Marcus Thompson
Appearances
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
You know, I do feel like however happens, he's got to come back with, like, the most confidence he's ever had as a Golden State Warrior. You know, I mean, it basically was like, listen, Jonathan Kamiga, we went 15 and 50. We got the number two pick in the draft. And the next year we had two first round picks. And we've been trying to draft somebody. You're the last one left, buddy.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
We didn't try everything. We didn't try to get Lori Barker in. Like, we didn't try it at all. Hey, bro, this is your show. Yeah, this is the same guy that could make it who's been benched, who's been, you know, minutes and all that. Like, now this is like, He's free to go beat Jonathan Kaminga. They need him to go beat Jonathan Kaminga. So he should play with the utmost confidence.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
The owner, Joe Laker, was talking about, of course we're paying him. Like, yeah, we're paying him.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
Yeah, they're not getting rid of JK. Like, it's going to take, like, clearly it's going to take like Giannis or something. Like, come on. Clearly. So, like, he should come back feeling good. And to me, what's unique about his, like, the way he's come back is they've been on this, like, get downhill, get downhill, get downhill.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
Like, one of the things Jimmy has done has, like, he's made that a thing now. Whereas before Jimmy, they were so content with staying on the perimeter. But just by virtue of Jimmy not doing that, you're seeing pods get downhill. You're seeing Moody go off the dribble, right? You're seeing Draymond do it. And now you got probably the best... on the team at it outside of Jimmy.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
It's like just physical getting downhill. I'm curious if that really kind of fuels the new play styles of pushing it, driving, driving, driving, driving. That's, to me, Jimmy Butler's greatest attribute is showing these dudes like, hey, when your shot is off, you can still have a productive game by doing something else, right? And so Kaminga... Like, if he's watching that, you can see.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
Kamingo was the best one at it already. Like, he's the guy that's like, I'm off. I'm going to go get six free throws real quick. So now you put them two together, like, it'll be fun. Like, you know, like, again, I think, you know, you're going to have a problem with the size.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
The other issue they have that Draymond, you know, if he was being, you know, honest about it and not just motivate his teammates, It's some other stars in this league. They just basically caught up as far as the star count. You know what I'm saying? Everybody else got these, too. It's not like, okay, remember the Durant came and it was like, this isn't fair. No, they were at a deficit.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
For a while. They were at a deficit, and now they've caught up. But the other advantages these other teams have, I do think some teams like Minnesota... vulnerable, Sacramento vulnerable, you know, some of these other teams like Dallas is vulnerable. So I see what he's saying. The X factor is going to be like, how good is Jonathan Kaminga now?
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
Because if he is really good, that might be the game changer. That might be the game changer.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
They need to shoot more threes. Because they gave up a better three-point shooter.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
You think there's any chance at all you could get to 38%? Please. You think it's possible? oh yeah he'll love that it's green light he's got the keys to the kingdom like this is set up for him to be the player he thought he could be and then like I mean here's the odd part I don't know if you see this coming. I'm blindsided by this.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
The perfect duo that is for a game, but they look so good together, is Jimmy and Pots. I did not see that coming at all. This is like a bad buddy cop movie that ends up being really good late night on TV.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
And he like, you know, Steph inspires people to shoot, right? Like people want to shoot. They chuck, they chuck, chuck, chuck. You're on a court with Steph. You're probably going to get a lot of open looks from three. Correct. And they fire. Jimmy inspires people to get inside, like just his presence, just what he's doing, how he focuses. And I do think Pods,
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
There's a part of him, especially after losing Clay, was like, I got you, new Splash Brother Ian. You know what I'm saying? Y'all adopted a new Splash Brother. But I think Jimmy is almost giving him permission to say, I'm about to attack. And you're watching it work for a guy who's 4 for 12 and somehow ends up with 20 points, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
It's crazy. He's down there. My thing with Pods is I always felt like he underrates himself as a finisher. There's so many times he's driving. I'm like, dude, go up with that. You got touched. He won't do it. He'll pass out.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
was this Chicago where he's driving and he's got, I think he, it was like late in the game and he had a layup and he kicked it out to the corner for the three and Moses Moody missed it. But it was like, it's a lay. It was the game they lost. It was a Dallas game. I think it's like, it's a layup. I feel like he's got the skillset to finish that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
And I do think Jimmy is like showing him like, you know what? Hey, it's money in the paint. I know we all shoot threes, but it's money in the paint.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
It's on me or what's going through Steph Curry's mind?
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
Because my answer would be different. I'd be like, shut up.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
Like, nah, he's like, man, I'm playing. I'm giving you a pump. I'm saying I'm going up strong. I'm getting into your body. I'm doing it, you know what I'm saying? I don't know, Marcus.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
Ain't no money in the void to contact. Like, unless you, like, Steph is the greatest shooter of all time. That dude could float with, like, his elbow. You know what I'm saying?
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
But everybody can't do that. So I'm like, pause. Cut this floater stuff out. You know, especially the one he's doing where he ain't even floating. Like, that ball's in the air before he leaves the ground. Like, it's like, he leaves off the ground and he's like, the whole idea is floaters for you to float. But I'm like, nah, man, Jimmy, like, you watch Kyrie in the All-Star game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
He's going in one-on-one, you know, with Wendy. Like, that's not good. He's not trying to hurry up and get it over him. He's like, no, I'm getting into your body and creating distance with my arm length, right? Like, Pods has that ability. He should be doing that more. He should be a little push shot from the dotted line. Cut all that out.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
Left hand, left side, Zena. Left hand, left side. Sorry.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
No, Steph loves that stuff. Like, I think people miss this. There's a reason like those two are like just so intrinsically linked. Right. They're the same person. It just manifests differently. Like Steph is an absolute maniac. You saw him on TV. He was like, yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's what he's supposed to say. And it's like, yes, that's a maniac. Right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
I do think so because I do think Draymond won't be the only voice yelling anymore and when Jimmy gets to that point like at some point some stuff is happening where you can see Jimmy just playing like I'm the new guy but at some point he gonna take the mouthpiece out and be like we don't want that shot you know what I'm saying like yeah
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
And I do think you've heard this criticism from Steve Kerr a lot. They're just a quiet team, right? Like, they're a very quiet team. They don't talk. And, you know, Steph is a quiet guy. He's not vocal on the floor, but he's got that spirit. You know what I'm saying? Like, he's going to attack a double team. Like, he's not going to say anything. He's not going to rah, rah, rah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
but he's going to play like that. And I think some of the other guys are quiet and they don't play like that. Like to me, one of the biggest issues I had with the warrior roster before was they're literally like triple team and stuff. And if I'm another guy on this team, that pisses me off. It's disrespectful.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
But it felt like nobody else felt that way. You know what I'm saying? Where it's like, Jimmy is like, oh, I dare you. Like, Jimmy is the type that's, like, down low with a big man on the body. Like, man, just throw it. Like, I don't care that he's six inches on me. Like, throw the ball. I got this.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
Drayvon's throwing it. Like, hey, man, he literally be like, bro, this dude is bigger than you. Jimmy's, like, acting like this is a little nephew. Like, man, just throw it up. I got it. We got to move. Just throw it up, right? That energy. That's amazing. I think it's inviting, especially early. You know what I'm saying?
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
Like that energy is like what people were, I think Jonathan Kabenga will respond to that energy where it's just like, nah, we not about to sit here and let these dudes punk us or if a dude, you know, who you ain't never heard of, you know, can't miss a shot. Like, Nah, like somebody's getting in him.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
I think Draymond gravitate towards that energy, but Steph isn't that vocally, but he's that physically like that's how he plays. And now they got another dude. So I do think you'll see a bit of that spirit. The question is, do they have it at the end of games? Because I think the part that we just cannot stop saying that Jimmy Butler's 35.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
step he's 37. he takes care of his body he does 35 and draymond is the center right like right like their bodies have to hold up right like that that's a big deal so all of this vigor and let's go do this like it comes with the price and that's where coming uh that's where moody that's where pasinsky that's where the other guys come in so essentially it's on them
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
to keep the older guys fresh because these lads, the three wins they had, like Steph's playing, you know, 30 plus minutes. They're fighting for their lives out there. So to me, that energy that Jimmy brings is a bit of a, it's definitely a change of pace, right? It's like we ain't soft that we're not just about to shoot 53s. Now, the Jimmy issues have always been centered around money.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
you know what I'm saying it's always like hey I deserve this I deserve this contract you ain't giving it to me alright I'm gonna ask the fool now he's paid so maybe that mitigates some of it or yeah or maybe they end up arguing with each other and we'll see how it goes out but I feel like they'll be cool with it and the rest of them are they just ain't like who coming at Jimmy on the team
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
Yeah, they're good dudes. And I think Jimmy's a good dude. Like, all I've heard about... Jimmy on Houston would be fun. I want to see Jimmy and Tari Easton go at it. Like, yes. That would be fun, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
I mean, I think people forget like he's all jacked now. But Seth was a five foot nothing, hundred and nothing high school dude. Talk about I'm going to the NBA. Like, yeah, you know, it was insane. Like, you got to be delusional to become Seth Curry. So the reason they click is because they think that way. And they got Jimmy Butler.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
Dylan Brooks and Jimmy and Eason. Oh, man, that would be crazy.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
Man, I mean, I'm going to sleep, Zena. We've been going nonstop since the All-Star game. I'm going to sleep. This is the last thing I'm doing before I go to sleep. I'm plugging my heated blanket up. That's what I'm plugging up. You know what? I don't have a heated blanket. I'm about to get one.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
She keeps it on her side of the bed. You know what I'm saying? Like, like share that thing. Get over here.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
right and as much as this is like the wild a wild claim the funniest part was hearing uh shea gilchrist alexander asked about it and he was like that's what you know he you know he plays for gold state so i expect him to say gold state's gonna win and he left it so simple it would be like very like yeah expect him to say but it was more to me
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
like a tribute almost to what Jimmy Butler has done to this team. This is the same team who all year long have said, this is not a championship year. We're building towards something. I sat with Draymond in Hawaii where he said, you know, like, we're going to, you know, we got to get there. Like, he wasn't like, we're going to win a championship this year. This is before 12 and 3, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
Yeah, yeah. No, at the beginning of the year, he was talking about like, listen, we're We're going to build the road to a championship right now. Even if it happens after I retire, I'm still going to be here. I'm still a part of this. So I'm still a part of that championship. He was talking about if we win a championship in five years. Right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
And then obviously they go on his losing streak and Steph is up there every night trying to explain why they suck. Right. Like, so, so, I mean, literally Steve Kerr said before the deadline, we aren't good enough to not do anything. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
The undercurrent that was going on the entire time is Steph Curry and Mike Dunleavy and Steve Kerr and Draymond Green are all saying these dudes ain't good enough. All year long, that's been undercurrent. We're not good enough. We need to make some trades. Now they've gone from that, they trade for Jimmy Butler, and they out here with the sparkles going in the VIP section at the party.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
You know, they think they in the contender VIP section right now. Like, we in there with OKC in them, you know? I can't stand you. Like, that's what Jimmy Butler has done. Right, right. He's infused this whole franchise... With like this new belief and the craziest part of seeing this, we still haven't seen Jimmy Buckets yet.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
I think the West makes it unfeasible. I understand what Draymond's saying. You got Steph Curry, you got Draymond, you got Jimmy Butler. They can win any series. Like, they can do it. But that ain't how you win a championship, right? You gotta win four of them things.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
So, to me, that's the part that's tough. Like, if they somehow... You know, like, I mean, they're just like every other team. They need things to fall right. You know what I'm saying? Yep. So, they need a first round that, you know, is amenable to them. Like, if they gotta go through Jokic and Anthony Davis and, you know... Like, that's tough.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
But I do feel like if you just look up and they make the West Finals... Yeah, I see it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
I see it at that point. We've seen Jimmy Butler do less. We've seen Steph Curry do it with less, right? That's true. With a compromised Klay Thompson and the best of Andrew Wiggins. We've seen Jimmy Butler get to the finals, you know what I'm saying, with Gabe Vincent as the point guard, right? Like, good players, but not that kind. But that was in the East, too, where...
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
Yeah, I really miss what Brandon Pajewski said. What did he say? Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
You basically got to win one big series. The problem with the West is you probably got to at least get through two really, really good teams. And I don't think it's a matter of ability or talent. I just think it's really about retention and survival. And that's the question I have. Not like...
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
their top end i think they'll be pretty good like if the games are close they got dudes who can close they got two of them uh but just the course of a playoff run is so grueling it's the reason they won four championships is because they can do that i don't know if they can do that anymore because it's going to take a lot of other dudes to play well but you know i get i get the sense of it though like they got jimmy you got steph
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
It just makes you feel good. The dopamine is high right now in Golden State, right? It's feeling good. They're feeling good.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
Yeah, this is like John Henry's folklore, right? This is...
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
This is Josh Gibson, you know what I'm saying? Like, I got more home runs than Babe Ruth. Like, this is like, you know, the old stories we used to hear, like, they become... I mean, Jimmy is already low-key that, right? Like, he's already kind of this, like, folklorist figure that...
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
In 20 years, when we're talking about the NBA and people are going to be looking at the numbers and they're going to be looking and nobody's going to... I'm going to be the old dude in the barbershop just getting my little... With the little hair I got left lined up. I'm going to be like, y'all don't know about Jimmy Butler. And they're not going to believe me. But you have to be there to see it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
You know, Jimmy is one of them dudes. Like, y'all ought to see him at the bubble looking like the Popeye's chicken bean when he had nothing left, right? He bent over.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
Y'all don't know what playoff Jimmy means? He already one of those type of dudes anyway. So if they get there, I do think, you know, I forgot who said it. It might have been Kendrick Perkins. And they'd be like, nobody's afraid of the Warriors. I disagree with that. I think that is the team you don't want to see.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
The last thing, like, if you're Oklahoma City and you should win a championship, the last thing you want to do is, like, have to deal with Steph Draymond and Jimmy Butler. Like that, that's a scary, because even if you beat them, like you're walking out of there bloody, right? There's going to be a chunk. They're taking their chunk of flesh.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
This is what they do. And now you tell them you ain't got nothing to lose. Nobody expects you to win. Like you tell a Steph Curry, you an underdog again. Like, you know what I'm saying? You tell a Jimmy Butler, you an underdog again. Like they live for this stuff. So I do feel like, I feel like they could get, Like, they can upset somebody.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
My question is, can they win and then win and then win and then get to the finals and win? Like, these dudes are 35 and up. Like, you know, they're going to be getting to bed. They got to get to bed at 630. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's got to be different.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
It's like the one funny thing Kevin Hart said all night. No, he was okay. He was pretty funny.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
The thing that I think this shows that also makes me feel like, hold up before I pause. Before I say they can't do this, I'm like, hold up. I mean, there's just something that we just forget about sometimes about an NBA superstar. Like, it changes things. And we've seen this... and the Wiggins to Jimmy Butler transition. You know what I'm saying? Like, Wiggins is a really good NBA player.
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
Like, he's an all-star caliber player. And so much so, several in the organization did not want to give up Wiggins, right? It was like, I don't know, you don't give up Wiggins. He plays better defense. You know, he shoots better through. You know, Wiggins, he's a great locker room teammate. Like, he's a great guy. Like, people did not want to give up Wiggins. But, like...
The Athletic NBA Daily
What is the Warriors' Ceiling?
a week later like nobody's saying don't it's like jimmy brother is a superstar and that to me i think is the difference that i kind of underestimated because i was a big wiggins guy i was like wiggins man wiggins is good but a week later like it's like okay yeah this is the clear different jay draymond is not going on tv saying we gonna be championship if wiggins is still on the team
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
Well, to start, to me, they just needed to – I mean, this team, basically, when they make threes, they look like they could win a championship. And when they don't, they look like they're so far from a championship. So the real difference, what makes Jimmy the difference maker in this, is that he helps them score without raining threes.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
And so Memphis, as teams do when they come in this building, started making everything. And Jimmy was just able to... Get everybody to relax, like get inside. They were playing them very weird. You know, they were almost basically daring him in a weird way to say, yeah, let's see if you can get 30, which, you know, our choice. But it definitely.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
got jimmy going so yeah this was this was way closer than it should have been the warriors just they just don't have enough composure for these one-off type of games like it's just a very weird energy it's been like that for the last like three years they just don't they get real tight and nervous they start doing weird stuff the signature steph curry late game turnover that almost uh
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
I mean, I think it starts and stops with Steph. Like, he's such a high-variance player, right? This thing can go as skyrocket as you want it to go with Steph. You know what I'm saying? Like, he could take you to the moon. But also, I just think people forget this. Like, it matters to be 6'3". Like, people can do things against you. They can trap you. They can W you. You can get them.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
You can speed them up a bit. Like, this has always been a thing. He's gotten so much better at dealing with it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
foot three when your best player is six foot three like it there's some things you can do against it so I do think the nature of their offense which requires so much movement and so much passing which all is just more opportunity to turn the ball over right all more opportunity to swing swing to an open shot that a lot of dudes just don't make regularly.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
Like that's just, I mean, bottom line, the best shooters in the world shoot 40%, which means they're missing six out of 10. So that type of offense, I remember coming up, Dave, I'm telling you, man, our AAU coach used to preach into us, high percentage shot, high percentage shot. Like the Warriors just simply do not believe in high percentage shots.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
They believe in the shots they've been hitting in practice, which by every definition is a low percentage shot, but they always feel like it's a high percentage shot. Drive me crazy. He did it tonight. Fast break. GP to Butler kicks it out for a Quinn post three. Like you don't do that, but that's their style of play. And it leads to these like cold spells and, and high various kinds of runs.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
It's weird because the very reason, like, Jonathan Kaminga has been exiled – It doesn't stop it from happening. They're still below assignments. They still are out of place. They still are like Jimmy and Draymond spent the entire game yelling at Buddy Heald and Glenn Post for not being in position or...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
doing a thing where it's like, hey, press up, take away the three, and the guy's kind of caught in between. So it's weird. I do think those guys make the hustle plays, and when they're on, they rotate. But, I mean, the NBA is just so good, and it's so fast that if you just are on the wrong foot at all, it's going to cost you. And they're bench players for a reason.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
They're just... You give them seven plays, they're going to be good for five. Two of them things, you're going to cook them. And that's why they're role players, right? And when you got four guys out there, it just increases the opportunity. And then again, it's like all...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
Clippers. Same against the Clippers, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
12 to 6 curveball, yeah. You know what it is? The other thing, you know, the free throws are the end result. Yeah. But I think the actual like schematic or philosophical difference is they match up hunt. They don't match up when it's Steph. When it's Jimmy out there, Jimmy's out here like, uh... Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
Yes, no question. No question. Then they brought out, who was it, like, Conchar and Santi Odama. He's like, yeah, come on. It was a parade of white guys for Jimmy Butler to attack. Jimmy sees a white guy, he's going for the duck. Jimmy's not messing around with this. But like that, to me, they do that. When it's Steph, you don't really see that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
They only do it when it's like a big, they want a big on Steph. But when it's Steph, it's run the offense, right? Let's create a mistake. With Jimmy, it's match-up hunting with take our time. And you guys remember this. Remember when they were in championship form and they had that kind of rough and rugged second unit? It was like David West and Sean Livingston.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
And they'd want like three yards in the cloud of smoke, right? They want to win those minutes eight to six. Played completely different basketball. This is a version of that. There's a little bit more offensively potent where they just say, all right, Steph's out. Let's just run an entire new system and be a completely different team.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
Yeah, I mean, Steph's going to be a problem for them. And it starts, like, it's everything. To me, in every series, the number one question you have to answer is what is their plan for Steph? You got a good plan, you got a good chance. And the Rockets have a good plan. Like, they got bodies to throw at them. The difficulty is their offense. Like...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
Do they sacrifice offense to to put a guy to put a Tari Eason in there or do they just hope Tari Eason just has a game where he can get you 17 points? Right. This is the kind of betwixt that Steph puts on a team like even tonight. It was like, all right, Scottie Pippen Jr. Get out here. and probably Vince Williams Jr. might have been a better option, but you just sacrificed too much offense.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
So you're going to see Houston in that a lot, and you already know who's going to want to be on them, and it's Dylan Brooks. And then he's going to try to go back, and if that's the recipe, hopefully he may be smarter to know that, but you're not beating Steph Curry with Dylan Brooks. It's going to have to be how they do it. Our man Thompson is just tough. Our man Thompson is the guy.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
Yeah, that's the guy. That's the guy. It was great for the one game. Remember, they played the Warriors four times. The Warriors won the first three. It was a great plan for one game against the entire team. I would caution our man. This is Stephen Curry, and it's seven games. Yeah. It sounds good to, you know what I'm saying? Like, he's going to figure out something.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
They're going to have a counter. And if he's really good on it, that means he won't be on Steph. That's all that means. If he's really good on Steph, he won't be on Steph. They're going to run him through three screens, and it's somebody else. So this is going to be an interesting matchup. I wonder, to me, it's going to come down to Jalen Green.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
If Jalen Green gets buckets, if they can score, they're just such a problem because they just have athletes all over the place.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
I don't know, man. I think they're going to try to run him off the court. I think they want to run.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
You know who I think instead of Looney you get this series? I think you get Jonathan Kaminga this series. I think this is the time where you dust him off and say, let's just go.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
He has, yeah. Yeah, he's been great against Houston. He's actually been good against Memphis. The thing about Houston is they make enough mistakes offensively, and they got enough sketchy shooters on the floor that you could survive offensively. If Kaminga makes a mistake, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Houston will show you some mercy. Whereas you saw like tonight, you make a mistake.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
Desmond Bain is drilling. He was amazing. It's insane. They're not making, they're not missing shots. Also, it's the ghost of 27 straight was three. So you never know what happens. Oh, God.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
Am I making the trip to Houston? You know I'm going to Houston. You know I'm going to Houston.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Gritty Warriors win play-in + Orlando moves on
That was great. What else do you want? What more could you ask for? That's basketball, baby.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
I think he was second in games played on the roster. Like, you know, 35 has got nothing left to prove. I mean, it's been fun just watching him compete this year.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
Speaking of Nico Harrison, there was a lot of conversation about defense wins championships. We can get into that a little bit later. But you saw the vision tonight with how ginormous, just massive the Mavericks were. The front court with Lively and Gafford or Lively and AD, they threw out a bunch of different combinations throughout the night. You have P.J. Washington, Najee Marshall.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
That's the thing. It's really unfortunate from a Kings fan perspective to get to this point, but it is what it is.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
Clay was basically the smallest guy in that starting lineup. Yeah. Is that sort of the way that they, I guess, envision the way this team is sort of supposed to be moving forward? Just massive on the wings and winning defensively that way?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
Yeah, 100%. When they made this trade, their idea was PJ Washington, Anthony Davis, and Derek Lively frontcourt. I mean, maybe you could swap Gafford in there, but that was the idea of what to do at 3-4-5. I think they saw that Lakers team that won the title in 2020. with AD, you know, playing a lot of his minutes that year at power forward.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
And that was a model for the Mavericks and why they made this trade. And, you know, I think this game was interesting coming in because it's like, this is just a big stylistic difference. I mean, it's like Keegan Murray or DeRozan and Sabonis for the Kings of the front court. And it's like, you know, six foot 11 AD and seven foot one lively for the Mavericks.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
You know, I thought the Monstars on the other side, Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like Sabonis did, you know, he didn't do much in this game. I mean, it was just they were too big, too athletic inside. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
I think it's a lot different game than what we saw, you know, Dallas and Sacramento, just because Memphis does have size inside. You know, the Mavericks aren't going to be able to treat them like they're the JV team, you know, or little brother or whatever. Like they've got Edie, they've got Jaron Jackson Jr. inside. It's not going to be super easy like it was yesterday. for Dallas.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
Um, so I think it's going to be a much harder game for them to be, to be honest with you. And I think a lot of it's like, you know, we saw a job come down awkwardly on his ankle. How does he look at how does he play? Cause I think just, you know, pretty close to the job. Like I definitely like Memphis in that game just cause you know, Dallas doesn't have a lot in the perimeter. Like it's,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
I thought it was fascinating. It's like this team started out with Luke and Kyrie. They're as loaded at guard as anyone in the league, as loaded as you could be in October. And in an elimination game, they're starting Najee Marshall, who I love. I love Najee Marshall. They're starting Najee Marshall at point guard. Yeah, yeah. Man, things have really changed this year.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
Yeah, I mean, I'm curious who the Mavericks put on him. I mean, is it Najee if they stick with the starting lineup? Is it P.J. Washington? I mean, I think it's I would imagine it's got to be one of those two guys, you know. I mean, I thought it was interesting tonight. I mean, AD just started out the game on DeRozan.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
You know, I think the last time Dallas and Sacramento played DeRozan had 42 or something like that. I mean, AD wasn't able to play in that game. And tonight they're like, cool, we're just going to stick AD on DeRozan like they're. They're comfortable putting AD on these perimeter players sometimes. I think Ja's a little too little for AD.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
I don't think we've seen much of that. Also, you could find a way to space out with Ja. Let him shoot. He's been shooting well recently, generally, but if he's not able to physically be that guy attacking the basket, he's going to be playing on the perimeter a lot. Maybe you could just give him that space to shoot those shots.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
I mean, when you ask Nico Harrison and Jason Kidd that question, like, how do you move past this? All they say is win. That's what they just keep going back to. Like, we just have to win. So I guess I'll say they have to win. And I don't think they can win enough. I know what you mean, yeah. I don't think they can do that without Kyrie.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
So it's like we can't even – it feels like we can't even begin to have that conversation until Kyrie gets back on the court until, I don't know, January, February, whenever that is. I mean – I think it's just going to be a lot of discontentment for a long time.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
Do you envision the Mavs making any wholesale changes? Obviously, they still have a game to play here, but this summer, looking into the offseason, do you think, given all of the turmoil over the last couple months, there's going to be any sort of wholesale changes of anything for them?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
I would lean towards no right now. I mean, you know, just kind of the vibes I'm picking up is... I don't know that Patrick Dubon is happy right now, but I just don't see him making a change at GM right now. I think... You know, Nico, Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis, those guys are all kind of aligned. I mean, Anthony Davis has two years plus a player option remaining on his deal after this season.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
Nico Harrison told us yesterday he's got three years left in his deal. And Kyrie Irving has a player option this summer. Sham Sharani said before the game, hey, there's a chance that Kyrie Irving signs a three year deal with the Mavericks. I mean, I would just wouldn't be surprised if you see all three of those guys kind of aligned for, you know, a two, three year window coming up here.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
Yeah, it was funny listening to the broadcast and Mike Breen, you know, the Bulls cut it to like 17 or something.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
It turned into a roast. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, they're trying to cut back into this lead. They're down 17 and Mike Breen is trying to get you interested in this game. He's like, all right, well, you know, they're down 17. Let's see if they can make a run in his very casual Mike Breen type of way. But you're right. The heat dominated in this one.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
There wasn't a soul on the Bulls who could guard Tyler Herroff. There wasn't one single player on there that could even remotely guard him. He was getting tons of opportunities to get downhill. The driving was there, the pull-up shooting. He was feeding Kalil Ware and Bam Adebayo. It was basically free money for what the Heat were trying to do offensively.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
Bulls, we've kind of been fans of the fun, interesting season, but now it's over. And now you have tons of questions heading into a pretty interesting offseason for them.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
Yeah, no, he definitely fits the heat culture aspect of things. with the way that he guards defensively at the point of attack. And this was a really important year for Davion. He was entering a contract year. It was like, all right, are you going to stay in the NBA as a rotation player?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
Goes to Toronto, obviously was good enough to get traded for Miami, and now is contributing to a team that might be on – in the playoffs, he's shooting the lick out of the ball too. Also he's shooting like 45% from three as a heat. So it just, it works well. It pairs well with what Tyler hero can do in the back court. So it makes sense for them.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
I imagine they resign him this summer just because of how good he's played for them.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
No, I'm not shocked at all, although it is funny that they let go of their GM after the two major moves that just happened over the last six months. You would think that they probably trusted the person who made those decisions, but nonetheless, this is just another set of rash decisions by the Kings. I'm not surprised that they let go of their GMs.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
I will say there was no one on the Bulls that could guard Tyler Hero. But there definitely is someone on Atlanta that could guard Tyler Hero in Dyson Daniels. And you can even throw Risa Shea on there and Guy, who was really good with his length against Orlando. They do have a little bit more functional size compared to what the Bulls have. So they might be able to keep up defensively.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
That's the way I'm thinking about this. And maybe Atlanta with Trey, it's basically just Trey and Hero going back and forth. And maybe the role players on the Hawks shoot better.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
Because they're at home. And so they made four threes against Orlando. If they make 10, maybe it's a different series. You know what I mean? So that's that's sort of the way that you got to look at these playing single elimination games, just shooting variants. Plus, is there anybody to guard the best player on one of those teams? Right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
Yeah, the Jonas Valanciunas play in streak is over. That's done. And it's it's one of the more unfortunate intricacies of the.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
play in history but yeah look this this team I think with the way that they were set up obviously missing Malik Monk is big just because of his ball handling the shooting and etc what he can provide for them offensively but the Zach Levine DeMar DeRozan formula does not work defensively they were getting cooked at the point of attack and then they had no size to answer against Anthony Davis and Derek Lively and those guys so Sabonis just struggled in this one and
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
They are also headed for a very interesting off season. So you look at the bulls.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
I wonder if they start to entertain the idea. And I know it's crazy to suggest because of how many wholesale changes they've made over the last six months. But I do wonder. if they start to kick around the idea of trading DeMontis a bonus and just completely starting new.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
Because he's the only guy on this team that has a lot of value, that would probably receive tons of interest around the league because of the fact that he's- Maybe not tons, but there's interest compared to DeMar DeRozan and Zach Levine. That's where I'm at.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
It just shows a history of Vivek Ranadive basically continuously doing this, firing coaches, letting go of GMs, trading players very quickly. Like that's just the way that the Kings have operated. And it's funny because when we talk in the pod about Kings versus Bulls.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
I can't believe I'm going to answer this question this way. But it's the Chicago Bulls that have the brighter future. And there's a couple of different reasons for this. One, they're younger, right? They're not relying on, you know, a Sabonis who's going to be 29 or DeRozan who's in his late 30s and Levine who's like getting up there slowly. I think you have Kobe White.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
Very interesting to see what they'll do with him this summer because he is contract extension eligible. He's not going to sign that extension because it's not enough for him. And, you know, basically he's going to walk into free agency next summer. Yeah. How are they going to extend Josh Giddey, who was good in the second half of the season?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
I thought there's he's another player who has clear holes defensively, some limitations. So like how much are you going to invest? Yeah, totally. How much are you going to invest in him long term? That's a big question for Chicago. But there's there's upside like. Modest Booz Ellis, very interesting player. Maybe he pops for them in year two, showed some bright spots.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
They will have their pick this year. Maybe they land a guy. And so I think if you had to answer the question, it's the Bulls, even though both sides, you're not really excited about the prospect of whatever's going on in the future, you know? Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
Out of being the Kangs. It's such a wild thing to think about. The Light the Beam season was maybe one of my most entertaining teams of the decade. They were so much fun to watch. The fans were incredible. The vibes around that team was just incredible. I got a little Light the Beam thing behind me right now. It was so great to watch them.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
To fall from grace like this, I think a part of it is just being way too confident in one single good season that they had.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
Yeah, I mean, the Mavericks are leaking oil those last 20, 25 games. The Luka trade, Kyrie Irving injury, a bunch of other injuries. They're going to have a chance to make it to the playoffs. I think my favorite moment from this game, I mean, I enjoyed Clay Thompson's kind of explosion in the second quarter and him getting a little play in redemption. But I got to go with Brandon Williams.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
I mean, the Mavericks were... So depleted at guard, they basically started Najee Marshall at point guard. Brandon Williams, who started the season on a two-way deal, was questionable coming into this game with injury. He played, and he played really well off the bench, 17 points. I mean, guys got game.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
Yeah, he went on a little run by himself there for a few minutes. Yeah, he knocked down some threes. He just looks comfortable as a score, which is really cool to watch for a guy who obviously spent time in the G League. And the way that's translating to the NBA is fun. I'm curious if because of this run, is he a part of the long-term plans now?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
Do you expect him to be on the Mavs next season and onwards because of the way that he's been playing recently? Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
Yeah, I do. And, you know, I think about a week and a half ago, he got converted from a two way deal to a standard contract. And they announced in the press release, it's a multi-year thing. So, you know, they made it clear at the time that, yeah, he's going to be on a standard deal next year and they're going to need it because Irving is going to be out for a big chunk of next year, too.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
I mean, look, one year ago today, Klay Thompson, 0 of 10 in the Warriors play-in tournament, lost to the Kings. His last game as a Warrior, I mean, that just had to be sickening for him to go out like that in his Golden State career. I mean, this doesn't make up for it, but this has got to feel pretty good, right? And I just think Klay's season in general is fascinating.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Better future: Kings or Bulls? + Mavs move on
They got him in the sign-and-trade. Nico Harrison says... We felt like we were a Klay Thompson away from a championship. And then in February, it's like, boom, Luka Doncic out the door. One of the guys who's supposed to give me all these easy looks. March, Kyrie Irving goes down. Well, that's the other guy who's supposed to give me all these easy looks. I mean, Klay just kept playing.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler Traded to the Warriors EMERGENCY POD
Yeah. All guys will tell you, you know, rebounding is a part of defense too. So that'll help. I mean, and when you think about long rebounds, I mean, Damanis Sabonis is actually one of the best rebounders in the league. And Jonas Valanciunas is an offensive rebounder. Excellent. And think about those kickout threes they're going to get on offensive rebounds from both those guys.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler Traded to the Warriors EMERGENCY POD
I think, you know, second chance points for them is going to be a huge key if they're going to make the play in, which it seems like that's what they're gunning for. We also got a trade.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler Traded to the Warriors EMERGENCY POD
Yeah, there you go. We got a trade first thing this morning. And, you know, this one's a little bit bittersweet because Chris Middleton is no longer with the Milwaukee Bucks. He got sent to the Washington Wizards for Kyle Kuzma. Look, talent-wise, this is not an upgrade for the Bucs. I mean, Middleton, obviously, he's got his health problems. But they are going to save some money.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler Traded to the Warriors EMERGENCY POD
The Bucs are saving a little bit of money. And you can envision a world in which Kuzma maybe gives them a little bit more this year just because he's healthy.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler Traded to the Warriors EMERGENCY POD
yeah the bucks um just age you know injuries and age really just yeah it hit them really fast and when you don't you don't supply it with first round picks like those guys don't hit it can't this is where the the denver nuggets you know they've had kind of a similar problem but they've hit on a few of these guys hit on a few get peyton watson and
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler Traded to the Warriors EMERGENCY POD
and they get Christian Brown, but the Bucs haven't managed to pull that off. But they're probably not done. They've still got a couple of guys that they can move on the roster. So if you're listening and you want to hang out with us on YouTube, we will be live all morning, all day for the trade deadline. Me, Zena, S, we're going to have Andrew Schlecht.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler Traded to the Warriors EMERGENCY POD
Alex Spears, the whole crew is going to be there. We're going to have all of our friends popping in, Sam Amick. So we'll have breaking news all day long on the stream. We'll put out a pod as well and kind of recap the day. But come and hang out with us. We'll be taking questions and talking about a bunch of different teams, even teams that aren't going to be active on the deadlines.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler Traded to the Warriors EMERGENCY POD
Definitely come and do that. You can find a link. In the description of this show, if you're listening to the audio for the stream over on YouTube tomorrow, if you're watching on YouTube, hey, guess what? You already know where to watch it. So please come and hang out with us. That's going to do it, guys. We'll be hanging out for the stream all day tomorrow. This has been our emergency podcast.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler Traded to the Warriors EMERGENCY POD
Thanks to Marcus Thompson for hanging out. For S. Baraheni and Zena Keita, I'm Dave Dufour, and this has been the NBA Daily. Thanks for hanging out with us for another emergency podcast.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler Traded to the Warriors EMERGENCY POD
Good morning, everybody. It's an emergency pod, emergency podcast week. Jimmy Butler trade edition. Dave Dufour, Espera Henney, Zena Kata, Marcus Thompson. Marcus, you helped break the news. Jimmy Butler is now a Golden State Warrior. How the heck did this happen?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler Traded to the Warriors EMERGENCY POD
Look, he's coming into Steph Curry's house. Right. And and he has got the contract. And at this point in his career, it's not like he can do this again. Right. He just can't. So I actually think the chemistry part of it from a personality side.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler Traded to the Warriors EMERGENCY POD
Yeah. Marcus, you got anything else on this trade? I know you got to run. You're getting ready to go catch a flight.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler Traded to the Warriors EMERGENCY POD
Well, if you've got if you've got another second just before.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler Traded to the Warriors EMERGENCY POD
Are they done? We still got, you know, another what it was 18 hours or so before the trade deadline. What are we looking at to complete their their moves this week?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler Traded to the Warriors EMERGENCY POD
All right. Well, Marcus Thompson, go and read him at The Athletic. Marcus, thank you very much and look forward to seeing your first Jimmy Butler feature.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler Traded to the Warriors EMERGENCY POD
Shout out to Bernie. Okay, so thanks to Marcus for hanging out and talking about the warrior side of this, getting Jimmy Butler. We should say the rest of the trade. S, do you have that trade sitting in front of you?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler Traded to the Warriors EMERGENCY POD
This is like the playoffs in basketball where there's a ton of moving parts. But the big one is Wiggins. And they get this first round pick. And it's top 10 protected for 2025. So that's this year's draft. It is top 10 protected for next year. And then if it doesn't convey in these next two years, it is a 2027 unprotected pick.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler Traded to the Warriors EMERGENCY POD
And that's a pretty good pick if you get the Warriors 2027 pick, Zeno, because these guys, as Marcus just mentioned, they're kind of old. Now, Zeno, I want to talk about the Miami side of this. They get Andrew Wiggins. We love Khalil Ware next to Bam Adebayo. This defense is going to be pretty good.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler Traded to the Warriors EMERGENCY POD
That's not what we are running around here. Listen, well, you know, it's sort of like we talked about this the last time you were here, Marcus. You know, they were maybe in on Cam Johnson, and of course they were in on Paul George. They've been looking for this, like, wing type of guy who can create – You think about Jimmy Butler with these guys. They already kind of have shooting concerns.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler Traded to the Warriors EMERGENCY POD
Let's talk about some of these other trades that came down before Jimmy Butler. The Wizards. Making some deals. They signed Jonas Valanciunas last summer to a deal that just was perfect to be traded. And what do you know? They trade him to the Sacramento Kings for Sidi Sissoko and two second-round picks. Number one, this is a good deal for the Wizards. They pick up a young player. Try them out.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler Traded to the Warriors EMERGENCY POD
They're actually a French guy, which is great.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler Traded to the Warriors EMERGENCY POD
But they pick up a couple of seconds for Jonas Valanciunas, which is a guy obviously not in their future plans. But for the Kings, hey, this is a pretty good pickup. They're going to have some rebounding.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler Traded to the Warriors EMERGENCY POD
I'm already thinking about the fit on the court, and it's not exactly the most seamless fit.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler Traded to the Warriors EMERGENCY POD
Yeah, well, Zena, look, we talk about how they've got all these guys that are going to be able to shoot, right? Like Zach Levine, Malik Monk, him as a point guard has been excellent. DeMar DeRozan, they can get their shots. And they got two guys that could go out and get rebounds. It's going to be an interesting, high-powered offense, I think, for both reasons.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
You know what? To me, I... Diese ganze Idee von Kawhi Leonard, das ist der Einstieg von einem Mann, der nur chronische Probleme hat. Oder Steph wird ein Spiel spielen, oder Braun wird ein Spiel spielen. Ich glaube nicht, dass das das Problem ist. Für mich sind Spiele wie diese das Problem. Wenn du literally zu einem Spiel zeigst und niemand spielt.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
Nobody on a team full of stars in Los Angeles, by the way. You're in L.A. And look, God bless Bronny James, who pulled up, you know what I'm saying, dropped a smooth little 17, you know, played 30 minutes. And he's, you know, he's got some star quality to him. You saw something. But there's a lot of this in the NBA. Or not a lot. It's just a little bit more than you would want.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
To me, this is a much bigger issue. That on any given night, you might show up and see the G League affiliate playing. It's just too much. It's too much to say, yeah, you know what? Everybody's sitting. We're not doing this. And you know what? Shout out to Dave, though. Because if I'm looking across the lineup and I'm seeing nobody... Ich sitze auch unten.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
Hey, man, I have 5.9 billion. And they sold my offer, man. I had the offer. I don't know why they're going to come over top me like that. You can't mess with that private equity money. Shady, man.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
Usually it's Kyle Lowry when we're having these conversations. Exactly right. First off, man, that thing, well, he fell hard. Hard. Like we heard that in the arena. It's one of them falls where the moment it happens, you immediately react like your body's like, oh, like, ah, that hurt. And he definitely felt that he was down.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
Good news. The good news coming out of it afterwards is Steve Kerr says Steph was trying to get back in the game. Right. Right. And perhaps in another scenario, he would have been able to play. But Rick Celebrini, the Warriors like head of sports performance. Er spielt nicht mit diesem Ding um. Er ist der meiste vorsichtig. Und er ist so, ja, nein. Also jetzt kommt die Frage, er hat einen MRI.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
Er hatte einen sofort nach dem Spiel. Also werden wir die Ergebnisse davon bekommen. Aber die Frage war, war er bereit, war er bereit, sich zurückzukommen, weil es nicht so schlecht war? Es ist einfach wie ein Bruch. Oder hat er versucht, zurückzukommen, weil die Adrenalin geklappt hat? Und nachdem die Adrenalin weg war, wissen wir, wie schlimm das Ding war.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
Audible präsentiert das neue Hörbuch von Sebastian Fitzek. Stell dir dein schlimmstes Date vor und multipliziere es mit Sebastian Fitzek. Ein todsicherer, kein Thriller. Über Liebe, Lügen und letzte Wünsche. Horror Date, das neue Hörbuch von Sebastian Fitzek. Jetzt nur bei Audible.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
Wir haben beide Szenarien gesehen mit Steph. Er hat viel Freude, David. Viel Freude. Er hat es nicht. Er hat es nicht, Spiele zu verlassen. Er hat es nicht, getötet zu werden. Du weißt, es ist alles wie PTSD aus der ersten Phase seiner Karriere, als er immer getötet wurde. Also, wenn Steph spielen kann, wird er versuchen, zu spielen.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
He's going to try to play, so they have to protect him from himself a lot. I see them holding him out at least until the Tuesday game in Miami. They've got several days until Jimmy Butler's return. It's going to be tough to keep him off the court for that one.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
It's a little odd, because... I feel like these are games where as old as they are, you might want to put teams away and chill out in the fourth quarter, right? And look, I'm not saying Steph got hurt because it was a close game, but if you are much more comfortably ahead, you can start sitting guys and you can avoid exposure to this type of stuff.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
But as it was, Steph is driving in a game that they're down and he's got to try to figure out a way
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
to make something happens right and to me that's the type of thing that you would think like hey just beat these guys and we've seen this the entire time even with jimmy even if they even though they win just about all of these games say for you know against denver uh it's it's a fight it's a fight to the end so on one hand it's like you got a 37 year old two 35 year olds you might wanna
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
put some teams away you might not want to let the raptor shoot 60 from the field most of the game yeah the other part is look they got not a lot of new parts not only is jonathan kaminga basically new after missing you know 30 something 30 games Jimmy is new. Quentin Post is now basically in the rotation. So that's kind of new. And now they're all just learning how to win together.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
So the other part is like, yeah, they kind of might need these type of games. So it's a bit of a catch-22. I don't know how to play it, like how to... Ich glaube, wir werden später wissen, ob das schlecht ist oder ob das, was sie brauchen, ist. Aber sie müssen sich auch wirklich komfortabel mit dem, was man ohne Steff tun muss. Weil ich das seit einem Jahr gesagt habe.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
Der Junge ist 37 und du kannst das vergessen, weil der, wie er spielt, der, wie er bewegt. Injuries last a little bit longer. He's dealing with back. He's dealing with knee tendinitis. You just got to be smart about it. He shouldn't be playing 75 games anyway. So, at some point, he's going to have to sit a couple. At some point, Draymond's going to have to sit a couple.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
At some point, Jimmy's going to have to sit a couple. And how do they operate with that? It's not as smooth as you would think with Jimmy when Steph is out. You thought it would be, they got their number two, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
I thought it would be tricky. I actually listened to you on that. A lot of people think, hey, you get another superstar, it's good, but Jimmy's not that kind of player.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
I know, but it's one of the guys...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
He pulled out the hops for that day. He was up there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
Das ist eine Strecke.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
hey you know like he ain't scared of the moment he talks he he'll talk after he hits a three and look the dude is a shooter like he's a real shooter like he's a legit shooter he's knocking him down if you give it to him so i think he's gonna play they just love the way he competes to me they're better like when steph is out of the game the iq part you're talking about yeah plays to their advantage because now you basically got a straight up defense
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
Sie können das manipulieren. Die Schwierigkeit ist, wenn Stefan da ist, und jetzt ist er vorbeigegangen, und alle sind so eingegangen, was zu tun ist. Es schmerzt sie, wenn Stefan da ist. Es kombiniert sie. Ich denke, das hilft. Meine große Frage für sie ist offensiv, This was Kevin Durant's thought process. You're not gonna trick good defense in the playoffs.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
You're not gonna get timely buckets because you waited long enough for a mistake. At some point, you just have to beat your man.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
right and we just haven't seen jimmy do a lot of that he's like he crushes matchups like crazy if he's got a matchup he's crushing you and he's gonna make the right play but we've seen a lot of in the shot clock grenades because they're moving it they're waiting and they're pump faking nobody can turn the corner and it's like ah if we just stick to it long enough at some point they'll make a mistake and if they don't you got the hand grenade
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
I want to see Jimmy say, you know what? I don't care who's in front of me. I'm about to get 30. I don't think he's got it yet.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
Ich stimme zu 1000%.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
I mean, they're untrustworthy. Why should you trust them? Did Jordan break the Knicks, by the way? Oh, no. They haven't been the same since everybody said what's up to him after his beef with Cat. That was the talking point, right? Him and Cat going at it, they arguing. Draymond gets the game winner and night knights him.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
Cat walks off the court and then half the Knicks roster spins and sit there like saying what's up to Draymond, hugging Draymond. Since then, they've taken two brutal losses. It's like, hey... Don't let Draymond find out he broke the Knicks. But isn't this kind of the Knicks though?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
Das Westkosten ist nicht spät.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
I don't know. I think, oddly enough, I think the Knicks are much more a playoff team. There are much more playoffs.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
They're going to be fine. Well, number one, I do think the minutes are a problem. And without the adrenaline of playoffs, of Madison Square Garden going crazy, of the big road matchup, like none of that's happening in Charlotte, right? Like none of that's happening. Matter of fact, let me make sure. They were in Charlotte. That's right. None of that's happening in Charlotte, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
So I do feel like... their their team makeup though like josh hart's value elevates in a whole season match up half court that like some of that stuff i do think they'll figure it out being a mikhail bridges being able to lock in on a guy for a series you know uh to me that that type of stuff they're more built for that and they're not built to like Right. Right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Curry injured in Warriors win + New owners for the Boston Celtics
I feel much better about them upsetting the team in the playoffs than I feel about them winning regular season games they should win handily. They're not mature enough for that as a basketball team.
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
Yeah, I do think Minnesota's better on a road. They're like one of my favorite teams to watch. They're one of them teams that they kind of thrive in that adversity situation, right, where at home that you can feel they're a little bit like the Warriors that way. They bring a lunch pail on the road. At home, they're showing off, right? And that's the issue with Minnesota. They can get tight.
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
They can get tight. And I guess the one the one way I guess I'll disagree with Kenny is that these guys are in elevated roles because there's no cat. And that's why it's been a struggle. These dudes are not number two scorers. They've been in this role all year. But you see the fluctuation of up and down and they still need a guy that if you say you're not getting off today.
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
They don't know where that's coming from. They hope it's by committee. They get a little tight. Randall's been great in these playoffs. He's much better when he's in front of some food. The guy he can take advantage of. He just didn't look great against Draymond in the first game. The question becomes how reliable are these guys? To me,
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
Nikhil Alexander Walker is like the prime example of how badly they needed a second, a number two, because he gets so thirsty. Like he wants to, like, I'm about to get my time. I'm about to do this. And they can do that too much. They almost did it tonight and you start giving games back, right? They let Guy Santos and them cut it to seven, right? Like it got a little nervous energy in there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
You're like, oh, no, he's a good player. Just simply not as good without Steph. So they've got to rethink this whole thing. This is Jimmy's team now. What does it take for Jimmy to be good? And that's probably going to be different players.
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
So I do think they play better on the road. But if you're the Warriors, I feel you. If you can make this a 95-85 game, put them in a situation where you're going back and forth at the end of the game and they have to make shots. They can miss some shots, and they do downplay to teams. They do. They just got to lose one. If you're Steph Curry, you're like, just give me one.
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
Give me one game, and Minnesota is going to have to be a part of giving that one game. I don't think the Warriors are good enough right now to take it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
I'm not sure if Steph's coming back. That's the big question. I think we're looking like, hey, game six.
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
Who do you feel best about? Who do you feel best about? Which team do you feel best about? Boston, Cleveland, the Warriors, Indiana, and probably Oklahoma City. The teams that are like behind the eight ball. Like if Boston comes back or Cleveland coming back or the Warriors trying to survive without Stetson. Or Denver. I don't know if they're behind the eight ball yet.
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
I mean, I guess the reputation of the folklore that it's become is doing whatever it takes to win. And, like, if it's scoring 40, if it's locking a guy up, if it's rebounding, like, he will, like, you know, this is hyperbolic, but he will die on the court, right? Like, we remember the picture of him in the bubble, yeah, looking like that Popeye's meme, right? Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
Like, you know, I had to fight all my life that that kind of the problem is I think he might have to score 40. I think that's what this is going to require. And he's, you know, he's been playing a lot. They've been playing like playoff basketball for two months now. Right. You can see like it's. Like it's taking a toll. He said tonight his, you know, tailbone is still it's not fully healed.
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
He can still feel it. And then on top of that, like the way like he's Steph now. So they're guarding him. They've got Jade McDaniel, like who's a really good defender. They got Rudy behind him. Like they're ready for his little moves. They know what he's going to do. So he's, it's just, it's difficult for him. But to me, I was just asking about, he could play a really good game, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
24 points, nine assists, rebounds, couple steals. And they're not going to win. Right. And it was like, where's playoff Jimmy, right? And like, that's what I'm like, yo, do you, The reputation that you have is, I will will this team to win. I will will a team of unsigned draft picks and G-leaguers to win.
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
He's in Minnesota where the whole storyline was, give me the third string and I'm going to cook your starters and talk trash the whole time. So to me, I was more like... Like now it's obviously a great reputation to have. Like you're basically like Mel Gibson and Braveheart, like a basketball, right? It's like, you know, you're John Snow of the league. He's William Wallace, actually. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
But now they kind of like need you to do that on call, like on cue. So it's like, how is that? And he's saying he can't do it if it gets to that. But increasingly, it looks like he and that's a different like Warriors basketball is. If it's not Steph getting 30, it's the terror of Steph getting 30 that opens other people up.
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
And I think he needs to get to 30, 40 to create the terror that opens everything up. Now, the more likelihood based on where he is in his career and in this season, he needs some other people to get going to open it up so he can get to 30 and 40. And maybe he's sitting at 22 and he closes strong. But he's not getting that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
Like, he needs some other guys to get going to, like, oh, open up this lane. And now they can't focus so much on Jimmy. But it might have to be the other way. It might have to be, like, I'm going to bully 40. I think game three has got to be that. And then hopefully Pajemski makes some shots and, you know, other guys make some shots. It's a tough ask for it.
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
The part that I don't understand about this team that drives me crazy is No, nothing tells you you have to go to the restricted area. They're pressing out so far on the ball, right? So they're passing on the perimeter, like 30 feet out, trying to do dribble handoffs. And then Rudy's at the rim. You know what that means, Zena?
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
All right. You're like, they're driving in the middle and then jumping in the air. And it's like, Oh, where do I go now? When you drive in, take the pull up.
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
And dudes who just, quite frankly, aren't that good at ISO. I was about to say.
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
If you need that much spacing, you ain't that good at ISO. ISO is like, man, let's put us in a phone booth. I'm getting to the cup. That's how Xena used to do it. Yeah, like...
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
I learned you disrespected a run that cut it to seven. Like, come on. Yeah. What? You didn't see Jonathan Kamenga dunk on Rudy Gobert? I did see him dunk on Rudy Gobert. Nah. They were cooked. This offense is just really, really impotent. And... They have to find some way to get some buckets, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
Yeah. I mean, like, like, like Zeno was saying, if you're going to switch to ISO, now Kaminga becomes incredibly valuable because the thing he could do while Steph is out there, like relocating is ISO, right? It's like, right. What you want? What you want? You want Kaminga ISO or you want to hit Steph off this pin there, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
So now it's just like, yo, you need, because the answer is in the paint, right? The answer is in the paint. The money's in the paint. Somebody's got to get to the paint. This is why, you know, everybody was like, Pat Spencer, because no matter what, Pat Spencer is going to get to the paint. He's going to go. What happens when he gets there, but he's getting to the paint, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
So Kamega is one of those guys who can, like, actually get to the paint, especially in certain matchups. So I do think now in this situation – If I'm Jonathan Kamiga, this is where you get your money. This is the mixtape for Restricted Free Agency. It's right here. Now, you just got to craft one of the old stuff. Now, this is the fresh huddle footage. Remember huddle?
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
Y'all, y'all, you need to get this new huddle playoff mix. I didn't even play football, but yes, I remember huddle. So, like... If he can – here's the crazy part. He don't got to do much. He got to get you one game. He got to get you one game. One good game. Be like, oh, okay. Like he played well tonight. He was like 17 points, right? He did play 26 minutes. This wasn't like –
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
Yeah, this wasn't like the Kaminga monster game. And we're like, hey, you should have been playing. Hey, what's going on, right? So imagine if he goes out and drops a 25 or 30. He's one game away from... kind of getting back some of that currency he lost.
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
So I think that's what they're telling them. There was a play tonight. Zina, you might remember it just because I like to watch JK. And when, especially this lady, when he makes a mistake, the first thing he do, he's, He's looking through the bench like, come on, y'all. He, like, tried to make a pass. It got deflected. I think it turned it over. And then he got a strip. And it was a timeout.
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
And he didn't look at the bench once. He, like, slapped his leg in frustration with himself. And he didn't look at the bench at all. Like, he knew he wasn't coming out. Like, he knew that. You know, it was like, you know, when I get home and I'm in trouble. But then my wife got to look at her face. And I'm like, it's over. I'm back in the bed. Like, we...
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
we good we are good right you know some cooking smell good she like the high she says is different i'm like oh we in the building baby let's go it is going that was kabiga tonight he knew he knew what was up he knew like all right you need me now like i'm getting my minutes i can feel comfortable i can play i make a mistake and the bigger thing and this is the warrior's dilemma they can't score
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
So they got to put their best offensive players on. But their best chance is actually to play some defense, right? To say, Minnesota, you're not getting 90. Like, that's how they won game seven. That's how they won game one. You're not getting 90. So they got to try to balance how do you get points, but also – play to the strength of this series, especially without Steph.
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
It was the strength with Steph is Minnesota, you're not getting 90. And it's got to be vital for Jonathan Kamiga to not lose Nas Reed and Dante DiVincenzo on open threes, to not blow an assignment, to not die on the screen when he's going to be the guy. Because I think they're going to put him on Ant. Be like, you're the guy on Ant. Like, I need you to stay in front of Ant, not Bambel.
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
They need somebody for an. I know, but, you know, put him on Gobert.
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
I do feel like Gobert kind of guards himself. He was guarding himself tonight.
The Athletic NBA Daily
The Warriors need Playoff Jimmy Butler
Oddly enough, it's probably going to be with two of their, you know, kind of, they're going to have to dust off a couple of guys that they kind of thought were, you know, out of the mix in Jonathan Kaminga and Trey Jackson-Davis. But it just shows just like how Steph is the solar system. Because with him not in there, like everything changes. Even the players that work, that look pretty good.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
You know, to be honest, like, I've been wanting to do this for years. I mean, at least four or five years. But it's that reason. As a print writer, it's just harder to execute. Like, hey, tell me you're going to do this thing. Tell me how you do this thing, and I'm going to put it in words. It's not really the medium for that. So to me, that was always the hard part.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
And then he did it with, I think he did it with Doris Burke. once during the finals and I gave the Warriors PR guys and, you know, like, come on, man, I've asked you for that, you know?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
So the difficulty was trying to figure out a way to translate this thing into a writing format, which is, you know, how I got the video idea of just like, Hey, play the screen and have him talking over the video and explaining it. So yeah, I've always wanted to, I want to do that about like so much, like about so many things. Like I really want to do one on,
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
pick and roll right like this like you gotta give Mark Price for that though you know what I'm saying I would love to do that but Draymond he likes talking about defense and I do feel like even though it wasn't really a TV setting like he knows I pay enough attention that if I ask him the right question he'll have the right answer all you gotta do is talk to him in his language essentially he's always down to talk about it but you just gotta know like what to ask essentially
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
No, this is like this is the smartest, mostly because he doesn't have all of these great defenders around him. Right. Like that's to be the impressive thing. Like when they were winning championships. Right. He had Andrew Bogut. He had Andre Iguodala and Sean Livingston, right? He had KD. Pete Clay, defensively. I forgot, yeah, Pete Clay, our hound and the point guard. They had these pieces.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
Now he's working with guys like Moses Moody, And, you know, Brandon Projimski and no real center, right? Because they don't really play him with Kavon Looney, who's a really good, you know, inside defender for a guy who's 6'9". He doesn't have a 7-footer next to him or a natural rim protector. So to me, this is like, I mean, I'm with you, man. Like, just do this.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
If you go watch old Draymond, he was so fast. He just, it was this, it was running around and so physical and like an explosive in his kind of way. I don't, like he's not, he never was jumping out of the gym, but there was just a veracity about him. So when you watch him, like 2016 Draymond, when you watch him, you could see the difference physically. So that's my thing.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
Like, yo, how are you doing this? It's akin to like you going out playing with some youngsters, right? And they clearly have the athletic advantage, but you are so far ahead of them intellectually of the game, it makes it hard for them to beat you. So he's still got a lot of juice left. I think he's such a master at wielding his length, his 6'7", 7'2", wingspan. And he's still really strong.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
And as far as centers go, he's very agile. It's not like he's old and beat down. He's just no longer the... He was a small forward playing center. Like those days, it was like, now he's a power forward playing center, right? That's a big difference. But it's upstairs. And it's like, it's a combination of his intellectual capacity.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
Because he said, I don't know if when you listen to it, one of the things that blew me away is I expect him to sit down with a scientist. And he's going to say some stuff I didn't understand. I understood everything he said. It actually sounded pretty basic.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
And what he says, he doesn't think players, obviously he thinks there are dumb players in the league, but he doesn't think most players are dumb. He thinks the difference is, it's not that you don't know what to do. It's how fast you process it. How fast in the moment can you process these seven things that are happening and make a decision? He's like, that's the difference. And I understood that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
having him explain some very simple things, but he's just processing like seven of them at the same time on the fly and making decisions like that. That's the difference. And that to me is like, it's like a CPU that's just advanced.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
No, I do like the KG. And I think you can't go too far back because the separator for the likes of KG and Draymond is they get out on a point guard. You just have to be able to do that. In this day and age, you have to switch onto a guard and be able to hold your own. You cannot be a legit defender if you can't do that. I do think Rudy is the exception because he's so...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
foundational as an anchor, right? Like he's such an elite anchor where automatically if he's on your defense, you're going to have a top level defense just because he's back there. And I do think that's part of a generation of dudes who do not like getting their shot blocked. So they don't even take the shot half the time when they're there. We're seeing this with Wimby.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
Wimby can't be properly understood because people do not take the shot. They don't even attempt it. So I do feel like You can't go too far back with them.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
Actually, I think that's a secondary benefit. To be honest, I don't think they knew this. He wasn't... Oh, you think it was a surprise. No, he wasn't. Moses' big thing is lateral movement. But the one thing that's happening with Jimmy... is they're just more aggressive. And Moses is the point of attack. It's like, all right, you get out there and you just hound the ball, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
Make it hard to get around. And then we'll handle on the back end. I think they've kind of found the sweet spot. People don't know this. That's what happened with Klay. Klay wasn't a great defender. Bart Jackson was like, bro, you are blowing every rotation. Just hound the ball. Right. Jeff found the ball and we'll handle what happens behind you.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
To me, that's why people like Draymond and KG can be underrated because when they do their job the best, it means nothing happened.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
right that's really like 70 of your job is stopping things from happening draymond was just standing the spot and okay now that role man is dead now you don't see anything because the role man never gets the ball right because draymond has left his man and just stood in the spot to kill the play and force you into your second action right and to me that's where draymond separates himself
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
amongst anybody. It's not that he's just stopping a guy. He used to do this all the time to me. You would have loved it because he'd be in the locker room saying, I'm going to do this in the first quarter to set up when I'm doing a fourth quarter. And he'd say, he's going to do it and then it'll happen. And that's what he's doing out there.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
He is literally directing people where they want them to go. And he, he's doing it with like Luca. He's not like doing it against like Dennis Schroeder. He's like, I know what Luca wants to do. And I'm gonna take that away. I don't make him go for there. Right. Like he's doing that. Like almost like, Not intentionally, but as the game plan.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
He's like, alright, I know this is what they want, so here's the things I'm going to do to mess that up and make them go a completely different direction. As a game plan, not on a play, but systemically, that to me is just another level. And I think KG, those are the comps to me. It's not going to be the Dwight Howards who just stand up to him and swat everything. It's going to be
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
essentially the point guard. He's a middle linebacker of the defense. He's Ray Lewis, right? It's not how we typically think about defense.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
TV is too much money, man. Come on. You're right. Yeah. I don't know. Okay.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
Man, this is tough, dude. Mostly because so many of like, normally we just go, who are the best teams defensively? Right. And all those teams, they don't have like a guy. They got a lot of guy. Oklahoma City is the best defense in the league. Right. Can you say it's Chet? Of course, Chet is a major part of that. But also it's Lou Dort and Cason Wallace. Right.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
And like how they how they operate schematically. a part of me wants to go with Evan Moglen, but I'm not like, is he having that kind of year defensively? Like it's tough to find these, these kind of like singular defensive forces. And I think that's why Draymond is in the mix. Cause if you look around a league, it's some great team defenses, largely inspired by how he plays defense, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
Like that is just the emphasis he's created for people to focus on defense. But it's really difficult. Normally, we can just go to one of the top teams and, like, who's anchoring that defense? But these teams are so thorough defensively, like, from, you know, one through seven, one through eight. Like, it's hard to single it out. So, I want to say, like, a Chet.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
But, I mean, Chet missed a lot of time. He missed too many times. Yeah, he missed too many times. Like, our man Thompson's incredible. Are we really about to see? I know.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
here's one that I feel like maybe to me, like, yeah, it's going to be tough. Draymond is such a singular force. You're going to have a hard time finding somebody who has that, that's that kind of like isolated impact. But I wonder, Drew Holiday.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
We don't use career awards anymore.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Luka’s worst game as a Laker + Draymond’s defensive mind
Can we get like a monster's ball award for Drew Holiday? We're not doing that.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
Man, Kuminga is the best, second best scorer on this team. I'm hesitant to put him over Wiggins, but because Wiggins has just been doing it for like a decade, right? That's the only advantage. But Kaminga's ability to get downhill, to draw fouls and get to the line. I mean, he's developed this like inside out dribble that when it works, it's like some straight old school hot sauce type move.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
Like you ready to go crazy when he does it. And his three ball is better than people would think it is, right? You would think, I mean, he could dent a couple backboards if you get him on a bad night. But his actual percentage, especially when he takes good shots, is good.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
I mean, I just think they've gotten to a point where you're just looking on the roster like, yo, who could go get 20 when I want to? Like, I don't care who you got. Let me go get 20. Who is that? Kameka's one of them dudes. Now, it might not be how the Warriors like him to do it. Like, it's not based on passing and cutting and all that. But if you just say, hey, Kameka, go get 20.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
Like, I trust him to go do it a little bit more than just about anybody else on the team.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
Opportunities and experience and freedom makes you grow in a little way. Yeah.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
Now... Let me leave Steve Kerr alone.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
Listen, Zena, I need Trace in three years to walk through this thing with a sequin shirt and sunglasses. You know what I'm saying? Like, I need him to get to that level where he's like, can't nobody see me, right? I need to walk in there with five women, right? Like, in a trench coat.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
I need Trace to get to that level. He is the perfect... It's going to be the perfect story arc of the humble, shy guy who comes in, doesn't want to ruffle anybody's feathers, dump on a few people, and next thing you know...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
it don't stink no more right like you like that dude so i like they've been trying to get this out of him like this aggression a bit of anger like they've been trying to like get that out of him because he just plays better he doesn't catch the ball cleanly all the time but when he just catches it and grows up strong like they just don't have it and that's one of the reasons it stands out they just don't have news like this other team who go up and dunk it right so i do think that's
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
If he can do that consistently, this league needs people who can finish inside. Like that's, it's paramount. And if he can do it, I actually, I actually like Kaminga as a, as a solid NBA role player. You know, the crazy part is his dad is Dale Davis. Like he needs to tap into the file. You know what I'm saying? It's happened. Yeah. Pops will knock it out in these streets. You know what I'm saying?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
I mean, he looked like Embiid, right? He looked slow, but he looked like he could move when he wanted to. To me, the biggest issue with Embiid physically was defensive. Like, they just... fill him out in a paint like it's a rat. That's just where he is. He looks like the same Embiid he's looked like for the last couple of years where mobility is going to be an issue.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
He has actually a pretty good first step for a dude with, like, a transformer knee. But it feels like he was catching guys off guard. He was drawing fouls just with the quick sudden move, man, the spin back. But you just don't see any of that on defense. I think that was one of the big problems tonight. Like, defensively, he's just not the force he used to be.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
And I do feel like that's a matter of physical. Because you can just pull him out the paint and That's pretty much it. I mean, if he's at the rim and you go there, he'll block it. But you can work around it in that sense because you can see he's saving kind of his eggs for the offensive end. Well, that's how you get the MVP.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
Yeah, I don't think it fits. I'm a big... I really like Paul George. He's one of my favorite players to watch because when he's playing both ends, he's actually really good.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
With the Clippers, yeah. I loved watching him guard clay. Just the way he gets into you. He's, to me, engaging on both ends of the court in a way that is appealing, I think. Aesthetically, he's a pleasing basketball player to watch. But they just got too many dudes who need the rock. It just doesn't work. He's not really an off-ball player.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
You would think as an older player, like he was spot up more, but it's a lot of ISO. It's a lot of ball pounding. And even the French guy, the big guy, like he's another one. That's like four dudes. Yeah, I was telling you. Yeah, I was telling you. That's like four dudes who were like, give me the ball. I mean, they're all very cookie monstering with the rock, right?
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
It's just like, give it to me and I'm going and that's it. Yeah. I don't know if he fits that way. It's surprising to see a Nick Nurse offense look this predictable and kind of rudimentary. But I just think it's the product of having so many guys who just have to get seven dribbles before they get a shot off. I don't think it's a good fit at all, actually.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
You know, listen, I'm reaching a little bit. Let's talk about the Sixers. That's a bad New Year start right there. It is a terrible one.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
I think on a one-off tip, I do think so because you know why? They play defense. They can play defense. When they get it together, they could lock in. I don't think they do it all the time, but They can lock in. If you just look at the pieces, they got a ball pressure and maxi. I still think Paul George can guard.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
Caleb Martin, he's not like a lockdown guy, but he can get into you and they can just make you uncomfortable. They don't really have the depth to keep it up, but if you can be good enough to get to the end of the game, this is what Philly's set up for. At the end of a playoff series, you got a bunch of dudes who go get a shot. Let's play off basketball.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
I don't think they'd be a threat to win three series. But I think they can win one, right? I do think... It's going to be a matchup, right? Yeah, they can exhaust. It would take everything they got. They could upset a team, but then they could cook the next round, right? Like, that's probably how it'll go, just because I don't think if these knees and body will hold up.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
But I do feel like it's a team that is a little bit...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
So unlike you, my new year has not been off to a good start. So I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm just kind of like finding my way. I'm going to let the new year wind take me where it goes right now. I'm going to go figure out a way to write about Stephen Curry, because that's usually a good way to spend my time. Right. But you might be seeing something about Jimmy Butler coming.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
Yeah, today's the second. I'm giving you to the fifth, and there's no more happening. There it is. Like, either got off to a great start or didn't. That's on you.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
I mean, if he's making shots, he's fine, right? That's basically the Warriors. They won. They looked great because other people made threes. Steph made three. I mean, to me, the baseline is Steph's got to get 30. Like, that's where it begins. and it's a little harder to get 30 at 36 and with the cast he's got around them, so it's tougher, but this is how it looked when they were 12-3.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
Everybody was making shots. It was great. It was kumbaya. People were seawalking and chasing her. It was all good. That's how it was going down. They've been so rough offensively that you knew one of these days was coming. Eventually, they would catch him and Philly's D kind of, it kind of helped them get there. So I think it's a one-off, right? I think it's a one-off.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
It was massive, right? They've been waiting for this. The funny part is Dennis Schroeder...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
absolutely cooks the Warriors right he's been cooking the Warriors for years so when he showed up they were like happy to get him like but this wasn't like this wasn't Germany's Dennis Schroeder right this wasn't the Dennis Schroeder who's been cooking him he's been struggling offensively his shot wasn't there And obviously, that's acceptable, right? It's fine. It's a new team.
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
He's learning new offense. That was understandable, so to speak. But they did get him because they needed buckets. So he's kind of got to get buckets. It's kind of important. And tonight, he was a bucket getter. He made his open threes. He drove. He penetrated. They just need it so badly. So, I mean, you could just see how much of a relief it was that Dennis Schroeder was producing. It was...
The Athletic NBA Daily
Jimmy Butler has lost his joy | Steph Curry & Warriors roll Sixers
massive boon to the offense when, when he's going well, it matters a lot.