Worth Believing In These Warriors

Worth Believing In These Warriors

And Joe lob thinks that this roster can win a championship now I don’t want to go too KNE deep into this today because I do want to break down the Warriors at some point later this week do you cuz I do not I do I’m just G I do not think

The Warriors this year can win a championship I’m goingon to say that on the front end and call me wrong if they do and they prove me wrong I will do what Mark Willard wants to do walk around with egg on his face for a whole

Week do you FP believe that this Warrior roster right now can win a championship no but I I I think there’s going to be some good things that come from this season and there’s a number of good things that have already happened during this season whether it’s the development

Of kaminga whether it’s Brandon psky like becoming uh maybe an All-Star next year like that I had no idea who this kid was like he’s a baseball player that started playing basketball late in life and all of a sudden he’s turned into my favorite Warrior besides the obvious but

But if Joe what’s the biggest storyline for you for the Warriors and let me give you some choices yes in the first half of the season is it Draymond getting suspended again is it clay kind of becoming an older player all of a sudden is it psky out of nowhere is it the

Development of kaminga is it Steve Kerr’s handling of the rotate like what is your if you had to rank what is your number one story for the Warriors in the first I guess air quote first half of the season so you didn’t put this on

There but I think it’s like two of them tied together selfawareness I think is the most underrated attribute in life and in sports the self-awareness of Curry to realize kaminga is the Fountain of Youth the self-awareness of Draymond to realize like yeah if we can get this

Kaminga guy rolling he does some things on the floor that none of us can do the self-awareness for clay to realize I need to go to the bench and even though I’ll still be able to get up my shots it’s just better for the overall good and the self-awareness of Jonathan

Kaming to realize like if I do the small things I know I can do some of the bigger things in terms of scoring and falling into place and I think the self-awareness of Steve Kerr to run more stuff like high pick and rolls going downhill to accentuate what John the

Kaminga does it’s kaminga but it’s the self-awareness of everyone to realize he’s not coming for your things he’s coming to help you get more things does that make sense it makes great sense yeah so self-awareness is your number one clay I I’ve been fighting this uphill battle and it’s not Clay is still

A useful player I no one is saying he can’t play there’s this like narrative now in sports you’re either great or horrific it’s like you know how many exit ramps there are in between those two destinations Clay is a useful player in the right situations and him having

The self-awareness to know yeah I’m probably not a number one option anymore some of those shots that I used to take flippantly you know I I can’t take those same kind of shots some of those defensive assignments that I used to take I might not be able to take those

On anymore some of the minutes I was allocated I might not be I might be hitting the law of depreciating returns if I play more than 30 minutes a game right I think those things and him taking a small back seat will make him a more efficient player and allow kaminga

And some of these other guys like psky to get rolling like FP every team in every sport is looking for young controllable players on team-friendly deals who can give the Fountain of Youth to some of their veterans making top dollar like name a team in sports that’s

Not trying to find a brock py contract a Jonathan kaminga contract right like aren’t we all aren’t we all looking for the next Corbin contract for an Arizona Diamondbacks team right yeah so like I think that the young players psky I would throw into that mix and John the

Kinga getting the runway and developing and proving and earning and continuing to play well that’s the biggest thing for me I don’t think it could be overstated how awesome it is that Clay’s buying into this do you know how hard it is to be a Hall of Fame type player and

Have the career and the resume that he has to say okay I’m going to the bench and this isn’t just like eyewash this isn’t just like when you look at the quot quotes I just wanted to take it upon myself to prove to coach that I was

Going to respond like a champ and I am that that I am uh I learned some things about myself that I’m going to carry with myself throughout the whole season like he’s saying things that are authentic we got we were talking about that earlier yeah just to play for your

Teammates play for the fun of the game play for the dubs not the name on the back of the Jersey that’s when I’m at my best when winning is the only thing that matters and that resonates so so hugely with me because when ever I thought about getting my hits and getting my

Stats when I was up for arbitration I was horrible and when you just like buy into the concept of let’s win and the numbers take care of themselves let’s all check our egos at the door even though when you win four championships and you’re making 40 mil a year there’s

Got to be a lot of egos there but we all have but but for a guy I I can’t even relate cuz I was I to a guy with that stature to embrace that and it’s not eyewash and he’s not saying things like well you know Coach K said this and I’ll

Just see how it goes like it looks like he’s really wrapping his head around the fact that maybe he’s not the player that he used to be and he can still contribute mightily and when a Hall of Fame type player slides back to the rest of the pack that he’s still better than

Most player yes when you’re at this level and this isn’t great radio because I’m demonstrating with my hand and you slide back to this level but the rest of the league is at just a little bit below that level you’re still better Klay Thompson’s still better than 80% of the players out there

And so if he’s going to contribute in a different way but W Joe wrapping your head around that role and embracing that role tells me really all you need to know about the man and not the player and I think a lot of times we get caught

Up in the fantasy uh League stats and we we we see what he’s scoring but but it’s more about the person to me and the man that he is and he’s showing that hey screw it if I’m here and this is what makes a team better and I’m playing to

Win games he just went out to play to win the other tonight what’d he do he threw in 35 he just want to play to win he started playing the game again for the passion the Love of the Game not the ego’s not in the way of I have to be a

Starter the ego is not in the way of I have to score this many points for us to win I’m just going to go out there and do whatever it takes to help my team win I’m going to find a way to beat you on a

Nightly basis and I want to be a part of a winner again and if the being a part of a winner means me taking a backseat to a kid who’s balling out right now and doing everything right and it makes our team better that’s is all great talk but

To do that from his status into the pride and the ego to come off the bench nobody likes to come off the bench I don’t care what sport it is toally I never could wrap my head around it I hated every minute of it I want to be

Out there playing and to be a bench player sucked it did but at least you’re there yes but then once you wrap your head around it and you say okay this is my role and I’m going to embrace it and I be the best damn bench player I can be

I’m a bench player at 957 right now I’m going to try to be the the best damn bench player I can be do I like it no do I like working part-time no do I want a full-time job somewhere do I want to be everyday player yeah but you wrap your

Head around that you embrace it and you say Okay giddy up baby and that’s what he did and that makes me like him even more and I was starting to worry about him with the quotes and the woe is me stuff and and and it seemed like he was

Really like basketball started become a job and it looks heavy and he never looked happy in a press conference and he looked like this is too big for me right now and hey there there’s nothing harder to watch greatness decline well can can I and I don’t mean to interrupt

You but like the clay thing is fascinating me I don’t know Clay I I don’t know him I don’t know him at all um but he strikes me as we talk about all these athletes who don’t care Klay strikes me as someone who really dramatically cares about his status in

In the game and basketball means to him more than anything in my life means to me the outside of my family you know what I’m saying and uh there’s something that’s refreshing about that but I also think that that um like his whole worth

As a human being is am I playing good am I still one of the best players on the planet I’m not I don’t want to like say that that’s the only thing he cares about cuz I don’t know he might have a girlfriend or family or something that

He cares about that we don’t know about but it sure strikes me that like his status as a basketball player and him playing the game of basketball means everything to him and on one level I super appreciate on the other level it’s like that can be unhealthy when you’re

Struggling right and I I’m just curious like in the mind of the athlete how difficult is it to balance that out when you’re so maniacally obsessed about being great you can never ever ever ever ever associate your self worth with your performance and if you do that you’re in

Deep trouble you think like I’m a better person if I hit 300 I’m a horrible person if I hit 200 or but that’s that’s where am I wrong no but that’s where you get into that trap and and if you start evaluating your selfworth based on your

Performance it’s it’s oh man you’re more than a athlete yes you’re you’re you’re a son you’re a father you’re um a good partner and so that that’s a difficult thing to address what I would say about Clay is he doesn’t look like he’s having fun playing basketball that’s it’s body

Language and when when you do it for a living I feel like I’m a professional body language reader like I do because yeah if if I can see you on the mountain you’re looking at me and you’re fake tough I know if you’re fake confident I know if you’re if you’re gripping and

You’re nervous and I just there’s way we go about it when we’re looking for any sort of edge against our opponent and the edge I used to find with body language I could tell if a guy walked into the Batters box and he was feeling great about himself I can tell by

Watching Clay on the court if he’s feeling great about himself or if he’s not he’s got the droopy shoulders he’s got the the deer in the headlights look or when he makes a three and he pumps the Fist and he’s fired up and he’s fired up so that you just see body

Language and it tells you everything you need to know about an athlete we can see these words and these quotes that I just read these seem super authentic and sincere which I freaking love and I I desire and I crave from my sports um stars that I look up to but like the

Body language is everything and he just looks like basketball’s become a chore all of a sudden and basketball’s become a job all of a sudden I think what Steve and maybe his his his his teammates and his Bros are trying to get out of him is

Like hey man look what we get to do I know we we the in-game reporter and I sat next to each other on the plane for 10 years in DC and he would start to about things that were going wrong like the planes late that the food sucks

On the plane and I would look at him I was like bro we have one of 30 jobs in America and so our our saying became one of 30 and we and and whenever we started to like slip down this this negative Town we’d be like how lucky are we like

How are lucky are you and I right now that we get to sit here with a microphone and people are actually listening to our dumb asses talk about sports on the radio the luckiest man on the plan we’re so lucky but it’s all perspective but like you I’m talking too

Much I’m going to let you talk I love it like when you’ve achieved everything clay has achieved four rings all the money he has he has generational wealth status he’s going to be a Hall of Fame player abut where do these guys go to get that motivation to get fired up and

To be hungry to win number five like I don’t know I don’t I can’t even comprehend where do they go where do they dig down to find this because you get jaded you get lost you got the money you got the agents you got the cars you

Got everything and now all of a sudden I’m not playing as well as I used to and and you have to somehow step back look at things from a different perspective of a different lens and just see the joy that you used to just have for simply

Going out and winning dude there is nothing that I’ll ever do in my life that’ll replicate winning nothing everyone always throws the family thing in there screw that there’s nothing that’s better than winning I love it’s the most addictive drug on the planet it’s the greatest thing you can ever

Experience ever so like do I get an arguments may you on the air and that’s my competition or do I find a different way or Outlet I still haven’t found anything that replicates winning and going into a locker room and feeling champagne going down the crack of your

Ass there’s nothing better than that feeling there’s nothing to ever replicate it but we get so lost along the way and it seems like and I could be wrong that all of a sudden something’s clicked for clay and he’s going I’m just going to play to win I’m going to play

For the Love of the Game because how much longer do I have and look at all that I’ve accomplished exactly well and I look at people like Carmelo Anthony as cautionary tales you know when Carmelo didn’t buy in it shortened his NBA career it just did you know and if you

Want to continue doing what you’re doing um there’s a level of of compromise that you need to come to the middle of you you brought up a bunch of things number one body language Sam and I had this long conversation with Bon Bonte lost

His mind on me but I was like hey look I I’m a big body language guy when I’m teaching kids like for example pitching on the mound do not show up your teammates and the Umpire you’re not going to get another good pitch you know borderline if you show up the Umpire

Like you think he’s going to give it to you no you know like there’s a whole way of conducting yourself right and I’m not saying everybody’s got to be Matt Kane at 12 years old but like there’s little there’s little things right and I saw Kyle Shanahan at a Podium two days after

The Super Bowl and it was John Lynch in a white collared shirt and he looked very presidential and he feeling answer he was devastated that they lost and he’s fielding all these questions and everything and then I looked and it was Kyle Shanahan and the hat was really low

And he was sunken down and it felt like to me he was trying to hide at the podium metaphorically you know what I’m saying and I read a lot into that and Bonte thought I was absurd and I was like look man like when you’re at the

Top position there’s a way that you have to conduct yourself presidentially even in times of Crisis and that body language was like really alarming to me and I’m not saying you can’t be devastated but you get what I’m saying you know like there’s just a way to conduct yourself and I don’t think

Everyone has to agree but I’m I’m with you on the body language the other part I want to get into with you is to be a 99 overall If This Were a video game I don’t know if you play video games no but let’s say your player is asteroids a

95 overall that’s your rating Donkey Kong the old ones to go from a 95 like Kay was down to like an 85 is harder I think for him than it would be hey I’m an 82 overall and I dropped down to like

A 76 you know I’m a I’m a fifth man on a team and now I’ve got to be a six seventh eighth man I think that’s an easier acceptance than being I am one of the best players in the league and I’m going to go down as one of the top five

Six players in franchise history to now I’m a role player that’s a harder drop for someone like him than it would be for maybe a a fringe starter am I wrong in that assessment no I mean when you start at a six like I did and then you

Go to a negative -2 and they tell you you can’t play anymore can totally relate to that but you get where I’m going dude it’s a it’s an ego thing it’s a pride thing and it gets in gets in my way it gets in a lot

Of people’s way at times where you just have you have to check that man yeah and and know that you’re lucky you’re lucky to be making the money you’re making you’re lucky to have had the experiences you’ve had in life people are telling me that in my life right now my my close

Like knit group is like look at what you’ve accomplished like you’re all bummed because you’re not working but look at the life you’ve had and I think it’s hard for us all to step back and be like how fortunate we are but it seems like not to get too deep it seems like

He’s seeing that right now and if he can wrap his arms around this and be another weapon that gives them so much depth and if they keep playing like they’re playing this is a long answer to your question I don’t know that they can win another championship or not I don’t

Think so but I think they can surprise us all in what happens for the last 30-some games I agree and there’s something interesting like when I watch Steph Curry not everyone has this and not everyone’s blessed with these things a I think he has the demeanor to accept

The highs and the lows and all that stuff he has this balance in his life he’s clearly maniacally obsessed with basketball but he has this whole family aspect and all these other outside interests that I think recalibrates him for his sport and I look at someone like Barry Bonds in his post-retirement

Career and he’s been struggling you know like he’s talked about it like I I missed the game like tremendously and he never could strike that right balance and I I I I’m getting real deep here but I I worry about clay you know like post basketball life like what he’ll be fine

He’ll be fine bro what he’ll be fine financially yeah but like you know like we all have like my dad my dad lived to work you know and then he retired and it was like oh my God what am I going to do and I was worried you know like he he’s

Golfing like crazy and he was doing all this that but he needed to find that right balance you know and I think it’s different for every single person dud very relatable you have really good points right now because the guys that have trouble retiring from whatever line

Of work yeah loved that work the most exactly my Ken cinti was my idol when I play when when I play B ass third Bas he loved the game more than anybody I’ve ever been around he had so much trouble in retirement he got into drugs and he

Died like I mean not the buzz killer but the guys that that love whatever they do the most have the most troubled transitioning because there’s nothing when you have value to the guy next to you you have value to the person you work with on your right and your left

And you have that camaraderie and you go out and have beers and you love what you do and then all of a sudden that value is taken away and you’re like you’ve worked your whole life exactly to be a really good radio host and all of a

Sudden you’re done with that and you miss that there’s nothing replicate that so the people like clay that that love basketball more than most and it’s not just a job it’s their life those are the guys that have trouble transitioning whatever it is and that’s why guys try

To stay around broadcasting to get that adrenaline rush

Joe Lacob believes. Do you?

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