comes on our show.
07:38And he's like, who's our second best player?
07:40And we're like, Coach, you haven't played a game yet.
07:42Yeah, it doesn't matter.
07:43He's our second best player.
07:45We're like, okay.
07:46Then he goes out there.
07:47And the Luka thing happens on opening night.
07:49Which totally overtakes the X's and O's of Yaxle.
07:53Like, we're not talking basketball.
07:55We're talking trash talk.
07:56But each game, each number keeps going up, up, up.
08:00And then in his fourth game as a professional,
08:03he goes to one of the hardest gyms in America to go against a former MVP.
08:09And a warrior killer in Aaron Gordon, 31-12-6 and a 20-point win?
08:16Ottoman.
08:17What?
08:18Ottoman City, yeah.
08:19That's bigger than a win to me.
08:21That's what I mean by that.
08:22That is a signal.
08:24That is a beacon, is what that was last night.
08:27It's a good performance.
08:28And, you know, it's just one game.
08:30But I get what you're saying about it being a beacon.
08:33And, you know, especially on a night where toward the end of the game,
08:37and I guess not the absolute end of the game,
08:39but when things got slowly put away,
08:42you had Steph and Draymond both on the sideline.
08:44And they're like, you know, waving the towel.
08:46Like, yeah, young buck, go out there and do it.
08:49Man, you don't need us out there.
08:51He was out there crushing it.
08:53It's incredible.
08:55Warrior fans, what did last night do for you?
08:57Let's go to Nathan in Honolulu.
09:00Hi, Nathan.
09:01Thank you for calling.
09:01What's up?
09:03Hi, Mark.
09:04Those three points you just made, I agree with you.
09:06It's not about the win.
09:07And it was about last night we went into Denver,
09:11and Yaxo was like a – he was a freight train.
09:13Nobody could stop him.
09:14I mean, Jokic, Gordon, we frustrated them, and we got the win.
09:19And we never won in Denver, and it's really, really good.
09:22And he's going to take some time to develop,
09:24but I believe he's going to get some fans in the seat.
09:27It's going to be awesome for the Bay Area and for our organization.
09:31Once he develops, and once he develops, look out.
09:33He's going to be great.
09:34What do you think about that?
09:35Yeah, I agree completely.
09:37And that's why, like, I think if there's a discussion about last night
09:42and there's always the wet towel kind of responses to everything,
09:46I'm seeing a few of them on the text line.
09:48I hate to break it to you, but nuggets are not going to be very good.
09:51And I hate to break it to you, but the Warriors are still on schedule
09:54for 20 and a half games.
09:55If you hate to break it to somebody, then don't break it to them.
09:58Just like, I don't think you understand what I'm getting at.
10:01This isn't about that for me.
10:03The way I look at it, this isn't about, ooh, now the Warriors are going to win 43 games
10:09or 33 games or they beat Denver.
10:12It's not even about that.
10:14It's about the fact that the Warriors, at number 11 in the draft,
10:20appear to have drafted somebody that is going to have an avenue to be a,
10:27what word can I use?
10:29I mean, again, the numbers he's put up in the first four games of his career
10:33are commensurate with Hall of Famers and only Hall of Famers.
10:37So I don't know where this is going to go.
10:39I'm not ready to say he's going to be an NBA one someday,
10:43but I'm ready to say the Warriors got themselves a very good player.
10:47He's a good player.
10:48Somebody who can be the center of what they're trying to do for much of this year.
10:52He can move.
10:54He can certainly help with Steph Curry's role.
10:58And then I have a question.
11:00The hell was this guy doing available at 11?
11:05Wow.
11:06Well, I mean, there are a lot of good players in this draft.
11:08No doubt.
11:08And so a lot of these guys that got drafted were much more,
11:13they were viewed much more as upside players, guys who were 18 or 19.
11:17And you're thinking, okay, A.J. DeBonsa, what he might someday be
11:22is far greater than what Yaxel Lendenborg is right now, you would think.
11:27And that was the prevailing thought going into the draft.
11:30And you could look at so many of the other players in that same way,
11:33whether it's Peterson and Wilson.
11:35And honestly, like, Boozer looks to be every bit as good as he was advertised.
11:41He looks good.
11:42A-cuff, I mean, thoughts and prayers.
11:43You're hoping to light the beam at some point.
11:46A-cuff is hilarious.
11:47Right, shoot the ball.
11:48I love, oh, you don't need to tell him.
11:51What is he supposed to do exactly?
11:53In the sentence that you just uttered, he shot it eight times.
11:56Right.
11:57He's shooting 14% from three, and he's shot 27 of them.
12:01It's because they are terrible.
12:03And so, like, what is he supposed to do?
12:06Go out there and defer to whom?
12:09No, he's not supposed to defer.
12:10But, I mean, it's just the numbers are funny.
12:14It's funny.
12:16Like, he's breaking records for shots and missed shots already in his three-game career.
12:22Has DeBonsa played yet?
12:24I don't think so.
12:25He's at the ankle.
12:28Yeah, no, he has not.
12:29So we haven't even seen him yet.
12:30So I'm not, this is not, like, declarative.
12:33But what if I asked you this?
12:3631, 12, and 6.
12:38How many players drafted in the first round?
12:41Or let's just do the lottery.
12:42How many of the lottery players that were drafted this year will ever have a game like that in their
12:50career?
12:52A boozer, for sure.
12:53Okay.
12:54He'll probably have one of those this year.
12:55Okay.
12:56If he, I mean, I don't think he's had one already, but he's the kind of guy who I think
13:00is projecting toward being that kind of a player.
13:03And beyond that, like, I don't know, 31, 12, and 6.
13:08If you give somebody 12 assists and 6 rebounds, I mean, would that count?
13:13Sure.
13:15Caleb Wilson's a guy who might eventually get to that spot.
13:19He looks good.
13:20But beyond that, you're talking about just babies.
13:23These guys are all pups.
13:24And he did it in his fourth game.
13:26So Steve Kerr was, I think, was, he was careful to point out last night, y'all, he's going to
13:32get a lot better than this.
13:34And he is already having a major impact on NBA games.
13:37So, like, to me, this is unbridled excitement.
13:43I'm not going to call him even a future all-star.
13:45I'm not even going to call him a future one.
13:47I'm just going to say that I think the Warrior fan base got invited to the party last night.
13:51And there is now something that we can sink our teeth into.
13:56The first three games didn't offer the fans anything to, like, attach themselves to.
14:03There's nothing, like, a fan is like, I don't know what, what am I supposed to do with this?
14:08Well, you had a nice lead in the home opener, and then you got motorboated on the 17-2 run.
14:13Sure.
14:14The opener, you went to L.A., and the whole thing was Yaxl and Luka.
14:18Boy, I can guard Luka, but nobody else can.
14:21Uh-oh, Rook, that's not great.
14:23And then you went to Phoenix in a scheduled loss, and that went the way you thought it would go.
14:27And so, yeah, Denver was a nice surprise.
14:30I thought that they were going to lose that game.
14:31I mean, after watching the first three, how could you not think they were going to lose all games?
14:35Yeah, well, I mean, not all the games, but going to Denver is going to be a hard spot.
14:40Sure, and going to Minnesota is a hard spot, although they're missing their best player now tomorrow.
14:43Right, and then you come back Friday, and you've got Luka and the Lakers here,
14:46and all of a sudden that's going to be, that is a must-watch.
14:50Exactly.
14:51It's all a must-watch with this guy.
14:52But that's my point.
14:53Yeah.
14:54That's my point.
14:54Like, that's what we needed.
14:56That's what we needed, and we've got it four games in.
14:58And box office, somebody who is giving a Warrior fan, like, a light at the end of the tunnel of,
15:06like,
15:06okay, this is what we're doing now.
15:09And Steph can be a part of it, a major part of it, maybe even the most important part of
15:16it.
15:16But he doesn't have to be the Earth's core all by himself.
15:21That's, to me, that is what this last night was about.
15:24Not a win.
15:24Not a win.