The Bill Simmons Podcast - Ep. 68: Andrew Bogut

Episode Date: February 24, 2016

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons chats with Golden State's Andrew Bogut about GSW's team-first mentality (8:00), tricks to setting screens (12:00), the murky future of the center position (15:00), GSW's beautiful passing (17:00), Steph Curry's evolution as a superstar/celebrity (24:00), Steve Kerr's coaching style (32:30), the chase for 73 wins (38:00), and whether Bogut's Australian comrade Ben Simmons will change his mind and play in the 2016 Olympics (48:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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And you know what else is going to be fun? Having Andrew Bogut on the podcast. Let's go. Yeah. Clear enough for you. All right. As promised from the best team I've seen in 20 years, Andrew Bogut, you are the first Australian that we've ever had on the BS Podcast. Congratulations. I'm highly honored. I figured you would be.

Your team is 50-5. You were on a variety of lottery teams, half-decent teams. You're on a good team. You're on, obviously, a championship team last year. half-decent teams. You're on a good team. You're on, obviously, a championship team last year. 50-5 is insane. I mean, just walk me through what it's like to just walk to the arena and say the odds are we are winning this game. Well, like you said, I've definitely taken some lumps, you know,

with some teams and haven't experienced this very often. So first and foremost, we cherish it, and we don't take it for granted. We know that this doesn't happen very often and that's the main reason why we're trying to keep this thing rolling. But the main reason for it, in my opinion, is continuity in the NBA, stability with GMs and coaches. It just doesn't really happen for two or three or four years. Either a GM's getting fired, a coach is getting fired,

players are getting traded, mistakes in the draft, whereas our franchise has made all the right moves the last four years and kept the core group together. That just doesn't happen very often, and I think it's proof that if you're patient and make small little tweaks every season and get good guys in the locker room, you can have a lot of success.

In Milwaukee, would you have four coaches before you got traded? I had three. Three, Kristowiak, Stotts, Skiles. Yep, yep, yep. How many GMs? Two. And roughly how many teammates passed through there you were there like five

six years man i couldn't tell you i mean that's that's the tough thing about small market teams yeah you know they become a revolving door of people on the last year of their contracts um or people trying to make it a one-stop shop to get their numbers up and then move on to a bigger better thing so you have to feel for the small market teams sometimes in that situation. But, you know, in that context, it's just the way it goes. You had the Fear the Deer season. That was kind of fun. Got a little momentum in the crowd.

That was a great year. And then we go out and, you know, Kurt Thomas was a huge part of our lineup. Luke Ridenour and a couple of other guys. And then we just let them walk, you know, for basically nothing to other teams. And then they tried to be too smart and brought in some guys that didn't mesh chemistry-wise. And it all just went downhill after that.

So that's a prime example of sometimes being happy with what you have and then just trying to make minor tweaks rather than trying to hit a home run and try to hit a home run and unfortunately it got caught. Well, you're kind of a chemistry expert because your Warriors team has some of the best chemistry I've ever seen. I actually went and saw you on Saturday night against the Clippers and I've been going to NBA games for 40-plus years.

You can see it when a team is locked in with each other and pulling for each other and guys jumping off on the bench and the way guys talk to each other during timeouts and free throws. It's just when it's there, you can feel it. But you've also had it the other way. When could you feel it with this team? When did you know that you can feel it but you've also had it the other way when could you feel it with this team when did you know that you guys had it um i think probably you know later in mark jackson's tenure so probably you know three years ago um we knew we had the talent to beat anyone

on a given night we just didn't have you know kind of the experience and and and the direction to do it um and then obviously steve came along um and it wasn't you know smooth sailing with him you know obviously early on um in the championship year you know we we obviously were trying to cut down turnovers so he was getting on a lot of guys and yeah i'm trying to change trying to change the way we play especially offensively um but But, yeah, it's what wonders. I think the guys like each other in the locker room. We have a young group. And I think most of the guys on this team have figured out that, hey,

if we win another championship or go deep into the playoffs, everyone gets rewarded. And that's what people don't understand. You can put up 20 and 10 on a team that goes 500 and doesn't make the playoffs. But if you put up 10 and 5 on a championship team, theoretically these days you're going to get paid the same amount of money or probably even more being on a winning team. So guys have started to see that, and then you see Clay get paid.

You see, obviously, I signed an extension. Vester's probably going to get his extension. Harrison's coming up. They're bringing Andre. Draymond Green gets a big extension. So everyone's going to get rewarded just from team play, which is a great sign. I thought last year before you guys won the title, Steve Kerr comes in, and one of the first things he did was he wanted to bring Iguodala off the bench,

which in a 30-team league NBA, there's only so many good players. Not something you would typically do with somebody like him, but the fact that he bought in I thought was a big thing. And then you see David Lee lose his minutes to Draymond. He's a supportive teammate off the bench. You're playing sometimes, other times, because of the matchups you're out. Is it like a domino effect?

Like, how does that work with guys just starting to sacrifice? Does it take one guy to do it, or is it just a team thing? i think it's a team thing i mean what andre did was was commendable obviously a starter his whole career and um you know was an all-star in philly i believe for a year or two and put up big numbers um and then for him to buy into that you know when a guy like that says okay i'm gonna accept this role and do my best in it, no one else has any excuse to gripe and moan and bitch. So I think that kind of set the tone. Obviously, David Lee was a huge part of our run. But Draymond obviously took that starting spot,

but David Lee still came off the bench and provided a spark for us. As you said, later on in the finals, I didn't play the last two games, but was more than supportive and understood the match-ups and what was working. So there's games, as you said, there on in the finals, I didn't play the last two games, but was more than supportive and understood the matchups and what was working. So there's games, as you said, there's games we go big, there's games we go small. And the best thing about that is, you know, for the casual observer and the casual fan, if you look at our bench and you see guys supporting each other, like you said, that works wonders. Everyone thinks the Warriors are a small ball team.

But you're about as old school of a center as it gets. Why do you fit in with this team? Would other centers not fit in as a specific set of skills that you bring to the table? When you look at the other guys in the league, why is it you? I think just being part of a ball movement offense that's predicated on ball movement and reads. I like to think that I'm a pretty high IQ player out there

that can read back cuts and make the right pass. I'm not a guy that plays well on an isolation team, so that's number one. Defensively, obviously, protecting the basket first and foremost and just being a physical presence, using my fouls, setting hard screens. You know, when you've got Steph and Clay, you know, if I can try and get a piece of their man's body

and set a good hard screen, a lot of times I'm going to be the one that's open and I get easy dunks or lob dunks. You see that a lot in our games. So just being physical out there, being a presence. And then obviously when we go small, it's like flicking a switch because we go from a bit more of a lockdown, defensive, physical team. When we go small, we're like clicking a switch because we go from a bit more of a lockdown defensive physical team.

When we go small, we're all of a sudden running and gunning and full throttle. So I really like the fact that we can play different styles. And our game the other night in Atlanta was a prime example of it. We need some stops in the fourth quarter and won the game with our defense instead of our offense. So it's a very multifaceted team. You mentioned your screens. My old colleague, Zach Lowe, once wrote a whole piece about, I think he called it the bastardry of your screens.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The little tricks that you have, what are some of those tricks? Just sitting on hard screens. Look, I mean. Come on, it's more than hard screens. Look, it's all about spacing so if you know a guy like Steph who currently needs you know that extra millisecond to space I just try to make sure that you know when I hit my guy he doesn't I don't I kind of don't give up that screen until he actually has to run a route all the way around me. So a lot of guys will screen and then slip out of it and roll.

I'll actually screen, hit the guy, and then actually just make sure that he has to take the alternate route. So by the time he does that, with the way Steph shoots the ball and the spacing that he needs, he's free to get open. So just trying to be physical and hit guys. Guys don't like it. I know guys don't like playing against me, but I really don't care.

Have you ever been punched in a game? Have I ever what? Have you ever been punched? Has somebody ever just gone mad thinking of swinging you? I've been swung at a couple of times, but usually you get swung at when people run in to break the fight up.

Right. There's no chance of the swing actually connecting. It's more of a TV, Hollywood-type punch. but I'm more forward to someone to have a swing they can have a swing it's whatever yeah most of that as Jalen Rose would say most of the NBA altercations are hold me back fights where guys are just getting held back yes they are each other yeah and then you know it's again the more you know the more they get held back, the more fired up they get. Hold me back!

Yeah, definitely interesting. It's definitely interesting. You know, it is what it is. I'm guessing Australia maybe doesn't work that way. Not so much. I mean, if it's going to happen, it's going to happen. So, you know, look, these days, man, to throw a punch and miss in this league is going to cost you a boatload of money. So, you know, it's just silly to do so,

especially if you miss because then you're more pissed off that you missed. You didn't get your money's worth. But, yeah, it's not like the good old days where people said, you know, you could swing and get a game suspension these days. You're really going to get it. And, you know, the NBA doesn't want to be looked upon as a league that's having guys swing swinging all the time. You were the number one overall pick in 2005. You're kind of the bridge between, you know,

the 90s had Ewing and Olajuwon and all the, it was just the David Robinson's, the heyday of centers. And then your decade, the center started to phase out. And now the center is becoming kind of a dinosaur. What happened? Why can't centers, why can't centers make it anymore? center started to phase out and now the center is becoming kind of a dinosaur what happened why can't centers why can't centers make it anymore uh good question look i mean i think it's first and foremost a guard orientated league guard dominated league um and obviously we know the guards bring the ball up and guards shoot the ball predominantly so a lot a lot of um a lot of big

guys obviously need the ball thrown to them so the talented offensive guys the few that we have left in the league that really get a lot of touches that they need the ball thrown to them. So the talented offensive guys, the few that we have left in the league, they really get a lot of touches. They're getting their touches, but they still need the ball thrown to them. But there's just so many talented guys these days too. There's a lot of guys, point guards now, that are putting up 30-plus points on any given night. Guys that can really shoot the ball at all positions. So I guess it's changed.

The game's definitely sped up, as you know. Analytics plays a huge part in it now to a lot of franchises, and a lot of teams want to play that high-tempo pace with defense. So I don't think the head of the spot's going to die completely. You still need to grab rebounds and have someone protecting the rim at certain times in games, but it's definitely transitioning a little bit. Yeah, it seems like the biggest change

is there's always going to be room for one big man, but what seems to have happened is the two big men together seems to be going away. They used to play you and David Lee a lot, and now all the advanced metrics would say, no, you actually shouldn't play those two guys together because the other team can space them out and it's too easy to score.

And that's just kind of gone. Do you even play with a power forward anymore when you're out there? Is it just you and Draymond maybe that's it? Yeah, but look, Draymond's a hybrid. He can almost guard one through five. Right, he doesn't count. Yeah, so it is changing. A lot of people want that spacing.

And, look, the days are gone of just dribbling it up and having, even if you had a talented big man, of just throwing it inside and then trying to, you know, are they going to double and, you know, is the ball going to get swung? I think a lot of teams preach now, you know, we're trying to move the ball around the horn two or three times. Most NBA defenses, if you can move the ball around that three-point line side to side two or three times, you're generally going to break down after 12 or 14 seconds.

I mean, that's what the stats say, and that's, you know, that's true. So we usually end up getting a back cut, a layup, an open three. So a lot of teams want to move the ball rather than just running down and dumping it into a big guy, which would be another reason why, even the initial question, is big guys are obviously not as instrumental as they once were. Well, it almost seems like either you have to be a passer like you or you have to be somebody that can shoot from outside unless you're somebody who's dominant inside like a young Shaq,

something like that. But I think you guys don't get enough credit. I was thinking about this Saturday night. And the New Yorker wrote about this two weeks ago. So it's not like it was an original thought. But, you know, I think you get stereotypes sometimes as this crazy three-point shooting team and Steph and all this stuff. Your passing is just beautiful.

The whole team. And, you know, I grew up the bird celtics and especially the 86 celtics was their best team and the passing was so good on that team it was always the extra pass and you guys have kind of reached that level when did when do you think that happened what point of the season um i think it started honestly last season um the first month or two was a struggle um we're trying to limit turnovers with more ball movement, and it just wasn't working. We're actually turning it over more.

But credit to Coach Kerr and the coaching staff. We drill every day. A lot of those things that you see in games, back cuts and moving the ball side to side and all that stuff. We do that five on zero. We do it live at practice. We do it during training camp. We did, I still remember the first training camp we had under Coach Kerr.

We were doing basic passing drills into the passing net, you know, like left-hand passes, right-hand, okay, overhead. Yeah. And doing dribbling drills through cones. And a lot of guys were pissed because they're like, hey, you know, we're NBA guys. We don't need to be doing this stuff. We did this all summer. But Coach Kerr was like, hey, we're NBA guys, we don't need to be doing this stuff, we did this all summer.

But Coach Kerr was like, no, we're going back to basics, you guys turn the ball over way too much. If we can limit our turnovers and just turn it over four or five times less a game, we're going to win a championship. And guys were kind of like, oh, we don't want to do these petty little drills. But after a couple of weeks,

I think guys understood what he was trying to relay on to us and it was genius in a way because it's just instilling the little things, make the right pass, get to a jump stop and hit your team out on the chest so you can get a nice rhythm into his jumper and it just worked out perfectly. So I'd probably say we really bought into that probably post-New Year, the championship year, and since then it's just been automatic. We don't even think about it anymore, all that passing that we do. It just happens to the click of your fingers. Well, for somebody like you, it's in your DNA,

and I think it's in Steph's DNA and maybe a couple other guys, but one of the many things I think is so interesting about basketball is how when you have a certain style or you have certain guys who think that way and play that way and they're doing it day after day after day, all of a sudden by osmosis, it hits the other teammates. So I'm sure there's guys on your team that on a different team maybe wouldn't see it that way. But it just it's it's amazing how it just spreads. And then, you know watching saturday night dream on it's going to take a three the clippers defense stops like he's going to take a three steps under the basket and at the last second he changes his mind and just hits him for the layup

that's like for me the last level of basketball when you're thinking that way and uh it's it's just so cool to watch you must just be thrilled because that's that's as i said in your dna right oh you're 100 right look i'm and and saying that it actually trickles down to guys that that aren't used to doing that it does um i'm not going to mention names but you know the last couple seasons you have we'd have a guy that that you know would kind of catch the ball and hold it and maybe we'll try to go one-on-one before anything um whereas now it's just automatic it's like you've got guys that weren't known as great

passers or making the right play, and making the right play and making great passes and swinging the ball and it's just fantastic to watch. You know, Anderson Berger, who obviously was picked up by us a couple of days ago, was sitting on the bench yesterday in the Atlanta game, I think it was

towards the end of the second quarter, and he looked at me and he was like, man, this is so different to where I was. You guys move the ball so well. Right. Everyone just passes up a good shot to get a great shot, and that kind of hits you like, hey, yeah, this is normal to us, but for someone from the outside looking in on a different team, it's like we're one of know, what are these guys doing?

How are they doing it? But it's, yeah, we kind of see that as normal now. We're taking a quick break to discuss our friends at SoFi. It's a new wave company that is reimagining how to succeed in the financial world. SoFi realized that banks aren't going to fix banking, so they brought some Silicon Valley smarts to figure out a better way.

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Terms and conditions apply. NMLS number 112-1636. Again, that is SoFi.com. Back to Andrew Bogut. Do you need an Australian teammate on the team now that Barbosa and Verjao are together? Do you feel threatened by this? A little bit. They started with the Portuguese already,

so yeah, we need some subtitles. I understand what they're saying, but it's great. From what I've heard, I spoke to Dele Vadova, and he shot me a text and said, Anderson's a great guy, and that I love him.

And look, I don't think it's going to affect anything. He's going to help us if anything. You need Della Dova. You need Della Dova. You need to get him on your team so you can at least balance it out. That might be easier said than done, that one. Put some enemies in our locker room. Yeah.

Oh, that's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Was that awkward for you? It is what it is. Look, I mean, I respect Daly. You know, he plays hard and people think he's dirty, but I know he's actually a great fella and we get along really well. I know he plays physical on the court,

but obviously when you play a team in a final series, there's all the pressure and emotion. There's stuff that goes on that leaves both sides with a sour taste in their mouth, but that's a part of a final series. Yeah. Well, I'm sure other people feel that way about Draymond, right?

He seems to rub some teams the wrong way. Everybody has a team like that. Myself. I mean, I got voted in some petty little poll that I'm one of the dirtiest in the NBA. So, you know, it is what it is. You're not dirty.

You're just, you know, you're what it is. You're not dirty. You're just, you know, you're physical. That's my point. I mean, yeah, I couldn't really give two craps about it. You can swear. It was anonymous sources, 24 from the Eastern Conference. So there's a lot of weight in that survey. It's sensational, isn't it? I mean, I could go and make a survey about anything I want

if I asked the right people, I guess. This is a two-part question. One, when did you realize Steph was special? Denver Series, it was my first year in Golden State, so it would have been 12-13. The Denver Series, we're a sixth seed, they're a third seed. We're picked to get swept by everybody, and we beat them 4-2.

And he just, you know, started to show, you know, three, four-minute spurs where he scores 18 points, you know. And that's when you're kind of like, wow, this guy's a game changer. Not only is he a scorer, he can change a game in three or four minutes. And we have two of those guys with him in clay. But that's when I realized that, you know, he's And we have two of those guys with him and Clay. But that's when I realized that he's going to be one of the best to play the game. All right, second part.

When did you realize Steph was famous? And not just typical basketball famous, but like famous. Famous? He's like a real celebrity now. Yeah, I feel for him sometimes, man. He can't go anywhere. It's really's really really bad um and we're traveling roadshow right now obviously mainly because of um so every hotel we go to is is your guy sneaking onto our floors and all kinds of stuff going on that that uh sometimes a little hit a little close to home for security reasons um but yeah he gets

he gets you know he gets followed a lot. Yeah, like I said, man, there's not one exact day. It just kind of happened. Yeah, like I said, he can't do a whole lot. He's lost a lot of the needs to just go places by himself and get things done. He's got to take security with him everywhere now. And that's, you know, that's because he's the best player in the NBA right now.

He's the MVP. But Steph does embrace it. He's very, very humble about it. He's been a great teammate to be around. Yeah, because, I mean, MJ to me is still the apex of this, just going to those games, especially when he came back after baseball and those guys would walk out,

you know, before the game and just everybody's staring at MJ and you could feel it. You know, he was, he just seemed so famous. Everybody taking pictures of him and all that stuff. I think LeBron was about 80% there. I, you know, the last two Cleveland years, maybe a little bit in Miami. Now I noticed that on Saturday with Steph, where he comes out for the game, people are just watching him. And he goes, he's talking to somebody during a free throw. People are just staring at him.

It's just got to be strange to live your life that way. I guess you get used to it. I've never seen fans come and watch warm-ups before. It's incredible. For an hour. They literally show up at like

90 minutes before 10 I don't even know how they get in because I thought the door was open at 60 but yeah because I shoot right after so I come out

and like sometimes I'll come out and I'm like jeez what's going on like I'm used to shooting in an empty gym at my shooting time you know

people are just watching Steph and he's making shots and you can actually hear the crowd like you know intently watching his warm up and looking down shots from just over half court and you hear the oohs and you can actually hear the crowd like you know intently watching his warm-up they're knocking down shots from just over half court you hear the who's in the crowd it's um pretty amazing stuff have you gotten used uh as a basketball player have you got

gotten used to watching your teammates jack up shots from 27 28 30 feet 32 feet just in the course of a game casually because when when I watch that on Saturday, I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing just somebody pull up from six feet behind the line and just casually make a three. Yeah, it's interesting. It's interesting. Some coaches would lose their mind, but look, that's the confidence that Coach Kerr has in those guys

to shoot the ball. If you notice, a lot of times I'm grabbing the defensive rebound and out leading it, and I'm not even over half court because I know exactly what's going to happen so I kind of can reserve some energy for defense but yeah it'd be beautiful to watch you know and it is

when you're on the bench watching it and for the crowd to witness what they're witnessing maybe the other night in Atlanta some of the shots Steph made low shot clock positions, unbelievable stuff. And he practices all those shots that he takes that people see him making, the tough shots. He practices them every day and gets better and better at it.

Yeah, he's reached the last stage of shooting where the other team is laughing on the bench, like just in disbelief, like, oh, my God, what is happening? Because they burn it at all times. Yeah. Yeah yeah you see guys like tapping their teammates leg on the bench like what are we supposed to do like physically how would you compare yourself to where you were like seven years ago physically um look i had some some um tough injuries um yeah you know i've got the injury stigma,

but fair or unfair, who knows? Really, really not the issue. My injuries were all high impact. So, you know, a career-changing injury for me was the elbow coming off a rim and, you know, basically shadowing my whole right arm, which, you know, I broke two or three fingers, wrist on both sides, my elbow,

and then fully extended it. Then the following season, played with a floating bone in my elbow that they told me wasn't a floating bone, but then had the surgery and they pulled out a floating bone. Ugh. Yeah, look, I mean, I had some tough ones

and then obviously got back from that. It took me about two good years to actually start feeling confident again in the elbow. And then the lockout year, I ended up getting undercut by Kyle Lowry, who shoots a floater and then tries to chase it down. And I went to block it and he undercut me. I landed on his foot and snapped my ankle. So, you know, without those two injuries, I'm playing 90% of career games if possible. Unfortunately, I missed a fair few games,

but my body feels much better the last three or four years. I've played many more games and been part of a championship team. It just goes to show that sometimes there's tough times throughout your career, but you stick it out and it couldn't have worked out better. You've had some bad luck injuries. I think some guys are injury prone and other guys just had bad luck. I would put you in the latter category. I think you have a screen ready for Kyle Lowry at some point over the next 12 months.

Maybe one with the right hip. Maybe just get it out there. Is it fair to say that you guys were tight in the first two final games? That we were the two teams, you mean? No, that the Warriors, that your team in the first two finals games were tight. Possibly. Possibly. Look, I mean, it's a final series. You know, LeBron and a couple of the other guys on their team have experienced it before. We hadn't had anybody, I don't think, that even went to a conference final.

To get to that stage and then you realise on ESPN, NBA news is just you. It's Golden State and Cleveland. They're not talking about anybody else. There's no Eastern Conference, Western Conference. A lot of extra attention and pressure. Obviously, we struggled a little bit.

Our flow offensively wasn't great. We got a 1-1 and went back to Cleveland and back against the wall we made a few adjustments and got it done. Yeah, because I always thought, I think Draymond is the litmus test guy for your team. I knew you guys were going to win on Saturday night

just in the first two minutes, just watching him kind of bounce around with that happy look on his face. I think partly because Jay-Z was there, but his chest is out. He's yelling, he's yapping. And that's when I know you guys are locked in. And in that finals, he wasn't like that until game four. And then when he was like that in game four, I was like, oh, here we go.

This, this is done. This is, they, they have it now. It seems like the whole team feeds off him. And I also, it seems like he's important to Steph from a swagger standpoint because I'm not sure Steph is naturally like that. What do you think? Yeah, look, he's the heart and soul of our team and the motor. So when he's out there talking trash and messing with the crowd

and going crazy at referees, we know it's eventually going to turn for us whether we're down or whether we're up in that game. Right. He just does so many things that, you know, he's getting his stats now. He's getting the triple-doubles. But even before that, he does so many things that don't show up. He's got a high basketball IQ, and that's a staple of our team as well. Most of the guys have a high basketball IQ and that's a staple of our team as well.

Most of the guys have a high basketball IQ and he came through a great system with his Michigan State and just goes to show you that his first couple of years in his career, he was letting you know whether he was a three or a four and where to play him. He was playing limited minutes, getting DMPs and look at him now, it's a sensational story and he deserves it.

He works his butt off in the gym and in the weight room. Did he celebrate the most out of anyone on the team after you guys won the title, or was it someone else? I have him as a minus 200 favorite. Draymond, yes, he was up there. Smokey was Klay Thompson, though. Oh, Klay Thompson. I didn't have him.

He was like a plus 500 candidate. Oh, Smokey, Yeah, big Smokey. He's a great fellow at clay. He's had a good time. So he was enjoying the pools there in Vegas. That was very good. But Draymond's definitely, you know, he's the MVP off the court for us for sure. So you went to Vegas after you won the title for how many days as a team?

We went for for what was it i don't know saturday night it was like we got in friday night friday evening after the parade and then we left sunday morning you look you don't want to you don't want to you don't want to spend more than a night or two in vegas after a championship no i would guess that's a cool course i want to bail me out of jail or something. But it was great. It was just go there. And the best part of it was it was just the fellas. So it goes to show our team, again, being close. We wanted to celebrate it with just the fellas.

You know, it's a long season. Yeah. Ups and downs. And to go and celebrate it with the guys that you went through those bumps and grinds with and have some drinks over and just let loose was sensational. I'm a huge Steve Kerr fan. I've known him for 10 years. And I always thought he was going to make for a great coach

and said this repeatedly in various platforms. I'm wrong all the time, but this is one of the times I was right. One of the reasons I thought he was going to be great was because he played for Phil Jackson, he played for Popovich, and he played with MJ, and he was in all these huge situations and learned all these different lessons about teamwork and chemistry and winning and what it takes and all that stuff. When did you buy into the whole Steve Kerr thing?

Probably from the start. Like I said, that story about doing the fundamentals, I think it was something we needed to wake us up to say, hey, you guys are talented. You guys should be a championship team. There's no excuse

for you guys not to be contending. Here's the basic drills we're going to do. And he stuck to his guns. Was there a moment during the playoffs when you guys

were unsettled or whatever and all of a sudden he came in as the calm guy with five rings and gave some speech or some note of wisdom or anything that you were like,

oh yeah, this guy's won five titles? A little bit, but he's always so even keeled. It's amazing. When he gets angry, we know we're really messing around. But nothing specific. He's not a rah-rah guy he's not a he's not a quote guy he's not a guy that's you know gonna try and get guys revved up um which is the beauty of our team yeah you know he kind of puts us in positions to be successful and then lets us lets us kind of um

you know be you know judge ourselves upon it and police ourselves um So not really, but we just, like you said, you can't not respect the guy that has played with the greatest players in the game. He's played for the greatest coaches in the game. And I think he was just smart with it all. Even when he was commentating, I believe he said he used to take notes, even just talking to coaches and stuff. So a very smart guy.

And you could tell he was just slowly um you know building his portfolio for coaching much like he would with property slowly getting the best of everyone he talks to in different teams and different systems and and use it all to his advantage and you get what you get now i was annoyed last year when people made it seem like oh this would have happened no happened no matter who the coach was. These guys were so good. It's like, are you guys watching this? Their offense is completely different. What are you guys talking about?

And not just that, but I don't know if it works in the NBA when a coach is doing the look at me, look at me, watch my big speech during the timeout that I know the cameras are on. There's just no track record of that working. The that work or the Popovich Steve Kerr types that kind of lay back and let the players kind of carry the weight do you agree yeah look I do I mean um like I said you gotta you gotta still a good culture a good a good system where everybody feels comfortable um not not just one or two guys or not just your favourites and I think Coach Kerr does that and then you've got to let them

police it themselves to an extent a coach provides direction and puts you in positions to be successful like I said and Coach Kerr does an unbelievable job with that and the staff there's no ego about our staff we have one of the most laid back staff

in the league you've got Luke Walton who's trying to get more laid-back than Luke. A great fella. Collins is great. Bruce Frazier. We've got a bunch of guys that just come to work every day. They know what their role is and what they need to do.

As you know, on an NBA team, sometimes there's some infighting even within assistants. And guys kind of knife each other, as we've seen in numerous teams. Somehow guys end up from behind a bench to the head coach within three months, you know, because they, you know, befriend the owner or whatever it is. And that's just so bad to see. And it's the dark side of the business that people out there don't see.

So we don't have that. And, you know, it's sensational. But to say that we would have won it anyway, no matter who coached, yeah, that's kind of a slap in the face to Coach Kerr and staff. Was that one of the many reasons why you had your NBA championship ring fitted for your middle finger?

Oh, no doubt. I mean, it's... Look, we copped our fair um, fair, fair share of criticism throughout, you know, the Warriors 10 years since I've been here. It was, you know, they're just a regular season team. They don't play defense. Then we start playing defense. It's like, oh yeah, but the, you know, they're still a high scoring team. They're not going to win it. And then blah, blah, blah. And then they shoot too many threes. And then they, you know, they don't have a, uh, a guy you can throw a two on the block that's only

given 20 and 10 like Memphis do. There was always something. And then all of a sudden we win it, and it's like, oh, they were lucky. That won't happen again. So it's just the best way to remedy that is get a ring and just put it on your middle finger when they take photos of it. I loved it. It was great.

I'm going to be the only person who doesn't ask you about, A, do you guys think you guys have a chance to win 73 games? And B, are you guys really thinking about it? Because there's no way you're not thinking about it. You guys have a chance to be immortal. I don't understand how anyone on that team wouldn't think about it. But with the rigors of the schedule, and I was looking at your schedule coming up,

you have some tough road games left. You got OKC twice. You got San Antonio twice. In your head, is it even realistic for a team to go 73-9? Does this just seem like surreal? Oh, it does. Look, to say it'd be done in this year or two is tough when you look at how good the Bulls were and what they did.

It's an unbelievable feat. Hopefully we have a chance to do it. But I'll say this. If we have a chance to do it. But I'll say this, if we have a chance to do that and not win the championship, obviously we'll take the championship. So the record doesn't... It means a lot, I think, media-wise, and it's a pride thing, but at the same time,

I guess if we win 70 and get a ring, I think we'll be more than happy. We just want to be careful that towards the end of the season, there will be points where we've got some older guys on the team and some veterans that possibly will need some rest. But we're still just as confident winning those games as we are with a full roster. So it will be interesting to see how it plays out. And I'm sure everyone's going to be watching closely. I'm going to translate that answer. Yes, we want to go 73-9. This is going to be, I mean, if you guys break the record and win the title, you're mentioned in every shortlist

conversation for the rest of the history of the NBA. I would say those are real stakes. I think that 96 Bulls team, the 86 Celtics went 15-1 at home. And that's another thing with you guys. You guys haven't lost at home yet, which was one of my favorite things about the 86 Celtics. They went 15-1 at home, which is amazing. You guys have a chance to run the slate at home.

I don't think it's realistic, but it's still in play and we're almost in March. What is it about the home thing? Great crowd. We're just comfortable there. We've won a lot of games that we shouldn't have won at home.

You know, came back from some big league. That Nets game. You never should have won the Nets game. Oh, no doubt. No doubt.

And then there was the Toronto game. I think it was last season we were down, I think it was 28 or 30 or something like that. Came back and won that one. So look,

we've been in positions where, you know, at home we feel like we can always come back and win games and get on a quick run. Our crowd is obviously very supportive, very, very loud, very tough place to play.

It's great. You guys have an awesome crowd. I'm glad it's changed a tiny bit because there's more money in the tickets and everything, but it's still great. It's still that in New York and sometimes Boston if the right team's there. There's a couple other cities, but it's on the short list of just amazing fan experiences if you're actually there. Yeah, well-educated basketball fans, too.

Totally. They know the game. They're not just people that are showing up because we're good. That place was selling out when the Warriors were horrible, too. That's what a lot of people

don't understand now. There's obviously a lot more Warrior fans out there now. That's just how it goes. But to say we have bandwagon fans, like some people are saying, is absolutely crazy, because I remember playing for Milwaukee and going to Golden State, and I'm like, why are these people coming to these games?

Teams like 15 and 50. But they'd sell out. No, it's the opposite. I went to a game during the strike season in 98-99 before he got in the league, when C-Web was on Sacramento for the first season. And the Warrior fans still hated C-Web from the fact that he left after his rookie year.

And the Warriors were terrible. And I went with some friends. And their fans were amazing. And I was like, is it always like this? And they're like, yeah, the Warriors fans are awesome. And I was like, why are they awesome? Their teams always suck. And it was just they just love basketball.

And I'm glad if anyone deserved what you guys are doing i would say it's that fan base i wrote a whole 100 agree yeah i mean i've said that they deserve they deserve it as much as we do and they've taken their lumps um for decades upon decades decades yeah multiple up and supported and they yeah they deserve that's why the parade having the parade in oakland was also very special You know, I think there was some talk that it could be in San Francisco, but I'm really glad that they put it in the East Bay and put it in Oakland and really pumped that town up after all it's been through the last couple years. One more quick break to talk about our friends at Trunk Club.

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Answer simple questions about your style, preference, and size. Tate would just be like, I just want to dress like a 22-year-old dude who loves hoops. He would just put that in and Trunk Club would know how to dress him. I'm a little more complicated because I'm old and I have to wear those shirts that just go right over my belt and don't go too far because you don't want to look like the old guy. The shirt doesn't fit. Anyway, you will be assigned an expert stylist who handpicks clothes from the best premium brands. Approve what you

like, send back what you don't like. Guess what happens a few days later? A trunk arrives on your doorstep and it's filled with handpicked clothes that are perfect for you. Try them on, keep what you like, return the rest in your prepaid trunk. Trunk Club is not a subscription service. Get started today. Trunk Club will style you for free. Even better, free shipping both ways. To take advantage, go to trunkclub.com slash BS. Back to Andrew Bogut. All right, this is really important. Ben Simmons. So my name is Bill Simmons. My son's name is Ben. Had no idea that a potential number one overall lottery pick was going to be coming in the league this year. And my favorite team, the Celtics, has, I don't know,

it'll be like a 10% chance to get him. Do you know Ben Simmons? Yes, I do, yep. Benny's come and worked out with me a couple of times in Melbourne. I've got a gym down there. He's come to a few open gyms when he was in high school. Great kid, works hard. I'm loving what he's doing this season so far

so is it fair to say every Australian basketball player knows each other pretty much it's like everyone in Australia knows each other

the amount of times I get asked if I know Bob from Perth by some random person over here it's head scratcher but look

the basketball community is pretty tight we have a great junior development program in Australia one of the best in the world to. We have a great junior development program in Australia, one of the best in the world, to be honest, at a junior level. For some reason, sometimes it doesn't translate to the next level.

But, yeah, we all kind of know each other. So when did you think Ben Simmons had a chance to be special? High school. I mean, he had that run his last season in high school where he was just dominating everybody he played against. And he's got a bit of a swagger and a chip on his shoulder. I remember every time they'd hype up a high school game where he was going against another All-American

or another guy that's competing with him to be the best player in the nation, he'd absolutely chew him up and spit him out. So I kind of like that about him. He's got a bit of an angry chip on his shoulder when he plays a game, and I think if he keeps that up, he'll have a chance to be a bigger player.

Wouldn't it be against the law for an Australian basketball player not to have that chip on their shoulder? Yeah, somewhat. We all kind of have a little bit of the... I can't really say what word we use in Australia, but use your imagination. We'll have a little bit of that in us.

We're ready to go to blows at the drop of a hat, but then after we go to blows, we're happy to have a beer with you afterwards. So you think he has that little extra edge in him because he's going to need it if he's the number one pick in the draft. I think he does. A lot of people perceive it as him being cocky or arrogant, but you need a little bit of that.

You need it in the right dose, and I think he has the right dose of it. I think it's driven him. Obviously, as you know, he's starting to get picked apart now by everyone in the national media because he's going to be the number one pick. They're starting to find all these tiny little faults in his game. The kid's 18 years old, for God's sake. He's going to be fine, but he's embracing that and I know he's in the gym

even more than he was before with all this, you know, with our new pick in his game and he'll continue to work hard and I think he'll be, like I said, I think he's going to be one of our, he probably will be the best Australian player to play in the NBA. I'm worried about his outside shot and I've watched

a lot of his college and I'm just rooting for him and I just like him. I met him about his outside shot. And I've watched a lot of his college and I'm just rooting for him. And I just like him. I met him last year. Like I want him to be great. And as you said, he's 18. But on the other hand, he won't shoot from 15, 16 feet.

And that's going to be the thing that determines whether he is, you know, a franchise guy or just a good player because everything else is there. Like he's passing, rebounding, defense. Like he has it. He has total package. But he's got to make that 18-footer, I think. And I'm sure... Is he the type of guy who's going to be in the gym all summer just shooting 10,000 of them? I think he will.

And look, he's got the things you can't teach. And that's the difference. You can get a jump shot better in the offseason. You look at Draymond Green and they said he couldn't shoot a league coming out of college and he's shooting the ball at a pretty decent clip for us right now from three especially. I think Benny will be fine. You can't teach basketball IQ number one. You can't teach the way he passes the ball. They're things that

you pick up over time and you either have it or you don't. I think he's shot. There's plenty of players that came out of college and high school that haven't had the most steadiest jump shots, that have transitioned and put the work into the summers and get with a trainer and he'll be fine. I know he works his butt off,

so I don't really have any stress on that side of things. Do you have a borderline illegal screen waiting for him next year or no? No, Benny's my man. I'll try to keep away from him. You're going to hold back? Oh, you're going to hold back. Unless we're in the finals. Unless we're in the finals.

My man Daly went out in the finals. I put him in the front row a couple of times. But that's how it goes. When the chips are down, we're still battling to win for our team. Yeah, we'll see what happens. He might be in Philly, so he might not have to do anything.

That's true. You might not see him for twice a year for the next 10 years. I hope that's not where he ends up. It would be more fun if he ended up in Boston. Yeah. It would be a tough one to go there, obviously. But look, Philly's trying to do the right thing and rebuild. I know the head coach there.

I know he loves Benny. So it wouldn't be the end of the world, but it would be tough to comprehend all that. The frightening one would be if he ended up in Minnesota with Towns and Wiggins. Then it would be like, uh-oh. Yeah, that's a problem. Yeah, that's the most frightening story. And Axum, you think he's going to be okay? Yeah, I saw Don have an all-star break.

He's doing okay. Look, I feel really bad for him because he was starting to turn the corner, had a great summer league, and then comes over with us, the national team in Europe, and just random play. No one around him, and he's in his knee gives way, and he does it. He does his ACL, so very tough for a young guy to go through that. So he's understanding the rigors of rehab and all that now, and he's in good spirits.

He's a great kid, and I think he'll be fine. He'll probably be ready for the next NBA season. I'm not sure if he'll play in the Olympics because his 12-month period is right around when the Olympics start. I doubt he can try and rush himself back for that. You're skipping the Olympics, right? Or are you playing? No, I'm playing.

You're playing? Yes. But no Ben Simmons because they left him off two years ago. Is that true? You're playing? Yes. But no Ben Simmons because they left him off two years ago. Is that true? I've done your research. Yeah, I've done my research. I have to do research. When Ben Simmons is involved, I do research.

Yeah, I mean, Benny's got a very, very busy offseason with the draft coming up and figuring out where he's going. I know he's still a little burned by not making the 2014 team. He's like 15 years old. How can he be mad about that? Can you call him for us and get him on the team? This is ridiculous. Can't you guilt him into it?

You're like his uncle, big brother. You're big brother slash uncle. We'll talk to him. We'll talk to him. But look, I understand it. Look, I mean, when I was going through my draft process, it wasn't the Olympics. It was the under-21 world championships by then,

and they were calling me trying to get me to play in it. With draft workouts and all that, it's tough. It's tough, a lot of pressure on you and going through all that stuff. So we wish Brendan the best. We know that if he has an opportunity to play in the future, we're hoping that he'll play. So you're going to try to guilt trip him into it. That's how I translated that answer.

You're texting him. Do you text him a couple times a week about it? I just go tweeting. He's on Twitter a lot, so I might have to start tweeting him weekly and just get some Australian fans to add him and give him the guilt trip. Dude, Australians can do good guilt trips. So if he played, let's say he played just for the sake of curiosity, and you're playing, Delva Dova he's playing?

Yeah, Delva Dova, Patty Mills. Patty Mills. This is a good team. Yeah, we've got a solid team, man. That's what really excites me, and that's why, obviously, going to the Olympics with that squad, we have a chance. Who are your shooters? Well, Patty's probably going to be our gunner from the outside.

You can get it going pretty quickly. Do you have the 6'7 generic Australian guy who just makes threes? Definitely. We've got a guy in Europe right now by the name of Ryan Brokhoff. He played at Valparaiso a couple of years ago. Unbelievable three-point shooter. There's some talk that he's getting

NBA books right now for next season. I hope that works out. But, yeah, we have some guys stocked in Europe that are very, very good. David Anderson, who's played in Europe a number of years, played for the Rockets. Oh, yeah. I liked his game. It was kind of funky.

Yeah, he's got that Euro up. He's really improved his three ball. So, look, we have a lot of different guys. And then you throw in six or seven NBA guys. I think just having NBA guys on a national team brings a different confidence. The national teams that have NBA guys, even from somewhat an intimidation factor of playing guys that don't have NBA guys, it just helps.

I think it gives you a bit more of a swagger. And we finally have that. I can remember being the only NBA guy for campaign after campaign. And it's so nice to have other guys playing in the best league in the world. Andrew Gaze doesn't have any 6'4 kids who can just shoot 25-footers? That didn't happen? He does. I don't believe they play, but I think they're much younger.

They're 16, 17 right now. Tell them to step it up. Best case scenario is at some point in the preliminary round, you play France because I really feel like you guys could knock France around and get in their heads. Oh what's funny about that is Joe Ingles talks smack to Rudy Gobert about that every day

apparently. Joe's been telling me so they get into it a fair bit about that. So that would be a very interesting matchup. Joe Ingles, that's another good one. You guys are kind of a sleeper. We've got a squad. We've got a decent squad. So barring injury and everyone's healthy and feeling good going in, we like our chances.

All right, so America, not America, Australia, really has to start guilt tripping Ben Simmons like right now. He should really start taking the heat a little bit. Because if he's in there and he's the number one pick and he's a Boston Celtic and then he's on the Australian Olympic team, I might just switch. If he's a Celtic and he's on it, that might be it. I might just change nations for the tournament. Come over, we'll commentate some of our games.

Yeah, I'm in. I've always wanted to go to the Australian Open. Everybody says it's amazing. Oh, beautiful, beautiful. I couldn't afford it as a kid, to be honest. Very expensive ticket. Now you can afford it. Yeah, but now I couldn't afford it as a kid, to be honest. Yeah. Very expensive ticket, but... Now you can afford it. Yeah, but now I'm here in summer.

I can't leave the 50 and 5 Warriors to go watch some tennis, you know? Oh, yeah, you're right. You go back every summer, though, right, after the season? Yeah, but it's winter there, yeah. It's winter during the summer here? And now I'm confused. Yeah, it's surprising, isn't it? It's a different hemisphere.

It's funny how that works. Yeah, you broke my brain um listen good luck on this uh i mean this is incredible man and just a fact i know you've been through some stuff with injuries and everything that you landed on this team with a great bunch of guys and a great coach like i'm really happy for you because sometimes in the nba you know somebody will play their whole career and they'll have bad breaks and then their career's over and you found like this kind of late in your prime nirvana. It's really cool to watch. Yeah, I'm very thankful for it.

It's amazing. I talk about it a lot to friends and family. And like I said, it's just funny, funny how things work if you stick it out. Yeah, cool. All right. We'll work on Ben Simmons. Good luck with the rest of the season. Thanks for coming on.

No worries. Cheers. All right. Take care. All right. Thanks so much to Andrew Bogut. That was fun. Our first Australian. Man, we got to work on Ben Simmons for that Olympic team.

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