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On this episode of the Heat Check, we've got the light Year boys talking about what's happening with Golden State. They just blew a lead to the Mavericks. Draymond's nowhere in sight. He's on his podcast. He's grinning from ear to ear with the TNT guys, and yet he's not on the court. All right, Brock, let's drop.
That big Sunday perfect.
All right, let's get this pop in, man, let's get this vibe going. Co host of the light Years podcast, Andy Lou Sam Aspindiari, we're talking a little Warriors on a Monday night. Pot will probably come out on Tuesday, because I'm not going to make my guy Brock not only sit here with his laptop open, but I'm not gonna be a she devil and make him edit this thing and put it on the podcast. So, if you're listening to this, it's happening on a Tuesday. On a Tuesday,
what are you guys doing? What is going on? How do you end up losing a twenty point twenty over twenty point fourth quarterly to the MAVs. They're over here. You got Spencer Dinwoodie giving you the business.
First off, Andy's Warriors lost the twenty point My Warriors were on the injured list.
It's it's been downhill actually since since my victory lap in the beginning of the season for the Warriors. If you if you're checked in on the last thirty games of the Warriors, they've actually been more of a seven seed than they've been a two seed. Right that they are right now. They've actually still got the second Bessett record in the NBA. Didn't feel like it. King Johnson and I went for fifty two. We've got steps still stuck it around thirty five thirty seven percent from three.
So it's been a it's been a weird few months actually the Warriors. You talk about slumping, it's it's this is not a this is not a what is it? Sam? This is not like a blip anymore. If he was like a trend almost with these guys.
Yeah, it's like, well, I'm fifty to fifty on it because on the one hand, they're missing, you know, like Sunday they had no Draymond Green, no Klay Thompson. In theory, you should lose that game. On the other hand, when you're up twenty with at the end of the third quarter, it doesn't really matter who you have, like you should be able to just coast that one to a victory. And that's kind of like the dichotomy of the Warrior season.
It's like we can tell ourselves, like when Draymond comes back, when they figure it all out, like I like the way the roster looks. But then on the other hand, you know James Wiseman is ramping it up and they plan to insert him, and I don't know what that means random wise.
Can I just say this, I have some I don't have a lot of intel in this business. I don't have a lot of intel. I don't because I'm I don't go to games anymore post pandemic. I don't talk to anyone really, I'm just basically I'm not Nope, I'm not woj I'm stuck into a studio mostly like for pretty much all of my life. But here and there I get some sprinklings. I do not think James Wiseman is coming back to c I don't think so. And and that's not just my own imagination. I think that's
that there's there's whispers, but I mean, who knows. I think that the optimism of him playing given how little time is left in the season. What what you would need twenty games left in the season, get them ramped up, and then what you do the same hashtag the ramp up that's been happening all year long was set back with your setback, right, and then you've got like kaminga who's getting starter minutes as well. I just find it to be very not concerned. Concern is not the right word.
I would say puzzling that there are teams that believe that they can develop guys. At the same time, there's.
Only one team that believe that there.
Is These are not the These are not the actions of a team that are all in on winning the title right twenty twenty two. So, like, I'm with you, and like, even if we take a step back, if Wiseman comes back, he hasn't played basketball in the year, and it's not like we're talking about a ten year veteran here.
And he's Clay coming back from the ACL Yeah, well he's Clay coming back.
It's you know, it's a.
He's not going to be ready to guard Nikola jokicch in eight games. Well, the sick part is that they actually kind of need him. That's really the sick part. I don't mind that he's not ready to play. You kind of can't blame the kid who could be ready. But the really disgusting part is be Elites is terrible. They didn't pick up a big in the trade market, and they're not going to pick up a big in
the buyout deadline that's coming up here. I think I think it might have been today or tomorrow, so that they're not picking anyone up.
DeAndre Jordan guys, Actually.
I'd rather ride with Bell, but point stance.
I just actually that crossed my mind. What if they do get dere What if they that would be pretty nasty.
What what do you think happened? Like why didn't they go out and get a big because you know, you look like Rashaun Holmes was out there possible, like definitely gettable. Sacramento doesn't feel like he works in the system. With the trays that they've made, you've obviously the big fish.
To try to go out and figure out probably not going to be possible at the trade deadline for a Christian Wood type, but there are guys that you could certainly try to maybe like even a Jalen Smith from Phoenix, like he ended up getting moved as well, Like do you think that there's some regret that they didn't try to do more with the center position given like the herniated disc or bulging disc for Draymond and kind of how Cavon has there's not a lot of debt there either.
Yeah, I mean it's like where do we go with this one? It if I was to describe the Warriors, it's think of the most stereotypical Silicon Valley tech company possible, and that's their decision making. It's like they're more concerned with selling low on. It doesn't matter what it is. Wiseman future pick doesn't matter, like then acknowledging like okay, maybe maybe in a year and a half will be better than this, and you know it might look bad, but this is gonna give us a better shot to
win a title. And let's let's be this is a pretty wide open year. Like do you do you think anyone is like an out and out favorite this year? Like I think Milwaukee and Philly look good, but like it's not the you know, it's not the nineteen ninety six Bowls. You know, it's not that sort of situation.
So the Warriors will will I think they yeah, they want to act like they're the smartest team in the NBA and this is the way to do it. And they've got guys that that aren't gonna push them, like Stephan Draymond aren't really like, oh, let's let's figure out how to get Miles Turner, which is actually I think the other name that was That was interesting if you're talking about it, guys like that like that, that's a
guy that they could have looked into. But end of the day, they're saying, hey, we're gonna we're gonna rely on Draymond. He's gonna be the starting center when things when things are you know, eight minutes left in crunch time. Right, last night Draymond plays, they win. Last night Clay plays, they win, or two nights go now. So that's what they're relying on. They're saying, Hey, we're gonna be We're
gonna be like the Spurs of a few years back. Right, let's just get to the posts and we're gonna win fifty five games. But as long as we get those three guys healthy, I would say that they're as good as a chance to win anyone to win a championship if those guys are healthy, or just.
Like the Spurs, where it's like, you know what, we're gonna stick to our plan. It might not hit the highest of highs, but we're also never gonna have you know, like whatever the hell's going with the Lakers this year with like we're going to trade it all for oops, Russell Westbrook, that type of thing, Like it's ride like the consistent, like we're going to trust that this is going to turn into some sort of twenty fourteen perfect Apex Spurs thing.
Yeah, I think that the thing that is very obvious and evident is that there is no shot that Joe lacob is mortgaging his future for one, one possible title right now, like I just or the next year for a two year window. There's just absolutely no possibility given the amount of rings that this team already has and the amount of finals that they went to. He's like, I'm not settling for just putting all the chips in and saying all right, we're gonna essentially just try to
get to get one more ring. That incremental the diminishing returns that like Big Brain Silicon Valley economists in them. Right, there's just no that there's a pain point because in a year from now, say you even win the ring, you've got the parade, and it's like what's next.
There's now now we have now have a very expensive Miles Turner and like thirty six year olds all around exactly.
There is Joe Lacob wants to win when Steph retires, like he is thinking of I mean, of course he does, but he's thinking of like, hey, we're not we're not doing the Lebron thing where Lebron leeds every team that he's ever been on and they're just too ship. Once he's once the Lake, once Lebron's done with the Lakers, you know this year or next year, whenever they're done for four seasons, right lakeup does not want that to happen. Whether that's about to get the Maroon five.
Guy to just post himself in every Jersey possible. Man, is that like too deep.
Of the No, that's good. It's a good one, good looking guy really really really went downhill though their music. But anyway, there there, that's where he doesn't want to be. Joe Lacob wants to say, I have Wiseman comingham Pool. I could win without Steph. You know, I don't know who knows if that'll work out, but that's what he wants.
I was talking to somebody about this the other day, though, I don't think in the history of sports, outside of like Joe Montana, Steve Young and Aaron and Aaron Rodgers, Brett Favre, that you can't, yeah, that you can basically say, all right, well, there's gonna be no gap between one dynasty and another that whole like we're gonna cross over and have no like, no window of trashness. I wouldn't even call that mediocrity. I would say like a rebuild.
It seems it seems like they believe that that's possible, and I don't know that it's proven itself to ever be possible in sports outside of a couple anomalies.
This is peak Silicon Valley. Winning isn't enough. They have to like brain and break the whole cycle, you know, Like we were saying, most owners would be like, I don't know, man, we're one of the three best teams here in this move yep, gives us the title. Let's go for it and we'll deal with twenty twenty five when we get there, right, but not the Warriors. We're we're trying to intellectually beat the world, beat history.
Actually it's what they're trying to do, which is crazy because all this comes down to how good Steph Curry is. I mean, he's already shown to be one of the greatest players of all time. But if you want to bridge the gap between now and then, you're basically asking Steph Curry, who's now thirty three years old, to be great for another three seasons because Kaminga's not going to be a superstar. Sam and I are high on him, but he's not gonna be a superstar for another three seasons.
Wiseman if everything breaks right, yeah, wise man, even you know who knows? Right, So you're basically asking Steph to say, be great for three more years, win one title, and then we're gonna get these guys like that. That's what it always comes down to. Like it says nothing to do with how smart you'll like up is it Just it's it's how good Steph train, wont and play. It's what it always comes down to.
And to me, it's like I don't know and I know that a big and a duo. It's that new real immersions right that that James Harden and be that two man game. There's like that's starting to become the shiny new toy again and versus just guard play leading the way. But if you wanted, I guess a crossover or you wanted like a like to have that carry on, I don't understand. And We've talked about this a million times,
so I'm not gonna be labor it. If you were gonna do that, you would have taken LaMelo because that would bridge the gap much easier than topic. Yeah, I mean, like so old entire, but that's what you would have done if you really wanted to bridge the gap.
Well, and that's the other part because they're they're they talk out of both sides of their mouths where they're like, we're trying to bridge the future, but he's a better fit. And I'm like, can you just be honest and be like you kind of misscouted the situation, like you would have took LaMelo if you knew who's this good? But you didn't. You're a little timid. You kind of you watched them, You're like.
I don't know, they can barely handle Jordan Pooley let's talk about like Jordan Poole right now, and LaMelo is ten times better and and also they didn't draft him because they felt like LaMelo was gonna be hard to coach.
Let's be honest, And Jordan Poole right now, he didn't play last night. He played nineteen minutes last night. Guys like guys like Jta.
He's been having a hard time with Clay Killer and his role being a context push pushed back, you know.
Yeah, and they feel like, no, they feel like he's kind of a diva. And I think that's kind of how they probably felt about LaMelo ball and why didn't draft him? Uh and right now they like, let's be honest, they need Jordan Poole to win playoff games. And right now, Jordan Poole right now is not gonna win him anything. The're gonna they're gonna lose games with him out there. He is he looks lost after starting like a he was a twenty million dollar pointer to start the year.
Right now he's he's I don't know, he's mid level.
How do you how do you get him back to being locked in? Because it feels like, you know who's responsible for that is that like a Clay, you know, take them by the shoulder and mentor him and like take them on your boat and like take some Instagram videos or like how do you get him to that place?
Because it seems like, you know, there's a big ego shot when Clay's been out for two seasons and your responsibility has gone up and all of a sudden, that's been snatched away from you from someone who's you know, very clearly deserves it. But still it's it's hard.
Yeah, I mean, if you can, if you can figure that out, you should have secrets job. So it's kind of that's the other that's the other part of win while developing for the future. That's tough. Jordan Poole does not have generational wealth. He's not Klay Thompson signing like a two hundred dollars deal for eternity, and he also
hasn't won three championships like Clay Steph. Those guys like they're they're made men in NBA history and they're playing for legacy and you know a bunch of stuff, and like, obviously you don't get to that point without being hyper competitive. Jordan Poole was the twenty eighth pick. And he's trying to get that next contract and kind of figure out
who he is in this league. And that's kind of the hard part about the whole like two timeline thing, because I don't think Clayer Steph care about their stats like they're they know they're going to Hall of Fame. They know, like the difference between them averaging like twenty
four and twenty one points doesn't matter. Jordan Poole is at that stage of his career where it's like, no, actually those two points per game or the difference between fifty million dollars on my contract or something like that, and that's that's.
How you feel, right, and you're right. Maybe maybe it isn't.
Maybe it isn't, but like until it's signed, it in the bank account, right, I mean, Andy, I get I get stressed over far smaller things.
So, I mean dollars is the rumor that he was gonna get this season? Right, and he's twenty two years old, you can understand it's not like he's the most mature person, because shit, I mean I remember me at twenty two. If you putting twenty million dollars in front of my face, I would have done some weird stuff. And I mean and this and this right now, I'm sure Jordan Poole is not this is all off the right Yeah, take this, take this up. Yeah, Like, I'm sure he's not happy, Like, oh,
who would be happy about this? At the same time, I guess the solution for me just let him play, like cut it out with the tough love stuff like you are not Steve Kerr is not you're not a college coaches the NBA.
Like, so, what's the deal with that? He's basically like saying, if your attitude is not right, I'm just not gonna play you, or what's the deal.
That I mean, Like, I don't know how, I don't know how you read it like a last night it's a perfect example. Okay, Klay Thompson's not playing, Jerymond Green's obviously not playing. They start Moses Moody and GP.
Two, like against the Mavericks.
It's when you start those two that's like, we're doing everything in our power to make sure Jordan Poole does not start, especially and then.
What do you say, nineteen minutes ninettes?
Yeah, he he kind of was slow off the bench, and it just you watched when.
He was in there too.
I would tell he was a little like, Yeah, pouting is a great way to put it. It seems like it was. It wasn't about like we think you're, you know, sloppy handling the ball. It felt very much like an interpersonal thing.
So yikes, yikes, Mike, Yeah, I mean that's definitely like something that people aren't talking about. Is the is the like shifts in culture with guys coming in and out of the lineup in that new guard versus old guard and trying to bridge the gap and like Kaminga getting a lot of minutes when very clearly he's helping you lose games right now even though he's a highlight machine. My question though, is like Raymond has just been out for way too long.
Draymond is also way too happy for someone that's been out for way too long, and it is very weird. Either he's cool being an inside the NBA TNT analyst with with our guy Shaq and and Chuck, or he's back next week right Friend of the Show, Charles, Yeah, you can make a lot of like was he twenty five million right now? I'm sure he gets, you know, a lot doing it, Like I just it's hard, Sam and I are very confused because for someone that is
supposedly out for another month, he's a pretty cheery guy. Yeah, yeah, it's it's the tone.
I have a very hard time think he's not coming back like he just he sounds like he's not concerned about it. Like we can we can compare it. Remember when Kevin Durant was hurt in twenty nineteen during the playoffs, be a silence.
They literally walled us off.
Yeah, exactly that sort of thing, or like you know, even James Soisa with the Warriors, waldof all that s Meanwhile, Draymond, like media sessions are like give me the microphone, I'm about to do stand up comedy and tell you about how much I'm going to dominate when I'm back. Like he he doesn't have that like I'm done for the year vibe.
And you know, he's an.
Athlete and he's a competitive person. Doesn't mean he's potentially wrong, but he's he's absolutely operating like it's not a big deal and I'll be back in mid March, which was the timeline that everyone's fulling out there right now.
And I think for the Warriors too. If you're going off of what you're saying which is like, let's just get to the postseason with everybody healthy. Let's just load manage. Like we got the number two seed and we know like the Suns aren't going to make any headway. They're having issues of their own. The only team we really need to worry about right now is Memphis in the West, and like, if we can just get to the playoffs sort of completely full strength, That's why I I was like,
they're holding andre Iguidala out as well. It's kind of like we're gonna get our old guys. They're all on ice. They're in the cryogenic chamber until maybe not even in the first round, depending on who we actually play. Uh and maybe like a slow ramp up period, but with load management. Is that kind of how it feels like to.
You, Yeah, if you told me that the Warriors are playing in NBA for some reason, an NBA Finals game next Friday, I can ninety nine percent guarantee you Graymon's out there, andre Gi Dollars out there, I mean Clay obviously and steps out there. Like it feels like to me, that's exactly what they're doing. But it doesn't mean that these issues aren't still issues, Like they can't freaking score in crunch time. That is the number one issue for
the team. They can defend, they still got staff, they've got Clay right, but they cannot score on crunch time. They just teams will throw three at Steph and they've got no one. Andrew Wiggins is is.
Draymond going into dribble handoff with someone who's trying to go into another dribble hand off.
Dudes thrown each other the fucking ball with no nothing being done. It's just I think that's going to be an issue regardless of whether guys come back or not.
Yeah, And that's what I was gonna say too, is it's like you now have Stephan what is very clearly a shooting slump seventeen straight games of like, what is he shooting thirty five percent from three worst of his numbers?
Two numbers even matter anymore?
I mean for Steph. No, I mean when you see him do what he did in the All Star Game, it shows you that he can turn it on. Obviously that kind of feels mental though to me to a degree, Like I saw your tweet Sam where it was like Warriors fans are seeing this being like, oh, is Steph now going to be on a heater for the rest of this season, because this is the moment where it's like you've woken up and been like, oh, I actually
can get out of this mental fog. But then now he goes back to very competitive play and it's still kind of the same thing.
Yeah, it's like, I mean, so he still obviously shoot the ball, but it's like, yeah, it's it's like, do you think he's worn down? Do you think it's finally teams catching up, because like they do play some pretty disgusting lineup combinations around him, like a lot of like yeah, yeah, dude, we're gonna throw three guys at you and dare Moses Moody to hit four threes, you know, like.
Go for it, mo.
You know that's where thing.
Is it?
You know, just a random variance and like that sort of thing, Like I don't know, but it's it's weird because I've never seen him have this prolonged slump, Like usually his slumps are two weeks. We all kind of concerned troll like, oh my god, what Steph. He's shot thirty eight percent for four games in a row, and then next thing he knows, he goes like on a heater, right, you know, like that sort of thing.
He reads every tweet about him sucking from three years.
He is a half time he is a halftime tweet reader.
We know that for a fact. But look, I think that I don't know. I think he's gonna be hundred forty percent for the first time in his career. He's thirty thirty seven and a half, right now. I mean, let's say, you know, I don't know like it is, it is, it is a problem.
Relax, Relax, like no, you know, no, I don't know.
I want to trade him. I don't know. I you know, they have more pressing concerns. But last night he had two open threes at the end of the game. He missed both, So I missed it. I just you know, I can't get too mad at someone like Gary Payton missing shots or Damien Lee missing shots, because those guys are Gary Payton and Damien Lee. You know STEP's missing open shots down in the fourth quarter. That's you know, we don't see that very often. It would be interesting for me.
I thought, that's what he saves for the playoffs.
Yeah, you would think you could. You know, he does play.
Well in the Relax relax.
She could wait to throw that way. I don't know. I what's I always think if he had last season Steph he shot like that this season, it'd be interesting to see what the Warriors record would be. But I don't know. Maybe he just needs Draymond back. Just something about the passes Draymond throws to him.
Maybe it's that just comfortable as they as the kids say, comfortability with the line, just getting guys. I mean, Clay obviously is going to be a great safety valve when when teams blitz Steph in the playoffs, something that he hasn't had in a couple of years. Like so, I guess what what's the temperature right now? Where where are you guys at? It seems like you guys are cautiously right down the middle.
Like room temperature. I'm not particularly concerned, like.
Like Palo Alto weather saying right now, like room temp is that that?
Well?
I'm thinking more of water to be frank. You know, it's like you turn the water a little warm because you want to. I don't know, lazy exactly. It's not quite not quite bathroom. Maybe maybe I like my bath's warmer than me, but it's it's like, yes, it is bathtub weather where I'm just like, you know, I'm gonna go with it. I'm not in love with everything that's going on, but until someone tells me that they are injured or something weird is happening, I'm gonna side off.
You know, we will see the rest of the NBA is just not It's they're just not. It's no nobody scary out there. That's that's really the big thing for me. Is you got Trump and dude, yeah, the Nets who knows, right, We've been saying that for three years. Now You've got You've got the Bucks too, are struggling.
They're gonna lift. They're gonna lift a mandate, Joe said, I'm sure Kyrie will find a new reason to.
Management. No vaccination.
Sixers might be the team right now. If you have to pick a team, the Sixers with James Harden might be the team right now. That's the best team in the NBA winning championship.
Is that not the craziest shit you've ever seen? Where James Harden consistently looks fat and slow and unathletic, and then all of a sudden he gets traded In the first game he plays, he looks like an MVP. It's something that is a skill to be able to look as bad as he did and to brick shots that he hits with Eve to then hit these like contested step back threes from thirty feet playing. I don't know, that's just maybe one of the more remarkable impressive swings in skill.
We've done it several times. Yeah, it's like not his first.
Rodeo, seven or eight times.
He's just a serial. Like I was going to do a dating comparison, but I don't even think I could do it because he's just just bouncing back.
You know who James Harden is. James Harden is west Elm Caleb.
I don't even know if.
What look up.
West Elm Caleb. He was the guy who matched with a bunch of girls in New York City. It went super viral on TikTok. I'm surprised you don't know who he is. And then he like has a bunch of dates and goes on maybe one date, doesn't sleep with them, sends them like a dick pic, and then ghosts them and then and then does it again and again and again like all of Manhattan had had run No And then for him to say, oh, I'm actually one of the best teammates in the NBA was just it was shameless.
Shameless. NBA superstars are shameless, all of them.
They are. I'm gonna take you the Strip club, give you a rollie, and that makes me a really good teammate.
The the the dick pic off of the first State is very much a hard move. It's like, you know, I dropping dropping forty with ten assists. Yeah, letting you imagine the possibilities. But but then but it leads to nothing.
And you like it leads to nothing.
It literally was like, all I have is this photo in my phone. Now I don't even know you, you don't even respond you go green bubble, and all I have. All I have is this phone of you and your bathtub, and I can see you in warm water.
Luke war in warm water.
This is what we get for an eleven PM Eastern podcast. I guess, all right, so Warriors go to the finals? Yes or no?
I go first, I think yes, I think yes. I think the Warriors. The Western Conference is not very good. I don't love the Suns, and Memphis is a year or two away. Memphis reminds me of the Warriors back when the Warriors were coming up, the team that lost to this Bros. In the second round.
So I think yes, compound question because I think there's a really good chance that they go to the finals. I think they're gonna get the shit kicked out of them by the Grizzlies or sorry, the Bus six, or one of like the Eastern Conference teams.
But I do think.
They have a very realistic chance to make it through the West.
If they get beat by a Western Conference team, who is it?
I will give you the same answer.
I think it's the Grizzlies, though, Sam, I think it's the Grizzlies. I think it's the Grizzlies. I think they beat the Suns. I think they're a good matchup for the Suns. I think they understand what Chris Paul is going to do. He's not that much of a problem. You know who's a problem, Jean Moran and that team that can run up and down and play small ball with them. I think if they lose, they lose to Memphis. If they get to the Western Conference finals, I think they beat the Suns.
Yeah.
I think I'm gonna give a I'm gonna give a dark horse answer the Dallas Mavericks.
Stop you are Mexic. Kleiba is gonna kick about Mexically.
But what Spencer Dinwitty Game Winner Series Ender, Spencer Dinwitty n.
F T n F It was, well, you know I'm pivoting, so you know I'm going full crypto. You gotta go with the crypto god.
Crypto god, and like he'll do it.
He's gonna have like he's gonna have an n F T step back. It's gotta be the move.
It's just.
Obviously I'm with Andy. I think Memphis is the more likely one. But like if you're asking me to pick a dark horse, I'm not ruling out Dallas and Denver. We're I I just want to make it clear it won't be Phoenix's.
And you should definitely keep your eye on Java McGee because he's gonna look to get some money. I bet he wants to come back, and he's the number one role man right now in the n b A. You could use him. That was a mistake. That was a miscalculation.
Like the war has ever run a.
Tipping bath water? Here on the heat check, it's the bathtub check here at eleven PM on a Monday. Thank you boys for joining me. We will definitely check back in now. I know that this is the time that you guys can come on. It's just late night vibes. It's just late night vibes.
It's for the better.
I know.
I like I like you this way. It's like a little it's like a little slurry and I'm not sure if it's just tiredness or if it's a cocktail. But I really don't care which I want you. I don't care, kukah whatever, whatever you're up to, I love it. Thanks, yeah, exactly. We're not judging. We're not judging. Thanks boys,