How Will Golden State Warriors Basketball Look After Steph Curry Is Done?

How Will Golden State Warriors Basketball Look After Steph Curry Is Done?

We got Matt Koulsky on the program today breaking down two things. One, how does the present state of the Dubs look? Honestly, it’s shoulders up for me. I have no idea. But the future of the Golden State Warriors with all these draft picks intact. Are we feeling all right? We’re debating on today’s Locked On Warriors. You are Locked on Warriors, your daily Golden State Warriors podcast. What are they going to say now? Part of the Locked On podcast network. your team every day. What’s going on everyone? Welcome to the Lockdown Warriors, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Today’s episode’s brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers get 150 bucks in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. Visit fanduel.com to get started. You can check out this show on YouTube, wherever you get your audio podcasts. We’re always free and never behind a payw wall. You can find me on social media. I’m your host. My name’s Charlie Walter. My handles are all over the place. My name is all over the place. You can find me as Chuck. You can find me as Charlie. Se Walter 222 on Instagram. It’s Charlie Walter on Tik Tok and Charlie Walter TV on Twitter. My co-host today, Matt Koulsky, the king of social media. You can find him almost nowhere. Apparently, Blue Sky at Kolski.Bees.social. Um he’s formerly a 957, formerly of KNBR. Um those are two big time radio stations in the Bay Area. On today’s show, get into a few seconds of summer league, I mean seconds. Alatch, Al Horford. What the hell is going on here? Radio silence. Still a Bradley Beal. He’s a name that has been seriously linked to the Golden State Warriors. Does Kolski like it? And in the future, the Dubs, the Warriors have just about all their draft picks intact, which is a lot to be said compared to other teams around the NBA. First of all, man, is this the first time we’ve talked since draft night? How we doing? How we feeling? Yeah, maybe. It might be, you know, not bad. Summer doing the summer stuff. Woohoo. Yeah. Yeah. That’s all I got for you. You got to the kids, right? That’s right. I got a lot of kid things to do in the summertime. So, that’s what it’s all about over here. Summer league, man. Basketball. Uh you said you’ve you’ve gotten a few cups of coffee watching the Dubs. They have not been good. Uh they went one and two in the California Classic. Not like uh the amazing summer league and and preeason that the Warriors had last off season. They scored just 79 points in their loss to Miami. Um the leaders of the way, it was uh Jackson Row had 14. Will Richard got his shots up six of 16. He had 12. Alex Tui, who they traded the 41st pick to get 52 and 59. Tui was the 52nd pick for Golden State. It was his debut. He went one of five oath three from three. He had uh one assist zero assists rather and four turnovers and was a minus 34 with six points. Not a great night from him. Four for four night free throw line. Four for four. Four for four line for Alex to a great job. Um any takeaways? Yeah, I mean the takeaway is he ran around and hustled and the the g it’s all too much for him at the moment which is fine. He’s a second round draft pick. He’s from Australia, 21 years old. Like he’s not a now player. I nor is LJ Crier, the other guy they drafted. Um, you know, the dudes on this roster with the best odds of seeing Warriors minutes this year are probably, you know, the guys you started off mentioning. Um, Jackson Row, who we’ve seen before as a two-way player. And maybe, you know, like if you want to be positive, it’s the kid from Florida, Will Richard. you know, who was the other who was the other draft pick? Crier was the uh the I’m sorry. Crier was the free agent signing. Uh he at least like right now the Warriors are in desperate need of of guards who can score, right? I mean, Pajki probably took a step back in that regard last year. Moody is not necessarily a scorer. like you hope he he’ll hit open threes, but you know outside of Steph right now there’s not a lot of scoring in general, but especially at the guard positions, right? So you could imagine if Richard really now he put up a lot of shots, didn’t hit as many so many in in the game you just described. I if he starts to heat up, if he starts to get more comfortable, like he’s an older guy that you think might be able to find some minutes again, you know, off the deep bench, maybe in a two-way role, something like that. Um, but for the most part, the good news about the Warriors largely stinking up the joint at the California Classic is that very few of those guys, if any, are likely to play for the actual Golden State Warriors this season. Warriors have done nothing, man. Complete radio silence. The two biggest, I guess the three biggest nuggets that we’ve heard this off season, it’s now up to four. Um, one would be that literally they’ve done nothing. the only team in the NBA that hasn’t made a move. That’s a nugget. Two, Al Horford watch. They are apparently in very serious talks with Al Horford and it will come down to retirement or a spot on the Golden State Warriors. And we’ve heard this since the Monday prior. So, it’s been over a week at this point that Al Horford is expected to be a Warrior. So, so what’s the holdup at this point there? The other big news, Bradley Beal has kind of fallen into the mix for the Warriors. Were the Suns to say see a Bradley? The Warriors would show some interest there, but the Clippers make some sense. And we we’ll see if if that one would be something that comes into the Warriors mind. And uh the other one is the Jonathan Kaminga news. The latest being that the Kings are the most serious contender right now to land him, but Anthony Slater believes he could start the season on the Warriors and uh be someone that’s a true value trade candidate come December. Um I’ll just give you the kind of the uh the co-host choice. What is the spiciest nugget to you of all these? The spiciest nugget? Um, well, it’s either Kamingo or the fact, right? It’s either Kamingo or the fact that they’ve done nothing. I mean, there’s not much to say about the nothing. I think it’s a little deceptive because there are obviously things that they will do, but I think in order to figure out how they’re going to do them, they have to see what shakes out with the Kaminga thing. And and if there’s good news about all of those pretty rancid nuggets that you just brought up, it is this is not unexpected. We knew their off seasonason would depend largely on what happened with Jonathan Kaminga. And we knew that there was a decent chance because of his situation and because of the lack of dollars on the free agency market. There’s really nobody that could offer him the sort of offer sheet he’s looking for. That team doesn’t exist because of the financial situation. So we knew it was going to be sort of an exploratory process of finding a team that might be interested in a sign and trade and because of the base year compensation that we’ve talked about and Anthony Slater has explained very well that is a difficult partner to find um not just for the Warriors in terms of asset trades but also for Kaminga in terms of getting the money right. So, I think as Slater has said and as we have said, despite what seems best for all parties involved, there is a good chance Jonathan Kaminga starts the season on the team. That being said, they’ll still have to figure out the contract thing. And if that answer is the qualifying offer because he doesn’t want to sign whatever longer term thing the Warriors are look in order to make him a really valuable trade candidate in terms of return he’s going to have to be paid pretty well and that means at least 20 million if not 25 to 30 and that means that the Warriors have to at least be comfortable with the idea of being stuck with that and it doesn’t seem that they are. Now, we can talk about all the reasons that they may not be and all the reasons why it’s a really tough choice, which I think are largely the Warriors fault. You know, it would be an easier choice, yes or no, if you had seen more of Kaminga, if he had gotten more of a consistent run. But the one thing everyone can agree on from Steve Kerr down is that this guy has never really had a chance for consistent playing time in his entire career. And that makes it very hard to decide on anything any sort of largecale long-term contract. So they are really up a creek of their own creation and there are not a lot of good answers. There may not be any answers. And so it may be that Jonathan Kaminga is back and we are forced to continue this dance. And and frankly based on what we’ve seen, barring some major concession from Steve Cerr, Jonathan Kaminga will not be used sufficiently or in a style that allows him to help the team. So it’s a big sort of hole in the roster that you’re looking at. And because other teams know that and because other teams also don’t totally know what this guy is, you’re struggling to find a market for him. It’s it’s a really tough spot and I don’t envy them. But on the other hand, like I said, it’s not unexpected. And I think that’s why if you asked me to read the tea leaves on the Horford thing, it’s pretty simple. He’s going to be on the Warriors. The question is how exactly does that work? and it depends what happens with Kaminga. So, he’s going to sit out there and pretend he’s considering retirement until the Kaminga situation is resolved one way or another. Um, you know, you hate to hang hopes on it, but we talked about potential interest in bringing DeAnthony Melton back and you’re starting to see some buzz about that as he is one of the guys sitting out on the market and the Warriors are one of the teams without any any dance partners, right? I think we’re looking at basically the offseason we talked about and Horford is a pretty solid prize despite his age, assuming that does work out. Maybe Horford is enough of a floor stretcher to put Kaminga back in a position to contribute. Who knows? So, and that’s last we heard from Kerr that that’s what he was saying is the is the plan. And he said some things and done other things throughout his time with the Warriors, but he specifically with Kaminga. Yeah, but he straight up said that him, Jimmy, Draymond, Steph in the same lineup early in the season would get a lot of run to see if this thing can work out. And that’s something that he did not turn to at all last year because once Jimmy returned, we we saw less and less and less of Kaminga. First, we thought it was just kind of the load management to get his body back right after missing eight weeks or whatever the total amount was. And then we come to find out that he couldn’t play on the floor with Jimmy. And then we come to find out that he actually could play on the floor with Jimmy. and and maybe it was Steph that he couldn’t play on the floor with with Draymond at the same time because they turn it over too much. Kerr had a lot of different answers. Yeah. But the thing is if if the problem if you’re telling me the problem with Jonathan Kaminga is that Steph Curry and Draymond Green are Hall of Fame centerpiece players turn the ball over too much. You’re telling me you’re not trying hard enough, man. Like let’s be serious. You’re telling me I can’t play arguably the most talented kid on the roster because two of our three best players are are unfortunately turnoverprone. I don’t buy it. I’m sorry. I don’t buy it. And honestly, one of the reasons I wish this whole thing would end is that I am sick of being at odds with Steve Kerr. I love Steve Kerr. I think he’s a great coach in almost every aspect of everything he does. Unfortunately, there is something weird with his feelings about Kaminga. Whether it’s a mental block, whether there’s something we don’t know about, whether, you know, Kaminga’s work ethic behind the scenes is not up to par, I have no idea, but it all makes me uncomfortable and sad. So, you know, we’ll see what happens there. I do think Horford will be a Warrior and I do think you’ll see them add a guardwing in the DeAnthony Melton division. How you know what mileage that gets you is certainly up for debate. Still ahead on the show, I posed the question to Evan Giddings a couple days ago. How do we feel about the Warriors future in terms of uh some of the assets that they own and their chances to get better, rebuild, reload? What are we thinking? What is Matt Kowolski thinking? His answer straight ahead. Locked on Warriors. Summer sports are in full swing, everyone. And whether you’re about baseball under the lights, golf on the green, or even highstakes soccer action, FanDuel is the best way to make every game more exciting. You’re already following the action, so why not make it more thrilling? With FanDuel, you can get in on the game while your friends are getting sunburned at the beach. I’ve been using FanDuel to track my favorite matchups. And the best thing about the app, you get new daily promotions that gives you fun ways to bet. It’s easy to use, has fast payouts, even makes regular season games feel like it’s for all the marbles. Whether you’re placing a same game parlay or watching a bet ride in the ninth inning, FanDuel makes it feel like you are a part of the action. New to FanDuel, customers can bet $5 and get 150 in bonus bets. That’s 150 bucks in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Open the FanDuel app today or visit fanduel.com to get started. Okay, so DeAnthony Melton, the latest we’ve heard from Mark Stein because it was appearing that he was trending to be a Los Angeles Laker. The latest two things we’ve heard, I guess we’ve seen a is that DeAnthony Melton refollowed the Warriors on Instagram. So, take that for what it is worth. Mark Stein reported the Golden State Warriors are expected to land DeAnthony Melton. I wonder if they had the conversation last year when they sent him out the door in that Dennis Shruder deal and said, “Hey, your contract right now is pretty valuable. We’re trying to make some moves around the edges to be contenders this season.” Obviously, at the time, he didn’t know that he was going to turn into Jimmy Butler, but he was a large part in turning into Jimmy Butler. And I wonder if at any point during the season or before he got traded, they basically said to him like, “We want you back. Like, we’re we’re unloading your contract to help out this team right now, but when next season comes and you’re available, we’re going to look into you if you’d like to rejoin the roster.” You think they had those kinds of conversations with DAN because they liked him? They they said even before he played his first game as a dub that they’ve liked this guy since Memphis. Yeah. I mean, I’m not and never have been a member of an NBA front office, so I don’t know exactly how it works, but I would bet my life that there was some kind of communication around the entire situation that said, “Hey, we’re too thin to have you rehabbing with us all year. We need to use that money in that roster spot to get better, but we love you here and please don’t feel like this is a reflection on our appreciation of your contributions, etc., etc., because just generally, first of all, they played great and and maybe just as importantly, the vibes around DeAnthony Melton as a member on and off the floor of the Warriors were immaculate. Everybody loved him. Everybody was like, he fits so perfectly. he does exactly what we want. I I don’t think it’s a stretch to imagine he’d go right back into the starting two guard position if he did sign. And I can’t imagine he’s getting a lot of big offers. You know, that that I would imagine could be a veteran minimum deal. So, it’s great. That’s great. Value-wise, he’ll be great. I I believe everything I heard from a behind-the-scenes perspective in terms of his positive effect on everybody. That’s all wonderful. How much does it move the needle in terms of competing with the OKC’s and Denvers of the world, Houston’s? I don’t know. I think the Warriors have an uphill battle. And, you know, we may not really know the the who the troops going into that battle are until, like you said, December or January. if if the plan becomes get Kaminga under contract and trade him when he’s dollar fordoll eligible. Now, like you said, the issue there is Steve Kerr has to play him. Not just to because it’s you can’t waste that talent on a roster that doesn’t have a lot of depth, but also if you want to trade him for anything, someone’s going to have to watch him succeed. Um, so you know, either way, again, and this is what I’ve been saying for years, whether you want him on the team or not, you got to play him for him to have value to anybody, you or otherwise. So, you know, will Steve Kerr finally actually commit to that? Can Kaminga stay healthy and produce enough to either become valuable to the Warriors or to someone else? All remains to be seen, but it does it does seem like that is becoming the most likely path forward. doesn’t it? I mean, what do you think? It’s starting to feel a lot that way. Um, the question is going to be, is there going to be any sort of a that shortterm extension that Kaminga would agree to to kind of play cards with the Warriors and say, “Yeah, I’ll I’ll take the the 20 million that you offer for what, two years, 40 mil, something along those lines, and we’ll kind of figure it out as we go.” Or is he just going to say, “You know what? 7.9 is good for me right now. I believe in myself. You guys clearly don’t believe in me. We’ll see you next year at the uh the free agent table or I won’t be seeing you next year at the free agent table. And that’s it’s it’s a weird situation to be in because you want someone to be all there. And look, he’s a competitor. You believe that he’s going to come out there and be playing for his own money, right? Um you know, for all the shade that’s been thrown at this kid by every public perception, he has been tremendously professional. So, I you know, look, I I admit I like him. I think he has a lot of potential still. I I’m I’m not ready to bet anything on him cuz I don’t feel like I’ve seen enough to be sure, but I really like what’s what I have seen and I do believe he can develop into a legitimate all-star level player if given the right opportunity. At the same time, like I’m forced to admit something I can’t understand is happening here because the player I just described would have found his way into the rotation consistently. And for whatever reason, I I have my opinions on the reasons, but like who knows really what they are. That just hasn’t happened for him here. Yeah. It’s a real conundrum. Go ahead. I just saw a really good breakdown on why it was like a long Twitter thread from someone that um actually had some some knowledge of the game of basketball. Wasn’t just like a random poster and they broke down like 10 different sequences from the Wolves game. All the bad, right? Like we we we know what he did in the Wolves series. He was able to score the basketball, but it was all the bad. And it was just getting lost on rotations and allowing easy baskets to where if you’re not watching the game close enough, you would just be like, “Oh, like why did Pods get beat off the dribble there?” When in fact, it’s Kaminga not rotating. Or it was like not boxing out on the defensive end and just kind of standing there watching. Go Bear gets a rebound, lays it up and in, and Kaminga was just kind of like in no man’s land. That happened a couple times. There’s one where, you know, he doesn’t swing the ball at the right time because think about it like someone like Looney, he’s valuable because he he knows when to swing it and he’s doing the right things that way and Kamic Kaminga kind of just has it and you know stops the play right there, tries to go ISO, has it taken away, it’s two points the other way and basically he counted like 14 points that Kaminga gave up. He had 28 in the game or something. um his stat sheet reads a negative or something along those lines and he pointed to that along with a um an Eric Apricot video where basically a a shooting coach highlighted Kaminga’s kind of wonky mechanics and said that he just like isn’t a pure shooter and needs to figure that out, needs to figure out his form and his fluidity. And I guess you combine those two things together and that would be kind of what holds him back in my opinion. But the first part that I said all those things are that’s coaching, right? To to a degree that is coaching. He has the talent. It’s just a matter of whether we don’t see what’s going on in Warriors practices. Are they pointing these things out and saying, “Hey, this this this and he physically can’t do it or that’s the question that I have. Do you trust the Hall of Fame head coach and Steve Kerr and Mike Dunley um and and the staff?” Let’s pause for a second. can the I the shooting coach video like can that they can shove it like I he could he could do the same video about Tyresese Hallebertton right so what are we talking about um in a in an empty gym Kaminga by all accounts is a knockdown shooter so to me and he’s been largely a decent free throw shooter and an improving one other than some weird blips like to me that’s a guy who what’s lacking is the experience of taking shots and choosing the right shots on an NBA court during an NBA game. Same thing for mis rotations and failure to box out. Yes, he does all that stuff. You know what we call a lot of those things? Rookie mistakes. Wrong. And yeah, and you know who else is making those mistakes? Scotty Barnes and France Vagner and Paulo Benero and certainly Jaylen Green and Brandon Pageki and Stephen Ward the Wardell Stephen Curry is making those mistakes and costing the team points. Like I get it. He’s not a perfect player. Nobody is. And certainly I’m not comparing Kaminga to Steph Curry. I’m just saying whether it’s Ge Santos, who you could also make that video for, or Anthony Lamb, who you could also make that video for, but none of these guys offer you the upside that Kaminga does. Why do you tolerate it from other people? My argument is someone with the talent of Kaminga should be given a little more rope to figure those things out. Especially since, you know, if you use that Minnesota game as an example, which like the plus minus is not super helpful cuz Steph Curry didn’t play in that game. Kaminga was on the the significantly worse basketball team in that game. So yeah, his M he’s got a big minus, I’m sure. But even if he gave up 14, he accounted for 28 just from a scoring perspective. I I don’t know how many assists he had. Could he rebound better? Yes. But a lot of that stuff for guys who are not natural rebounders, a lot of that stuff is getting more comfortable on the floor in an NBA game and he’s just never gotten the opportunity to do that. and and especially when you see some of the same hesitations and issues with Moses Moody. Like, is it just that these two dudes they drafted, both of whom seem pretty professional and reasonably intelligent when you hear him speak? Like, are they just incapable? Or is it possible that given their similar treatment, being jerked in and out of the lineup and yanked at the slightest mistake over and over again, that they’re a little gunshy and not yet comfortable despite four years of alleged NBA experience? That’s my argument. And and it hasn’t changed and it would be the same now. Like, is Kaminga really worth $25 million over the next four years? I don’t know. I think he has the talent to be that that good. And if I had seen twice as much playing time, which is what other comparable picks have gotten, I think I would have a better idea of how to answer that question. Even half again as much as he’s gotten, right? Understandably, he’s not going to play the minutes of a Scotty Barnes on a losing team. But if he had played Ge Santos and Anthony Lamb’s minutes for the last few years, I think we would know. We would know. Look, this guy’s never going to learn these things. Or, hey man, he’s really once he started getting consistent run, the rebounding is a little better. He’s missing less defensively from a team standpoint. He’s already one of your best one-on-one defenders against wing players, right? Like, I don’t know. It’s just a shame the way it’s all played out. And and again, I feel like the the Warriors are in a real quandry largely of their own making. Coming up, there have been very little dynasties that have been able to thread the needle into the next iteration being good in each. Obviously, the San Antonio Spurs were able to do it. The Lakers, there was a buffer there. The Chicago Bulls, that was not so great. Can the Golden State Warriors in this next era continue this type of play? We’re debating on lockdown warriors. The Warriors have a clear reset coming here soon. It is clear as day, Kolski, because they have 150 million coming off the books in a couple of years. Nicole Joic has announced that he uh will not sign an extension with the Nuggets. Now, would the Warriors take a look at him? Yes. Would he take a look at the Warriors? We have no idea. That’s in 2028. any good harness racing around the Bay? I don’t I don’t know. Yeah, I we got to figure that out, man. Um but the Warriors in terms of their picks, 2026, they got their first. 2027 they got their first. 2028 they got their first. 2029 they got their first. 2030 they got a second. 2031 they have their first. So, I mean, we’re looking at the next four years of Golden State Warriors first round picks. They they sputter at any time. You never know. They could win the lottery two years in a row and and have number one picks two years in a row. We could have someone generational growing up right now that we have no idea. I know Rondo’s son looks pretty good. I have no idea how old he is, but he he’s got a little Rondo like game. Like there are good players that are that are coming up in the ranks right now that the Warriors could have a part of because they own all these picks. The question is going to be how are the Warriors going to thread the needle of keeping all these first rounders? Maybe even adding in more if they get their wish in trading Kaminga for young talent and a first round pick. But it’s going to be how do they try to compete now while maintaining all these things? Because draft picks are beautiful. At the same time, the Warriors had three very high draft picks just a couple of years ago and they turned into two guys right now that we’re talking about maybe trading and one guy that’s been out of the Warriors system for a while now and James Wiseman. So yeah, well they blew one of those picks and I guess TBD on the other two, but uh they haven’t, I would argue, handled them particularly well, which suggests to me that the next two years of first round picks have very little value to the Warriors. I that said, I don’t know how much value they have to anyone else either because at best you’d think they’ll be middling, right? I mean certainly that’s the goal is that these picks would be no better than midling. It’s not. So the picks that have value are the ones you want to keep which are 29 maybe 28 but really 29 31 you know be nice to get that 2030 pick back potentially. And then the question becomes how do you want to use them? Do you want to be the kind of franchise that bottoms out for a year or two and uses your own picks to start fresh? Or do you think now given the the change in what the Warriors are over the last 20 years? Do you now believe we’re the sort of franchise that moves right to the next big name? Whether that’s a trade that lands you someone like Jokic or Giannis or, you know, by then maybe it’s probably not Webyama. I just imagine he’ll be a career spur, but whoever, right? Uh, you know, Cooper Flag is ready to leave Dallas by then, whatever it happens to be or bottom out, right? I So, so I I don’t know. I I kind of think the Warriors fancy themselves the Reload, not Rebuild franchise. You know, when’s the last time the Lakers drafted a guy who became their star? It’s Kobe, right? That’s in the mid 90s. It’s the last time a a home drafted guy became the Lakers superstar. And they’ve had superstars pretty much that whole way, right? Most of them just came there for one reason or another. They they traded for Shaq. They traded for or they they signed LeBron. They or didn’t trade for Shaq. Signed I I think though they may have traded for Shaq. Either way, they didn’t draft. They traded for AD, right? They traded for right. They traded for Luca Donuch. That is how Yeah. all of them. Free agency and trades is how the Lakers traditionally build and that goes all the way back. I mean, again, there are exceptions. There’s Magic and Kobe, but Wilt Chamberlain, uh, Kareem Abdul Jabar, these guys were not drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers. I guess Worthy was. Jerry West, I honestly don’t know. That’s going far enough back I can’t remember. But like the majority of Lakers stars through their history have been attracted as much to Los Angeles as the Lakers and have gone there via trade usually because they asked to go there via trade, right? Or by free agency. So, and now we look at the Warriors and they’re the exact opposite in the last 25 years where pretty much all their stars minus KD and Iguadala have been homegrown guys. So, you’re right. like how Yeah, I mean, you know, they did trade for Baron, but like largely the Warriors franchise throughout it history has not been a free agency destination or the sort of destination where stars would ask specifically to be traded. In fact, they’d be more likely to ask to go the other way. Historically, I think that has changed largely because of Steph Curry, but I think potentially sustainably because of ownership and the fact that they’ve consistently been willing to spend and treat players well and and all that good stuff, right? It’s become a respected organization and whether or not that affects how they intend to build for their future is something I’m very interested to see over, you know, the next 5 to seven years of the transition from Steph Curry to whatever comes next. But certainly everybody’s eyes are open when Nicole Joic says, “No thanks. I don’t feel like negotiating an extension right now.” They’re not going to be in a position like the Chicago Bulls. You wouldn’t think where for 25 straight years or whatever. It’s like how are the Bulls not getting first overall picks or top five picks and why are they not, you know, they’re just like what what are they losing the play into Milwaukee every year or Miami every year at this point? Yep. It’s a tradition unlike any other. I don’t want to talk about that trash franchise. And it’s Look, that’s an example though. Good ownership, good franchise, bad ownership, bad franchise. and and uh as sad as it will be when Steph Curry’s career is over, the Warriors are in a much better position to handle that than they would have been under previous ownership. Undoubtedly, 100% a million times over. So, you know, enjoy Steph Curry, I think, is the main thing. And and here’s what I would say about the team more broadly, right? is like right now they look way too short-handed and and light on scoring punch to to legitimately compete for a championship, right? We can probably agree on that. But if you’re putting Steph and Jimmy and Draymond out there with consistency, you’re you’re fielding a competitive team every night. You know, it’s not gonna be like the year Steph got hurt or something unless somebody gets hurt. Like, this is not a give up hope situation. It’s just a together, right? It’s just they’re going to have it’s just you imagine they’ll have to do something before March or April of next year to to consider themselves even fringe contenders. Yeah, I think as of right now, we both agree that six, five or six would kind of be the uh the sweet spot of where we think the Dubs would be. I think that would be a really good season for the roster they have right now. Yeah. I mean, think about it. Post Jimmy last year, you you stack all the records together, they would have been the the two seed probably. They would have taken Houston spot. So, well, right, but OKC is even better. So, you’re definitely not touching them. We still won. That doesn’t hurt them, right? Houston is significantly better and Denver is also significantly better. I would argue Denver is the team to beat in my opinion. I look at they were right there last year and they’re better now. So I can I can buy that. They they to me are right up there and Houston I’m sorry right now I have them above the Warriors if you make me project things. So the interesting thing with Houston is Durant like does the aging star syndrome finally hit a 37 38 year old or are these guys just going to start playing in their 40s like a LeBron consistently because he’s at that age where it’s like eventually there’s going to be a drop off. But if that is the knock on Houston, it’s even more of a knock on the Warriors, right? Because they got two of them. So everyone else on Houston is arrow up. Like you’re right. the Durant acquisition doesn’t look as good if he plays 36 games and and you know the shot isn’t falling like it used to. But same for Jimmy Butler and you know uh Knock Wood, same for Steph Curry. So I I I can’t use that to downgrade them. But on paper right now it’s a clear top three for me and it’s those three. And then the Warriors are competing with some other really good teams like the Wolves for that four, five, six and even down. I mean, how good will Dallas be if and when Kyrie comes back? How good are the Spurs going to be with all this young talent that they have now collected? It’s there is there there is a lot there’s there’s not an easy night other than Utah Conference. where they I mean look man you’re better than them sure but it’s not fun to play against Demar De Rozan and Zack Lavine and uh Sabonis like yes I take the Warriors but it’s not a night off. So they they got work to do to assure themselves a real playoff spot would would be my position right now. Um, but certainly right now they’re they’re in competition for a real playoff spot with those teams that that I just mentioned and probably one or two that I forgot. Um, it’s just is that what you want or do you want to be nipping at the heels of the top three? All right, Kolski, great stuff. I will uh give you a shout when something happens and we’ll talk again. How about that? Sound good? Yeah, man. Uh, your words to the basketball god’s ears. Let’s let’s have something happen. Ber this is locked on warriors free and available wherever you get audio podcast check us out on YouTube peace everyone anybody berer

Will the Golden State Warriors go for a rebuild or reload when Steph Curry is gone? Is there any chance Jonathan Kuminga winds up being a big part of this future, or has that ship sailed? Plus, Charlie Walter and Matt Kolsky dissect the potential addition of De’Anthony Melton.

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