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Willard and Dibs debate if Yaxel Lendeborg is ready to lead the way for the Warriors over the next month with Steph Curry sidelined with an oblique injury.
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00:00So Steph Curry's hurt. Torn oblique. And they think it's about a month. I just wish that Brandon Pajemski were
00:08a more confident person. And that way he would feel like maybe he could help the Warriors still win games
00:14without Steph Curry.
00:17Yeah, I think the majority of the guys that are playing right now were here last year while he was
00:22out. And so I think maybe George and then obviously the new guys, Yaxo and Graham were the only two
00:29that weren't here.
00:30When he was out last year. So there's a lot of familiarity with playing without him. So we're going to
00:35figure it out. I mean, we're a confident group. We can't let one player, as good as he is, let
00:39our season go down. So we just got to figure it out and find ways to win games.
00:43D'Anthony Melton, what changes without Steph?
00:45I mean, gravity. His ability to move without the ball. He's a tough shot maker. And he makes them at
00:51a high rate, especially from the three-point line, which is big.
00:54So, you know, nobody can attest to who Steph is on the court, but we can just do it as
01:03a collective group in terms of just moving the ball, moving out the ball, moving our bodies around and just
01:07playing hard.
01:07Like, we just want to play harder. Like, you know what I mean?
01:116-5-0, Mark. It's not just that Curry is out. You've also got Butler, Moody, Porzingis' slot, Williams, GP2.
01:18Richard is not 100%, nor is Guy. That's eight of your 15 roster spots. Two of the remaining seven are
01:25Horford and Green.
01:26Yeah, they have the two-way players, Cryer, Leones, and Ike, but how much can you really count on them?
01:33To think they could even play close to 500 is wishful thinking. They could barely feel the garbage lineup against
01:41the Pelicans the other night.
01:43Agree or disagree?
01:44I disagree. I mean, I think it's a little bit of a fatalist, negative way to look at it, and,
01:50you know, Guy is going through it.
01:52Will Richard is hurt, but he's playing through it.
01:54He looks fine.
01:55And I think, well, he looked okay.
01:57Shot the ball fine.
01:58There were a couple plays with his left hand that clearly he does not have the same command of his
02:02left.
02:03He had a dribble where he tried to go from the right wing into the key, and he put the
02:07ball on the deck with his left hand,
02:08and he didn't really have the same command.
02:10I get it. Your thumb has a torn ligament, so that's going to happen, but I don't look at it
02:15from that fatalist standpoint
02:17because Niang is a great addition, and I think Bassey's a great addition, and Melton's been playing well,
02:22and LJ Cryer, I have a lot of faith that he can step up, so it's not like you have
02:27only eight healthy bodies.
02:29That, to me, is a little too dramatic.
02:30No doubt, and I don't know why you would say that they could barely feel the garbage lineup against the
02:35Pelicans the other night.
02:36They won that game by 8,000 points.
02:40Like, and Williams is not going to be gone the entire time that Steph is out.
02:46GP2 is not going to be gone the entire time.
02:49I think, like, I feel confident in what we just said a minute ago.
02:52They're going to be favored in six of the next 15 games.
02:55I think they're going to be favored.
02:57Short of other things happening, but yes, if you've got this group going into those games,
03:01I would agree that they'll be favored in probably at least four or five and maybe six,
03:06depending on how other teams also do.
03:08Yeah, so listen, I think this is something that is important to let you hear
03:14in the wake of Steph Curry being out for a month, and I'm not trying to blue sky it.
03:19Steph Curry's hurt.
03:20We understand what's going on here, but what has defined this Warriors season for me,
03:27I don't know about every fan, what has defined this Warriors season for me is two things.
03:33Yaxo's really freaking good, and this team is better than I thought they were going to be.
03:38Team is better than I thought they were going to be.
03:40And the team that's been out there during an eight-game win streak,
03:46minus their best player, is still there.
03:49So now they are markedly worse than they were before he got hurt,
03:54but they remain better than they were last year when he got hurt.
03:59Agreed.
03:59And so they can win some basketball games.
04:04And I think the interesting sort of tagline to this is something we said
04:10and asked Steve Kerr before the year even started.
04:13With all the attention around Yaxo, I remember asking him,
04:17hey, Steve, is this too much too soon?
04:21And he very quickly was like, nope, nope, he can handle it.
04:25So now let's do that question again,
04:29because there's no question who the Warriors one is right now.
04:32It's Yaxo Lendeborg in his 13th game as a professional.
04:39He is now the one.
04:40And he started as the one in the second quarter last night and looked awesome.
04:44Did you hear what Kevin Durant said about him?
04:46I love that comment.
04:47Listen.
04:48Love his game.
04:49I mean, skill big that can play one, two, three, four, five on the offensive side of the ball.
04:55Can shoot it.
04:56Can handle it.
04:57Strong, long, athletic.
04:59I think they say he got a seven-foot wingspan, seven ones.
05:02You know, so that right there just shows you he's a different level of athlete.
05:07A winner, won in college, you know.
05:09Been through a lot.
05:10Been through a lot of adversity, too, coming from his background
05:13and then playing in college for, you know, what, five years, six years?
05:17You know, so, yeah, he's been through a lot, man.
05:19So he came here fully full ground, in my opinion,
05:21and he's ready for anything that's thrown at him.
05:23So it was fun to play against him.
05:26I love that from Kevin Durant.
05:28Right.
05:28And he said he's ready for anything that's thrown at him,
05:31and what just got thrown at him was a franchise.
05:34Basically, yeah.
05:34Here you go, kid.
05:35You're the one for the next two, three, four weeks.
05:37Who knows how long.
05:38Okay, great start to your season.
05:40Now we're going to need you to do that every single night
05:43and maybe a little bit more at times.
05:46Are you up for it?
05:47And KD seems to think he is.
05:49And you don't often have a, and I heard this on the broadcast yesterday,
05:5420-year veteran.
05:56He's in year 20, Kevin Durant.
05:58Crazy.
05:58And he's not known for doling out compliments, you know.
06:01He's a guy who's got his burner account,
06:03and he keeps things close to the vest.
06:04But for him to come out and have those words for this player,
06:07I was really blown away.
06:09Yeah.
06:09Yeah.
06:10I mean, any time, like, you know where my mind goes on that?
06:14Think about how hard professional athletes work
06:18to sort of make people pay their dues.
06:21Remember the national controversy when Caitlin Clark was coming into the WNBA
06:26and so many players around the W are like,
06:29excuse me, before we crown this lady,
06:33can we make her go through the this, that, and the other?
06:36I understand that she could win in college,
06:39but let's see how she handles this game.
06:43And that was constant, and that's not the only example.
06:46You see that stuff.
06:47We always compared Caitlin to Tiger Woods
06:50and the way the PGA Tour handled it when people were like,
06:54here comes the best player ever,
06:56and, like, established players were like,
06:58Fuzzy Zeller.
06:58Calm down.
07:00Let's see him do it.
07:01Now, both of them obviously have easily translated into their professional ranks,
07:07but what, and I'm not saying Yaxal is Caitlin Clark or Tiger Woods.
07:11What I'm saying is, is it's fascinating to hear,
07:14especially after Yaxal took one game and started going,
07:18so Luke is an idiot and he sucks,
07:19and here's Durant, like, one of the flag bearers of the league.
07:26There's no anything about you got to pay your dues.
07:29He's just like, I love his game and he's ready.
07:33That's a pro right there.
07:35That's awesome.
07:36Yeah, and there's no sense of, like, wow, the young man needs to, like,
07:39know his place and realize you can't come at a star like that,
07:42and, you know, it's a good thing he didn't come at me
07:44because I would have put 40 on him.
07:45He just said the guy can play one through five.
07:48He's physical.
07:49He looks like a grown man.
07:50He plays like he's got that seven-foot wingspan.
07:53KD was, like, doing everything,
07:55but I'm going to go ask him for an autograph because I'm really impressed.
07:58Like, Kevin fouled Yaxl on a three-pointer at one point,
08:02and Yaxl very oddly on the ground started celebrating.
08:07I loved it.
08:08He's pumping his arms and smiling and everything,
08:10and, again, that's the kind of thing where you'd be like,
08:13I wonder if Kevin's going to get to the locker room and be like,
08:16dude, bleep this guy.
08:17Like, who the hell are you?
08:18The exact opposite happened.
08:21Kevin did not seem turned off by that at all.
08:25And maybe, like, the other way around.
08:28He's like, I like this kid.
08:30It was a pretty funny celebration.
08:31It was hilarious.
08:32And he kind of did a little bit of the Reggie Miller kick out.
08:36He shoots the three, and he kind of throws his arm into KD,
08:39and KD was too close.
08:40It was a foul, and Yaxl gets the call, and he goes down,
08:43and he's just air pumping into the sky,
08:46and that's the only thing I'm looking at early on for Yaxl.
08:49It's like your free throws are at 74%.
08:51We're going to need to get that up around 80%.
08:53As often as you'll get to the lines throughout your whole career,
08:56you're going to have to make more than three out of every four.
08:59Well, the Warriors, no one's going to bring this up.
09:02This is maybe a silly thing,
09:03but with Steph Curry out and Jimmy Butler out,
09:08Klay Thompson doesn't play here anymore.
09:10Kevin Durant doesn't play here anymore.
09:12Who exactly is handling technical free throws?
09:15Did you notice last night, Marcus Smart gets thrown out of the game
09:21freaking Bassey?
09:22Well, he had to.
09:23Why?
09:23Because it was a flagrant foul.
09:25It was not a technical.
09:26Okay.
09:26So the foul was committed on Bassey.
09:28Bassey has to shoot it.
09:29The point remains that we sat there and were like,
09:32at that moment, I'm like,
09:34I don't know who on the floor is shooting free throws for this team.
09:40Because if Steph is out, and as you said,
09:43Yoxel's at 74, Pods quietly is having his worst.
09:4669.
09:47He's having his worst year ever shooting free throws.
09:52Who's the guy?
09:53Who are we sending to the line?
09:54I'm looking and it's Melt at 83.3.
09:57Okay.
09:57Brandon Williams is 86.
09:59So when he's back, but he's not back.
10:01Steph Curry's at 98.7.
10:03I think he's missed just the one free throw.
10:05One free throw.
10:05Just one miss.
10:07So if Melt is there, great.
10:09If Melt's not on the floor, what are we doing?
10:12It's going to be Yax, I would imagine.
10:14He's next.
10:15I think he'll want to take it.
10:16I mean, Bassey is actually a good free throw shooter.
10:20But if we just go, because Steve,
10:24remember we asked him this last week,
10:25and he's like, we usually just go by percentage.
10:27Like whoever's got the best percentage shooting free throws,
10:30who's on the floor, that's who gets to go do it.
10:34All right, if I go free throw percentage.
10:36Well, Bassey's 16 for 19.
10:38So that's a pretty small sample.
10:40It is, but he's shooting 84%.
10:43He may end up doing it.
10:45Steph is 75 for 76.
10:47Uh-huh.
10:48Which is crazy.
10:50Although second on the team.
10:52In percentage, yeah.
10:53Yes.
10:54GP2.
10:55GP2 hasn't missed yet.
10:56Right.
10:57Draymond Green's taking six free throws.
10:59Has he made them?
10:59He's made half of them.
11:01Okay, that's good.
11:01But six free throws in 268 minutes.
11:04That's a free throw every 40 minutes, basically.
11:07He's not looking to score.
11:08And I'm not, I still get a little confused as to why that bothers people.
11:13He's not a scorer.
11:15And when he does look to score, people get mad because he's not a scorer.
11:18Right.
11:19So I'm not bothered by it.
11:21I would like to see him shoot the open three a little bit more readily.
11:24He did that last night.
11:25Did it last night, right?
11:27Yep.
11:27Okay.
11:28And now with no Steph, he may have to take on a little bit more of the burden.
11:33Maybe LJ Cryer could shoot some free throws for this team.
11:37He's currently at 75%.
11:39Three for four.
11:40There you go.
11:40Yep.
11:41But I mean, he's...
11:41Graham Ike, seven for eight.
11:43Yep.
11:44Good.
11:44So yeah, the big guys are good free throw shooters.
11:47I would love that.
11:48If Charles Bassey is the technical free throw shooter, this would be tremendous.
11:53Just based on percentage, right, Steve?
11:54Steve?
11:56And that's it.
11:57Whatever.
11:57He axles at 74%.
11:59It's not like this is a terrible thing.
12:01No.
12:02You mentioned pods at 69%.
12:03That's got to be better.
12:05That's...
12:05I mean, if there's one thing I would love for pods to change and improve, it's that.
12:12Especially as he gets more aggressive.
12:14He doesn't shoot a ton of them, but what is he...
12:17Per game, pods is shooting like three.
12:21He's shooting three free throws a game and making two of them on average.
12:25So we know that.
12:27He's not going to like drive and finish at the rim kind of guy to where he's going to
12:33end up at the line a whole lot.
12:34But I don't know, man.
12:35If you're going to be a sharp shooting guard in this league, we're going to need you at
12:3975 or north.
12:40Especially when you're shooting almost 40% from three, which is a guarded shot.
12:44And then you get to the foul line, which is something that you and I and everyone has
12:48been shooting since you were able to even grab a basketball.
12:51It's the same shot.
12:52It's always been unguarded 15 footer.
12:54You got to make 75% or more.
12:56No question.
12:57Steph Curry is shooting 45.7% from three this year.
13:02That is stupid.
13:05That is a stupid number.
13:07DeAnthony Melton is at 42.9.
13:09That is fantastic.
13:12Pods, as you mentioned, is 39.7.
13:14That's great.
13:15I don't think we've celebrated this enough.
13:18Yaxo Lendenborg is shooting 42.6% from three.
13:24It's crazy, yeah.
13:25And that's with him hucking a couple of them straight off of the backboard last night.
13:30Dude.
13:34He's taken 68 threes in 12 games.
13:37That's almost six a game.
13:38And he's shooting that percentage.
13:40It's not like he's shooting one or two a game and he happens to hit it.
13:43He's actually looking to shoot it.
13:45They're looking for him to shoot it.
13:46I'm kind of looking forward to the next 12, 15, whatever games.
13:51Put the one loss record aside and you hope they win more than they lose.
13:54But Yaxo as a one.
13:57And he now is forced to emerge as their number one option.
14:01So how does it look?
14:02Like you said earlier, if you go to a team scouting report in San Antonio tomorrow and they're going to
14:07whiteboard the Warriors.
14:09All right.
14:09We've got to make sure we contain Steph.
14:11Erase that.
14:12Yep.
14:12Okay.
14:13What are we doing?
14:14Yaxo Lindenborg.
14:15So Melt, when asked about how things are different without Steph, he used the word gravity.
14:20And I think that's just a brilliant thing for Melt to say.
14:24Because I don't think it's about whether or not the Warriors now have people who can put the ball in
14:31the bucket.
14:32And, you know, can they get to 120 points?
14:35Sure.
14:35In fact, they, you know, we already did that Clipper game a week and a half ago.
14:39They scored 124.
14:40They didn't have Steph or Draymond on the floor.
14:42So I don't worry about point total.
14:45It's more about like the strategy in terms of how you break down a defense.
14:50Steph is so wonderful because the second he crosses half court,
14:53the defense freaks out.
14:55Everybody starts running everywhere, trying to chase him everywhere,
14:58get two people on him, and stop him from shooting a three.
15:02Because, as we just said, he shoots 46% from out there.
15:07Which is nuts, especially because he takes them from 10 feet behind the line sometimes.
15:11But so that's what the Warriors are going to have to deal with.
15:14Which is, when you cross half court and you've got the ball,
15:18how do you go about attacking a defense?
15:20How do you open things up for players when you don't have Steph taking attention away?
15:26And, yeah, let's run it through Yaxel and see where it goes.
15:30We'll talk to Steve shortly about his ability to do that.
15:34But, in an odd way, with as much excitement as this whole city has expressed
15:39about Yaxel Lindeborg so far, I think he's being undersold.
15:44Dive into his numbers and look at this guy.
15:4652% from the field and, as we just said, almost 43% from three, 74% from the line.
15:53He is third on the team in assists per game behind only Curry and Pods at 3.7.
15:59He is the team's leading rebounder at 7.4 per night.
16:04And so, like, add all that in and then just throw in, you know, his normal point total,
16:11which right now is at 21.7 points per game.
16:15This is 12 games into his NBA career.
16:18This isn't, like, he's a star.
16:21He is a future, if you can do that in your first 12 games,
16:26I don't understand how this is supposed to go anywhere but that.
16:31Where is, how is he not a future star in this league?
16:36He does everything.
16:37Right, and the things that he is currently doing that he's doing well,
16:41you can see him get better.
16:43Like, you can see his offensive package of moves get better.
16:46And his three-point shot, while it's been great so far, he can get better.
16:50The free-throwing can get better.
16:52The defense can get better.
16:54And you think about the stat, which is usage.
16:57What percentage of possessions go through you?
17:00And you look at the top, and it's Luka, 40%.
17:03Watch a Laker game.
17:04Every time he's out there, Luka, you get the ball, shoot, pass, whatever.
17:08It's through you.
17:09It's Shea.
17:10It's Wenbanyama.
17:11Curry's number four.
17:12And as you go down the list, it's mostly stars.
17:15And then you get down to number 37, and it's Yaksal Endeborg.
17:18He's got a higher usage than Jalen Brown, higher than Carl Anthony Towns, an NBA champ.
17:26I mean, he's getting used, and that's the way a team knows that you're good.
17:31Like, okay, you're out here.
17:32We want you to be involved in the action.
17:34He's top 40 as a rookie.
17:36Well, and let me add in one more thing.
17:38And here's just an example.
17:40Let's go wide receivers, and let's go back a decade or two.
17:43Why was Chad Ochocinco a bigger name than Andre Johnson?
17:49I think Andre Johnson, in my opinion, is a better player.
17:54Why was Chad Ochocinco a bigger name?
17:56Why was he a bigger star?
17:59I don't know, Mark.
18:00Is it because he didn't have anyone else on his team?
18:02No, he had TJ Hushmanzato on his team.
18:05Gotcha.
18:06He had another really good name.
18:06Oh, so he had the gravity of somebody else out there.
18:09No, like, he is a humongous personality.
18:14He changed his last name to Ochocinco because that was his number.
18:21Like, don't you see with Yaxl, the future stardom goes so beyond the numbers.
18:26Somebody just texted in and said,
18:28you want to know what the best thing is about the guy?
18:29It's his smile.
18:30Like, look at the way he plays basketball.
18:33You have to be a real hoop head right now to be like,
18:36you know, Cam Boozer's amazing too.
18:38But, like, he's in Memphis and he's Cam Boozer.
18:41And you're like, yeah, he's really good if you watch NBA League Pass.
18:46But there's no press conferences with him being like,
18:48by the way, Kevin Durant sucks.
18:50Like, this guy is going to be a massive deal in this league
18:55because he does everything well on the court.
18:58He's doing it right away and he has the personality to match.
19:02This is the stuff.
19:04This is the stuff that makes somebody a massive name.
19:08In this league.
19:08I just believe that's where he's heading.
19:10And he has a great stretch now over the next three or four weeks,
19:13however long Steph is going to be out,
19:15where you're going to be even more of the featured piece.
19:18And, you know, when Steph goes on the heater
19:20and he does the things that he does,
19:21well, he's going to steal the highlights because it's Steph Curry.
19:24And now there's no Steph.
19:25And so if Yaxl can put up 34 in a win over whomever, fill in the blank,
19:31well, now you percolate to the top of the highlight reel.
19:33Well, and I think the other thing that's encouraging,
19:35and this is a very small sample,
19:37but the other thing that's encouraging is sometimes when the lead dog goes out,
19:42the number two star tries to be the one and you're like,
19:45oh, you're not able to do that.
19:47In fact, it turns out that you were having success as a two
19:50because of the gravity of the one.
19:52Well, we don't have a lot of data,
19:54but the little data that we do have suggests that when Yaxl is asked to be at one,
19:59he's up for it.
20:00Again, Steph doesn't play the Clipper game, Yaxl scores 37.
20:04Steph goes out last night, Yaxl takes over the second quarter.
20:08Ends up with a really, like he, in small doses,
20:11he's been able to step into the role and look like a one.
20:14And it's in part to me because he's not reliant on things like gravity
20:18and he's not reliant on other people to do certain things
20:21to get him into a spot where he can score.
20:24He's a physical specimen who can score at all three levels.
20:27So is he going to go out and put up 50 tomorrow night?
20:29Probably not, but he's not as reliant on Steph's gravity
20:32as probably everyone else on the team.