The volume.
All right, he's one of my favorite guests, and it's a perfect time to get him. Marcus Thompson right for the Athletic he's the author of the book Golden KD and Dynasties really plugged in. I you know, it's it's the Warrior's got a lot of good people covering him. I think Marcus does as good a job as anybody that covers a team in the country in any sport, and he is joining us. I mean, it's so funny because I watched a lot of Warriors basketball, and in my job, I got to watch a lot of stuff.
But you know, I just got into a habit, you know, for ten years of watching the Warriors. And I made a comment, I'm like, man, when Steph is off the floor, this is pre Jimmy Butler. I'm like, this is a boring ass team. This is a bad watch. And I said, I'd bring in Jimmy Butler just for energy and juice.
He'll just get everybody all worked up. So we're you in When you heard Jimmy was coming, were you in the It may not work camp, it'll work kind of camp, or it'll be sensational camp, which camp were you in.
I might be in all three. To be honest with you, I might I might have been in all three. Uh, you know it was it was difficult. I will say this up front. I didn't expect this. Yeah, I didn't expect like I mean, like, the one thing that's underscore for me, I love Andrew Wiggins. I think Andrew Wiggins is a really good NBA player, especially who he's become with the Warriors. He's like a testament. So if you put him in a right situation, right, he'll be great
for you. Like he probably shouldn't be the a one of a franchise, right, but if you put him in a good situation, he's great. Like, he's a great teammate, plays hard, Colin. There's a difference, yeah, between an all star and the superstar. Yeah, these teams are categorically different. And because of all the drama that was going down in Miami, and you know, even even how Miami was like a middle kind of team over these last couple of years, I forgot that Jimmy Butler is a superstar.
That that to me is the thing cognitively, if you said, yeah, you put another superstar next to Steph like that that's what he needs. But watching him with Jimmy, it reminds you like, no, Jimmy is one of them once, like he's he's a bit of a side show sometimes, but like he's one of those guys and it's instant. And the crazy part is he didn't even have to play well. Yeah, he doesn't even have to play well. He's not shooting well right now, he's not even taking his shots. Jimmy
lives mid range. He's he's going he's going to the elbow and rising up. He's not doing any of that. He's just on the court and by virtue of being Jimmy Butler on the court, he will punish you if you if you let him, and if you don't, then Steph will punish you. So like that's the thing. Like the moment he got there, you could feel the vibe Shanes just by him being there. Like he shows up in his Alo sweatsuit at the Laker game. He didn't
even sit on a bench, none of the things. You'd expect this dude to come in and be like, all right, I'm part of this thing. He just came in as Jimmy and it changed everything. And I was like heyo, I didn't see that, like, I didn't see that happening in a way like it did. Right.
He's also I've used the word he's a very intentional player, like possessions matter. He doesn't waste possessions. I always thought sometimes Wiggins could be a little bit of a floater. He would waste possessions. You weren't quite sure if he was on the floor. Jimmy's got more of a presence. He's more intentional. He gets to the free throw line, and you know, it also underscores something. And I've seen this with Lebron, with Luca is when you're on a
treadmill to nowhere. This is a long season and it's hard to get guys like Steph for Lebron fired up for an eight seed. Right, you give them a h you give them I said this, it's like Lebron and Steph have a new buddy in the neighborhood they want to show off to and they're just I mean, Steph's averaging like six more points. They only take one more shot. So I think it. You know, in football, you got
eight home games. You know, it's it's very urgent. It's hard for these guys who are at the mountaintop to get fired up for you know, a playing team. I feel like Steph is. This is one of these unintended benefits of making a trade with a great player. The great player drives to the arena ready to show off, ready to perform. And you know now that the honeymoon, the new car smell may wear off. But there is
something to be said about the fit. Hell, Kuminga's not playing what when you watch When you watch Butler analytically, there were questions if he'd fit. Did do you think he's more valuable on offensive defense right now?
Right now? Offense? Definitely, I mean by virtue of he's impacting one of the greatest offensive weapons in the history of sports in the way he is right, you can see it. Steph is a different dude. Yeah, Steph's a monster. It's so crazy. He said it, and I didn't know it till I looked it up. The day they traded him, Steph took thirty six shots, and then the next day he took thirty two. It was the first time in his career he taking thirty shots in back to back games.
He never done that before. And Jimmy hadn't even played yet. Just the fact that we got Jimmy, now let's turn up. So the fact that Jimmy has that impact on Steph, to me, brings that to it because you're right, like, the part that's so very viscerally clear is they just were not good before. I mean they were, they were. It was boring. They got guys who just don't go into the paint. Jimmy's message now is like, hey, you see what they're doing to Steph just going to the paint.
It's wide open. As a matter of fact, I'm going to show you just throw it down to me in the paint like I'm not doing anything else. I'm going to the rim. And you could see them saying, hey, that's kind of working. But without that, they're just chucking threes. They aren't really very good, and it was it was just draining life out of step So to me, that that part has been such a jolt, Like they're they're like a top five offensive defense with Jimmy, but they
were bad office, bad and boring. Bad, yeah, and bad and boring. Like it's a bad combo, right, you don't want to be bad ed boring.
And the other thing is you see this in baseball, when you bring like a true ace to a staff, it allows everybody to go back in the rotation, one in the right spot, right, And this now allows I always felt Kumingo was being kind of four to be a two, and right now he's a three. He's Wiggins too, by the way. Yeah, And so I think Kaminga, now, do you think Minga will get pinched when he comes back? How many? I mean, what will his role be?
I do think I think he will get pinched a little bit. Uh. And and the difficulty is, like, you know, Steve's big on shooters, and obviously with Steph you need space. So the thing that's gonna be difficult for cominga is Jimmy Butler's playing a lot and Draymond is playing a lot. That's two dudes who do not shoot through. Draymond will take him, and he's shooting the best he's ever shot,
like in a long time. But they're leaving them open, right, they're packing the paint and they're like, Draymond, have ad it if you had comega to the BIX. That's three guys who the defense is like, we kind of don't care if you shoot it. And that's that's the problem with them, Like, you don't have enough shooters. Steph doesn't have room to work. You allowed them to trap. So I think he's he's probably gonna come off the bench.
They're gonna put him in that second unit and he's got to go dominate that and I think eventually they'll figure it out. But he's gonna have to shoot better, So I do think he gets pinched. Only. The only reason why I think it'll work though, is because they're just playing transition basketball. They're just running. They're just throwing it out, throwing it ahead, and like you said, Jimmy's
the one guy who don't turn them all over. Yeah, So he's like being like sure about it, and Kaminga has a blueprint for how to play like just smart, clean, aggressive basketball. If he can do that, I think he'll be fine. But he's gonna have to shoot better. He's gonna have to shoot like thirty eight percent in order to justify being on the like with Jimmy, Draymond and Cominga. Like, that's a lot of non shooting to deal with Steph. So this is gonna be this It's the last puzzle
piece to fix. If it works, Colin might be the.
Four seedon I think that's exactly they were dead.
They were dead. It was over. Like Steph is doing like you Jesus the press conference, right, he's like, and all of a sudden they might be in top four or five seed. Yeah.
I think teams like Houston can't shoot, Memphis too young, Oklahoma City is very deep, but those young players in playoff road games, I've.
Said, still got to see it, Still go to see it.
I said, okay, see, I would not want to face the Warriors. I'd have no interest in that. I mean, you got you got four hundred some playoff games with Jimmy, Draymond, Steph like, I got no interest. Chat Holmgren's good. Let's go see him in a big road playoff game in the Bay are not interesting stuff. So you know, it's funny. Jimmy always had this reputation and he's bounced around a little bit that he can be difficult. I see him more as just intentional and intense. What is it like
to cover him? What is he like shoot around? What is he like in games? What I mean authentically? What's his personality?
It's a trip. Man, He's the coolest guy in the world. Like it's so funny to get the reputation of a guy and the compare it to what you feel when you beat him. And it's just like like it's hard to fathom the other guy. Now I'm not I'm not an idiot college. That other guy's there, right, the guy that will cuts out the entire team and the coach right like in a practice. The guy that will, you know, go toe to toe with pat Riley, Like, that guy's clearly there. But he's he's very warm, he's he's good.
Jimmy right now his spiritual high. He got an extra fifty eight million dollars, which helps I think about a lot of his issues are about getting the money he thinks he deserves. So like he's been great. Like you know, I kind of measure these things by who can you have a conversation with it, not like put a recorder on somebody's face, but who can you go and just have a conversation with? And Jimmy is a guy you
can just go have a conversation with him. Now you hear about he doesn't fly sometimes with the team, or he go to stay in the hotel. Like he got his he got his own crew, and I guess I just had this perception that Jimmy would be somebody that would be difficult. Man. You want to talk to Jimmy brother, go talk about some dominoes. He'll talk your ear off about some dominoes, right because he cooked Draymond apparently in dominoes. So Volume of Sports took an ail when they when they went did the.
There. You know, there were a lot of suggestions that KD and I'm sure it happened. Uh Matt Ishbia, the owner of the Suns, They're going to reboot this thing. There's absolutely a market for KD. Still a tremendous twenty seven to night player. I've always been a huge fan. Give me some insight here, Marcus. Were they rumors? Do the Warriors really try to navigate a deal? Like what's true and what's just internet?
From what I was From what I was told and have been told even after the deadline, is like Phoenix was shopping him, like hey, what can we get? And the Warriors were interested, like they you know, Joe Lacott wanted a star. Yeah, like we know that, Like he want there's a list of stars he wants and KD was on the list. Right, they were very interested in bringing them back, depending on you know, somewhere probably in the middle. I heard it was just conversations. Heard they
had to deal. So usually this stuff is right somewhere in the middle.
Right.
If Kat says I would love to come back, I think it would have happened. Uh, And KD made it clear he just wasn't he wasn't interested in going back down that road, and they backed out. Yeah, so no, I heard it was very real. From what I've been told, it was very real. The warriors were interested, and Phoenix was interested. And then something happened. Kat says, no, or they decided to give it more time. Something happened and they pulled back. But yeah, we almost had it. We
almost had a reunion of twenty seventeen. I think that's just my mob perception after hearing what I've been told.
Well, I think I think it would have worked. I think this works better, and I do think. You know, I was joking with his staff today when I when when we were when I was in college, and you'd go out drinking with one of the football players, one of the big tough football players that always gave you more courage, you know, and and I think Jimmy Jimmy Butler is like a more talented Draymond where he just gives everybody a little more courage. Everybody's a little more
aggressive because you don't want to let down Jimmy. You know, there's just there's just certain guys. They're kind of badass guys, like you just don't want to let him down. Charles Oakley always had that, like you just play a little harder and a little more physical because Jimmy's got your back. He's the bouncer a little bit. So I think he I think, I mean KD I don't think would have brought quite the energy or the physicality or or but I think Katie would have given you points. So and
I kind of feel like I've seen that. You know, it's really interesting. I think Steve Kerr is really smart and he signed the next When you go get Jimmy Butler, how much say does Steph have? I mean, Kerr has so much respect for him, and he should. It is because I still think Lebron got a heads up on Luca. I think he's been thinking about that since Mark Cuban sold the team. I thought I thought, I thought Lebron
sniffed around with Steph two years ago. He was interested in Yoka Denver said no thanks, And I think once Cuban sold the Mavericks, he started circling, sending messages back channeling to Luca and I think he's been on this thing. Steph. Steph is not as calculated as Lebron. But to me, do you think Steph said Steve let's was it?
Lake?
Cubert and Steph have a say in Jimmy?
I think Steph definitely had to say, like it's him and Mike Dunleavy. Dunleavy's the one who made it happen. It's Mike Dunleavy because you know, they oddly enough played together in Chicago. Is like the oddest like buddy cop.
Movie I covered covered in high school in Portland.
Yes, that's yeah, yeah, absolutely so the oddest buddy cop movie is who du done Levy and Jimmy Butler would be tight and make this happen? Right, But Steph, Steph was first off off the top. Steph was like, we absolutely have to do something, like we're not running this back Like I'm gonna have a problem with that. Uh. And once Steve comes out with a mic in the face. It says, we gotta do something. This is not working, Like that's that's ball game. The question at that point
was what what do you do? So from what I was so, there's a conversation. Jimmy's excitement, you know, especially once he got the contract extension helps a lot. The only question that I ever heard and doing all the interviews and asking question was which Jimmy where you get right, Like that's that's the only question. I think everybody understood who Jimmy was, and I do think Stephan Draymond because they're both up in age, they're like, man, I need
somebody for the playoffs, right, that's the big deal. And you know, playoff Jimmy is the thing they want. They want playoff Jimmy, So he definitely was in the mix. I just think they needed to know they were gonna get Jimmy Butler, not the guy that they've been hearing warn with pat Riley. That was the thing. Once they got that, I feel like that was that was enough for Steph. He just wanted something that he's been begging for something for at least two years now.
And listen, Kminga was a good draft pick. POD's Moody. They've got players, bring Kaminga back, They've got some depth. I've said this, I think Oka c would be a little bit privately terrified to face Butler and Steph and Draymond and Kaminga and Pods and Kerr that.
And if they are, their fans would be terrified because them dudes haven't been in that building before. Yep.
How is Luca Lebron on? You wrote an article on the suffering Maverick fans. I mean Kyrie gets hurt because they pressed him into more minutes. I mean that's one of the unintended liabilities of that trade is when Luca left, he only had one real playmaker. I like Spencer did when he but he's not the playmaker of Luca obviously. So now Kyrie's got to play more minutes, have the ball more, stand the floor more, and at the end his body. He's a small player. He's been hurt before.
I think some of it is just that it was just too taxing on his body. Let's I'll get to that in a second. How do you view Luca and Lebron? How is that viewed in the Bay Area?
A massive problem? That's what it's. It's a, where are the Lakers. Let's try to avoid that. It's in the West Finals, right, in the same way, you know, Oklahoma City's like, I don't think Oklahoma City is scared of the worst. They're just like, we just rather have them in the West Finals if we're going to face them, like, let's not do it in the first round. Right. So,
I mean the Lakers were already a problem. A big part of that is Lebron, Like, they don't have anybody to guard Lebron, like ever since Igwadala, you know, declined from his premium self where he could do it, like you could throw Draymond on him, but you need Draymond in the back, and they just haven't had anybody. Wiggins was okay at it, but you know, it's still Lebron. Now you had another guy, it's basically another guy who ball handling, big bodied person who's difficult to match up.
But so now the Lakers have two of the guys that the Warriors have a hard time guarding. Now, if they had one Wiggins, it'd be fine, right, if they had Wiggins with Butler, it'd be a little bit better. But now you're asking Kamenia to do it. You're asking Moses Moody to do it, you're also asking thirty five year old Jimmy Butler to do it right, and that's that's a lot. So that's why that's such a difficult matchup.
The Lakers are a difficult matchup for that reason. Denver's a difficult matchup because if you're right as he is with everybody, but the words just don't have side. So to me, the Lakers have become a team that like they probably want to know everybody else. I don't think they're worried about it all, but I think Lakers the Lakers plus they can score unless they can score like an insane amount of points, even though they're surprisingly good
on defense. Right now, I don't know how much that's going to hold especially in a matchup setting where you could just attack Luca and Reeves. That's when it's calculated, right Like Game three, we're going at Luca every time, So I don't know how that holds up. But they're getting one twenty five like that's happening. So they're a problem. Like you can look at them in the bay. People in a bay. No, the Lakers are a problem, and you probably want to stay out of that.
And they also have three play initiators because Austin, Reeves, Luca and Lebron can all run the offense and they all and all of.
Them draw outs, all of them draw fouts.
Like they really do. So when Dallas they have Kyrie, now that's it. Now they have size down in Dallas. They have a good rotational when they're healthy, lively obviously Anthony Dakers, they got real size, They got great center rotation. They don't have any you know, Kyrie's it and you know, opening up a play. So the Lakers have a lot of players who can initiate get their own shot. Who's
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It's you know, it's it's funny, Marcus. So I've watched so much football in my life. Obviously a good baseball man. And as you're they taking when your four games a year, it's mostly GM payroll pitching. And in football you can see it's the coaching sport. It really matters. Urban Meyer goes to a college program, he can add six wins a year. Bill Parcells did that. You know mcvay's obviously
he's just beating people on Sundays. Schematically, basketball is different because the players control the league and very rarely is Steve Kerr. You know, slow down, I've got to play for you. That's that's what they're doing at tom Izzowe, at Michigan State. That's not the NBA. So what I do, what I tend to watch. I tend to watch how you close a game and how you open a game. So closing a game, there is coaching. Opening a game, there is a game plan, right, guys are sitting around watching.
You don't have a lot of prep time in the NBA. You talk about it at shoot around. You do about ten minutes before the game. You have sort of a mission to get on front and use some matchup advantages. The Lakers start for six minutes of these games, Marcus, they are so good early and they really Now by the way, Steve Kerr was always the great coach out of half.
He was the great absolutely third quarter, third quarter coach.
What are you hearing around the league on Reddick when you talk to people, I know you cover the Warriors, but I just think you can see his excellence early and late in games.
Yeah. I think defensively is the part you hear where people were saying, like, Wow, they're actually really good defensively, and the Lakers have places to go to attack, like you could attack Austin Reeves, you could attack Lebron right. Lebron's been known to loaf on defense, but somehow they've managed to be good on defense, which is they add Luca and get better on defense. And to me that like the adjustment piece too, Like how fast can you shift philosophies? Do you have to stay on what that
game plan you said at the beginning? Do you have to stay on that because you said it at the beginning to hope it works or can you shift? Are your guys prepared to shift? What we're seeing from from the Lakers? That makes you be like, hey, how does JJ know what he's doing already? Like when you talk to people, they're like, you know what, the Lakers defense, it's pretty good, like and then they lose ad and
and somehow managed to still get really good defensively. It's surprising people like I don't think you know, obviously we thought he was like a Lebron plan. We thought he was like it's basically like podcast nepotism, if there's such a thing, right, Like, but he's actually pretty good, Like he's he knows what he's doing. Not now we'll see the like as you said, it's the management of personalities in the long run, right, it's how you how you deal with this stuff. But he's got like the Dorian
Finney Smith, Rory Hodgemore, Ryan Jackson Hayes. He's got these players who number one, are going to do what he says, and number two they're trying to fight for a spot in the league, right so they can go out and execute right that you're seeing him work these it's these ex the earier pieces that are doing so well. That's the part where JJ's kind of showing his ability. He knows when when to go with Rory, when to switch out, when to go big, Like Jackson Hayes is not this good.
I don't care. I don't know what's happening, but they're supposed to be done. You lose Anthony Davis, and Anthony Davis wanted a big, remember that was the thing. The Lakers need a big. They don't get the big, and they get rid of Anthony Davis and somehow they're still managing. So if it weren't for what's happening in the Detroit and JB. Bickerstaff, we we talking about JJ as coaching the year, which is kind of insane because they were just doing a podcast like a year ago.
Yeah. Well, I mean, you know some Jason Kidd came out pretty early. Steve Nash in Brooklyn was a bit of a mess.
But I mean, Colley, would you like to be an assistant coach who's been on the bitch for fifteen years? Wait for your shot watching these dudes walk in?
Oh yeah, but you know, I mean there is something to be said. I mean JJ was on broadcasts and podcasts and he sounded very aerad dite absolutely years at least. Yeah, I mean he you know, Jason kidds similarly. These guys around basketball, they've got intuitive, intuitive feel for it. So you wrote that article on the suffering MAVs fans.
Do you think.
When Cuban Cuban sold the team? Mark has a pretty good sense of business timing and exit strategy? Absolutely, why do you think? Why do you think Cuban sold? I tend to think everything Mark's again Mark. Mark is very good at seeing around corners. I can disagree with him sometimes on loving NFTs and Bitcoin or politics or whatever it is, but it's it just feels like Cuban sold the team and it hasn't felt the same since he sold it.
You know the fact like when he sold it, I thought, it's just a Vegas move? Are you sell it to the Vegas billionaire the Adamson family, right, the wife of the famous you know Vegas casino guy, the one who got fleeced by Mark Davis? Enough for the Raiders, But
I thought it's just a Vegas move. And one of the things that I've learned from Joe Lacup and the whole A's debaclecas you know, Oakland has lost its teams, and it's all boils down to you got to be ready to spend one point five to two billion dollars own the stadium. You just have to be able to do that and if you're not ready to do that, now you're relying on your local municipality to come up
with the money. And I'm like, I'm thinking, cubansaw, do I want to spend a two billion dollar stadium or cash out and get my billions?
Right?
It's the opposite move of what John Fisher did with Ya's sell the team to get billions or No. Now he's playing in like a high school stadium in Sacramento because they don't want to sell it like that. That's what I thought. I don't think at any point he thought Luca was gonna be traded. You know why. You know why he didn't think that, because you don't trade Luca ever, at least you don't do it at twenty
five years old. Right. So I wouldn't be surprised if Cuban knew that it's gonna be tough to get the stadium we need, because remember he remember when he bought that team, and he was right. It was like, oh, they got the new fancy the lockers, and they treat the players top not like like you gotta be top notch now. And that's two billion dollars, that's two billion dollars you just got to have two billion dollars. I think he saw it might be tough to get a stadium.
Let me sell it. Let me let me take the profit instead of digging a bigger hole. And if that means the team goes to Vegas like that, it's off my hands, so to speak. That's the best I can think of. But I agree with you. One Cuban saw this seven steps away. He was on it.
Well, you know, I'll throw my I'll throw my Lebron theory at you. Lebron has always avoided a mess. So he leaves Cleveland. He plays in the Olympics and he's like, man, I got to play with good players. Dan Snyder's can't get me. He goes to Miami four finals, Wade and Boshed, especially Wade is struggling to play back to backs.
He bails. He's right.
He goes to Cleveland, gets the title. Kyrie's like, I don't want to be here. We're maxed out. He leaves a second time. This time everybody's good with it. He goes to the Lakers. People love Lonzo Ball. Kyle Kuzma, he didn't. He got rid of him, brings in a D eighty was great, and I believe Lebron realized as he aged about two years ago that he could not be on every possession every night the lead initiator, and Austin Reeves is more of a three or a four
than a two. And so I think he was looking for Steph two years ago, and he made overtures overtures and went back channels with Steph and stuff's like, man, I'm good here. And then I think he was interested in Jokic.
And I think it happened to be like, hey, do you want to come here? That's right, that was part of the conversation.
How about And then he knew Jokic could also make the game easier for him. Denver's not interested. And I think when Cuban sold the Mavericks, I think Lebron went back channels thought to himself, here's the moment. I'm going to make sure he knows I like him a lot. I think eventually he made it known upstairs, guys, I'm getting older. I cannot play forty minutes. I love ad to death, but I can't be the play initiator every damn time down the floor. I can't do it. I mean,
there are times now when you watch him now. Austin Reeves hasn't played in a couple of games. When Luca and Austin are there to get I mean, it's like Lebron's just got a smile on his face. He just he's floating in the wing. It's in and by the way he's.
Got he's earned that, by the way, he's earned the right.
But I do think I think, and this is not a criticism, I think Lebron's the smartest player in league history, arguably in a short list. I think he's calculated. And the idea that he just woke up one day and went, well, what do you know, we got Luca the perfect teammate.
I don't buy that.
I I I just I mean, Marcus, I'm not a tinfoil hat guy. But Lebron is too smart. He's too much of a businessman. I think he made he let everybody know Luca is the target. You think I'm nuts, I don't. I just wonder how you keep that quiet? Because one thing Bron hasn't been great at is keeping all this stuff quiet. So Okham's razor come into play. What's more like that Lebron pulled this from behind the street, which I'm not saying is off the table, or Nico Harrison.
Was like, I got the move, that's go make me a legend. I don't know. They're both kind of wild. We did he really just do this though? Did Nicos just decide, you know what, I'm gonna call Rob Pa Lincoln, We're gonna make this happen. No, I don't. That's almost as crazy.
Well, so I had this discussion two nights ago at dinner with a friend. I said, you know, the star players in the last CBA, they're getting like outrageous money, and I have no problem with it, but they're making significantly more than Patrick Mahomes, and I think it's different. I think billionaires have no problem writing forty million dollars annual checks, but Marcus, when that check is seventy five million annually. Okay, I'm looking at everything. Look, I'm looking
at everything. I'm looking at your injuries. I'm looking at your as a teammate. Can I ask some things in the choices?
Yep?
And I think I think that ownership group said this is back to back camps. He's missed, he's been hurt since Christmas. He's doesn't know what's doing he leaves the minute the season's over. He doesn't do much off season. I think ownership made it clear we're not sure if we're going three fifty large on this.
Yeah, very clear though, right, because I don't think if they weren't thinking that way, Nico couldn't do it.
Right.
They had to be thinking that way, right. The question is, like the same investigation they do for like to see if he's worth the seventy five million a year, that investigation might at some point tell them, yeah, he might, he might actually be worth it still, right, Like did
their investigation not include this part? Like, Hey, I wonder, I wonder if we're gonna have to give money back for season tickets if we do this right, Like did they stop the investigation at Luca or did they analyze, here's what a magnetic NBA superstar bringing the value they bring to a franchise and they decided it was less than three fifty. But what Lucas? What is Luca worth to the Bavs? Like that's the part I don't understand.
I agree with you. They're probably like, yeah, three fifty is a lot, like that might be too much, But like if you analyze Steph Curry like, what's his value? Oh god to the words like you should like that's the part of like Lucas twenty five, you got him ten more years, what's the value?
Well. Also, though Steph is a domestic product, Steph has multiple titles. He's incredibly likable, mister community.
He is a perfect face of franchise.
Absolutely, And whereas Luca's you know, little international hookah bars loves his beverages, leaves the city the minute the season's over, like there's and by the way, really not in great shape. Although I'll say this, he looks better in the last ten days and he did in Dallas. I mean he looks he's gotten tighter. It's the La lifestyle.
Yeah, And the shape thing is not nothing because they didn't win a championship partly because he was he was gashed at the end. He was done. He was done. Yeah, absolutely, So that's not so to like, I understand that, to say, hey, we got to the finals and part of the reason we didn't win is because our best player was done. And the response to that is I'm still not gonna get in shape. That's probably a little bit troubling because the guys we know who are in the position Luca is.
If that happens, they're coming back in shape. They're like, I'm never feeling that again, right, Like We're going to work out like crazy and I'm coming back. You know, you got have that question me about pigs. That's how much shape I'm gonna be in after getting sunned by Jalen Brown in the NBA Finals. Right. So the fact that his response was to be the same guy, I could see that being troubling. Still, Colin, he's Luca. At some point the just got a matter.
More well, I said, I said, I wouldn't have made the deal, but if you'd get if you if you would have been able to corral three first round picks A D and Austin Reeves, then I wouldn't have done it.
But I'd sleep on that considering yes, three first A D and Austin Reeves, because Austin then can be a number two play initiator to Kyrie Irving, so Kyrie doesn't have to do every That to me is such a just it's just bad uh strategy Spencer dinwhod He's not going to be able to do that in a regular basis. So if I were to get another I mean Austin's averaging eighteen a game. He can play, he can he can be a playmaker three first and the best defensive
player arguable in league. I sleep on that, And again I wouldn't sleep on it. If Luca was in great shape and Luca didn't have back to back cap injuries and miscamp, then I don't. But there you have to do. You get to seventy five million annually, I'm going to consider ankle turns like everything.
Like I really need to see what's under your fingernails at that point. Now with you, A better bounty would make this a little bit more palatable, no question.
So the Lakers go into a really rough sled that they play. I think it's the next. This airs tomorrow morning. They go up against the next the Celtics, the Bucks, a lot of road games Denver. It's a rough sled. What's it looked like for the Warriors going forward? Where are their challenges?
They're pretty They're actually in a pretty good place from a schedule perspective. They got Brooklyn, they probably assuming they beat Brooklyn. But let's just assume they beat Brooklyn. They come home for a long like homestand I mean they get Milwaukee at home. They got two games left against the Lakers. But they are done with Boston, They're done with Cleveland, They're done with the teams that give them problems. So they've got they're sitting actually kind of pretty. They
get Toronto and Phoenix. Their schedule is very doable, Like it's very they're in a good place, like they're not like cupcake games with not a lot of Charlotte's, but it's a lot of those teams. They should beat the Sacramentos right the San Anto.
What did you make in New York watching them? What do you make of the next.
Nixon? Nixon is just disappointment. I'm gonna give a pass because Towns wasn't out there. But for a team that can't shoot threes, they sure a jack a lot. But I don't like their will at the end. And I wonder, I wonder if Thibodeaux has worn them down. They they they their will on the defensive end. Limit.
It can't just be they're just not as good.
Yeah, you can. You can break them defensively, and that's that's gonna be troubling now again, playoff back skey ball is different. It's half court to half court it's matchup base. But I'm wondering, what are their legs like? Like what is what is their psyche like? After what is this year three, year four of TIBs And I don't know. It's like it's Gee Santos. It was Gee Santo's cooking. They're like, we're not talking about like Steffle's cooler, like
Jimmy Butler was okay. But they're getting out worked by guys who should be in the G League. Their will just breaks sometimes, like if you watch Knicks, they just they just decide to give up and then it's like Brunson, go save us. So I don't. I mean, obviously Boston and Cleveland are at the top. But I'll tell you this, if I'm New York, I don't want them Pistons in the first round. I'll tell you that much. You know, you don't want to see them Pistons in the first round.
That that young, hungry team full of athletes who willing to fight. Yeah, nah, I don't know if they have the will. So again, they didn't have Town, so that's something. But I'm I'm worried about the Knicks team. I'm not quite Stephen A. Smith level worried, but I'm worried about the day.
Well, I've watched them play Boston twice, and I've watched one of the Cleveland games, and they attack Karl Anthony town I mean, they.
Just attack on I don't know. Towns is not going to solve this problem in the playoffs. He might, they might be able to score more, which will help you get something. He's great, Yeah, no question, he'll he'll he'll go out and get you some buckets in the playoffs and he'll he'll create some moments. But like this team, you know, if they get either Boston or Cleveland in the second round, I just don't know. To get one of them, they have to get one.
Yeah, they just don't match. Cleveland is so officive. Cleveland and Boston are the two best teams in the league. They can defend the rim, they can defend the perimeter. They've got scoring guards, they've got scoring wings. They're both efficient. Yeah, it's I always say, if Derek White is it's some night,
it's the fifth best player on your team. That is a that It's almost like they you know, with the new taxes and the new ceilings and the the way it works in the NBA second Aprons all the second apron shit. It's like Boston for about two years, beat it. They've got a roster that you couldn't build right now, but they kind of gland fathered it in and they just got too many good players.
Yeah. In Cleveland, man, that Deandree Hunter trade was like unfair. They were already really good. They's got another And that's the thing about all these guys like that, you got to be able to guard wings and you look like you just listened like four people of Boston who gu guard wings. Cleveland just added up another guy. They've got guys who could guard wings. That to be is gonna be like, I'm not putting Oklahoma City in there yet because I want to see them in the playoffs guard
wings or guard the explosive point guard. Like they've got the bodies, they got the the stats, right, they right pretty well defensively. Playoffs are different monsters. It's just different. Yeah.
And this Cleveland team, you've had Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley, you know, last year they kind of disappointed us. Oklahoma City feels like Cleveland last year, really impressive, but not quite ready to go on the road and give you a plus plus stuff from from role players on the road. I think Cleveland's ready to do that now. Mobley just Mobley's better every year.
Yeah, and and again they've added the upgrade pieces to like they didn't just run it back with the same team. And that's that's what we're going to see about. Okay, See, maybe Shaye is just that good where he figured it out like he felt it they lost to Dallas, he went to work and got better. Maybe he's enough and Jayalen Williams is enough next to him. I just want to see it first because experience matters a lot. It's just the playoffs are a different monster. Like if they
get Yo Kics. I love Chick Holk. What is he doing with Nicola Jokic like that? That's just gonna be a tough like you gona have to fight. You got to fight out of that series. You know, Jamal Murray shows up, it's over. He'll always show up. But what he does, it's pretty good. Right. So that and Russ you like, you have to fight to get out the West. So I'm curious about how the kind of fight Oklahoma City have. If they got it, they should they should
be in the finals. If not, it's gonna be a long offseason for Sam Presty because he's got like a bounty of stuff. That is, like he at some point you probably need to cash in all these assets you're so famous for and get something, right, go go go get you honest. Then if if if you can't win, like go do something with all that. That's who that's
where Lucas should be. I'm like, hey, give me all that stuff for Lucas, right, that's what I he should be in Oklahoma City with my seven picks, three young players and defensive stoppers and all that that, like if they got to win. Otherwise, Sam Presty needs to go in and cash in that winning ticket he's got or the winning tickets.
Well, I mean every other NBA draft is, you know, fairly talentless. This past draft, it just there's not a lot there. So like you can have all these draft picks, but what you have to do is when you get that every third draft, when it's really deep, you got to go all in and then then I mean, I couldn't say the last time we had great back to back drafts. That's just not the way it works anymore. You get like a good one, a bad one, a moderate one, a good one. So I think, okay, I
think Presty's sharp. You know, it's I worry about homegrin long term, his body. But they got waves of players. You want to see KD back there. It's interesting. Jmack on my show today. I don't know if it's a very attractive place for KD. But I will say this, I don't know his relationship with Presty. If you're asking me if there's a dude that works, it's Oklahoma City and KD. Because he doesn't need the ball. He is catch and shoot and Sga needs the ball. So yeah,
I mean, I'm catching a lot of chips. It'd be a two year experiment. But Jesus him home Grun Sga Williams, Jesus, that is a lot of buckets.
That's a lot of buckets. A lot of thin buckets too.
Marcus Thompson, great senior, man Love Senior. Likewise, likewise, it's hard out here in these streets.
I got my new assignment. I'm covering figure skating World Championship for who. Let's go for the athletic you are, I am an accomplished Olympic writer now Colin. I was in Paris covering the track and field and now I'm going to figure skating. Can you imagine me at the figure skating. I'm in this thing. I'm out here college. Wow. Good for you.
Well you're a great writer, so you've got the ability to do different, different things.
I'm taking advantage of it now. I'm looking forward to this. So yeah, yeah, let's go. Next time, we're going to talk about the quad guy in advance of the winter.
I can't promise you that for the athletic the very talented Marcus Thompson, Thanks buddy, thanks for having me.
My gush.
The volume