Warriors Deep Dive: Jonathan Kuminga situation, Al Horford's impact, will Steph & Jimmy win title?

conspicuously who's done a whole lot of nothing. And Sam, I've been seeing a lot of chairs on my social media feed all of a sudden, I was hoping you could kind of get me up to speed with how the Warriors off season, how the fan base is doing with this offseason so far.

what are they doing? And then the more rational side, where it's like new CBA seems like there's a lot of new behaviors that we didn't see in previous years, and trying to rationalize it, like maybe this is the new reality of how this stuff goes. Maybe it's gonna be a little more like baseball, which no one should really want to be, like where the free agency period leads to players being unsigned until like a week before players report for spring training or in the NBA's case,

you know, training camp. Maybe that's maybe that's the new reality. Maybe that's the paradigm shift we're moving towards. So I don't know, If nothing else, it's not what I expected.

Jimmy fit has been a resounding success. It is unlocked a higher level of belief and motivation from Stephen Draymond and tied so many loose ends together. But if you look around the league, they still look before we go any further, they still feel to me like a second tier team in the West.

they round out this roster. I think you can make a case that they have a championship level core, but because it's older, they don't just need two additional players. They need like five or six rotation players that they trust, and they probably need a little bit of luck health wise to get into a playoff series fully healthy, which wasn't the case last year of Minnesota. Then and then

we'll see what happens. But yeah, to your point, like second tier at best right now, given that theyly have nine players and two of them are two way guys from.

every like Denver, you could argue is better. The Lakers are better, the Clippers are better, you can the Oklahoma City obviously is standing. Papa Houston got better. Everyone's getting better,

and so it seems like it's more the inactivity juxtaposed with everything else than anything else at this point. Now, the main thing that I'm looking at as I look from obviously from Afar, it seems as though everything has just been in a holding pattern based on the Jonathan Kaminga situation. So what's going on with the Jonathan Minga situation? How do you see this story ending?

So they might have handshake agreements, but if they sign them first, it could trigger a situation where they would actually hardcap themselves, and then another team could come in and offer Kuminga a number that's legitimately too high for them to match. Gotta love the new CBA turns us all on to lawyers, right, So that's kind of what's going on with that situation. But to the bigger question, which is what you're asking holding pattern. I don't know

if it's bad advice. I don't know if it's him having unrealistic expectations for his market, but the reality is he sees himself as a player could be an all star in this league, and he wants to be treated and paid like one like the player I always think of as Jalen Green. They were teammates on that G League iig NIT team. From Kuminga's perspective, you know, he saw Jalen Green go to Houston and get three years of you know, thirty five minutes a game, figure it out.

You know, he got to screw up along the way, and then at the end of it, he got thirty five million a year, and that's kind of been the number that's been floated out there. Kuminga wants over thirty. I'm assuming that's the player he's benchmarking himself too, and the Warriors, by virtue of the market and really using comps of players similar to him, it seems like the

market says he's worth more like twenty. And so that's kind of where we're sitting here, and I don't really know what's going to force a move here, Like I don't.

I don't know what's going to force something, because it doesn't seem like there's gonna be this secret team that comes out of nowhere and opens up cap space and throws this, you know, thirty million a year off a sheet at him, And it doesn't seem like there's these teams out there who are also willing to give it to him and then negotiate a trade that satisfies the Warriors' needs, because the Warriors want to get back a player who they can use in their rotation and an asset for

him now, who knows what the actual settling price is, but like all those variables are leading to what, honestly like it feels like it's going to go another couple of weeks at minimum at this point.

for the Warriors as well. It's unfortunate on both sides in the sense that you're right, Like if you're looking at the Jalen Green situation, even if you could argue, I would argue that Jalen's a better player than Jonathan, even though they're both in a similar tier. I think Jalen's shown just a little bit more of an explosive upside as a score, but to your point, with a

lot longer runway, with a lot more opportunity. But even if you want to argue that they're in that same kind of like situation, within that scope, I could see why Jonathan Kminga would look at that and go like, what the hell, man, Like, I'm stuck in this situation where I'm expected to fit alongside this ecosystem that demands these very specific things for me. Whereas with Jalen, he was allowed to go and effectively be himself for better or for worse, and that dictated this pathway that is

very different than what happened with Jonathan. You combine it with the fact that we head into a specific summer in terms of available cap space around the where it's brutal for anybody to be a restricted free agent in this particular summer, and so it's just kind of like this confluence of really unfortunate events that has led to this situation. So, if we could go back in time,

is there a specific moment within the last few years where you think it made the most sense to trade Jonathan and that had they done it at that point, it would have been better for both of the parties. Nothing says summer like long days, clutch plays, and firing off a few bets on the game, all with Draftking Sportsbook. As the season heats up, so do the bats, and Draftking Sportsbook has you covered with live betting home run props, odds, boosts,

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those moments, but the Wards were winning. When Kuming was on the floor, he got taken off and just that that was a year's worth of frustration of him getting you know, the short leash. Whereas you know, like obviously like Steph has his games where he turns the ball over but he doesn't get the short leash on a turnover, you know that sort of thing. And he leaks to he leaks to Shams that he's losing faith in Steve Kerr,

which is hilarious. He might be the worst player in NBA history to demand it trade publicly at that point in his NBA career. Like if you just think about it as like, who are you to be publicly blasting your championship head coach like this? You know, it's like it's one thing if Lebron does it, It's honestly, it's like one thing. If like Westbrook or like established consistent all stars do it, it's another thing if it's a guy who's proven nothing in the in the context of

the league. To me, that was the moment where a more savvy front office would have realized this isn't gonna work. This is not gonna work. The head coach, the star players, they have very specific expectations and he just does not want to buy in the way they want to, or maybe he can't. There's always that the possibility that like he's just too raw, Like the only way he's gonna learn is giving him three thousand minutes with no leash,

and they don't have the space to do it. You know, there's always that argument, which is to give him what he needs to get to where they need him to get to, they would actually have to be okay with throwing a season away, and they were never okay with it. And so to me, that was the moment they should have done it, because he was right in the middle of what was probably the best play of his career.

In that January he went on to I can't remember the numbers, but it was something like, you know, he scored over twenty.

money in front of them. You know, every player, every player said, Jimmy was unwilling to go to the Warriors until they said they would maxim. You know, he was unwilling to go, and they said, how do you feel about taking a you know, ten million of year pay cut or something, and he's like, now I want to go to Phoenix. You know, It's funny how those things change. Right, So to me, that was the obvious point that they

should have done it hindsight's twenty twenty. Also, just from a realistic standpoint, middle of his third year, it would have given the team who traded for him at least a year before they had to make a contract decision, because now the single biggest issue they're dealing with, even if they want to trade him, trading for him and guaranteeing nine figures is a different thing than trading for him when he's on a rookie deal and you have eighteen months to figure out how much you really like

him and how much he's foundational for your team. So for me, you know, it's easy to say they should have traded him on draft night, but to me that was kind of the one where it's like, okay, you

kept him during the draft. He didn't develop as fast as you wanted, and you didn't have the space to give him the play anyway, and now you have these public outbursts in a way that's kind of unbecoming, honestly, and honestly, the way they played it, I think only fueled him to kind of have an attitude and a disdain for what they're doing, because I could have seen him getting suspended for that. You know, you could have seen another organization be like, you can't do that. You

know you can't publicly do that, We're suspending you. But they put him in a starting lineup the next game. They essentially gave him what he wanted. So a lot of it was hoping that, you know, this will come together. I think hindsight shows us you can't. You know, human nature is what it is, and you kind of have to be a little more pragmatic and realistic in these things.

to essentially maximize your title lots. Now, to Lakeup's credit, he held off and you guys got the job done. And so at the time he looked like a genius because he's like, now, it's the two timelines thing. We have a championship team and we have these guys that

could potentially develop into the next era. What he missed there was just the lightning in a bottle you guys caught with Jordan and with Andrew in that particular season where both guys went down a level the following season and all of a sudden it looked like you needed more firepower. And that was when the move should have been made. To your point, was at that point in time when it was clear going into that spring of twenty twenty four, they clearly don't have the same level

of juice that they had the previous season. I think that was when Andrew was dealing with all of his drama too, if I'm not mistaken, So like it was right in that window in time where there was a long enough window of time after the trade for a team to evaluate Kamingo without having to pay him, whereas now it's a complete the different equation when you're talking about bringing him in with all that money, and it's like and it's not even like a hindsight thing. I

remember most of you. There is a segment of Warriors fans that is extremely high on Kuminga. But most of the smart Warriors fans that I talk to and the people who cover the team are in your camp, which is talented young player. There's no reason at all why he shouldn't be able to go somewhere and make good money and make mistakes. But it's just not the reality.

This is the situation that they're in. And I do think there's a certain amount of arrogance organizationally that they thought they could fix John and I think that's where most of it went south, or.

was for Denver, where you know it's necessary. Sometimes you just need a guy who's got more energy and can do things like that. They were dealing with players who just radically looked at the game differently, so the fit was just never there. And you're right, arrogance. Arrogance was the single driving force behind it. It's flying too close to the sun thinking you can do it all, you know, It's just reality has a way of humbling everyone.

just think this is too far gone. I think him coming back on a short term deal and let's assume it's two years, his incentives are gonna be about playing for himself as opposed to what the team needs. Like, I just don't see how it gets better. And then you throw into it like he's human. This is not There's no way he feels good about this. He's gonna say all the right things, but there's no way he's feeling good about this. To me, it's like you you kind of have to just cut bait and hope that

what she gets the best he can get, and like, hopefully you can get a first round pick out of someone. I don't even know if that's possible, but if you could, then at least you have that to play with in an ancillary move, and maybe the player you end up getting for Kuminga is not the direct one for one, but it's like you get something from someone, you combined it with something you have, you move it in another direction, and you bring a player who fits what you want

to do. More So, I just I think it's too far gone.

games in major situations last year. And so if you look at it from Jonathan's perspective, even signing like a one year deal at twenty million, let's just call it that he's sitting there thinking the reason why I'm in this predicament is I effectively have not shown enough to the league to dictate that I'm worth what I'm asking for. So therefore, in this upcoming season, I need to show more. And what would he have seen in this situation to believe that coming back would give him the runway? He

would need to show that. And so I agree with you. I think I think we've been since, for lack of a better way of putting it, since that January twenty twenty four kind of inflection point. This has been destined for this sort of separation and it just hasn't happened yet. So, uh, you mentioned Devin Carter? Is there do you think there's is there like a dream player that you wish you could squeeze out of one of those two teams in assign and trade.

can be in those moments. So what do you want around them? You want defensive versatility with as much shooting as you can get. Right, So, I know this has been kind of a trendy thing, but like the thunder or a great example of this, and the Warriors have tried to trade for these type of players like Derek White probably being the best in the league. Kind of a point of attack defensive guard, but they also have the ability to hit an open shot, make extra pass.

Basically just a guard who could defend, who's got length, the kind of the Drew Holiday archetype. Kean Ellison Sacramento is one of the better ones that most people don't know about because he's on a team. Like he's the type of guy who you put him on a good team and everyone's talking about him the way they talk about Caruso. He's not as good, But the same time, it's like, wow, that guy makes so many winning plays. Wow he took he really took Shae you know, out

of his offense and made everything uncomfortable for him. Oh he's stuck three open threes like that sort of thing. Right, Like, I think guys like that are harder to find. Uh, then we give it credit for because people always like, well, you could just find a role player anyway, Well, clearly you can't, because there are all these teams who have like championship foundation players and they can never seem to

find the right role players to go around them. Right, So so that's that's one I'd be interested in on Phoenix. I don't know, man, there'sn't really anything because it's like it's like, oh, I want Devine, I want to take uh you know. I he is objectively a winning player who will help teams, and I think Houston's going to

miss him more than they realize. I agree. But it's like, if there's one thing a team that Draymond and Jimmy does not need, it's another guy who's doing like the same things they do, you know.

There's need guys who are gonna bring the energy to those January games where Steph kind of wants to hang out off ball for seventy percent of the game because he's gonna have to do a lot of work later in the season. And Jimmy just kind of wants to play a facilitator mode because of the same thing. So the more young legs that fit what they want to do, the better.

about was like, there's just not that many of them, Like we everyone wants the guy that can dribble, shoot, pass, and defend and do it like with some size, and it's just extremely difficult to find to find in the modern NBA. And that's why if you could get a guy like Keon, he's just the way you were talking about with the winning plays. I feel like those kinds of guys are always amplified alongside superstars, superstars that actually set teams up with advantages and things along those lines.

I think that, uh, I think that in general that that shooting piece is a big one. I look at Moses Moody. Essentially Moses was bigger than Keon, but having a player that could basically do what Moses Moody did, but not go through the extended shooting roles that Moses dealt with last year. Like the way his shot just completely fell apart in the postseason was a big, a big,

you know shot at this particular Warriors team. I would argue, and this is the next thing I want to kind of get into, because I do want to talk a little bit about Horford too, because I'm like really excited about him. For you guys, I want to get into that in a minute.

they've had issues finding guys who can do it. I think one of the biggest things Al would bring to the Warriors is it's not playing Draymond and Horford together. It's having forty eight minutes of one of them on the floor at all times dictating things, and it's actually a way to keep them both fresher. What if they're both playing twenty four minutes a game. We know Draymond can still play at a high level. We saw in the Minnesota series he got worn down. Why do you

get worn down? He has to play five the whole time with an undermanned team. Like he's one of the most energetic players I've ever seen. He is still human, you know, Like, so even there are there are you know, limits to how much he can expend physically. And it goes to my overarching point, which is they don't just need to get younger, they just need to get deer. Like one of the best ways to keep the old

core healthy is have a ten man rotation. Make it so that like I said, Draymond's playing twenty four minutes a game, Horford's playing twenty four minutes a game. STEP's playing thirty not thirty six minutes. You know, you're gonna have games you chase. You can't be you can't be in a situation where you have to chase the final thirty five games of the year because you had no depth in your twenty five and twenty five, you know, fifty games in the season, which was the case with

the Warriors this year when they got Jimmy Butler. They're actually one game below five hundred. They were twenty five and twenty six, they had to go balls to the wall just to qualify for the playoffs, and it's it should be no surprise that Draymond looked dead at the end. Steph pulled a hammy, which was an exhaustion injury from what he had to do, and you know, Jimmy's was just an unlucky contact thing. But like all of that's

a subject. All that's a factor of them playing what was essentially a seven or eight man rotation for the final two months.

games just because of their collective defensive IQ. There's a lot of switchability there al. Horford still even as an old guy, is one of the better switching bigs that you'll have in the league, just because he's so good at anticipating and taking the right angle to meet guys at spots, and so there's a lot of like it's a lot of like the upside that you had with Quinton Post, but without some of the defensive limitations that

came from him. Just in terms of like Quinton was like a straight up old fashioned drop big and he just didn't have much in the way of athleticism around the rim. Al doesn't bring the athleticism, but he brings the IQ and the switch ability, which gives you some viability there. You mentioned the depth. This is the key thing. Because I was talking about this with the Clippers. Everyone's like, Oh, the Clippers are so old. It doesn't matter when you

have that many guys. Like, when you have that many dudes who can play, you can keep everybody's minutes at a point where it's manageable. And that's like I would argue that it's it actually has more to do with the amount of wear and tear you're putting on your players each game than the number of games they play, or even sometimes the schedule, like a back to back

is nothing. If they're playing twenty minutes each night, and it's not you know, if you could, if you could play al twenty four minutes in one of the games and eighteen in another, it's not a rough back to back. It's a rough back to back when you're in the tail end of the season and you got to push everybody thirty six thirty seven minutes because you're desperate for a gamer here or there in the standings and in general. This is kind of how I feel about spending assets

to try to improve this team. In the Western Conference, three or four wins could be the difference between the four we're seed in a play in birth. A specific player could be the difference between you losing to Denver and you beating Denver. I mean, Cam Johnson for Denver could be the difference between them losing to Oklahoma City and beating Oklahoma City. These are pretty tight margins between these teams, and that's why I've been kind of like geared up on some sort of upgrade here. So I'm

astoked about Horford as you are. We don't need to talk about Melton too much because I think we saw him last year's natural fit. It's just a question of whether or not his knee can hold up. But what archetype of player if you like. Obviously we talked about keyon Ellis, he's a three and D guy. I think

every team could benefit from one of those. But if there was a higher level player that you could target at some point this season, what do you view as the specific need, the specific archetype of player that the Warriors need to go into that top tier of contenders with the teams at the top of the West.

The other one is the obvious one, which is a front court player, and they don't need to be a center. But I'm looking at someone six eight to six' ten who can hit some open. Shots the Way i'm looking at it is if you Get, horford you Have Draymon horford And Quinton post And Trey Jackson. Davis, Now Quinton post And Trey Jackson davis are fine for backups in

the regular. Season What i'd really like is one more GUY i can put next To horford and Bring draymond off the bench, potentially or SOMEONE i could play next To draymond if they want to go a little more small and. Switchy, honestly it's what they were Hoping kuminga could, be but it just hasn't happened for whatever. Reason there's blame to go around for all parties, There so that would be the Type i'd be looking, at and the

PLAYER i would be looking at to help get. It there Is Moses moody and whatever they get in return For, kuminga which is why SNEAKILY i could see the team bringing him back just so that they could trade him In january for salary, purposes no matter how awkward the whole thing would, be no matter how much lying we're going to hear during training camp about how happy they are with each.

twenty to twenty five. RANGE i can actually see that being a very attractive trade chip at the deadline because you'd be acquiring a twenty two year old who's on a very reasonable, number who you control for a couple of years where you can really figure, out is this one of my like core three pieces going? Forward you, know because he is so young he is he is still just twenty two this. Year he's gonna be twenty three this this help coming. Season, SORRY i could see

something like that. HAPPENING i JUST i don't want to go down that path because it just it feels like one of those things where there's a lot of risk of it blowing up and being an even bigger hindrance the other. Way by the, way with that, said, yeah like the obvious one is get me an athletic wing who can play next To draymond Or horford in the four, spot who can hit, shots who can. Defend that would be the type of PLAYER i would be most interested.

warriors need from him that makes that situation. Untenable if you could be flexible in that, regard it makes some. Sense and similarly to The, Warriors like to your, point if he's on let's say he's at two years fifty, million he's still a tradable asset at that. Point if he's at two years sixty five, million that's where it's like or a longer term, deal it's.

heel plays super, well you guys are borderline. Unbeatable do you have any do you have a desire to upgrade in terms of offensive talent just a realistic approach to what's, available or do you actually think The warriors don't need. That they need more athleticism and versatility and role players.

to just add eighty two game. Players you, know a bucket, getter who's going to just lighten the load On Steph curry in the regular, season and how much it can help this team just have a little more offensive, firepower even if it's flawed offensive, firepower, RIGHT i, agree that would be, Useful but if it's one or the, Other i'm still going to lean into trying to get those defensive first closing playoff players because the WAY i look at it, is end of the, day if this team

makes the, playoffs it's gonna be Basically steph carry us on offense and we're gonna. Defend AND i just don't see a world in which them adding an offensive player who's a bad defender actually makes them a better playoff. TEAM i think it leads them to being more in the middle than. Anything SO i know that's kind of a cop out, answer but it's kind of like what

you saw with The. Thunder as far As i'm concerned The thunder's offense at, TIME i was, like, man they got nothing other Than, shay you, know that sort of. Thing But i'd rather put a team of guys who can grind and will defend to like they just they're hard to score, on and you Trust steph And jimmy

will eventually figure it out on. Offense then try to go the other way and add A Malik monk type, where, man you, know you know what it's like watching a team In january when those guys are, Exhausting, like, man it'd be really nice to have some Like Malik monk coming off the bench with a little juice just to provide a little. Punch but if it comes at the expense of like that, point of attack defender or that versatile. WING i don't think it's worth. It so that's kind

of Where i'm at with. It would it's a nice to. HAVE i view it still as a number two priority in terms of need to.

i like to. SAY i also just have generally looked at The warriors offense as kind of a counterbalancing effect where The steph And clay did this for years to teams where it was it was the mutual impact of both of them and what they brought on opposite ends of the floor running in and out of action that

made them so difficult to. Guard AND i look at teams Like denver who scaled up on, defense using intelligence and switching up coverages and having just kind of HIGH iq, defenders not necessarily the most athletic, defenders and them doing as good a job Against Oklahoma city as anybody else did in last year's playoff run despite being one of the worst defenses in the league down the stretch of the.

Season i'm indexing slowly each progressive season more towards, offense And i'm, Wondering i'm wondering how much of that will stick for me in the coming, Years but, YEAH i. DO i would love to see a guy next To steph who could reliably get to twenty points on any given. Night, now Maybe Jimmy in, theory it's and that's the thing, is Like i'm hoping to get just a little bit more offensive juice out Of jimmy this year. TOO i think that could go a long way as.

had the glute injury that happened Against. HOUSTON i mean he put what thirty seven in the playing game had something like HE i think he. WORKS i think him And steph. WORK i think they honestly need more shooting and defensive versatility than necessarily shot.

is Why i'm excited About. Horford, like if you imagine a scenario where let's say you get a key On ellis and you get An Al, horford that would be such an interesting look to have that type of group out on the floor where legitimately the guys who are gonna be flowing in and out of action and popping are gonna be guys who are gonna be knocking down.

Shots which is that like key? Difference All, Right i'm gonna put you on the spot before we get out of, here let's say The, Warriors let's just say they Retain kaminga on a one, year twenty million dollars, deal or they sign and trade him for just, filler Not Keon, ellis but just, filler and they Sign horford and they signed The Anthony, melton handful of other veteran minimum, contracts but nothing like super needle. Moving let's say they bring

Back Gary payton something something along those. Lines where would you rank them in The west without any additional moves over the top of that.

the overall record is forty seven. Wins that type of, Thing and to your, POINT i honestly think it's one of those things where if they Turn kuminga into the right type of energy piece and make maybe get a little internal, improvement plus A melton and A, horford they might win fifty three games and be the second or third. Seed you, Know LIKE i actually really think the margins on that basis really do matter that much in determining

where they end up. Finishing and as you as you said earlier and as we've, seen like The west has been so tight the last five, years it's, like literally but the dinner between forty five and fifty wins is an ears between like the eight and the three seed most of these.

they're just not going to be as. Good but then you could also look at me and go, like, yeah but what If Anthony edwards like watched Shake yell Just alexander kick his ass and spends all summer working on stuff that's short to short to mid range scoring and becomes a dramatically better player and The wolves are, Better Right, Lakers what happens with so many different guys they have that are older Age? Clippers what happens with so many

guys that are older age The? Warriors do they successfully Turn kaminga and a couple of their other assets into more? Firepower there's all of this, different you, know up and down potential for every single one of these. Teams that's why it's tough to put them in a, list and it's easier just to put them in. Tears But, sam this has been. AMAZING i sincerely appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to come hang out with

us and talk Some. Warriors why don't you tell everybody where they can find your?