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00:00We got a Texas two-step to do here and then we're heading into the all-star break and the Warriors
00:04have an opportunity over the next 30 plus hours to really, really grab Uncle Mo, stick him in the
00:12back pocket, take him into a week off that they're hosting. This is a big, big two-game stretch.
00:19Tonight as they go visit Clay, tomorrow as they go visit the Houston Rockets. After that trade
00:24deadline with all the good vibes and feelings they got going on, man, if they could win two
00:30more basketball games there's going to be a lot of happy Warrior fans out there. And they're going
00:34to need it and you know you made an interesting point during the crossover about you know the
00:39back end of the schedule and a lot of times you go up against teams where they're going to be
00:43packeted in and I just looked at their last nine games on the schedule. Who they got? They have
00:48teams who are still going to be carrying. You've got San Antonio, Memphis, the Lakers, Denver,
00:54Houston and Phoenix, San Antonio again, Portland won't care, and then you've got the Clippers.
00:59Eight of your last nine are likely against teams that will still be in it. Well, you're you're
01:04putting San Antonio in it. I don't buy it. I know De'Aaron Fox. I think they'll still be fighting
01:09for the 10. I doubt it. I really do. I understand where you're coming from. You might be right.
01:14And then sometimes, by the way, don't forget that you're throwing teams in where you're like, well,
01:19they're good. Just because you're good doesn't mean you're trying down the stretch either because
01:23you might be locked in already. Denver, for instance, is an interesting one. They'll be here
01:27at Chase Center on April 4th. Like Denver has traditionally down the stretch been like,
01:36we're fine. It depends where they are. I will take two or three seats. So, you know, Portland,
01:40you mentioned Phoenix. I think Phoenix will be dusted by then completely. So anyway, I get what
01:46you're saying, but I am very, very bullish on this. I think the Warriors, first of all, the
01:55absolute worst case scenario, worst case scenario is the eight seed. But I'm going to tell you
02:04right now, based on what I see canvassing the league, I think the Warriors are at least going
02:09to be the seven. And here's why. It's not because all of a sudden I've decided that Jimmy Buckets
02:15has changed the Warriors and now we're going to be championship and everything is wonderful.
02:21It helps. They do look a lot better, but there is something else that happened over the trade
02:27deadline that I didn't realize until watching basketball the last couple of nights, and it's
02:32this. The teams around the Warriors, this is a lucky break for the Warriors, the teams around
02:38them that they are battling to move up in this play in tournament and beyond are cratering and
02:43they're done. They are emotionally dusted based on what has just taken place. And one of the teams
02:49I'm talking about is the opponent tonight. You trade Luka Doncic to the point where your fan
02:54base is screaming at you as they walk into the building, but at least you did get another star.
03:00And upon arrival, he plays two quarters of basketball and he gets hurt long-term as well.
03:05And the Dallas Mavericks are going to be feeling that. They're going to be feeling that
03:08the rest of the way. I think that they are food for the Warriors right now.
03:12The Phoenix Suns locker room is done. Bradley Beal was in trade rumors for two months.
03:18Then Kevin Durant ended up in them. He didn't want to be in them. And all of a sudden,
03:23their locker room is reportedly toxic. I can actually back that as true from someone inside
03:28the organization. That team last night in a home game with Durant returning to the lineup and about
03:35to achieve a milestone, could not put up a fight, a home game. They're done. Get Phoenix
03:40out of the way. Dallas is out of the way. Sacramento just lost their best player.
03:45And they're really not that strong at this point. Even to begin with, I'm going to put them out of
03:50the way to get the seven. The Warriors literally just need to catch either Minnesota or the
03:55Clippers. And I believe that they've got the schedule and now the momentum to go do it.
04:00It's funny how I'm portrayed as the dismissive guy on the program. And you just took three teams
04:06with 29, 28 games left to go. And you just wiped them off the schedule in terms of wiped them all
04:12off in terms of where they, their, their fight against the Warriors. So the Phoenix can't like
04:17figure it out out of the break. And Sacramento can't get Sacramento will be in the play in
04:22tournament. I'm not going to say I can't get Levine and DeRozan to channel their inner Chicago
04:27domicile bonus because, because come back and play better because Levine and DeRozan did so
04:32well when they were together in Chicago together, at least they know each other. I'm just surprised
04:37that you were able to on this day, heading into the all-star break off a two wins with Jimmy
04:42Butler, just take three teams and wipe them straight off. I'm telling you these, this is
04:47extenuating circumstances. And by the way, I'm not telling you, none of them will be in the play.
04:51And I'm telling you, the Warriors are going to finish out of them. The Warriors are going to
04:54finish ahead of those teams ahead of Sacramento and Dallas and Phoenix. And right now they're
04:59ahead of Phoenix. And you didn't even count San Antonio. You think that they're also done?
05:03I don't think they're done. I just don't think that the Aaron Fox's acquisition is enough to
05:07suddenly take that young core and, and, and really make a second half push. Wemben Yama and Castle
05:14are still babies, absolute babies. I know they've got Chris Paul, Harrison Barnes, they've got a
05:19veteran influence, but it's just, I, yeah, I don't think it's going to be enough. Now they
05:24could work their way to the 10 because I do think Phoenix is going to crater because I do think
05:29Dallas is going to crater, but I don't think they're going to catch the Warriors. So that's why
05:34worst case scenario to me, even if things aren't perfect down the stretch, even if there's an
05:41injury here or there, wow. Even if Jonathan Kaminga and Jimmy Butler need a few minutes
05:46together before they can figure it out, I'm telling you that the worst case scenario for
05:50the Warriors is the eight, but I'm going to put them in at least the seven based on the schedules.
05:57I see the opponents out there. And again, a lot of this is extenuating. These teams didn't know
06:03that this was going to happen. You trade Luca for Anthony Davis, and then he gets hurt. Oh my God,
06:08you just gave your core away. And it's also extenuating as it pertains to the Warriors,
06:13because you're dealing with a 37 year old and a couple of 35 year olds. So you're
06:17assuming in this scenario that they all stay mostly healthy. I'm assuming you don't have,
06:22you know, one of a guy, one of the three misses a month, like Anthony Davis looks like he's going
06:27to miss a month, if not more. And that's terrible news for Dallas. And you know, you've got Kyrie.
06:33And if you look at tonight's injury report, they have six guys who are listed as either game time
06:38or out. So Dallas is going to be probably rocking an eight or nine man team. Forget the rotation.
06:44So yeah, the circumstances are not good. And I'm just surprised that you are looking at all these
06:50teams and off of a couple of games or what, three or four days since the deadline, you're just
06:55wiping them off the earth. Again, it's not based on, I'm not doing that with the Warriors either.
07:00I'm not here to tell you again. Now, like anybody who had concerns about Jimmy Butler needs to do
07:05some sort of like apology to everyone around them. We're not there yet. It's only been a
07:10couple of games. I'm talking about the larger issues, the diseases that have been born inside
07:17of these teams. I'm telling you that Phoenix is emotionally gone, gone, and they've been gone
07:26for a little while, but without experience over the trade deadline. And you look me in my eye,
07:31you know, damn well, what I know inside the Phoenix organization, they are caught.
07:37It doesn't mean it's permanent though. And I would caution against that being,
07:41I don't see how they're going to recover. I really don't.
07:44Three really, really good players. And they could decide that they want to actually
07:48play basketball together again. I think they've all decided that they don't.
07:51And we'll see, time will tell. They've lost two straight games and that's fine.
07:56It's not their togetherness. It's, it's them and their front office and their ownership.
08:01And their coach. And there's so much going on there is one of the 10 worst in all sports.
08:06And Arizona happens to have two of the, of the bottom 10. I wonder if it's something in the
08:11water, but yeah, the sons are broken. And you said this in the off season where you couldn't
08:16possibly imagine them doing what they've done, which is three guys making 50 million and they
08:21did it. And they got to the deadline. They tried to trade two of them. One of them said, no.
08:25And the other one said, nah, not really. So they're all still there. And poor Devin Booker,
08:31who's out there like I'm the son. And can you guys like join me? Can we be what we thought
08:35we were going to be? And the answer might be no. So I'm not going to dismiss your point,
08:39but I just think it's a little surprising that heading into the deadline or heading
08:43into the all-star break, you're willing to take three teams that are ahead of the
08:48Warriors and say, all three of you move aside. You're done. It can be surprising all you want.
08:54I'm shocked. You can feel that way. I'm not ready to give the Warriors that much
09:00carte blanche to go ahead and like, they won two games of Jimmy Butler. Great.
09:05What have you been all year? You've been mediocre up and down. Yeah. Totally.
09:09Mediocre Curry's been not a consistent 30 a night guy. And Draymond Green has been
09:14icing up every time off the court. That's why I'm telling you that it could actually be as
09:20far down as the eight seed, which by the way, they will probably be the eight seed in a matter
09:25of hours. That would be another prediction. I think that we'll see what Sacramento does in
09:30New Orleans tonight. But if the Warriors win tonight, they move in front of Dallas.
09:33I just don't see these three teams as they're not just their roster, but their emotional makeup
09:40based on what has happened to them. I don't think can survive what the Warriors now have
09:46because the Warriors, whether you're big on Jimmy Butler or not, what the Warriors have right now
09:52is cohesion. They have people who are all on the same page. I loved reading what Jonathan
09:57Kaminga has said about this trade deadline. And he sounds very, very much on board and excited
10:04to play with Jimmy Butler based on similar playing styles. And just there's an energy
10:09around the Warriors right now. And sure, anything bad could happen. I'm assuming health largely
10:18for all the teams that I'm talking about. And I'm telling you that the Warriors are going to
10:23shake through Phoenix, Sacramento, and Dallas. And I think they've got a really good chance
10:28to either catch Minnesota or the Clippers. Minnesota, I think is a really good basketball
10:33team. They'll probably go get that six seed. The Clippers to me are overachievers. I don't
10:38know if that lasts. Houston probably is too far away, although they are really leaking oil right
10:44now and they're young. So I just see vulnerability there. The Warriors have their own vulnerabilities.
10:50I acknowledge that. But what the Warriors have over those three teams that I'm talking about
10:55is emotional stability. Right for now. I mean, the emotional stability is there. And we've had
11:01two games of Jimmy Butler and boy, everything's great. And he's gotten to the foul line and
11:05Steph and Draymond and Jimmy, they're all healthy. And it's great when you're winning.
11:09When you win your first two games, it's easy to have emotional stability. I wonder when you get
11:14deep into February and March and you start to have these guys playing more and playing more often and
11:21whether or not you have a small injury here or there and can Kaminga fit and all the rest of it.
11:25I'm here for it. Because if you look at the record that they would need to get up to 46 wins,
11:30which last year wasn't good enough to be the sixth, but generally 46, 47, 48,
11:36that's about where you need to be. So even if the Warriors have emotional stability,
11:40you still need to win two out of every three games the rest of the way to be in that spot.
11:44Sure. And I believe that they will. I believe that they will. That's all. I mean, they were
11:51this record last year. I love your question. They were this record last year. They finished with 46
11:56wins, and nobody's going to answer that they don't think they're a better team this time.
12:00And last year's team did not have the benefit, I think, of this year's team of looking at some
12:06of these teams around them and looking at the discord that they are going through at this hour.
12:11Well, they were a team with the discord. That's correct. You had Chris Paul, who was clearly
12:15one and done. You had Klay Thompson, who was maybe in the second year of a two-year,
12:19I want out of here drama. You had Dario Saric, who played a lot early and then didn't play
12:25anymore after that. And beyond those guys, you didn't have a lot in terms of depth and cohesion,
12:32and you got down to the end of the game, the end of the season rather, and you played Sacramento
12:36on the play-in and you got crushed. And so this team does feel different. Maybe it's just Jimmy
12:41Butler and a small sample, but having Jimmy gives you a little bit more of that swagger,
12:46a little bit more of that edge and a guy who is a pro who's been there and done it. So yeah,
12:51right now that the composition of this team for me is better than what it was last year.
12:56I'd love to hear. We'd love to hear from, from, from your warrior fans on kind of where,
13:01where that uncle Mo optimism sits now with regard to the standings,
13:06where do you think they're going to end up based on what we know right now? 888-957-9570
13:12is the number. My take is less based on, Ooh, Jimmy Fitz. Here we go. We going to be championship.
13:20War is going to win all the games. The Warriors still have holes. The Warriors still have holes.
13:24It's been two games. Let's see what happens. This next 30 hours is going to be challenging.
13:30And I wonder how they'll navigate that. And so more opinions to come with new information the
13:38rest of the week for sure. But I think that they're sitting right now in company that
13:44is very advantageous, very advantageous because the Phoenix suns, um, I know they've only lost
13:52as you put it a couple in a row. Um, but if you look at what happened and go back, I really think
13:59that this is, this is worth our time. Remember when Joe Lacob sat with rich climbing, the sons
14:06are here on a Friday night and it's prior to the trade deadline and they clown the Warriors. Yep.
14:11They killed the Warriors while climbing and Joe Lacob sat there together. Okay. Since then you
14:18can say, Oh, they've lost two in a row since then. And that those discussions and the realization
14:24that the sons were trying to trade Kevin Durant, the sons are one in five. They're only victory
14:31being, um, a home game against the Utah jazz in overtime. They are playing horrific.
14:38Back against Portland road. Correct. They're playing terrible basketball
14:43and they're an emotional wreck. And I don't think they're coming back. Yeah, we'll see.
14:47I mean, they have the talent to make it back, but based on everything that happened,
14:52Beal not wanting to be traded, KD saying, no, thank you. And Booker kind of being the guy
14:56sitting there holding the bag. It feels like they're a team that could plummet, but
15:01they still have a lot of talent. So until it happens, I'm going to reserve a judgment.