The Ringer NBA Show - What are your new NBA obsessions thus far? | The Answer

Episode Date: January 22, 2021

Chris Ryan is joined by the Ringer’s Bill Simmons to discuss early season things that they are obsessed with including Collin Sexton, chippy Kevin Durant, and more (01:00). Later, Chris is joined by NBC Sports Warriors reporter Kerith Burke to talk about the many reasons to obsess over the Warriors this season (24:00). Host: Chris Ryan Guests: Bill Simmons and Kerith Burke Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello and welcome to The Ringer NBA show. It's The Answer. I am Chris Ryan, and today we are totally obsessed. All right, guys, thank you so much for listening to another episode of The Ringer NBA show is The Answer. I'm Chris. This week, this season really, has been dominated by off-court stuff, primarily COVID and Hardin. Today I wanted to talk more granular, kind of on-court stuff, things that are fascinating us this season. What's the stuff that people are noticing game-to-game, night-to-night, that they can't get out of their head? Who are some under the radar players who are now paying attention to? And what are some weird things that we're noticing about some of the biggest stars? I'm joined today by Bill Simmons for my Philadelphia sins.

And NBC Sports Bay Area is Karth Burke to talk about my newfound passion for the Golden State Warriors, which I know is like saying I'm really into the Beatles now, but bear with me. We recorded this on Thursday afternoon, so it will reflect the NBA reality before Lakers, Bucks, Pells, Jazz, and Warriors Knicks. Without further ado, let's get on with the show. All right, now I'm joined by Bill Simmons. How is Book of Basketball 3.0 The Peyton Pritchard Pyramid going?

Is that your project? Are you working on that? Yeah, it's more, it's comparing him to the Aaron Neesmith pair and just my gamut of emotions with that draft. I think the most New England thing in my life right now

is the thread between you and Rissillo about Neesmith and Pritchard and the various Celtics. Is Pritchard become one of your obsessions for this season? Well, it's interesting. They don't really need him. And they kind of can't keep

them off the court, but they paid for, you know, Jeff Teague, they have smart. Kemba's back. The last thing they need is another point card. What they really need is a wing, and they've had all these picks over the last two years to just find anybody who can play 20 minutes a game instead of Tatum and Brown. Somehow couldn't solve that, but then landed Pritchard. So maybe the answer is to just play smaller lineups and more guards. A little like what Charlotte does when they play Graham and Rozier and Lamello all at the same time. They're like, fuck it. Yeah, I wonder whether or not that's like everybody kind of saw Billy Donovan

do that. I mean, obviously there have been three guard lines before, but I do feel like people saw the SGA CP3 Dennis lineup and we're like, this is fun. Let's just let this rock. Right. And that might be the answer because you saw in the Philly game, especially without Tatum, like they just don't have anybody else to play those minutes.

And we're in year 17 and semi-Oshelais. They don't have that other swing. Meanwhile, you have like a million swings and weird dudes on your team. But that's one of my obsessions is your team, by the way, but I'm stuck on your setup. No, I wanted to hear about this because I feel like you're a very sobering force in my life when it comes to Sixers, both for better and for worse. How are you obsessed with the Sixers? I really like Ben Simmons, and I just can't believe we have no momentum at all.

I voted for him, I think, for a second or third team all NBA last year, maybe 13, and I voted for him, I think second defensive player of the year. and he finds a way to fill the stat sheet. You watch Sixers games and you're like, I can't think of three things he's done this entire game and we're in the third quarter. And then they'll show the statute and it'll be like, Ben Simmons, eight points, nine rebounds, seven assists. And you're like, oh, okay.

He gets all his points basically off defense and offensive rebounds and tippins and nothing organic. And then when it slows down, it's a half-court offense, he just kind of floats around like somebody who doesn't know where to go. And I really wish he had been in the Hardin trade. I just think it would have been more fun if you had Hardin. He had his own team in Houston.

And Brooklyn was just the two guys instead of the three. The Simmons thing is starting a little weird. The one thing that jumped out at me is since the trade rumors, like there have been two games that he's, I think he, did he foul against the Celtics? He definitely had like five fouls in like the late third. quarter. Well, they had to call more fouls on the Sixers to make up for

the 120 to 20 free throw advantage. So I think he was the fall guy for that. Right. That was just... I didn't realize Joe Lambede was the best part of all time and couldn't be touched. What a revelation. You can't touch him anymore. Well, I'm going to get to that, but Simmons Fow and I like that Miami game

and there is a degree to which now when I'm watching him in half court, it's feeling knob-blocky. It's feeling a little like Yipsian. You know, like he is not going to the hoop with confidence anymore. And I don't know whether it's because he really doesn't trust his free throw. Here's my thing is like, Doc is doing all the right things.

Like whenever anybody asks him about the shot, he's just like, I don't care. I don't care. He makes a huge impact on the game. I'm wondering whether or not Doc should just flip that and just be like, I do care. Because I don't know if I don't care is working. I mean, you're a parent. You know that some kids need this and some kids need that. I'm not so sure that like pretending like this isn't a problem is helping Ben Simmons.

First of all, thanks for mentioning that I'm a parent. because it's a key part of my arsenal. I don't say the words, I don't care about things my kids are bad at. Like, my daughter failed her driver's license test. Guess what? I cared. I didn't do the Doc Rivers.

I don't care. She'll get a license someday. It's like, we got Uber. Yeah. You failed your test. We've got to fix this. Yeah, I'm with you. I think we're well past the I don't care thing because it's not cute anymore.

You know, you look at his draft. Ingram has emerged as, you know, in a lead offensive player. Jalen Brown, who, you know, and granted, I'm wrong a bunch of times. But when it came down to, do you want to trade Jailen Brown for a year of Kauai? And I was a voice crying in the wilderness saying, no, I don't think that's worth it. I think Jalen Brown has a chance to be special. He said every checkmark that Paul George hit his first couple years, I don't want to give this guy up. Now he is what he is.

But my point is both of those guys got better. and Ben's in the same spot he was, you know, two years ago offensively, and I think that's a concern. I still think when he has the ball in his hands and there's an in transition, he's one of the best players in the league. I just think that the more that people figure out that half court part of his game, and I don't really understand, I think that Sixers are more efficient this year. They've obviously got shooting, and I think Harris is having a bounce back year.

The thing that I'm obsessed with is the way that a lot of Sixers half court possessions end, which is Embeded at the top of the key. Embed at the top of the key, staring down a three-pointer, and the lack of enthusiasm, both he and everybody involved in the game seems to have for that being the end point of a possession. If you were me,

would you be satisfied with the amount of threes Embedithes taking, with the way that so many Sixers' possessions and with just Embedite standing at the top of the three with nobody around them? I wouldn't be happy with it. I can tell you, having rooted against him this week, like, it just feels like he's unstoppable.

I think the difference with him now, he could always play a good quarter and a half, you know, a couple of years ago in the playoff series, I remember one of those games. He took over the game in like the second quarter and I was there. And we're just looking at each other during one of the timeouts like, oh, my God, what do we do? Like, we're not going to, we can't stop this guy. But then he would get tired. Last year, he would do it for, he really always, always had a good quarter and a half in him. and that's it.

He couldn't play four quarters. Now it feels like he could play four quarters. And I thought that was a really important game for him, the fact that he took that many free throws. Now, granted, some of the calls were if he, but I don't feel like he wore down as that game went along. That was the first time I've ever rooted against him where he didn't wear it down.

And if he's not going to wear it down, maybe you don't need Simmons as much, you know? And maybe I still feel like Simmons and Bradley Beale should be in a trade and everybody's happier and Simmons gets his own team. I don't think Wizards fans would be happy about it. When I talked to Sharp last week about this, he was just like,

I have to prepare myself for the inevitability that I'm going to be cheering for Simmons and Westbrook on the same team. And he just seemed miserable about it. But I think that if that deal was out there, it would have been done already. You think? I was amazed.

I said this last week when I did my pod because 24 hours after the trade, the takeaway for me was that Philly didn't get hardened over all the other mechanics of the trade, just like, wow, they might have missed a chance to have Simmons and, I mean, I'm sorry, Hardin and Embed on the same team when Embed is looking like the guy we've always wanted Embed to look like, that's going to be an unstoppable combo. And I don't know. I like Maxie. I think he's good. But if it's like Maxie, Tybal, Simmons and two picks to get Hardin, I'm just doing it. I definitely had like a Dark Night of the Soul on MLK Day watching the bucks in the nets and watching Hardin and just kind of being like, oh. Yeah, but then it flipped two days later as you,

as you watch Steve Nash trying to murder him by not taking him out in a double overtime game. It's like, hey, James, you're going to lose the weight one way or the other. You're staying out there. I'm not something. So that actually brings me to another thing that I've been obsessed with this year, which is the Sexton Sexton. Yeah. I am obsessed with Colin Sexton.

Yeah. And especially Colin Sexton when he is in a broken play. Like basically Colin Sexton when like the breaks, go out and he's got to jump up in midair or he's got to follow up his own missed shot or he's got like he's doing stuff like on the fly and improv that is like so magnet it's so magnetic to watch he's so athletic I'm shocked that the calves are an entertaining league pass thing was not they would have been if we did the league pass fantasy draft they would have been one of the last couple picks I guess it did start last year with him pre-pandemic yeah because

He started to go on a run and then basketball stopped. But I thought he jumped out from day one. It's bittersweet. My dad and I were talking about it today. Like he was the number eight pick. That was the Kyrie trade. I do the Kyrie trade 100 times out of 100, but you do that trade thinking you're going to get to have Kyrie for eight years, not two.

And the fact that there's this all, I mean, nobody knows about alternate universes with picks more than Sixers fans, but there's this alternate universe where it's like, we just don't make the Kyrie trade and now we have Sexton and Jalen and Tatum all in the same team. Like, what does that look like? He's clearly, you know, the fun thing would be like pitting him against the Deer and Fox, some of the other guys of his ilk. Like, who would you rather have? I would have him above Fox now because he's younger.

He's still in his rookie contract. I think he plays just as hard as Fox does. And I think he's a little better offensively. You wouldn't have him above Trey, would you? I personally would. You know where I stand on try. There was a play in the Brooklyn game. I think it was like early on when, you know,

Duran has like this clear line for a, for a dunk. And Sexton not only blocks Duran on this breakaway, but knows he's going to block him for like six steps. And like he's like eyed the angle and he does this like low trajectory shot block so that that Duran never even gets up there. And I think it kind of pissed Duran off. It was kind of,

it was kind of awesome. But like I love it when like a younger player kind of, of steps up and says, like, I'm not going to be intimidated by the fact that I'm on the court with KD. I remember one of the KD podcasts I did, and it was one of the first two, I think, asked him what young players he liked. And he said, Booker. Yeah.

And he, and this was, Booker wasn't on anyone's radar yet. And he's like, that guy's got something. Like, he definitely comes at, he came at us in a way that I really respected or whatever he said. And the sexton thing reminded me of that. Think about Sexton yesterday. It's basically him versus Hardin, Durant, and Kyrie. Those were those two overtimes.

And he beat them. Now, granted, Hardin was about to kill over. He looked like he was in a reunion pickup game. On defense, the Nets looked like hobbled mailmen playing in like a YMCA senior league. It was, I mean, and then Durant, anytime his minutes are nearing 50, you just get nervous. Like, he had the worst injury you can have. And they rely on him so much on both sides. But, yeah.

I mean, Sexton's 27 a game now. This is like Donovan Mitchell stuff. And the thing, again, the thing I really like is just how Hardy plays. I think he's just super competitive, which, you know, that's a really special pick for them. Think about how bad that Kyrie trade was where they get nothing out of Isaiah Thomas. Jake Crowder, they end up flipping after three months. And it's just like, if that pick isn't perfect, they basically get nothing for this guy who was the first overall pick and the hero of the 2016 finals.

And now they got something. So pretty cool trade. Of course, the GM got fired. That's true. What else have you been kind of obsessed with this season? So this is on Rassillo's corner. I apologize to Rissila. But I share his fascination in the Pistons for a variety of reasons.

Team bet on yourself. Yeah, just the Jeremy Grant, just his whole thing. It's like, finally, man, somebody gave me the car keys. And it's like, you're Jeremy Grant. I don't know if your usage rate should be in the 30s. But this is the thing is you espoused the church of bet on yourself. If you had the Bill Simmons book, it would say bet on yourself and it would be a picture of you putting a chip down on your, a picture of you.

Jeremy Grant is betting on himself. If Tom and Fortina can write a book about himself, then I can write bed on yourself. I've been joking about it for years. Yeah, Jeremy Grant is 25 a game. But when you watch them and they're clearing out for him and stuff, it's honestly not that much different than some of the really good guys that we see, you know, get plays because he's been really, I think he's been really effective.

I'm kind of shocked. I always thought he was a little overrated as a defensive guy. But in general, that Pistons team, it's not just him. Isaiah Stewart is like my guilty pleasure rookie of this draft. That was a widely reviled and mocked pick. And it was like, why do you take a center? You can get centers for $2 million. Why would you draft one?

And then you watch that dude. That dude just plays hard. I wish she was on the Celtics. I like him. I like Sadiq Bay. I like Sidique Bay. The Blake Griffin kind of Dirk Degler in the church parking lot, pulling it out for $30 stage of his career.

It's just, that's like just riveting where it's like, oh, man. Lobb City. But in general, I kind of enjoy the Pistons. Give me another one for you. I was going to say, based off of that, this stuff this week from Monday and from Wednesday, is chippy Durant. Like when Durant starts to kind of get a little bit annoyed with people,

not on his own team, but he had a couple of plays. I feel like he was kind of digging into Janus a little bit on Monday. And there was one play where Middleton had a breakaway dunk and Durant was kind of like half-assedly following it up. And Janus was standing in front of Durant, and Durant just pushed him over. Right.

And I kind of feel like Durant, This season is a little bit like you guys have spent two years talking about Janus and Luca and all these guys. And now I'm back. And he was actually like on Wednesday when Sexton followed up that Osmond three that he missed and Sexton grabbed it in midair and put it back. He turns around and Durant just shoulder checks him. And I was like, I like this version of Petty Durant. Yeah. I have Anthony Edwards as another one.

I don't know what to make of this basketball player. Yesterday he played 23 minutes. We're taping this on a Thursday. He played 23 minutes. He was 3 for 14. He had zero rebounds and zero assist. This is a guy who is, he's like fucking the Terminator.

He's from another error. He got sent, not from the future, from the past. He got sent from 1994. For Ricky Davis University. Yeah. He got his Isaiah writer master's degree.

It's just like, I'm just shooting. I don't really. have any other skills. I'm really athletic. I think he seems like a good guy. I don't think he's like, I don't think he's like one of those Spreewell, Isaiah Ryder, like headcase guys. But, you know, I judge these guys by would it be fun to play basketball with this person? He just comes out. He's, it's going up. He doesn't really do anything else. If he's not in the play, he's just standing there. He's got a lightning fast first step. And I don't know what to make of him. You could, you could give me any

scenario with his career. And I would believe it. You can tell me he's the next Dwayne Wade. I'd be like, all right. It doesn't seem like he yet, but he's athletically, I could see it. You could also tell me he's Dionne Waiters, and that seems more conceivable. That's a little bit of an overreach, especially given what Lamello and Weissman look like now. Him going one seems tough. And it was, I honestly was tough in the moment. I just felt like Wiseman had to be the first pick. And if you're, if your reasoning is, well, we already have towns, it's like, well, that's another reason why Weissman should be the first pick. You have towns. You won nothing with towns.

Those two guys are two of my favorite people to watch. Just watching Weissman, kind of figuring it out, and then the Lamello experiment. If you were the Warriors, would you have taken Lamello over Weissman at this point? No. No. I think they, you know, this is why the NBA is the NBA. The weak continue to screw up and the strong continue to have breaks fall in their laps. This was the Celtics Sixers recipe for the first 40 years of the league, right? You take advantage of everybody else's

dumb mistakes. I just feel like you can find Edwards every year in the draft. Like, if you think like his ceilings, Dwayne, Wade, great. But you know what I can't find is Wiseman. Yeah. I can't find guys like that.

I can't find guys with hands like that who the size that he has and the athleticism. They don't exist. So if you're going to pass on that, it better be somebody who's awesome. I think Charlotte was the one that really lucked out because it should have been Wiseman.

I thought Haliburton should have been second. I don't know if they would have had the balls to take Halliburton over Edwards. But in general, just that somebody made the decision for them and they got Lamello at three was pretty cool. And I also really like Patrick Williams. I think he's just a winning player. He's a guy that can play 40 minutes. He takes seven shots.

So if you go like 2, 3, 4, I like all those picks. I'm fine with those. I thought Halliburton probably should have gone seventh instead of Hayes, but the Edwards one is the one that stands out as like, ugh. Yeah, this has been a surprisingly delightful draft class. And it's been nice because I think it's been kind of a depressing season in some ways with all the COVID stuff. But to have all these kids come into the league and even like watching Maxie and, like you said, watching Pritchard. It's kind of like fun to watch these dudes.

And Bay on the Pistons, Bane on the Grizzlies, I think, has been good. I like a corer on the Cavs is at least somebody that could play in crunch time and defend people. I don't know. There's at least 12 rookies I like. I'm kind of surprised because this was sold to us as a terrible draft. Yeah, this is like a wait till next year. And now it turns out that these guys are actually really fun. Another guilty pleasure for me is the Ola Depot contract drive now that he's on the rockets.

The rockets in general are, they're like a 70s basketball movie. It's like they're basically fished at say Pittsburgh for 2021. Just everybody's on their own fucking agenda. That was the two things that I love right now are that there's like a subterranean NBA where there's like there's all the people going for the championship and then there's all the teams that are kind of like jockeying for position

and then there's like the rockets and the wolves and they kind of remind me of reading about basketball in the late 90s and early 2000s where like Ryan Saunders is like hey at least we're not cannibals you know like at least we're not eating each other after we lose and you're just like Jesus is this what you're like counting on

and Boogie and Waller trying to be like William Wallace and Braveheart And now it's just going to be like three guys putting up 25 shots a night. It's incredible stuff. Well, if you're a Timberwolves fan, you give Wiggins the massive contract extension, which is mistake number one. Then you compound it by trading Wiggins. You're excited to get rid of him.

And you'd be like, hey, we'll give you this top three pick, protected. We'll get Russell back. He's friends with Towns. It's like, well, awesome. Now you're going to be one of the worst teams of the West every year. Why is this a good thing? And then Towns will probably, you know, two years from now, want to get out. But you always see that in the NBA where it's the first mistake that leads to the even bigger second mistake.

And the reality is they might have like the fourth pick in the draft and it goes right to the Warriors. And especially with the lottery this year, you're not even, you know, it's totally random. Who goes where? You can have the worst record in the league and be sixth. God. That's so tough to imagine for that franchise. deserve so much better. You have one more obsession for me? Last obsession of me, just the weird Pelicans team that makes no sense with three bigger players

as your front line and then two guards who can't shoot. And then Stan Van Gundy, who we spent, you know, the bubble playoffs with him as an announcer and I was annoyed by him like a round and a half in. Like imagine having him as your coach day and day out. Such a weird team. Everyone falls all over themselves to just praise David Griffin and Neil O'Shea and Tommy Shepard and all these GMs that are just friends with all the media people. And it's like, what is this Pelicans team? Are you trying to contend? Are you trying to rebuild? Can Zion and Ingram play together? If Zion and Ingram can play together, why is Adams the center with them? And then you have no spacing because you don't have any guards who can shoot except Redick, who you're barely playing. Like, what is this?

It feels very much like a TV show that has two star young actors who you know are waiting to get off their contracts to go into the movies. And then it's in season six and you're just texting your friends like, am I the only one watching this? Because there's something really strange happening here. I can't stop watching Pelicans games. They're like, they're not actually fun, but they're so interesting because you just are watching like, oh, who's that guy wandering around aimlessly on the baseline? Oh, that's Zion Williamson. And then, you know, like there are points where he'll, he's had like a great.

great week. But you just know that they're not maximizing any one part of the team. Yeah, it just feels like the wrong team for him. Now, not like forever, but it's not the kind of NBA team I wanted to see him on. I wanted to see him on a team where it's like, there was just a lot of space and the paint and his shooters and he just has room to cook. And this is like the opposite. Adam's like lumbering around people playing seven feet off Lanzo ball because he just can't shoot anymore at all. And it's just weird. I feel like he's like in the Anthony Mason role or something. Like he's setting picks and getting boards

and then gets like one or two like extraordinary dunks a game. But like he just seems to be doing a lot of lunch bale stuff. And it doesn't seem, nobody wants to say this. It doesn't seem like he is jumping as high as he did at Duke. Interesting. I test less. I just feel like the guy at Duke seemed like he could jump actually over people he was playing against. It's like it was conceivable.

He could dunk over, do the first. Fred Weissunk once a game. This guy's like 80% of that. Now, he might be playing yourself back in. Yeah. Maybe injuries, I don't know. But I don't feel, I was there for, I had the front seat for the Blake Griffin when he could really jump for those Clippers games.

And I thought Zion was at least going to be that. And I don't think he's totally that yet. But we'll see if it comes back. Yeah, we'll have to see. All right. Bill, thank you so much for joining me, man. It was good to see, Chris Ryan. Thanks to Bill Simmons.

And now let's get into my conversation with NBC Barriers, Karth Burke, about a little team called the Golden State Warriors. All right, now I'm joined by Golden State Warriors reporter. Karth Burke. Karth, what's going on? How you doing? I'm doing great. How are you, Chris?

I'm doing well. I wanted to ask you, before we get into like specific stuff about this warrior season, about what we're seeing on the court, I was wondering how it's going covering the team this year. Obviously, it's so different. What's been your impressions like kind of doing this job in a different kind of way? I imagine there's just not as much time spent at Chase. Do you spend any time at Chase?

No, my workplace says none of our employees can be in the building. That's what happens when there's a pandemic. So you're covering a team from afar. I think what's been the most difficult for me, the challenge to tackle here is how to maintain your relationships. There are players that I have not met in person. For example, James Wiseman. I haven't had a chance to make eye contact with this huge guy

or like sense what kind of person he is. Kent Baysmore is with the Warriors again, but he was first with the team when I didn't live in the Bay Area. So I'm in a position where I'm talking about these players and I'm supposed to be an insider and I haven't met them yet. And that's awkward for me. And what happens is, you know, on Zoom's when there's a big scrum full of reporters,

it's nice to insert humor into things, but you're cracking these corny jokes in front of everybody and then there's crickets. And then there's also, you know, covering things on a screen, it just flattens everybody. So it's hard to have fun with them this season, actually. And those

moments of fun are what help you when you want to cover a more serious story. You don't have that currency with them. So, you know, I guess it's all about trying to stay in touch via text or V DM or like trying not to give your stories away in a scrum to other reporters, trying to

have a thing for yourself and trying to talk to these players human to human, not just person looking for something from them. Yeah. So does it put more pressure on like Zoom performance? Like do you feel like you are, you have like a little bit of like stage fright before you get into the Zoom? No, you know, I don't mind being corny.

And this is my fourth season covering the team. So I feel like I know when to joke with Steve Kerr, when a moment needs, you know, the tension lifted a little bit. But it's the new guys that I'm just, I'm not sure. So it feels like I'm putting myself on a limb with some of them. They might think I'm corny as hell, but, you know, it is what it is this season. And I wonder if they feel like they can explain who they are. Like, for example, Kelly Ubrey is new to the team.

There's all sorts of things that we've heard about Kelly Ubrey, but who is he really? And does that come across well on screen? Well, I wish I had a chance to meet Kelly Ubray in person and sort of sense what he's all about. I saw a clip from one of the postgame press conferences where you were asking Wiggins, Andrew Wiggins, whether or not this was the most fun he had.

had in his career. And his reaction was like, it almost was like he was in the office or something. He was like, he was like, yeah. But it did seem like the kind of thing that like in person, you could probably ask him a follow up and kind of then like, could Joel maybe a more animated answer out of him? Although I suppose he's a pretty reserved guy. He is really reserved. And he's somebody that I want a better relationship with. He is very quiet. He'll give you a few things, but he does not elaborate. I've had a hard time figuring out what his sense of humor is. and I asked him that question and people were like

well what is he supposed to say he's on the spot but he could have said well each opportunity is a different one I'm happy to play wherever but his answer was yes and I thought that was pretty direct and great because when you look at what he had to do with Minnesota

was he happy there was all of the weight on his shoulders the warriors are a different circumstance and I think you can see him thriving on both sides of the ball this is the warriors I think I'm falling in love of this warrior team. So I wanted to have you on because I've had like a little bit of like keeping them at arms

distance relationship with the Warriors over the last few years is like as a fan of another NBA team. It's been they've been very difficult for me. You know, like I the and I've always obviously appreciated what I've seen on the core aesthetically and I love watching Stefan Clay and entry him on play and with Katie was amazing. But this is the team that seems to be combining like it's like one part dream team, one part G League, one part March Madness. One part, I don't know. Is it hard to wrap your arms around what this team is right now? Maybe you're trying to keep them at arms distance

because you don't want to get hurt again. That's right. When Clay Thompson has an ACL injury, when Katie leaves the team, when Clay is getting ready to play again and see if they can be contenders, he goes out with the Achilles. I mean, it's just, oh, just punch after punch. Yeah. And then last season, it was tough.

They had the worst record in the league. They go from five consecutive finals and three championships in four years to worst record in the league. It teaches you how fragile things are. So this season, I understand that, oh, I see the Warriors over there. How much do I really want to throw my whole heart into this? This team, right now it's a 14-game body of work. They're finding something special. That word is overused, special.

But they're coming together with these new pieces. I mean, the question was, is Steph going to have to do everything this season? Where is the supplemental scoring come from? How does you do it without the best player beside you, Clay Thompson? Their friendship, their tandem on the court, their assassin nature together. That's not here. Again, so how did the warriors find this? When Steph commands all the gravity, when defenders blob on him, who is going to help?

you're adding this new piece with James Wiseman. He's 19 years old, relatively unknown because we didn't see him in college. Then you have somebody flashy like Kelly Ubrae. Then you have a former number one pick like Wiggins. How does all of this stuff go into the mixing pot to come out with a team that plays good basketball? And we're seeing that now. So, okay, let me interview you. What has you most excited about the Warriors?

It just feels like must-a-tvee-tvee. because it feels like ever since that Chicago game and then I can't remember it was the first or second Portland game and obviously the Lakers game, you just never know when you might see something incredible happen. And that incredible might just be something small like one of my favorite things about watching the Warriors

and they've become kind of like my West Coast team to watch in the second half of the night is just watching Draymond coach these guys on the court. And sometimes, you know, just getting to see that kind of thing where it's like even if he doesn't have a mic on, I feel like Draymond is miced up for every game, no matter what. But that stuff trying to get Weissman through that Lakers game

where he was kind of cracking under the pressure a little bit of that game was just incredible. I just don't feel like we really get to see moments like that. So that added to also, I think, what is increasingly becoming like a super heroic step season. Yeah, I think so. But Wiseman, too, when you bring up Wiseman versus the Lakers. So a road game at Staples Center,

his first time against LeBron and AD. Guys, he said that he studied on film before. And they frustrated him. He had 13 minutes, the lowest he's played this season, five turnovers, five fouls. That was the game where he punched the cooler when he walked off the clip. And you like that kind of fight

because he bounced back from his worst game with his best game. At 20 points, he was working in that dunker spot, had seven dunks, his timing and his spacing. that understanding is starting to grow. And I think that has a lot to do with Draymond. The coaches are very cognizant that there's only so much they can tell a player and they don't just want to send wave after wave after wave of information.

So if Drayman is the coach on the court, because you have to listen to Drayman out there. He's got that kind of voice. But when you're a former defensive player of the year, you have that currency to tell other people what to do, especially when it's a rookie that you want to take under your wing. So I see a softer side of Draymond. He's not a lot about fire and yelling.

He really wants what's best for Wiseman. And Wiseman said last night, he was like, Drayman has been like a brother to me. So there's really a bond there, and Wiseman is learning from the best. There was this great moment that they captured from that. I think it was from the Lakers game,

where Drayman's death thrown Weissman a pass that kind of bounced off of Weissman's hands. It was in transition. And Draymond goes up to him. He's like, I threw it there because I know you, can catch that. Like, I know it's a hard pass. Like, I know I threw it slightly behind you and away from the defender. And he's like, but you can do that. And they're like trying to basically like get this guy to realize how good he is, which while you're also trying to reestablish this team

as a playoff, if not title contender, and like go up head to head against these incredible Western Conference teams. It must be such a huge task. I love that Jemann gave that piece of advice saying, don't worry about Mark Gassol, whatever, I've got you. And then the camera zooms out and Gasol was right there. So Trayvon said that right in space. So, I mean, obviously you're watching your interfacing with it largely through screens like we are, but what are some of your things you're obsessed with about this, this Warriors team? Ooh, you know what? It's, I guess can I tell me the overview of like my big session right now in the NBA? It's not so much warrior-centric. It's paying attention to coaches wearing their masks incorrectly. It's Luke Walton

who I want to be merciful. He has a very large head, just a large face area. So I don't know how well the fit is with these masks, but it's always below his nose, which, come on, man, you got to wear a mask, you got to cover everything. Or did you notice Tyloo wears a mask that,

it looks like mesh? You can see his lips through the mask, which... That doesn't seem effective. I don't know. It's supposed to catch the little accidental spit droplets, but I don't know what this mesh deal is doing. So I'm always amused looking at these coaches, fidgeting with their masks, trying to get mad during the moment, and then it's falling off, and they have to put it back on.

It's just comedy. The counterpoint is Tibbs, though, because Tibbs I never see with the mask at all off, but looks like Bain from Dark Night Rises the entire time because he's just like screaming through this mask the entire game. Doc's had some problems with the masks this season, too. They've dinged him a couple of times. Do you think that the Wiggins thing is something I did want to hit on before we let you go? because it's been such, it's a roller coaster of emotions for the Warriors going, thinking they had clayback,

thinking that they were going to come back at relative full strength and to lose him. Wiggins, if you look at just as numbers, remarkably consistent. It's the same minutes, it's the same field goal attempts, it's basically the same amount of points.

He has better games, slightly worse games. He's taking on these really important defensive responsibilities, I think, out there on the wing. What's been your impression of him on the court, aside from his demeanor off the court, obviously? You know, I think it starts with how fans weren't sure. How is this going to, how is he going to blend with the team?

So some of that started last year when the trade was here. He only had a 12-game body of work last season before COVID stopped the season for the Warriors. So he had a little bit of runway to settle in this year, things that he could build on from last season. But it was still largely a mystery. I think people believe they know that Wiggins is a moment. bust, right? That's what kind of carries around with him from the seasons and with the wolves. And it's not true. Like, I'll look up and I'll be like, wow, Wiggins just had a quiet 18. You know, he's steady, like he said. What stood out at the beginning of the season is those games where

he might have been five of 16, where it looked like his shot just wasn't coming along. But that was indicative of the whole team at large, not jelling yet. Same with Kelly Ubre, actually. So fans were ready to dump Ubre, trade Wiggins. you know, whatever. Now that they're settling in, I think what's really helped Wiggins right now is his strength on the defensive side. Everything flows from there.

He's going to be a fixture in the starting lineup because of his length. They need him on the wing. He and Ubrey kind of switch off guarding the opponent's best player in the back court. So as long as the defensive principles are there, everything else gets easier for him. Like you'll see Wiggins have maybe two or three steals per game.

The way that he can test shots is really good on the perimeter. He's got that figured out, which makes the other side of the ball a little easier. Yeah, and I know that Kerr is really stressed. Like, he said that they have to get back to being a top 10 defense. You know, like that's been the thing that he feels like probably he can, like, coach out of them, is getting them back to the defensive principles, right? I hope so. Yeah, so top 10, you know what?

I love watching dunks and dunks, and I enjoy those 140-point games versus 130-point games. But no, I think a coach. wants the total. I do. I like a track meet kind of game. I like the insanity that happens. Just transition, transition, make, make, that sort of thing. But I do agree that defense wins championships. Lala. It sounds like maybe you should become a Nets fan. Yeah, I think so. I don't know. Wiggins, not Wiggins, so many W. Waysman has been really doing his best on defense, learning to stay vertical. He's a seven-footer. He doesn't have to jump. And I know those aren't the splashy things that makes the highlight reels. It's the dunks.

But you can see his confidence just bloom when he gets an out-a-boy from Dramon, when he knows he's in the right space and when he's not collecting fowls. He had some foul trouble earlier in the season. Yeah, no, it's exciting. We'll watch them tonight. I'll be talking about against the Knicks. Kara, thank you so much for joining me today. It was a real pleasure. This is a lot of fun. Thank you. Thanks.