- 6 hours ago
Willard and Dibs react to Yaxel Lendeborg's comments after his second preseason game. He said it's easier to rebound in the NBA because there's more spacing and because players are lazier in the NBA. Is Yaxel's openness behind the microphone going to be a problem?
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00:00I've been chomping at the bit to get to this a little bit.
00:02I want to play this and just see how it grabs you.
00:07And I say that to you, I say that to all of you, 888-957-9570.
00:12A lot of Yaxel Lindeborg excitement right now, I get it.
00:15And his stats last night, I don't know if y'all watched the game,
00:19his stats last night, they're fantastic, absolutely fantastic.
00:23But this is a different dude, and I am really curious to see where this goes.
00:31So here's Yaxel after the game.
00:34A few different things to listen to here.
00:36So let's start with Yaxel talking about having to be a scorer this year.
00:40Yeah, well, it's very shocking to hear it now.
00:43But, I mean, I get the point, you know, the two other guys are hurt.
00:47You know, Jimmy was one of the main scorers on his team,
00:49so, you know, I'm going to have to try to fill in his role until he gets back.
00:53And, I mean, I've been in positions where I've had to, like, score the ball,
00:56like a lot, I guess, or, like, an extra amount that I would like.
01:00So, I mean, I feel like I'll be able to step into that role for sure.
01:03Just got to continue to, you know, work out and get the confidence to do that.
01:06But, I mean, I feel like everything's going to be trending up the right way.
01:09Okay.
01:09And here's his reaction to people telling him to be more aggressive.
01:15I would say about, like, 50, 50 times maybe.
01:18I'm hearing it from coach pretty much every day.
01:21Staff, dream on both of those guys.
01:23Family members, friends, all that, you know.
01:25So, it's just, it's getting very repetitive, man.
01:27But, you know, it's hard to learn, you know.
01:30I've been an unselfish player my whole life.
01:32And just coming here and hearing, I've got to be, you know,
01:34score first mindset kind of.
01:36It's just, you know, it's going to be something that I've got to get adjusted to.
01:39Okay.
01:40Whatever you're doing, I want you to stop for a second and listen to this next one.
01:44This is the one, okay?
01:47Talk to him about rebounding.
01:49And listen to where Yaxle takes the conversation.
01:52I feel like it's a lot easier to grab rebounds here.
01:54In college, the pain was always packed.
01:56And it's always, like, you know, somebody, like,
01:59actually just coming out of nowhere to rebound.
02:00Like, these guys, I feel like they're more lazy to get the rebound.
02:03So, I mean, I'm having, like, clear shot rebounds by myself.
02:05And it's, like, you know, like, it's crazy, you know.
02:08So, I feel like I'm going to have a lot of rebounding games where I'm at 9 to 12
02:11with that range, something like that.
02:12Okay.
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02:32Herman Edwards, in 15 minutes.
02:34How'd that grab you?
02:35The last piece of it?
02:37Especially that one.
02:38He is right.
02:39Like, how do you think Pods goes out and grabs six or seven boards a night?
02:43It's because the paint is largely more empty than in college.
02:48And in college, the shot goes up and you need everyone.
02:50You need to crash and, you know, get after it.
02:53And the pros, it's like, okay,
02:54Steph is not going to get in there and mix it up on the defensive end
02:57unless it's really, really important late in the game.
03:00And so, he's out doing what he does.
03:02And I think the majority of the NBA, in fact, 42% of all shots are three-point shots.
03:08So, if you are the penetrator, Steph, and you kick it to somebody for a three,
03:13well, that's two people right there who won't crash the boards.
03:15And so, I do think that there is more room to rebound.
03:18Okay.
03:19He's right.
03:19I don't know if that's the point.
03:22Like, try this on for size.
03:24Let's say you run into someone you haven't seen in 10 years.
03:29And they've gained some weight.
03:32And you're like, wow, I haven't seen you for 10 years.
03:35Wow.
03:36You're fatter.
03:38Okay.
03:40I got my reunion coming up in two weeks.
03:42I don't need you planting those thoughts in my head.
03:44My goodness.
03:46You went gray.
03:48My goodness.
03:49You lost all your hair.
03:54You know, that's true.
03:55My goodness.
03:56You have, I'll say it nicer.
03:58It looks like you put on a little.
04:00Put on a little weight.
04:01But, I mean, it's great to see you.
04:04You got a new bank.
04:05It's a good local bank, Stephen.
04:08It's not a big box bank.
04:10I mean.
04:11No ATM fees.
04:12Would your response to that be like, well, I think he's right.
04:17I don't think that's what Yaxel's saying.
04:19You're telling me.
04:21You're telling me now that the rookie who's never played a real NBA game in his life, you're telling me
04:29that no veteran player is bothered by him saying, kind of lazy here.
04:38Listen, I love this guy.
04:40I love that he's doing this.
04:42The confidence we already knew, it's overflowing.
04:45But I am, like, Yaxel is going to be a whole vibe, in my opinion.
04:52I think he's going to be a really good player, but I think there's going to be some controversy that
04:56follows him.
04:56He does not have a filter.
04:58He says stuff, and we know, in 2026, heading for 27, in a social media world, what happens when people
05:08don't have much of a filter.
05:11Like, I know exactly how veteran players are going to take that.
05:16Ah, that's crazy, man.
05:18Nobody's even trying up here.
05:21Well, he said there's a lot more room.
05:23He said.
05:24And there is a lot more room.
05:25He said they're lazy.
05:27Do you need to hear it again?
05:28I feel like it's a lot easier to grab rebounds here.
05:31In college, the pain was always packed, and there's always, like, you know, somebody, like, extra just coming out of
05:36nowhere to rebound.
05:37Like, these guys, I feel like they're more lazy to get the rebound.
05:39So, I mean, I'm having, like, clear shot rebounds by myself, and it's, like, you know, like, it's crazy, you
05:44know?
05:44So, I feel like I'm going to have a lot of rebounding games where I'm at 9 to 12 in
05:48that range, something like that.
05:49Soak this in.
05:50He's talking about stats.
05:52He says they're lazy.
05:54He says it's crazy.
05:55I'm just out here by myself getting rebounds.
05:58I don't know, man.
05:59Getting rebounds in the NBA is easy, and I bet there are plenty of people that have been like, dude,
06:04you haven't even been to the NBA yet.
06:07We haven't played a game.
06:09We have not played a game yet.
06:10Right, but I think if you look at the game, and I'm looking at it through his eyes, he's not
06:15wrong, where they're maybe not, quote, lazy, but especially when it comes to offensive rebounding, there's a certain amount of
06:22a tactical disadvantage to go ahead and crash the board.
06:26So, you're going to go ahead and crash the boards with three of your guys on the offensive glass, and
06:31you don't get it.
06:31Well, now it's going to be one pass and a run out three on two.
06:35They're shooting a three, and you're getting burned.
06:37So, if you're going to get in there and really crash on offense, you've got to be already down there
06:43or somebody who could go ahead and really compete for a rebound, but I don't see a lot of shots
06:49that go up, and you have six different bodies all trying to fight for it.
06:52So, it's so interesting, because your brain and my brain go to very different places on this.
06:57You're going to the X's and O's of all of it, the fact and the fiction of all of it.
07:01I agree with you.
07:01He's not wrong, but that doesn't, my whole point in bringing up the, oh, good to see you, you gained
07:07some weight.
07:08You're not wrong, but you don't say it.
07:11And again, I'm not telling, I do not want inauthentic Yaxle.
07:15I do not want muzzled Yaxle for multiple reasons.
07:19My job is one of them, but I find him very easy to listen to.
07:24I find him entertaining, provided that he is prepared for the way that the world will react when you do
07:32this.
07:32When you head out and your only defense is, well, I'm not wrong.
07:36I'm just telling you the truth, but when it's not what other people want to hear, especially when they hear
07:42it a little bit earlier than they want to hear it, people are going to have a reaction to this.
07:48Let me give you an example of where this can go.
07:51So this is not the right comparison except for one lane of it.
07:55How did the WNBA treat Caitlin Clark when she arrived?
08:01They tried to beat the crap out of her.
08:03And the reason was, is because the veterans all felt like the world was telling them, okay, now the real
08:12bee's knees is here.
08:14And the automatic reaction from a veteran when they hear that is, oh, okay, we'll show them.
08:20Let's show them what this is all about in this league.
08:23So Yaxel needs to be prepared for this or at least aware of this.
08:28When you start yapping into microphones about how it's all lazy here when you're rebounding, I would, if I'm Jalen
08:35Duren, I've got a message to send when we get into the paint.
08:39And so that's all.
08:41Like, it's super entertaining.
08:43I find it to be authentic.
08:45This is who he is.
08:46But truth is not a defense of all things.
08:49Well, he doesn't need a defense if he goes out there and gets eight boards a night.
08:54He can go out there and show that this is what he was thinking, this is what I saw, and
08:58this is what I'm now doing.
08:59Because I think that a lot of you are lazy, and I'm not.
09:02And I'm going to play 30, 32 minutes a night.
09:05I'm going to get my eight or nine boards, and I'm going to devote myself to that.
09:08And then the comments become less inflammatory and more of like, this is a guy who saw something, and maybe
09:14he's right to that extent.
09:16And, you know, the Kaitlin Clark one is different because not only the racial element, but she never really went
09:22out there and talked about how I'm the bee's knees and this and that.
09:25She talks a lot.
09:25She does talk.
09:26She talks to the ref, and, you know, she talks to Angel Reese and the whole thing in college and
09:31all the rest of it.
09:31But at the same point, she went out there and largely backed it up.
09:36And this year, her second year, was when things started to get a little bit ratcheted up in terms of
09:41the physicality.
09:41And that's why I said the Kaitlin Clark comparison is only one tiny lane of it all.
09:46It's nowhere near any sort of a social commentary like that.
09:51I just, I find this to be a very interesting lane that he's creating.
09:56I really do.
09:57You do not, like.
09:59I think it's interesting.
10:00You do not see this.
10:02Not often, yeah.
10:02You do not.
10:03I mean, this is why anybody who's like, oh, it's no big deal.
10:06I don't think it's a big deal.
10:08But it's an interesting deal.
10:10Give me a comp.
10:12Who's the last player who's never played in the league before who just walks in and after a practice game,
10:19they're like, so?
10:21It turns out it's easy here.
10:23And, in fact, I don't know if you all saw this, but a lot of the people I was going
10:26against are just lazy.
10:28And I know I'm overstating it theatrically, but do you get, like, that is how this is going to land
10:34to other players.
10:36Players are not, they do not want to hear Rook talk about lazy, easy, and here are the numbers I'm
10:44about to put up.
10:45That's another piece of this that is curious to me.
10:49I would love to know, on the inside of the Warrior hallways, how they actually really feel about Yaxel having
10:56press conferences about what his numbers are going to be.
10:59Numbers are numbers and numbers are numbers.
11:01But also, the Warriors are about winning basketball games, and I know it goes hand-in-hand with the message
11:07that they're trying to give him.
11:08Sure.
11:08They want him to be aggressive.
11:10But I don't hear rookies walk in, say that the people they're encountering are kind of lazy and it's crazy,
11:19and here are the numbers I'm about to go put up.
11:21You don't see this in professional sports.
11:23You don't, especially in basketball, and think about the majority of the rookies in the first-round picks this year.
11:29Almost all of them were freshmen.
11:30All the lottery picks, except for Yaxel and I know Adey Mara, I think he was in the back end
11:36of the lottery,
11:37but the majority of them are 19-year-old kids who, in general, you don't come in with that level
11:42of braggadocio.
11:44And Yaxel's a guy who played six years of college basketball.
11:48And so, when you get through all that and you did what you did and you already have that personality,
11:53I think it lends itself more to that.
11:55And to be honest, his teammates have done nothing but, yeah, he's going to play.
11:59He's going to play a lot.
12:00And, man, this guy looks good, and he could be the real deal.
12:03And so, it would be different if, like, you know, there'd be a thought of, oh, you might be the
12:07eighth or ninth man,
12:08and then he's coming out talking about how, you know, they're lazy and I'm going to go 15, eight, and
12:13six.
12:13I just, here's really what I'm getting at, because this is not a criticism.
12:17I want authentic Yaxel.
12:20I think Yaxel Lindenborg is going to be a very big name in this league.
12:26Well, in this town this year, for sure.
12:28No, in this league.
12:29I think he is going to be a very big name in this league, because I think he's a good
12:34player,
12:34but I think his personality is unique.
12:39He just says it, and he's doing it now, before he's ever even played basketball.
12:43Where does this go if he ever is averaging 18 or 19 a night?
12:47Where does this go when Steph Curry retires in three years?
12:50And right now, he is the leader in the clubhouse to be the Warriors' best player when Steph leaves.
12:56Like, I don't know who it's going to be, but right now, that'd be the betting favorite.
13:00Who's the best player when Steph retires?
13:02Probably this guy.
13:03That'd be my guess.
13:05I don't even know who else I would guess.
13:06It would be somebody who's not in the building now.
13:08Yeah, exactly.
13:09Would be the other candidate, I think.
13:11I just, when you are willing to have this kind of a conversation,
13:16and then you are given the opportunity to put up points and numbers in this league,
13:21you become a big name.
13:24And so right now, I foresee that for him.
13:26I think he's going to be a big name in this league.
13:29And I don't think that he will shy away from any of it, because that's not his personality.
13:34And to come out and talk about what he sees, and, you know, people are lazy about rebounding.
13:39And you're right, he's never played a regular season game at all in the association.
13:43And he's playing alongside maybe four Hall of Famers, like Steph and Dre, for sure.
13:49Jimmy, I think Al Horford probably is a Hall of Famer.
13:53It's the basketball Hall of Famer, remember.
13:55Sure, I know.
13:55And he did win a couple of chips in Florida.
13:57So, you know, when you look at his career in totality, if you put him in,
14:02then you're playing with four Hall of Famers, potentially.
14:04And so, normally, my default would be, oh, man, I should probably dial it back maybe a little bit,
14:10because I'm playing with these guys, but he's not even thinking of that at all.
14:13I love it.
14:14I love it.
14:15I'm just letting everybody know, this is different.
14:18This guy is different.
14:21I don't, like, I challenge everybody.
14:23Come up with a comp.
14:25Somebody who's never played in a league before.
14:27Who walked in and started saying stuff like this.
14:30You're not going to love it, but, and I don't even know if he started talking that early,
14:33but John Morant, I'm trying to remember when he was a rookie, seemed like he came in,
14:38and he had that level of, like, no one can guard me, and, you know, he was electric.
14:42Lonzo Ball's dad did it for him.
14:45He didn't do it.
14:46Right.
14:47But Lonzo's dad did this when he was at UCLA.
14:50No doubt.
14:51And that didn't go well, by the way.
14:53I'm trying to think what other, like, even Anthony Edwards,
14:56he was, like, super confident, and his thing was, I don't want to be the face of the league.
15:01Exactly.
15:01But Mayori and Hayward, we got Herm Edwards in a few, but let's take a few calls.
15:06Hey, Mayori, what's going on?
15:07Thanks for checking in.
15:10Hey, what's up, Willard and Div?
15:11I just wanted to say, Willard, you're absolutely right.
15:14Like, he cannot talk like this when he has not played one single NBA game that's not the preseason or
15:21summer league.
15:21Like, I think some things are going through his head, but I do appreciate it's just who he is.
15:26Like, if you listen to all his interviews, his Twitch videos or whatever, that's just who he is.
15:30He's going to stay with whatever comes to his mind, and he might need a little media training.
15:35But for him to say that, I feel like that's bulletin board content.
15:39Like, you know, all your opponents are going to be able to see these interviews,
15:43and they're going to, like, in the regular season, it's a whole different ballgame than the preseason.
15:47People are going to care.
15:48People are going to be trying.
15:50So, you know, but, hey, if he thinks it's easy, I want him to crash the board because, you know,
15:55I do see what he's talking about.
15:56Sometimes people are lazy, you know, getting a rebound.
16:00So if he has the energy to be getting boards all day, hey, go for it.
16:04Like, you and Paul, like, we'll take it.
16:06We need those offensive boards since we lost money.
16:08So, hey, I'll take it.
16:10So thank you for taking my call.
16:11That's all I got for you.
16:12Mayor, thanks.
16:13I want to just adjust one thing, though.
16:15Like, I'm not saying he can't do this.
16:18Number one, it does come from a lighter place.
16:21Like, he's a light guy.
16:22Like, he's – I don't think he was wanting to point at someone.
16:25It's not like he's in your face, you lazy – it's not like – that's not the vibe behind it.
16:29I think he can do this.
16:31I just – I want him to be ready for where that will take this.
16:34I do think that this will – it will take his reputation to a certain place
16:41if he's willing to have conversations like this after games.
16:44Well, the reputation is either backed up or not backed up by what he does.
16:49So if his words are all the things that he's been saying about what he's going to average
16:53and then he goes out there and he averages 8, 3, and 1, well, I mean,
16:58whatever happened to 15, 6, and 4, you know, even though you get the minutes
17:02or maybe you fall out of favor or whatever.
17:03And so that would be another lesson that he would learn if he, in fact, doesn't back it up.
17:08But he strikes me as a guy who has such self-confidence, his teammates as well,
17:13the coaching staff.
17:14It seems like he's going to get every chance to go out there and do that.
17:17Burns on 101.
17:19Hey, Burns, thanks for calling.
17:23Yo, so I'm, like, more concerned about the Draymond-Yaxel combination of them yapping,
17:29you know what I mean?
17:29It's like the Diet Coke and Mentos.
17:32And then that explosion is going to probably bring, like, so much, like, passion
17:39to try to take us down, you know?
17:40And it's one thing when we're good and we can, like, smash the other teams and win
17:46and ish, but, like, right now I don't even know.
17:48So if those two combine and they make, like, what, if they average a triple-double together
17:54on average, like, come on, that might be cool, but, like, I don't know.
17:57So I'm more concerned us being a bottom feeder talking that much smack and people coming
18:04at us and then that means people are going to talk smack to us and then we're going to
18:07be hated again, but not because we're hella good, but because we kind of suck and we're
18:12still yapping, you know what I mean?
18:13We'll see.
18:14Yeah, Burns, thanks.
18:14Boy, they better average a triple-double when you add their points together, I would certainly
18:19hope.
18:20But anyway, yeah, Draymond Green has multiple times said Yaxl talks a lot of smack.
18:25Like, this is the side we haven't even seen yet.
18:27We're talking about press conferences right now.
18:29I haven't watched him interact with other players on the floor yet.
18:32We've barely seen him play basketball.
18:34Well, so, but Draymond says he talks a lot of smack.
18:38I mean, right after the draft, he was already getting playful with Steph and Draymond, which
18:42again, I think, I think it's wonderful, but not everybody's going to receive it the best.
18:47That'd be my guess.
18:48One, the other part of it is you're probably not going to go 73 and nine.
18:52So there's going to be enough losses and enough comeuppance to where he's going to have nights
18:58where maybe he's talking early and he has to wear it late and it's going to be difficult
19:03because now you're not going up against, I don't know, Iowa, or you're taking on Minnesota
19:08and Northwestern in a tough week.
19:10Night in and night out, you're going up against equally big, equally strong, probably older
19:16and more experienced.
19:17So he's going to take some L's.
19:19He's going to take some L's.
19:20Yes, absolutely.