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00:00I'm not saying that anybody firmly came out and said this, but I feel the desire to explore this.
00:07Has Jimmy Butler in some way been disappointing to all of you?
00:10Or to some of you? Or to any of you?
00:13Has this been disappointing now?
00:16Like in some way, shape, or form, the opportunity to go back and be an NBA 1,
00:24which he was not brought here to do.
00:26He was brought here to be an NBA 2.
00:28He's been an NBA 1. I know he can do it.
00:31But like this particular journey, this circumstance that's in front of him,
00:38is this disappointing to people?
00:40Like is anyone feeling that way?
00:43Jimmy Butler has in some way not kind of hit the mark?
00:50Or been what you wanted him to be?
00:52He's been fine. I wouldn't say he's been disappointing.
00:56I wouldn't say that he has been an absolute elevating presence.
01:01He's been fine. He's played well.
01:03And then there were times when he's played okay.
01:06And I think that the expectation was Jimmy Butler would come in and be playoff Jimmy like he had been in Miami at times.
01:15And so far in these playoffs, there have been moments where he's done that.
01:20And I look at game three where he was 12 of 26.
01:23He had 33 points and the team lost.
01:25But then you come out in the last game and he went 5 of 9.
01:29And I know that that might have been because he was under the weather and Steve Kerr said as much.
01:33And so I'll allow for that.
01:34He at least went out there and tried.
01:36I wouldn't say that he's been disappointing,
01:39but I wouldn't say that he's been absolutely spectacular.
01:42He's been fine.
01:43Okay, let's explore this.
01:45He's been fine.
01:47Starting when?
01:48Like when you just answered that question, you were referencing when?
01:51The whole postseason.
01:53The whole postseason.
01:54He's been fine.
01:54He was not asked to be playoff Jimmy.
01:57Right.
01:58That's not the definition that I know to be playoff Jimmy.
02:01That means that you're that dude, you're that dog, you walked in, you took over, you're Mr. Alpha,
02:09and you gather everybody around and you take them with you on your back and you move through the playoffs.
02:15That's not his role here.
02:17That's what he...
02:18Well, it's his role now.
02:19Yeah, correct.
02:20So we're only talking about three games then.
02:22No, we're talking about the totality.
02:24And I'm looking at game five against Houston on the road where he was not very good.
02:31And none of them were very good.
02:32And just because he's playoff Jimmy doesn't mean he has to shoot it 25 times a game.
02:36But I look for him to be impactful in spots where you need a guy to come in and be impactful.
02:43And I thought that game five against Houston, he was really, really patently bad.
02:49As was every warrior, right?
02:51Right.
02:51But you're asking about Jimmy and what I think of Jimmy.
02:54So he's not been a disappointment, but I don't look at it and go, yeah, he's been awesome.
02:59He's been fine.
03:00Well, but I guess that I look at it differently.
03:03Like you grabbed the one game that we didn't like.
03:08Obviously, game two was the game that he got hurt.
03:10Yeah, I'd wipe that off.
03:12So he played eight minutes and only scored three points.
03:14One of two shooting.
03:15Yep.
03:15Game one, 25 points.
03:17Nice job.
03:17Yep.
03:18Comes back.
03:19Game four, I'll remember you forever, brother.
03:22You were, you couldn't run.
03:24It was awesome.
03:25And he grabbed the biggest rebound of the year.
03:27And he scored 27 points in that basketball game.
03:31Seven of 12 shooting and was 12 of 12 from the free throw line and was in tremendous pain.
03:38And then they come back in game five.
03:39And as you pointed out, he was bad.
03:41So was everybody.
03:42The Warriors got run off the floor immediately.
03:44And then very, very steady, Eddie.
03:47In fact, I would argue.
03:48He was good in game six.
03:49Yeah.
03:49Like one of the only Warriors who was good in what was a very disappointing game.
03:54And Lucas Alexander and others will point to that game six as the night that the season went the wrong way.
04:01And I don't think it's a crazy take because you and I sat there in the arena and for four hours said if they don't win tonight, they're in trouble.
04:08Yeah.
04:08Yeah.
04:08They ended up winning the series.
04:10But guess what happened next?
04:11They got in trouble.
04:11Do you want to draw a direct line to game six, an indirect line, no line?
04:17That's up to everybody individually.
04:19Sure, you can do that.
04:19But he was good.
04:21And then he was, I thought, fantastic, 28-7 on 54% shooting in a game seven victory on the road.
04:30Then he comes out.
04:31He's very good or at least, you know, palatable what you needed him to be, 20-11-8 in your game one victory.
04:38And 20 shots.
04:39Yep, 20 shots.
04:40But remember, three of those four quarters, no Steph Curry.
04:44And then since then, no Steph Curry.
04:47And the only game that they were really close to winning, he was brilliant.
04:51And they fall short.
04:53But, like, I look at this, and again, this is where my mind goes.
04:57The minute Steph leaves, I see everyone through a different lens.
05:00You are now all being asked to do something other than what you had been asked to do.
05:08Well, he's being asked to do what he's been doing his whole career.
05:10And that's where I look at what he's done.
05:12And, well, we can look at his Miami teams.
05:14And you were throwing out some names.
05:16And I was looking at the team that actually he had a couple of years ago.
05:20And, you know, Bam Adebayo, great player.
05:23Well, he's got Draymond Green.
05:24And Tyler Hero, great player.
05:27And you look at, you know, the depth of that roster, not very good.
05:30Who's the comp for Tyler Hero?
05:31Buddy Heald.
05:32Okay.
05:33Well, I mean, Buddy's been spectacular of late.
05:36And Bam Adebayo, I don't know if he's been spectacular.
05:38He was spectacular one time.
05:40And then outside of that, he's been better than he was through the middle of the season.
05:44Bam Adebayo is a way better offensive player than Draymond Green.
05:48Not nearly the defensive player that Draymond Green is.
05:50But what we're mostly talking about right now with the Warriors' struggles is on the offensive side of the floor, right?
05:56Would you agree with that?
05:57Yeah, for the most part.
05:59Really quick, guys, as well.
06:00Well, 2023, the last time Jimmy dragged a Heat team to the finals, Tyler Hero played one playoff game.
06:05Okay, that's fair.
06:06That's fair.
06:07Absolutely fair.
06:08And Duncan Robinson was really good in that playoff run.
06:10Yeah, like, I just look at this now.
06:12And that team, the so-called schmucks that he grabbed and took to the playoffs had a lot more experience than a lot of this group has.
06:23You know what I mean?
06:23Like, I just, it's not like I'm going to look at Miami two years ago and be like, ooh, sparkly roster.
06:29No, I wouldn't say that.
06:31But look at this one.
06:34I mean, when you need a bucket right now, good God, what on earth can you really, really count on?
06:44And so my argument would be what you're asking Jimmy to do when you said, oh, you've asked him to do it before.
06:50I don't agree.
06:51You haven't asked him to do it with this group.
06:53I thought Stiney's point was a great one.
06:56He's not really spent any time with this group in this form.
07:00And now you're asking him to win a playoff series.
07:03These last three games are probably games four, five, and six that he's played with this roster.
07:07Without Steph.
07:08Correct.
07:09That's what I mean.
07:09Yeah.
07:10Like that.
07:11Like, you don't win playoffs with no continuity and no experience and none of this.
07:17And his butt hurts.
07:19Well, you don't know that.
07:20No, he has said that.
07:21So I have no reason not to believe him.
07:23I don't know why I'd say that if he didn't feel it.
07:26And he's two years older.
07:28And, and, and.
07:29I just think this is a lot harder than anything he's ever had to do before.
07:32Right.
07:32I don't think that any player who's out there, I don't look at it and say, well, you know,
07:37I'm going to go ahead and give you the injury excuse because two games ago he shot 26 times in the game.
07:43So his butt was fine then.
07:46No, it's not fine.
07:46But now it's not fine.
07:48It hurts.
07:48But he's able to go out there and shoot and really impact that game in game three.
07:53And so can he go out there and do it again tonight?
07:55Absolutely.
07:56And for me, having a lack of knowledge of your teammates, it affects you in some ways,
08:01but it also doesn't affect you when you get the ball and you go out there and you try to score the basketball.
08:07And so I look at him to try to do that.
08:09So is it disappointing?
08:11Absolutely not.
08:12But he's been fine.
08:14He's been fine.
08:15He has not been a guy who turned into Batman, which is what I thought he would have been.
08:19I really, yeah, I think this is a different level of Batman.
08:23I think that this kind of commentary makes me feel like everybody has forgotten the last two months and that sucks.
08:30Because the Warriors do not do any of this without how brilliant he's been.
08:38Brilliant.
08:38With Steph.
08:39Yes.
08:40Right.
08:40That's who he's been and that's what he was asked to come here and do.
08:44Like, I mean, three weeks ago, people are having national debates over whether this is the greatest deadline acquisition,
08:52at least in recent memory, in the history of the NBA.
08:56Well, that's hyperbole.
08:56Well, I don't think it is.
08:58You're a second round out and it's the greatest acquisition in history?
09:02That's not the point.
09:03The point is, is what happened when he arrived?
09:06A 500 team snapped their fingers with no practice time and got infinitely better.
09:13Into the play-in.
09:14I mean, what are we talking about?
09:16That's the cost of the first 50 games.
09:19You know damn well after he arrived, they were the two seed.
09:23They're the second best record in the Western Conference after he arrived.
09:26Which got you up to the seven.
09:28Yes.
09:28And that's great.
09:28And that's not his fault.
09:30That's everybody else's fault.
09:31So, that's who this team was before he arrived.
09:35I just, I find that to be surprising that Jimmy Butler, with what he has done for this organization
09:42in the last two and a half months to arrive at three games where Steph Curry doesn't play
09:48and therefore he's asked to do what he was not brought here to do, we're now going to start
09:54using words like fine.
09:56Like, how would you describe it?
09:58He's been unbelievable.
10:00Thank God he's here.
10:01Yeah.
10:01This season sucked until he got here.
10:04Unbelievable.
10:07Beyond my wildest dreams of what one player could come in here and do.
10:13I was wrong, wrong, wrong for my commentary at the deadline when the Warriors acquired him.
10:20That's how I would describe the Jimmy Butler experience.
10:22And damn it, I can't believe that Steph Curry got hurt and he's only been able to do this
10:31much yeoman's work in the three games while Steph was gone.
10:3517, 33, and 14, along with 7, 7, and 6 rebounds, 4, 7, and 3 assists.
10:44Like...
10:45LLL.
10:46Yeah, LLL.
10:47Yep.
10:47What's he, 0-5 without Steph this year?
10:51They won that game against Giannis that one time.
10:53Okay.
10:53Yeah, when Steph was out.
10:55Yeah, they can't play without Steph Curry.
10:57Really?
10:57So, like, I just...
10:59That's all.
11:00That's how I describe Jimmy.
11:01I'm not going to judge the guy on not being able to do what he wasn't brought here to do.
11:07Well, he was brought here to be a guy who was going to make 50 million and be...
11:10B, if he's not Batman, then when Batman's out, you need to be Batman.
11:14No, Steph.
11:15That's the two-word phrase.
11:17That's what he was brought here to do.
11:18Fine.
11:18So, Steph isn't here, so now we just shut it down and we just...
11:21No.
11:21We can't perform because we don't have Steph.
11:23No.
11:24What he was brought here to be...
11:25I've never said anything like that.
11:26I'm not saying you did.
11:27Okay, so you're reacting to this conversation.
11:30Well, this conversation...
11:30I don't want those words in my mouth.
11:32I didn't say that.
11:32I'm not putting words in your mouth.
11:34I'm telling you what I think.
11:35What I think is...
11:37You brought a guy in here...
11:38You put out a hypothetical statement, Dibs.
11:40All right.
11:40Go ahead.
11:41Go ahead.
11:42No, did you not?
11:43Go ahead.
11:43Am I not repeating what you just said?
11:45You said, so now we're not allowed to perform?
11:49Did I say that?
11:51Did I say that?
11:52Who said that, Dibs?
11:55Who said it?
11:57Nobody.
11:57Okay.
11:58May I speak?
12:00Don't...
12:00Not if you put words in my mouth.
12:01I didn't put words in your mouth.
12:02You did.
12:03You did.
12:03I didn't say that you said.
12:05I don't even get a chance to tell you what I'm thinking.
12:07You and I are having a conversation.
12:09And you're not...
12:09It's not a conversation when I don't get to speak.
12:12Right.
12:12What it is is you talking over me and me not getting to tell you what I think.
12:16Don't put words in my mouth and then we're good.
12:19You know what I think?
12:20I think he was brought here to help Steph.
12:23But if Steph's not around, you were brought here to make...
12:26Big money and make big plays in big spots.
12:29And this is what I'm looking for.
12:30And I don't believe...
12:32I personally do not assign an injury designation to a guy who...
12:37He's played through it.
12:38Is he the only one who has an ailment?
12:41Probably not.
12:42Anthony Edwards has sprained his ankle twice in these playoffs.
12:45And yet he's been able to go out there and perform.
12:48And Jimmy Butler landed on his tailbone on April 23rd, which is now 21 days ago.
12:55And anybody would tell you that that's ample time to get better.
12:58I believe that he's better enough to step forward and make big plays and be the alpha on this team.
13:04That is what I'm looking for from Jimmy Butler.
13:07Yeah.
13:07Is he better when Steph is around?
13:09Everybody's better when Steph is around.
13:11It doesn't mean that Jimmy Butler can't go out there and lead this team in a bigger way than what I've seen.
13:17Actually, yeah, it does in my opinion.
13:19I think every single warrior is now being asked by some fans to do stuff that we damn well know they can't do.
13:24We know it.
13:27We know it.
13:28But we don't want to acknowledge it because it's too painful.
13:30It's too painful to have gone on this long of a ride and have had this much fun and have it end this way.
13:37That's what is happening.
13:39That's what is very likely happening.
13:41And nobody wants to acknowledge it.
13:43Instead, we've got to grab our guns and fire them at a bunch of people who can't do what we already knew they couldn't do.
13:51There's nobody on the roster that anybody thinks can be a two.
13:55Some of you think Jonathan Kaminga can.
13:58And that's nice.
14:00That's nice.
14:01You should read Logan Murdoch's article today.
14:03It's fantastic.
14:05It'll give you insight into why Jonathan Kaminga got benched by Steve Kerr.
14:11At the ringer.
14:12Yeah.
14:12If you want to find it.
14:13It's on the ringer.
14:13Yep.
14:14It's out there.
14:15And according to the report, it's because there was a game in Portland toward the end of the year where Jonathan just decided to keep looking off Steph, who was wide open.
14:27Now, if you support that, great.
14:29Support that.
14:30I don't.
14:31That's why the coaching staff became livid with Jonathan.
14:35It sounds to me almost like defiant behavior.
14:37Somebody looking for their own shot and not playing within a team concept.
14:42That's why we arrived at that.
14:44I don't think the Warriors have anyone who can be a two, but we're screaming and yelling at one another over who now is supposed to be a two.
14:52And I don't think Jimmy Butler can be the one on this team.
14:56I've said this from the moment that he arrived.
15:00The Golden State Warriors, if they lose either of these guys for a lengthy period of time, are not a very good basketball team.
15:07So that's all.
15:08That's all.
15:09It doesn't mean I'm giving up on tonight.
15:11It doesn't mean anything as far as the outlook.
15:13Other than, as I've said all week long, I'm super disappointed that after what has been a thrilling ride for two and a half months, that Warrior fans suddenly sound down on everybody.
15:28You sound down.
15:29You sound down on all the players.
15:31You sound pissed at all the players.
15:33They're all being asked to do stuff they can't do.
15:35Not consistently.
15:38So Jimmy can score 33 in game three.
15:41He's not going to go out there and do that every single night right now.
15:45He's the only one you have to guard.
15:48So that's all.
15:49I am not going to allow this week to blow out my flame on what Jimmy Butler has done for this organization.
15:58This has been unbelievable for the last couple of months.
16:01It's been great.
16:02It's been great.
16:03And I don't think that I would look at Jimmy Butler and think that he can't go out there and get 33 tonight.
16:09And, you know, maybe he isn't built to be the one, but somebody has to be the one or else you're going to lose tonight by 35.
16:15So you look around the roster and he's the one.
16:18He's the one who is built to be the one.
16:21The offense will go through him and the rest of the guys pods for for his last 24.
16:27He should be better than that.
16:29And he has to be better than that.
16:31And if you want to look at who should be the two on this team, it's Draymond Green.
16:35Draymond Green's got to be.
16:37Draymond Green?
16:38Has he not had games in this postseason where he scored and he scored well and he shot the three?
16:44You're relying on Draymond Green to be the number two scorer?
16:47Who else are you going to rely on in this game?
16:49That's not who I would pick.
16:50You've already said about pods in the Logan Murdoch article in The Ringer is very insightful as far as, you know, his well-sourced reporting about what they're thinking inside the organization.
17:01And it kind of echoes what Steve Kerr said to us without saying it last night.
17:05Like, yeah, J.K. needs to have the ball in his hands to be effective.
17:09You're right.
17:10Next question.
17:11So if he doesn't have the ball in his hands, then he can't be the two.
17:15So who's he going to be?
17:16Can't be pods.
17:17Pods can't shoot right now.
17:18Well, actually, Kaminga does need to be the two.
17:20Right, but if he's the two, then it's not like he's going to be the two and then pass out of any action that he has the ball.
17:27He gets the ball and he tries to score.
17:29You're detailing why they're losing basketball games.
17:31I get it.
17:31But for me, Jimmy Butler has to then be the one like he was in Miami.
17:36And he has to play like he did in game three when they had every opportunity to win that game.
17:41He was great in game three.
17:43Pods was one for ten.
17:45And the other people who you look to to make big plays, they didn't make big plays.
17:48I guess what I'm saying is like you can sit here and detail what they have to do.
17:52And I'm not going to disagree with you.
17:54And for everybody who's texting in on the Boxer and Gerson work injury attorney's text line and saying, oh, so they're just supposed to lay down.
18:01No, nobody's saying that.
18:03I'm not saying lay down.
18:04I'm not saying give up.
18:06I love that Steve Kerr called them defiant yesterday.
18:09Of course, they're professionals.
18:11They're going to try.
18:12And you know what?
18:13They might win the basketball game.
18:15I'm not here telling you that they can't.
18:17I'm actually pointing this much more at all of us.
18:20I don't understand why when they can't do it or they don't do it, we all think they suck and they're disappointing or Jimmy Butler, who saved this organization in season, is only, quote, fine.
18:32Like, I just don't think that's fair.
18:35I do not think it's fair to ask people to go out there and do what they're not built to do, what this roster is not built to do, and then criticize them vehemently, by the way, with power when they don't.
18:49I do not like that.
18:50I do not like the way this has sounded from a standpoint of watching Warrior basketball over the last week and a half.
19:00I feel like it's forgetful.
19:02I feel like it's dismissive to what this team has achieved.
19:06And it is completely, by the way, nonchalant with the greatness of Steph Curry.
19:13Steph Curry's out.
19:15Right.
19:15I don't know.
19:16Does that mean you lose every game?
19:17It does not, automatically, although it has so far.
19:21Yeah, so far.
19:22Yeah, it has meant that.
19:23But you've been competitive.
19:23It doesn't mean that's a rule.
19:26Right.
19:26Again, I'm talking about the way we then assess what we're seeing.
19:30I don't think we're being fair.
19:33I don't think we're being fair.
19:34That's all I'm saying.
19:38I don't think we're being fair.
19:39To who?
19:40To the team?
19:41To the Warriors.
19:41Yeah.
19:41I mean, you look at it and you assess it and you react as a fan.
19:45I don't think that anyone's, like, being unfair to anyone in particular.
19:50Pods is the one guy I would say that people are being a little bit reactionary toward.
19:55And I will defend him for all the things that he does that are outside of him going 4 for 24.