- 10 minutes ago
Willard and Dibs continue to discuss how the Warriors are discussing rookie Yaxel Lendeborg as he enters his first training camp in the NBA. It sounds like the Warriors are expecting the world from the rookie...
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00:00We've been talking out Yaxo Lundeborg also with a little bit of Bryce Eldridge and Dajon Stribling
00:06kind of mixed in with it based on the way these teams treated or are treating their top rookies
00:17and in many ways doing it in a way they've never done before.
00:21The Giants one is a little bit more boilerplate and actually was surprising that they called him up
00:27and didn't play him for a little while and now he's obviously the one who's got a little bit under
00:33his belt
00:33in terms of actual professional experience.
00:37Stribling's got one quarter, did not catch a pass and Yaxo's never played before
00:42but that did not stop either team from allowing our heads to really soar in terms of what we're about
00:52to see.
00:53For all of these, Jimmy Butler's is still my favorite.
00:56Take a listen, Jimmy Butler on Yaxo Lundeborg.
00:59He's massive, like he is a big human being.
01:03He shoots the ball so incredibly well.
01:06He's smart.
01:07He wants to learn.
01:08He's a winning player.
01:09I think whenever you bring in younger guys, they all just want to get busy and get to it right
01:16away,
01:16scoring and doing all of these things.
01:18And he can do that at a high level.
01:21But all the questions that he asks, it's about how I can help to win.
01:25And that's what you get whenever you get a guy that's played in college a couple years.
01:29They know what it takes to win and they know it's not all about scoring.
01:32It's not all about this and that.
01:35And I think that's what I was most impressed by is like, what you want me to do?
01:38I'm going to be able to do it.
01:40And it's going to end in the result of winning.
01:42All right.
01:43Also still ahead in the 5 o'clock hour, a former Niner speaks up on what the current Niners should
01:49go do on the trade market as soon as possible.
01:52So we're going to get to that in just a sec.
01:54But let's go out to the phones.
01:56Bud in Oakland.
01:57Bud High.
01:57Thank you for calling.
02:00What's good?
02:01Divers, tell them.
02:02Hey, Dibs.
02:04Hey, whatever Riverstone you find, you get a free bag of teeny weeds.
02:10Yeah, I mean, that's great.
02:12And so I got that going for me, which is nice, bud.
02:17Hey, so listen, I like what they're saying.
02:21And for me, that just means that this guy is the real deal.
02:25I mean, Steve Curry has been around a lot of years of basketball.
02:29Many years.
02:30Draymond Green, Jamie Butler.
02:33These guys have been around a lot of basketball.
02:35And, granted, I know we hear this a lot about when a guy comes out and teams have to big
02:40up their star or whoever they, you know, their draft pick.
02:44But for these guys that come out and say this about a guy we haven't even seen yet, and I
02:49understand it's the size.
02:50Because you heard some of these things with Wiseman.
02:52Oh, he's massive.
02:54Oh, he's this.
02:54He's that.
02:56But they're actually seeing some of these things that he was able to do.
02:59Granted, Wiseman was able to do something, but he didn't have it all.
03:02Like you say, he was a baby.
03:03This guy's played, what, four years of college, won the national championship, just like who?
03:07Will Richard, right?
03:08Will Richard played, what, three years, I think?
03:10He got the national championship with Florida.
03:12So we got two guys with championships on the bench or coming in, you know, on our team.
03:17And that's good for the youth because the league is full of youth.
03:20And I was scared for the Warriors' future because looking at the Warriors' future against all these other teams,
03:26we don't have anybody that can play with these young guys getting up and down the floor.
03:29But right now, the future's looking bright.
03:32And Willard, you know where I'll see you at?
03:34I'll see you in the aisle.
03:35Yeah.
03:35All right.
03:36Strong.
03:36You're damn well.
03:37And he walked it off.
03:38You're right.
03:39Lenderberg, actually, six years of college basketball, if you want to be completely accurate, three in the JUCO.
03:45You get that extra COVID year and then two at UAB.
03:48And then he got to Michigan and won the Natty.
03:50So I do think that is a part of his individual maturity and his journey, the fact that he had
03:56to go from JUCO because he didn't have the grades to go anywhere else.
04:00And he had to fight his way from there to UAB and then get to Michigan as a part of
04:05the best team in college.
04:06And so, yeah, now going where he was to where he is now, it's hard not to be confident.
04:12These are all good points.
04:13But for me, it's simplifying the conversation too much.
04:17This is the way I look at it.
04:18But these are dudes, man.
04:21Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, these are minted NBA players.
04:26And when I hear them talk like this, it tells me one thing.
04:31It tells me they smell it.
04:34They see it.
04:36And when I say it, I'm talking about just that, it.
04:40They smell and see the it factor on this guy or else they wouldn't be doing this.
04:45So this is not, for me, as simple as, okay, he's old enough to play right away.
04:52He's got the size to play right away.
04:55Guru's going to say he's a thundercat.
04:57All of these things.
04:59Sure, he's talented.
05:01Nobody gets drafted in the lottery who's not talented or at least projected to be so.
05:06But this guy's talented and we don't need to sort of wait for him to fill out because he's 24.
05:13But that's all that over here.
05:16What I'm talking about is the it factor.
05:19The other stuff that makes somebody go into the den of the greatest players on the planet
05:28with confidence that you're not only going to be able to play in that den,
05:33but succeed and rise to the top of that den.
05:37To not just be the best, but to be the best of the best.
05:40And all I can tell you why it gives me confidence is I'm no scout and I don't do this
05:48before players play.
05:50I don't get overly excited about it, but I do start to take in information from the people who do
05:56because they're there with him every day.
05:59They're playing against him.
06:01They're feeling this and seeing this and it goes both on the court and off.
06:05And what I'm hearing right now is I'm sifting through all the X's and O's of their commentary
06:12and what I'm taking from this is they think he's got that thing.
06:17They think he's got that it factor.
06:19When I listen to this, it makes me think the next face of the Warriors will be Yaxa Lundenborg.
06:25That doesn't mean it's going to work.
06:27That doesn't mean it's going to be a, you know what I mean?
06:30It doesn't mean it's going to be a title thing.
06:32It doesn't mean he's going to be a successful one.
06:34But a lot of times you got to try that outfit on.
06:38Like look at the Hawks right now.
06:40We talked a lot about them last year because of J.K.
06:43Jalen Johnson right now is their face, but it's in trial mode.
06:48I don't know where it's going to go, but for now, that's their best player.
06:52That's their young stud.
06:54They're going to do this for a little while and see if it works.
06:57What I'm hearing right now is that's where we'll be in three years.
07:01When Steph no longer plays basketball, the Warriors are going to try on for size Yaxa Lundenborg as their one.
07:08They're going to hope, and it doesn't even mean that he has to be their one.
07:11But what I'm hearing Jimmy and Draymond and even Steve Kersey is this guy is as advertised.
07:18He turned 24 today, six years of college ball, including the last year at Michigan, where he was the best
07:24player on the team that won the Natty.
07:26So, yes, his resume is one thing, but then you see him actually play.
07:30And we saw it in Summer League where he was the MVP of the championship game when the Warriors won
07:35Summer League.
07:36Whatever that's worth, it's worth as much as you put into it.
07:40And the Warriors were trying to win that game, and they were going up against other NBA players, guys who
07:45had played last year.
07:46And so Yaxa took on that mantle.
07:49He delivered in that spot.
07:51And now you come into camp, and even before camp, you go into, like, pick up games against these 35,
07:5637, 39-year-old vets.
07:58And you're holding your own, but it's the way he's carrying himself, I think, that's so impressive.
08:03A lot to address here.
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08:26Okay, we have a texter who just sent in two texts, and I want to address them both.
08:29So I see you, 415.
08:30Thank you so much for listening and for engaging.
08:33First text is, they also talked highly of JK.
08:37No, not like this.
08:39Not like this.
08:40Everybody talks highly about their teammates.
08:42They construct their commentary in a way that is built for them to succeed, to try to build them up.
08:49You even heard Jimmy Butler talk about the highs and the lows of Jonathan.
08:53Jimmy Butler took Jonathan under his wing.
08:56He likes Jonathan.
08:57They see the gifts and the talent that Jonathan has.
09:01But you also heard Jimmy Butler at times go, and sometimes I need to tell Jonathan, when he's out there
09:06with that BS that he brings to the court, we're not doing that.
09:10You don't hear that right now.
09:12They never spoke about Jonathan, James, or any other rookie like this, my opinion.
09:19Second text is, he hasn't played one game, and you're saying he's the future, Willard?
09:24WTF?
09:25No, I'm not saying it.
09:27The future!
09:28They are.
09:29That's what I'm noticing.
09:31I'm not saying it.
09:32I'm noticing that they are.
09:35Listen to Draymond talk about, on his podcast, listen to the specific things he says.
09:44They're not like, yeah, man, young Buck can play.
09:47Like he's got some talent, and you know, now we're going to go.
09:51That's not what they're saying.
09:52Listen to how deep this gets.
09:54When you're in an environment without coaches, how guys act, how guys respond to each other, how the runs are
09:59going, all these different things, like it makes a difference.
10:02You have new guys on the team, you're breaking the ice, like getting to know each other, before you step
10:07in that stressful grind of training camp.
10:09Spend some time with young guys, get asked a million questions by Yaxo, which is absolutely incredible.
10:15By the way, Yaxo's talked a lot of s***.
10:17That kid can play.
10:17Now, I don't want to put some expectations on him, because the NBA game is different, man.
10:22You get in that season with them lights on, and it moves fast.
10:25Like Kawhi Leonard tonight is Kevin Durant the next night.
10:28Like, it's hard, but he can play.
10:30He understands the game.
10:31He's smart.
10:32This was really my first time getting eyes on him in person.
10:35Shoot the s*** out of the basketball.
10:36I was very, very, very impressed.
10:39I'm excited to see where he can take it.
10:41Okay.
10:43Just in that clip, Draymond Green says he asks all the right questions.
10:48He's twice said he can play.
10:52He can shoot the bleep out of the basketball.
10:54Then he says he can shoot the bleep out.
10:56He says he's incredibly smart.
10:58He says he understands the game.
11:01Hold on.
11:02Draymond Green, the guy who basically has made a Hall of Fame career by being what?
11:09The defensive?
11:10Oh, the smartest player on the floor, right?
11:12Smartest player in the league.
11:13And he's already saying this guy asks all the right questions and fully understands the game.
11:19Please don't say that they've ever said that about any other young player.
11:22They haven't.
11:23No.
11:24Not Pods.
11:24Not Moody.
11:25Not Jordan.
11:26Not J.K.
11:42birthday Yaks, and he had six years of college basketball.
11:46So it doesn't mean that you automatically come in off of that and you understand how to play and you
11:51know the game and all the rest of it.
11:53But if you look at his trajectory and look at the team that he had last year when they won
11:57the national championship with Dustin May as the head coach, they were basically a pro-style team.
12:03And he was the center point of that squad.
12:06So I'm not stunned to hear them say these things and how praiseworthy they are.
12:11It's a little surprising because we haven't had this before.
12:14And you mentioned like James and Kaminga and Moody.
12:16They were all teenagers and Pods might have been 20 when drafted, probably 19.
12:22And so this guy's 24.
12:24I mean.
12:25And he's big as bleep.
12:26Right.
12:26Apparently.
12:27Well, we're only dipping our toe in the water of what we get to see.
12:30It's kind of like dribbling in the preseason games when he goes out there and has seven catches in a
12:35half.
12:36And we're like, ooh.
12:37But, oh, but preseason.
12:39Same thing.
12:39This guy's MVP of the summer league.
12:41We're like, ooh.
12:42Ah, but summer league.
12:43Like, we've seen that before.
12:44Well, now, for me, what was the secondary piece of evidence for both of these players,
12:51okay, dribbling, you can catch a bunch of balls in the preseason,
12:54but what's going to happen when we get to the lights being on?
12:58And for me, even though we didn't get to see him play very much,
13:02it meant a lot that Kyle Shanahan, who I believe is the best coach in the game
13:07and certainly the best play caller, come Australia, already trusted dribbling fully.
13:13We're putting him out there for all the snaps.
13:16That means something because they're there every day.
13:19They see it all, and they are obviously much more educated on what they're looking at than we are.
13:25Same thing here.
13:26Okay, summer league.
13:28I see you, Yaxl.
13:29Saw you at Michigan.
13:30We can be excited about you.
13:32Now these guys are playing on the court next to each other.
13:35And after, like, two days, this is what they sound like.
13:40And it's not just two days on the court.
13:42They've been around each other.
13:44That's the thing, yeah.
13:44So, like, I am activated not by so much the basketball as I am the person.
13:51Fitting into a locker room, having the it factor,
13:54and making Hall of Fame players get this charged up in a couple of weeks.
14:02You can call me crazy.
14:03That means something to me.
14:04It means a lot, especially when you hear what they're saying about Yaxl,
14:09which is he's asking a lot of questions.
14:11So he comes in with this arrogance, for lack of a better way to describe it.
14:15He's a self-confident kid.
14:17He won the Natty.
14:17He's 24, and he likes to talk.
14:20And yet you come in, and you're asking the right questions of the vets.
14:24And even what Draymond, I think it was Draymond saying, you know,
14:27when we're just playing pickup, you can see the way he carries himself.
14:31And you've played enough pickup basketball to where you go to a court,
14:34and it may not be a court of people that you actually play a lot with or people that you
14:39know.
14:39But you can tell within the first two trips down the floor,
14:42is this going to be a crappy run?
14:44Because we have knuckleheads who are going to either call everything or foul constantly,
14:49or is it going to be a fun game?
14:50And so these guys have Yaxel, they're playing pickup, no coaches around,
14:54and you see him playing the right way and handling himself the right way.
14:58That means a lot.
14:59I think you could also tell for your pickup analogy,
15:01it takes about two or three times down the court where you're like, oh, that's a dude.
15:06That one right there, that's the one we need to guard.
15:09Those other dudes over there, whatever.
15:11The shorts are falling off, and then you're like, no.
15:14Then that guy's not going to put that dude right there, that's the dude.
15:18But even beyond that, like, he's the dude,
15:20but is he playing in a way to where we're going to be able to beat this team
15:24and stay on the court?
15:25And I think that becomes a part of it.
15:28Because you can be the dude and shoot every single time,
15:30even though you've got teammates who are open.
15:32Well, but then that's not the dude.
15:34Right.
15:34Like, again, Draymond Green said he understands the game.
15:39Don't do any other sentence just that.
15:42Draymond Green, before the season starts,
15:45says Yaxl asks the right questions and understands the game.
15:51You can underplay that, I won't.
15:53I'm not dismissing that.
15:54That's a big deal.
15:55Yeah, there's nothing to dismiss.
15:57I mean, they haven't even had their first preseason game,
15:59which is Sunday in Hawaii.
16:01But you'd have to go all the way back and, you know,
16:05bring up all the quotes when Wiseman was a rookie and Kaminga and Moody.
16:09And I don't think that you're going to find the same level of praise,
16:12and nor should they have been, because those guys were all teenagers.
16:16This man is 24, so he should be further along.
16:19Lou in Lafayette has called.
16:21What's up, Lou?
16:22Thanks for checking in.
16:23What's up?
16:27Well, you know, you guys are great, and you make great cakes,
16:33and I certainly hope you're right.
16:35But I've been around a long time,
16:37and typically the best time to find prospects for the Giants is March,
16:43for the 49ers is August,
16:45and now we're in the time to hype players for the award.
16:50Look, I think it sounds like he's going to be like in the next Tyrese Halliburton.
16:59And, you know, I think he was drafted.
17:01I'm not sure where he was drafted,
17:03but the chances of that happening, I think, are very, very low.
17:08And, you know, we've got to see what happens here.
17:11I mean, there's been so many rookies hype that have really not made it.
17:16I think the last one that the Warriors, I may be wrong here,
17:20but the last time we got a rookie who really turned out to be a special player
17:24was Clay Thompson.
17:26So, anyway, look, I love your show.
17:28I hope you're right.
17:29You make a great case, but I don't believe it.
17:33Okay.
17:33I don't believe it.
17:34And, Lou, I want to be careful to make our point clear.
17:37Thanks so much for calling.
17:38I think, Lou, you sound like you think that we're telling you
17:42that Yaxo's going to be great.
17:44That's not my point.
17:47My point is I'm assessing that they think he's going to be great.
17:52I have no idea.
17:54I'll tell you that wrong.
17:55I have no clue.
17:56I haven't seen Yaxo outside of Michigan in Summer League.
17:59So, what does that do for us?
18:01Not a whole lot.
18:02I've seen him on social media.
18:04I saw him interrupt one of Whitley's interviews yesterday.
18:07That was funny.
18:08The dude has tons of confidence, swagger, and personality,
18:12which also does not make you automatically a great player.
18:15What I'm telling you, both from the 49ers and the Warriors' standpoint,
18:21is I have gotten the same message about Stribling and Yaxo,
18:25which is that before the season starts, I can tell they think he's going to be great.
18:31They think that they have found a real, real something.
18:35Maybe the word great is too much, but this is not my opinion about Yaxo.
18:42This is my opinion about the other Warriors.
18:44This is my opinion about Draymond.
18:47My opinion is about Jimmy.
18:48They think that they've nailed this rookie.
18:52Yes, and I have thought so all along, all the way back to February when you were on it.
18:58I was college basketball geekified on everything, and I said, this is the guy.
19:02And so, nothing's been proven right or wrong yet.
19:04But the fact that they are praising him at this level, for me as a Warrior fan,
19:08it can't help but make you feel excited because the one thing that they need
19:13is what Yaxo Lendenborg could provide, which is size on the wing, depth on the wing,
19:19somebody who can score at all three levels.
19:21And if he's able to be healthy with a team full of older guys,
19:25all of a sudden now you've got somebody who might be a 2,000-minute player for the year.
19:29Well, Steve Kerr sounds like, okay, what did you just say?
19:32You need someone to, what were some of the things you said?
19:34Show consistency, length, be able to shoot and score at all three levels,
19:39and also play a lot.
19:41Okay, Steve Kerr sounds like, and a lot of the guys do,
19:44that Yaxo can do everything on the floor.
19:47Yaxo had a great summer, not only in summer league,
19:50but, you know, in our building, pickup games, you know, individual work.
19:55He's clearly going to play a ton.
19:58He gives us the size and the versatility that we need.
20:04He can guard bigs.
20:06He can guard wings.
20:07He's a connector on offense, really good passer, ball handler.
20:11You know, I always try to check boxes with guys, evaluating them, dribble, pass, shoot, process.
20:18He checks all those boxes.
20:20So he's really an exciting young player for us, and he's going to play a ton.
20:25Whether he's a starter or coming off the bench, that will be determined the next couple weeks.
20:29Okay, got it.
20:30So Hall of Fame coach thinks he can do everything.
20:33Hall of Fame wing thinks that he is bleeping huge
20:41and shoots the living hell out of the ball and impressed him to no end.
20:46And Hall of Fame defensive player and thinker says that he asks all the right questions
20:55and understands the basketball game already at a high level.
20:59So that's what those Hall of Famers think.
21:01That's my point.
21:02Not me, not you, them.
21:04Yes, and they have a much better up-close, I think, view than any of us would.
21:10And I don't want to make all of this about a comparison to other rookies they've had,
21:14but you didn't hear the same level of praise about Jordan Poole,
21:18who went to the G League and got a whole lot better.
21:20And in that COVID year, he cooked to where he became a big part of your championship run
21:26a couple years later.
21:27And same thing with Kaminga and Moody and Wiseman.
21:29They never got this level of praise ahead of their first game.
21:33Your boy Austin just texted in and said,
21:36nobody said the Axel's going to be great.
21:38That's your interpretation, Willard.
21:41Exactly.
21:43Now we're all on the same page.
21:45That is my interpretation.
21:47That is what I believe they believe.
21:50Based on what I'm hearing.
21:51And I have never heard them do this before.
21:54Yes, I mean.
21:54So that's correct.
21:55The things that they're describing lend themselves to where he's going to get to play a lot.
22:00And if they have this much faith in him in September,
22:03I would imagine he's going to get a lot of rope before he has to go out there
22:07and get a quick leash and a quick pull.