The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Why Warriors should go ALL-IN on Steph Curry, Klay & Draymond for NBA Finals run

Episode Date: December 21, 2023

Jason Timpf is joined by Sam Esfandiari to discuss the play of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and the Golden State Warriors so far this season. Sitting below .500, the guys discuss that they still have a championship caliber core, and need to go ALL IN to try and win another championship. The guys discuss possible trade targets for Golden State with Pascal Siakam at the top of that list. #volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas. age varies by jurisdiction, void in Ontario, bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. See dkng.com slash basketball for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms, and responsible gaming resources. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight here at the Volume. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Hope all of you guys are having an incredible week. I have a very special guest coming on the show today, someone that, especially early on when I really wanted to get into this industry, someone that I looked up to, someone that

I respect it a great deal. And most importantly, one of these smartest basketball minds that I know, someone that I lean on a lot when I'm picking people's brains around the NBA. Mr. Sam is Fondiari, co-host of the Light Years podcast, covers the Warriors, him and Andy do an amazing job covering the Warriors on a daily basis. We're going to have him in today to break down everything from this incredibly bizarre first third of the season. So, Sam, this is where I want to start today. So last night, obviously the story was,

the young guys, Trace Jackson Davis, Jonathan Caminga, I thought Moses Moody played really well. Pizamski, before he got hurt, was playing really well as well. And we can look in the bigger picture and see some clear data that demonstrates that's the direction that the Warriors have needed to go for a while. If we look at, according to cleaning the glass, the best plus minus guys on the Warriors, Trace Jackson Davis, the Warriors are 22 points better with him. Pzamski, nine points better. CP3, eight points better. Gary Payton, six points better. Another young athlete, Jonathan Kaminga, six points better. And then the bottom four guys are Wiggins minus 17, Looney minus 10, Drayman minus 9, and Clay minus four. So it's been one of those things where it's

obvious that the young guys are the direction that Steve Kearney needs to go within the context of the regular season. That said, Sam, you've been covering a dynasty, you know firmly what it takes to succeed in the NBA playoffs. How much of this do you think is just a regular season solution versus guys that you think can hold down a spot in a playoff rotation. I think it's probably a mix of both. You are correct and saying like if you're looking to count on a bunch of guys under the age of 23 in the playoffs, typically that doesn't work. You can usually get away with one or two in your rotation.

But I mean, if you look at the Warriors right now, they should be starting three guys on rookie deals. They should be starting Trace Jackson Davis. They are starting Kuminga and they are starting Pajamsky. and just realistically speaking, that would be unprecedented to make a deep playoff run with that. You kind of nailed it. The most interesting part of the Warriors struggles in the early part of the season, and I think we have enough sample size, like we're a third of the way through the season

to say it. It's not actually the older guys. It's not Chris Paul. Like he's been steady in a backup point guard role. He is who he is, but it's been generally positive play. It hasn't even been Clay who's kind of come alive. the last month. It's been the two guys who you would assume would be the most consistent contributors. The two guys who are 27, 28 years old, theoretically in their prime, the guys that they were

thinking they could lean on, Wiggins and Looney. And I don't know what to make of either of them, like why they're struggling so much. It's confounding. Like Steve Kerr's given them a lot of rope. There have been calls to change the lineup well before the last four games. And I get it. You need Wiggins to play well. You're not going to just bench him in mid-November because he can't hit a shot. But, you know, we're approaching Christmas. And even after he had a really good game coming off the bench, just a no-show against Boston. A team he tormented less than a year and a half ago on the finals and a matchup that's generally favorable to him.

So, like, I don't really know what to say. All I know is, like, he's playing really bad. And Lutie, you can throw in the mix there, too. I have an insane Andrew Wiggins stat for you. So in 25 games this year, and I believe last night was one of them, Andrew Wiggins has logged nine single digit scoring games. In 193 Warriors games over the previous four years, he had nine total single digit scoring games.

I mean, I mean, that matches the eye test. It's like, it's not one particular thing. that he's doing, he's obviously not shooting the ball well. You just don't feel him out there in any way in like, I don't know, 75% of the game. So I'll have a random game where you're like, that's the Wiggins I remember. That's the guy who was so instrumental in the 2022 playoffs. But most games are more like last night against Boston. Can't hit a shot, floats in and out of the game.

And I honestly think the shot probably has a psychological effect on it. like when he when he doesn't see it going in, then he starts missing layups, which is even more bizarre. Then he starts floating on defense. And it's just one of those things where it's like, it's not logical. It's not like he's a malcontent or he's not trying.

It's just bad. Yeah. Mentally, I think a big part of it is the fact that his shot is not falling is starting to manifest in other areas of his game. Like this is a guy that during the championship, championship run, I thought was firmly one of the top four or five best perimeter defenders in basketball. Like, without a doubt. Like, this dude is the first guy I've ever seen in a playoff series,

legit make Luca uncomfortable. Like, that's a huge claim to fame in that specific case. And like, it's not just the athletic engagement that fades. It also starts to affect his decision making. Like, you see last night, it's like he smokes that wide open layup on the right side of the rim to start. And then it's like a couple possessions later, he just early in the clock takes a pull-up 15-footer that's contested. And you're like, that's not the kind of shot that's going to get you out of a slump. And, you know, that's the thing is like a lot of times when it comes to these types of struggles, the best thing you can do is be more focused and be more deliberate about doing your job. And it almost seems like as his offense is fading, he's just going further off the reservation in the sense that he's losing his focus.

And, you know, that's the concerning part because, you know, a lot of Warriors fans are like, oh, they need to change the starting lineup. They need to change the starting lineup. And we all agree that that's the direction they needed to go. But from Kerr's perspective, it's always more complicated than that. And, you know, coaches are supposed to be more measured. They're supposed to be able to kind of withstand some of the up and down nature of the emotions of an NBA season and games as well. And, like, I'm kind of okay with him being late to that party rather than. early to that party. And to his credit, he made the shift. And Jonathan Caminga, I saw,

I saw you posted this morning the numbers, the difference between Jonathan Caminga and how well he plays when he's with the starters versus when he comes off the bench. So let me ask you this. Do you think that Andrew Wiggins off the bench is going to send him further down that path? Or do you think this is going to kind of motivate him to be more engaged and to try to work his way back into that lineup? It's hard to say because if, if, if, we record this pod before the Boston game, I'd say, oh, see, it worked. He was against Portland, probably his best all-around game of the season. You just felt him. He hit his shots. You felt him defensively. You felt him rebounding the ball. It looked like the best version of Wiggins.

And after I watched the game, it was like, oh, it's only a matter of time before Steve puts him back in the starting lineup, stroke of genius, blah, blah, blah. And then he just comes out and does this the next game. So I don't know. But I don't think that. But I don't think that. they have a choice because you read those splits, the plus minuses at the beginning of the show. Clay has great splits and Steph has great splits since they took Wiggins out of starting lineup. It was pretty much all Wiggins tearing them down. And if you go into like the plus minus data from earlier in the season, this was true too.

It's too easy to say like he's the, you know, the only problem with the team. They have issues all over the place. But like it's hard to argue that like it's. it's not happening. Every time he was in certain the lineup, they were playing playing worse. He can't, he wasn't hitting shots. He wasn't really defending. There was no impact there. Clay's actually a great example of he's going through the same thing Andrew Wiggins is in a lot of ways, except for his approach is like he's just more focus. You can tell his shot selection is improved over the last few games. Just in general, he's approaching it like,

I'm just going to find a way to do as much as I can to help winning and the shots will fall. You know what I mean? And then that's the thing is like he he missed a bunch of clean looks in O.T. But over the course of most of the second half, I thought he just played a really smart game, taking the right shots. He generated a lot of open role opportunities for Trace Jackson Davis. I thought it was a great Clay Thompson stretch here over the course the last couple weeks.

So Steve Kerr, go ahead. I was going to say to the Clay Point, they've been playing faster. Part of their slow start or really just terrible November, if you want to kind of really hone in on it, was they were like one of the bottom teams in pace, which is just the opposite of what you associate the Warriors. Some of that was the Dremont suspension, trying to figure out how to use Chris Paul. He's a naturally more methodical player. But Clay was the one who I think it affected the most because

he's a movement shooter. He moves off of screens. He's not a half court player. He's not a, you know, dribble, dribble, dribble, dribble, get my shot guy. Like if he does that, he tends to be inefficient. And since they made the lineup change and everything, they look more. like the Warriors, just in terms of style of play, pace, and everything. And if he's open, it's, the numbers tend to be favorable for him. Well, you know, you know what's interesting too about the starting lineup in particular is like, I do think that a big part of what made the Looney Draymond front court no longer functional in the regular season is the decline of Andrew Wiggins.

And the fact that Clay was not playing as well as he had been, it became to, like, because what was happening is, because we, again, we all saw that same line. end up just crush everybody the previous year and literally win the title the year before. And again, that doesn't mean just because it won't work against the Lakers doesn't mean it shouldn't work against the vast majority of the teams you play over the course of the regular season. And I thought a big part of it is like once the offensive shot creation kind of dipped below that whatever that mandatory minimum was to be able to make that work, it just, it just stopped functioning. And that's where it became a problem.

And to your point, yeah, I mean, they were reliant on three guys being 40 percent three point shooters, two of which being Stefan Clay were like two best of all time. So yeah, if Wiggins is not hitting shot and is a non-shooter, then I mean, yeah, that's three guys who are just non-offensive threats. And of course it doesn't work. And the misses have been ugly with Wiggins as of late two. It's flat. It's long. It's not, it just looks like he's chucking shots up at this point. It seems a little bit like a lost cause. So I wanted to talk a little bit big picture. So 16th in offense, 18th in defense to this point. 18th in net rating. They are three and one since they changed the starting lineup.

They've really struggled defensively in those games, but obviously Draymond Green being out is going to play a role there. They are 13 and 14, one game back of the 10 seed. I do think it's important to mention, and this is something I've been hammering on the entire year. Shams reported yesterday or two days ago that Draymond's going to be out basically the rest of this week and then two more weeks after that and then potentially longer, but let's just say through the next two and a half weeks for as a minimum. If that was the case, he'd miss nine more games. They play Washington and Portland.

Then they go to Denver. Then they play Miami, Dallas, Orlando, Detroit, Toronto. All those games are at home, except for the Denver game. Again, they played one of the toughest early schedules that you saw around the league. And I would argue even without Dremont, it's more likely than not that they're above 500 in that stretch. With all those games at home and against some of these lesser teams. So a lot of this is actually shaped out, considering how horrific it looked, and especially on the heels of this recent three-game winning streak,

there's actually like a light at the end of the tunnel here. I think Draymond could return to the lineup and then be close to 500 or over 500. So my question for you is, do you believe this team is worth investing in? I do. I think if you were to look at this team, they're about a 500 team right now. 13 and 14. They could easily be 15 and 12. but whatever. They're a 500 team. You insert Draymond. They're more or less the team they were last year to me.

Wiggins has fallen off, but Kuminga's gotten better. They're sitting in my mind as net second tier. They're not a contender. They're one piece away. It feels like in general. And you know what? If you have one of the handful of players who's capable of being the best player in a title team and Steph very much still is capable of doing that. and you're, let's say, one player away, I think you have to go for it. I really do. It doesn't mean you make a trade just for the sake of it, but if the right opportunity comes up, like, they really do feel one player, maybe he's a second or a third option. Honestly, maybe someone who just replaces the production that Wiggins gave you two years ago.

Then I think they have a puncher's chance against the contenders, against the Denver, against the Lakers, against whoever comes out of the east. So I think they have to look at it that way. And that's why, in my opinion, this stretch is really important because if they come out of it on the other side, you know, sitting in that six to eight range in the playoffs, really just being kind of in the mix, which is even as the 10 right now,

just looking at the standings, they are a whopping two games out of the six seat or three games. They're right, right. It's not that big deal. that big a deal. As long as they stay in the mix, I think there's a lot of pressure on management to do something. If they obviously go into free fall losing at home to Detroit and some of these games, well, then they've given management easy out to reset and not go for it. Yeah, it's one of those things where I think when you were looking at the, the Dremont suspension originally, and you were looking

at the schedule and you're like, man, Clippers, Nets, or Celtics, you're like, man, they could drop three of these four. suddenly be three games out of the plane and be staring down a, you know, a three week stretch without Draymond. It's crazy how just those three wins kind of changes the perspective of everything. And in a lot of ways, it kind of reminds me of the Lakers last year where it was like, you just got to get to February somehow. And like if they can, if they can reconfigure, then you can make your run. Now, that's, go ahead. Yeah, that's how I, that's, that's kind of how I felt about it the whole year. They kind of do feel like last year's Lakers in the sense of you have a

giant expiring who doesn't really fit your roster and Chris Paul. Although Chris Paul, to be fair, has, I don't think you could have asked more for this. He's been a pro. He's played that role well. He's just not what they need in general. And they have some assets. They have young guys,

although the young guys actually are playing well. And then they do have some picks. They can move. They don't have all their picks. They have some. Yeah, to your point, it's kind of like the Lakers. Just get, stay in the mix and see what's available at the deadline.

Yeah, like it's actually kind of interesting because I was talking about this on my show last night, like, you know, you look at this lineup and they're like closing the game with Trace Jackson Davis and Jonathan Cominga. And, and you look at it and you go like, there's no way this is what they're going to roll out there in April. But like it kind of reminds me of the Lakers stretch last year where it's like there's these, it's like when Anthony Davis got hurt. And it's like this weird LeBron, Dennis Schroeder, Russell Westbrook, just driving kick party that they had for like a month. And they just hovered around 500 to just give themselves a chance. You know what I mean? And like, that's kind of the way I look at.

it like they're going to be big underdogs against Denver big underdogs against probably Orlando don't get me wrong like Dallas probably will be a favorite as well against them like they're going to they're they're going to drop some of these games just from a simple talent standpoint but if they can just like hang in there and linger around 500 now the question is because one of the things that I've talked about is like I actually view jonathan comminga is one of the most enticing young players around the league and so what becomes tricky is you've got this group of young players Jonathan Kaminga, Moses, Moody, Trace Jackson Davis, and Brandon Pizamsky. And essentially, if you are going to try, you and I talked about this on other platforms

in over Texas as well, this idea of like who, what archetype should the play, should they target? And so I want to kind of approach this from two fronts. So let's start with the archetype. What type of player do you think rounds out a core five with Golden State that could be the group you go down with in the Western Conference finals? it's got to be a front court player and it needs to be a two-way front court player for the most part. There's some leeway there, but like we go back to the Draymond and Looney thing doesn't work anymore. Okay.

They honestly got more mileage out of it than I think anyone thought they could. But the reality is you need to stagger those guys. And the way Looney's playing like he might not be in the rotation in the playoffs. I kind of think he'll come around in some capacity. Anyway, it's a different conversation. They need, you can go back and watch the Lakers series. if they had another four or five, they beat the Lakers. But the Lakers knew they had no one to put at that combo,

made it easy for Anthony Davis to just wreak havoc on them. And they just couldn't score enough. That's what it comes down to. So I'm not saying it's easy to find that guy, but like we've seen the names floated. Pascal Seacum, Lowry Markanin, potentially available at the deadline. They're not perfect fits,

but both of those guys would significantly raise the ceiling. of this team and those are the type of players they should be pursued. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

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Yeah, it's interesting because like last year, that was literally what they were doing. It's like, let's try Gary Payton. Let's try Jamichael Green. They were just trying. It was like, who's going to be this guy that we can use? Yeah, and there was always one flaw in one of those players that made it just not work. And it's like, there aren't enough to Michael Green pick and pop threes that he could. make to justify all of the other elements of the game, right? And, you know, I see, Ackham's the guy that I keep coming back to because I 100% agree. Like, Stefan Clay, I'm going down with Stefan Clay. Like, I'm sorry, I'm going down with Stefan Clay. Whether or not it's Wiggins or Kaminga at the three, that's a decision for another day. And we're going to talk about that

here in just a second. But to me, it's Draymond at the five, Stefan Clay at the one, two, and then one of those athletic forwards, and then another type of player in that archetype. And that's why I keep coming back to Siakum because one of the things that the Warriors have always been very good at is like even when Steph Curry gets it ends up on switches. They're able to scram him out of it or to, or they'll try to hedge and recover to keep him out of the switches or even when he gets on the switch. They provide excellent backside help and give him a job that he can do pressing up. And like Clay Thompson holds up excellent on switches, whoever that forward is, Wiggins or Kaminga would hold up, Draymond, the Pascal Seaccom. That to me is where I might even be GP2. Exactly. And I start to look at that group of five as like, okay, this is something where if I'm Denver and I'm sitting game planning for the series, I'm like, shit, what do we do about this? Like this is going to be somewhat of a problem. So, but here's where it gets complicated because that Wiggins comminga piece there is going to be the challenge. Because if I'm Toronto, I'm like, sure, yeah, you can have Pascal, but Jonathan's coming. You know what I mean? Like that's what they're going to say. So out of the Jonathan Camiga, Moses, Moody, Trace Jackson, Davis, Brandon Pizamski crew,

Who do you view in that crew as like indispensable versus like I would be willing to trade for an upgrade for a short window run with Steph? Okay. This is going to be funny. Brandon Pajemski is the only one I really struggle to trade. Just given the fact that he's a 20 year old rookie and clearly better than all the other players, even though he doesn't play the position he won. He's a combo guard. He's got good size for a point guard. undersized for it too. But you just watch him play. He actually represents a potential building block

for them in a lot of different ways. The passing, the shooting, the defense. He's like a weird hybrid of Jalen Brunson and Caruso at times. Very interesting player. It would hurt to trade him is where I'm out with it. And I would be tempted to say no. Cuminga would be number two. I would be willing to part with him if you got a Pascal Seacom or a Lowry Markinan in because essentially they'd be taking his spot at Power Forward in general. And the assumption would be if you're making that trade, you're keeping said player. You're not trading for a three-month rental of Seacom and then letting him walk.

So it would hurt because at some point, Comingo will be a better player than Seacom. But if you're thinking about the next three years, he won't be. know, he just won't be. And then Moses Moody, he's a good player, but he just, he's just kind of always the odd man out. He's, I don't want to say he's a replaceable 3 and D player because every team needs those guys, but be willing to give them up if needed to entice a team.

I just don't know that he's enough of a sweetener to pull off a deal. To your point, anyone wanting to make a trade with the Warriors is going to want future draft picks where they're betting against the war, you know, they're betting that Steph will eventually get old and they don't have anything else. And then they want Coominga because he's the most obvious, like, I could see this guy being like Jalen Brown level All Star one day. I could see him being a guy that, you know, we can build around. Like he's not going to be your first option.

He's not going to be Kawhi Leonard, which some people thought like there's a chance he could be coming out of the draft. But he is an effective two-way wing and he can never have too many of those. Yeah, I think he has the highest potential out of that. that group. But I also think he's very clearly the guy that has the more bizarre basketball fit within the warrior system in terms of just like their five out read and react type of stuff. Like he, to me, is going to be a very good player for a long time in the NBA for somebody. And like some of this with fans, like you got to, you almost got to like understand because

a lot of them will be like, we can't afford to give up commingo. We can't afford to give up comminga. And it's like, I totally get that. You don't think the clippers when they gave away Shaggildes, Alexander were like, that dude's going to go be amazing for O'KC. They knew it. Of course they did. They had him in building for all those years. They saw his work ethic. They saw what he was doing, you know, and like- Or Ingram. Or Ingram for Anthony Davis. Ingram was very clearly going to be a good player. But, you know, you kind of have to do that deal, right? Timeline and fit. And like, that's my thing is like, it's really this simple. You mentioned Steph being at that level still in 100% of grade, 28 points per game, 65% true shooting. When you have that

in-house and you have the guy that can stare Jason Tatum in the face, and out-execute him down the stretch of a big game. When you have a guy at that caliber, it's just such a rare thing to have around the league and every team that wins the title. If you hoist the trophy, you got one of those guys. It's like an extreme rarity if you don't, right? And even then, it's like we're looking at the spurs

with like Duncan who used to be that guy, right? So like you have to have that guy. That's the foundational piece. You also have the means with which to put next to him a legitimate number two like Pascal Seacum, which then all of a sudden slots all these other, other guys into very achievable roles. And so the way you have to look at it is it's like,

is Cominga going to be better than Pascal Seaccom in two, three years? Probably, yeah. Like, probably. Like, that's certainly something that he can do. And I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if that's what he's seen. At some point he will be.

One day, Siakum will be 34 and he'll be 25. Math just tends to work out in his favor. Exactly. But, you know, it's just a simple question of like, like to Toronto.

They're in a different time. They're thinking Scotty Barnes. They're thinking, okay, what if we add another big athletic forward next to Scottie Barnes? Let's see what he's got. Let's see what if there's a fit there. Siakum we might have to extend on this long term deal. May not fit the timeline as well. Or you're the golden state.

And it's like Jonathan Kamiga can be really good. But Steph's 35. Clay is starting to see some signs of slowing down. We got to do something here to try to reconfigure this thing. It's just a no-brainer that like you might have to consider a swap or you get rid of one of those guys. To the fit point, Pizamski, I 100% agree with you because, like, I look at him as a guy that's like such an obvious natural fit in the warrior's system. You mentioned his strength. It's an important piece.

Like, he's just. If he's going to actually be that good of a point of attack defender, which, like, he's blowing me away as a rookie. I'm not saying you want him guarding Jamal Murray or someone in a playoff series per se. But like, if he's this good now, imagine what he could be in a year's time. That also allows you to slot clay at small. forward significantly easier where he's he's kind of better guarding strength than quickness anyway at this stage of his career. That slotting piece is the big one there. And like that's where if you get a Seacum and like let's say let's say you do one of the other things too is like we have to factor in

that if you trade Jonathan Kaminga and you bring in Pascal Seaccom that may very well end up freeing up rotation minutes for Wiggins to have a larger birth for him to try to figure things out. Because right now like I look at Seyakum as a guy who can also play the same role that Sarich is playing on this team, like is essentially an anchor front court player for their bench units too. And like in general, when you start to build lineups, you can keep a Pizemski in point of attack roles that are achievable for him with his level of athleticism. I'm 100% with you on that one. And again, Moody, like, Moody's obviously one of the more expendable appearing players in that group. It's just, to your point, he's not a sweetener. There's no, there's no team around the league that's

like, man, I need Moses Moody on my roster. They're like, oh, yeah, if we took him in a deal, we'd be happy with him. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. You'd be hoping maybe if you throw him in, you don't have to include an extra pick. So then you're not as worried about when everyone gets old or something to that effect. Yeah.

I mean, the more you talk through it, like, it's obvious. The other thing Siakum has working to his benefit is he's 29. So really, if you feel confident for the next three years, he can be productive for you, that's probably the max amount of time you're going to get out of Steph and Clay. I mean, Steph could just continue to defy the odds, but you kind of have to take these in like two to three year increments at this stage, right? Makes sense. He's younger.

He can carry more of a load for you and help you preserve Steph because end of the day, when you get to like serious playoff basketball, you're going to need like the best version of Steph to show up. Well, one of the things that Seacom brings to the table too that the Warriors never really had is he brings a guy that you can start using for an alternative method of offensive attack. What I mean by that is like, you know, Wiggins was a guy that teams would live with attacking matchups. And he'd get his 18 to 20 doing that, but it wasn't something that they could like really depend on in late game situations. Now imagine a situation where Seacum has to be guarded

by a bigger forward and Steph is guarded by a quicker point of attack defender. And you now open up a two-man game there where you can now, you know, throw the ball down to the block to Pascal Seaccom and he's been one of the most effective post players in the league this year attacking matchups. It gives you just a different look because again, you mentioned the Lakers series. That was a big part of it. It wasn't just the fact that they didn't have five-man groupings that could thrive around Steph and pick and roll. It was also that it just had to be Steph pick and roll every time. They just, they didn't have another action they could run that could dependably generate quality shots. And so to me, like, Siakam is that guy too where like I think, I think, I think

the Warriors might value him a little higher than some of the other teams out there who might be targeting bigger fish like a Lori Markinen, like OG and Anobi, I think, is someone that some teams will probably view as a better player than Seacom. So like Seacom, I think is an achievable goal as well. And I think that goes a long way towards like making it more general. And to your point, what one of the Warriors' other big issues is shot creation. It's kind of, you know, they move the ball. They get a lot of mileage out of guys who can't create their own shot. And, And then, you know, it inevitably turns into Steph Save Us offense. It would be nice to have another player, to your point, you can just, you can throw the ball to

and just, you know, let him score on the post, let him go one on one from the mid post. The things we see him do with Toronto. Yeah, I mean, he addresses a lot of their needs. Yeah, he's a bad three point shooter. It'd be nice if he could do that too. But if he was a, if he did all the things he did and shot 40% from three, then you're talking about like Kevin Durant, like, Kevin Durant, life, pet and stuff. You can't have it all.

I think overall, more positives than negatives. Seacom's also having one of his better defensive seasons in recent years, and he's like a legitimate weapon, a guy that has tons of big game experience. I think that's a part wouldn't even really talk about. Like he's a seamless fit to their defense. Oh my gosh. You can just plug him in. You put him next to Draymond.

Wiggins gets back to himself as the small forward clay. That resembles kind of the. Dynasty Warriors teams with the switching and the versatility defensively that they've gotten away from just by virtue of the personnel they're playing right now. And again, I would just put Wiggins back into the starting lineup if that happened. And I'd be like, I know that with Steph, Clay, Seacum, and Drayman, we're still going to win a lot of games. And if even if Wiggins isn't playing well and just you're basically taking a bet that he's going to get it together at that point. I have one last question. The shuttle eventually fall. Exactly. And then and then trickle down

into some other things. So I have one last question for you before we get out of here. So, as you and I both know, just about every fan base out there blames the coach anytime anything goes wrong. And I think we all agree that Steve Kerr has made some mistakes this season. I think there are mistakes of, you know, it's funny. I've been watching, I've been watching the show on Apple TV called For All Mankind. There's like these older astronauts. And like it spans over decades and like we're to the future now and all the old astronauts are mad at all the young people and they're all like kind of stuck in their ways kind of get off my lawn type of people. And I kind of feel like that happens a little bit where you know, you've got Steve Kerr and

you've got Clay Thompson going like, I believe in these guys to the end and you've got. And it's just, I do think that a big part of this is like they're late to the party, but they're getting to the party. And that's the kind of thing that happens with some of these older guys that have had a lot of success in the past. Now, what we have been discussing is effectively a reconfiguration of the Warriors. Not just in line up construction, but it also could fundamentally change the way they play if Pascal Seacom comes in. I could see them doing more switching defensively.

I could see them offensively running more heliocentric stuff where they do spam a specific action like a two-man game with Stefan Seacomor. It's a reconfiguration. So my question for you is, do you still believe in Steve? Kerr as the guide to lead this configuration of the Warriors, or reconfiguration of the Warriors, I should say. Yeah, I mean, look, no coaches without their idiosyncrasies that annoy you, right? And part of the struggles this season is like, this roster really needs a coach who's better at development, who's more trusting of young guys. Like, like, the OKC games stick in my mind just because they got beat by Chedhokrit hitting game tying threes twice.

Like what are the odds of that, right? But in both those games, I would point to someone like Mark Dagonow was just making so many subtle adjustments down the stretch, whereas Steve's very much, I trust my guys type of guy and he doesn't have that type of roster. So, yeah, it's been frustrating watching. But that said, if they make a move to add more veterans, he is a veteran's coach. He's got it done in the playoffs a handful of times. can't say he hasn't.

And he has the buy-in of his superstar, like unquestioned trust. I think this is always left out of the conversation here. People are like, why does he run more pick and roll? I was like, you think, you think Steph's asking him for pick and roll? And he's like, Steph can do whatever he wants. Steph can launch it from his own free throw line and Steve won't do anything about it. You know, it's like he's got his unquestioned trust. And I think that's an underrated question.

quality. So yeah, I mean, well, he's a four-time coach. You're not going to fire him midseason. Well, not to mention the simple fact that like, don't underestimate too just as a competitor, what a trade like a trade for Seaccom could do to re-engage him from that standpoint. And I think I still think Steve Kerr is one of the top tier coaches in the league overall. And I think that like, to me, you put it perfectly. Like he's a veterans coach. So, you know, we mentioned that nine game stretch. Let's say it goes south. Like, let's say they just have a really, Portland's playing pretty well. Let's say they, they lose to Portland somehow. And then they go to Denver and they lose Miami, beat some Dallas, beats them, Orlando beats them. And suddenly we come back to like a three and six

stretch and they're, you know, four games out of the 10 seat and it just looks really, really bleak. And it just like, and they decide to go another direction, meaning like instead of, you know, they start to keep young guys and acquire more young talent, get rid of some of the veterans. They go that way. Yeah, it might be worth. Because I 100% agree with you. Like Steve Kerr is a doghouse coach. He's a guy that he's so obsessed with winning that particular game that he's so quick to go away from the young guys.

And he's so, he's so veteran heavy. Like the game that will stick into my mind is the in-season tournament game where Sack came back 28 on that. Was it 20 plus? And the only player who was feeling it was Moses Moody. And what does he do? Subs him out to allow Sacramento to come all.

Those were like the time. of things where I'm like, you know, maybe it's time for a new voice. Those are the type of little things. But to your point, if they're going to lean more into the veterans and just say, you know, we like the kids, but we don't love them. We don't need all of them here. We need to be consumed with this season, next season, and what happens after that, happens after that. Like, you're not going to do better than Steve Kerr, but that adds that type of coach. Yeah, no, I 100% agree. And again, like, I just think, I think you lean on, you lean into what your specific. specific strength is. Like your strength in that case would be experience and continuity mixed

with a new influx of talent with Seacom. I don't think you mess with that by changing the coach. Well, Sam, I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to come hang out today. Is there anything you want to plug before we get out of here? Just if you want Warriors content, check out Lightears pod. We go live after basically every Warriors game feed stays updated. And I appreciate it. I was thinking about it. We picked the perfect time to do it. We were kind of a, uh, uh, uh, texting like when should we do this and we'd have got a completely different show if we did this a week ago after the clipper game when draymond's like who knows what's going on it's just it's funny how that works but it's a long season right well do when it when it was when it was bad shot run out celtics layup bad shot run out selthics layup like there was there's a version of today's show that could have swung just based on what happened last night the game stopped in the third quarter literally yeah exactly all right guys we did the celtics a favor not talking about oh god God. Oh, God. But yeah, Andy and Sam do an incredible job covering the Warriors on a daily basis.

I highly encourage you guys to check it out. Sam, again, thanks for coming to hang out. As always, I appreciate all of you guys for supporting the show. We'll be back with a couple of film sessions on Thursday and Friday before we head into the weekend. I will see you guys tomorrow. The Volume. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends.

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