Warriors changing what they're asking of Kuminga?

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00:00This is what we started out the day talking about, which was the very sort of uninspiring tone

00:07that Steve Kerr used when asked, after practice yesterday, about how to pair

00:13Kaminga with Jimmy Butler when Jonathan is ready to return, because that is getting close.

00:19I think, you know, the obvious question is the spacing, because neither one of them

00:26is a five. They're, you know, we're really looking at them as a three and a four. And

00:33so, you know, can we space the floor well enough with the two of them on the court together?

00:40We should be able to defend at a high level. You know, it'd be great to have that kind of

00:48size and athleticism on the wings. There's a lot to like. And then, you know, we just have to

00:56sort through the offensive execution. You know, can we put a group around them that makes sense,

01:05that we can, you know, kind of rely on a two-way offense and defense dynamic? And that remains to

01:13be seen. Okay, so both of us just keep laughing because there's nothing wrong with the answer,

01:22but I just, and like, we'll be honest with Steve when he comes on, honestly. Like, it's just,

01:26you listen to it, and I'm like, it just doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. It sounds like he's

01:32thinking about it for the first time, and I know he's not, because he's had Jimmy Butler now for

01:37almost two weeks, and he knows Kaminga's coming back, and so I'm sure he's thought a lot about it,

01:42but it just, the way he's answering it makes it seem like he's answering it on the fly. Like,

01:48you know, I hadn't even thought about it, so let me think. Well, neither one of them's not a five,

01:53and you know, spacing is a big thing, and so yeah, it's yet to be seen. Yeah, like, that's the worst

02:00phrase that you want to hear right now. Like, I don't want to hear it remains to be seen,

02:05even though it is an omnipresent truth. Right. It always remains to be seen, always. So,

02:12when you end with that, yeah, it's kind of a punt. It's kind of a punt, is what it felt like

02:20and sounded like, and you're right. Of course, he's thought about it. Of course, they're running

02:25every single permutation and predictive aspect of this. Obviously, that's what they do. They're the

02:34Golden State Warriors, and they're not bleeping around. That's certainly not how I feel,

02:40but when you listen to him, I do think there's a healthy bit of like,

02:47look, this isn't just two good players, and so poof. It's not that, and I know with the

02:54Warriors situation, by the time Jonathan gets back and there's 24 or 25 games left,

02:58that's what we're going to call for. I think a lot of our callers today have sounded like that.

03:04Jonathan's good. Put him in. I wish it worked that way, and I don't think it does,

03:11and it sounds to me like Steve doesn't think it does. It doesn't work that way, and that goes

03:15back to my point about Milwaukee and Kuzma and your point before about Luka and the Lakers. It

03:21just doesn't automatically work like fantasy basketball. You've got a great player playing

03:27alongside another great player, so now you're going to be super great because you got two of

03:31the 10 best players in the league together, so now you're going to be just amazing because that's

03:36the way it works, and it's not the way it works. In your fantasy football team, when you have two

03:41great running backs who are on two different teams, they can both be awesome for your team.

03:46They're not playing on the same football team, and now Jimmy Butler joins a team that plays a

03:52certain way, so he has to adapt to that, and Kaminga hasn't played with him, and when he comes

03:57back, he now has to adapt to that, and when Jonathan was here when he was healthy and Jimmy

04:04wasn't here, a lot of Jonathan's job was go out there and get it. Go get buckets. You'll be out

04:10there when Steph isn't. We don't have a lot else around you, so when you're out there, go 100 miles

04:16an hour. Get to the hoop. Get to the line. Get you yours, and now when he plays with Jimmy Butler,

04:22that's not going to be your role anymore. No. Your role is going to be get you yours, but Jimmy,

04:30but Steph, and so you're asking Jonathan at 22, and Stiney made this point earlier, and I think

04:35he's right. You're asking a 22-year-old without a ton of basketball experience to now go from

04:41it's you, it's your time, go get it, and now you're going to ask him to pick your spots.

04:47Pick your spots, but oh by the way, TikTok, TikTok, contract negotiations are coming.

04:52Right? Yeah. Those are two like, you're right, because before Jimmy, it was go do your thing,

04:59and contract is coming, so go do your thing, and now it's contract is coming, go do your thing,

05:05but pick your spots. Pick your spots. Joe Lincoln loves you, so don't worry. Yeah,

05:09oh yeah, we're gonna take care of you. Don't worry. We got you. It'll be fine if you only

05:13score nine tonight. If you only play 17 minutes and get five shots. It's complex, man. Very. It

05:20really is. This is touchy, and I'm not saying they can't. Not touchy-feely. No, I'm not saying

05:25they can't figure it out. I think they will. I'm not saying that, you know, there's a problem

05:30brewing. I just think that Jonathan's assignment here and Steve Kerr's assignment here is complex,

05:37and here's something I probably shouldn't say, because I know how sports media works, and so

05:41someone's going to rip me for this, but that's fine. Make sure you tweet this. This is what,

05:47this is the thing that's going to be hard. What Jonathan Kamingo was tasked to do before,

05:54as you just said, was a very physical assignment. It's like being on that old game show,

05:59Double Dare, and taking the physical challenge. Sorry, sorry, Granny and Lucas had no clue what

06:05I just said. Yeah, it was a Nickelodeon show. Yeah, anyway. Which used to be a network. You

06:09don't have to shrug your shoulders at me, Lucas. I said, I know you don't get what I just said.

06:13Nickelodeon? But you know Double Dare? No. Do you know what the physical challenge is? No. Okay,

06:17so just nod. You don't get, I threw it over your head on purpose, okay? It's like third down,

06:24throw it away, keep the field goal intact. We're going to kick the three, and then we're going to

06:29kick off and try to live another day. All right, Lucas? That's great. I actually love Double Dare.

06:33You know what the physical challenge is? Of course. All right, perfect. You're a throwback.

06:37The greatest obstacle course in television history, probably. Tremendous, tremendous.

06:41Outside of Legends of the Hidden Temple, maybe. Joe Grandy, what the Double Dare?

06:44American Gladiators is on the phone, but go ahead. That's definitely ahead of your time.

06:50I watched it. Oh, gosh. Anyway, it was a physical challenge. Go out there, do you,

06:57we want you to be aggressive, get to the line. Well, now what Jonathan is going to be asked to do

07:04is much more of a mental challenge, and they're going to ask a 22-year-old who has, at times,

07:11struggled with this on and off in his career, and it's this, play heady basketball. You are now

07:18playing with multiple NBA royalty people on the floor at the same time, people who have achieved

07:24the idea of being an NBA one, and there's multiple, and they're all healthy, and now Draymond's going

07:30to move to the five, where he's kind of brilliant on defense. This has always been the thing with

07:35Jonathan. No one questions his leaping ability, his focus, his talent. What they do question

07:41sometimes is, are you in the right spot at the right time, especially on the defensive side

07:46of the ball? We had an assistant coach, I think Ron Adams came on earlier in the year and said,

07:51when Jonathan started to really score in this league, and we've watched this with players,

07:56that's when he was like, ah, I don't need to play defense anymore. You're really going to have to,

08:01if this is going to work, you're going to have to know exactly what you're supposed to be doing

08:06on both sides of the ball all the time. And the question will be, is Jonathan at a point in his

08:12career, with the amount of minutes he's now played this year, where he's ready to do that?

08:18And I don't know. I don't know. Are you consistently ready to be making the right decision?

08:25Not just execute the drive, but the right decision almost all the time. I think that's

08:33the question that faces the Warriors. And it's a challenge because you've

08:36had him play a certain way the majority of the year, which is not that he hasn't had to be

08:41heady and smart. And I do think that he's developed a lot of that over the course of

08:46his four-year career. But now when you've got another option, who's going to be ahead of you

08:50on the pecking order? And this is where playing with Andrew Wiggins is kind of a luxury for

08:54a younger player like Jonathan Kaminga, because Andrew Wiggins was never going to be

08:59domineering or ball dominant, or a guy who's going to take up some of your touches and some of your

09:06shine. But Jimmy Butler is going to be that guy. Jimmy Butler is somebody who likes to have the

09:12ball in his hands. He likes to create. He does a lot of the things that Jonathan does. He gets in

09:16the paint. He gets to the foul line. He tries to attack and go downhill. So if you're Kaminga,

09:22there'll be possessions where he's just going to be relegated to the wing or the corner,

09:28and that's not what he does best. So if Jimmy Butler's got it and Jimmy's trying to cook and

09:33do his thing, then Kaminga suddenly becomes a non-factor.

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