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00:00Pudzemski stops and feeds the post, hits Butler, drives on Connington, powered his way right
00:06around him, good and a foul.
00:08The Bucs continue to guard Butler with Connington, if I'm the Warriors, I'd just go back to that
00:13time and time again.
00:15Dubnation, it's Steve Kerr.
00:17You're listening to Willard & Dibbs on 95.7 The Game.
00:20Oh, that man right there is going to be on in 90 minutes.
00:23Yeah.
00:2490 minutes.
00:25Yeah.
00:26Steve Kerr Day.
00:27I can't wait.
00:28Right here on Willard & Dibbs.
00:29It's Steve Kerr Day, but I like it a little bit more when it's Steve Kerr off a couple
00:33of wins and a new acquisition day.
00:36He's going to be a little bit more upbeat and, I mean, at least I think so.
00:41I think.
00:42Yeah.
00:43For sure.
00:44Yeah.
00:45We can talk about, like, getting to the foul line because you played it already and I thought
00:47it was great talking about, like, we don't do free throws and layups.
00:51Well, now you have a guy who's pretty good at both and because he's doing that, you've
00:56got a stretch five who can shoot the three.
00:59You got Moses Moody playing minutes and making shots.
01:03You got a healthy Pods doing what he's doing.
01:05Buddy Heald seems to be trending toward being back and Kaminga in the wings.
01:11My goodness, Mark.
01:12Well, the Kaminga part is still a total mystery and it's something I think we're all waiting
01:17for to see.
01:18Does it fit great?
01:19Does it kind of hold him back?
01:21Is it something in between?
01:22A little of both?
01:23I don't know yet, but yes.
01:25I feel like it seems like so far, and maybe they were just playing two awful defensive
01:30clubs.
01:31I don't know.
01:32It feels like it has unlocked a few things for people because, again, there's just more
01:39attention on someone else on the floor for the first time in a while other than Steph
01:45Curry.
01:46And here's what Steph said about it last night.
01:48Every possession just doesn't feel as hard.
01:50I mean, you still see attention, you still see defenses, but you have to worry about
01:54something else.
01:55We're just putting people in the right spot, so obviously I'm going to be aggressive.
02:01And earlier in the year, that aggression didn't necessarily lead to anything as consistently
02:07as it has these last two games.
02:11First two, I shot 30-something times, so that was a little different.
02:15Okay.
02:16I mean, that's a big sentence.
02:18When Steph Curry is like, every possession doesn't feel as hard, that's a hell of a ringing
02:25endorsement.
02:26Especially when you think about 100 possessions in a game times, what, 55 games or so that
02:32they've played.
02:33That's 5,500 possessions where he's not in on all of them, but of all the possessions
02:38we've seen this year that Steph has been on the floor for, how many of those have involved
02:43a double team?
02:44All of them.
02:45All of them.
02:46A third or a half.
02:48The number of times where he comes across half court and it's two grown men coming to
02:54get him, and now it's not going to be as often.
02:57Right.
02:58Well, and I know you're saying a third or a half.
02:59I'm thinking, what if we're just talking in the fourth quarter?
03:04It feels like almost all the time, especially in the last five minutes.
03:08And now there's a way to make other teams pay a little bit, so yeah, come on, man.
03:14Take it from a big skeptic over here.
03:16Two games in, you can see some dividends.
03:20Like I can admit that, obviously.
03:23Look at it.
03:24You can see some dividends.
03:26And so there's reason for optimism.
03:28I do wish, what I said earlier, I wish they were playing somebody awesome tomorrow night.
03:33Just because I really want to get a window almost into how excited are we supposed to
03:38get here?
03:39How excited are we supposed to get?
03:41And get excited.
03:42That's what being a fan is all about.
03:44It's what sports are all about.
03:46But I want to know, I know the Warriors have something here, but do they have something-something?
03:54How big is this something, and at what level will it allow them to compete?
04:00Yeah, and I do think part of that has to do with who they have remaining, and I'm just
04:04looking at the remaining games after the All-Star break, and you've got a couple of Charlottes
04:10in there.
04:11You've got Brooklyn, you've got Detroit, you've got Portland, you've got some somewhat weak
04:18sisters on the schedule, and that doesn't mean that you automatically win.
04:21I know that.
04:22This Warrior team has been maddening with that, but you do have Portland two times,
04:26and you've got a bunch of games where you feel like you should be able to get over,
04:32and you don't have a lot of monster games.
04:35You do have one six-game road trip remaining, including, and go ahead and mark this on your
04:39schedule, my friends, Tuesday, March 25th, at Miami, Jimmy and a homecoming.
04:46The Wiggins Bowl.
04:47Do you think that they do a video tribute for Jimmy Butler?
04:52Probably not.
04:53Okay.
04:54Or they'll do a tribute, but he won't be in it.
04:57That's so funny.
04:58They'll be like, this is what we were doing for your last two months as a Heat.
05:03You weren't here.
05:04They'll do a Butler tribute, but it'll be for Karan Butler, who I believe also played
05:09for the Heat.
05:10That's good.
05:11That's very good.
05:12Ladies and gentlemen, time now for the Butler tribute video.
05:15Only to be sort of combated by the Wiggins video tribute, when the Heat come here, which
05:22you pointed out yesterday, will be wonderful, but will not have any sound.
05:26Yeah, no.
05:27No audio.
05:28Yeah.
05:29Maybe they can do the George Michael Careless Whisper in honor of your boy.
05:34They could.
05:35Because that was the theme song for K-Wig.
05:36Just the whole thing in slow motion.
05:38Just the whole thing, like it never speeds up.
05:41888-957-9570.
05:42What, to you, is the most exciting part of the Jimmy Butler arrival, the Warriors 2-0,
05:49since they got him?
05:50Let's go to West Oakland, Sam, who surprisingly is not in West Oakland.
05:54That's weird.
05:55Sunnyvale today.
05:56Hi, Sam.
05:57What you doing?
05:58Hey.
06:00I'm on the DHL route, just delivering packages and managing being by myself, like I do every
06:05day.
06:06Okay.
06:07Thanks for doing it with us, man.
06:08Hey, I just want to say the biggest, so I got two statements and one question.
06:13My first statement is, I think the biggest thing I've seen, and it's only a two-game
06:18sample size, the biggest thing I've seen so far, it's amazing how one addition of a great
06:24player kind of makes the team look like they have more depth, in a sense, because it elevates
06:30the play of everybody, in a sense, where it's, where you add one addition to Steph Curry
06:36and all of a sudden, everybody looks like their game kind of elevates, where you're
06:41not asking too much from anybody else because we have another dependable Robin to the Batman
06:46that is Steph Curry.
06:48And so I see an increase in depth and how we, and also what he does is he manages possessions
06:55better than Andrew Wiggins.
06:57Andrew Wiggins was empty calories in a sense, where it's like anything.
07:02I remember I used to ask like anything from Andrew Wiggins to help Steph would do some
07:09service.
07:10So I'm seeing Steph not have to work as hard, like you guys just said about, you know, fourth
07:14quarter possessions.
07:15He doesn't, it's a reason why Steph Curry has had back-to-back two amazing games because
07:21now we have another Alpha next to him.
07:25Another thing, another thing is a lot is riding on Kaminga to see what he gets from
07:32looking at a player like Jimmy Butler and kind of not being exactly like him, but kind
07:38of developing a certain type of style of game similar to Jimmy Butler.
07:45And then my question that I want to ask you guys is why do you think LeBron being the
07:50outlier in terms of ageism in the NBA, why do you think certain 35-year-olds or why do
07:57you think certain players in any sport, we kind of look at their age as a downfall, but
08:03certain, certain players kind of get why we allow certain players to be older, but there's,
08:12but there's also a way where we look at like, oh, the age is the age is a factor, but certain
08:16players kind of get a pass.
08:18So why do you think that certain players get a pass to be, you know, 35 like Jimmy Butler?
08:22Because part of the issue that we had whenever we made the trade was, oh, he's 35, you know,
08:27he's kind of towards the end of his career, but we don't, but if it was another player,
08:33that would be like, it's, it's a pass, it's a pass period.
08:36Yeah.
08:37Like I, for instance, and Sam, thanks for the call, I think one of the things Sam is
08:41asking, for example, when the Warriors were after Kevin Durant, I didn't hear anybody
08:46go, whoa, Kevin's old, but Jimmy was 35, Kevin's older, Kevin's older.
08:53So I get that.
08:54And maybe it's just the pure talent of the player, the situation around the player.
08:58You got to remember, we've been fed for two and a half months that Jimmy's a problem.
09:02And it's not the first time that we've been fed that and let's not act like that's suddenly
09:06gone like, oh, that's it.
09:09They've won two basketball games.
09:11Jimmy will never be a problem.
09:13We'll see.
09:14We'll see.
09:15So that phase is real and we are knee deep in it.
09:18But I, I think the only answer to his question is a certain players age better than others.
09:24Like it's who's still playing at a high level versus who looks like they're, they're, they're
09:29starting to fall off.
09:31And and then just sort of the position they play, like certain, certain players age better,
09:36certain styles and positions age better.
09:40If somebody relies a lot on their athleticism, like right now, I don't want to sign up for
09:45Jonathan Kaminga when he's 37.
09:48No thanks.
09:49It depends on what happens between now and then.
09:51Sure.
09:52But do you get what I'm saying?
09:53I do.
09:54A higher percentage of what makes him good is his athleticism.
09:57That's never been what Steph Curry does.
10:00Steph Curry's a shooter.
10:01Yeah.
10:02Steph Curry's smart.
10:03All of those things.
10:04I do think it comes down to injury history as well.
10:07And I just punched, uh, punched it up for Jimmy Butler and you've got rib, wrist, back,
10:13back, foot, hip, knee, ankle, shoulder, toe, foot, foot, ankle, uh, all the way through.
10:21So he's had some minor stuff and you know, with Steph Curry, he's had the ankle a million
10:26times.
10:27He's had the bilateral knee tendonitis.
10:29The one that really strikes me is LeBron James.
10:32And if you look at his injury history, he's had none.
10:36He's had none of the big ones.
10:37He has had no real knee injury.
10:40He had no Achilles.
10:41He's had no shoulder.
10:43He's had no back, like no major issue.
10:46And so you look at Jimmy Butler, he's had a bunch of small stuff and by and large, it's
10:51been more about his willingness to actually be on that team.
10:54The LeBron thing is really crazy.
10:56I know that he rubs some people the wrong way.
10:58I know there's a fatigue factor.
11:00I know he's a Laker now.
11:01I know he beat the Warriors in the finals.
11:03I know all the reasons that you're supposed to hate LeBron James.
11:06If you can't step back for a second and appreciate two things, number one, what you just said,
11:11the longevity of this guy, the lack of injury, the level he still plays at, at his age is
11:18absolutely unbelievable.
11:20But to me, what's even more impressive, dude, when your name is on the marquee for 20 years
11:28and we never really get anything on you.
11:31Like what's the PR disaster that has happened to LeBron due to the fact that he is in such
11:38an intense fishbowl?
11:40Literally what we have on him is once upon a time, he was a free agent, he made a TV
11:45show out of it, and we thought it was a little narcissistic.
11:48That's literally it.
11:50He forced the Lakers to draft his kid and he, I mean, he let his kids drink wine.
11:57When they were, whatever, under 18, whatever.
12:00I've let my kids taste wine.
12:02Sure.
12:03Yeah.
12:04I mean, honestly though, talking about that very thing, and if you want to look at his
12:08games played throughout the course of his career, he's got 82s and 71s and 77s.
12:16Dude, he's crazy.
12:17Even now, when he is 40, he just turned 40, same birthday as my sister, December 30th,
12:23he's played in 47 games, 35 minutes a night.
12:26The dude plays.
12:27It's bananas.
12:28It is bananas.
12:29And he's still playing at a high level and leading a team that has a really good record.
12:35And now he's got Luka alongside him.
12:37Right.
12:38Which is scary.
12:39It should be.
12:40It should be.
12:41No, it's super scary.
12:42The Warriors go there on April 3rd in terms of other games to mark down on your calendar.
12:47I like it.
12:48Because after the break, you're going to wind up with, I think it's 26 games and you've
12:52got some duds, but you've got some really good marquee games coming up.
12:57You've got a home-and-home with the New York Knicks coming up late February, early March.
13:01A few to circle, that's definitely one of them.
13:03Let's go to Greg in the City next.
13:04Hey Greg, you're on with Willard and Dibbs.
13:06Jimmy Butler, what's exciting to you about him?
13:09How are you doing today?
13:12Good, man.
13:13How about you?
13:14Not too bad.
13:15I would say the part that makes it all exciting is he really connects all of the lineups.
13:21I think that one aspect that I've been really enjoying watching is that, I think I heard
13:27this point a while back, that getting a secondary scorer and playmaker really helps everyone
13:33slide down into a more natural position.
13:36Being able to have Draymond be the defensive menace that he is on a regular basis, ensure
13:41that we have another playmaker, that we don't have to have Draymond handling double duties
13:46all the time.
13:48Ensuring that we have someone else who can really handle the rock, get a bucket when
13:53we need a bucket, and really facilitate the offense at a high rate, while also ensuring
13:58that players like Pods and Moody also benefit in the fact that they can play or fall a little
14:05better on defense, because they don't have to guard the main guy every time they're coming
14:09up and down.
14:11Where Wiggins is a great disruptor, but do we want to have him be that guy every single
14:17time coming down, and also score us 20-25 a game?
14:21I don't know if he has the ability to really deliver that for us all the time, where I
14:25feel like Jimmy does.
14:26I'll tell you what, Greg, there's a lot of evidence already to what you're saying, and
14:31thank you very much for the call, it's a good one.
14:33I think you made this point about an hour ago.
14:37So many people are going to focus on, and with good reason, okay, Jimmy Butler does
14:41this on the court, and it provides X for Steph, and that's where most people will discuss
14:48Warrior Basketball.
14:50Go to all the other players, and I know that collectively they didn't shoot great from
14:56three yesterday, but look at some of the trickle-down effect to the other players.
15:03Is what Quentin Post is doing over these last couple games, is that a coinkydink?
15:10The way Moses Moody, and I know Moody had been playing well even before Jimmy got here,
15:14but is that trickle-down effect not just going to open it up for Steph, but really those
15:21role players, even Buddy Heald, you mentioned him as well, all of the sudden they're going
15:27to find more space and less pressure, and that's perfect.
15:31That's what role players need.
15:32No doubt, and I think you add in Pods, who did not shoot great last night, but he's going
15:37to start to get healthier, and he's playing with a certain amount of confidence, and even
15:41if you go through the rest of the roster, you've got guys now who get slotted down a
15:46little bit further in the pecking order, and Draymond Green, not that he's ever felt pressure
15:50to score, but now he doesn't even have to have the pressure to ball-handle, because
15:54Jimmy Butler can do a lot of what Draymond has done, so Draymond now can be a little
16:00bit more focused on playing defense when he's playing the five, and he's in there,
16:05and you don't have to exert the same amount of energy offensively as you otherwise would.
16:10Let's keep going.
16:11Beans in the City.
16:12You're next up on Willard & Debs.
16:13Hi, Beans.
16:14What's good?
16:15Hey, fellas.
16:16What's going on?
16:17Beans.
16:18What's cooking, man?
16:19What's going on?
16:20Beans.
16:21Remember Beans from Eden Stevens, or is that you guys are maybe too old for that?
16:27That was hurtful.
16:28I don't like the reference at all.
16:31That's terrible, but go ahead.
16:32Well, that's fine.
16:33Okay.
16:34Yeah, I think that Jimmy being pretty much the most physical guard against anyone we
16:42play, and knowing his skill set works well for all these other guys, but I think what's
16:47not being mentioned as much is the subtraction of Lindy Waters and Dennis Schroeder, who
16:56you can imagine the freedom that comes to Pajemski and Moses Moody and some of these
17:03other guys.
17:04I mean, Post was kind of getting his shine even before this trade, but I think part of
17:08being a good role player is having the freedom within your role to feel like you can make
17:13mistakes and know what is going to be asked of you every night, and I hope we don't get
17:18into a world where some of our bottom three guys just get some of these random Kerr minutes
17:25that he loves to give away so much, but it's been nice to watch the team with guys that
17:30we've drafted hopefully stepping into a spot where they're getting 25 to 30 minutes a game
17:38every night.
17:39If they're playing bad, they're playing bad, but that's who we're going to live and die
17:41with, so it's been nice to have that as the other benefit of this trade.
17:46Beans, I think it's a great point.
17:48Appreciate the call.
17:49I really do.
17:50The Tigers went nine deep last night.
17:53Garbage time minute for Jackson Rowe, TJD, Pat Spencer, Guy Santos had a couple more,
17:58but outside of that, they went nine deep, and I do think there's something to what Beans
18:03is saying there, which is even if it's not your night, you're going to play.
18:09You're going to play.
18:11That is our rotation, and come hell or high water, that's our rotation.
18:16We'll live with it.
18:17We'll die with it, and we'll ask Steve this.
18:19I wonder if that's almost like a load off for him.
18:22These are our guys, and we don't have to sit here and be like, are you going to be good
18:26tonight?
18:27Okay, you're not.
18:28Let's go.
18:29Now, obviously, Kaminga's coming back, and that'll change the math, but I wonder.
18:33I wonder if it's a load off for Steve Kerr that's like, yeah, these are our guys.
18:37This is what we're going with.
18:38It's streamlined, and I think he'll say for sure that it's a definite load off because
18:42you're not playing 12 guys for 10 spots.
18:46You have really 10 guys for 10 spots once you get to that position, and a lot of it
18:51will be matchups.
18:52Like, Kavon played 12 minutes, and GP2 played 10, and Guy only played 6, so based on who
18:58you're facing, I do think that the rotation numbers will change, but you've got a starting
19:04five, a finishing five, and you've got with Kaminga back, two or three guys you're for
19:08sure going to play, and then the other two to four guys, you're going to mix and match.
19:12That's the drama that is coming, though.
19:14Don't make any mistake about it.
19:15Kaminga.
19:16Oh, for sure.
19:17I know everybody's like, what?
19:18But look at him now, and then Kaminga's coming back.
19:22Right.
19:23So who's going to be in the final five?
19:25Is he in, or is he out?
19:28And if he's in, or if he's out, we're going to all yell about it the next day.
19:33Right.
19:34Especially if it doesn't go well.
19:35If they lose, yeah, we're going to yell about it.
19:36Yeah.
19:37Like, I mean, right now, we're looking at what is essentially the finishing five because
19:41the replay is on in our studio, and I know that they went up by double digits, and so
19:45these guys who are in there right now are about to leave.
19:49But the finishing five is Butler, Curry, Draymond, and then Pods and Moody, right?
19:57Like on this particular night, I mean, is Kaminga, is he in instead of Moody?
20:03Is he not?
20:04Not as much of a knockdown shoot?
20:06Like I don't know.
20:07I don't know who you're playing.
20:08I think it also depends on where you are in the game because Moses Moody, they're loving
20:13him playing the four, and he's done pretty well playing the four.
20:16So can Kaminga come in and play the four?
20:19Well, if you're down by four or five points, I'd rather have Moses, a guy who was more
20:23of a threat to shoot the three ball than Kaminga, somebody who's, you know, offensively still
20:28emerging.
20:29And therefore you have drama.
20:30Yep.
20:31Therefore you have drama.
20:32Especially for a guy who was looking for a contract.
20:34Exactly right.
20:35Exactly right.
20:36And that's Jonathan in the city.
20:37Not Jonathan Kaminga, our Jonathan in the city.
20:40What's going on, man?
20:41Hey, nothing much.
20:42Just, uh, hey, the joy bag, I think it is.
20:47And you know, the biggest thing about Jimmy, like I said in my previous call, he brings
20:52something, a lot of what the Warriors lack.
20:54And I'm happy now because, man, I'm not envious of the other teams.
20:58I look at the ball score when I'm, you know, watching the game.
21:00I also got the ball score going and, you know, we're shooting free throws now.
21:05Man, this guy lives in the paint.
21:08He's just master at creating contact, using his body.
21:11It's not, you know, he's not going at it at the full speed like Kaminga.
21:15He's very measured.
21:17He's a double digit free throw getter.
21:20So we're never going to have that deficit anymore because he drives me crazy every time
21:24I'm watching the Warriors game, looking at the ball score, we got like three free throws
21:28and now they just got like 15, 20.
21:30So he's up, you know, in a lot of sense, he might be the perfect fit.
21:34I mean, he's not our first choice, but sometimes the one that falls in your lap is the one
21:39that's, you know, that's destined to make you better.
21:42And I know his small sample size, but man, Jimmy Butler, man, his first game of chase
21:48is going to be bonkers.
21:51And by the way, that's still a little ways away before the Warriors are going to have
21:55a home game.
21:56Jonathan, thank you very much.
21:57Yeah, that's an interesting thought.
21:59I wonder if this is going to end up being that someday.
22:02One of those, like he wasn't our first choice, turned out he was the right choice.
22:08Like Bruce Bochy, not the first choice, Brock Purdy, not the first choice, right?
22:14And then they end up being like beloved and in Bochy's case, right?
22:20Multiple championships.
22:21And someday, um, the hall of fame speech.
22:24You think?
22:25Yeah, sure.
22:26Yeah.
22:27Sure.
22:28He won another one since he left.
22:29For sure.
22:30But I mean, yeah.
22:31I mean, you're the first choice and sometimes it's serendipity where you, you don't get
22:35your first choice and you wind up with what you wind up with.
22:38And think about all of our lives where, you know, however you meet somebody, you were
22:42in a dog park just trying to throw the ball for the lovely penny.
22:47And you happen to glance over and see somebody else who's doing the same thing.
22:51And you know, if you didn't go to the dog park that day, maybe you wouldn't have been
22:54where you are.
22:55Oh, I was looking for ladies.
22:56I was like, why do you think I got a dog?
22:59Look at you.
23:00I'm kidding.
23:01I'm kidding.
23:02A baby works just as well.
23:03I'm told.
23:04Yeah.
23:05Yeah.
23:06But it's gross.
23:07A little bit more of a, you know, commitment.
23:08If anybody wants to borrow my baby, you know, totally.