The Bill Simmons Podcast - Stephen Curry on Battling LeBron, NBA Twitter, Klaytheism, and the Quest for Immortality | The Bill Simmons Podcast (Ep. 401)

Episode Date: August 16, 2018

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons travels to Oakland to sit down with three-time NBA champion Stephen Curry to talk recent Finals runs, the joy of playing with Klay Thompson, getting heated on the court, the new All-Star Game layout, all-time NBA greats, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's episode of the Bill Simmons Podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network, brought to you as always by ZipRecruiter. There's a big difference between working hard and working smart. The Warriors did neither when they drafted Steph Curry. He fell to them improbably after Minnesota took two other point guards over him. But look, sometimes you have to be lucky. Other times, you have to be efficient and smart and effective. That's why you need ZipRecruiter. That's what their technology and tools do. They're powerful technologies. It scans thousands of resumes to find people with the right experience for your job. 80% of employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate through the site in just one day. My listeners

can try it for free. Just go to ZipRecruiter.com slash BS. ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire other than having David Kahn pass up the best candidate twice in a row. Meanwhile, SeatGeek is the best app for buying and selling tickets to sporting events, concerts, and more for $20 off your first SeatGeek purchase on any game or sporting event, which includes college football, NFL,

NBA is coming up, MOS, NHL, music, whatever you want. You know how to use promo code BS. Download the SeatGeek app or go right to SeatGeek.com. Don't forget to check out TheRinger.com. We have some pieces up there right now. The last rock and roll superstars were Korn. That's what Stephen Hyden wrote. Michael Bauman wrote about the tragedy of Maryland football.

Jonathan Charks wrote about the 2018-19 Pelicans. Are we sure they're going to be worse? Molly McHugh wrote about Donut Gate and Pizza Gate. Mal Suri wrote about Jalen Ramsey's quarterback spice. Check it all out. Check out the Ringer Podcast Network as well. Damage Control, that's new. One Shining Podcast, that's new.

On Shuffle, that's new. Ringer NFL Show, hopping all week. We got JJ Redick, Larry Wilmer, a whole bunch of other people. Cousin Sal is a new one with The Miz, the wrestler, and former WWE writer Brian Gerwitz just basically annihilating each other about fantasy football. It was a crazy podcast. Check that out.

And that's it. Don't forget to check out TheRinger.com slash shop as well. Coming up, episode 401. If you missed our 400-episode video that we did for the BS Podcast, we put it on Twitter. It's on my Twitter feed. It's on my Instagram feed. And we tried to cram as many guests as we possibly could

into a two-minute, like 40-second clip. So that was cool. Anyway, we are in Oakland. As we speak, we came. I don't like to travel for podcasts very much, but certain people, you just have to go to where they are. Stephen Curry is one of those people. He's coming up in one second.

But first, our friends from Pearl Jam. All right, we're in Oakland. Steph Curry is here. We have not done a podcast together. We did one in 2013. You and David Lee came into the grantland studios yes that was when that was your breakthrough season i didn't know at the time but yeah yeah and then the next year we did an all-star one that either one of us can remember it was like 12 minutes delirious at all-star weekend that's when they have you come in uh fresh off a wednesday night

game yeah an overnight flight and they throw you right to the media the next morning they switched it up so we've gotten smarter since then and then you guys would go on autopilot because you'd be afraid to say anything because you're half asleep it was great no hot takes good content and then we haven't done a podcast since and since then you won two mvps and three titles it almost won a fourth title came within like two plays that's crazy so yeah a lot's happened. A lot has happened. When did you realize this might happen? Was there a game or a stretch where you're like, holy shit, we might actually roll off some titles here? From a team perspective, it was somewhere in that 2013 season.

We were like that young, naive team where we felt like we could win every game we showed up to whether we had the experience or not um a lot of that my guy jared jack who was on that squad yeah he gave us that like veteran presence and confidence to kind of push us along um and then we were just kind of rebels out there on the court so we got to the playoffs that year against denver um against andre and uh andre miller uh who else on that team yeah it was a weird low ty lawson yeah ty lawson we were the same draft class like we just came in like we're gonna win this series and there's nothing that anybody's gonna say about it and uh it happened but we really didn't know kind of the – nobody had any playoff experience, so we didn't know what to expect.

Yeah. And it was just that thing that played into our advantage. And then we go in that next series, we play San Antonio. Still the same kind of, you know, overconfidence, but that was when we really had to figure out how to win a basketball game when it mattered. And our youth and talent, our speed got to them a little bit in the first two games,

but over the course of that series, we, it's a real eye-opener. Understanding exactly. It's like going to grad school. Yeah. A quick, yeah, two week grad school. And from there, it was kind of just understanding what we needed to do from a team perspective,

put the right piece in place to give ourselves a chance to actually be serious about winning a championship. And we kind of excelled from there. I told you that I went on TV in 2013 and predicted you were going to beat the Spurs. I wish we could have made you ready. That was like going to grad school for me, too, because I took so much shit for that.

Hey, man, how are the Warriors doing? How are they looking in round three? Notification popped up. Bill Simmons predicts hugely. I was like, maybe I shouldn't be that over-the-top picking underdog anymore on national TV. You could have been on top of the world because we were literally, you know,

possession in game one from being up, you know, 2-0 on the road and coming home. But yeah, Popovich and Duncan and Parker and Genova had something to say about it. The infrastructure. That's tough. Very Patriots-esque. Yeah, I remember that. I remember, I definitely remember thinking you guys had stumbled on something with you

and Clay. You know, like, oh, this is, wow, what's the ceiling on this? I have no idea. Could these guys make 10 combined threes a game i don't know and then actually you guys started making nine combined threes a game it's interesting the way that we do it right because we balance each other off so well so yeah obviously i can shoot off the dribble and like to create that kind of stuff but clay is such a master moving out the ball and the unsung hero pretty much every night when it comes to he's so low maintenance um yeah he doesn't really need the ball he scored what 60 plus on 11 dribbles or whatever it was

like he's so efficient um it allows me to kind of have space to do what i need to do around the top of the key and create and play off of him and uh either one of us taking a shot you obviously like those chances for sure yeah historically because there's so many other angles with the Warriors that you guys haven't, I feel like, gotten your proper due as a backcourt. It's because there's so many other ways to go. Yeah. But in terms of the all-time backcourts, it's way up there. That would actually be an interesting podcast for me.

I should go through it. You break that down? I'll be listening. Yeah, just like – Let's see where you put us. How many years now? He was 2011. This is going on.

This will be year eight? Yeah, we finished seven years together. I think what's cool about it, and this happens not very often when two guards, like they compliment each other. It's not just that you guys are good and you've had success and individual success, team success, but actually like the combo of it is nice that doesn't really happen with basketball we just have two guys who are like ah we these two actually make themselves better as a combo with the spacing they do and how they play off each

other 100 it works on both ends too i mean we know how great of a two-way player clay is um and there's no secret when sometimes he guards the other team's point guard, and I'll guard off the ball, and sometimes I'll give him a breather and switch back. So both offensively and defensively, you know, we are very complimentary. He doesn't get credit for guarding guys that are much smaller than him. That's tough. I think that's one of the reasons you guys have three titles.

100%. He's the last small guys in the league um there's a lot of guys in the league there's a lot of small guys in the league a lot of fast guys a lot of guys that have the ball in their hands a lot during the possession and uh he likes those challenges so um you know there's no secret in our locker room how vital he is to what we do and um well also he's the one you guys make fun of the most right he's a comedy lightning rod he is i don't even know if he realizes how funny he is and like in person um he's i think he does realize it now he's got old man quirks that will come in the locker room he'll sit on the chair was you know fold his leg over and he'll read a newspaper like two hours before the game and that's like he did a i think he did

a marketer piece for like the bay area times or yeah i say mercury news or whatever it was and uh and literally you might think that that was just fake like that's real like he actually comes in there's a newspaper sitting on his on his chair he reads it i don't know what type of knowledge he's bringing in so he's like a 72 retired ceo the savant he knows everything and uh. And he'll be very timely when he drops that knowledge on you. It is funny because with teams, they'll always be like, oh, that guy, he's everybody's favorite teammate. There will always be multiple choices. And with Clay, it just seems like he's everybody's favorite teammate.

Even DeMarcus said it in his press conference. He's like, he hasn't even played with Clay besides the Olympics two years ago. But he's like, that's my favorite guy already. Yeah. And he hasn't spent a day in the Warriors locker room with us. But yeah, he has that presence that you need. He's unique. You mean when you guys cheated and you got DeMarcus, even though he's coming off a major injury?

What are you talking about? No, I'm kidding. I'm actually on your side on this one. Everyone got so mad with the DeMarcus, even though he's coming off a major injury. What are you talking about? No, I'm kidding. I'm actually on your side on this one. Everyone got so mad with the DeMarcus thing. And he's like, the guy tore his Achilles last year. If he comes back in February, it'll be like a bonus for you guys. I think all the way through just the benefit of being on our team, obviously for him, there's no rush for him to come back.

He can really take his time uh and get right but when i look at just the opportunity it comes you know past whenever in january february whenever he comes back to the playoffs it gives us a whole new dynamic and you know whatever type of the market shows up i know he expects to be back to fully 100 and we do too but whatever mark the market shows up it gives us a new dimension that we we haven't had before. A guy that can actually go get a bucket on the block. We can have guys shooters around him. Get some ball boards.

He's an amazing playmaker and you've seen it in New Orleans, but when he gets the ball at the top of the key, he can break the bigs down and he's a great passer. So Coach Kerr loves great passing big men that can read the defense and make plays. So it's going to be amazing, man. I'm excited about it.

Obviously. It reminds me that now we can officially start thinking about your whole run versus the Bulls in the 90s because you have three, they had six. But there was one year where they had a b daily in 97 in like february and they only had him for a couple months but he gave them this whole new look that they didn't have any of those other six years and that's what i thought you guys were missing last year it was it was just kind of the same nucleus and there wasn't you know you go back to the 60s with like the arbex celtics they would always add the one guy every year. Right.

Who was like, oh, the new guy. Oh, this guy really wants it. You guys had that with David West. And keep everybody on the edge because you got to figure it out, right? And I think that's the benefit of this year. Yeah. You want the one guy who's just dying to be on a good team and he can't believe his good fortune.

And you can kind of feed off that. Yeah, 100%. And there's going to be some fill-in-out process, obviously, because lineups will change a little bit, rotations may change a little bit. But I think just over the course of 82 games and then we look at the playoffs, it gives us really something to look forward to and something to really focus on how we're going to implement his skill set to what we do.

Obviously, keeping our style of play, playing fast, using the guys that have been around these last three, four years and figuring that out. But it gives us something to look forward to, which I'm sitting here in August thinking about how we get back to June. There's a lot of time in between. We've got to be ready. I was watching the game when he got hurt, actually.

I'd been watching the Pelicans those last couple weeks. I just enjoyed the way him and Davis were playing. Yeah. And he was playing the best he'd ever played and was just doing all the stuff. We kind of want to. Oh, yeah. Chasing the ace by. Right. Yeah.

But they there's one of those things where I didn't think they were going to beat you, but I was at least ready to have the conversation of this will be a really interesting playoff series with these two big dudes. And I don't know what the Warriors would have to do if they're both out there um we we gotta go back to 2014 because i i was at that game clippers game seven yeah i thought that was the most important game in this whole run for you guys like you talked about the spurs were like going to grad school for a year but that was like you got your doctorate in the game seven, Chris Paul fouled you maybe 45 times. It was just, it was a street fight. And Chris Paul is great at knowing when the refs are going to back off a little. And he's just like, all right, I'll just foul everybody all

the time now. And you took it and you had a really good game. And that was the game where I was like, you know, I didn't think you were going to win two mvps and three titles the next four years but i was like you know steph's just that was good that was a good good game for him i remember i think he has a good he's a good career head game seven on the road yeah we uh that was again our core we had an opportunity to take that next step uh we hadn't played in game seven before and so to show up on the road against a team that we had had so much history with going back and forth that was an interesting series all the way around with the whole Donald Sterling thing and yeah it was a very emotional uh series back and forth um but to get to a game seven and have to just lay it out on the line we obviously lost but uh for me personally

it was definitely a breakthrough type moment to know you know when the lights are bright I had a pretty solid game. I know I could have played better and learned some things about how to deal with the physicality of playoffs, how to deal with Game 7 officiating, how to deal with all that type of stuff. And for our core, we just figured out how to win through losing. We figured out how to win, and then that next season, we come back and we win our first ship. Yeah, I was saying to Steve before we started about how I do feel like with the great NBA teams, it is like a video game a little bit.

And you got to hit these certain levels. Even in 2015 when you guys won the title, you were tight those first couple games in the finals. Oh, for sure. It definitely didn't look like you. Before that, even getting through to the finals, there were two series. Sorry, one series against Memphis.

We were down 2-1 on the road. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Game four on the road, down 2-1. And obviously that's a must-win situation. And we passed those tests all the way through just to have a chance to play in the finals. And that's a whole different environment. I know you did your piece on, like, court side at the finals. Yeah.

Like, if you're not there and, like, go through the practices, the media sessions, the whole kind of prelude to just actually playing the game, it catches you off guard for sure. And so we were playing against LeBron who had been there at that point, what, five straight times? I think it was the sixth finals. And so he obviously has experience and that exudes confidence on his side. But for us, it was a bunch of guys who had never been there before.

Yeah. So we had to figure it out. You go out there and there's hundreds of people around the court. Watching 30 minutes of practice, us do shooting drills and stuff. And you're like, they're really just, you know, cameras rolling 24 seven. And, and the world is watching you.

We know the league and the NBA is so popular and has been for years. But when you get to the finals, it's just a whole done the animal that you got to go through it a little bit. And it took us really three games to figure it out. I remember that Memphis series. All these teams have that one moment. Like even I remember when the 08 Celtics, when they traded for KG and Ray Allen, and it was the super team.

But then when we got to the playoffs, it was like Atlanta seven games, Cleveland seven games. And it's when you haven't been there and you don't totally trust each other yet, it does. Everybody's kind of looking around. It's tense and people aren't themselves. All of a sudden you got to get through it. What you said about lebrano with all those finals it reminded me of brady was talking about the last super bowl against the falcons when they came back

and he was like he'd been in so many super bowls that he learned to almost his preparation for the game was totally different than any other game. The routine is totally different. You're there four hours before everybody's in the field. The halftime's 45 minutes instead of 20. And he kind of taught himself how not to peak in the first half and to stay calm versus like being so fired up in the first half, then you crash. I think a lot of that too is from a coaching standpoint as well. For Coach Kerr, who had been with the Bulls and with the Spurs in the finals and learned from Phil Jackson and Popovich how to kind of pace ourselves

through that preparation because I think we had about five, six days to prepare for game one. And it's really relying on him to set the schedule to figure out how we're going to get to our peak performance come game one. For us, our hearts are racing from the time we walked off the court in the Western conference finals but um that whole kind of just experience um helped us kind of get over the hump when we when we didn't play as well as we wanted to in those first three games and then it just carried over every year since um in terms of just being comfortable in

that in that environment um well the best the best you guys ever played was that win streak. Yeah. That was really something. Because now you had the confidence from the last title. You had everybody shitting on you. We won 24 games in a row at the start of the season. And you start the season, you're not the favorites. It's like, oh, they had theirs.

Now LeBron and Kyrie. And then you guys are like, oh, really? But I thought to win that many games in a row, the Celtics, I think, won 16 last year. And you need luck just to win 16. You need to have those two or three games that you shouldn't have won that you pulled out of your ass. 24 was incredible. I haven't looked back game by game. I would say we had probably four of those that we shouldn't have won.

Out of 24, that's pretty solid. I think we really deserved to win the other 20. I remember there was one in Boston. Yeah, that was game 24. The Celtics should have stolen that one. Double overtime. And then we went next night back-to-back to Milwaukee, and that's where we lost our first game, which we still had a chance to win.

Which, by the way, I know you're an amazing T-shirt designer when it comes to great sayings and all that type of stuff. The 24-1 Milwaukee Buck fan shirts, I need to get one of those in my arsenal. Do those exist? Yeah, they do. They had the whole fan, the whole, I guess, their spirit section or whatever you want to call it. They had the 24-1. That's the highlight of the decade, beating you guys right after a double overtime game. It was amazing.

Yeah, I remember that Boston game. Draymond, during that streak, would just have a couple games where he just went full Draymond. Oh, yeah. And in that game, he was so... It's hard to explain. There's really never been a guy like him who can control a game but not score, like, 40 points. It's unbelievable. He's a winner.

And he's so intense. And he actually, like, puts his stamp on it, which I think during the regular season, it's been harder and harder for him to do because you guys, you're saving stuff now for the playoffs every year. Very rarely do you have those games during the season. It's a real balance of understanding what we're trying to do to build towards a playoff run and understanding the fundamentals of how we're going to win a championship and what we need to focus on,

which is really hard to get up for every single, like those Wednesday night back to back on the road against whoever, if it's an Eastern conference team, we're on a seven, 10 day road trip. Those, those games are tough. And that's what the NBA is. Obviously it's 82. Everybody got to play the same schedule, but for us having gone through these championship runs it's going to be our fifth year in a row in terms of really having a realistic shot of winning yeah um you gotta you gotta pace yourself a little bit i hate saying that in terms of like we we really appreciate every game that we

go out there but it's tough man well that first year that when you had the streak and you guys were kind of becoming a phenomenon in the league. And when you would go to Milwaukee, you go to Charlotte, you go to Atlanta. It was the biggest game of the season for the fans of that team. And it did seem like you guys fed off that. But I think after four years that you probably don't notice it anymore. Right. Only time I notice is when we got to buy tickets and they look at the ticket prices.

I'm like, hold on. We got to pay what for my family to come to the game like that's crazy we talk about like probably my first four years I used to go back to Charlotte I get my one chance to go home and play in front of my home yeah my home city every year it was so easy to get tickets you know first four years you know they were a Frenchoff team, and we were irrelevant in terms of being at the top of the league. And probably right after the championship run, my dad called me about a month and a half before we played Charlotte, and he's like, hey, I need to get your ticket list for Charlotte. Yeah.

I'm like, wait, what are you – that's like – I thought we were playing them for another like five weeks. He's like, yeah, but they're selling out the whole arena. The guy's offering you a suite if you want to take it. I know you usually have like 40, 50 family members come. We got to get that list now so we can get prepared. I'm like, what are you saying? Really?

That's when it first sunk in. Like, this is a real deal that the Warriors have a little traveling fan base. And for the opposing teams, they want to come watch us play. Good luck in the All-Star game this year. I know. That's what I was thinking about that, too. That's one where you have to call Adam Silver directly. You're like, hey, man, what do you have to do?

They have the stadium. Yeah. I'll go to China if you give me 200 tickets. Let's take a quick break to talk about Hotel Tonight. If you love to score amazing deals and incredible hotels, you will love Hotel Tonight. They partner with hotels to help them sell their unsold rooms, helping you find sweet deals at cool, top-rated hotels. Hotel Tonight shows you the best deals at hotels you actually want to stay at. No more scrolling through endless

lists of choices, even though their name's Hotel Tonight. It's not just for last-minute bookings. Book in advance, perfect for planners and procrastinators alike. Hotel Tonight works for spontaneous weekend getaways, staycations, three-day weekends, business bookings. Book in advance. Perfect for planners and procrastinators alike. Hotel Tonight works for spontaneous weekend getaways, staycations, three-day weekends, business bookings, whatever you need. Book hotels in 10 seconds, three taps, and a swipe. It is that easy. There's even the HT Perks program. The more you book, the better the deals get. You've heard me talk about it. I've used Hotel Tonight many times. So has my staff. It is used a lot by the Ringer staff. It's that easy to get the Hotel Tonight app to start scoring amazing deals at incredible hotels.

Hotel Tonight, the only booking app you need. And since we're here, let's talk about my good friends at Gillette. My son asked me the other day, when can I start shaving? And I said, you can't. You have no hair in your body. But eventually, you're going to shave. And then he's like, well, what do I do when I shave? And I said, you get Gillette.

That's what your dad did. Since day one, I've been, I can't remember. I can't remember what the first Gillette razor was. It was somewhere in the 80s. I had a couple sprouts on my lip. And I forced a couple shaves my lip and I forced a couple shaves in, just feeling good about myself. And since then, now I have some facial hair. I still shave the neck every once in a while when I do. I use the Gillette. Eventually, I'm going to get

rid of the facial hair, I think, this fall. And then I'll be back to using Gillette all the time. They offer a variety of shaving products for every guy, regardless of personal style, skin needs, or budget, whether you want three blades or five. The Gillette 3 and Gillette 5 razors have you covered, all under $10, high performance at a low price. I especially love Gillette because they make all of their razors in South Boston. Oh, yeah.

Home of the greatest baseball team of all time, the 2018 Red Sox. Not in South Boston, but like 15 minutes away. Anyway, get Gillette Performance delivered to your door. Find Gillette 5 and other great razors at GilletteOnDemand.com. So easy. Don't go. You don't need to leave your house to get Gillette. Just get it at GilletteOnDemand.com. Subscribe today. Let's get back to the two-time MVP, Steph Curry. When did you notice the fans coming to watch you warm up? Was that the streak season or was that the year before? The year before, like halfway through the 2015 year. The first championship. The first championship year year it was my first mvp year i don't know

how it became anything but me doing my pre-game routine where i do the two ball handling drill i do my uh my shooting it became something because you were making 40 footers over and over again i remember uh getting a call from our pr guy they said when we go, I can't remember what city it was. He's like, hey, when we're going to the city, they asked us if it was all right if they opened their doors for fans to come in 30 minutes early so that they can watch you warm up. Yeah. And so that question, I was like, well, I guess that's fine.

But I never knew, like, people would actually come that early to watch, you know, a warm-up situation, even though if they were to get an autograph, there's no guarantee that that's going to happen either. So we got to the city and literally probably three of the sections were full. Some mostly Warrior fans, but some of the opposing team's fans coming in and watching me do, you know, pound the ball for five minutes and get like 100, 125 shots and then go back in the locker room and get ready to play.

Do you notice them when you're when you're warming up or are you zoned out no i'd notice them it's almost a mental challenge and not to control my uh my energy in terms i don't want to burn myself out in warm-ups but if you make a shot and you hear like a rattle of applause like during a warm-up it kind of gets you going you start to feel good yeah and you realize you start to like pick up your pace a little bit and you're rushing and it takes my whole rhythm off in terms. I got to really focus on just staying in the moment

and keeping the routine what it is and making sure my process for preparing for games isn't jeopardized by how many people are watching early. But it's a different environment because it's a little bit quieter, but there's so much presence of fans, it's crazy. I mean, you notice if one person is staring at you, right? You'd be like, is this staring at me?

You turn like somebody's staring at you. And there's only been a few players like this where when they come out in the court, everybody's just kind of staring at them. It's weird. I remember Jordan. It's still weird. Yeah, it's got to be weird. I remember when Jordan would come to Boston in the nineties and we'd all be

so excited and he would come out and we were all just like in a trance, like, Oh my God, there is, you know, there's only been a few guys like that. You're a little self-conscious too. Like did I pick my nose or something?

Yeah, seriously. Did I do something weird while I was out there for like an hour? Going through my memory to make sure I didn't mess up. I remember in the, uh, we were doing courtside for the finals, and we decided to film your warm-up at game two. And I talked to, God, I'm blanking because I'm old. The guy, your dude who throws you the passes.

Oh, Bruce Frazier. Yeah, Bruce. We call him Q. Yeah. Talked to Bruce about it. And we were just going all in on your pregame, and you made the shot in the tunnel oh yeah and we got that which was a really cool thing but every time you take the shot in the

tunnel what is that like 50 feet at least but it's a weird angle because you're behind the baseline you got to shoot almost from your chest yeah you made that and they were like we got the shot he made it in the tunnel and i was like oh steph's gonna have a good game today but that's so so then you did you hit like 11 threes it worked out that night but um the first time i scored 50 at oracle i had the worst shooting work q will tell you this i had the worst shooting workout of all time like i if i shoot 100 shots it probably or make 100 shots in my warm-up it probably took me like 300, 350 to get through it. And he was looking at me like, Oh, what's going on? He's trying to coach me through like your legs and your elbows flying out or whatever. And then I kind of forgot about it,

got out to the game and had my first 50 point game at home. And we just laughed about it. Like there's no real, you know, marker of how my shooting workout goes. If that means it's going to be a good game or whether I make the tunnel shot, that means it's going to be a good game, or whether I make the tunnel shot, if that means it's going to be a good game or not. What's the hottest you've been during a game? What stands out the most? What's your all-time heat check? New York.

MSG. That's what I was thinking. That was for sure. That was also relatively early in your kind of superstar career. Because I remember on Twitter that was a moment. Yeah. That was kind of your arrival game. I remember on Twitter that was a moment. That was kind of your arrival game. Our first playoff run.

But, yeah, I didn't make an all-star team that year, but I kind of played a lot more consistently. I think I don't know why I was averaging or nothing, but just the way that I was playing was kind of turning heads. And you get to MSG, and when you play on that court and you do something special, it takes a life of its own. That was an ESPN game too, I think. It was. Doris Burke was on the call.

Yeah. Shout me out. Mark Jones. So it was a pretty cool night. And the worst part about it was we lost. Melo hit a dagger three with like 18 seconds left, and I couldn't get a shot off down the stretch. I think it was the third greatest Knicks moment of the decade.

The past eight years. The upset against Golden State. Was that Linsanity? The unproven Golden State. I was pre-Linsanity, or was that post-Linsanity? Late post. Do you monitor what all these other teams are doing during the summer or do you not care?

Oh, yeah, I notice. I mean, I'm checking my phone, especially when free agency happens, to see what's going down, but it doesn't. Do you have Woj as a Twitter notification where he has a bomb and it goes right to your phone? No, the only thing I appreciate about Woj was the draft night shenanigans where he had to try to predict the picks before, but he couldn't necessarily say what.

Oh, he had to dance around it? The blanks are really keen on selecting. He had to figure out all these different adjectives. It's pretty clever. But no, I stay in tune with what's going on. You got to know a lay of the land and kind of just get mentally prepared for what challenges teams might face or present coming into the next season. Who's on your radar?

You want to call anyone out? Want to start some feuds? I mean. Portland. CJ McCollum keeps throwing daggers. Portland's a hot topic right now. CJ and KD had their thing, whatever. I take that as pure entertainment.

NBA Twitter is unreal. Like, it's a thing it's a legit thing it's pretty good it's really it's really entertaining it actually is amazing it's not more frequent

where guys just are going at each other it's so easy to just type a tweet and send it you know well I would I would argue

it's been very very consistent just in like throughout the course of the season you got I could probably name you got you got Emb of the season you got uh i could probably name you got you got a bead stuff you got venus cancer you got all sorts of people just throwing shade back and forth and beats 10 out of 10 the nba pettiness is at an all-time high it really

i am here for it it really is and bead turned out to be a great villain for the celtics that's what they needed he stormed off the court after we knocked him out. He was like pointing. The crowd was chanting Embiid sucks and he was waving his arms. He was good. He was like a WWE character. He's worth the price of admission for sure.

All the way around. That's one guy you need boogie for. For Embiid? Yeah. Draymond held it down last year did he really seven foot three Embiid don't let it don't get it twisted he uh we Draymond ain't gonna back down from anybody but he uh he held it down what's your favorite Draymond story what's the one story that captures what it's like to be on the same team as Draymond Green

uh other than the game where he almost got thrown out for trash-talking the Clippers when he wasn't even in uniform. I don't remember that game. Probably the times him and Coach Kerr get into it. And you're inside practice, and you're like, you don't know whose side to take. You're like, I guess they're both right or they're both wrong. What do they

argue about like it'd be an example uh just where you should go on a play call or maybe something coach kurt has been thinking about for a couple games about a tendency that we've been you know shading to and he's like don't over coach like this and that it's all we know what you're doing and coach is like well i know you know what you're doing but let me just you know help you're doing. And Coach is like, well, I know you know what you're doing, but let me just help you along as I'm supposed to do. And that's what my job is to do, to point out things that could be important for us to win a championship. Right. But they have a real, like the respect level between them two

is at an all-time high, but they have their moments. And it's just amazing entertainment to watch in practice. By Coach's first year, we were doing some 5-on-5 drill. And Draymond Love, it was early in the season, Draymond Love was talking trash to the whole team. It doesn't matter if it's me, if it's Sean Livingston was posting me up on the block. And I had no chance to try to contest a shot.

And he did a little turnaround, Sean Livingston vintage turnaround over the top of me. Yeah, old band game. And Draymond's doing, he's too small, Dot. He's too small, Dot. Baby food. Like yelling all that stuff during the middle of practice. He's on my team. Yeah.

I'm like, bro, come on. But that little stuff happens. But then when him and Coach Kirk get into it, the whole practice stops because there are two important voices when it comes to how the you know how practice is flowing and so we let them kind of deal with it deal with their uh their issue and we keep it moving and then you at the end of practice this is like nothing happened and that's it sounds like my relationship with my 13 year old daughter we get into it and there's still love after just wait you just wait till your daughter's 13. I'm closing in on that.

Let me tell you something. On that teenager life for sure. All the rumors are not exaggerated of what it's like. You can't even believe it. How old's your oldest daughter now? She just started first grade and she's six. So six and 10 were my favorite ages. Okay.

Six is great. And they love their dads at six. And they still love their dads at 10. they still love their dads i agree with that and yeah just wait experiences because there she's kind of branching off now into her real true independent life when it comes to school and her friends and all that type of stuff just wait till the mayor starts getting a lot ready for that oh it happens fast too like what happened you were so cute a week ago. Now you're yelling at me and you're front of Mary. Yeah, I guess.

So when your daughter became, what year was that when she was in the podium? That was 2015. That was the first championship run. So after we played Houston in the Western Conference Finals, I think it was game one or two at home, I brought her with me to the podium. And then it turned into a thing. It turned into a thing. Her cuteness was overloaded. It was ridiculous.

And then there's a backlash. People are like, oh, I don't know if Steph Curry should have his daughter on the podium. That's right. There was a whole conversation. Like, I wouldn't bring my daughter to work. And the media was talking about they couldn't hit their deadlines because I was answering questions slow because my daughter was interrupting. It's the best. I'm like, what are you? This is a real thing like i love that your story's already written anyway like are you just send it in deadlines

it's the internet there are no deadlines anymore seriously it was uh it was eye-opening to see what people truly cared about in the midst of a playoff run. This is my daughter. I'm enjoying the moment with her. I could run through countless NBA. My dad used to do it with me. Allen Iverson had his kids. Steve Nash had his kids. Everybody brings their kids. It's a huge part of being an NBA player, being able to share that with your family.

And it just happens that they wanted to throw some shade. It's all good. I brought her right back probably four games later. Keep bringing her back. You got six years left before she won't talk to you anymore. She might have her own mic now. I'm doing that

out of my own interest not to bring her back now. Did you think it was an advantage to have an NBA player as a dad? For when I got to the league I think it was. Yeah, that's what I mean. Yeah, just to have

a kind of understanding of how things worked, seeing how my dad really went through his routine, how he kind of kept distractions away, being around in the NBA locker room, seeing how he treated the people behind the scenes, the equipment managers, everybody that works at the arena. He was like an uber professional when it came to that. So I got that firsthand experience and haven't strayed too far from it,

I hope. But definitely helped me just be more comfortable once I got to the league. I don't know how much of an advantage it was per se when it came to like, you know, high school recruiting, all that type of stuff in terms of. Might have been a disadvantage. It was a little bit in high school just because the spotlight was on me and I had to really perform because people knew who my dad was but

I didn't get a I guess I didn't get any scholarship I was from Heidi when they didn't think I was ready but when I went to Davis and I don't think it was because my dad was Dale Curry that was going to be the only advantage to what I brought to the table.

You know, World Wide West, he told me this when the Donovan Mitchell draft. He was like, everyone's sleeping on Donovan Mitchell. He's not only going to be better than the pros, but son of an athlete. And he was like, athletes, son of an athlete is to have an advantage when they go into the – because they're adults. They come into the sport. They're adults already, and they've seen it, and they know what kind of, I had never thought about it before.

I really haven't thought about it. But it makes sense. It's an interesting theory. Just felt comfortable, like, just showing up to the arena on a game day. Yeah, yeah. And knowing, like, all right, there's going to be, you know, cameras over here. There's going to be, you know, people around the locker room.

There's going to be distractions all over the place, and I just got to see it. So definitely gave me a little bit of peace especially my rookie year and earlier in my career when you go to minnesota do you have a little something extra for them or do you not have any bitterness my god david khan i don't know where he's at right now but uh i don't know if that ever came out uh he there's a story around i mean everybody knows how much i love golf yeah and played in my spare time or not he uh i think the word on the street was that he didn't draft me because in minnesota it's cold and i wouldn't be able to play as much golf so i would have been miserable is that true i hope it's true because that's hilarious that's hilarious it was idiotic

in the moment i did a draft diary. I was going nuts. Because if you're going to take two point guards, how are you not one of the two? I don't know. And then if you're going to go all in on Rubio and you don't even know if he's coming over, you and Rubio actually would have been an interesting backcourt. I would have been okay with that.

I was going to say, because he didn't come for two years, right? So I guess my third year, it was his official rookie year. It was so weird. And then I was mad just as a Celtics fan. I was like, he's going to follow the Knicks? Are you kidding me? And then the Warriors took. And then the Knicks fans have never recovered, really.

That is the all-time what if for the Knicks. The thing is, though, if you go to Minnesota. Now, I'm not speaking about the franchise right now. But the franchise 09 through 14 wasn't really a top-notch franchise, and you had issues with your ankles and all this stuff. And the team that you went to, I really feel like that was probably a good place for you because, you know, if you'd gone to the wrong team that had diagnosed some of the stuff

that was going on with you incorrectly, you might have been out of the league in like six years. It was an interesting time. When I was drafted in 2009, we were kind of in a transition. We had an old ownership of Chris Cohan, who owned the team before, and he was trying to sell it all throughout my rookie year. So when Joe Lakin and Peter Guber stepped up towards the end of my – right after my rookie year in that summer,

it didn't become official until later. Didn't really know where the direction of the franchise was going in the front office or on the court. And so it allowed me just to just play basketball and just worry about, you know, getting better and figuring out how I can really make it in the league. Obviously I couldn't predict what was going to happen with my ankles and the three years of, you know, being, being injured and two ankles and the three years of you know being being injured

and two surgeries and all that type of stuff but definitely was in a place that um i could just i would say it was a little bit more patience in terms of uh dealing with it getting through it figuring out how i get my body right so that uh when the chips all stacked right i was able to play and who was the most important person for figuring out because you basically had to restructure how you ran um yeah all the the shoes you wear all this stuff that if this happened in 1970 you would have been screwed for 100 percent um there's countless people have been a part of that process since the injury started um i met with a trainer brandon pain who i've been working with since my first surgery he was a guy out of charlotte um who trains the body and my skill work we've been

we've been working together it's been amazing kind of journey in that in that regard weren't you doing something wrong with the way you ran like you're running you're putting too much stress on the outside or something yeah so i didn't realize the chain of effects that go from basically your core to your glutes to your hamstrings and all the way down to your ankles. Basically, anything that I did, I was relying on my foot to stabilize itself as opposed to using every other big muscle that is important in that stability aspect. So once I got the knowledge and had the retraining, literally how my body moves, because I was very limber

and kind of just flaily, I guess you'd call it, like the used car salesman dude out in front of the board. That's literally how I ran and moved. I had to figure out how to get stable from the core and then work my way down. So that's done now. You've figured that out. It's done.

I'd say it's done in terms of the education around exactly how I need to do it, but there's retraining that happens literally every summer, every time I step foot in the gym to make sure that my body can call on that in the most pressure situations and when I get tired throughout the course of a season or in the playoffs for sure. Yeah, it's a great what if. There's so many guys from the 60s,s and 80s that you know you tear your ACL you're done yeah you have a foot injury they misdiagnose it that's worse you're out of the

league in three years and this generation that you're in I think that the science of stuff the way it's able to save people's careers prolong careers I don't know how long you're going to play have you thought about it conceivably you could play until you're like 45 I mean I always when I came in the league I was like I just want to play 16 years just because my dad played 16 years and and by the way that was no joke your dad played 16 years there's a lot of years back then it's a lot of years I remember his last three in Toronto maybe one more before and when he's played in Milwaukee during the lockout year he was 34 to 38

in that period and he was dealing with back spasms and tendonitis in his knees and literally what he had to do

to get his body ready just to play a game I was just in awe of it I hope that when I get to that age I can be a little less

maintenance in terms of being able to play but like that's when you see like guys like vince and um jason terry guys that are playing in their 40s right now dirt what he's doing yeah there's a true appreciation for the science of things that gets guys you know a little bit longer longevity in their in their careers it's funny you didn't mention lebron in that but lebron is i think he's this is year 16 like he's officially a senior citizen right it's not it's tricky because he came when he was 18 yeah so that 16 years is 16 years in the nba and that wear and tear is no joke i don't when i was a kid i have a check plate 16 years and everybody's like, whoa, 16 years. Oh, my God. It seemed like so long.

And now Dirk's at like 21. I saw Dwayne Wade said he might play one more year. And I'm like, why are you leaving? You're 36. You've got the technology now. You could play five more years. 100%. Yeah, your situation's interesting because conceivably

you could just be a stretch the floor guy until you're 50. I don't see your three-point shot going away. I don't see it either. So as long as you want to do it, you can do it. But you see like Jason Kidd when he was playing. Yeah. The way he pivoted at each stage of his career when his body needed to. Yeah.

He figured out a different skill set to call on. So obviously he's the most athletic point guard that could dish and drive and finish and do all that stuff. And as his career evolved, he became a three point shooter. And he think he's like top five, maybe top five and all the time three point. I wouldn't even have guessed that. And he was a terrible shooter for 10 years.

Right, but he figured it out. And his last, when I played against him my first two or three years before he moved on to coaching, he was an entirely different player, but he was very impactful in terms of just When I played against him my first two or three years before he moved on to coaching, he was an entirely different player, but he was very impactful in terms of just orchestrating the offense, staying at the top of the key, finding the guy that was open, and knocking down an open three. He did that and got three extra years out of his career and a championship. You never know what it will take to keep your career going.

But I think I can figure it out. I remember I talked to Nash about it. I can't remember if it was Nash and Dirk together. But they were saying the fun part's playing, the not fun part. And the part that starts to just suck as you get older is the summers and the offseason and all the work that it takes to actually get ready to play in the games and that after like year 16, 17, 18, you just don't want to do it anymore. I'm not quite there. No, you're in the year 10.

You're thinking about, yeah, like that. Hopefully you're making the playoffs that June to September. It's not just, you know, waking up, going to the gym, getting your skill work in, getting a massage stretch go home rest do it all over again there's a lot more elements to it there's a lot more uh strategy that goes into it um i can see it starting to my body's responding amazing right now so i don't want to what are you 30 i'm 30 freshly 30 so So I can see. Young 30. I asked Vince that. I can see just how much goes into just being ready to play. And in the summers, you got to lay that foundation because in the regular season,

it's not that much time to really focus on the body in terms of you got games every other night. So you got to be prepared. Well, Vince never played in the playoffs, so he was able to break his time off. Sorry, Vince. That's my guy. Don't throw no Vince shade. I'm still mad at Vince. I'm still mad at him for quitting on Toronto.

I'm the only one who seems to remember this now. It was a full-fledged quitting. I watched that documentary, and some stuff I forgot, because my dad played on the 2000 to 2002 team with him. So I was playing pick-up with, or playing one-on-one with Vince. Oh, he was on the, who was on that team? 2000, 2002,

that was Anthony Davis, Muggsy, my dad. Was Oakley still on that team or was he gone? He was there for a little bit. They had Charles Oakley for a little bit. They had-

Oak. My favorite podcast of the year so far. I listen to that. Every story ended up in punching somebody. Which I was around for one of those stories. One more break to talk about FanDuel. There's lots of fantasy apps.

FanDuel is an easier to use choice with more features for everyday players, more ways to win than ever before. Like FanDuel's new tool, Guru, which helps you make smarter picks so you can feel more confident going into game day. Start by picking any player. If you pick a QB, Guru will use tested DFS strategies to recommend the best wide receivers and tight ends to pair with them or opt for the all new FanDuel Sportsbook app. It's the future of sports betting. Only available in New Jersey. But if you're passing through Newark,

you can start making your picks as soon as you hit the ground. I've landed in Newark Airport. I'm ready to do this. Not to mention, these guys are telling me live betting is coming sooner than you think. Oh. I feel lightheaded. This season, FanDuel even has a free weekly pick-em contest

as well as the biggest ever free NFL Survivor League with $250,000 up for grabs. New players like my son. I'm going to force my son to do Daily Fantasy this year. It's time. It's time for him to start doing this stuff. It's time for him to do Daily Fantasy. He's in double digits now with age. New players, try FanDuel today. Get a $20 bonus when you make your first deposit just sign up use promo code bs check it out fan duel football season come on what are you waiting for all right back to steph curry you were in uh what was the one almost fight you were in or pseudo fight near fight and david lee was in it too yeah yeah who was that roy hibbert yeah my now teammate david west that's what that was.

Yeah, David West came in. So that was it. That was a good hold me back fight. That was the day before the New York game. So that got me going. Yeah. That was the day before. Roy and D. Lee squared up.

And I'm standing at the free throw line. This is a major story. I got to go through the whole detail. Roy Hibbert and D. Lee square up. They chest bump. And they separate. And they look like they're going back to square up again. For some reason, I just lose my mind. I'm like, all right, I'm going to go grab Roy Hibbert and pull him off the throne. So Roy feels something on him.

He just whips his left elbow back, and I go flying towards the baseline. So I'm a little stunned. Like, dang, he really just threw me off him like that. So I get back up and go back at him and at that point d west comes around uh dray or is it uh draymond and um and and uh who i'm missing oh jared jack they're all kind of just in the in this pile and literally as every time every step you take you're moving closer and closer and closer to the sideline into the stands the. The whole time that's going on, my guy Clay has the ball in his hand. He's like looking on the other side.

And as soon as the scrum calms down, he's over there doing some form shots on the court. Like the video is freaking hilarious. He's just shooting form shots. The ball never left his arm the whole time. The whole, when you quote, the fight was going on. That could have been a dangerous fight. There was a lot of testosterone on that court. Andres Bejans is out there, my guy.

Oh, man. Crazy. You know, game one of the finals, which is one of the best games I've ever seen in person, this year's finals. This year? Yeah. LeBron was coming off this insane playoff run. I'd argue that, too. Last year's game one was amazing, too. Which one was that? I'm trying to remember what happened.

Literally, the intensity from start to finish was nothing I'd ever felt like. Everybody played their best game. It was unbelievable. I remember that. The whole game one this year was crazy. Go ahead. Sorry. I interrupted. No, I was trying. Oh, I remember.

LeBron was coming off that Boston series. He was playing about as well offensively as he's ever played. And he was so used to the – usually the game one is a feeling out game. As you said the year before, you guys don't have to feel each other out anymore. You just go. And that game was awesome. This game, he was – He was amazing. Really, really good and then the jr thing happens which uh in in uh

afterwards like we had stuff in the locker room that we had to take out of course unfortunately but uh clay saying thanks jr and all this stuff but uh but get to OT, and LeBron was starting with that foul, like 30 seconds left from regulation, or win the charge and got flipped. He's the maddest I've ever seen him. And then in the OT, the game's slipping away, and he blocked you and he talked shit to you. I thought you guys were going to fight. Because I was sitting right under that basket.

I was like, holy shit, they're going to fight for like two seconds. That's why I said NBA pettiness is at an all-time high yeah both sides we were just it was never gonna spill over to that but it was a interesting moment with all that had gone on in game one you went right at him though i know i was i was hot because i was trying to finish out of possession i think it was less than a minute left i didn't see him coming over from the weak side so i tried to do a little soft scoop layup and he yeah pinned it. But then he stared you down. Then he stared me down, and he said something to me. And I was like, that's what we're really on right now?

Like, we're about to win, and you're really worried about me and blocking my shot and talking trash? And then the whole Tristan and Draymond thing happened. I went back up to him. I was like, yo, what's up? Is this really what we're about right now? He's like, I got to do that and make sure my teammates know I'm a mentor. And that's part of his leadership and that type of deal.

I was like, I don't want to be the sacrificial lamb for your leadership. Like, come on, man. That's messed up. But it's all the back and forth and stuff. When you play a team in the finals literally four years in a row, there's a lot of back and forth going on. I want more of it. I don't want you guys to like each other. This my biggest problem this decade i like that i'm not positive you and

lebron like each other like watching from afar it doesn't seem like you like each other i'm sure there's a mutual respect there's definitely mutual respect i would say though like when you see guys like working out with each other in the summers and you see guys playing pickup and all that when they step foot on the court and during the season it's a whole totally different environment so guys can be buddies and friends and whatnot and and have uh whatever type of relationship they want to have you know in the summer and off the court but it the the rivalry and competition and egos and all that stuff that that lives in in an nba game and when you're trying to you know hold that trophy that it's it's really there and so that And so that's not going anywhere.

I was giving KD shit when we saw him for the last podcast about how he did that Uber commercial with LeBron. And I was like, why are you doing commercials with him? He's trying to butter you up. Magic and Bird do the... Yeah, I didn't like it. Magic saw... Michael and Larry did the...

No, Magic and Bird. Bird beat Magic in the finals. And they did the commercial after. And then the Lakers won the next year. Yeah, he buttered them up. I don't like it. I don't want you guys to get along. I want adversarial relationships. They're there.

They're there. I promise you. It does seem like it. Well, now you have to be on the all-star team with LeBron. You have to get along with him for two days. That's a good point. Oh, man. I didn't think about that.

Yeah. In terms of the whole captain thing last year, we were captains of the, uh, we're not doing the conferences. Well, we are the, I guess the,

each conference, the leading vote getter is the captain of that team. And then you pick from the rest of the group. So technically. Oh, so it's you versus LeBron. One of us is going to be the captain or somebody else. And then we have to pick the opposite person.

I got to say, I like the All-Star game. I thought that worked. You guys were all into it. I hated losing. Yeah. But that whole kind of just different look is the guys have been playing with a set of guys on either conference for years, and they upped the money and the whole deal

and a little incentive to win the game. It changed the whole dynamic for sure it was good i could tell because the guys on the bench were standing that's a good point too yeah they were standing and i was on the baseline trying to or sideline trying to figure out how to get a shot off and like my whole bench was up and like wait y'all aren't guarding me oh that's when katie and lebron are doing a double team try shooting a shot over katie and lebron doing a double team that's that a little difficult. I didn't like the last play you ran. I probably would have picked something different. I don't know if you designed that one. You're debating Popovich?

I thought he mailed it in on the last play. I did. I didn't like it. You had wide open guys on that one. You were being triple teamed. Sorry, it wasn't Popovich. It was D'Antoni. Whoever it was. You didn't remember who the coach was. Is LeBron the best player you played against?

Yeah. Probably, yeah. I mean, you come into the league, right, as he's – Yeah. His first MVP season or his second MVP season. Second. Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

And he's been in his prime for now 11 years which is insane he uh and you and he just posts instagram videos of himself working out and it's like oh this makes sense it's six in the morning and you're like i like those man you do those too i like the oh i i make fun of those type of videos because i really like them you like like them? Yeah. Last year, I got in trouble for imitating Braun at a wedding last year. I forgot about that. I'm bringing that back up just because I literally enjoyed the entertainment. Draymond was making fun of Braun with his haircut last year and the whole deal. Braun was posting the workouts and all that type of stuff.

It's great entertainment all the way around. And I'm pretty sure people make fun of stuff that I post too. But I was doing a wedding and I was doing, the song came on that he was dancing to in the in the video and like that's the only thing i could see in my head so i did the dance it was amazing i forgot about that it's amazing well draymond and lebron they're like draymond's on uninterrupted which i don't like either i don't think you should have any too many things you don't like no i don't want you guys to like each other, especially now that he's on the Lakers. I want this to be a real bad blood feud.

Yeah, it'll take a new life. Because you lost the Clippers. That feud's over. Yeah, the whole team's gone. Yeah, the whole team's gone. You got nobody to feud with. We have four years of equity in LeBron and Cleveland. And now he's in our division now.

Do divisions matter in the NBA? No. No. They were created for what? Just for scheduling and for- I did a thing about this in my book. Not only are they stupid, but there were years where they had like San Antonio in the same division as like boston and like crazy

yeah they just there's no history of it but yeah it's still like well anyway they're in there's obviously a warrior of north uh socal and north norcal or however you say you guys have the division that makes the most sense right it's a california team sacramento and phoenix yeah yeah that division actually makes sense and you guys are relatively near each other it's actually gonna be really fun uh i always call it the west coast league pass teams and you guys actually have kind of sucked on league pass because you're up by 33 fourths of the games and that's not true though Because we usually are down at halftime,

and then we go in those third-quarter rallies. Yeah, so I just have to watch the first six minutes of third quarter. It's like midnight, and we go on this run, and then you're like, all right. But Phoenix will be more fun this year. Sacramento's like a fantasy team. I'm going to enjoy just what the hell's going on on that. A whole bunch of different types of guys. The Clippers made some moves, obviously LA.

The Lakers will be fun. You have some old teammates on the Lakers? I do. JaVale? Is there anybody else? JaVale. I mean, I know

all the other guys, but I think the only one I play with is JaVale. But Boston's on your radar. I can feel it. Boston's going to be tough. They freaking made the East Conference Finals

without Kyrie. You got to admit, the Celtics have always played you tough, no matter who was on the team. They have. That is true. I can go back every year. Stevens.

Down to the wire game, whether it's their place or ours. Two years ago when Isaiah was there and Avery Bradley, we won at their place and then they came and beat us at our place. Avery always did a nice job on you.very's tough yeah he's a bulldog who's the top three for you Avery's there Avery's probably in there um Chris Paul when he's allowed to use 45,000 game he's tough uh I had a little little trouble at the beginning with, oh, my goodness. He played at Memphis. Tony Allen, sorry. T.A.

I had a trouble because in that playoff series, for some reason they wanted to put a bigger guy. It had a little bit of length on me. I could get by him, but he was so crafty with using his hands and very high IQ defender. So it took me a minute to try to figure it out. It felt like the last two years, every time Kevin Love got switched on you, you had a flashback to the game 7-16 and you wanted to score on him.

Yes. Is that fair? That is very fair. I spent a whole year hearing about that one possession in the 2016 finals. You've won three titles. Do you still feel about – do you think about 2016? 100%. When you're right there at the cusp of winning a championship

and you lose, like that stings. Obviously, when you win, it's an amazing feeling. I want to be on that podium every year, but you can always try to be greedy and look back like, damn, if I would have did this differently, if I would have did this differently, maybe one or two possessions, we would have had another championship. They're hard thoughts to move on from, even though they inspire the comeback pursuit, which has been the last two years.

It's a fascinating last six minutes to watch. It's actually not very- Of game seven? Game seven. It's actually not very – Of game seven? Game seven. It's actually not very well played. Everybody just misses shots. But LeBron makes the two – he gets basically six points against Azeale. And then he has the one block.

One block. And then Kyrie makes the one three. But not a lot happens positive in those last six minutes. Everybody seems so tired. And it seems so tense. The crowd's just standing there. It's an intense moment, yeah. That's the thing.

I think it's really hard to explain unless you've been in an arena for one of those games how tense those game sevens can get and how you can just feel it. You weren't in Houston this year, were you? No, but I could tell from the TV I knew that. I mean, I could talk about that game all day. Like obviously it's tough when CP goes out, but just the, the, the tension from the, from the jump, like knowing every possession, every pass, every dribble, like mattered for us to get to the finals.

The pressure on us to get back there, the pressure for them to try to get over the hump, like very palpable throughout the entire arena and uh when we finally started to figure out in the second half it still wasn't a good feeling like like we were accomplishing anything it still was like we're just this is like a hell of a fight and until you actually heard the buzzer sound and you could like take a breath you know a side relief um that's why i think we had such big smiles on our face because that was probably one of the hardest series I think we've ever played in.

Yeah. I couldn't tell how much of it was you guys just seemed exhausted by the run and how much was, how good and physical they were defensively. It seemed like a combo of those two things. For sure. They kind of caught you at the right point, but they also, the stuff they did defensively

was the highest level we've seen anybody defend you guys. I mean, well, too, Darryl Moore has been very outspoken about it. They tried to design a team to beat us, and they had a certain game plan that they worked on all year, and they weren't shy about, you know, proclaiming it. And when it got to that series, you know, some stuff they did worked. Some stuff we did to counter it started to work a little bit better.

But that's what an NBA playoff series should be like. Yeah, I agree. Back and forth where you really don't know who has momentum, who has control of the series at any given time. And it goes down to the last half of the Game 7. That series literally felt like two months. Yeah. Like that was the one I could look back throughout this playoff run and say

that was, that was a gauntlet. It's weird. I never ever felt like you guys were actually going to get bounced watching it. I had this weird confidence. I appreciate it. I'm not even saying that to butter you up. I had this weird confidence. I was like, no, they'll figure it out.

But at the same time, I was like, is this going to be one of those things where Houston's celebrating and I'm still going, no, no, the Warriors got this. That's how it felt like in 2016. Yeah. Like, oh, no, this is another game, right? Like, this ain't it. When Draymond punched LeBron in the balls,

did you know in the moment he was going to get suspended? No. We were actually made to, i think practice the two days later before game five not knowing what was going on um not really thinking they deserved to be switched to a flagrant or whatnot yeah um it was it was a it was a surprise when we got that word we got it right at the end of our practice. So we had prepared as if Draymond was playing the whole practice. And then we got the word right after that he wasn't. And that kind of shook us a little bit.

Because that game four was actually one of the best Warriors games. Mm-hmm. You went to that game. That was a we are the champs. It was a statement game. Yeah, it was a statement game. It was like, wow, they're winning in five and that's it. It's another good NBA what if.

You must have been excited when they traded Kyrie, though. Me? Yeah. No. I was like, oh, this is great. They've traded Kyrie. Thank you, Cleveland. It was surprising, yeah.

Literally, when you play a team or go through a final series like that, like we did in 2015, obviously only played game one and uh 2016-17 there's a certain look that they present in a certain challenge with you know lebron and kairi able to take turns on possessions kairi can create his own shot um and you it's almost like like what are they like i know they still have braun and they have uh uh really shooters around him and they know how they're going to score and how they're going to be effective it's like that's such a different dynamic that they're missing yeah and uh i would have written that one out i've heard i heard your take on that yeah i've heard your take on that so i mean i just i've said this a million times

i judge guys by the by the playoffs and the finals and who's out there. Like in that game seven in 2016, who would I want on the court for those six minutes? And if somebody can step into that moment and make the biggest shot of the game, I want him on my team. He's a killer, man. Can we talk about Charlotte really quickly? Yes. Are we sure you're not ending your career there? I love the Bay Area, man. I actually, the only reason I go home now is

if my sister's getting married or to go play the Hornets for that one game. So I haven't really been back much, but I haven't really put my mind there. So you like when you go back. It's like when I go back to Boston. It's great to be back. I love it. You get all these old memories, but you don't

feel like a real, like I got to finish my career. Now you feel that with the Warriors. For sure I do. Yeah. This is home. This is where I want to be for obvious reasons.

How do you feel about all the bandwagon Warriors fans that jumped on during the first title? Because you remember the old school Warriors fans. It's a part of it. My favorite thing now is like if I'm on Twitter or Instagram and I see a picture of like Nate Thurman, and it's like only real Golden State Warriors fans know who this guy is

without having to Google it. Yeah. Like those type of, when they question the fans, I love that. But like when you come, you see, like when we had the parade and you see Oakland with a million people downtown wearing warrior gear, celebrating the change, our third championship in four years,

like whoever wants to put that Jersey on and support us, man, it's amazing. That was the case when Lake about the team. Everyone's like, Oh, $400 million. It's like,

yeah, there's one of the biggest markets in the U S they're sleeping on. So come out, he's right there and they have great fans sleeping on it, man. It's going to the U.S. I know. They're sleeping on the Bay Area. Silicon Valley's right there, and they have great fans. Sleeping on it, man. I didn't understand. It's going to be interesting this year. I will say.

This is the last year in Oakland. Haven't spent 10 years or going on my 10th year in Oakland. This being the last year there before we move to San Francisco, it's going to be a real sentimental year, especially for me being the elder statesman on the team. Haven't seen the dog days my first three, four years. Yeah. We're on a playoff team to, you know,

those pivotal playoff runs where we were starting to figure it out and seeing, you know, the fan base pick up and I was really looking at a championship to the last three years

where we've got it done three of the last four years. Like, a lot has been, you know, experienced won and lost in Oakland at Oracle. So it's going to be a little different.

I like, I like you have a couple things in your favor this year because normally it'd be like ah you've hit four straight finals it's gonna be rough how are they gonna get motivated last year of oracle boogie coming in around all-star break maybe even sooner and then lebron and the lakers those are three nice little keep you fresh kind of things. I think when a team's going to try to own a decade, which you guys have basically owned a big chunk of it,

I would say you're the team of the decade. Now Miami got two. Four straight finals. Four straight finals and got two. Miami did four straight finals. I don't know. Maybe this year decides it. But those little things help because the season's too long.

What is your ideal length for the season? 70? 72? I've heard the case for 70. When I see it on paper, it actually looks good. I mean, there's no way we're going to go less than 82. It's just the NBA is too popular. Fans want games.

And that's what we're in the business for. Do you think how much what would what effect would it have on your performance over the course of regular season

if it was 70 versus 82 with more spread out rest and stuff I don't know how to put it just I don't know

how it would affect injuries like I I think it would maybe have a positive effect just cause there's a little less wear and tear

a little probably eight less back-to-backs, whatever the case is. I don't know. I don't know how. I've never put myself in thinking if I had three extra days to rest between a game in the middle of February, that would actually be real rejuvenating. But my whole process now. Do you get legitimately tired during the season? Do you feel moments?

There are weeks. You can have a rough week where you come off a four-game to five-day stretch with a flight, and you come back, and it's like, I got two out of the next three at home with one more back-to-back at the end. And you're like, all right, you're looking at the schedule. You're like, all right, how are we going to get get through this little stretch and your body starts to feel it um but if you have some team stuff too that also the season everybody has team stuff yeah that's part of the that's part of the beast anyway but everybody has their process of how they deal with it and i think for us

for me particularly like i got a certain routine that I try to stick with every single step of the way that helps you counteract that fatigue that might set in. Why did David West say that thing after the finals about if people understood what happened during this? It sounded very cryptic. It was very cryptic. I think I might be still trying to figure it out, too. You're like, did I miss something? Was there a fight I missed? Did I not go to a team dinner or what happened?

No, but I think just in general, there's, like you said, there's so many different dynamics at play when it comes to chasing a championship and there's so much, you're with each other all the time. Yeah. Like low key, my wife hates when I say that. I am with the team more than I am with my family during the season. Yeah. And it's, that's a good thing and a bad thing in terms of emotions kind of get into it.

It's hard to kind of picture the goal right in the middle of the season where you're trying to get to. All that type of stuff comes into play. So the great teams figure it out, and they keep the focus on winning games and playing basketball and caring for each other, and I think that's what we've figured out. See, I feel like a team is like a marriage. If you're with a couple and you spend a week with them on vacation or something

and they never, like, mix it up at all and it's just, like, too perfect, you're like, all right, this is getting weird. I want teammates to yell at each other on the court. That tells me that they like each other and they can do that. We had that moment two years ago when KD first joined our team. We had that moment in Sacramento where him and Draymond got into it. Everybody was like, oh, what's going on? The Warriors chemistry is broken.

KD's messed up. Draymond's not happy. Coming up next Steph doesn't yeah the hot takes the lead Steph doesn't know how to lead the team this and that yeah Coach Curtis popping off throwing f-bombs getting thrown out the game like yeah that's a part of the beast man like it's stressful what we do and like and we keep the perspective like we're playing basketball but the stress on like actually winning games and doing what we need to do to prepare your mind, your body to, to go out and compete.

And when teams are coming at your throat every single night, like that's, it's hard, man. Well, you also have a lot of people who I don't feel like ever actually played basketball weighing in on what it's like for teammates to interact with basketball. Cause I played basketball my whole life, including with some of the best friends I played basketball my whole life including with some

of the best friends I have in my life we yell at each other on the court it's not like three hours a year I'm like man I can't believe

you yelled at me because I didn't set that pick like fuck you it just happens you move on that's the whole point of basketball

that's it man you don't hold any grudges you just you know what you need you check people when you need to and we got a lot

of guys that do that yeah from an all time standpoint I guess we'll wrap on this do you think about You just, you know, you check people when you need to. And we got a lot of guys that do that. Yeah. From an all-time standpoint, I guess we'll wrap on this. Do you think about this stuff at all? Like where I would like top rank in the all-time list? I was messing around my pyramid. Where am I, Bill?

Where am I? Want me to look? Where am I? I'll check it out. Tell me something good, man. Tell me. But like, all right, well, you talk, I'll look this up as we're doing this but from a team standpoint uh-huh you're already in the conversation the best team ever no not best team ever but there's like that short list of like the seven eight teams that mattered i think okay you're

probably on that list now you're at least on the list with like the kobe shack lakers okay that those kind of teams but you go four and five with the fifth one being you lose in game seven basically in the last minute. That's now becoming a different conversation. I feel like there are real historical stakes now.

And then I look at somebody like Durant. You need to add that to your list of things that we need to focus on for this season. But I don't know if players care about that stuff.

I think it's like people like me care about that. I don't think players just go to the next game. I'm definitely intrigued by how people view us in terms of actual basketball minds that know what they're talking about in terms of the history of the game. Because everybody has a recency bias. Everybody is a prisoner in the moment in terms of we're ruining the league because we've been in the finals four years in a row. We won three out of four and all this other type of nonsense.

If you look back in the archives, this has happened plenty of times before and it'll probably happen plenty of times again in their own unique kind of circumstances. I appreciate the general knowledge of where this area is in comparison to what's going on on the court before. I never thought about you that until we did that thing for the HBO show and we were walking off the court and I was like, only a couple of guys in my life would have taken that shot when they were

over nine, the three pointer. And, and not only did I feel like it was going in, but the person taking the shot did too. And you were like, who's on the list? Like you were immediately intrigued. So I was like, this guy's a basketball fan. And it really is like, that is not a long list. But I think, you know, from a team standpoint, I think it matters to be able to say, you know,

I look at those Jordan Bulls things, like go talk to Scotty Pippen about it. But 20 years later, he's happy. He's still fired up about it probably. I like the way that you put it, though. I just said, like, best team ever, which I don't agree with. There is no such thing in terms – every era is different. And, like, there's a set of circumstances different. And, like, the whole greatest player of all time and things like that,

which could be debatable or not. But there are – that short list of people that change the league that move the needle that are conversation worthy um that have you know a huge reason why i play the game right now like all that type of stuff and why i think i'll have a reason why certain you know future generations will play um figuring out you know who those game changers are and that's that type of conversation is important for sure you you you're gonna start breaking records soon that are not going to have any parallel to anything that's happened before some of the three-point records it's funny uh i agree you're gonna start annihilating them when i set the rookie uh

three-point record yeah i think it was like 162 or something like that and like it's been broken four times since seriously like Clay not Clay Damian Lillard broke it

Donovan Mitchell was up there this year somebody else I'm missing in between but just the game is changing obviously so records that were untouchable in terms of certain shooting stats and all that type of stuff may, I hope to be in the three-point conversation,

be up there at the end of the short list. I think there's seven three-point shooters, maybe eight. You're on that list, obviously. Who's the list, Bill? Well, Reggie. Yeah, Ray. Clay. Ray.

Nash. Maybe it's just those four and then after that you go the specialist like your dad you get the nash but he never was like a high volume three-pointer he's just a high percentage and very efficient with it don't sleep on larry legend 86 41 good call made like 92 does it seem like a million back then i found my pyramid list all right all right so here's the caveat i approached the pyramid like your career this could be it i'm just measuring it you might retire right now so i'm just taking your 10 okay but also trying to project like well he's not going to retire so let's say let's go like three four so i'll you 24 right now. A little scrawny kid from Charlotte.

So you're in level. I got a lot of work to do, Bill. Level four, Havacek, Nowitzki, Baylor, Irving, Pettit, Malone, Garnett, Barkley, Curry. But I have you ahead of poor Bob Cousy who just turned 90. I'll count that as a win for now. I really value MVPs. I think like two MVPs and then the titles titles, you're bringing stuff to the table. So 24, you're ahead of Chris Paul. You passed Isaiah, which was a big deal for me.

That's strong. But Isaiah really only played like 12 years. It's a different game. A different era. Yeah, he tore his Achilles. He played one game on his ankle that I probably wouldn't have. I don't know if I could have played the way he played in that finals game. Oh, you remember that?

Yeah. It was one of the classics. If I would have did that, I would have been out for six months. And then you go to Koozie. Koozie played like 13 years. You saw the sneakers they wore in 1958? He's wearing like John Vervato's covers. Any last things you want to plug?

nothing? new shoes? I got the Curry 6 coming out in December my golf game this summer oh we didn't talk about that was phenomenal for one day you shot what'd you shoot minus one the first day?

I shot 71 it was a par 70 course so I shot 70 on the first day sorry 71 on the first day? I shot 71. It was a par 70 course. So I shot 70 on the first day. I'm sorry, 71 on the first day. I beat 50 pros on one day. And then my amateur experience kicked in on day two and I shot 86. 86? It was the first time. So remember I was 0 for 9 in game three. I had that moment on the course on that Friday where I literally had no idea where the ball was going. You should have had Bruce caddy for you. Mind wizard.

He got me right back. Bruce would have brought you back into it. But just being able to be out there with those pros is pretty crazy. Just try to hold my own and hype up the game of golf because I truly love it and trying to grow that as well. So pretty crazy. What are the odds of you on the tour at some point? Zero. Zero?

Just from a time perspective, there's such a huge commitment to really, like, if it's going to take two, three years for me to get my game right. And then on top of that would – So you'd have to retire from basketball and play golf every day for, like, two years. To even have a shot at being a serious professional. But everybody says like you're legitimately talented at golf. I am, but for where I am and where I need to be, which is play golf once a month during the season,

a couple of times during the playoffs, and then all summer, and play a couple of tournaments in the summer just to compete and have fun. What other hand-eye things are you good at? It's gotta be everything, right? Are you getting darts? I mean, I can get a pool,

pool, darts, horseshoes, horseshoes, ping pong, ping pong. Yeah. All that cornhole.

I'm actually not that great at cornhole. I don't know if it was about the sandbags. I don't know. I don't think from, was about the sandbags. I don't know. I don't think from a basketball player golf standpoint, you could be even a half inch taller than you are. I thought Jordan was too tall. Like when Jordan's like, oh, Jordan's a good guy. It's like, he's 6'6". That's not happening.

Go look at golfers. Andre Godala is going to refute that entire premise. Really? Yes. Is he better than you? No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying he's 6'7". Yeah.

6'6", 6'7". Too tough. Crazy swing arc. Too many ways to go wrong on the swing. The trajectory he's on with his game, he's only been playing like six, seven years. Watch out for him. Have you guys ever played for money?

Yeah, I beat him all the time. You just take his money? I need to be around him so we can encourage each other in the game, for sure. See, the NBA does that, that player's award night or whatever the hell it is. The biggest mistake is they should just have a celebrity tournament with you guys, and there should be a golf champ every year, and it should be all the nba players i agree again that would be amazing it'll surprise you who would show up for that tournament more people show up for that than the espys this year remember when you were this wide-eyed kid from charlotte you're like hey they invited me to the

espys i'm going now you don't go to any of that stuff. Man, if you knew the guy out there sitting out this room, all the stuff that I'm invited to. He goes for you. No, but like something I take seriously, but just the time and so then the stuff that I've turned down, surprises the hell out of me too. And that includes our former president that has invited me to play golf,

but I cannot get to the East Coast in like the next week to go play with him it's crazy oh he wants you to come back so Barack

if you're listening I appreciate the invite but it's not that I don't want to be there I literally just can't and Trump no no

Trump say hey I'm at Pebble Beach I'd love to take you out for a round quick hit the red button quick ignore all right good luck with the uh off season congrats on the three kids thank you very much keep it up man i appreciate that thanks so much to stephan and his crew thanks to zip recruiter don't forget to check them out at ZipRecruiter.com slash BS. BS. ZipRecruiter.com slash BS. I can't remember my own initials.

Thanks to FanDuel. This NFL season, FanDuel has more ways to win than ever before. Like the free weekly pick-em contest or FanDuel's free NFL Survivor League. Pick one team every week of the season for a chance at the $250,000 prize. FanDuel even has a new tool called Guru, which helps you pick your lineup so you can feel more confident going into game day. New players, try FanDuel today and get a $20 bonus when you make your first deposit. Sign up, use promo code BS.

Thanks to Gillette. Don't forget, Gillette offers a variety of shaving products for every guy, regardless of personal style, skin needs, or budget. Whether you want three blades or five, the Gillette 3 and 5 razors have you covered. All under $10. High performance, low price.

Get Gillette Performance Delivery 2 door. Find Gillette 5 at GilletteOnDemand.com. I'm already excited for Gillette 6. Subscribe today. Back Friday. I don't know. We're on a roll right now. I think I'm going to have to have another good podcast on Friday.

It's been a good week. Talk to you soon. Thank you.