Would keeping Klay Thompson or landing Paul George help the Warriors more? 🤔 | First Take

Would keeping Klay Thompson or landing Paul George help the Warriors more? 🤔 | First Take

Draft Day in free agencies right around the corner a pair of Allstars Klay Thompson and Paul George could be on the move if they don’t reach agreements with their respective teams soon Thompson is an unrestricted free agent while George can decline his player option and become a free agent if he and the Clippers do not agree on an extension before Sunday he’s seeking a four-year deal worth 221 million CJ McCollum was on NBA today yesterday and had an interesting potential landing spot for PG-13 I think he has to kind of figure out what priorities are and who he wants to kind of play alongside as he gets closer to the latter part of his can I ask you something if it’s winning if it’s about winning it would be where if it’s if if if Paul George wakes up today and goes I’m making this decision not lifestyle not money I just want to win next year I want to win a ring and then I’ll give you my thought to the Bay all right doggy tell me this would clay or Paul George help Golden State more well Bob’s the expert on the on the Warriors on his Player Development tell me where any of these two players are going to help the Warriors win an NBA championship I’m not saying they don’t have to sign one of them because you got Curry there so you got to be a respectable team they had Thompson last year and they didn’t make the playoffs so how could you tell me now a year older that having Thompson no off of a sudden can be an NBA championship team they didn’t make the playoffs last year th what what do you mean so Kevin Durant didn’t make the playoffs one year Kyrie didn’t make it another year look at him make it another year I mean damn that’s what that’s your reason is really and he was he’s old he’s not 24 years old he’s old and George listen George is a very good player don’t get me wrong but let me get this straight George goes with his buddy um Leonard to the Clippers and now he bails on him when they have been when they have been a complete unmitigated disaster in big games a they ever they never play they always hurt B they got killed in the bubble they’ve gone through a million coaches so now we’re going to go if you’re Jorge you know I didn’t win here Leonard brought me here from Oklahoma City and now I’m going to bail on him to go somewhere else because I didn’t win in Indiana I didn’t win in Oklahoma City didn’t win to Clippers let me find a fourth team how about one of these guys sit there and say you know what I made a commitment to the Clippers I got Leonard still here I owe it to this franchise to stay here and try to win a championship here why when will a player do that I don’t understand how about winning with the Clippers instead of running around well let me go to Golden State if that doesn’t work I’ll go here and then Thompson Bob you tell me Bob you you you you tell me Thompson he’s older he’s not young anymore tell me how bringing back Klay Thompson is going to make the Warriors a championship contender in that conference I don’t understand how is that going to happen okay all right look to your first point Mad Dog I think Paul George would be loyal if I don’t know if you use that word to the clippers but they’re not paying him what he’s asking for and I assume these other teams would so to the idea of he’s leaving the Clippers I think Paul George and I don’t know this for sure if the Clippers would pay him a fourth year sounds like he would say I’ll go back there but but to the to the question at hand um Paul George Klay Thompson I might argue both at this point because you’ve seen what the Clippers did with Paul George and Ka Leonard and James Harden and Norman pal and zubach and teren sm all these guys that wasn’t good enough for the Clippers and that that was a stacked team in many respects so you add Paul George to the Warriors and you say okay that’s a really good team um you almost need Klay Thompson as well I mean the West with what Oklahoma City is doing what with what Minnesota is doing with with with Ant-Man with SGA all these guys what Dallas just did I I do think we’re sometimes missing things and trying to oversimplify oh you had Paul George you had Klay th that it’s still not enough guys you need to build a team to compete with what is a loaded West and even getting through the West now the Eastern Conference showed they had the best team in the NBA by far 4-1 and they they didn’t it wasn’t that close really it was a 4-1 series against Dallas but Boston and we were there Stephen at all the games it was never really in doubt Boston was the much better team so we talk about how great the W is the thing that’s different about the West is the depth of the West you could be a very good team in the west and and be the ninth seed we talked just about Houston recently Houston’s trying to make the playoffs there’s the West goes we talked about Phoenix we talk about the Clippers still wanting to be good we talk about the Lakers was still with LeBron James and Anthony Davis it’s a deep conference so just getting through it all you need depth and clay and PG may give you a better shot but at the same time I don’t think either of them just solves all the issues for for any team so but you look at building this team whether it’s the Warriors or anything else you have to look at what you have to get through in the west guys and it’s a lot and it’s not just the playoffs it’s the regular season warriors were 46 and 36 and were in the playin in most seasons that puts you in the playoffs not the playin so you could see in the west guys you could see a 49 win team in the playin so that means you have to get through the regular season 82 games healthy and that’s the other thing teams in the west aren’t just good they’re young they’re young Minnesota is Young Oklahoma City is Young uh Dallas for the most part with Luca we think he’s old he’s been in the NBA for a long time but he’s still young their oldest guy might be Kyrie and he’s not that old so I look at this for any team trying to compete in the west yeah go get Paul George gives you a better chance but the story is still Unwritten for many of these teams including the war if they do either of those things okay couple of things number one not that Bob you were doing this uh you were never do this but I get sick and tired of people dismissing the significance of Klay Thompson Klay Thompson had a down Year doggy you know what that that that that amounted to averaging 17 points on 39% shooting from three-point range that’s a bad year for Klay Thompson now we know he had the nasty injury that left him out pretty much the better part of two seasons he comes back a couple of years ago helps them win a championship obviously uh he hasn’t been himself but in the second half half of the Season or really since the allstar break you know doggy averaged about 20 points shooting 45% from the field and 42% from three-point range do you know that that piggy backed off of nine of his first 10 seasons in the NBA shooting better than 40% from three-point range this is one of the greatest Shooters in the history of basketball there there’s no denying this and when you look at the Golden State Warriors and what their success has been predicated on one would say two components their shooting ability and their defense okay I understand that Paul George can shoot I also understand that Paul George obviously can defend but when you look at him in his style of play willing to break you down one-on-one in that regard and shoot off of that as opposed to being a catch and shoot guy not to say he’s not capable of that because Paul George is the real deal but Klay Thompson is somebody that I want on my team I’m here to tell you that right now 46% of his regular season games he missed about 60% of the playoffs over the last four years or so the Los Angeles Clippers haven’t been out of the first round in the last last three years back to back first round exits the last two years and the year before that they didn’t even make the playoffs okay and by the way you talk about all of these coaches we’ only had two of them Doc Rivers and then Tylo so I don’t know what all of these coaches kawh Lyon and Paul George have had that you’re talking about in Los Angeles that’s just not true in the end kawh Leonard is not reliable he’s always hurt specifically when it counts he’s a superstar when he’s available but he’s not usually available unavailable in the postseason 6 % of the time and I know the answer to Bob for Bob so I’m not going to even ask him this I’ll throw it to you doggy with this simple equation yeah go ahead it’s hard as you work right as much as you show up to work how would you feel about somebody who 60% of the time in the most clutch situations imaginable was unavailable to go to work how would you feel about having that person as a teammate but by the same token if the Clippers gave him the max contract he could care less about unavailability he sign so you’re arguing about unavailability but he’d sign if they gave him the money anyway anything because in his perfect world living in La is a beautiful beautiful thing all right let’s give Bob the final word here before we we go to commercial break Bob take you know look look like I said I mean here’s the thing we’ve been critical of the Clippers um but but and and Stephen A you you’ve been critical of Kawai which I understand the thing that’s hard on that one is and you you saw Paul George come out and defend Kawai he did play in the regular season more than he has in in many of the past previous ones but he was not there I I know but but you’re right but he was not there when it mattered in the end but you could say the same thing about a lot of players the problem is if you’re the Clippers you’re saying it just hasn’t worked you know and that’s the question we were talking about Phoenix is is when do you just say in a front office yeah it doesn’t matter why guys it hasn’t worked and it doesn’t work but what you’re seeing now and to a larger picture Molly in in NBA free agency we’re going to see more movement this offseason we’ve already seen Bridges than I think we’ve seen in a long time and and for the viewers and people watching this is becoming the fastest paced League I think of any league as far as change as far as fluidity I always look at what happened with the Warriors that run of continuity where people could buy a player’s jersey and know that for the next few years it was safe that’s kind of over I don’t care what team you’re on even the Celtics we talk about how long can this run go things are happening so fast player movements happening so fast make shows like this fascinating but there’s you’re going to see so much movement even the next 3 days and we’re going to talk about all these bigname players and when the dust settles that’s when we’ll be able to evaluate all this stuff but it’s about money it’s about fit and it’s about optionality for all these teams and I think that’s the modern NBA and that’s what makes being in the front office now or ownership harder than ever the power of an NBA player Stephen A and madg is more than any other power of any player except for an NFL quarterback what these players can demand and what they can do and what Paul George is doing is he’s almost picking his team he’s and and Paul George is a very good player LeBron James could he could hold up free agency for the whole summer if he wanted to he actually did that one year when he waited till July 8th or 9th everybody said we can’t move until LeBron moves so that’s what’s fascinating about all this stuff Molly and we’re going to see over the next few days where it all lands it’s a great point the tables have turned real quick I say I got to get to commercial I just want to say this you know joke around I mess with the man all the time on behalf of the whole NBA Countdown team we love ourselves some Bob m we had a blast working with him this year love your buddy it was a great working with you all year long and I just want everybody out there in the audience to know me willb all the producers everybody obviously Malika Andrews as well we had an absolute blast working with you my brother I really Lov it thank you appreciate it Stephen and and look we’re going to work together again tonight in a little bit so let’s you know we we we we got to get through the draft that’s right well that that doesn’t mean that you don’t get on my damn nerves just like doggy does but I love you anyway I love y’all anyway to [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

Would keeping Klay Thompson or landing Paul George help the Warriors more? 🤔 | First Take

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo and Bob Myers join Molly Qerim to discuss Klay Thompson, Paul George and NBA free agency.

0:00 Future for Thompson and George
2:40 Competing in the loaded West
5:30 Stephen A. on the Klay criticism
8:15 Power of NBA players

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