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00:00River Islands in Lathrop. What's up, Monty? How you doing, Monty?
00:03Hey, how you doing?
00:05We're doing well.
00:06Alright, so here's one of the things we've been discussing, and obviously you're close to the team,
00:12and you've seen Steph at the podium this past week, and it's clear he's despondent.
00:18And I feel like we're seeing this team dealing in real time
00:27with what faces them, and they may not like the answers they're getting.
00:33It feels like the organization knows it's at a critical point.
00:41I agree.
00:42I mean, they tried the two-timeline thing, and that didn't work.
00:47And so they said, okay, let's do all we can now to try and make the most out of this,
00:54and when they made the big push over the summer to bring in an all-star,
01:00that didn't work, so they went to plan B, and plan B on paper,
01:06like, okay, that's a nice little save, but when you look at that now,
01:10it's like the one guy who started, Anthony Melton, goes down,
01:14and he was a nice fit, but he's gone.
01:18Kyle Anderson is on the fringe of the rotation, and Buddy Hill has been in a month-long slump.
01:23So the three guys you brought in in the offseason are not giving you what you need.
01:28And let's face it, even with those three guys, they were not a championship roster.
01:32They were not.
01:33They were not.
01:34And so you look at, and then you bring in Dennis Schroeder,
01:37thinking, okay, that's sort of a replacement for Melton,
01:41similar type profile, decent two-way player, not quite as physical,
01:47but still, and Schroeder's been terrible.
01:51He's had two good games, and he looks like a misfit right now.
01:55And so I'm not saying that, okay, throw your hands up and it's done,
01:58he's not going to work, but it's not working, and it's been, what, three weeks now almost?
02:04So they're stuck.
02:08And you tell me, is there one move they can make that would put them in position
02:13to go for a championship, I mean, reasonably be a championship contender?
02:17I don't see it.
02:18Yeah, I don't either.
02:19And we're joined by Monty Poole, NBC Sports Bay Area.
02:22He's joining us courtesy of the River Islands Guest Line.
02:24Monty Poole, you've been covering Happy New Year.
02:27You've been covering Steph his whole career.
02:29I watch it every night, and I'm watching the same thing you are.
02:33Now, we won't even talk about Steph's play.
02:35Let's just talk about his podium game after.
02:38Monty, I'm seeing things that are really concerning me.
02:41The other day he says we're not built to come back.
02:44Took about five seconds, and I get it.
02:47He's frustrated.
02:48How does Monty Poole process the subliminal that I feel like we're getting
02:53from Steph, and where is that going if this doesn't get better?
02:58That's the problem is that, I mean, even if you're Steph,
03:01you're looking at this roster and going, okay,
03:04we're not going to get it done with this roster.
03:06But, I mean, the Bucs ain't going to give you Giannis, you know.
03:12That's not going to happen, you know.
03:14And, I mean, there's probably five or six players in this league,
03:18individuals who could come in and say, okay,
03:21now the Warriors can make a serious run at the top.
03:23But who's going to give them those guys, you know?
03:27And so, you know, somebody always throws out LeBron.
03:31Maybe LeBron wants to play with Steph.
03:32Come on.
03:33What would it take to make that happen, first of all?
03:38And second of all, why would LeBron say, you know, my son is here.
03:41I'll see you later.
03:42I'll see you when we play each other, you know.
03:44I'll see you, Ronnie, you know.
03:46No, there's too many complications to try and make anything happen.
03:50And so, the reality is that right now,
03:55the best they can hope for is a move that makes them better.
04:00And, you know, I think their thought has been if we get to the playoffs
04:06and Steph and Draymond are healthy, we'll take our chances.
04:12And I kind of understand that.
04:14But the deeper you go, the harder it gets.
04:17And I know in the playoffs, of course, you get more rest time.
04:20You know, there's more time between games
04:22and you don't have any back-to-back and all that stuff.
04:24But you're counting on guys who are inconsistent right now.
04:30You know, and even Wiggins.
04:32Wiggins has been pretty good most of the year.
04:34But there's nights when he disappears, you know.
04:37And I think if they got to the postseason,
04:40I think you'd see Wiggins, you know, dig a little deeper on a regular basis.
04:43I think you'd see that because that's kind of been what he did a few years ago.
04:47And he still can do that.
04:49He's had a flash of that this year.
04:51But the rest of the guys, I mean, Buddy is a shooter.
04:55You can look at his stats and say, well, you know, Steph, Buddy, and Klay,
04:59they made the most threes, anybody else in the NBA,
05:02in the last three or four years.
05:03And you'd be right.
05:05But you're seeing, you know, Buddy wasn't going to shoot 48% all year
05:09like he did the first three weeks.
05:11But he's been shooting below 30% for the last, you know, month.
05:15And frankly, you know, Buddy, if he ain't making a shot,
05:20he ain't helping you much.
05:21Right. Right.
05:22That's his value right there.
05:23Yeah.
05:24That's his value.
05:25And so they have too many issues right now.
05:29I know there's – Jimmy Butler was never going to –
05:32you know, wasn't going to happen and shouldn't happen.
05:34You know, just imagine whatever team,
05:36if any team trades for Jimmy Butler thinking I'll get playoff Jimmy,
05:39what if he's out again?
05:41Right. Right.
05:42How bad do you look?
05:43You trade – you know, you revamped your roster to fit Jimmy in,
05:47and now you're in the playoffs and Jimmy's out for two weeks or whatever.
05:52You know, and so that's too much of a risk.
05:55Plus with the Warriors, they don't want the drama.
05:57And wherever Jimmy goes, drama follows.
06:00And they don't want the – the culture fits not good.
06:04So you turn and look at a guy like Abusevich in Chicago.
06:07Well, yeah, he's a nice stretch five.
06:10You know, defensively, he's not good.
06:13But offensively, he would help your offense.
06:15But he's going to make you a champion?
06:17I don't see it.
06:19Right. Right. Right. Right.
06:20There's just too many things that would have to happen,
06:24and I just don't see a way for Mike Dunleavy and Joe Laker
06:27to pull off that miracle to make it happen and say,
06:30okay, now we're ready to go for a championship.
06:32I mean, I think right now you've got a team that can make a run in a playoff
06:36if everything breaks right.
06:38Right?
06:39They're 6-15 over the last 21.
06:41Oh, man.
06:42I know.
06:43I mean, they're a bottom five team for a month.
06:46And that's a tailspin that's hard to turn around.
06:49And if you're Steph Curry, you're saying, dude, I'll be 37 in a couple of months.
06:53Yeah, exactly.
06:54This is what we got.
06:55This is what we got.
06:57And you can watch Steph.
06:58He's trying to get these guys around him going.
07:01I mean, there's times when he's passing up shots because he sees Buddy's open.
07:05He knows Buddy needs to get Buddy going, so he tries to get Buddy going.
07:09And, you know, Buddy even misses the shot or, you know,
07:13takes too long to pull it up and ends up passing it to somebody else.
07:16Or you see Steph come down, he spots Schroeder.
07:19He hits Dennis, and Dennis misses.
07:21I mean, so that happens so much.
07:23If you're Steph, you're like, man.
07:25I mean, I know I need these guys.
07:28I'm doing what I can to get them going.
07:30You know, they're playing off my gravity.
07:32They're getting open at times, but it's not working.
07:35So that's where they are.
07:37And, again, if you're Steph, you're like, you've got to be facing the reality that
07:42there is no easy fix here.
07:44There just isn't one.
07:45Right.
07:46And it's like, let's do the best we can with what we got until we get something
07:49better, and then, again, you're taking your chances.
07:52But, yeah, man, the path to a championship for this team is, you know,
07:56the gates are up right now.
07:57And we're joined by Monty Poole, NBC Sports Bay Area.
08:00He's covered the Warriors for a long time with them.
08:04Very familiar with all Bay Area teams, but he specializes in the Warriors.
08:09Let me ask you this, and I'm going to put the precursor on it.
08:12I'm not saying they're better without Steph, but they're 5-2 without him,
08:1713-16 with him.
08:19Is there something to be said about, I don't know if the word's burden,
08:25but in a way, could it be easier to play for some of his teammates
08:31without him than with him?
08:37I don't think so, because, I mean, I still believe that Steph's presence
08:43alone gives his teammates a better chance to be good on offense.
08:47Right.
08:48You know, I mean, and Buddy, even in his current state, recognizes that,
08:53is that, hey, you know, I'll get more open looks,
08:56because if I'm playing with Steph out there, I will get more open looks.
08:59That's a fact.
09:01And so, now maybe some of these newer guys feel a sense of pressure
09:06to perform at a certain level, but they're vets.
09:10That's something they've got to deal with.
09:11Yeah.
09:12So, I mean, no, I would never say that, well, yeah, you know, the Warriors,
09:18you know, maybe it's time to trade Steph and Draymond.
09:21Okay.
09:22What does that do?
09:23You're going to become a book of nets now, huh?
09:26You know, it's like, let's get rid of our guys who've won four rings,
09:30and that's not going to happen, okay?
09:33Joel and Mike, they know they can't trade Steph.
09:37Steph is going to be here as long as he wants to be here.
09:39Okay, let me jump in there.
09:42Yeah.
09:43And that's kind of what the theme is.
09:45Like, how long do you think Steph is going to be open to this turnaround?
09:53Like, you know, I mean, they can have every aspiration to keep him
09:57until he retires, but could there be a point when he goes to Joe
10:01and says, look, I'm not an idiot.
10:03Let me help you out.
10:05Go ahead and think about moving me.
10:08I don't think Steph's built that way, man.
10:13I don't think so.
10:14You don't think so?
10:15I mean, you could never reach a point where he kind of says, like,
10:21I guess what I'm saying, Monty,
10:23is I can't envision Steph here two and a half more years like this.
10:27Okay, I would agree with that.
10:29I think back-to-back losing seasons might put him in that kind of a dark place.
10:33Yeah.
10:34But the way Steph is built, he's not built to accept failure on any level.
10:38Right.
10:39And so for him, today's failure means, okay,
10:42tomorrow's a chance to succeed.
10:44That's how he looks at it,
10:45because that's been his life going back to when he was a kid.
10:48You know, how many times he was told he couldn't do this,
10:50you can't do that, you can't do this.
10:52And he's beaten all those doubters.
10:54And so in his mind, just because today wasn't good
10:57doesn't mean tomorrow will be great.
10:59I asked him almost that specific question the other night.
11:01You know, what gives you confidence that you guys can still do this?
11:04And the first thing he said was, well, because there's more games to play.
11:08And then he went on from there basically saying, yeah, you know,
11:13as long as there's, he said this, he said, you know, I hate to lose.
11:20And once you get a taste of what it's like to win, you hate it even more.
11:25Because you know what it takes to get there.
11:27So I just, I don't,
11:28I don't see him get to that point unless there's like back-to-back years like this.
11:34Right.
11:35And yeah, I think if this season goes the way it's going
11:38and the Warriors end up, you know, 11 out of the playoffs
11:42or, you know, bounced out like they were last season,
11:44bounced out early in the play-in tournament.
11:47Yeah, I think Steph will, you know,
11:49let's just say his shoe size will grow a little bit.
11:52Yeah.
11:53His foot will get a little bigger, you know.
11:54Yeah.
11:55Monty, I was telling Stony, you know,
11:57how can I question your second guest, Steve Curran?
11:59I won't.
12:00But the other day after the loss to Miami,
12:02he said they had a crisis of confidence.
12:04And that bothered me just from the standpoint of,
12:07you got four-time champs on the roster.
12:09You're a coach that coached the Olympic guys.
12:12At the end of the day,
12:13you had two of the worst losses I believe since last year,
12:16Toronto and New Orleans came in here and we heard boos.
12:20But if you're lacking confidence and Buddy Hield is getting chastised
12:25in front of everybody to where it goes viral by Draymond Green,
12:29and Dray is being Dray,
12:31Monty, is that leadership or is that Dray being Dray?
12:34Or is that what Coach Kerr is talking about?
12:36Because just as a fan and spectator, I'm like, these are NBA guys.
12:40What do you mean confidence?
12:41Put the ball in the hole.
12:43But what do you make of Draymond scolding, you know,
12:46a guy like Buddy Hield who's in a slump of all slumps out loud like that for
12:51everybody to see?
12:52Yeah.
12:54I mean, a good leader, and Draymond has said this, that, you know,
12:59to lead, you got to understand you can't lead everybody the same way.
13:02And Buddy may be one of those guys that you can't lead like that.
13:06You know, maybe he's one of those guys you've got to pull aside and,
13:10you know, just whisper into his ear or something.
13:12And so some guys don't react well to that kind of outing.
13:17And that could be a mistake, very much so.
13:22Because Buddy does not look like a confident shooter right now.
13:25And that's the one thing he's made his career on is being a shooter.
13:28And remember when he first came here, his very first game after the game,
13:32he said he hadn't felt this free on the court since Oklahoma in college.
13:36Yeah.
13:37Now look at him now.
13:38Ain't the same dude.
13:40Ain't the same dude.
13:42And I'm not going to say, well, it's all because Draymond jumped him.
13:45No, Draymond jumped many guys over the years.
13:48Draymond used to jump Clay, but Clay's built different.
13:50Yeah.
13:51Right.
13:53And so that's a thing.
13:57And so right now, yeah, I thought what, to me,
14:03what caught my ear more than the crisis of confidence line,
14:06which was obviously, yeah, whoa.
14:08But the game before, when they lost to the Kings,
14:11and both Slater and I tried to – Slater's question was like,
14:15were you alarmed by this?
14:17And then, you know, Steve basically said, no,
14:19I don't know what happened to the NBA, yada, yada, yada.
14:21And then about seven questions later I said,
14:23was there any part of this that surprised you?
14:26And he kind of said, no, not really.
14:29And I thought, dude, I mean, if I'm on this team or the coach on this team
14:35or in the front office or in the scouting department,
14:38I'm hearing alarms all over the place.
14:42I'm like, you just lost to the Kings when they were without their best player
14:48on your home court.
14:50And then –
14:51After they played a double overtime game.
14:53After they played a double overtime the night before.
14:57So, I mean, if the alarms weren't sounding off after Sunday against the Kings,
15:03I mean, they must be splitting ears by now because that Tuesday night thing
15:06against the Heat was just a disaster.
15:09Yeah.
15:10Monty, we're joined by Monty Poole, NBC Sports Bay Area.
15:13Covers the Golden State Warriors.
15:15Feels like the Kaminga injury obviously came at a bad time.
15:19What do you make of where the Warriors are without him
15:23and what kind of team they are without him?
15:25But also, does this or will it affect the Warriors leading into the trade deadline
15:32and the possibility that he could be available or not?
15:37Came at an awful time for him and for them because he was playing pretty well.
15:42He was productive.
15:43You know, he's got to do some things that make you wonder what he's thinking.
15:47But for the most part, you saw what he can be.
15:51And you've got to think that at his age, over time,
15:54some of these little missteps that he continues to make,
15:57they've already become fewer and fewer over the years.
16:00That by the time he's 24, 25, that most of those things will be ironed out.
16:06You've got to think.
16:07You've got to hope.
16:08But the Warriors are now as they were six months ago, a year ago.
16:14There's different views of what J.K. is
16:20and different feelings on just how good he might be.
16:23And so there are some people who believe that he can be a perennial all-star
16:27and there are others that are like, I'm not going to give him that.
16:32Because others, there are people that think, well, you know,
16:34he's a great athlete and he can do some spectacular stuff.
16:38But there's a part of his game that still hasn't shown any sign of emerging.
16:43And that's the part that the last part to becoming a real superstar.
16:49And that is understanding the game on such a high level
16:52that all your teammates know you understand the game
16:55and feel the game at both ends.
16:57And so, I mean, that play, was it on Christmas?
17:01It was Christmas?
17:03Oh, yeah.
17:04The out-of-bounds man, yeah, for the last play of the game.
17:06Yeah, yeah.
17:07I mean, and so it's like that's a moment you go, whoa, whoa.
17:12What?
17:13I mean, why are you guarding?
17:15You're supposed to be the low man.
17:16You know, you're supposed to be – you're helping.
17:18Wiggins did his part.
17:20I mean, granted, Austin Leaves shouldn't have been able to get by Wiggs,
17:23but Wiggs forced him to the baseline where, in theory, J.K. was going to be.
17:28Yep.
17:30And J.K. was not there because he had his back to the play
17:33and was guarding Rui Atemura who was out-of-bounds.
17:35And it's like that's the kind of stuff that people don't see.
17:38This is why I don't know if he's going to get there
17:40because he doesn't think the game at the level required to become
17:43a real legitimate NBA star.
17:46He does star – he has star turns.
17:48He does star moments.
17:49He does crazy stuff sometimes.
17:50They go, wow.
17:51But then there's always something like, ah, dude, J.K.,
17:54what were you doing there?
17:55What were you thinking there?
17:57And if you've been around the NBA long enough,
17:59you know that there are always going to be guys coming to this league
18:01that are great athletes that will have spectacular moments
18:04but never become a star, a real star.
18:08They'll always have a job maybe.
18:10They'll always be in the league.
18:11But, you know, they won't be a role player more than a star
18:15because there's an element that's missing that keeps them
18:18from being a true superstar.
18:21And so that's the thing.
18:23There's still people there that wonder about that part of J.K.
18:26and don't know if he'll get there.
18:29But it came at a terrible time because he was showcasing.
18:32Yeah, no doubt.
18:33He was showcasing.
18:34No doubt about it.
18:35Monty, we'll get you out of here on this one.
18:37Like I told Stoddy and Evan and the listeners,
18:39I think the all-star game is coming at the most inopportune time for the Warriors
18:43if this thing continues to get bad.
18:45But my dad asked me this, and I'm going to ask you.
18:48What would you make of the job Mike Dunleavy has done up until this point?
18:53Or does it really start now that they're in the situation they're in?
19:00Yeah, it's tough now.
19:01I mean, I thought what Mike did in the offseason was a decent save.
19:06And I say that because I saw the value of all three of those guys he brought in,
19:09the new guys.
19:12Buddy, okay.
19:13Klay's out.
19:15Okay, what do you look for replacement?
19:18Well, Buddy's on that list.
19:20Maybe at the top of that list.
19:22Because Klay's defense wasn't what it was when he was in his prime.
19:25Buddy's defense was never that level.
19:27So you're replacing a shooter with a shooter.
19:30And just like Klay will go through spells where he's not shooting well,
19:33so Buddy's going to do the same thing.
19:35So I thought, okay, I get that.
19:37I totally understand that move.
19:39The Milton move, I knew it was a risk because he had the back issue last season.
19:43But I like Milton.
19:44I always thought he was a good player, good two-way player.
19:47And I thought they were on to something when he was healthy before he got hurt.
19:52But now he's gone, and you can't replace that.
19:57Kyle Anderson, I thought he was a good fit culture-wise
20:02and a good sort of a Swiss Army knife guy.
20:05He can fill different positions, kind of be sort of the Draymond
20:09when Draymond's off the court if necessary.
20:11He can play some points forward.
20:13He can defend all three front court positions.
20:17I thought he was a nice addition, just a good bet to have.
20:22And so I didn't see a downside there because they didn't get Paul Joyce.
20:25They didn't get Larry Markman.
20:27So I was okay with what Mike did.
20:30I thought the Warriors had a better roster going into this season
20:33than they did going into last season.
20:36And for a few weeks, 12-3 was a mirage, let's face it.
20:42I mean, they were mostly playing teams that were not very good
20:45or were missing key players.
20:49But I still thought they were going to win somewhere in the 40s.
20:53And the question is whether they win 41 or 42 or 40 or 47 or 48.
20:58They're looking more like a low 40, if that, right now.
21:01Hey, Monty, thank you so much for joining us as always.
21:04Really appreciate it.
21:05And next month should be very interesting for the Warriors.
21:09Yeah, we got about four weeks.
21:12So let's do it.