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00:00You can refute it if you want, you can agree with it, you can answer the question, straight up.
00:08How come y'all stopped caring about Jonathan Kaminga returning?
00:12When did that happen, and why?
00:15I don't really want to hear, oh no, because it's like...
00:20We care, but we care less.
00:21You care less!
00:23You absolutely care less.
00:25And so, I'm not quite sure what to do with that in this moment.
00:31I get the obvious reasons, which are the Warriors are winning all their basketball games.
00:37But, you also know this, a week and a half ago, he remained the number one hot button of the team.
00:45Right? And there was this debate that got started about like, ooh, is he gonna be able to fit in?
00:52Will he fit in? Should he not fit in?
00:55Guru's like, gotta start!
00:57Right? He's like, okay, we gotta start him.
00:59No, he should keep coming off the bench.
01:02Draymond and Jimmy are answering questions post-game.
01:05No, he can fit in.
01:07And then Steve Kerr's doing a press conference.
01:09He's like, well, what I'd really like him to do is watch Jimmy Butler and make decisions like Jimmy Butler.
01:15I'd like him to do that.
01:16And there's all this discussion around Jonathan Kaminga, and then...
01:20Bang!
01:22Nobody brought up his name ever again.
01:26Entire road trip. Week and a half. Five basketball games.
01:30I barely heard anyone even bring up Jonathan Kaminga.
01:33We talked about him scrimmaging, and we talked about him being close to a return in the middle of the road trip,
01:39and then game three of five happened, and he wasn't close, and then he was ruled out,
01:44and it was some head-scratching and some conversation,
01:47but we haven't really been hankering for his return because they are 10-1 with Jimmy Butler in the lineup?
01:5410-1 with Jimmy Butler in the lineup.
01:55So what are we even doing?
01:56Well, what are we doing? I mean, that's kind of what I'm getting at.
01:59Well, what we're doing is slow playing a very good, young, athletic player,
02:05and, you know, we'll get you when we need you.
02:08That's the mindset that I'm... that's the signal I'm getting from the team.
02:12And he may play tomorrow.
02:13Maybe.
02:14And he's probably more likely to play Monday, I think.
02:16Monday's a softer landing spot against a team that, you know, maybe you'd have an easier time against.
02:22Portland can play.
02:24They were down 27-5 yesterday, so none of these games can ever be overlooked.
02:28Portland can play. They can play.
02:30Sure. All these teams.
02:31And, you know, Portland's young and athletic, and Detroit's got Cade Cunningham and others,
02:36and, you know, a team that is very dangerous and playing very well.
02:40So there is no real soft landing spot because after that you've got a gauntlet.
02:44I know Milwaukee's in there and Denver as well, so there really is no easy way to do it.
02:49But I do look at it and think you can kind of ease them back in because you've been doing so great without it.
02:55Well, by the way, this is not meant to be some sort of criticism aimed at Jonathan Kaminga.
03:00Like, it's not.
03:02I just think there are two main reasons, but it's fascinating to me how quickly the faucet got turned off.
03:09There's two things, and one's obvious.
03:11They're winning all of their basketball games.
03:13The other one is the way the Warriors have talked about him or not talked about him.
03:20I mean, this thing got cloak and dagger for some reason.
03:25You bring up Jonathan Kaminga and Steve Kerr, the chattiest interview in the Bay,
03:31and they're like, yeah, nope, nothing, sorry.
03:35They don't want to talk about him.
03:37And I get that, too.
03:38They're trying to make sure they don't put any pressure on the kid.
03:41They're managing expectations of a return.
03:43I understand all of the dynamics, but it's led to this situation that I think is pretty difficult.
03:51It's pretty difficult.
03:53If you win all of your basketball games and now Jonathan gets thrown back into the fray on some level,
04:01you very much have a don't upset the apple cart type of a vibe right now.
04:07Things are going so well.
04:09And so you can either be excited, you're like, ooh, they're going really well,
04:12and another good player is going to join the team.
04:15Or, hey, you put a new ingredient in the stew, it's going to taste different.
04:19Of course, and you don't know how it's going to taste.
04:22You definitely have to be careful, and I think because of that reality,
04:27you don't have to even think about rushing him back,
04:30and you don't have to talk about timelines to return.
04:33I do think it will be one of the next two games because if he doesn't play tomorrow
04:38and he doesn't play Monday, now there's going to be a lot more questioning that comes up
04:43because now we're going to be looking at two and a half months,
04:46and then you can rightly ask, are you guys just going to shut him down for the year?
04:51Is he close?
04:53What are we doing here?
04:55I do think that we're getting to that point where harder questions will be asked,
04:59and we're going to have Steve Kerr hopefully Tuesday of next week between games.
05:03I'm not sure officially when we'll have him.
05:05Yeah, Tuesday or Wednesday.
05:06We will have him, and so when we do, and if he hasn't played by then,
05:11it's fair to kind of press him a little bit about what's the plan.
05:16Is there any head scratching going on?
05:18Let me ask that.
05:20Do you think something has not?
05:22It feels to me like something has not gone according to plan.
05:25I asked him that when we had him earlier this week about setbacks
05:29or is it just prudence and patience, and he said it's more prudence and patience.
05:34There have been no setbacks, so I don't think that I take him at his word.
05:39Steve's a pretty honest guy.
05:40He's never been one to lie to us.
05:42No, I think he admitted the injury was worse than maybe they originally thought it was.
05:47Right, so because of that, I do think that with an explosive athlete,
05:51you're more likely to slow play it, and also they have three games
05:56and four nights on this trip.
05:58There's a little bit of a wop, bop, bop.
06:00Yeah, but here's what I'm getting at,
06:03and I hope everybody knows this.
06:04When we talk to the Anthony Slaters of the world, Monty Pools, Tim Kawakamis,
06:10when these guys put their reports out there, this is not going out there willy-nilly.
06:15They're talking to people.
06:17So while the Warriors are like, don't want to put any pressure on Jonathan Kaminga,
06:23that's their public stance.
06:26However, they are also behind the scenes feeding at least something
06:32that is in the realm of information to the people who are on the beat.
06:38And Anthony Slater came on this radio station multiple times
06:43and was like, yeah, it may not be until the road trip,
06:47but probably halfway through the road trip is what we're looking at.
06:53And we don't even have a target.
06:56So I'm sorry, I don't really buy, I'm not saying a setback happened,
07:01but this is not going the way the Warriors thought it was going to go,
07:05even as recently as a week ago.
07:07Agreed.
07:08And when it initially happened, and we talked to Doc Pandia from UCSF Health,
07:13and we talked about three weeks until they even would look at it again,
07:16it seemed like a grade two, but every injury is not like the other.
07:21And if it was a grade three, which means a complete tearing of the ligaments,
07:25surgery becomes an option.
07:26It's not mandatory, but I don't think that it was that severe.
07:30And everybody responds differently.
07:32And I do believe, and I think I asked the doc this when we had him about three weeks ago,
07:37about the first ankle sprain being worse because for the first time,
07:42those ligaments really opened up.
07:44And so not only do you have to get the ankle healthy,
07:48but then you have to get that confidence back to be able to cut, jump, land, plant, run,
07:54do all the things that Kaminga needs to do.
07:57I'm not going to say this to diminish or demean Kavon Looney.
08:02If he has an ankle sprain, it's a little bit of a different deal
08:05because he plays mostly on the ground.
08:07No doubt.
08:08I agree with that.
08:09And Doc Pandia did tell us, as you said, if it is a grade three,
08:13it's not out of the question for it to take nine to ten weeks.
08:16And just so everybody has the math in front of them, tomorrow night is nine weeks
08:20since his last basketball game.
08:22Tomorrow night is nine weeks since his last basketball game on January 4th.
08:26So maybe that is all good or in line with what this should be.
08:34But all I'm saying is the Warriors were feeding to their people as recently as ten days ago,
08:42yeah, Jonathan's probably going to play about halfway through the road trip.
08:45Well, the road trip's now done, and Steve Kerr has literally said,
08:48nope, got no info for you.
08:50Nothing.
08:52Now, Shams has said, maybe Saturday.
08:55Well, I'll tell you what, if he doesn't then show up and play tomorrow night,
08:58I'm going to start asking even more questions because, you know,
09:04something's not adding up right now with this kid's return.
09:08And then the other side to it, which is what I think I'm even more interested in,
09:12is all of you fans
09:14and how this winning streak is affecting your thirst, or lack thereof,
09:19to get Jonathan back into this lineup.
09:21This is what everyone was kind of talking about two weeks ago.
09:25Now it sort of feels like everyone's like, eh, whatever.
09:30I mean, it'd be great, you know.
09:32The Guru and Bonte were talking a lot about it today in an excited way.
09:37Like, if that goes well, yes.
09:39Obviously the Warriors become even more dynamic.
09:42At the same time, they're 10-1 with Jimmy Butler looking exactly like they do right now.
09:48And if Jonathan comes back and plays big minutes,
09:51somebody who's playing well is losing time.
09:54I don't know if I want to do that right now.
09:56Yeah, and you can take Guy's minutes, but that's not a ton of minutes.
10:00And you can take some of Moses Moody's minutes, and you will, but he's playing great.
10:04And I mentioned it yesterday that going into the game he was a plus 100, I think,
10:09over the time that Jimmy Butler has been here, or plus 120.
10:12And Paz is a plus 100.
10:14So everyone with Jimmy is playing better.
10:17Now, will Jonathan Kaminga play better around Jimmy Butler?
10:21I think it's fair to assume yes, but there will be a learning curve that it takes.
10:26And part of the frustration, Mark, is you look at the six games before Kaminga got hurt,
10:32not including the game in which he got hurt,
10:34but the games before, 31 minutes a night, 24 points, 8 rebounds.
10:39He was 24-8 over those six games.
10:42Now, it didn't lead to winning.
10:44They lost a couple of tough ones in there.
10:46But he was starting to show real strides toward being that dude, that No. 2 scorer.
10:52And now you don't need him to be that.
10:54And even if you do, he can't really hit the ground and do that when he's been out for nine weeks.
10:59Yeah, yeah.
11:01Tim and Raleigh on this issue.
11:03Hi, Tim.
11:04Thanks for calling Willard and Debs.
11:05What's up?
11:06What's up, guys?
11:08I guess my thing would be I think any basketball person would definitely probably say
11:13the feeling for this team is this guy coming back and being successful.
11:17But I guess, guys, I just really got to ask, one minute you say the doctor says 8 to 12 weeks,
11:23and I know this for sure because I played basketball in high school,
11:26and I shredded my ankle, and it was one of these severe ones like this
11:30where they say actually a break would be better than one of these kind of ankle sprains.
11:36And I just don't understand.
11:37Like, guys, you listen to Slater.
11:39You guys listen to the coach.
11:41And they told you that the kid pretty much is having a hard time coming back from this thing.
11:45Like, they want him to be the explosive guy that he is.
11:49He's icing it after the workouts.
11:51I mean, guys, I mean, listen, the conspiracy theory is the one thing.
11:54But, guys, 8 to 12 weeks for one of these type of injuries is real.
11:59It's no joke.
12:00But when you guys start this whole thing, the conspiracy thing, I mean, what are we thinking, guys?
12:05No conspiracy theory here, Tim.
12:07Tim, no conspiracy theory.
12:09Absolutely none.
12:11The statement I made, and I stand by it, is as of about a week to 10 days ago,
12:16the Warriors thought one thing was going to happen and another thing happened.
12:20It didn't happen.
12:22And that's not a conspiracy.
12:24That's not a concern.
12:26It's a fact that the Warriors thought he was going to be back on this trip, and he's not.
12:32And the Warriors won four or five games on this trip,
12:35and I think it's completely fair to have concern about putting somebody in
12:40for 25 to 30 minutes a night at some point when things are going so well.
12:45That's all I'm saying, Tim.
12:47Willard, I understand that.
12:50But we just said that a doctor says it can be 8 to 12 weeks.
12:54Now if we want to talk about him being immersed back into the lineup,
12:57I think any basketball person knows for this team to hit their ceiling with 335, 235, and 137,
13:05that they need this kid to come back and be a contributor at a pretty decent level.
13:09Nobody needs him to come back and play 25, 30 minutes right off the bat,
13:13but it would be nice to let him ramp back up so if we get to the playoffs,
13:17the guys operating at an optimal level.
13:20There you go, Tim.
13:21That's exactly what I'm saying.
13:23I don't know why you're trying to turn this into something controversial.
13:26It really isn't.
13:28The bottom line is I agree with you.
13:30If the Warriors are going to be totally maxed out,
13:33Kaminga's going to have to be a real piece to this,
13:36and you can't ramp up with four games left to go before the playoffs start.
13:40So if they're going to do this, you've got to do it soon,
13:43and you're doing it within the framework of the Warriors winning almost every night,
13:47which is very, very tricky.
13:49He is a big-minutes guy.
13:51He's a big presence on this team, but they're doing awesome without him.
13:55So the challenges I talked about two weeks ago, in my opinion,
13:59have become now even greater.
14:01Will, all I'm saying is that when we go against the heavyweights and the big boys,
14:06we're going to need this guy operating at a higher level.
14:09I'm not saying the kid is already used to having success playing off of others.
14:13Yes, the six games before the injury, it was running through him,
14:17but all of his success leading up over the last three, four years,
14:20things weren't ran for him.
14:22He got his success playing off of Steph, playing off of Drake,
14:25playing off of everybody else.
14:27So I don't think it's going to be hard to him to revert back
14:30to what his success even started from.
14:32Yes, going before the injury, we started running it through him.
14:36He gave you 25, 30 points, whatever.
14:39But he can easily get 17 or 20 playing off of others with slashing
14:43and cutting and hitting open threes.
14:45That's all he's done his whole career with.
14:47And, Tim, I hope you're right.
14:49Thanks, Tim.
14:50Appreciate you.
14:51I hope you're right.
14:52I mean, you could sit there and say that.
14:54Right now, they're just words.
14:56I hope you're right.
14:58The facts that we know are that the Warriors thought Jonathan Kaminga
15:01was coming back this week, and he didn't.
15:03That, for me, is the curious part.
15:05And they've won almost all the games during that time.
15:09And so they haven't felt the need to throw him out there,
15:12not that they would because they want him to be totally right,
15:15but I don't think that they have the same level of pressure.
15:18Now, Jonathan might be feeling pressure because it is a contract year,
15:21and he wants to get out there and play.
15:23I think he's missed 30 games now, or tomorrow will be 30,
15:27and that's almost half a season.
15:29So it's a contract year.
15:31You were just starting to really play awesome, and you got hurt,
15:35and it was the first real bad ankle injury that you've had,
15:38and so it takes time.
15:39And I don't think anyone is saying the Warriors are.
15:42They're conspiring to hold him down to make sure that, you know,
15:45if we win without him, then his contract's going to be lower,
15:48and we can lowball him in the offseason.
15:50Or I don't think that the team is conspiring against him at all.
15:54I do think there is some internal concern about how long it's taking.
15:59It doesn't mean that he's not tough.
16:01It doesn't mean that he's not close to ready.
16:03We don't really know.
16:04But normally when you get a severe ankle injury, you get a ramp-up,
16:09which he's had, and when the ramp-up is over, you start to play.
16:13And so he's done everything.
16:15He's scrimmaged.
16:16He's done three on three, five on five.
16:18He's gone through all of it.
16:19And now you get to a point where, okay, time to start playing.
16:23And I do think if it's not tomorrow, it'll be Monday.
16:26And if it's not tomorrow or Monday.
16:28Yeah, what if it's not Monday?
16:29Well, then I think that we have real honest concerns,
16:32and that's where Steve Kerr maybe, you know, we can address it.
16:36I'm sure the local media will address it.
16:38But that's when you get to a point of what else does he need to do?
16:42What are we missing, you know?
16:43Totally.
16:44I wonder if he's expressing something.
16:47I wonder if he's really expressing something.
16:50And this is the number one thing that I've been interested in all along,
16:55which is the mental side of this situation for Jonathan Kaminga.
16:59I think it's very difficult.
17:01You've got a contract sitting there, but he's also been a very good teammate.
17:06He's a good team player.
17:07He's not put himself above the team ever.
17:10He comes off the bench when reportedly he doesn't want to,
17:13and he's done it well.
17:15So if he's a really good team player and he's sitting there watching the team
17:19catch fire and win all of these games,
17:22and he's not feeling fully confident in what his ankle is going to give him,
17:28I can see him sort of being like,
17:30ugh, like I don't want to go out there until I really, really feel good.
17:35I don't know that that's what's going on.
17:37But I think it's a fair speculation based on the fact that clearly behind the
17:43scenes people were talking about Jonathan returning in New York,
17:47or certainly by New York, and he didn't.
17:51So what could be driving that?
17:53I don't know.
17:55And even the report from Shams with regard to coming back tomorrow night
17:59against Detroit was very tenuous.
18:02It was like, ah, maybe, maybe, and come back for a few minutes.
18:06It just feels like somebody doesn't have confidence in something.
18:09I don't know if it's his ankle is fit, or I got no idea.
18:13But something is not going right.
18:16Yeah, and that's why I asked Steve about setbacks,
18:18because when you go through the ramp-up and you get all the way through the
18:22ramp-up, which includes scrimmaging five-on-five,
18:24and we've heard nothing about him having any setback other than natural things,
18:29swelling.
18:30So he needs to ice up after a scrimmage.
18:32Fine.
18:33I ice up after our four-hour show, and I'm sitting in a chair all day.
18:35So ice is very natural.
18:37Do you really?
18:38I try to, yeah.
18:39Try to keep the inflammation down.
18:40Ice what part?
18:41The knees.
18:42Oh, okay.
18:43Ice the knees a little bit, you know, especially on these heavy walking days,
18:45CYO days when I do 15 miles.
18:47I try to, you know, get prepared this time of year.
18:49But if you're Kaminga, that's natural.
18:51And we haven't heard anything about a setback, which is why I asked Steve that.
18:55And he said, no, no setbacks.
18:57So I think if we get to Monday and he doesn't play, it's fair to ask,
19:01what is it then?
19:02If he's ramped up and there are no setbacks, is it Jonathan's mentals?
19:07Is it you guys don't really need him to play because you've won 12 of 13?
19:11What is it?
19:12I guess put it this way, and this is the emotion of the fan.
19:15Let me ask you this.
19:16When I say Jonathan Kaminga's return, is your first emotion excitement
19:23or is your first emotion nervousness?
19:28It's excitement.
19:29Okay, good.
19:30It's excitement.
19:31That's a good thing.
19:32That's a good thing.
19:33That's a good thing.
19:34But I think there's got to be some Warrior fans out there,
19:37or at least I don't want to speak for anyone else.
19:39I'll tell you for me, yes, it's excitement,
19:43but there's a piece of the other one too, which is I hope this doesn't mess anything up.
19:49And I'd say that about any player, by the way.
19:51It's just, you know, I remember this happened with Clay.
19:55When Clay came back, the Warriors were playing great.
19:57Everyone's like, and now we're getting Clay.
19:59And then they started losing games.
20:00It's like, yeah, because you're changing the ingredients to the whole thing,
20:05and that's very, very tough.