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Speaker 1: The volume. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight. You're at the volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody. We finally have a resolution to the Jonathan cominga contract saga. He has agreed to a two year deal with a team option. It's different than what was originally discussed, at least in the reporting that I had seen. I had seen that the debate was between a two plus one with a team option or two plus one with a player option. But it looks like it's going to be a one plus one with a player option. We're gonna give my opinion on that, as well as some of the other reported signings that have taken place over the course of the last few days for the Warriors when I think about them in the big picture as well. Then we'll get out of here for the day. Just quick and easy one. You guys are the trip before we started to subscribe to hoops and YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter, nder score JCNLT so you guys don't make show announcements. Don't forget about a podcast feed. Wherever you get your podcast on our Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful if you leave your rating and a review on that front, Jackson's doing incredible work on our social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Make sure you guys follow us there. And then, last but not least, if you want to get mailbag questions into our mail bags, drop them in our full episodes on YouTube in the comments and we'll get to them. We have our first mail bag coming up here in a couple of weeks. We're doing some season previews right now, but right after our season previews, we're gonna have a mail bag, so you guys can get your questions in there. All right, let's talk some basketball. So two years, forty eight and a half million team option. The way that sham Sarani reported it is that it's designed to be tradeable and to make it so that either the Warriors or whoever Jonathan's next team is has the ability to essentially rip up that second year in to renegotiate the contract. I think that that team option is mainly more of like a team control type of way of looking at this in terms of passing the buck to next summer. So if you think of it like this, when you draft a player, you have their restricted free agent rights, right, you get through your rookie contract, you go into free agency, they go to some other team, and they get to some deal, you have the right to match. If the Warriors were not able to achieve that team option or control after this season, then essentially Jonathan Kaminga could walk for nothing next summer. And so the Warriors wanted that team option, so that essentially, if they get into negotiations next summer and they still can't work something out, or if the team that trades for Jonathan Kaminga gets into the negotiations with Jonathan Kaminga and they can't work something out, they at least have the leverage of that team option. Well we're at least getting you for one additional year. So looks like a win for the Warriors in that regard, but at the same time, a nice salary number for Jonathan Kaminga, a player who, again, like I understand that he has a ton of potential, but it hasn't really come to fruition with the Warriors. Not entirely his fault. It's a bad kind of situation for him in a lot of ways, which we'll talk more about in a minute. But to get twenty five million for this season. That's a nice paybump for a young player, gets another opportunity to demonstrate whether or not he is worth that deal that he wants, and it is super tradable if you're looking for a high upside forward. Getting him at twenty five million, with the ability to let him walk or to negotiate a lower deal in the future, or at least have some team control going into next summer, that makes him a much more tradable deal. Then let's say it's a two plus one with a player option at seventy five million, and now all of a sudden, it's like we trade for Kaminga. It doesn't really pan out the way we were hoping. Now we're on the hook to give this guy an additional fifty million over the next couple of years, which then could be very difficult to trade on the second end of that deal. Right, So win for the Warriors. Nice paybump for Jonathan Minga. Now we're moving on to this season. Now in the short term, it's on Jonathan Kaminga to earn a way into the rotation. I think there's an interesting angle here, which is how much will the Warriors just choose to lean on Jonathan just as an attempt to juice his trade value. But you could also take that the opposite direction and say that it's more of a mistique if he's less involved, and you could have a team sit there being like, oh, he's being under utilized. We'll get more out of him. I'll be really curious to see how much he cracks the rotation depending on that specific strategy point from the Warriors, But in terms of basketball, Jonathan Kaminga can force his way on the floor by earning Steve Kerrz trust in forcing his way into a rotation that for years has needed offensive pop. Right. So, one of the big kind of like points of contention over the last couple of years between people who are big believers in Jonathan Kaminga and people within the Warriors and people that follow the Warriors that are not into him in this particular context is the basketball fit. Right. There have been these stretches, whether it be the tail end of the Houston Rocket series after Steph Curry pulls his hamstring, or it's you know, a year and a half ago in the middle of the regular season when he ripped off whatever it was like six or seven straight twenty plus point games. There have been these stretches where Jonathan Kaminga has demonstrated the ability through higher usage to score the basketball at least that volume. Right, But that is very different than the concept of playing winning basketball on the Golden State Warriors. Those are two very different concepts. They lost that series to the Houston Rockets. Right, there is an ultimate goal that this Warriors team has built on a old Steph Curry, an old Jimmy Butler, an old Draymond Green, an old Al Horford, which is, we're trying to get the Larry O'Brian right now. And that changes the calculus for Steve Kerr in terms of him putting together lineups, putting together rotations, and so why hasn't Jonathan Kaminga fit on the Warriors? And it simply comes down to Jonathan Kaminga is a young scoring four who is learning how to become a more efficient scorer in a higher volume role, who is learning how to handle as he goes higher and higher on the opponent's scouting report, as things get tougher, as they start to dig down on his post ups and start to bring double teams to as we can, and all that sort of thing. All that sort of stuff. He's learning how to do that, and there is potential for Jonathan Kaminga in the future to be an All Star in this league as a scoring forward, but he is not that yet and what the Warriors need from him right now on offense is quick decisions knocking down open shots. Okay, you got a mismatch because of a ball screen with Steph or because of the team we're playing, or tossing it down to you. You attack quickly, You are decisive, You read the help that comes in front of you. You may you don't stop the ball, but rather you make quick decisions in the Warrior system. This is why all of these guys like Brandon Pajemski have just kind of slotted in and played well. Or whether it's Gie Santo's or it's you know, Pat's, any of these like random dudes that have gotten more trust from Steve Kerr than Jonathan Kaminga has. It's literally because Steve wants dudes to make quick decisions in the offense. This is a five out motion. Everyone's involved. We're working to get Steph Curry shots. We're either looking to get Steph Curry a shot or a wide open three or a dunk. That's basically the offense, and so they're looking for guys that can quickly make decisions in that flow, and that is something that Jonathan has struggled with over the years. So an early part of this season goal for him to achieve a spot in the rotation is making quick decisions in the offense, knocking down his open spot, up threes, beating mismatches in the posts quickly and decisively. That's how he can earn his way onto the four, and then on the defensive end of the four. Jonathan's always been a pretty solid on ball weapon. He's got good length and good activity. He moves his feet well and it's kind of like a singular focus for him. That is something that he's thrived in. But off ball he can be a nightmare. Sometimes you lose a sight of man and ball. He can lose relocating shooters, he can lose crashers. He is somebody that Steve Kerr does not trust on the defensive end of the floor. So another part of earning that trust and earning a bigger spot in the rotation is his off ball awareness, keeping track of man and ball, being in the right spots in the game plan, making sure that you're accounting for your man in defensive rebounding situations. Those are the kinds of things that Steve Kerr is paying very close attention to. So again, we'll see how much the Golden State Warriors just choose to play Jonathan in terms of juicing his trade value. But if it is strictly a basketball proposition in a front court that already has Jimmy Butler, Andreimond Green, and Al Horford, and they're probably going to play one of the other young centers quite a bit. And Steve Kerr is a guy that likes to play three guard lineups. Gary Payton is a guy that in many cases operates as a three or four on the floor in their lineups defensively and as a rebounder. Jonathan's going to have to earn that trust through what he's doing on both ends of the floor. Or like we just broke down in the long term, and I talked about this when we were doing a little update on the kaminga situation about a week ago. I know that you weren't huge fans of the Monk deal, the Kings deal. You know, I've seen enough from Warriors fans that they don't seem to be big believers in it. Obviously, the Warriors brass wasn't a big believer in it because they didn't take the deal. But I don't think that they're gonna get anything substantially better. I don't think that this story ends with a trade in January where Johnathan Kaming is bringing back like a really nice, high upside young player on a rookie contract and another really useful role player and multiple draft picks Like I don't think that's happening, not unless Jonathan has some sort of massive breakout, which if he did, the Warriors would then be inclined to keep him if you were to succeed in a winning context alongside this particular Golden State Warriors team. And so the most likely scenario. Today's show is brought to you by our new presenting sponsor, hard Rock Bet. The NBA season is right around the corner, and we're incredibly excited. Haven't placed your first bet yet? Now is the perfect time. Bet five dollars and if it wins, you don't just get your payout, you also cash in one hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets on top. If you're looking to bet NBA futures, they're live on hard Rock Bet. You can bet on the Finals, MVP, Rooki of the Year, sixth Man, and a lot more. Open up the app to see everything that's live and lock in today's odds if you like what you see. And on Wednesdays, if you're already betting on the hard Rock Sports Book app, you know what that means. It's the last day to use your legendary rewards drops. Open up the app today you can have a bonus bet or who knows what's in there? More drops every Thursday. The rewards and promos are NonStop. Download a hard Rock Bet app today and make your first deposit payable and bonus bets not a cash offer offered by the Seminal Tribe of Florida in Florida, offered by Seminal hard Rock Digital LLC. In all other states. Must be twenty one plus and physically present in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia to play. Terms and conditions apply. Concerned about gambling in Florida call one eight eight eight admit it. In Indiana if you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help. Call one eight hundred and nine with it gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia. Is that Jonathan is in and out of the rotation like usually is, or if he maintains a rotation spot, it's a smaller rotation spot. That his output is inconsistent because his skill set doesn't really fit this Golden State Warriors team super well. That it continues to be more or less the same frustrating experience for Kaminga and for the Warriors and for their fans as it was for the last couple of years, and it ends in a trade in January that is something like the Monk deal, a protected first round pick, some sort of large contract that you're kind of iffy on whether or not it's really that good of a contract, but maybe he's just a better fit for what you're trying to do than John and the Kaminga is I think that is more or less the best that you're going to do, and so in the long run, I wouldn't be, you know, holding out hope for some sort of fantastic return. I don't think that's gonna be the case. Now. Looking at the Warriors this season, we've had some reported signings that came in over the last couple of days. In our season preview, we kind of already addressed some of these, but I want to go over them again briefly. Al Horford multi year contract. Good for Al, good for the Warriors. Also in the report, he's going to be starting games. That's interesting on several levels. Jackson and I were just talking before this recording. We both agree that this is probably their best five anyway. Al at the five, Jimmy at the three, Draymond at the four, Steph at the one. You know, POD's moody d Anthony Melton. Whoever ends up being as that like go to number two when the time comes, that's gonna end up being their best five. This is a group that's probably gonna do a lot of switching with those three. It's gonna be a lot of communication, a lot of high IQ defensive playmaking, reading play before they happen, getting in front of them. Al Horford has always been an extremely gifted switch big. It's something that he's succeeded at throughout his career. He's very good at guarding bigger bully ball players on the perimeter by just giving ground, forcing them into long contested jump shots. He keeps his chest in front when they attack, and he forces them to make tougher hooks and tougher short turnarounds and things along those lines. Obviously he's older now well. One of the things that Jackson and I were talking about before we started. He started last year in Boston kept his minutes right around twenty seven minutes per game, and so just because you start him doesn't necessarily mean you're gonna wear him into the ground. It's leaning into a lineup that you'll ultimately go down with. And every game that I'll plays right like it's in most cases you're gonna be going down with him. In closing situations, you want to continue to get as much reps, as many reps as possible with al with the starters, I think it makes sense to basically play him four shifts a half. Play him to start the game, play him to end the first half, play him to start the second half, play him to end the game. I think that's an easy way to keep him in that twenty four twenty six minute range. It allows you to keep most of his minutes alongside the starters so that you can continue to build out the chemistry for the lineup that you're gonna lean on when you get to the postseason. And I just think he's an awesome basketball fit. Is a basketball fan, and as a fan of Steph Curry, and as a fan of the way the Warriors play basketball, I'm very excited to watch Al Horford play with his team. I think he is the quintessential stretch five, high IQ quick decision maker that Golden State's been hunting for years that they haven't been able to find. I think it's going to be just super fun to get to see that a guy that can shoot closer to the way Quinton Post shoots the ball, but that can read and react with the best of him. This is a player that was playing really high level drive and kick basketball the last few years in Boston. We were watching the twenty twenty four finals and he's ripping baseline out of the corner and like throwing awesome whip passes to the opposite corner, making high level reads. He's a guy that can dribble, pass, and shoot at the center position. That is going to be a really fun thing to watch with the Golden State Warriors, and then again, just one of the most high IQ switching bigs in the league still at this point in his career, and so him Jimmy Draymond, They're going to be really really fun to watch defensively in that front court. The Anthony Melton prototypical Warriors guards, so much so that when he got hurt last year, it kind of felt like a given he'd eventually work his way back to Golden State, knowing that he wouldn't be able to play at any point the remainder of that season. What I like about him is he provides kind of a higher floor option than some of the other options the Warriors have at that position, whether it's Gary Payton that can bring obviously defense and activity, baseline cutting read four on three reads in the middle of the floor, but he's a guy that can be an inconsistent shooter a Brandon Pajemski, a guy that's a great rebounder, a guy that brings some of that read and reacts skill in some higher level scoring chops. He scored the ball really well towards the tail end of the season, but very inconsistent offensive player, and his perimeter quickness sometimes can leave a little bit to be desired in higher level matchups when he's guarding on the perimeter, right de Anthony Melton, I don't necessarily think he'll start or though, who knows, maybe his knees doing great. Maybe maybe he gets into camp, kicks everybody's ass and he ends up starting. But he just gives Steve Kerr like the this is the guy who's pretty good at everything, high floor veteran option. It's just another option to have for that fifth starter in those groups that would not be the least bit surprised if we saw some situations this year where the Warriors were closing games with Stephan de Anthony as well as Jimmy Draymond and Al Horford. Gary Payton, there's you know, I was very disappointed to see when he was signed. It there is some conflicting sentiments surrounding Gary Payton and whether or not he still has the ability to compete at a super high level with this team. I'm just a huge believer in Gary Payton. I think he's an awesome fit with the Warriors. I still think that, Yeah, even though he may be not the same athlete he was when he was twenty seven years old. I still think he's a very useful rotation player in the NBA, and because of the way this roster's put together, you're not necessarily depending on him. I think he just does a ton of dirty work. I think he's got I think that it's a continuity play too. This is an underrated piece of all this stuff, Like the Warriors have been playing a lot of the same dudes for a long time. That's a big part of how you have an advantage matchup to match up in the postseason when you're just used to playing the same type of basketball year in and year out. Gary Payton's a very natural fit there. Now interesting piece from the report the Warriors only have about two million left in usable cap space, so Seth Curry is going to be the guy who gets pinched as a result of this kaminga deal. However, sham Sharani and his report included that they will be able to sign a veteran minimum player on November fifteenth. It wasn't explicitly reported that they would sign set at that point, but it was conspicuous the way they lined it up in the report to make it look as though the Warriors would strongly be looking at Seth. I think Seth is a great fit within this Warriors team as well. He brings scoring on the perimeter, which is something this roster has needed for a long time. It gives you just like another option to in terms of Buddy Healed, when Buddy Heeld's having one of those nights where he's not, you know, hitting shots and his head's not in it on defense, I saw Buddy and his presser in on media day talking about how he shot the ball well all summer long, and obviously shot the ball super well in the postseason. So maybe Buddy plays super well and the Warriors look to go a different direction with that veteran minimum spot. So maybe they keep it open. But it's been implied that Seth Curry is the guy they would be looking at on November fifteenth. I think he's a really natural fit there. Big picture with the Warriors, you know, there's a lot of talk about their age, and I think those age concerns are legitimate. I look at it more as like a just a big picture playoff concern, Like I have the Warriors as a second tier contender. I know that not everyone agrees with me on that. I think they're in that tier. I have them towards the bottom of that tier. And the main reason why is just because when you have Steph who's thirty seven, Jimmy late thirties, you know, Draymond Taylor of his prime. I'm Al Horford, like, when you got those four dudes, who are four dudes that are in your best five lineup, it's just a lot to ask them to survive an eighty two game season and for playoff rounds without something happening, especially in the brutally tough Western Conference. And so with that being the case, I think they have at least a good amount of risk in terms of just oh, they get to April and this guy's hurt, or that guy's not at one hundred percent, this guy's dealing with back issues, this guy's dealing with some other type of issue. I look at it as a big picture concern with their playoff ceiling. If they're healthy and you're in a second round series and Steph's healthy and Draymond's healthy, and Jimmy's healthy and Al's healthy, and the rotation is solid, and they're there on the floor with you. No one's gonna give a damn about their age. They're gonna be a huge pain in the ass to beat, and I view them as a legitimate puncher's chance team to win the title. But it's just getting to that point without something happening that makes it a tough call. That's why I view them as towards the bottom end of that second tier of contenders. As far as the regular season goes, I'm actually pretty bullish on them a couple of reasons. One Steve Current that front office have always done a really nice job of just finding dudes in their rotation that can play minutes, like they had fourteen to fifteen guys last year that could play. Because they keep finding the Gee Santos's and the Pat Spencers of the world that just can go play Warriors basketball successfully. Because they have such a strong basketball culture from the very top down. It's an organization that I have a ton of respect for. And then the second piece of it is in the regular season, that youthful exuberance, energy, basketball culture, top down continuity. That's a huge part of how you win games. The Warriors also have an excellent home court advantage, and so if somebody misses a good chunk of games, and say Draymond misses some time, say Al misses some time, even Steph misses ten fifteen games, Like you feel like you might be able to go five hundred with Steph out just based on your aggregate talent, your basketball culture, and winning your home games. Right, So, like, I'm less worried about them as a regular season team. I think they're gonna be able to stay afloat in the standings. I think they have a good chance to get into that five or six seed and avoid the play in. It's more just are they all gonna be healthy and clicking on all cylinders when they get to April and May. That's a bigger question mark than some of the younger, younger teams in the West that are deeper in top end talent. I think that's what puts them towards the bottom end of that tier. All right, guys, It's all I have for today is always a sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting the show. Again. We're gonna be continuing our season previews tomorrow. I believe with the Central Division, I think we're covering an Eastern Conference division. I think it's the Atlantic Division that we're covering this this Wednesday, so keep an eye on the feeds. Tomorrow morning, we'll have five more teams to cover, and then we're hitting the next twenty teams over the course of the next week and a half. We will see you guys.
Speaker 1: The volume. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight. You're at the volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody. We finally have a resolution to the Jonathan cominga contract saga. He has agreed to a two year deal with a team option. It's different than what was originally discussed, at least in the reporting that I had seen. I had seen that the debate was between a two plus one with a team option or two plus one with a player option. But it looks like it's going to be a one plus one with a player option. We're gonna give my opinion on that, as well as some of the other reported signings that have taken place over the course of the last few days for the Warriors when I think about them in the big picture as well. Then we'll get out of here for the day. Just quick and easy one. You guys are the trip before we started to subscribe to hoops and YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter, nder score JCNLT so you guys don't make show announcements. Don't forget about a podcast feed. Wherever you get your podcast on our Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful if you leave your rating and a review on that front, Jackson's doing incredible work on our social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Make sure you guys follow us there. And then, last but not least, if you want to get mailbag questions into our mail bags, drop them in our full episodes on YouTube in the comments and we'll get to them. We have our first mail bag coming up here in a couple of weeks. We're doing some season previews right now, but right after our season previews, we're gonna have a mail bag, so you guys can get your questions in there. All right, let's talk some basketball. So two years, forty eight and a half million team option. The way that sham Sarani reported it is that it's designed to be tradeable and to make it so that either the Warriors or whoever Jonathan's next team is has the ability to essentially rip up that second year in to renegotiate the contract. I think that that team option is mainly more of like a team control type of way of looking at this in terms of passing the buck to next summer. So if you think of it like this, when you draft a player, you have their restricted free agent rights, right, you get through your rookie contract, you go into free agency, they go to some other team, and they get to some deal, you have the right to match. If the Warriors were not able to achieve that team option or control after this season, then essentially Jonathan Kaminga could walk for nothing next summer. And so the Warriors wanted that team option, so that essentially, if they get into negotiations next summer and they still can't work something out, or if the team that trades for Jonathan Kaminga gets into the negotiations with Jonathan Kaminga and they can't work something out, they at least have the leverage of that team option. Well we're at least getting you for one additional year. So looks like a win for the Warriors in that regard, but at the same time, a nice salary number for Jonathan Kaminga, a player who, again, like I understand that he has a ton of potential, but it hasn't really come to fruition with the Warriors. Not entirely his fault. It's a bad kind of situation for him in a lot of ways, which we'll talk more about in a minute. But to get twenty five million for this season. That's a nice paybump for a young player, gets another opportunity to demonstrate whether or not he is worth that deal that he wants, and it is super tradable if you're looking for a high upside forward. Getting him at twenty five million, with the ability to let him walk or to negotiate a lower deal in the future, or at least have some team control going into next summer, that makes him a much more tradable deal. Then let's say it's a two plus one with a player option at seventy five million, and now all of a sudden, it's like we trade for Kaminga. It doesn't really pan out the way we were hoping. Now we're on the hook to give this guy an additional fifty million over the next couple of years, which then could be very difficult to trade on the second end of that deal. Right, So win for the Warriors. Nice paybump for Jonathan Minga. Now we're moving on to this season. Now in the short term, it's on Jonathan Kaminga to earn a way into the rotation. I think there's an interesting angle here, which is how much will the Warriors just choose to lean on Jonathan just as an attempt to juice his trade value. But you could also take that the opposite direction and say that it's more of a mistique if he's less involved, and you could have a team sit there being like, oh, he's being under utilized. We'll get more out of him. I'll be really curious to see how much he cracks the rotation depending on that specific strategy point from the Warriors, But in terms of basketball, Jonathan Kaminga can force his way on the floor by earning Steve Kerrz trust in forcing his way into a rotation that for years has needed offensive pop. Right. So, one of the big kind of like points of contention over the last couple of years between people who are big believers in Jonathan Kaminga and people within the Warriors and people that follow the Warriors that are not into him in this particular context is the basketball fit. Right. There have been these stretches, whether it be the tail end of the Houston Rocket series after Steph Curry pulls his hamstring, or it's you know, a year and a half ago in the middle of the regular season when he ripped off whatever it was like six or seven straight twenty plus point games. There have been these stretches where Jonathan Kaminga has demonstrated the ability through higher usage to score the basketball at least that volume. Right, But that is very different than the concept of playing winning basketball on the Golden State Warriors. Those are two very different concepts. They lost that series to the Houston Rockets. Right, there is an ultimate goal that this Warriors team has built on a old Steph Curry, an old Jimmy Butler, an old Draymond Green, an old Al Horford, which is, we're trying to get the Larry O'Brian right now. And that changes the calculus for Steve Kerr in terms of him putting together lineups, putting together rotations, and so why hasn't Jonathan Kaminga fit on the Warriors? And it simply comes down to Jonathan Kaminga is a young scoring four who is learning how to become a more efficient scorer in a higher volume role, who is learning how to handle as he goes higher and higher on the opponent's scouting report, as things get tougher, as they start to dig down on his post ups and start to bring double teams to as we can, and all that sort of thing. All that sort of stuff. He's learning how to do that, and there is potential for Jonathan Kaminga in the future to be an All Star in this league as a scoring forward, but he is not that yet and what the Warriors need from him right now on offense is quick decisions knocking down open shots. Okay, you got a mismatch because of a ball screen with Steph or because of the team we're playing, or tossing it down to you. You attack quickly, You are decisive, You read the help that comes in front of you. You may you don't stop the ball, but rather you make quick decisions in the Warrior system. This is why all of these guys like Brandon Pajemski have just kind of slotted in and played well. Or whether it's Gie Santo's or it's you know, Pat's, any of these like random dudes that have gotten more trust from Steve Kerr than Jonathan Kaminga has. It's literally because Steve wants dudes to make quick decisions in the offense. This is a five out motion. Everyone's involved. We're working to get Steph Curry shots. We're either looking to get Steph Curry a shot or a wide open three or a dunk. That's basically the offense, and so they're looking for guys that can quickly make decisions in that flow, and that is something that Jonathan has struggled with over the years. So an early part of this season goal for him to achieve a spot in the rotation is making quick decisions in the offense, knocking down his open spot, up threes, beating mismatches in the posts quickly and decisively. That's how he can earn his way onto the four, and then on the defensive end of the four. Jonathan's always been a pretty solid on ball weapon. He's got good length and good activity. He moves his feet well and it's kind of like a singular focus for him. That is something that he's thrived in. But off ball he can be a nightmare. Sometimes you lose a sight of man and ball. He can lose relocating shooters, he can lose crashers. He is somebody that Steve Kerr does not trust on the defensive end of the floor. So another part of earning that trust and earning a bigger spot in the rotation is his off ball awareness, keeping track of man and ball, being in the right spots in the game plan, making sure that you're accounting for your man in defensive rebounding situations. Those are the kinds of things that Steve Kerr is paying very close attention to. So again, we'll see how much the Golden State Warriors just choose to play Jonathan in terms of juicing his trade value. But if it is strictly a basketball proposition in a front court that already has Jimmy Butler, Andreimond Green, and Al Horford, and they're probably going to play one of the other young centers quite a bit. And Steve Kerr is a guy that likes to play three guard lineups. Gary Payton is a guy that in many cases operates as a three or four on the floor in their lineups defensively and as a rebounder. Jonathan's going to have to earn that trust through what he's doing on both ends of the floor. Or like we just broke down in the long term, and I talked about this when we were doing a little update on the kaminga situation about a week ago. I know that you weren't huge fans of the Monk deal, the Kings deal. You know, I've seen enough from Warriors fans that they don't seem to be big believers in it. Obviously, the Warriors brass wasn't a big believer in it because they didn't take the deal. But I don't think that they're gonna get anything substantially better. I don't think that this story ends with a trade in January where Johnathan Kaming is bringing back like a really nice, high upside young player on a rookie contract and another really useful role player and multiple draft picks Like I don't think that's happening, not unless Jonathan has some sort of massive breakout, which if he did, the Warriors would then be inclined to keep him if you were to succeed in a winning context alongside this particular Golden State Warriors team. And so the most likely scenario. Today's show is brought to you by our new presenting sponsor, hard Rock Bet. The NBA season is right around the corner, and we're incredibly excited. Haven't placed your first bet yet? Now is the perfect time. 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That it continues to be more or less the same frustrating experience for Kaminga and for the Warriors and for their fans as it was for the last couple of years, and it ends in a trade in January that is something like the Monk deal, a protected first round pick, some sort of large contract that you're kind of iffy on whether or not it's really that good of a contract, but maybe he's just a better fit for what you're trying to do than John and the Kaminga is I think that is more or less the best that you're going to do, and so in the long run, I wouldn't be, you know, holding out hope for some sort of fantastic return. I don't think that's gonna be the case. Now. Looking at the Warriors this season, we've had some reported signings that came in over the last couple of days. In our season preview, we kind of already addressed some of these, but I want to go over them again briefly. Al Horford multi year contract. Good for Al, good for the Warriors. Also in the report, he's going to be starting games. That's interesting on several levels. Jackson and I were just talking before this recording. We both agree that this is probably their best five anyway. Al at the five, Jimmy at the three, Draymond at the four, Steph at the one. You know, POD's moody d Anthony Melton. Whoever ends up being as that like go to number two when the time comes, that's gonna end up being their best five. This is a group that's probably gonna do a lot of switching with those three. It's gonna be a lot of communication, a lot of high IQ defensive playmaking, reading play before they happen, getting in front of them. Al Horford has always been an extremely gifted switch big. It's something that he's succeeded at throughout his career. He's very good at guarding bigger bully ball players on the perimeter by just giving ground, forcing them into long contested jump shots. He keeps his chest in front when they attack, and he forces them to make tougher hooks and tougher short turnarounds and things along those lines. Obviously he's older now well. One of the things that Jackson and I were talking about before we started. He started last year in Boston kept his minutes right around twenty seven minutes per game, and so just because you start him doesn't necessarily mean you're gonna wear him into the ground. It's leaning into a lineup that you'll ultimately go down with. And every game that I'll plays right like it's in most cases you're gonna be going down with him. In closing situations, you want to continue to get as much reps, as many reps as possible with al with the starters, I think it makes sense to basically play him four shifts a half. Play him to start the game, play him to end the first half, play him to start the second half, play him to end the game. I think that's an easy way to keep him in that twenty four twenty six minute range. It allows you to keep most of his minutes alongside the starters so that you can continue to build out the chemistry for the lineup that you're gonna lean on when you get to the postseason. And I just think he's an awesome basketball fit. Is a basketball fan, and as a fan of Steph Curry, and as a fan of the way the Warriors play basketball, I'm very excited to watch Al Horford play with his team. I think he is the quintessential stretch five, high IQ quick decision maker that Golden State's been hunting for years that they haven't been able to find. I think it's going to be just super fun to get to see that a guy that can shoot closer to the way Quinton Post shoots the ball, but that can read and react with the best of him. This is a player that was playing really high level drive and kick basketball the last few years in Boston. We were watching the twenty twenty four finals and he's ripping baseline out of the corner and like throwing awesome whip passes to the opposite corner, making high level reads. He's a guy that can dribble, pass, and shoot at the center position. That is going to be a really fun thing to watch with the Golden State Warriors, and then again, just one of the most high IQ switching bigs in the league still at this point in his career, and so him Jimmy Draymond, They're going to be really really fun to watch defensively in that front court. The Anthony Melton prototypical Warriors guards, so much so that when he got hurt last year, it kind of felt like a given he'd eventually work his way back to Golden State, knowing that he wouldn't be able to play at any point the remainder of that season. What I like about him is he provides kind of a higher floor option than some of the other options the Warriors have at that position, whether it's Gary Payton that can bring obviously defense and activity, baseline cutting read four on three reads in the middle of the floor, but he's a guy that can be an inconsistent shooter a Brandon Pajemski, a guy that's a great rebounder, a guy that brings some of that read and reacts skill in some higher level scoring chops. He scored the ball really well towards the tail end of the season, but very inconsistent offensive player, and his perimeter quickness sometimes can leave a little bit to be desired in higher level matchups when he's guarding on the perimeter, right de Anthony Melton, I don't necessarily think he'll start or though, who knows, maybe his knees doing great. Maybe maybe he gets into camp, kicks everybody's ass and he ends up starting. But he just gives Steve Kerr like the this is the guy who's pretty good at everything, high floor veteran option. It's just another option to have for that fifth starter in those groups that would not be the least bit surprised if we saw some situations this year where the Warriors were closing games with Stephan de Anthony as well as Jimmy Draymond and Al Horford. Gary Payton, there's you know, I was very disappointed to see when he was signed. It there is some conflicting sentiments surrounding Gary Payton and whether or not he still has the ability to compete at a super high level with this team. I'm just a huge believer in Gary Payton. I think he's an awesome fit with the Warriors. I still think that, Yeah, even though he may be not the same athlete he was when he was twenty seven years old. I still think he's a very useful rotation player in the NBA, and because of the way this roster's put together, you're not necessarily depending on him. I think he just does a ton of dirty work. I think he's got I think that it's a continuity play too. This is an underrated piece of all this stuff, Like the Warriors have been playing a lot of the same dudes for a long time. That's a big part of how you have an advantage matchup to match up in the postseason when you're just used to playing the same type of basketball year in and year out. Gary Payton's a very natural fit there. Now interesting piece from the report the Warriors only have about two million left in usable cap space, so Seth Curry is going to be the guy who gets pinched as a result of this kaminga deal. However, sham Sharani and his report included that they will be able to sign a veteran minimum player on November fifteenth. It wasn't explicitly reported that they would sign set at that point, but it was conspicuous the way they lined it up in the report to make it look as though the Warriors would strongly be looking at Seth. I think Seth is a great fit within this Warriors team as well. He brings scoring on the perimeter, which is something this roster has needed for a long time. It gives you just like another option to in terms of Buddy Healed, when Buddy Heeld's having one of those nights where he's not, you know, hitting shots and his head's not in it on defense, I saw Buddy and his presser in on media day talking about how he shot the ball well all summer long, and obviously shot the ball super well in the postseason. So maybe Buddy plays super well and the Warriors look to go a different direction with that veteran minimum spot. So maybe they keep it open. But it's been implied that Seth Curry is the guy they would be looking at on November fifteenth. I think he's a really natural fit there. Big picture with the Warriors, you know, there's a lot of talk about their age, and I think those age concerns are legitimate. I look at it more as like a just a big picture playoff concern, Like I have the Warriors as a second tier contender. I know that not everyone agrees with me on that. I think they're in that tier. I have them towards the bottom of that tier. And the main reason why is just because when you have Steph who's thirty seven, Jimmy late thirties, you know, Draymond Taylor of his prime. I'm Al Horford, like, when you got those four dudes, who are four dudes that are in your best five lineup, it's just a lot to ask them to survive an eighty two game season and for playoff rounds without something happening, especially in the brutally tough Western Conference. And so with that being the case, I think they have at least a good amount of risk in terms of just oh, they get to April and this guy's hurt, or that guy's not at one hundred percent, this guy's dealing with back issues, this guy's dealing with some other type of issue. I look at it as a big picture concern with their playoff ceiling. If they're healthy and you're in a second round series and Steph's healthy and Draymond's healthy, and Jimmy's healthy and Al's healthy, and the rotation is solid, and they're there on the floor with you. No one's gonna give a damn about their age. They're gonna be a huge pain in the ass to beat, and I view them as a legitimate puncher's chance team to win the title. But it's just getting to that point without something happening that makes it a tough call. That's why I view them as towards the bottom end of that second tier of contenders. As far as the regular season goes, I'm actually pretty bullish on them a couple of reasons. One Steve Current that front office have always done a really nice job of just finding dudes in their rotation that can play minutes, like they had fourteen to fifteen guys last year that could play. Because they keep finding the Gee Santos's and the Pat Spencers of the world that just can go play Warriors basketball successfully. Because they have such a strong basketball culture from the very top down. It's an organization that I have a ton of respect for. And then the second piece of it is in the regular season, that youthful exuberance, energy, basketball culture, top down continuity. That's a huge part of how you win games. The Warriors also have an excellent home court advantage, and so if somebody misses a good chunk of games, and say Draymond misses some time, say Al misses some time, even Steph misses ten fifteen games, Like you feel like you might be able to go five hundred with Steph out just based on your aggregate talent, your basketball culture, and winning your home games. Right, So, like, I'm less worried about them as a regular season team. I think they're gonna be able to stay afloat in the standings. I think they have a good chance to get into that five or six seed and avoid the play in. It's more just are they all gonna be healthy and clicking on all cylinders when they get to April and May. That's a bigger question mark than some of the younger, younger teams in the West that are deeper in top end talent. I think that's what puts them towards the bottom end of that tier. All right, guys, It's all I have for today is always a sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting the show. Again. We're gonna be continuing our season previews tomorrow. I believe with the Central Division, I think we're covering an Eastern Conference division. I think it's the Atlantic Division that we're covering this this Wednesday, so keep an eye on the feeds. Tomorrow morning, we'll have five more teams to cover, and then we're hitting the next twenty teams over the course of the next week and a half. We will see you guys.
