- 4 minutes ago
Luca Evans, Warriors beat reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, joins Willard and Dibs to break down the Warriors' 8-3 start to the season, the challenge of the road trip which starts tonight in Houston, and more.
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00:00in a warrior state of mind let's get out live to houston and for the first time we've been
00:04looking forward to a time to do this we go out to the river islands guest line and welcome
00:08warriors beat man all for the san francisco chronicle luca evans onto the show hey luca
00:14welcome hey guys thanks for uh for having me greetings from houston uh an honor and a pleasure
00:22uh fantastic man we're excited to have you and talk a little warrior basketball your perspective
00:28on a winning streak that let's be real like the last handful of games are against lesser competition
00:36so how real is it and how will it stand up to tonight and friday night in your opinion i
00:42think
00:42in general it's i mean of course you know steve curry said this is real i think players feel that
00:49this is real from a certain perspective right like this road trip is going to be a massive test you've
00:55got at houston at san antonio um but i think to me what i i look at a little bit
01:00more is the ways that
01:01they have been winning games right like early on they just let one slip against memphis and you know
01:09that could have been a really early warning sign of a lot of losses that so similar to last year
01:15like just couldn't close in crunch time and um the way that you know they kicked this thing off with
01:21a flip complete you know comeback against the lakers and then to kind of come out at home against
01:28the pelicans uh they've dodged a lot of trap games in this stretch and just you know i mean honestly
01:34brutalized that team like like they did um i thought you know that's what good teams do and
01:40this road trip i think is is one we'll really get a sense of is is this team a good
01:46team or you know
01:47uh just kind of a another you know run in of the the play-in edition but um so far
01:55you know i'd say
01:55a lot of signs are are pointing up for this group we've been grappling with the idea of are they
02:00good
02:01and we are both kind of looking at this five game stretch as a way to at least answer it
02:05in the short
02:06term when you look at the reasons why they've been so successful of late outside of staff and the
02:12rookie phenom yaxel what do you pinpoint as the reasons why they've won so much
02:16i think the main one of the main signs that i think you can kind of point to and say
02:22this
02:23this team has a real shot of some capacity um is just how they've fared in the non-step minutes
02:30so far i mean brandon podjemski's kind of continued growth has just been a huge part of that he's
02:36playing more visibly confident than he ever has he's distributing better than he ever has he's he's a
02:43a better point of attack defender than he's ever been just kind of steadily growing in that area
02:48and right now you know i know a lot of obviously consternation on that uh 110 million extension but
02:55that just at 22 million a year if he keeps up this pace for an entire year that'll look like
03:01a bargain
03:01for for a 23 year old guard and um so i i'd start there i'd also point to really quality
03:10minutes by
03:10the bench you have you know obviously yaxel lindenborg's ability to kind of serve as that main
03:16offensive engine when when stephen curry isn't in the game but also you know brandon williams who's
03:21obviously going to be out for a majority of this road trip with a quad a quad strain uh or
03:27hamstring
03:27grand strain excuse me um but he's added a ton of juice to bench lineups george niang has been a
03:32big
03:33um just kind of smart you know offensive uh weapon and rotational guy for him uh charles bassey has been
03:41a tiny little revelation at backup center so i'd say all those things you know definitely point in the
03:48favor i would say that the big red flag still is you know can 36 year old dream on green
03:53play
03:55this level of defense and keep his body intact at center for an entire you know slate can you do
04:03this for 60 plus games that remains to be determined and i think steph curry's knee is probably right
04:07alongside that as well luca evan san francisco chronicle is with us live from houston on willard
04:12and dibs talking out warrior basketball luca i think to the point you just made and a lot of the
04:18writing
04:18that you've had recently it feels from an outsider perspective uh this group is kind of lovey-dovey
04:25with each other yaxl said his joy is all the way through the roof uh they're talking about what an
04:31acquisition niang is uh throw brandon williams in there as well uh gi santos kind of has that feel
04:37you're around the team uh near and far what can you say about the blend of the group and how
04:45that's
04:45affecting their play yeah i think they feel you know chemistry is always such like a buzzword um
04:51i think they do feel genuinely connected thus far you you saw just how the ball was moving against
05:00new orleans i mean i think 37 assists against 11 turnovers like you don't that's that's kind of prime
05:06warriors ball right there and a lot of elements and i i think uh just in terms of locker room
05:13like
05:13thinking yang has legitimately um infused a lot of life and in spirit like he's in that he's
05:22constantly he's cracking jokes with anyone and everyone like as soon as we're walking in the
05:27locker room is you know around teammates um you know draymond and and stefan curry seem to genuinely
05:34like him and then you know yaksl lindenborg i think just his personality um and his i think the key
05:42with him is he's such a unfiltered outspoken personality right but he balances that by being
05:49you know he's so incredibly self-critical and self-aware about his own flaws that you know he
05:57doesn't have kind of the the ego that's inflating the confidence in a lot of ways and so i think
06:04that
06:05um he's he's gained and earned the trust and respect to lead a lot of offenses units and kind
06:12of have that leash so i think there's there's real synergy there um i wouldn't you know it's not like
06:18uh these guys are holding hands and doing ring around the rosie in in the locker room but i think
06:24it's a group that so far you know genuinely likes each other there haven't been um any noticeable
06:33kind of tension points so far and and that's uh that's been very interesting to follow other than
06:39jimmy butler um you know boston melting around when he was playing the role of coach the other night
06:43which is a kind of a hilarious moment uh talk to me about the charles bassey piece luca in terms
06:49of
06:49is he playing well enough to have actual real long-term staying power this season i i would say
06:56right now uh yes and they kind of have no choice in a lot of respects like i mean they're
07:04obviously
07:04going to try and and flip the porzingis contract for you know a a some kind of asset either you
07:14know
07:15aggregate to a higher salary with another contract that they have on the books or really see what teams
07:22um maybe there's there's an asset out there that they can throw in draft capital for or what have
07:29you so you know i think it's clear there's been plenty of reporting out there that they are checking
07:36around on the center market um but for now like they they have what they have and charles bassey i
07:43think
07:43has um he he's injected a lot of units with with life he's he can be a legitimate rim protector
07:52at
07:52times i think the key for him is just making quick decisions offensively uh but he has a real kind
07:59of
07:59pick and roll chemistry with with jackson lindenborg which has been pretty fun to watch those guys their
08:04their lockers are right next to each other they uh you know the way they talk about each other is
08:09pretty
08:09funny um so that's a real kind of connection there and yeah i mean if you look at the analytics
08:16the
08:16advanced numbers with him like he's he's had a real impact so i think you kind of balance him with
08:24the
08:24floor spacing ability al horford and you know you sort of dust horford off for big time matchups like
08:31he was so impactful in the in the miami game um kind of building a wall against yannis and
08:36there's something there um but again this it's there's so many ifs in that center rotation between
08:44draymond you know and horford's sort of iffy availability and bathy even as has kind of dealt
08:52with knee tendinitis and he's been hurt throughout his career so you're you're hanging a a tricky hat
08:59there but i would say yes there's there's definite potential staying power luca your best guess will
09:05there be a christoph's porzingis trade by december 15th man uh i would think you know in a perfect
09:16world yes i think you know for for for golden state that to say i i think they naturally would
09:24like
09:24to get something done because that's the re-aggregation um deadline you know in advance of the
09:31the february trade deadline uh but i don't think golden state's gonna force it um by that point i i
09:39think they would lean more in the direction of if they feel better about landing an asset that they
09:45really want by february um i don't think they'd do something by december just to do it so i don't
09:52know i
09:53from talking with folks a few folks around the league like that forcing his contract doesn't have
10:02a ton of inherent value right now because just you know he seems like he very well very may well
10:10retire when it's done and that's just an interesting asset to kind of dangle around and
10:15um now if they attach draft capital to it sure that's enticing but i think you could see a scenario
10:22where this thing just kind of plays out uh for a while and then eventually a team really wants to
10:30get
10:31off of a contract by january february so i don't know i'd throw it at like 50 50 okay um
10:38a lot of
10:39different a lot of different possibilities uh luca before you go run to uh continue to get ready for the
10:44game what are you seeing and hearing behind the scenes with regard to jimmy butler's recovery
10:49before you answer um are you a football fan at all you watch the nfl i came from uh i
10:56came from covering
10:57the broncos actually for about a year and a half in in denver so i certainly follow along um zach
11:03charbonnet of the seattle seahawks is now back and uh he was playing football last week and he looks
11:09like he's got speed his acl was torn two days before jimmy butler's um now jimmy is way older
11:16than that so i'm not trying to suggest anything by that but as the warriors stock wins here what's
11:22the plan and how soon could they get him yeah it's super interesting and honestly you know i'll be
11:28straight up like i don't have a ton of insight on boom timeline target date this or that what i
11:34do know
11:35is that this is not about like a time thing like a timeline thing for him it's about like his
11:42specific
11:44um numbers in testing and his measurables and this or that and once that once he hits a level that
11:52he
11:53and warrior staff and yada yada are comfortable with like then that is when he'll return so you know
12:01it's like you can pinpoint a general range but it's more about okay when is he back to to full
12:06full
12:07full strength and i don't think they're going to rush that process certainly like their their whole
12:12approach has been to stay afloat you know like they've they've said that pretty much publicly like
12:18their whole approach is is to ride the wave and and keep their head above water until butler and moody
12:24come back into the fold and i think like um i don't think that's going to change they're buying
12:30themselves a little bit of cushion and a little bit of time right now so i mean you can see
12:35like
12:36he's he's very much a presence he uh is you know like several guys have commented or or told me
12:47that
12:47like they feel almost like he's still out there on the court just because of you know his sort of
12:53energy behind the scenes so um i think clearly raring to be back and i wish i had more for
12:59you
12:59specifically on on a target date but you know what steve kerr and and the public indication has
13:05been all along is is in that february range i don't think that's that's changed but certainly
13:11something to that i hope to find out so fair enough fair enough luca thank you so much for coming
13:19on
13:19we'll do it again absolutely thank you guys really appreciate it okay luca evans san francisco
13:24chronicle he's in houston rockets about to play the warriors