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00:00Uh, let's dive into this a little bit further to see where the Warriors are at on, uh, on
00:04all things, on weather to dibs, and then we'll get back to your calls at 888-957-9570.
00:10Let's bring Slate in, our Warrior insider, The Athletic.
00:13Anthony, what's going on, man?
00:14How are you?
00:15What's up, fellas?
00:16How are you?
00:17Uh, we're doing good, and, uh, and talking this out, and certainly would love your perspective.
00:23To what level are the Warriors in the mindset of, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, because
00:29things are working pretty well right now.
00:31Yeah, I mean, like, Jonathan Kamea is going to play a role when he gets back, um, and
00:36they can mask it as a minutes restriction, which, you know, I say mask it like he shouldn't
00:41come back.
00:42He should probably come back and play 22 or something like that, uh, in his first couple
00:49games back, but he's not going to get zero, and they're not just going to, you know, keep
00:52the same rotation that they have.
00:54Uh, he's going to eat into DeSanto's minutes, he's going to eat into some of Moses Moody's
00:58minutes, he's going to maybe, you know, nibble away from Draymond and Post and some of that,
01:03um, because he's, you know, he's, we'll see if that does, he's going to have to play himself
01:08back into, like, you know, a 30 to 34 minute per night type role, and that may never happen,
01:13or, you know, or that may not happen this year, but he's not going to not roll.
01:19What does he do best that this team is currently missing, and I say currently, like, ever since
01:24Jimmy Butler has arrived on the scene, what's the one thing that Jonathan can bring that
01:29this team is currently lacking?
01:30Yeah, I mean, you still need more guys that can score at the rim and score at the rim
01:33of force, so I still think that's this team's flaw, I mean, in their loss, the one loss
01:38that they have had with Jimmy Butler, I thought that was a big issue, you know, in that game
01:41at Dallas, uh, and even in times when they're succeeding, you know, they're small and they're
01:47still kind of unathletic, and I do think teams with rim protectors are teams that can wall
01:52off the paint and make some of these finishes harder, or, you know, sag off guys and force
01:57these guys into floaters or contested layups, the Warriors don't have a lot of great finishers
02:01at the rim.
02:02They now have one better one with Butler, but they need more, so that's what Kuminga
02:06does, and then I think, um, the ceiling of this team, uh, has a locked in defensive version
02:13of Jonathan Kuminga, particularly on ball.
02:15I still do think, uh, at their worst at times, in Philadelphia, I know they didn't have Butler
02:20that night, but Butler's not, you don't want him to be a primary 30-minute-per-night guy.
02:24They got cooked by Quinton Grimes repeatedly, and I think that's part of their point of
02:28attack issue, that I do think, uh, against the best scores in the league in the playoffs,
02:32uh, they're going to need, you know, better individual defenders, and, and Kuminga, we'll
02:37see.
02:38He's been that at times in his career.
02:39He also hasn't been.
02:40I worry about him as a help defender, uh, but I do think in lineups, which he hasn't
02:44played in yet, that have Jimmy Butler and Jerry Mulgreen behind him, if they just point
02:48and shoot him at a, you know, a target, which would be a good primary score, there's a chance
02:53he could, he could develop into, to a, uh, good individual defender, and I think they
02:57really need that.
02:58Anthony Slater is with us, the Athletic, our Warrior Insider, with it in dibs, 95-7 the
03:03game.
03:04Anthony, especially because you cover the rest of the league, too, I'm curious, with
03:09this new-look Warrior team, what are the matchups that might still be bad for them in the Western
03:17Conference?
03:18Oklahoma City, I think they're bad for everybody.
03:21You know, I think people are, you know, wanting to not fear the Thunder that much, because
03:25they haven't proven it before, but I think, uh, they're a very well-constructed team that,
03:30uh, you know, kind of shaved past some of their flaws that we saw last year.
03:33They got Josh Giddey off the roster, uh, they got Hartenstein, so they can kind of play
03:37bigger lineups, and I think that's, that's a, uh, tough matchup, like I said, for anyone.
03:41And if the Warriors do get up into that 4-5, uh, and win a 4-5 matchup, that's who would
03:46be sitting there, uh, for them in Round 2, as far as who they might play in the first
03:49round.
03:50Um, you know, Denver, like, Nikola Jokic, um, against Draymond Green, or, you know,
03:55they can't play the Draymond Green-Kevon Looney line.
03:58I'm sure they've given that up.
03:59That used, that, you can go back to 2022, where they went through a, a limited version
04:03of the Nuggets in the first round, and that's who they were starting that time, and I think
04:07when you had Looney and Draymond kind of, you know, comboing on the floor at the same
04:11time against Jokic, that was a better defensive, uh, pairing to, to try to hold him back,
04:16but they don't have that anymore.
04:17They can't play those two together, so, uh, that, to me, is, is the matchup you probably
04:22don't want the most, uh, in the first round of Denver.
04:25Can you afford to go with a Post and Draymond-Center combination, and, because clearly TJD is no
04:31longer in the rotation, does this pose a bigger problem with the, the viability of having
04:37to play Quentin Post a lot of minutes in the playoffs?
04:40I mean, offensively, you, you would love to go with a Draymond-Post, uh, combination,
04:46because like, you know, that's, that, that really helps Draymond, a stretch center, which
04:48he, he very often hasn't had out there, but if we're talking, are you asking specifically
04:52in a Denver matchup?
04:53Yeah, really, for Denver, and, you know, I guess OKC is gonna be a problem no matter
04:57who you put out there.
04:58Yeah, so OKC, they started Post, and they just, the Thunder just dragged him into SGA
05:03action, like, repeatedly, and SGA had like 21 in the first quarter, and they didn't start
05:07him in the second half.
05:08So the Thunder just couldn't play him.
05:09So you worry about him in that matchup for that reason, and then in the Denver matchup,
05:13uh, Quentin Post does not come on Louis defensively.
05:15He cannot, you do not want him on Nikola Jokic, uh, so I would be concerned about him in that
05:20matchup.
05:21Now, I think part of the reason you see Quentin Post a lot of times open second and fourth
05:24quarters is because they like to get him on the floor when they, you know, the star scorer
05:29is typically off the floor.
05:30Uh, Nikola Jokic, for example, you know, typically is off the floor to start the second and fourth
05:34quarter, so I think you'll see him in those pockets of the game in those particular matchups.
05:39Anthony Slater with us here.
05:40Hey, back to Kamingo.
05:41What the hell's going on?
05:42Yeah.
05:43Like, come on.
05:44Yeah.
05:45What's going on?
05:46What is taking so long?
05:47Something's up.
05:48I'll tell you.
05:49Um, he, on the road trip, I, you know, the soft target I had been hearing was Charlotte,
05:53uh, which was the middle of that road trip, the third game.
05:56He had a, you know, he'd been playing three-on-three scrimmage and all that, uh, after Philly,
06:00and again, it's not like I'm just getting fed as much detailed information from the
06:05medical side.
06:06I just go with what I see and what I saw after a workout in Philly was, you know, the
06:10ankle seemed to be bothering him.
06:11He was kind of grimacing, holding it a little bit, um, and talking to the training staff.
06:15And then later that night I entered the locker room and he's got his foot in the ice bucket.
06:19He did not play that night, but he's icing his foot post-game, uh, his ankle, we should
06:24say.
06:25And, you know, there's been some residual swelling and, you know, Steve Kirsch kind
06:27of talked about it.
06:28They want him to feel his full burst considering how he plays and, you know, again, I had heard
06:34the soft target after that was Charlotte, that was right before this workout or right
06:37after this workout I'm talking about.
06:39They didn't greenlight him for Charlotte.
06:41They hadn't greenlight him the rest of the trip.
06:43And, you know, from my understanding, you're, you're very likely to see him soon.
06:47I could definitely see it Thursday night after these two off days, he gets in maybe a full
06:50practice Wednesday when the team should get in a full practice.
06:53I think you might see him Thursday.
06:55It has taken longer than, uh, you know, they hoped it would.
06:59Um, but it's not, it's not like there's some type of setback where they've shut him down.
07:02He's still scrimmaging.
07:04He's still doing three on three.
07:05He's still getting closer.
07:06Uh, it's just, if you want to consider a setback or not, I would say it's probably been pushed
07:11back a week longer than they thought it would.
07:13Have you gotten any sense for his eagerness or his, you know, maybe feeling not the contract
07:19pressure, but just the overall wantonness to get back out on the court and, you know,
07:24show the organization again who he was before he got hurt.
07:27Yeah, I mean, I chatted with him briefly, briefly after the Brooklyn game.
07:30He could tell he's like, you know, he's very hopeful of getting back in it in enough time
07:34with the runway.
07:35You mentioned maybe the word anxiousness.
07:36I mean, they're playing so well.
07:38He wants to be a part of it.
07:39He also, you know, he left at a strange time where it was probably like what the best six
07:43game stretch of his career.
07:44It felt like he was finally getting, uh, you know, a runway, um, and a role that they wanted.
07:50He was getting praised, uh, you know, by Steve Kerr and then he disappeared for a while.
07:55And I think he's, I think that's part of what's going on here is he wants his body to be able
07:59to feel a hundred percent right.
08:01He doesn't want to come back as a rusty version of himself or a limited version of himself.
08:05And then suddenly, you know, what are we talking about if, if he struggles his first two games
08:09and DeSantos is playing well, what's the radio segments, you know, what's the, what are we
08:13writing about?
08:14What are the postgame press conference is going to be about?
08:16We all know that he knows that.
08:18And then you add into that what you mentioned in the question, like the contract situation
08:22understandably is obviously, you know, looming over the top of all this.
08:26Well, let's talk about that for a second.
08:28What do you think has happened with the contract situation and how are the warriors going to
08:34play it?
08:35You know, it's restrictive free agency, so they held, they hold a level of, you know,
08:39team control here.
08:40Um, you know, it's some of it I'm sure is going to depend on not only how he plays,
08:44but how the team finishes their season, because Joe Lake of his has been very outwardly confident
08:50that they, they're, they're willing to pay John to come make a long-term, uh, the type
08:53of value that he wants and, and, and that, you know, he'll, he'll command on the market,
08:59but for them to commit as much money as that would mean to, you know, coming up plus Butler,
09:03Draymond, Steph, um, that's going to take them up towards second, April territory.
09:07And I think they're only willing to do that if this looks like a core four, that's like
09:11a contender.
09:12And I don't think we're going to know that until April, May, June this year.
09:15Uh, so if they win and he's a big part of winning, he's going to get, you know, probably
09:18somewhat near his max, which is max is only like 38 ish per year next year or a 38 as
09:23a starting salary.
09:25Um, but if he struggles, if his role is limited, if they flame out in the first round and it
09:30doesn't look like a core that you want to, um, you know, pay, you know, an exorbitant
09:36luxury tax fee for moving forward.
09:38Then I think there is going to be a lot deeper conversations, not only about coming as future,
09:43but about the future of like all the big salary pieces on the state.
09:46Dan, you get the three big ones you mentioned and plus, uh, you know, quietly Moses jumps
09:50up to 11 and a half and buddy's making a clean nine and change.
09:54And so those, those all start to add up as you get into those, those constrictive aprons.
09:59But when you look at this team, Anthony, over the last three weeks or four weeks since Jimmy
10:04has come, is the viability of them making a run?
10:08Is it becoming more and more real or is it just, you know, those of us who are super
10:12fans trying to put too much into this?
10:15Both all, um, they're better, they're better than I, uh, thought they would be.
10:22I think they're better than anybody, even probably internally.
10:24They believed, uh, they would, because if they knew Jimmy Butler would make this type
10:28of impact, probably would have made the trade earlier.
10:31Right.
10:31Right.
10:32Um, you know, and probably wouldn't have flirted with Kevin Durant and otherwise.
10:36Cause at this point, this looked like the perfect move and I'm not sure, uh, they all
10:39knew that at this point.
10:41Um, but you know, I'm not ready to, to looking at who they play and a minute stretches.
10:48So while sure, the profile of this 12 game stretch, when you look at offensive rating,
10:51defensive rating, that screams title contender, too small of a sample against too poor of
10:57a group of opponents, they still have not, you know, no Boston games, no Cleveland games,
11:01no Oklahoma city games.
11:02And by the way, we're not going to see them play those three, uh, the rest of the year.
11:06I'm not ready to just declare them in that group.
11:09Um, so anybody that's, that's saying they're going to win the championship or either
11:13Draymond green, or I think you're still maybe slightly, um, certainly a lot more
11:19threatening than, than they were much more.
11:22Okay.
11:22Well, hold on.
11:23Let's dig, let's dig into that.
11:24Do you still think the idea of title contention for the Warriors is crazy?
11:30Yeah.
11:30But you know, maybe that's just part of me just like that, you know, not wanting to
11:34believe straight rounds of it, um, is, is like when I see what Cleveland is, when I
11:42see what Cleveland is doing to teams, when I see what Boston can do to teams, Oklahoma
11:46city, uh, when I know what, you know, Yoka to that Denver team when, when fully stocked
11:51is, but by saying, I still believe in it, uh, you know, because I didn't try, I didn't
12:00believe in it going into the 2022 playoffs.
12:02And I certainly, you go back to that March when they had lost, you know, they had had
12:05that hot start in 22, uh, 18 and two, I think it was stretch, you know, that they
12:11had lost, um, just kind of, uh, ballpark in here, but there may be like seven and 17
12:17over a 24 game stretch.
12:18And I was definitely like, Oh, this team has nowhere near title contention.
12:21And they didn't even make a big mid season trade to change the team.
12:24Um, so sure.
12:26You know, outside chance.
12:27What's it, what is like percentage chance, right?
12:30I think Daryl Maury's whole thing is if you have a 5% chance, you'd go for it.
12:345% feels like reasonable to say they have.
12:37So then, yeah, I guess they're an outside, you know, title threat.
12:40Okay.
12:41What if I, that now that's asking your opinion, but you had said a minute ago,
12:44like if you think they can win, you're either dream on green or a big super fan.
12:49Do you think that they believe that they can win?
12:53I think that there, the way they've talked, it's more, you know, get us in a
12:58series, get us in a series with one of these guys that, you know, Anthony Slater
13:02says that they, you know, they don't have a shot against the thunder or whatever,
13:05you know, whatever pundit says that.
13:07And like, you know, if they can steal one of those first two on the road, and
13:11then suddenly it's one, one back and chase center for a game three.
13:14And, and, and we're all like, look, they might be the favorites in this series.
13:17Like to me, they're talking more like series to series, but yeah, like I think
13:22dream on green it deep in his heart, believe there's, there's not a team out
13:26there that could be this team four or seven.
13:27I've known Jimmy Butler now for two, three weeks.
13:30He thinks similarly, he has a very dream on green mindset of get, get them on a
13:34playoff floor and you're not going to beat them four out of seven times.
13:37Steph Curry, certainly, you know, if he's hot, uh, you know, at the right time.
13:41Um, you know, maybe you're talking me into it.
13:43I don't know, but, but yes, they believe that they're a bigger
13:47threat than I probably do.
13:49What have you made of Jimmy Butler and his arrival in terms of just the locker
13:53room and the vibes and what he's brought to the team, mostly off the court.
14:00Yeah.
14:00I mean, it's just like an assertiveness, uh, confidence level, which you've seen.
14:04Um, I just, the IQ is probably something that wasn't being mixed in enough.
14:10Like, you know how you just like, it's the supercharged version of the stuff
14:14that Steve Kerr loves, right.
14:15When he plays a lot of these players, even DeSantos right now, it's like,
14:18because always the connector, he cuts.
14:20Well, he does this.
14:21Well, Jimmy Butler does all that in like a superstar seven, six foot seven body.
14:25Uh, and that, uh, just, just that do everything game, that ability to kind
14:30of mold into what a particular game needs.
14:32Be super physical, get downhill, pass.
14:34Well, you know, I think there's going to be moments in the playoffs where
14:37they're getting killed in a point of attack situation, and they're going to
14:40go, Hey, Jimmy Butler, use your energy right now for the next five minutes.
14:44Guarding Luca dodges for five minutes, guarding shake it with just Alexander.
14:48And he'll just suddenly turn into their point of attack defender where you,
14:50again, you don't want that for 25 minutes every night, uh, but his ability
14:54to kind of do everything, uh, you know, really, uh, I think bumps this team,
14:59you know, ceiling upward in so many ways, because on any given night,
15:02he'll just be what they need.
15:04Uh, Anthony, thank you so much for coming on any concerns with a young, but kind
15:09of getting better Portland team tonight.
15:12Well, you said it kind of getting better.
15:14So sure.
15:14You know, I said like, I'll say I saw the line was like 12.
15:17I think I was like, Oh, that's a little high.
15:19Um, you know, they've, they've, they've won some games.
15:22They've threatened, you know, I, I think, uh, Denny obvious, questionable,
15:25he's kind of a quietly important piece for them.
15:28Uh, so if he doesn't play tonight, you know, that's a blow for them, but yeah,
15:31I could, it could be, it could be challenging, you know, Portland
15:34can certainly stay in this game.
15:36Uh, Anthony, great stuff, man.
15:37Thank you so much.
15:39All right, fellas.
15:40Okay.
15:40Anthony Slater, the athletic joining us on Willard and dibs.