The Ringer NBA Show - The Warriors' Current Team Dynamics and Leadership With Sam Esfandiari and Andy Liu | Weekends with Wos

Episode Date: October 28, 2022

Wos sits down with podcasters Sam Esfandiari and Andy Liu of the 'Light Years' podcast to examine the dynamics of the Golden State Warriors this season. They discuss James Wiseman and the youth moveme...nt coming into the team (4:16), Draymond Green’s role on the Warriors (9:00), beat writers' optimistic perception of the Warriors (19:45), and the overall team dynamics and leadership. Host: Wosny Lambre Guests: Sam Esfandiari and Andy Liu Producer: Jade Whaley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:36 I'm your co-host. Big Was, A.k.a. Wazzy Lambray, and I'm joined by two very special guests today. They are the rabble-rousers of Warriors' Twitter. The Voice of the People, you know, Twitter, Warriors Nation proletariat, if you will. They're not these fancy schmancy credential having motherfuckers. Okay. Sammis Fendiari and Andy Liu of the last.
Starting point is 00:01:04 Light Years podcast. What's going on, fellas? I mean, should we even be allowed to speak on here without credentials? Y'all boys, it's blog boys. God boys. Y'all not the real deal. You guys don't wear fedoras with feathers in them. Okay? You don't show up to the Steve Kerr press conference with an actual notepad and writing in
Starting point is 00:01:29 cursive. You guys aren't real. Y'all not part of the craft of this here. journalism. Okay, this isn't a game. It's a calling. Okay? So if you guys haven't taken the oath to uphold, what is this shit called the fifth pillar, the fifth element? What's journalism caught? I forget, anyway. Y'all not part of the food. I think fifth element's a movie. Okay, whatever. Y'all knew what the hell I'm talking about. Sam and Andy, welcome to the pod, man. I'm so happy to have y'all on. Appreciate you, man. Is anything more fraudulent than journalism where you just
Starting point is 00:02:04 write about sports. Like, you know what I'm trying to say is I spent a lot of time in my life reading about sports. And I do feel like a lot of journalism nowadays is so boring, right? Outside of like your explosive stories, like maybe you get like a, hey, nobody respects Corny Townsend, and the Minnesota locker room store. That's a cool story. I'd read that story.
Starting point is 00:02:26 But outside of that, I do feel like a lot of writing nowadays in sports is kind of boring, which kind of leads to the podcasting stuff where people just generally. I don't really want to listen to people bullshit, which is kind of what we're doing. I'll say this. This is all I'll say on the subject, and I was just joking. Now, I got two inside baseball about a Twitter joke and a Warriors Twitter, whatever. I'm so entrenched in y'all world that it's ridiculous. This is the thing about people in our profession.
Starting point is 00:02:53 A lot of them are very insecure about a lot of things. But one of the main things is that you have this creeping suspicion that as a sports journalist, Your job doesn't fucking matter. You're talking about sports. Like, who gives a damn? Like, we love it. Obviously, we're maniacs about this shit. Of course, we love it and we're going to consume it.
Starting point is 00:03:16 But nobody's life is actually affected by this. This isn't as important as the war in the Ukraine. I mean, come on. We all know this. What's going on in the Dombas right now? Exactly. We all know this. And I think some people in our profession, like,
Starting point is 00:03:32 they let that creeping insecurity. and, you know, they're just understanding about how meaningless what we do is. And they just lash out in weird ways sometimes. And it's stupid. And it's real gatekeeping. And it's like, guys, we're here to have fun. We're here to celebrate this game and these things that we all love. Let's stick to that and, like, get out of the whole, you know, self-serious and self-importance.
Starting point is 00:03:57 That's my PSA for today. But let's get into the Warriors, man, because I'm going to be honest. I don't think any single contender has looked like world beaters to start the season. I don't think you can say that about anybody as of yet. However, I think I'm about the least worried about the Warriors. But I do think there are some interesting dynamics that creep in, especially when you talk about one. And I know we're going to get right into it, fellas, the Wiseman situation. The situation?
Starting point is 00:04:29 Can we get like a Chiron? It's like CNN. And the Wiseman situation. It's a situation because this team won the championship last year. This isn't one of those theoretical championship robust teams. No, they won the chip last year. Okay. They won the chip last year.
Starting point is 00:04:46 Like, this is a serious championship contender, but they do have a sort of youth wave, youth movement that they're trying to usher in. And they're delicately trying to handle. And Wiseman is sort of the mascot of the, of this situation because one, it's easy to see his potential, but two, he's clearly not very good right now. So it's like those dualities are competing and we see it with the extension being handed
Starting point is 00:05:17 out to Jordan Poole and all of these kind of things. Like we understand the youth movement is happening, but they're trying to win too. And how do you feel about that tension? Sam and Andy, I've, you know, put this to you guys. So it's two ways for me. So it's like the reality is they played kind of an eight-man rotation in the playoffs. And they let two of those guys go, GP2 and Otto Porter. And they want to replace them with the kids they drafted in the top 10.
Starting point is 00:05:46 You know, Wiseman, Cuminga. You can throw Moody in there. He's a 14th pick. Makes sense. But it also, it's like one of those things that makes sense on paper. And then in reality, you're like, yeah, development doesn't always work at the pace you want it to. So on the one hand, I'm like kind of a gamble. On the other hand, seasons long, do I really think they can't pick up a veteran big man at the trade deadline?
Starting point is 00:06:13 If Weisman doesn't develop at the pace you expect, if Kuminga doesn't develop, let's say we get to January, February, and we're like, man, there's no way those guys are going to be ready to contribute 15 minutes a game in the playoffs. Can the Warriors really not just kind of go out there and like find? a Bialita or an auto porter to eat some of those minutes. So it's like, if nothing else, it's kind of fun. It's kind of fun to watch them try to do something that no one else has tried to do. Are you having fun? Is it fun? I was literally going to ask, is it fun?
Starting point is 00:06:45 I think in theory, if you take at it at a high level, it is fun. Because high level, it's warriors are the best team in basketball. The Warriors, when it comes to the postings, like Sam is saying, is going to play eight guys. And those eight guys are going to be all the veteran guys, I think. I was thinking about this last night. They don't have eight vets, though. Well, you could throw Jamichael Green and Dante, count Dante as a vet and say screw it.
Starting point is 00:07:06 Although, you know, who knows how good those guys actually are. But we had the same questions last year about Otto and the GP2, right? So I was thinking about this last night. Clay Thompson was on the All the Smoke Pod. And he was saying how he was pumped up that he was able to win a championship. I think he said his fourth or fifth year in the league. And he was like, well, I got that out of the way. And I was thinking like, damn, that actually happened really fast.
Starting point is 00:07:26 He got to where he, I mean, he wasn't. the second best player. He was a third best player on the team, maybe fourth after Andre, but he was to a point where he was good enough to win a championship player as a rotation piece. I was thinking about that. And then I was thinking about Kaminga and Moody and Wiseman. I'm like, what year are those guys in? Kaminga and Moody year two, Wiseman essentially year one. Or maybe you can say like second half of year one. All that being said, even if the Warriors get to build these guys up for the post season,
Starting point is 00:07:51 I still don't believe they're going to be good enough to play. Winning basketball, when it really matters, not more than like five minutes, except for maybe Moses Moody. When it truly, truly matters, you're not even going to see Wiseman on the floor come April and May. And then Cominga, I mean, I don't know. He's not playing right now.
Starting point is 00:08:09 Right? So who's to say he's going to be playing in May? So I think it comes down to it. All this is fun and games for the next 80 games. But yeah, man, if it comes to April and May, I don't, those kids aren't sit from the floor. You know, it's funny because as I'm listening to you guys speak, I can hear fan bases of other teams,
Starting point is 00:08:27 listening to this and thinking to themselves, this is first world problems. This is a rich man's problem. Oh, we don't know what we're going to do. If our number one pick, our number two overall pick is going to pan out this year. We don't know if Cominga's going to turn into a rotational player this year. But even without it, we're championship worthy.
Starting point is 00:08:49 I can hear the fan bases in places like L.A., both teams, by the way, and Brooklyn being like, those are your problems? seriously, but I bring it up because, you know, and people are going to say, oh, you guys are dwelling on a Draymont thing, I think it matters because it's of a peace. It's like all of these things sound great on a higher level in theory, but in practice, these are human beings,
Starting point is 00:09:17 and this business is a human business, meaning like you deal with people problems and resentment. What that means is resentments, jealousies, You know, all of those kind of things come into place in this kind of workplace, hot house, hyper competitive environment. And, you know, reading your tweet, Andy, where you're just like, bro, we can't do this shit without Draymond Green. We literally cannot do it without what he brings on defense. And yet, you know, he seems to be the organizationally. It feels like he's the one that feels the least coveted.
Starting point is 00:09:57 the way, I had a ton of people text me when he punched out Jordan Poole saying like, get him out of here. We got Wiseman and Kaminget. I'm like, y'all don't understand. That's crazy. That's insane. One, y'all don't understand how bad those kids are at trying to play winning basketball. You don't realize how bad they are.
Starting point is 00:10:12 And then two, you don't realize how good Jraman is, but he's an asshole. So, you know, I think he's gone after the season. But anyway, there's, there's like a half dozen guys in the league you could replace Dremont with at most and they'd still be a contender. You know, like there's not that many, even though he doesn't score, like he's the anchor of everything they do defensively.
Starting point is 00:10:31 And that's kind of important. As you see, when you're placed with Wiseman, they're kind of not winning at the same clip. What I wanted to ask you was, do you think Draymond is loving this more than anyone? Because every time we watch the young kids go in there and it's just, it's just so clear that they're years away from being like contributors in real playoff basketball. And that's fine. they're 20. That's how this thing usually works. Do you think he's loving it because it makes him look more valuable
Starting point is 00:11:01 and the farther way we get from the punch, the more you're like, all right, he's a little bit of a dick. And I wish he wouldn't do some things he did. But when he's out there with Steph, with Clay, with Wiggins, those guys were not beatable. And when he's not out there,
Starting point is 00:11:22 they're a pretty average team, you know? You know what's so funny? about you guys asking me that is the thing that I always come back to whenever Draymond does something completely, you know, insane and unhinged, is that ultimately he's always been right. Like, he's right.
Starting point is 00:11:44 You know, when he's yelling at KD about, yo, KD, we don't get out of our shit so you can monopolize our offense and shut the fuck up. Like, I don't care how good you are and I don't care that you're leaving a team. Like, you're leaving anyway and all of this stuff. And like, bro, ultimately he's right about how the warriors need to play to win. Right.
Starting point is 00:12:02 Like, any time he's gotten into arguments, yelling at dudes to be in the right spot or, you know, make the right pass or set the right screen or slip the screen when it's needed or do whatever, he's right ultimately about the basketball part. And when Draymond is like, yo, I should be getting paid before these cats. I have a bigger impact on winning than them. He's right. He's right. He's just more important than Wiggins is. He's more important than Jordan Poole is ultimately when it comes to winning right now. It's just the truth.
Starting point is 00:12:37 And so when you ask me, do I think Draymond is laughing? Like, yeah, you know, if sports were as meritocratic as we proclaim them to be, Draymond could take the tape last night or the night when whatever, the Phoenix match up. Tuesday night, yeah. He could take that clip. Just isolate the Wiseman defensive possessions. Just place that on Bob Myers' desk. Can we watch this together?
Starting point is 00:13:04 You want to go play-by-play through this? You want to do this together? You know, you want to like actually, do we want to actually talk about what I bring to the table? Like, he would have the right-of-way. There's just no two ways about it. And, again, the reason why this matters, And I think Steph being in Golden State, I'll say this again, he just don't get enough credit for being the kind of leader that he is.
Starting point is 00:13:34 This guy's holding this shit together as far as the temperaments involved. Brooklyn as the counter example. Who in Brooklyn is going to make that situation right? You know, and so I think if it wasn't for Steph, this Draymond thing over the course of this long. that season could get nasty because he's just right. Are we sure it still won't get nasty? That's the thing. You just say it to get nastier.
Starting point is 00:14:01 Yeah. Yeah. But that's the thing. When you think about how good Golden State is, but they don't have to be this good. They don't have to be this functional. These real life, human situations can bubble to the surface and I think that's what makes watching them so fascinating.
Starting point is 00:14:18 I mean, 2019 was literally, they went through the shittiest year, and they still should have won. everybody 100% of people know that they should have won that year and they were absolutely miserable which I think what Steph did underrated last season was coming off the bench because now Jordan Poole comes off the bench you watch Jordan Poole and you're like well the dude's getting paid $120 plus million and he's coming off the bench that's crazy that's not something I don't think Jordan Poole would normally be able to do that's the new status quo Tyler Hero's doing it you know amperty Simon whatever you know just go off the bench
Starting point is 00:14:47 which which to Miami's case is like well you should probably you guys have no offense But anyway, actually, Warriors playing Miami tonight. So that'll be good for those guys to play. The Draymond stuff is fascinating because there's also another piece of this, I think, too, is how long does Draymond have that, quote-unquote, leadership quality in the locker room? Steve Kerr talked about him kind of losing it and Steph kind of taking that mantle, which I think we always said that Steph had that mantle. But how long before, I mean, do you think Kaminga listens to Draymond? Do you think Wisman listens to Draymond? Do you think Jordan Poole?
Starting point is 00:15:18 I don't know, right? I don't know. But there's got to be some point here where these guys are looking at them. Like, dude, you're the crazy uncle. Like, we don't really care about you anymore, man. But to your point, whatever Jemont is saying is right, because whatever the young guys are doing is wrong, because it ain't working out there, right?
Starting point is 00:15:35 But are they listening to Jermont? I don't know. It's a fascinating thing. It's going to be interesting to see how it evolves over the course of the season because everyone's on their best behavior. We're four games into the season. Yeah, it's like, yeah, they looked okay. in some games it looked rocky and others, but it's four games.
Starting point is 00:15:53 Everyone's like preaching the process and let's see how this looks. What does it look like if we're at game 30 and it's still like starters come out with a 10 point lead and come back in down 10 points type of thing, you know? Do you start seeing like Steph and Clay get less patient with that sort of stuff? Does Draymond stop, you know, currently he's on his good behavior? Yes, that is correct. We're, uh, what, less than a month from his, his last transgression. The dream on cycle is very, very, um, I mean, it's, it's always the same.
Starting point is 00:16:27 He does something completely insane, apologizes, says he's going to be better, gets back on his good behavior and then two to three months, go by and he's forgotten about it again. But anyway, it's like an alcoholic, right? It's like a person with an addiction. It's like, you know, he's clean. I'm clean. Everyone's clean.
Starting point is 00:16:45 Everything's great. And all of a sudden, he's, he's, He's that first tequila shot and he's back on. You know, who knows what it's going to be for Jay Monica? A couple weeks from now. Is Jordan Poole the tequila in this analogy? Those guys are flammable, man. Probably.
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Starting point is 00:19:29 1,800 522-470 in Wyoming, or visit www.1-800 gambler.net in West Virginia. Listen, and I want to bring the listeners into just why I love you guys so much because we're talking sort of higher level stuff, but we can get into the granular stuff, right? Yeah. I'm watching that game and I'm doing the second screen stuff. I'm on Twitter and all of the beat guys. And full disclaimer, full disclaimer. Oh, boy.
Starting point is 00:20:09 I got a lot of respect for people who are on the beat. I understand the nature of their job is different. from somebody like me or even Sam and Andy who are on the ground, but they don't rely on quote unquote access journalism to deliver what they deliver to Golden State Warriors fans. It's not dependent on this access journalism stuff. And I think we need access journalism. So I'm not trying to denigrate those guys.
Starting point is 00:20:35 I'm just saying they're going to take a more positive posture, a more positive outlook on the things that are happening. with the team because they deal with these folks on a day to day, so they're less likely to trash something. That's not to say they're giving people untruths or half-truths. They're going to give you the most optimistic reading of something related to the team. Right. So now I'm done with that disclosure.
Starting point is 00:21:08 We can get to the nitty gritty. A bunch of beat guys are on Twitter like, wow, Weissman looks good. He looks great. He's running the floor. He dunked it while he was wide open. Wow, you got to be satisfied with what you've seen from Wiseman thus far. And then there are other people who might be looking at the things that you really going to need this guy to do in order to contribute to winning basketball.
Starting point is 00:21:32 It was like, this was a nasty first half for him. Sam, what did you see from Wiseman that you were just like, man, this is concerning? I mean, the center's primary responsibility for the Warriors is to anchor the defense and help facilitate the shooters more than anything, right? You know, it's like you can go back to Andrew Bogot, Draymond. Expert at that, by the way. Yeah, Draymond obviously made his living on that. Looney's actually got really good at that as well. And he's a second late on everything.
Starting point is 00:22:08 You know, if he should be rotating to the help side, he's, you know, he's a second late. and it's just, it's deer in headlights. It's, again, not surprising. He didn't play last year. And when he played as a rookie, he also looked deer in headlights. I think it's something like 1,000 minutes of organized basketball in the last four years. Why would you expect him to be able to rotate at the speed of NBA action at this point? But it's just like, it's jarring because if your center doesn't know what to do,
Starting point is 00:22:37 then the other team's just going to be like pick and roll. Put them in pick and roll every time. And it's a layup or an open. three or an open kickout to three every time. So that's what I was watching. I'm just saying, I don't know how this even benefits his development, throwing him out there to get sauteed by Devin Booker and
Starting point is 00:22:53 DeAndre Aten, you know? Like, well, I saw Davian Mitchell score over him. Davy on Mitchell's, dude, he's like my height. He's like six one, maybe tops. And he scored, and I wouldn't be able to score over Wiseman, but come on, man. James Wiseman does things that Warriors fans have never seen, ever. He's a seven plus footer that can run the floor faster than
Starting point is 00:23:16 Definitely run the four faster than Kvon Looney But can run the four faster than a lot of wings of the NBA Right? He beat Aiton down the floor a bunch of times And Aiton is one of the smoothest running bigs out there Yep, right? So he's got that like, he's not Janus, But he moves in a way that you're like, what the hell?
Starting point is 00:23:33 And then he can dunk, kind of rebound. He can shoot a little bit. So you're seeing things where you're just like, holy crap, we've never seen this before. The question, though, is how much does that actually matter to winning basketball, right? So if you can do all these things that are so cool, like run the floor, does that actually matter? Because Kavana Looney cannot run faster than I.
Starting point is 00:23:54 You know, another comparison for myself. He cannot run faster than I. But it doesn't matter because when it comes down to the NBA finals, dude is on the floor, grabbing 15 rebounds a game. That's winning basketball. And so I think that, I mean, it always felt like Wiseman. Can guard Luca on an island? Andy Lou can't do that?
Starting point is 00:24:13 No, I can't guard, I can't guard walls on an island. And so it felt like the Wiseman pick. And actually, I'm with Sam. I don't know. It's early. You can't really say it's a bad pick, though. They have to make a decision here soon about picking up his option. But it's a matter of he does all these things that they think is cool and as athletic,
Starting point is 00:24:28 but do those translate to winning basketball? It just feels like a Joe Lake of, wow, this is a shiny object. We must have him. We don't have him. Kavanaugh, Damien, Joe's. All these guys can't do this. So now we have to get a guy that does this. And then you get him and you're like, all right, shit.
Starting point is 00:24:42 Now we've got to teach him all the things that matter to winning. Can he find redounding position? Can he catch a basketball? Even when he's a rebounding position, he can't catch a basketball, right? Can he actually, Sam says he's the second behind. Even when he gets into the right position, he puts his hand up and somebody shoots it over him. Like he's kind of confused whether to the foul or not to the foul, right? So it's a lot.
Starting point is 00:25:05 It's a lot. I'm tired talking about him. And I can't imagine what he has to think about. I got 78 more of these suckers to talk about him on. What I was going to say is the thing that was always so interesting to me about Wiseman, it's like when you think of the Warriors, the Steph Curry, Steve Kerr-era Warriors, Dynasty, they're defined by players who are not the most athletic. Like, they're obviously all good athletes, but they're not, it's not, it's not Yonnes.
Starting point is 00:25:34 It's not, you know, LeBron. It's not like quick twitch. above the rib athletes, right? And they're also not particularly big either. They've never, they've always been a team that it's more about like IQ and skill level to win. And with the both the Wiseman and the Cumminga draft pick, it's all tools. It's picking the opposite, thinking they could teach some of the more innate, intuitive qualities that define like the way Steph plays and really define the way. Dremont plays more than anyone, right?
Starting point is 00:26:09 So what you're saying is like, you guys played the Kings and you watch a guy like Kegan Murray who just has a feel automatically. He just, he's not as, he don't got the bounce. He doesn't have the quick Twitch stuff. He's not going to win
Starting point is 00:26:25 a dunk contest. Kumiga could. He's not, but his feel for the game is so impressive for somebody his age and, you know, the guys that they brought in. Although, listen, Moody looked at, I think Moody's going to be a rotational piece. Yeah. Yeah. He's going to be a rotational
Starting point is 00:26:41 piece, I think, by the end of this year. So the guy that got drafted like 10 picks after the Weissman, the Warriors loved this dude. Also was on the Kings. Tyrese Halliburton. Imagine it also was on it. Which Kings being Kings, traded him away because they're ready to get. That guy. Peak Warriors
Starting point is 00:26:56 player. And the Warriors loved him. But, you know, you get to the top two pick and you're like, you got to draft the guy that is all the tools. But you look, I watch Halliburna playing. I'm like, shit, man. That guy. I'd rather have him than Lamello. Yeah, I mean, listen, his feel is incredible. Like, I thought he was like a good passer.
Starting point is 00:27:14 No, this dude is like elite passer shoots it. But yeah, look, the young guys is something to monitor going forward. Outside of the young guys, what are you guys? Because this is what I love about fandom. And you guys are unabashed in your fandom. Your neuroses about the team. Even when they are championship level. Never end.
Starting point is 00:27:36 It never stops. Like you see a hiccup, a hurdle around every single corner. There's a boogeyman waiting to blow this thing up around every single corner. So tell me what else you guys are looking at related to the team outside of how Kerr manages the young guys and the rotation. Let's go with Clay Thompson. I had a rough start to the season. I thought he was above my expectations last year. But like the playoffs were up and down for him off of two and a half.
Starting point is 00:28:06 your absence. I'm just curious how he looks going forward because it seems like, you know, there was hope he'd be better with a full off season. He gets farther away from the injury. And I just don't know. Like, in general, I think he's probably playing at a higher level than you would expect someone who had an ACL on Achilles back to back. But it's also like not the clay you remember on some level. Obviously, it was fun watching him get into it with Devin Booker and get ejected on Tuesday night. That's that's one thing. And then the other thing for me is just, it's just Steph.
Starting point is 00:28:40 Like he doesn't look like he's aging. And as long as he's playing at this level, like he's, he's averaging over 30. He's basically picked up exactly where he was in the in the playoffs. It's like one of those things where it's like. So filthy in the playoffs. It was ridiculous. On some level, the young guys thing annoys me because it's like this is the best player in franchise history.
Starting point is 00:29:03 history. It's not close. Sorry, Wilt, you know? And I mean, he's like he's a generational player. Like, they could, they could be amazing after Steph and they'll probably never have a player like Steph. So part of me just wants to be like, can we
Starting point is 00:29:19 just live in the moment? Because maybe he has one more year at this level. Maybe he has four. Maybe he's, maybe he's the Tom Brady of basketball. He has a decade. I don't know. You know? But it's like, they want a title. They have a very realistic chance at repeating and who knows how much longer can go.
Starting point is 00:29:36 I'd rather live in the moment with that because it's like, who knows what the future holds. The Warriors are worth $7 billion. Just saw that report that came out. You think that's because of Joe Jacob? You think that's, you think that's because of Peter's a group?
Starting point is 00:29:51 He's a brilliant businessman. Don't you know? He made billions. He's a self-made billionaire. Of course, the franchise values because of Joe Laco. Because of Joe Laco. Although, you know, it's better than, better than whatever
Starting point is 00:30:03 the Warriors have had for 50 years, right? But I mean, that's the Sam's point about stuff, right? That's, I mean, the team went from X millions, talk about millions to billions, number one, over the Lakers or the Knicks. The clay stuff is the biggest thing. It's, to me, by far, the biggest thing. Dude came into camp and started, he did look fat.
Starting point is 00:30:20 I mean, he's fat and out of shape. It's pretty obvious. For him, right? NBA fat, let's clarify. Yeah, I'm like, you know, but he looks, he looks NBA fat and out of shape. He defensively actually didn't look, that bad shots off.
Starting point is 00:30:35 I think part of the problem is he's got a minute's restriction. He can only play like 15, 20 minutes, which sucks. But I think a lot of the issues last season when he came back was how he can fit with team, how he can play with Jordan Poole. Like that was a weird kind of like situation, another situation you could say that got solved because in the postseason, it's winning time. I think a lot of things get solved or they get exposed for the Warriors that got solved in winning time.
Starting point is 00:30:58 But now it's like, well, we got 82 games now. Jordan Poole has gotten paid. he right now is a better basketball player than Clay Thompson in the regular season, what happens? And you start to see Clay like, and I think he's wrestling a little bit with like his basketball, I think immortality or mortality. You could say where it's just like,
Starting point is 00:31:15 dude, I don't know how many years I have left. I think he's asking those questions. And then that's what happens when, you know, I'm sure Devinbroker told him he was washed or some shit and the dude just completely lost it or something, right? So Clay's the biggest question right now.
Starting point is 00:31:27 But I say this, Clay's going to come in tonight and make eight threes in like 20 minutes. Like that one surprise. me either, but, you know. So, yeah, that's what I was going to say is that I remember talking to Sam before or during the playoffs even about Clay specifically, because I thought he just looked bad when he came back. But Sam was like, the thing about Clay is that you know he's going to make shots in a big
Starting point is 00:31:51 spot in a huge spot. So, like, sure, he's an overpaid, overqualified, big shot Bob at this point. And, you know, he's still pretty good at defense and all of that. but like that's kind of what he does on this team. He doesn't do the on-ball stuff. It's just, no, it's all Wiggins these days. Yeah. Make a big shot when you're called upon.
Starting point is 00:32:12 And I think he's going to do that. But, you know, again, he's in that Draymond zone of, man, what's your future on this team? What do these people? They already hired your replacement. I mean, that's already paid them. How can you justify paying Clay and pool 30 million bucks a piece? That's not a thing. That's not a thing.
Starting point is 00:32:35 To your point on Steph being one of the best leaders in the NBA, it reminds me of like the Celtics when they had that whole, you know, Gordon Hayward and, but he was getting minutes, but Jalen Brown was clearly better than him. And obviously, you know, Kyrie opposite end of the spectrum with regards to leadership. So that whole thing just, you know, blew up in flames. But like, you know, that's always kind of the thing with the Warriors. Like, it's got to be uncomfortable if you're, if you're Clay and Dremont and, you know,
Starting point is 00:33:07 you mean everything to this franchise. You're very important players and essentially making them a global brand. Like, let's be honest about it. They were nothing before this team. They didn't matter in the basketball ether. Like now they're there with like the Chicago Bulls and like those teams who have global recognition. And they're getting older. And in Clay's case, it's more injuries.
Starting point is 00:33:30 But, you know, you bring. bringing in Jordan Poole. You have a wiseman, a Cumanca. Management's like letting you know what they want to be able to do. They want to be able to like slowly put you guys out to pasture and have the young guys take you. All things considered, I think it's gone as well as anyone could hope because it hasn't like, well, I guess there was a punch. But other than that, you know, it's like, it's not like it's a daily, a daily grind of drama, like the way that Boston team was where that's like the worst case example of trying to do two different timelines at the same time. Right.
Starting point is 00:34:05 But it is just something, it is interesting. And that's what I love about this team. Even when they are so clearly like, all right, these guys are going to be there at the end of the year, you know, you would think like, all right, they're just a known quantity. There's nothing interesting about them. They're still delivering drama and intrigue even as consistent and as solid of a rock of franchises you can find these days. that's why I'm really interested to watch what they do going forward. I want to thank you guys, of course, for coming on the weekend show with me. Tell the people where they can find your stuff.
Starting point is 00:34:40 Because, again, to me, obviously, I love Marcus. I love Kawakami. Slater's my dog. I love all of these guys and the coverage that they bring. But I just think there's something unique about, you know, Andy's fucking, you know, Paul Heyman Act on Twitter. It's just great. I just love what y'all do.
Starting point is 00:35:02 Obviously, y'all my friend, so I'm biased. But tell the people where they can find what y'all doing, man. Yeah, Light Ears. You can follow us on Twitter, get link to every show. Pretty much have a show after every Warriors game. We're actually doing them on YouTube Live this year, giving that a shot. So you can visually watch us, too. You can comment on how ugly we are.
Starting point is 00:35:23 We don't really care. But, yeah, no, pod feed. But, yeah, podcast. YouTube, whatever, maybe. Appreciate you, Waws. Of course, man. Thank you guys. And of course, thank Jade Whaley for producing this episode for us.
Starting point is 00:35:37 We'll see you guys next weekend. Peace.

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