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00:00And there was actually a flurry on our text line as we were just talking about Buddy Heald of like,
00:07hey, Steph Curry makes bad passes. Steph Curry misses shots. Steph Curry makes mistakes. Right.
00:17Buddy Heald, no turnovers last night.
00:19And your point is?
00:22Like, what are we trying to say here? I mean, that's Steph Curry. Steph Curry has also
00:28bailed you out. Steph Curry has also single-handedly won games. Hell, you could argue
00:33that Steph Curry has single-handedly won championships or at least games in championship
00:38series, Game 4 Boston, what have you. Like, I don't know. I'm as patient as they come
00:45when it comes to fans watching players. And I'm not sitting here today telling you,
00:50like, get Buddy Heald off of the team or anything like that. I'm just saying that right now,
00:57this isn't working. And it appears that teammates are starting to get frustrated.
01:02And if there are some other options, and maybe until Jonathan Kaminga comes back, there aren't.
01:07I understand that. But if there are some other options to lower his minutes right now,
01:12give him a breather, let him watch the game for a little bit, I'd do it. I'd do it. Because right
01:17now, he is a net negative on both sides of the floor. Well, last night, for sure. And, you know,
01:23when you go one for nine and you're a minus 21, it's easy to look at it and go, yeah,
01:27you're a net negative, but he was not the only one. And if you look at what they were last night
01:32from three, they were 10 for 35. So if you take out his one for six, they were nine for 29,
01:38which is not good. So it's not like he was the only guy who kind of held them down.
01:43You couldn't make layups and you couldn't hit threes and you certainly couldn't defend Kyrie
01:49Irving. And, you know, I laid it out and I watched all Kyrie's baskets and I didn't
01:53include the Moses Moody senseless foul on the three point shot where, you know,
02:00people could complain whether or not Kyrie was actually going to shoot the three.
02:04Moses Moody had his arm straight in the picnic basket and Kyrie knows what that means. And so
02:11he rised up or he rose up and he made it look like he was shooting a three and he got the foul.
02:16But there's a rule for that when it's what's called a swing through.
02:21But he actually made it look like he was shooting the ball.
02:23Not really. He threw up his left hand. Was Kyrie suddenly going to shoot the ball left-handed?
02:27Because his right hand was being corralled by Moses Moody.
02:30I disagree with that one. That's a two shot foul.
02:33Whatever it is, Moses Moody defensively, that was a terrible, terrible play to try to reach in
02:41on the play in that spot. So we can look at Buddy Heald and one for nine and we can blame Buddy
02:46and I'm not sure if you're doing that for last night. It's a bigger picture for Buddy Heald,
02:51yes, but I wonder what the fix is because you don't have a lot of other options.
02:55Yeah, I'm not talking like this. This would not be to me a fair point if it was just last night.
03:00Right.
03:01Everybody has bad games. Buddy has had three bad months.
03:07Well, they all had a bad game last night, except for...
03:10We can let that sink in. Buddy was really good and then he stopped being good
03:15and has rarely been good since he stopped being good.
03:19That's unfair, but...
03:20It's not unfair, it's true.
03:21He had three straight good games and then he had a couple of bad games.
03:25When did he have three straight good games?
03:27Against Utah, he was four of eight from three. Against the Lakers, four of nine from three.
03:32Against Chicago, four of nine from three. Those are good games.
03:35Those are... No, see, I disagree. You don't have a good game just because you hit a few
03:39three-pointers.
03:40That's what his job is.
03:41No, his job is actually to be a basketball player for the Golden State Warriors. That
03:45means that you have to make smart plays. You have to make smart passes.
03:48You have to play on both ends of the floor. I know you may not be the most talented defender,
03:53but you have to do these things.
03:54And again, I'm very big. You don't have to be. I'm very big on body language.
04:01It's one of the things that has shaped my opinion about Jordan Poole through the years.
04:07And I feel like the Warrior players are starting to get frustrated with him.
04:12Well, last night, for sure.
04:14In general, in general. Like, I don't think you look that way on national TV or even local TV
04:21if it's like the first time. When you start looking exasperated with your teammate,
04:26that means it's been over and over and over and over again.
04:31And that's what I'm reading right now. That's what I'm reading.
04:35And if that's the case, then his role needs to be diminished.
04:39In place of whom?
04:41Well, that is a fair...
04:43It's easy to just say, it's Benchim. Okay, who are you going to play?
04:46I didn't say Benchim. I said diminish. And so if that means more minutes,
04:51and I know Pods and Moody, for example, already got a lot of minutes last night.
04:55But if that means more combinations that push that 28 minutes from Buddy last night down to 20,
05:01I'm in on that. And I am talking about also when Jonathan Kaminga comes back.
05:06Sure.
05:07There has to be a message sent that this is not the way you play basketball. This is too loose.
05:13I get it.
05:14It's too loose.
05:15You're a team that does rely a lot on the three ball.
05:18And if you don't have Buddy at least as a threat to shoot the three,
05:21and even though he's had a little bit of a scuffle,
05:24and I mentioned three straight games where he actually shot it well,
05:27last night was not one of them.
05:29If you don't have Buddy healed out there to shoot the three, who do you have?
05:32You've got Quentin Post and Steph.
05:37Pods and Moody shoot it just as well as he does right now.
05:40If you want to look over the last two months, they shoot it just as well.
05:44I get what you're saying. He's a threat that they are, but I don't know, man.
05:50I'm kind of like about the ball going in.
05:52Moses Moody hits just as many.
05:55He hits it at just as good of a rate as Buddy Hill does right now, at least.
05:59Shooting it maybe, what, three times a game?
06:02Fewer times. He also has a lot less minutes until recently.
06:06So that's all I'm saying.
06:08I think right now he's a better player.
06:11This isn't like leave and don't ever come back.
06:14I get it.
06:14This isn't like I'm punishing you.
06:16This just isn't working.
06:18He's just making poor basketball plays.
06:21And listen to Mike Dunleavy, man.
06:23This was a big, big deal last night.
06:25Yeah, I think right now where we stand, I mean,
06:27we've kind of talked about it as the playoffs begin now.
06:30Every night matters.
06:31Last night was just a huge, you know,
06:35it felt like losing game five on the road to playoff series is really what it felt like.
06:38So that's how it's going to be for the next, you know,
06:4128, 30 games, however many we have left.
06:43Every night matters.
06:44I mean, these stadiums are so tight.
06:45Usually every night you're playing, you know, not only playing in standings,
06:49but you may be playing a tiebreaker.
06:50Last night was a tiebreaker game for us against the Mavericks, you know,
06:53and these games are count and double.
06:55So I would hope, you know, everybody understands that,
06:58feels that the players, the coaches, I mean, we got to be in playoff mode.
07:02That's the situation we put ourselves in right now with
07:05kicking some of these games throughout the year,
07:07which have been really, really disappointing.
07:08But, you know, if you like the playoffs, might as well get it started early.
07:12Yeah, I mean, that's a good point.
07:14Last night was a tiebreaker game with Dallas.
07:17If I'm not mistaken, tonight, is tonight a tiebreaker game?
07:21Warriors are 2-1 versus Houston so far this year.
07:24Okay, so what happens if they lose?
07:25That tiebreaker just becomes null and void
07:27and it goes to the next tiebreaker?
07:29I'll double check if they have a fifth game schedule,
07:31but I would imagine they don't.
07:32Right, so in theory, in theory, this could be a tiebreaker game.
07:37In other words, you could, and you're probably not going to...
07:39I mean, you're assuming that you're going to climb up and have a tiebreaker.
07:42I'm not assuming anything.
07:43It's just, I'd like, you'd like to have that in your hip pocket.
07:45You would, and Dallas is one...
07:46Houston's lost a lot of basketball games lately.
07:48You have Dallas one more time, and that, to me,
07:50feels much more like a possible tiebreaker with Dallas.
07:54And, you know, you're now down 2-1 in those games.
07:58You know, you mentioned Moses, and he's shooting 35% from three
08:01since he started really getting actual minutes going back to early January,
08:06so he's been better, but he's been a little bit worse,
08:09although he's had some good games.
08:11For me, it comes down to more about the fit defensively,
08:15and if Moses is going to play the four,
08:17and that's where Steve likes to play him,
08:19and you don't have Kaminga, and you're not playing TJD,
08:22and Looney doesn't play much,
08:24so Moses is now in the group of power forwards.
08:28Who's your shooting guard?
08:29Yeah, no, it's, look, it's a completely fair response
08:32that you're giving, and it's quick.
08:34Houston, they do have another game against Houston coming up.
08:37They play five games against Houston.
08:38They play five, okay.
08:40They had an in-season tournament game against Houston.
08:42That's right, so actually, the Warriors could...
08:45They'd have to win one of the next two to get the tiebreaker in season.
08:48They can firmly take the tiebreaker if they win tonight,
08:52and again, they're probably not going to catch Houston,
08:54but Houston is falling apart.
08:56Houston has lost a ton of basketball games
08:58the last two and a half weeks,
09:00so anyway, let's hear from you.
09:02888-957-9570, Stephen Oakland.
09:05Hi, Steve, thanks for calling.
09:07Hey, appreciate it, man.
09:09I'm surprised we got through so easy.
09:12Honestly, I can't sit there and watch
09:15four quarters of basketball like I used to,
09:16but I watched the Warrior game overall last night,
09:20and during crunch time,
09:23you got to make some defensive adjustments.
09:25You can't have Steph on the court
09:26on a really important defensive possession, in my opinion,
09:30and Steve Kerr sometimes, to me,
09:32kind of falls asleep at the wheel
09:33when it comes to decision-making.
09:35Also, sit still if he's not making shots
09:39and play someone else.
09:40Jackson Davis is on a bench.
09:42Post, he looks like he's lively on his feet.
09:45He's quick on his feet.
09:46He can shoot.
09:47He's seven foot.
09:49Give him some playing time.
09:51Play some different combinations.
09:53Yeah, Steve, that's fair.
09:55It's totally fair.
09:56I mean, you did bring up two centers
09:58when you talked about bringing Buddy Heald out,
10:01and so, Steve, thanks very much.
10:03I think Dibbs' point, and it's a fair one,
10:07is that in this moment,
10:09when you train Andrew Wiggins and Dennis Schroeder,
10:12yeah, you don't have a whole lot of options
10:15as far as who can handle the two guard duties,
10:18which, again, is more about who you guard
10:20than it is about what you're doing on offense.
10:23Moses Moody has even recently said,
10:25two, three, four, pretty much the same thing
10:27in today's NBA,
10:28but not on the defensive side of the ball.
10:30And you spotlighted a moment
10:32where Moses Moody had big problems
10:34trying to guard Kyrie.
10:35A bunch of people did.
10:36They all did, yeah.
10:37He might be the hardest guard in the entire world.
10:41I mean, he is famous for his one-on-one moves.
10:44He is phenomenal and very, very difficult to guard.
10:47But we also have to say this,
10:50like, if you're gonna get that frustrated
10:52about last night's game,
10:54here's something that's real.
10:57They missed Wiggins.
10:59They missed him last night.
11:01Well, he wouldn't guard Kyrie.
11:03I mean...
11:04He could.
11:05I don't think anyone could.
11:06Well, he got better shot
11:08than just about anybody else
11:09they got on the roster right now.
11:10Well, GP2 would be the guy.
11:11Yeah, but he's not...
11:13GP2's not a 30-minute guy.
11:15Well, he played 16 minutes.
11:16If you thought that he could guard Kyrie,
11:19then here's an idea.
11:20Play him more.
11:22I ran down every field goal that he made,
11:24and I did it with our show thread,
11:26and I just watched it on NBA.com,
11:28and you all can do that.
11:29Go to the box score
11:31and click on the field goal made,
11:33and a video pops up of every shot that they were taking.
11:36And a lot of those were GP2 was on him,
11:39and they ran a little screen roll,
11:41and then whoever was guarding the screener
11:43had to guard him.
11:44They would switch.
11:44And then Kyrie went by him.
11:46And Kyrie scored on everybody.
11:48He scored on Gary.
11:49He scored on Buddy.
11:50He scored on Jimmy and Draymond and Steph and Quentin.
11:54He scored on everybody.
11:55He's phenomenal.
11:56He's Kyrie Irving.
11:58Well, here's an idea.
11:58He's Uncle Drew.
11:59Stop somebody else.
12:00Well, yeah, that...
12:02Look, Steve Kerr laid down on the sword after the game
12:06and said, look, we finally started in the fourth quarter
12:09running at him to get the ball out of his hands.
12:11It helped a little bit,
12:13and I probably waited too long to do that.
12:15So he fell on the sword there,
12:17and he's probably right.
12:18Yes, like when you see a star who's going off,
12:22you got to address that right away,
12:24especially in a night like last night
12:26where, let's be honest,
12:27Dallas has very, very few other options.
12:30Yeah.
12:30Max Christie had a really good night.
12:32He had it going a little bit,
12:33but who the hell is Dallas really turning to
12:36if you can at least stop Kyrie from being so incessant
12:41with the way he was scoring?
12:42Well, they'll turn to Olivier Maxence Prosper.
12:47Whatever you just said.
12:48They'll turn to Najee Marshall or Kyler Kelly
12:52or Brandon Williams.
12:54Basically, Kyrie scored 42 of the 111,
12:58and you still couldn't win that game?
13:00Yep.
13:01He had almost half their points,
13:03and you had no answer.
13:05And for Steve to say, you know,
13:06by the fourth quarter, we realized,
13:08one, maybe we should start doubling him.
13:11That's not okay.
13:12It's not okay for you to need 36 minutes of basketball
13:16to figure out that their one really good player
13:18is killing you.
13:20Here's what Steve Kerr said last night,
13:22and this is twofold.
13:23First, he's talking about the first half
13:25and just did not think the guys were ready to play.
13:27I think it took us too long to start playing
13:29and really focusing and, you know,
13:32locking in on executing at both ends.
13:35And we messed around with the game for too long
13:38and then left ourselves vulnerable.
13:40And obviously, they cashed in.
13:43They did a great job.
13:44Okay.
13:44Now he's talking about late in the game.
13:46I don't think there was anything, you know,
13:48egregious or any huge mistakes or anything like that.
13:51I just think, like I said,
13:52we left the game in the balance
13:55because of our poor play earlier in the game.
13:57And then, you know, when you do that
13:59and, you know, the other team is at home
14:02and they got a guy like Kyrie who forces your hand
14:05and, you know, we left ourselves vulnerable.
14:07And that's disappointing.
14:09There it is from Steve Kerr last night.
14:10Let's keep going with your phone calls,
14:13John and Modesto here on Willard & Dibbs.
14:15Hey, John.
14:17Hey, guys.
14:18I appreciate taking the call.
14:20So you were asking about who can play, right?
14:25So basically, why don't we move Jimmy to the two
14:30and then put Guy Santos
14:32until Kaminga comes back into the four
14:35and basically get them a little bit more size.
14:38Part of the reason why they were getting killed is,
14:41you know, from a size perspective,
14:45they're pretty small.
14:46And when you got Buddy Hield in there
14:50who's already a liability, you compound it.
14:54So when you look, if you look at the plus minus,
14:58when the Warriors really lose a lot of their,
15:00is when they go super small.
15:03And then when do they get back
15:05when they start putting some of the bigger guys in?
15:08And it's just clockwork.
15:11And so I think that that's a potential solution
15:14is getting a little bit bigger,
15:16putting Guy Santos in there,
15:18along with Jimmy at the two.
15:21John, thanks.
15:21I do think, and again, I'm going to admit
15:24that these rotations and these ideas that we all have
15:27can be a little bit harder to execute
15:29than we make it sound like.
15:31You know, Jimmy Butler, can he be the two?
15:34Sure, he can.
15:36A little bit of a bigger guy.
15:38I'll just say this.
15:40Guy Santos appears to be a winning basketball player.
15:45And it doesn't mean
15:46that he's ever going to fill up a box score,
15:48but he does a lot of little things right
15:51when it comes to rebounding,
15:52when it comes to defense,
15:53when it comes to positioning,
15:54when it comes to passing the ball.
15:56Guy Santos is somebody who's helpful.
15:59And so sure, I'd like to see a little more of him.
16:02And kind of, he gives me the feels that Buddy doesn't.
16:05Like, he makes the right play.
16:08Buddy often makes the wrong play.
16:11And that's kind of what then we get triggered
16:13where it's like,
16:14dude, if you're hitting your three-point shot,
16:16we can deal with some stuff.
16:18But when you don't hit it,
16:20he really suddenly stands out like a sore thumb.
16:23Right, and Guy, a guy who played 12 minutes
16:25and took no shots.
16:26So if you want Guy to play,
16:28you've got to have him play with the right lineup
16:30because if Guy's out there with Draymond
16:32and he's out there with Kavon Looney,
16:34well, now you've got three guys who probably won't score.
16:36No, Guy, but he could shoot.
16:38Well, he didn't.
16:39Right, I mean, but he can.
16:41He didn't fire.
16:42He's allowed to.
16:43But he makes it.
16:45He can shoot.
16:46He can shoot.
16:47That's the point.
16:48You played 12 minutes and you didn't shoot.
16:50So it's not like you're out there looking for your shot.
16:54To your point, he did have seven rebounds
16:56and he was a plus 10 when he was out there.
16:58So if you're going to play Guy,
17:00you're not going to play him thinking,
17:01all right, Guy,
17:02we're going to go ahead and run the offense through you.
17:05Go get yours, Guy.
17:06All right, Guy.
17:07I mean, Guy is more like an athletic Kavon.
17:10You're asking him to go out there
17:11and do everything else other than score.
17:13Yeah, but again, I don't mind him out there
17:17because he does have the ability to stretch the floor.
17:21We've seen it before.
17:22You know what I mean?
17:23I'm not going to put him in that Looney category of like,
17:25well, we don't even need to pay attention to him.
17:28If Guy Santos is left alone for a three-pointer,
17:30I'm pretty comfortable with that shot.
17:33I mean, he'll shoot it.
17:34Yeah.
17:34Right.
17:35But I mean, how many times has he shot the ball
17:38from three this year?
17:39I don't know how much he's looking for it.
17:41He shot 51 times in 29 games.
17:44Okay, how many of them have gone in?
17:4621.
17:47That's a really good percentage.
17:48Yeah, that's over 40%.
17:50So you give him maybe one three a game, one or two,
17:52and he's a guy who just does not look to score
17:55and you don't want him to score.
17:56It's not what your offense is designed to do.
17:58So if you're playing Guy,
18:00you're not thinking, all right, Guy,
18:02get in there and give us 10 to 12.
18:04You're putting him in there to be a glue guy,
18:06like a GP2 or like Kavon.
18:09And so that's his role.
18:10Can he shoot?
18:11Yeah, of course.
18:12925 says he's deferring too much.
18:15He becomes less aggressive.
18:16He backs off shooting for some reason, you know?
18:18And maybe that's true.
18:20Like you're a young player who was just getting his minutes.
18:23Team acquires Jimmy Butler, right?
18:25Steph Curry's out there.
18:27You're starting to get the first meaningful minutes
18:29of your career.
18:30You knock down some shots.
18:31I get it.
18:32You might start being like, whoa,
18:33you know what I mean?
18:34How far am I taking this year?
18:36Because as you just said,
18:37you're not running the offense through him.
18:39But I tell you what,
18:40of all the people on the Warrior roster right now,
18:43who I'm comfortable with taking a three-point shot
18:46and feeling like it might go in,
18:47he's on the list.
18:49He's definitely on the list.
18:50So anyway, Jason in Central Valley next up.
18:54Hi, Jason.
18:56How are you doing, boys?
18:57Thank you again for taking my call.
18:59Yeah, man.
18:59I called the other day saying that
19:01that two-guard position is something that looks like
19:03it needs to be addressed in the offseason.
19:05And just like,
19:07I know Buddy Hill's under contract
19:08for the next couple of years,
19:09but I just don't know if that's going to be sustainable.
19:12Like you guys saying,
19:13if he's shooting it well,
19:15no one has anything to say.
19:16But I mean, with respect to Kyrie Irving,
19:18I mean, she's just a bad matchup for everybody.
19:21But at the same time,
19:22it's like you're still firmly on that boat.
19:24Go get Milton.
19:24Maybe we can just use Buddy Hill as insurance behind that.
19:27So yeah, let me know what you guys think about that for now.
19:29Thank you again for your time.
19:30Jason, thanks.
19:32I mean, let's-
19:32It's a no on Milton.
19:33Why?
19:34Because he's coming off an ACL.
19:36So what?
19:36He was coming off an injury this year.
19:38Not an ACL.
19:39No.
19:39He's coming off a back issue.
19:40So you have a guy tear his ACL in November
19:43and you're expecting him to come back and be something
19:46come next November?
19:48No, thanks.
19:48Yeah.
19:49Yeah, that's how ACLs work.
19:50To me, there are other options.
19:51Yeah.
19:51Okay.
19:52I like, again, to me,
19:54DeAnthony Milton, because of those injuries,
19:57when you start talking about how the Warriors,
19:59because of the Butler contract,
20:00because what they want to do with Kaminga,
20:02they're going to be out on the market
20:04looking for minimum salaries.
20:05That's exactly who you want.
20:07That's probably what you can get them for next year.
20:10And the bigger point for me is not so much about next year.
20:13It's about this year.
20:14As we sit here looking at it and go,
20:16man, who's your two guard?
20:18Yeah, it was supposed to be DeAnthony Milton
20:20and they have not been able to replace him.
20:21They've tried twice.
20:23They had Dennis Schroeder and then Dennis left for a trade
20:26and you bring in Butler while Kaminga's hurt.
20:28You're like, all right, we'll do Buddy Heald right now.
20:30And you're 0 for 2.
20:33You're 0 for 2 in replacing the role
20:35that DeAnthony Milton was supposed to play.
20:37Yeah.
20:37I think you're being a little bit too short with Buddy Heald.
20:40And I think the sample size since Jimmy's been here
20:43is too small to look at.
20:45And yeah, Buddy's coming off a bad game.
20:47I'm not ready to throw out the Buddy with the bathwater
20:50because when he can shoot, when he gets hot,
20:53he gives you something that nobody else can on this roster.
20:56Yeah, pods can shoot the three a little bit.
20:58Sometimes.
20:59Miss me with Guy Santos.
21:00Guy is not ready to step forward and be a regular contributor.
21:05And anybody else you want to throw in there at the two guard,
21:08you don't have another option other than Buddy Heald.
21:10Guy's not a two, but I think you're being a little hard on him.
21:14He's a winning basketball player.
21:16I love it when he's out there.