• 2 days ago
Transcript
00:00Stan Van Gundy's on the line to talk to us.
00:02I can't wait.
00:03Yeah, this is going to be really good, especially at a time like this, coming out of All-Star
00:06Weekend, get a moment to breathe, kind of get the lay of the land, and the new-look
00:11Warriors and get his thoughts on all of that on the River Islands guest line right now.
00:16Stan Van Gundy with us on Willard & Dibbs.
00:17Hey, coach, how are you?
00:18I'm good.
00:19How are you guys?
00:20We're fantastic, man.
00:21Can't wait to get your response on a bunch of stuff, including these new-look Warriors.
00:27Jimmy Butler to the Warriors.
00:29How real of a thing is this in terms of getting the Warriors into, like, actual relevancy?
00:36Well, look, I mean, it's a great move up, and I think Mike Bundy, he did an outstanding
00:43job making that move without giving up any of their young players.
00:49So I think everybody in San Francisco's got the right to be excited.
00:55Do I think it makes them a contender with Oklahoma City, Memphis, the Lakers, Houston?
01:04No, I don't.
01:06But it's a step up, and they certainly, I think, would have a chance to get into playoffs
01:11and win a series.
01:13Which would be something.
01:14I mean, it's better than what they've done in recent pasts since they won the title.
01:20They've struggled to do more than just win a series.
01:23How much does the pedigree of a player like Jimmy Butler, a guy who's been to the Finals
01:27a couple of times, how much does that matter when you get into a series against a team
01:32like Houston or OKC that hasn't yet had that experience?
01:37Well, certainly the Warriors would have a big edge in terms of experience, but still
01:45the number one factor is talent.
01:50And then beyond that, you worry about things like experience, and so to me there would
01:55be a big talent mismatch between Oklahoma City and Golden State still.
02:01But certainly a much better chance for Golden State with a player like Butler, who plays
02:09both ends of the floor, he's a closer, very, very good in close games, and as usual with
02:18Jimmy Butler, he's played very few regular season games this year, so he should be very
02:24fresh going down the stretch because the guy doesn't play a lot in the regular season.
02:27Stan Van Gundy with us, Willard and Dibbs.
02:30Coach, I want to ask you this about Draymond Green.
02:33It's certainly nothing new to the Warriors, but I wonder, in your experience as a coach,
02:38what is it like to handle a player like that who's willing to publicly say anything?
02:43I mean, over the weekend we literally got, they're going to win a championship, he's
02:47already been offered the head coaching job with the Warriors, he thinks the NBA is now
02:51boring, he said the new All-Star format is an absolute zero, rising stars shouldn't be
02:57there, I mean, he said all of this in one weekend.
03:00What is that like for a locker room and a coach?
03:04Well look, I, the first thing is, right, when you have a guy like Draymond Green, let's
03:11not focus first and foremost on what he says, but first and foremost on what he does.
03:18And he's one of the great competitors in this league over the last decade plus, and so virtually
03:25any coach in this league would welcome having Draymond Green.
03:31And look, I mean, a guy going out and expressing confidence in his own team, that's a good
03:36thing, especially with a young team like the Warriors.
03:40And now you have those young guys looking and saying, wow, a guy who's won multiple
03:44championships believes we've got what it takes to do things, so I think all of that stuff
03:53is a positive.
03:54Now, his thoughts on the All-Star game and the league and things like that, you know,
04:00those are his, and he has every right to them, and he's a smart guy, and he's been around
04:04a long time.
04:06I personally think that, you know, what started with a lot of us, myself included, as what
04:14we thought was legitimate criticism has, we've spent way too much time beating up on the
04:19game.
04:20The game is in good shape, it's a good game to watch, our product is good, doesn't mean
04:25things can't be improved, but because there are things that can be improved, we've gone
04:31to the point of a lot of people, both players, coaches, analysts, everybody's sort of beaten
04:38up on the league, and I think that's unfortunate.
04:40And I do think part of it's hyperbole, Coach, but I look at the numbers, and 42.1% of all
04:46shots this year are three-point shots.
04:49Is that something that the league needs to address?
04:52Do they need to make the three-point shot more difficult to encourage players to have
04:57to do something other than drive and kick?
05:01Well, look, I personally would like us to get back to a game where there was more movement,
05:11where there were more plays trying to be finished at the rim against good defense.
05:17I think those are the most exciting plays in the game, and I would like to see more
05:22diversity of playing style.
05:26But what has happened, and I think that as people talk about, wow, all they're doing
05:32is shooting threes, okay, there's a lot of threes going up, but why is that?
05:38The skill level of players has gone so far up, and there's so many guys who can shoot
05:46threes successfully, efficiently.
05:50That's why it's gone up, because the players are better, they're more skilled.
05:55Let's at least at the same time appreciate that, and let's appreciate this, the league
06:03and Silver and the front office, they have always looked at how they can better the product
06:11on the floor.
06:12They've looked at it consistently, whether it's replay, whether it was back defensive
06:17rules, hand checking.
06:22We went in and penalized the take foul in the open floor, so we get these exciting guys
06:28like Giannis and LeBron, you can't just stop the break.
06:31They're always looking for ways to improve, so we've got a great product.
06:37The player skill level's never been higher, and we've got a league office that we can
06:44count on to study ways to make this great product even better, but they're not going
06:51to rush into things.
06:52The thing I think could help, but again, I'm talking about it off the top of my head, and
07:00Adam Silver and his people study these things over and over.
07:04I would love to just see the arc stay at 23-9 all the way around, which would eliminate
07:12the corner three-point shot, the closest one.
07:15It would mean there would be no advantage to standing two guys in the corners, which
07:20virtually every team does on every possession now.
07:25What are you going to do with those two guys if there's no advantage to them standing in
07:30the corner?
07:31They're going to have to be involved in your offense, moving, cutting, screening, coming
07:36off screens, things like that.
07:38I think we could improve the game in that way.
07:41It would obviously decrease three-point attempts.
07:48I would love to see that at least studied, looked at in the G League, whatever that would
07:55amount to as far as research, but again, I really do trust the people in the league office
08:03that they are continually looking for ways to make the game better.
08:07Steven Gundy, long time coach, analyst, NBA with us here, Willard and Dibbs, 95-7 the
08:11game.
08:12Coach, in your experience, is it realistic to really contend in the NBA when your core
08:21players have all had their 35th birthday?
08:28You know, look, I think there's a lot of ways to contend in the league.
08:31The question is going to be asked on the other side of that with the Thunder, is it
08:36realistic with a team that young to be able to contend that?
08:41I think we've gotten to the point with on the young end, the guys getting to league
08:47earlier and gaining that experience earlier, and on the upper end with the advances in
08:54conditioning and things like that to where I'm not sure that the age is all that relevant.
09:03I think the Warriors' experience, particularly of their three best players, could be a major
09:11benefit.
09:12Look, what gets harder as you get older, you know, it doesn't take an analyst to look at
09:20that, is it gets harder to stay healthy.
09:22And staying healthy throughout the playoffs is a huge success.
09:27So if the Warriors can trot out there with Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler and Draymond
09:34Green every night, plus the majority of their young players, yeah, then they're going to
09:39be tough for anybody to beat.
09:41But if those guys are going to break down, no, then they're going to be eliminated early.
09:45You see what happened at the deadline with Luka being traded and Anthony Davis on the
09:49move and De'Aaron Fox to San Antonio and Jimmy Butler to Golden State.
09:53Did that surprise you that so many big names and all-stars, current and past, were on the
09:59move?
10:00Look, I have always said up until this trade deadline that nothing in the NBA shocks me.
10:09But the Luka Doncic trade shocked me.
10:13A 25-year-old superstar, I think, easily one of the top five players in the NBA to be traded
10:24at that age, coming off a trip to the NBA Finals for a guy who's a very, very good player,
10:31but six years older, that was shocking to me.
10:34I'm not sure any of the others by themselves really surprised me, but I think the sheer
10:42volume of recent all-stars being traded certainly surprised me, and we've never seen anything
10:50like that.
10:52Brandon Ingram goes, I mean, a lot of guys who've been in all-star games in the last
10:57three or four years getting traded at the break, yeah, I think that was surprising.
11:02But the big one was Doncic to the Lakers, a guy that is going to be, I mean, look, he's
11:10been in what, the top five or top six, whatever, of MVP voting for five years already.
11:16I mean, to have that guy traded at 25, and what I didn't like about the whole thing is
11:24all the stories that came out afterwards, really sort of, in my opinion anyway, attacking
11:32his character and lack of commitment to his conditioning and all of that, rather than
11:40focusing on the accomplishments this guy's had in the last five years.
11:46And then look, Dallas needs to do what's best for their team, I'm not sitting here trying
11:50to criticize Nico Harrison and Michael Finley and those guys, I mean, that group has made
11:56a lot of smart moves and have proven themselves, in my mind, as a very strong front office.
12:04So whatever their reasons, let's see it play out, but I did not, I was shocked by the move
12:10and I did not like what I perceived, at least, to be attacks on Luka Doncic without enough
12:20evidence.
12:22Hey Stan, what's your view on Jonathan Kuminga's future?
12:25Yeah, that's a great question and I really don't have the answer and I would say that's
12:33sort of where I am on all the Warriors young guys, I like all of them.
12:38I like Kuminga, I like Podjemski, I like Moses Moody, I like Trace Jackson Davis, I don't
12:45know who I'm leaving out there, probably somebody because I always do, but I like those guys,
12:50I like all of them.
12:51I think, at the least, those guys are all good rotation players on a good team, on a
12:59contending team, where I don't know is, are there any of those guys who can be a top two
13:09or three player on a contending team, are they that level?
13:16And I don't think we'll know that until Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler and Drayvon Green are
13:23on the other side of this and those guys get a chance to step into those roles because
13:29we're only going to see flashes until then, because you play differently as a complementary
13:35player than you would as a star.
13:37I did love it that Mike Dunleavy was able to hang on to all four of those guys because
13:44I'm very confident that they've already proven they can be valuable players on a very good
13:51team.
13:52How do you go about that then, when you're in Steve Kerr's shoes, where you're trying
13:57to compete for a championship, you've got three core veterans now and you've had more
14:01veterans in the past, but you also want to develop younger players.
14:05How do you develop young players while also trying to be in a win-now mode with veterans?
14:12Look, it's not an easy thing and I think they have really focused on trying to win right
14:19now, so those guys who are playing have earned that playing time, which I think is a great
14:25thing for the development of young players.
14:28They're not on a team that's tanking, they're not just handing guys playing time and you
14:33can see all of those guys have had their playing time go up and down based on their performances.
14:41I think that's going to be tremendous for their development down the road and I think
14:46the Warriors, as an organization, with their whole idea of two timelines, that's one of
14:53the hardest things to do.
14:55A lot of teams have tried to do it over the years and walk that fine line and do both.
15:01Not easy to do, but I think they're doing it about as well as they possibly can.
15:07The danger, of course, is that you're not fully doing either thing.
15:14They didn't sell out to try to win now and trade those young guys and bring even more
15:20help in for the veteran guys.
15:25They also didn't go into a full-on rebuild and give these guys the opportunity to step
15:32into the most prominent roles.
15:35They're walking that tightrope and it's not easy, but I like what they're doing.
15:52I didn't hear it come out of his mouth, I read the quotes, so I know that he said it.
15:58Do you think he would make a good coach?
16:01Look, I don't think there's any way of judging that on guys fully until they're into the
16:08role.
16:09I had a lot of people questioning me on that this summer with J.J. Redick and I had coached
16:13J.J., but look, Draymond has a lot going for him.
16:19He's very smart.
16:21He does know what it takes to win.
16:24He's been around very good teams.
16:26He's played for outstanding coaches, Tom Izzo, Mark Jackson, Steve Kerr, Greg Popovich in
16:35the Olympics.
16:37He's got as good a background as you could possibly have simply going through a playing
16:45career, but being a leader as a player is wholly different from being a leader as a
16:54coach.
16:55The types are different, the requirements of the job are different, and I think Draymond
17:01would probably have as good a chance as anyone for making the jump from player to head coach,
17:10but it's not an easy thing.
17:12It's not an easy thing for anybody and I think it may be harder, quite honestly, to do it
17:19with the same team you've just played for than like J.J. Redick going to the L.A. Lakers.
17:28I think if Draymond were to do that, let's just say, I don't think Draymond's done playing,
17:33but let's just say it were next year.
17:36Now he's coaching a bunch of guys that he played with.
17:39To me, that would just add to the challenge, but I got a lot of respect for Draymond's
17:45knowledge of the game.
17:47I got a lot of respect for his competitiveness and I think he'd have as good a chance as
17:53any.
17:54What's the hardest part about being an NBA coach?
17:59You know, the hardest part is the other 29 guys we're all trying to win, too.
18:05And so, you know, that really is it.
18:10I mean, the competition, both in terms of players on the other teams and the coaching
18:17around the league just gets better and better all the time.
18:22It's just difficult.
18:23You can be doing a great job and it not showing up in the win column because, you know, you
18:31just don't have the players.
18:33To me, it's pretty easy to know what we're talking about.
18:37I mean, does anybody really believe that Steve Kerr is not as good a coach now as he was,
18:45you know, two years ago, three years ago, seven or eight years ago?
18:49No, the rosters are different and the teams he has to compete with are different.
18:55Steve Kerr is a great basketball coach.
18:58Competition's gotten stiffer, so he's not winning as many games as he did before.
19:03You know, Mike Brown, who was with the Warriors and then in Sacramento, he was the unanimous,
19:09first only guy ever, unanimous coach of the year two years ago, and he's fired this year.
19:14What did he get, stupid all of a sudden?
19:16Like, you know, that's not what happens.
19:19The level of competition is the hardest thing.
19:24It's also the best thing.
19:26You know, all of us are competitive as coaches and the challenge of going out against LeBron
19:33James and Steph Curry and then the other coaches, the Greg Popovich's, the Eric Spolster's,
19:39the Steve Kerr's, and trying to figure out a way to get a win, that's what drives coaches.
19:47But it's also what makes it really, really difficult because you can have the greatest
19:53defensive scheme in the world and guys like LeBron James and Kevin Durant, you know, they
20:01just make it look like you don't know what you're doing.
20:04So the level of competition is high and I think you've got to realize that as you get
20:11into it, that I don't care how good you are, there's going to be a lot of tough moments.
20:18Stan Van Gundy with us, Willard and Debs.
20:20Coach, before you go, you know, you mentioned how special Steph Curry is there.
20:24I mean, it's like we're mindful of the fact he's about to turn 37, but he just won MVP
20:29of the All-Star Game and was the de facto host of the whole thing.
20:33He's still as big of a name as there is out there.
20:36What does that say to you?
20:37What was your experience coaching against him and how he might be even a little bit
20:42different than other stars?
20:44Well, look, I think Steph Curry and LeBron James are, you know, they've been faces of
20:52this league for a long time.
20:54And you know, all those finals matchups, they've both been in the finals a lot of times.
20:59They've won championships, the whole thing.
21:02But to me, what sets those guys apart is how they've represented our league in the game.
21:08I mean, where are the scandals and the controversies with LeBron James and Steph Curry?
21:16I mean, these guys get it.
21:19They understand what it's all about.
21:21They're great competitors, but they understand.
21:25Steph Curry understood.
21:26You don't think Steph Curry, at 37 years old, would have liked to have kicked his feet up
21:31a little bit this weekend and relaxed?
21:36Even playing in the game, but at least Friday night, Saturday, relax and things like that.
21:41But he understood.
21:43The game's in.
21:44My home city.
21:46I'm the face of the franchise.
21:48The NBA needs to improve this All-Star Game product.
21:52I've got to step up and do my part.
21:55That's what makes him special.
21:57You watch him interact with fans.
21:59You watch his demeanor on the floor with his teammates, his coaches, opposing players,
22:06referees, media, everything else.
22:09I mean, if I were teaching a class to guys in college getting ready to come in the NBA
22:18about how to conduct yourself as a professional, the class would be easy.
22:22We would just get a camera and follow Steph Curry around 24 hours a day and just say,
22:30hey, look guys, act like this, work like this, play like this, approach your profession like
22:36this.
22:38You cannot have a better representative of the NBA and what a professional athlete should
22:44look like than Steph Curry.
22:47Great stuff.
22:48Hey, Stan, wonderful to have you, man.
22:50Thank you so much for the time today.
22:52Yeah, great talking to you guys.
22:55Enjoy the rest of the season.