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00:00So, I threw out there, this is the way I phrased the question.
00:05Is there anybody who straight changed their mind about the Jimmy Butler trade?
00:13I want to run through some of these answers, you tell me kind of what they do for you.
00:17Okay.
00:18Uncle Looney.
00:19Mark, I think most of us liked the trade to begin with.
00:22Is that your perception?
00:24Did most Warrior fans like the trade?
00:27I think that it's probably 50-50.
00:29We ran a poll on Monday and I think that it was 54-46 in terms of like, dislike.
00:34But the reason why I started to like the trade was that they took the drama of the extension
00:41out of it.
00:42Whether or not you thought that it was too much money, and I was a little stunned that
00:45they paid him as much as they did for two years, but that part of it was my biggest
00:50fear.
00:51So, when I looked at it, I actually liked the trade.
00:54My sentence was, I don't like the trade, but I understand it.
00:57And again, I knew the Warriors needed to do something, and I would certainly submit that
01:03was better than nothing.
01:05It was better than nothing, but had my concerns, still have them.
01:09The way I sort of verbalized it to you guys today, because there's obviously some positive
01:13things that have taken place in eight quarters of basketball.
01:17But if I was at a four on the trade before, now I'm at a six.
01:21I'm not at a 10.
01:22I'm not doing that.
01:23It's been two basketball games.
01:25There's plenty of time for this to still go a lot of directions, but I will absolutely
01:30admit, hey, there's some things going on here that maybe I didn't think about.
01:35And I will start with what Jimmy Butler, sort of like from an X's and O's standpoint, brings
01:42to the table.
01:43I go back.
01:44We played this for you earlier.
01:45Steve Kerr said this to us exactly three weeks ago today, with regard to the Warriors offense.
01:51Yeah, it's a killer.
01:52And when you play a team like Boston, the defending champs, they've got guys who can
01:57get to the rim and get easy points.
02:00And so, look, we've been on the other end of this too.
02:04For years, we got a lot of layups and we could create layups out of our offense, but we could
02:11also play out of pace.
02:12And we had guys who could get to the rim occasionally.
02:17Some of it is personnel.
02:18And then some of it is you have to figure out what are some of the things we can do
02:23better as a team to generate some easier baskets.
02:27And those are all the things we talk about every day as a staff.
02:30We don't do layups.
02:31We don't do free throws.
02:33Jimmy Butler got here.
02:34What's he done through two games?
02:36Layups and free throws.
02:37Yeah, free throws.
02:38Yeah.
02:39Well, when you shoot more than 30 free throws as a team, you're 6-0 this year.
02:42And I'm just looking at the game log, and I'd forgotten that they shot 50 free throws
02:46in a win over Houston.
02:48The game went to overtime, but you look at all the games they've played, and only six
02:53times have you gotten 30 free throws.
02:55And one of the two that Jimmy's played, you got to 30 free throws.
02:59So 30 is a big number.
03:01When you get there, you win.
03:02I don't know what the percentage is for all teams in the NBA, but I do know this.
03:06The Warriors are not a team that have gotten to the foul line very often without Jimmy
03:10Butler.
03:11And now you have a guy who will draw contact, he'll post you up, he'll go to the hole, he
03:17will get to the foul line, and he also makes about 75-80% of his free throws.
03:21Yep.
03:22I mean, just that number you put out there of 30 free throw attempts, he's averaging
03:26almost half of that himself.
03:28In two games, yeah.
03:29In two games.
03:30He's shot 28 free throws in two games, and that is a very, very big number.
03:36Okay.
03:37Here's some more answers, though.
03:38Mr. Relevance, who is a great listener of the show, again, the question being, has anybody
03:44straight changed their mind on the trade?
03:47He says, nope.
03:48He'll fire off eventually and cause a problem.
03:50It's too soon in the relationship to start anything new.
03:53How's that one grab you?
03:55It grabs me a little bit as, like, what I normally do, which is, apparently, I'm the
04:00dismissor.
04:01Dismissor!
04:02Right.
04:03But I'm not dismissing this because he got a two-year extension.
04:06So does it get to a point where Jimmy Butler is suddenly disgruntled?
04:11Odds are, yes.
04:12Well...
04:13I don't think that it would be soon, and it might be... so he has this year on his
04:18old deal.
04:19He's got next year on his new deal, and you get through next year, and maybe he wants
04:23another extension at that point.
04:25Yeah, but now he's 37.
04:26Who knows what's going on with the landscape of the league?
04:29I get it, but I was just trying to think about, in terms of what that person was saying, I
04:34don't think that the disgruntled portion of the show happens before next year and well
04:40into next year.
04:41I would argue this, and this is kind of a new angle on it, everybody who thinks that
04:45Jimmy's going to go nuclear at some point, the Warriors only have him for two and a half
04:51years, and it's not even two and a half years.
04:53It's two and a little bit more.
04:54It's like two and a third.
04:56That is still a small run.
04:58You know, you look at his runs, Miami, Minnesota, Chicago, sure, it all ended up a little rough
05:05and tumble, but I don't think it ever happened in two years.
05:09It's always been longer than that.
05:10So the Warriors have now given Jimmy what is probably his last big extension.
05:18That's probably it.
05:20And so what is there to be mad about, unless they get to a point where we're talking about
05:25actual basketball problems, and they're all aligned, Steph's contract, Steve's contract,
05:32Jimmy's contract, like, I don't know, man, maybe they're all going to get along.
05:39It's only two plus years.
05:41That's not long.
05:42It's not that long.
05:43And, you know, Steph and Draymond, the same, and Steve Kerr, I don't even think has that
05:47last year yet under contract, and he could get an extension if he wanted it.
05:51I'm not sure what he's thinking.
05:53Steve Kerr joins us at four o'clock.
05:54I won't ask him that, but I'm going to ask him about, you know, how this has been for
05:58two games.
05:59And so if you look at it from that standpoint, Jimmy Butler, and if you do think that eventually
06:05he's going to blow it up, I don't think that it happens in this year.
06:09It's still kind of a get-to-know-you phase, and then you go into next year, and you're
06:13making $54 million.
06:15What's to be mad about?
06:16Well, you know, it wouldn't be money.
06:17It would be something else.
06:18Right.
06:19It'd be some sort of relationship in the locker room or what have you, and I don't know how
06:24you predict that stuff.
06:26What about this one?
06:27D. Lou 22.
06:28I won't lie.
06:29I was against it, but I admitted I was wrong.
06:33It takes a real person to admit when they made a mistake.
06:36First of all, that's true.
06:38But secondly, are we there yet?
06:41I'd like to ask that out loud.
06:43If you didn't like the trade, is it already time to admit that you were wrong?
06:48Because they're 2-0, and they beat two teams.
06:52One of them stinks, and one of them is mediocre and missing their best player?
06:57Like I'll admit that here's what I would say, because I was against it.
07:02I wasn't impressed by the trade, but I will say that there are aspects of what's happening
07:07on the court that I had not considered that are positives.
07:12I see that.
07:14I don't know.
07:15I think it's a little early for anything definitive, isn't it?
07:17Of course.
07:18But through two games, it sure looks like he's bringing them a lot of what they needed.
07:23A second scorer, a guy who can attack the basket and get to the foul line, somebody
07:28who is a dog, Mark.
07:31He's a dog.
07:32And Andrew Wiggins is a great player, but you would never call him a dog.
07:36And this team needed that.
07:38I also think that they needed somebody who could take a lot of the pressure off Steph Curry.
07:43And he's done that.
07:44And he comes in with a certain amount of swagger.
07:46So I just wonder about the idea of Jimmy Butler and eventually forcing his way out.
07:53I'm looking at his career in Chicago.
07:56He was there for six years.
07:58Then he went to Minnesota and he was there for 69 games.
08:02And at that point, after 69 games, over the course of a season and a small piece, he wanted
08:08out.
08:09But that was a team that didn't have what this team has, pedigree, championships, alpha
08:15dog, all the rest of what Golden State has.
08:19Listen, I cannot dismiss that Jimmy has caused some feelings everywhere he's gone, but you
08:24bring up Minnesota, and I would like to say this.
08:29Look at that franchise and what's happened every time someone goes there.
08:34Now, I don't know who to blame or what have you, but it appears the likes of Carl Anthony
08:42Towns and remind me the years that Jimmy Butler was there.
08:46When was Jimmy in Minnesota?
08:482017, 18 and 2018, 19.
08:52Who were the other key players on that roster?
08:55Well, Carl Anthony Towns was absolutely one of the guys, and Tom Thibodeau was the head
09:00coach.
09:01Not exactly an easy guy to play for.
09:04Probably the most demanding coach in the NBA, and potentially, is this right to say, Carl
09:12Anthony Towns feels like he might be one of the most frustrating stars to play with based
09:19on how he plays basketball.
09:22He is a humongous human being who thinks he's Steph Curry.
09:25Now, it's tucked in in New York.
09:28They're winning.
09:29I don't know if they're going to win at a super high level.
09:31They're winning now, but he is not their one.
09:34Jalen Brunson is their one, and they've got a lot of talent that's all over that team.
09:39They can look to a lot of different places on a given night and a given possession as
09:43to what to do, so they look to Kat for less in New York than they did in Minnesota.
09:49You had Andrew Wiggins on that team as well.
09:51Wiggins in year three.
09:53Kitty Kat was in year two.
09:55You had Derrick Rose in year eight who was just trying to rehab his body and come back.
10:00Jamal Crawford in year 17 was on that team, but other than that, you had a bunch of younger
10:06guys and unproven guys, and so Jimmy Butler in that spot is looking at your other stars,
10:13probably Anthony Towns, to your point, a seven-foot shooting guard, and Andrew Wiggins
10:19who was already on team number two and kind of trying to find his way.
10:23So did you hear the story of when he got to Miami, Pat Riley asked him, who's the most
10:28talented player you've ever played with?
10:30And he answered Andrew Wiggins, and they were like, ah, really?
10:34And he's like, no dude, Andrew Wiggins.
10:36That's the most talented player I've played with, but tucked into that might actually
10:41be a criticism.
10:43Just put yourself in the mind of Jimmy Butler in Minnesota for a second.
10:47You're there.
10:48You're a dog.
10:49You're absolutely focused, intense.
10:52You want to win.
10:53Who do they surround you with?
10:55Carl Anthony Towns, who wants to shoot threes, and Andrew Wiggins, who shows up every other
11:00night, every other night.
11:03And so I don't know.
11:05I don't know what happened in that locker room.
11:07It feels to me like that's the kind of thing that could drive Jimmy up the wall.
11:13And what drove Jimmy up the wall in Miami had nothing to do with teammates.
11:16It had to do with money.
11:18So now is there a reasonable mind that thinks, you know what, he's not going to go crazy
11:24at Golden State because the money is already taken care of, and as long as Steph Curry
11:29and Draymond Green are on the team, you're never going to have to worry about people
11:33trying or understanding basketball.
11:39There's a thought there for the crowd that thinks Jimmy's going to go crazy at some point.
11:44He really might not in this short sample.
11:46And you just mentioned the two hot buttons, which are teammates and money.
11:50The money is taken care of.
11:52He got two years and $112 million, which is top, I think, six right now in the NBA, and
11:58I know with free agency coming, those contracts will get bigger and he'll go down the list.
12:02But two years and $112 million, money, green checkmark.
12:06Teammates, Draymond Green and Steph Curry, four-time champs, and Draymond Green, one
12:12of the smartest players to ever do it, also tough.
12:15And Steph Curry, I mean, you don't even have to finish that sentence.
12:19And a head coach, if you want to talk about things that maybe Jimmy Butler has not jibed
12:25with, Tom Thibodeau in Minnesota is a super taskmaster, not a very good players coach
12:33in my opinion, and then Pat Riley, and he and Pat Riley went head-to-head, and it took
12:38six years.
12:39He was there for a long time, he had success with Coach Spoh and Pat Riley, but it came
12:44time for a head-to-head battle, and Pat Riley is going to push back, and so Jimmy Butler
12:50pushed back, and now you wind up here where Steve Kerr is not Pat Riley, and Joe Lacob
12:56is not that same kind of guy, and Mike Dunleavy, former teammate in Chicago, I'm sure has a
13:02deep understanding about who Jimmy is, so teammates and money, I don't think that those
13:07are things that are going to push him out.
13:09Different kind of organization, different kind of successful organization, you know?
13:13And different kinds of expectations too, right?
13:15Yeah, absolutely.
13:16The expectation is win a title, sure.
13:19But at the same time, it's also, look, we've got two and a half more years of Steph and
13:23Draymond and you, let's see what we have.
13:25Well, I don't even know if the expectation is title.
13:28I think the word expectation is strong.
13:30I guess you could hope for it, for sure, but this is also, and I don't know if this is
13:36a first, like when you go to Minnesota, and you've got Butler, Wiggins, and Katt, who's
13:40the one?
13:41Who's got to carry the organization on the shoulders?
13:43Ah, debatable.
13:44You go to Philadelphia, who's got to carry the organization on your shoulders?
13:48Well, supposed to be Embiid, but he only has one shoulder.
13:52So he, right, like that's going to be part of the time, and that's kind of short lived.
13:57He goes to Miami, who's got to carry the organization on the shoulders?
14:01No question, Jimmy Butler.
14:04Now he comes here, and there's no more shoulders.
14:08There's no more shoulders.
14:09This is Steph Curry's organization.
14:11It's a different role, and maybe one that is a little bit more freeing than what he's
14:18been having to do the last six years.
14:19Yeah, and you read the reports about what was going on in Miami, and it seemed like
14:24they were de-emphasizing him in terms of the offense.
14:27Like they were having him play a little bit more of the weak side role.
14:31They were trying to get Tyler Hero more involved.
14:33Although, was that because they wanted to, or was it because they were arguing, and they
14:38knew he was on his way out?
14:40Tough to tell.
14:41I don't know.
14:42Because when they didn't have Jimmy Butler during his one, two, three times a suspension,
14:46they were a 500 team.
14:48So they didn't really suffer without Jimmy Butler.
14:50So I do think they looked at Jimmy, and Jimmy wanting money, and Jimmy doing whatever he
14:55was doing, and they thought, let's just go in a different direction and see if we can
14:59still win, and they did.
15:00Steve Kerr in 40 minutes, and the key word, if you want to get into the knockout tournament
15:04at Chase Center, is also going to be in around 40 to 45 minutes.
15:09Be with us at 4 o'clock for both of those things.
15:12The key word for knockout, and Steve Kerr will join us.
15:15Let's get back to the phones.
15:17On any excitement around Jimmy Butler, what has been the most exciting thing for you so
15:21far?
15:22Dave in the City is next up.
15:24Hi, Dave.
15:25Thanks for the call.
15:26Hey.
15:27What's up, fellas?
15:28Hope you guys are having a great afternoon.
15:29Yeah, you too, man.
15:30The most exciting thing might be the most boring thing, is that he could quell the game
15:36when the other team is going into the, having a great momentum, and he could kind of slow
15:41it down, get to the free-throw line, and have a person that could grind out the win.
15:47When was the last time we had somebody that could really just grind out a win by using
15:50their strength and just bullying people on the offensive side?
15:53We haven't had that.
15:55And then, high-level IQ from Jimmy, definitely can see it on the court.
16:00He's telling guys where to be.
16:03He's just another person for Steph to really rely on and not have everything on his shoulders.
16:08Yeah, Dave, I think that's a really good call, and I wonder how that all blends together.
16:13I know we've had that conversation in this city a lot, and it's really tucked into, Steve
16:19Kerr hates young people, which what it actually means is, I think, when you're trying to win
16:23games at a high level, who do you trust?
16:27And Steve, like any coach, in those moments is going to trust veterans because they have
16:31a better understanding of where they're supposed to be and when and why.
16:35And young players don't because they're young players.
16:37Now, you want them to learn those things, and so that's why I'm so fascinated now by
16:42this blend.
16:43You've already got Draymond and Steph, you know that.
16:45Now there's Jimmy Butler, who I think is another really high IQ player, but with a different
16:50skill set.
16:51Does that trickle down to the other players so far?
16:53Looks kind of like it might.
16:54Like, oh look, Buddy Heald is starting to do good things again.
16:58Moses Moody, more consistent.
17:00Quentin Post is a player, but you all know where this is heading.
17:04What happens when Jonathan Kaminga gets back?
17:07Does Jonathan want to learn from Jimmy and pattern after Jimmy, or does Jonathan want
17:13to buck a little bit because he's got 25 games to earn an extension and now there's fewer
17:18shots to go around?
17:19Well, you can buck, and that probably won't lead to more playing time and more touches
17:25and more of a chance to go out there and play and score.
17:28And I do think that the ankle injury that Jonathan Kaminga suffered probably turned
17:34out to be a good thing for the Warriors' ability to keep him, because his value has been depressed.
17:40He won't play for almost two months by the time he gets back with the All-Star break
17:45and all the rest of it.
17:46And so when he does come back and he's got six weeks to come out and show it and prove
17:52it, well now you're in a spot where this team is trying to surge.
17:56They're trying to get to the sixth seed, and Kaminga's going to have to tow the line.
18:01Not that he won't, but he's not going to be able to go out there and just showcase
18:05and ball and not worry about winning basketball.
18:09He's going to have to go out there and play with Jimmy, Steph, and Draymond and a team
18:13that's been hopefully humming by them.
18:15For sure.
18:16I think two things help Jonathan stay.
18:17You're right.
18:18It's the ankle injury and Jimmy Butler missing a plane.
18:21Let's be real.
18:22Both of their values kind of went weird places, allowed the Warriors to get Jimmy Butler and
18:27hold on to Kaminga.
18:28Let's go to Jason, Central Valley.
18:30Hi, Jason.
18:31What are you calling?
18:32What are you doing?
18:33I'm driving home from work, boys.
18:36Thank you very much for taking my call.
18:37I don't think I've called your guy's show before.
18:39Thank you very much for taking it.
18:40Well, thanks for doing it.
18:41I think, yeah, yeah.
18:43I think every caller, everybody that knows the Warriors have kind of already stated what's
18:49been exciting about Butler so far.
18:51The free throw shooting, his poise, his leadership on the floor.
18:55But one thing that kind of stands out to me that he's been saying is he's not even in
18:58shape yet.
18:59This is out of shape, Jimmy Butler.
19:01Imagine what it's going to be like, you know, as the season goes on and he kind of gets
19:04his wind back.
19:05He's able to play maybe 40 plus minutes.
19:08I mean, who knows if we want him to do that much, but get him in shape like that.
19:13And everybody's talking about what happens when Kaminga comes back.
19:16This is kind of opening up my mind to what happens, regardless of what happens this season,
19:22what happens in the offseason.
19:23It kind of, for me, paints a picture of what do we do about the two-guard position going
19:27into the offseason?
19:29I feel like all the other roles are kind of playing themselves into what we know it's
19:33going to be.
19:34You got Quinn Post at the five now, a big that can shoot.
19:36And of course, you have Draymond Kaminga, Moses Moody in the forward position.
19:40What do we do about the two-guard?
19:42Because I don't see Buddy Heald continuing into next season.
19:46I don't see Paws being a very sustainable two-guard.
19:48There's a lot of difficult matchups in that role.
19:51What if, giving you guys opinion on this, what about if the Warriors go after Melton
19:56again, hopefully being healthy next year, another guy that can shoot to three, play
20:00defense.
20:01He won't disrupt any type of rotation.
20:02He's a guy that will play team basketball.
20:05Jason, thanks very much.
20:07I don't hate that at all.
20:09And I know that when he left, there was a lot of thought from the Warriors.
20:13And people do this because it softens the whole trade or whatnot.
20:16They're like, well, we'll get you back next year.
20:18I don't know what the space is going to be, but you got to figure Melton's going to be
20:22available on the cheap after all of these injuries.
20:26Yeah, but it's coming off an ACL.
20:27But for me, I think we get too bogged down in positional numerology.
20:32Agreed.
20:33Because, honestly, Steph is your two-guard.
20:35And Draymond and Jimmy Butler can play point guard.
20:38So Steph is not your typical point guard.
20:41So do you really need a two-guard?
20:42You already have the best shooter in history.
20:44And I think Paws looks a lot better of late.
20:46And Moody's flexibility, Moody quoted last week as even saying, two, three, four, there's
20:51really not a lot of difference.
20:53Not five, not six.
20:54It's more about who you can guard.
20:56I think the Warriors have some options there, but I do not hate the Melton idea at all.