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KGMZ-FM / 95.7 THE GAME
  • 5/29/2025
Transcript
00:00But I gotta tell you, you are the man. You are a box of peanut brittle.
00:07Goo, I love you. You're like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get with Goo.
00:12Now, back to Stiney and Guru on 95.7 The Game.
00:17Alright, it's crossover time. Brought to you by Abundant Life Weight Loss.
00:22They know the secret to losing up to one pound of fat every day.
00:26Let's welcome in Mark Willard, Dan Dibley, along with Evan Giddings, and myself.
00:33Hello, gentlemen. What's up, guys?
00:34Hi. How are you?
00:36Uh-oh. Sorry, that's my laptop.
00:38Yeah, that's a foul.
00:40Alright.
00:40Boy, foul.
00:41You get six.
00:42Yeah, exactly. Early foul.
00:44What's on your guys' minds?
00:46Lots. I mean, lots going on always.
00:48I'm kind of fascinated by the Anthony Slater piece on Jonathan Kaminga and the three different agendas that might be in play.
00:57And we'll get into all the machinations of what it might mean for this and that.
01:01But it's more than just, you know, what's going on with Kaminga for me.
01:05I look at last night and I think, boy, Minnesota was more vulnerable, I think, if Steph stayed healthy than I had thought.
01:14But also, OKC is the class of the league.
01:17I don't think the Warriors, even if they got by Minnesota with a healthy Steph, I think OKC would put the smash on just about everybody.
01:26Once they got by Denver, I do think that they've gotten their sea legs and, you know, they avoided an ignominious ouster at the hands of the Nuggets.
01:35And since then, they've looked every bit like the team in the regular year.
01:38Did that go seven? I can't even remember.
01:39It sure did.
01:40It sure did.
01:41Thunder and Nuggets, that's right.
01:42It sure did.
01:43Yeah.
01:43Once they got, and this is often sort of when you see an even matchup, right?
01:47The second half of the series just goes home teams win.
01:51And that's kind of like nobody could win on the other team's floor in that series.
01:55So it went to the end.
01:56And I don't think that last game was terribly close.
01:58I don't remember.
01:59I actually don't think any of the Thunders games were close at home, except for the one they lost.
02:05Yeah.
02:05But they've won almost everything going away by double digits in their own building.
02:10So I tend to agree with what you're saying, Dibs.
02:12But then again, styles make fights.
02:14And you just, you never know.
02:16Yeah.
02:16And forever for me, that's what will, I'll look back on this season with that, like, you wish they had had a healthy shot.
02:26I just wish they had had a healthy shot.
02:28Yeah.
02:28I'm with Dibs.
02:29Curry plays against Minnesota.
02:32You might have won that series, especially if you would have, you know, let's say only misses two games or three.
02:39And it's 2-1.
02:40But then Curry comes back and it's 2-2.
02:43But Curry's back.
02:44Now Minnesota's, you know, kind of on their back foot a little bit.
02:48OKC does look like a different animal entirely.
02:51And, like, we had some people, you know, saying, let's say the Pacers, Oklahoma City will hammer the Pacers.
02:58I don't know.
02:59I don't know.
02:59Like, I don't, they only play twice a year.
03:02I don't know.
03:03Maybe Pacers, Pacers match up great with them.
03:05Paul.
03:05I don't know.
03:06I'm done telling everybody that the Pacers are about to go away because the Pacers don't go away.
03:11But Oklahoma City is awesome defensively.
03:15And the issue with the Warriors, and I kind of said this yesterday, the issue with the Warriors right now is that, I don't want to call them easy to defend, but you watch what Minnesota was able to do.
03:28And, again, Steph wasn't there, so it's not fair, but that's where the Warriors sort of age and lack of height, that's where it hits me.
03:36If you find, if you have the personnel and you find a strategy that works, then the Warriors, like, everything feels like it's really hard.
03:44Everything feels like it's really hard to execute.
03:47They've got great players, so sometimes they can do it, but that's probably not a recipe for success against Oklahoma City because they make everything so incredibly hard.
03:58The Nuggets have a bunch of options, and so they were able to kind of hang in there.
04:02And maybe the Pacers are a little bit like that, but they're not, you know, they're not as devastating because there's no Jokic, but I don't know.
04:10I don't know what that matchup will look like.
04:11I think the Houston series with the Warriors is a good example of what you're talking about because they made it very, very hard.
04:18Amen Thompson made it hard, and Stephen Adams, when he was able to make free throws and play, he made it hard.
04:24And, you know, I think that that was the matchup that was impressive for me that the Warriors won it,
04:29but that's why Steph got hurt in Game 1 is because he had to give absolutely everything just to get them over that hurdle.
04:36Well, and that's where OKC, it's like, if they wanted to take the ball from you, they just took the ball from you.
04:43And I think the reason why the Nuggets were able to survive that a little bit more is because the person who controls the ball the most is the most difficult to take it from in Jokic.
04:51But even they, I mean, Jamal Murray was getting stripped at half court.
04:56Christian Brown looked like, all I was doing last night is imagining what even Curry, who's turnover prone, would look like coming up against Caruso, Williams, SGA, Joe, Wiggins.
05:12Insert OKC perimeter defender.
05:15And then what's pods going to look like bringing the ball up against that?
05:19Like they would take the ball from the Warriors because I'm I'm watching Minnesota and they have 20 turnovers a game.
05:25And I feel like four of them are lazy.
05:29Like a lot of them are just they literally can't do anything with the ball.
05:32And it's a it's a dunk or a layup the other way.
05:35Like OKC defensively, they might not be the greatest offense of all time.
05:38But what they do, they do on that end of the floor.
05:40Or it's to me, it's a replicable and it's it just completely kills any sort of momentum for the other team.
05:47Like they have had the most 10-0 runs in a postseason since the 97 Bulls.
05:52Wow.
05:52Their turnover differential is number one in this last quarter century.
05:58So defensively, if they decide that they want to start revving up and basically not allowing you to score, that's just kind of what they do.
06:04Yeah, and I also look at the offensive end and it is plain as day.
06:12The Warriors need more shooters.
06:14They need more shooters.
06:17I mean, goodness gracious, how many guys on Oklahoma City can make threes?
06:20It feels like all of them.
06:22And that's the way the game's been played recently is the guy penetrates and kicks out.
06:30That ball starts rotating and somebody ends up with a wide open shot.
06:35And the Warriors just need, like I think they need two more shooters on this team or more reliable shooters than they have.
06:43You remember Steve Kerr said that when they left last year.
06:46Yeah.
06:47We need more shooting.
06:48And then they went and got Buddy Heald.
06:49And it was like, cool, OK, you got more shooting.
06:52They also need more people who are able to open up the shooters.
06:56Does this do anything for you, though?
06:57You know, Moses Moody and Brandon Pajemski both had surgery essentially on their shooting hands right after the season ended.
07:05Does it change the way anybody looks at the way they shot the ball coming down the stretch?
07:09Not really.
07:10Yeah, not for me.
07:11Why?
07:12Well, because they, like Moses Moody, lost his shot earlier in the year.
07:17And Brandon Pajemski also.
07:19Not like that, though.
07:20Not quite like that.
07:21I mean, this was crazy in the Minnesota series.
07:23But Pods in Game 5 was spectacular.
07:26It was.
07:26So, I mean, I thought the real injury was Steph Curry.
07:30We were all talking about his thumb and how grotesque it looked.
07:33And yet he's the one guy to not have surgery?
07:35Yeah, that's tough, though.
07:37Everyone was getting hurt around the playoffs, though.
07:40Like, you're not 100%.
07:41Right, but shooting hand.
07:42Well, the way I was.
07:43Your shooting hand is messed up.
07:46And so, yeah, maybe on some nights.
07:47Well, Curry had the thumb.
07:48And he said, whenever I shoot well, it's not an issue.
07:50Whenever I shoot poorly, people are going to kill me for it.
07:53Right, but that's Steph.
07:54I actually look at it this way.
07:55How do you look at it?
07:57It was essentially both their first playoff appearances.
08:01I'm including Moody because they wanted him to do more.
08:04So, they don't get the benefit of the doubt.
08:07Like, no.
08:08Why not?
08:08Now, Butler, on the other hand.
08:09Why?
08:10Because it's their.
08:10Because they were making their playoff debuts.
08:14Do you think it's more emotional?
08:16Well, I just.
08:17They may have been hurt.
08:18It may have affected their shooting.
08:20But I don't give them that benefit of the doubt.
08:21Because they were basically making their first playoff appearance.
08:24I expected them to struggle anyway.
08:26And they did struggle.
08:27Like, I'm more likely to say, I bet you Butler was hurt.
08:33And because he's 35 and.
08:35Well, he was.
08:36Okay.
08:36Yeah.
08:37Like.
08:37And that may have been a factor.
08:38I loved your Flacco thing.
08:41And I.
08:41Pretty cool.
08:42Well, I.
08:42And for those who don't know what I'm talking about.
08:44So, the way he answered the question about do you want to be a mentor to Shador Sanders or whatever.
08:50Or do you have it?
08:51Maybe just play it for everybody.
08:52Do you have it right there in front of you?
08:54Yeah.
08:54Okay.
08:54Take a listen.
08:54Play it.
08:55Play that.
08:55Because it's a good question to bait somebody into answering.
08:59And no matter how they answer it, it kind of makes the guy that's answering it look bad.
09:03If I say I don't want to be a mentor, I look bad.
09:05If I say I do want to be a mentor, then I look like an idiot that doesn't care about being good and playing football.
09:10So, it's one of those questions that no matter what I say, you guys can write what you want to write about it.
09:15And there's a lot of questions like that.
09:16That's why you end up having to try to avoid them.
09:18I tend to try to be honest.
09:20And I've said I'm not a mentor.
09:21I play football.
09:23And in a quarterback room, there's a lot of times already.
09:25There's been already a ton of times where there's learning experiences.
09:29And I have a lot of experience.
09:30And I can talk on things.
09:32And hopefully they listen.
09:33But it's not necessarily like my job to like make sure they listen to me.
09:36And, you know, hey, like hopefully you have a really good relationship.
09:40But the guys that are in the room.
09:41And you naturally want to do that.
09:44You know, but that's, yeah, that was a long-winded answer.
09:49But that's ultimately why I think you guys ask it.
09:51Okay.
09:52Do you know why that just crossed my mind?
09:55Like, it crossed my mind because I heard you play that earlier.
09:57And I guarantee you everybody who was sitting in front of Joe, when he said that, they're all media members and they're all nodding.
10:04Like, yeah, this stupid media.
10:06Yep.
10:06Right?
10:06But like, oh, but he's not talking about me.
10:09If I were any of these players, like this is a window.
10:13This is kind of a moment what we were just talking about.
10:15It's no one's fault.
10:17I don't hold it against any media member.
10:19But I understand why, if you're a player, why you would just hate the media.
10:24Because we sit here and go, nope, nope, you played, so I'm not going to let you be hurt.
10:31Do you know how hard that would be?
10:34Do you know how hard it would be to need to have surgery on your hand and then, therefore, you can't hit from 25 feet?
10:41But because you tried, we're all sitting here being like, nope, too bad.
10:47You played.
10:48You're healthy.
10:49I would hate the media if I were a player.
10:51I would try to, that would drive me nuts.
10:54I would try to have as much fun as possible.
10:57Well, sure.
10:59And I know they make millions of dollars, so it's okay.
11:01But do you know what I'm saying?
11:02That's just part of the gig.
11:03Yeah.
11:03You know?
11:04Right.
11:04Excuses are a part of sports, though.
11:05I mean, it's built into every single, I think, fan base when their team loses.
11:09There's an excuse of why we lost and what happened and there was an injury or this break didn't go our way or the refs got in our way or our coach is, you know, killing this.
11:18Like, I just think that excuses are always built in when you lose.
11:22And we're probably going to find out this summer if, let's say, OKC wins the championship, there's probably a player or two on that team that needed to have surgery.
11:29Oh, for sure.
11:29You know, it's, or like, for example, if it's not on your, if it wasn't on Pod's shooting hand, then it may not affect his shot.
11:36But maybe he's turning the ball over a lot more or you can take it from him more easily.
11:40Like, I just, it sucks.
11:42It's a reality.
11:43But I don't necessarily give him a pass.
11:45No, and I'm not looking, I'm just sort of stating how I would feel if I, if I were them.
11:50And I'm not even looking for it to be quote unquote excuses.
11:53I'm just always interested in the story.
11:55I'm interested, like, there are a thousand things going on with these teams and these players at all times that we know nothing about.
12:03And so, it's interesting to me.
12:05I always want to know the story.
12:07And whether or not you want to feel like it's an excuse, whether you give someone a pass, whether you this, that, or the other, doesn't really matter in the end.
12:16In the end, you had two guys who we were scratching our head going, why are they shooting like that?
12:22And then the season ended and two minutes later, they both had surgery performed on their hands.
12:27That's part of the story.
12:29Yeah.
12:30And I mean, part of the story is also the nature of the surgery.
12:32And I was just looking, he had what's called debridement surgery, which is basically when you go in and you remove tissue, scar tissue.
12:41You're talking about pods.
12:42Yes.
12:42Yes.
12:43So, this was not a torn ligament or, you know, and for Moody,
12:46it was a UCL, the ligament and the thumb, which, you know, obviously is important when you're trying to shoot if the thumb is not strong enough.
12:53But I lean kind of toward what you're saying, Stiney.
12:56It's their first playoff, so we don't know if they would have played like this had they not had these surgeries or these injuries.
13:04We just have no track record on them in the playoffs.
13:07You're listening to 95.7 The Game, KGMZ FM and HD1 San Francisco and Odyssey Sports Station in the home of the Golden State Warriors and Valkyries,
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13:21It can be something in the middle, too, where maybe if they were exactly, you know, hurt exactly the same way midseason,
13:29they would have played a little bit better than they did in the playoffs.
13:32But because it was the playoffs and teams are playing so hard, it looked worse than it might have looked at some other time.
13:40Or if it were in the regular season, maybe they wouldn't have played at all.
13:43Maybe. Yeah.
13:44Oh, yeah. Well, they said Jimmy Butler's injury was like a two-week injury, right?
13:47Yeah.
13:48So he wouldn't have been out there.
13:49I'm actually surprised you haven't heard about a surgery for Jimmy Butler.
13:52He's going to wait until right before the season.
13:56Oh, when he turns 36?
13:58Very good.
13:59His birthday gift?
14:00I don't know what surgery you can do.
14:02I mean, you're going to do like a buttectomy?
14:04Well, I don't know.
14:04Basically a tailbone?
14:06That's just one of those ones.
14:07Isn't that what Shaq always used to do?
14:09Oh, for sure.
14:09He'd have surgery in like late September?
14:11Rehabs on company time?
14:12Well, we'll be fine.
14:13Yeah.
14:14He would always tell you we'll be fine when it matters.
14:18Right.
14:19We'll be fine.
14:19Which for him was usually in March and April, so it's also kind of, yeah, I was going to
14:24say it ended up working out, so yeah.
14:27For the most part, I mean, I promise you there's not a Laker fan on the planet that's not still
14:31ticked about what was left on the table with that pairing.
14:35I mean, they couldn't get along.
14:36They got three.
14:37Oh, Shaq and Kobe.
14:38I thought you meant Luka and LeBron.
14:40No, no, no, no.
14:41Yeah, Shaq and Kobe.
14:42Shaq and Kobe.
14:43That could have gone for as long as they wanted it to.
14:45Well, one of the things.
14:46They couldn't stand each other.
14:47Yeah, one of the things we were kind of talking, we were talking around it a little bit is
14:51I just was thinking we've talked so much about what the Warriors should or shouldn't do and
14:56how they should approach this period.
14:58And I just realized, like, there's no template.
15:01There's been five dynasties in history.
15:03They all ended in a different kind of way.
15:07There's no necessarily right or wrong way.
15:09And there's no test that was taken that proved to be the right way.
15:16I mean, like, those Lakers teams that won three in a row.
15:19Shaq and Kobe kind of ended that.
15:22They just didn't, you know, they stopped functioning as a team.
15:26The Celtics, they just got old.
15:28They got old and they got hurt.
15:31And so I don't know.
15:32And the Bulls, they all basically, I mean, after six titles in eight years.
15:37It imploded.
15:37It imploded.
15:38They all were basically fed up.
15:40Going into the year, they dubbed it the last dance.
15:43Like, that thing was a premeditated conclusion.
15:45Right.
15:46The other one is the Spurs, which is, it's the outlier because, you know, you got Tim Duncan
15:51and then you did well in the draft with Ginobili and Parker.
15:54And then at the tail end, Kawhi Leonard came to life in April.
15:58If you look at his year leading up to the playoffs, he was kind of an ordinary player.
16:03And then he turned into Superman to bookend that dynasty.
16:06And then they all left.
16:09And Kawhi was good enough to get him to the playoffs, won Western Conference Final.
16:15Then when he got traded, they haven't made the playoffs in six years.
16:18Yep.
16:19So he was kind of a holdover from that dynasty.
16:21But then they didn't make the playoffs for six years.
16:23Like, what are the Warriors, they're trying to stave off.
16:30There was another team that didn't, that went six years without making the playoffs after a dynasty.
16:36Maybe it was the Celtics after Byrd and McHale.
16:38I can't remember.
16:38But what I'm getting at is the Warriors, they're trying to stave off something that is very...
16:47Unstave-off-able?
16:48Maybe.
16:49Maybe.
16:50We both thought...
16:51No, go ahead.
16:51Now, real quick.
16:52The Lakers, after showtime, they hung around in there with Eldon Campbell and Eddie Jones.
17:00They made some playoffs.
17:02So there's not a big blank spot on their basketball reference page.
17:06A little bit.
17:06A little bit.
17:07There was, yeah.
17:08But then Kobe and Shaq thing.
17:10And Kobe, yep.
17:10So the Warriors are trying to avoid, you know, three or four years where they don't make the playoffs.
17:17Well, so that sort of leads to what we thought the most interesting part of this Anthony Slater article with regard to Jonathan Kaminga was his reference to the fact that there are three sets of interests.
17:32There's Jonathan's, there's Jonathan's, and as much as there are tons of Jonathan Kaminga fans, and I'm sure he's a sympathetic figure right now.
17:40I get that.
17:41But Jonathan's interests, his goals, I don't think Warrior fans in the larger scheme, that's not the priority.
17:49Not Jonathan.
17:50No.
17:50Right?
17:52Okay, the other two.
17:53We call it the core, but forget the core, it's Steph.
17:57And then there's the organization, meaning ownership, and Joe Lacob clearly, he feels on his insides, oh, no, we're still going to be great.
18:08We're going to be great even after Steph, which is probably why you could tell Gu this next time we see him, but that's probably why he was sitting next to Jonathan Kaminga at the Valkyries game right after the season ended.
18:22I think that was his way of saying, I got you, kid, because this is my team, and, you know, whether you're on it or not next year, that's the message.
18:30Like, we can still, this is, we're always going to be great.
18:33But what matters most to a Warriors fan right now in terms of interests, Stephs, or the organizations, and yes, there's obviously overlap, but there's obviously space between two.
18:49What matters most to you?
18:50Well, I think that indicates the disconnect, and I think the piece illustrates it between how the coaching staff feels and how the front office feels, or mainly the ownership.
19:00How the ownership feels, because Kerr wants Kaminga to be Sean Marion, basically.
19:05That's the player he's kind of compared him to, and Kaminga thinks that he could be Paul George or Kawhi Leonard, and ownership seems to kind of believe that more.
19:15And it's like, I don't think he's going to be either of those players or any of those guys, but you can't leave yourself in a position with nothing to rebuild with.
19:26And when inevitably that dark day comes of no playoffs, the cupboard can't be bare.
19:33And I think that the question that I kind of just wrestle with all the time is, is Kaminga a part of that cupboard?
19:41Do you think that he is?
19:42Because if he is, I wouldn't give up on him.
19:45But if you don't, then I think he has to be traded at some point in the near future.
19:50I feel like if you're a Warrior fan, your biggest, what you want more than anything else is, can we be better next year?
19:58Can we be better next year?
20:00And if it costs us Kaminga, we're willing to do it if we're better next year.
20:07The only drawback would be is if he goes out, and in three to five years, he becomes that holdover that you needed.
20:15And you used that word about the Spurs, holdover.
20:18Now, Kaminga is not Kawhi, but Kawhi won a title.
20:22He was the holdover.
20:24They went to five straight playoffs, and then he left, and the thing completely fell off.
20:29If Kaminga is not the holdover that you think that he's going to be, then absolutely you need to do something over these next two years.
20:36But just don't come back to me in three to five years if Kaminga is averaging 24 a night.
20:43He's an all-star, and his team is an Eastern Conference playoff team.
20:46Yeah.
20:47Because then, Steph leaves, Jimmy leaves, Draymond leaves, and the rest of it, you're probably going to have to go through a Spursian run, which was 32-32-34, 22-22-34 wins.
21:00Oh.
21:01Those are the win totals.
21:02But there could also be a situation where he could be like Aaron Gordon.
21:06I don't know if Orlando regrets trading Aaron Gordon because that allowed them to reset themselves, and Gordon went on to be a championship player.
21:14He's awesome.
21:15But, like, he didn't fit what they were trying to do at the time when he was there.
21:20So I don't know if that front office, and I don't know if they still have jobs, but I don't know if that front office really regrets getting off of Aaron Gordon,
21:28even though he is objectively a really damn good player.
21:31Yeah.
21:32I don't know.
21:33All right, gents.
21:34That's a little early.
21:34It is a little early.
21:36I had an answer.
21:37Can you answer the question?
21:38I did.
21:39Like, in five words or less.
21:42What's the question?
21:43Well, you said what you think Warrior fans think.
21:46Right.
21:46What do you think?
21:47What would you do?
21:48I think they're between a rock and a hard one.
21:50He's in mourning.
21:51I mean, if we're being honest.
21:52Yeah, did you text him?
21:54No.
21:54No?
21:55Were you tonight?
21:56How many days?
21:58It's kind of like after you go on a date.
22:00Like, how many days do you wait until you text him?
22:02Oh, God.
22:03He lost last night.
22:05How many days do you wait until you text him?
22:06I'll probably wait until the weekend.
22:08The weekend?
22:08Yeah.
22:09What would you say when you text him?
22:11Gutless.
22:13I'll tell him he's gutless.
22:14I'm going to get more out of it.
22:15And I'll tell him I'm pissed at him because he said, well, we can ride into the offseason
22:19and I can feel pretty good because that team was just better than us.
22:23I'm like, yeah.
22:24We have a lot to discuss.
22:25Just one quick one on your way out the door because I know you love games.
22:29Oh, yeah.
22:29I was doing a little dive on 20-point scores this year in our league because the thought
22:35is Kamingo wants to go somewhere and average 20.
22:38There were 50 players who averaged 20 or more points per game.
22:43How many of those 50 played on non-playoff teams?
22:48Half.
22:50Half.
22:5125?
22:51Mark?
22:52Uh, uh, more.
22:56Yeah, I'll go like 34.
22:58The answer is 21.
23:00Two players actually did it on two different non-playoff teams, which is kind of the quirk.
23:06No, Jimmy Butler did not average 20.
23:08It was Zach Levine and De'Aaron Fox.
23:11They averaged 20.
23:13They were on two different teams.
23:14Neither of them made the playoffs.
23:15But it just is my cautionary tale about Kamingo, be careful what you wish for, because Jordan
23:21Poole's on this list.
23:23Poole was able to go out there and average 20 for a team that stunk.
23:25Yeah, they made a big mistake there, Mark, huh?
23:28Well, why do you guys discuss that on my way out?
23:30I'm, uh, I was, I was distracted because there is, uh, there's a development.
23:34Oh?
23:35We have a development.
23:36Give it to me.
23:37No.
23:38Okay.
23:38You're leaving.
23:39I'll give it, I'll give it to the rest of our audience.
23:41Let me quickly download that Odyssey app.
23:43Coming up next, because it's a 40, it's a 49er development.
23:46Oh.
23:46And you're not going to like it.
23:50Oh, boy.
23:52That is a tease, people, on 95.7 The Game.
23:55Vice, Diney.
23:56Vice, Diney.