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Willard and Dibs discuss how ready Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg is to be a star with Steph Curry sidelined for likely at least a month with his oblique injury.
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00:00Hey, back to Yaxel.
00:01You know, the Warriors' best player, that guy.
00:03So check this out.
00:05510 texted in and goes, stop with the future star talk.
00:09I read that line, and I'm like, someone's going to be like,
00:12can we just wait and let's see.
00:14Tap the brakes.
00:15Tap the brakes.
00:16No, no, no.
00:16It actually goes the other way.
00:18They go, stop with the future star talk.
00:20He's a star already.
00:22It's already done.
00:23Again, Steph's injury will solidify the notion, rookie of year.
00:30And he is the favorite right now for rookie of the year, and it's not close.
00:34And so, sure, it's tracking that way.
00:36I don't want to get too far into that yet because that also has to do with
00:39availability and things like that going forward.
00:42I think the way that the teams play has a little bit to do with it.
00:45He's maybe got a leg up on Darius Acuff, for example,
00:48because Acuff plays for the worst team in the NBA.
00:50He's not even second, according to the Cal sheet percentages.
00:53He's actually tied with Cam Boozer, but Yaxel's now at 41%.
00:57Oh, my God.
00:58So, if you thought he might be rookie of the year,
01:01and I have a feeling you had a little bit of a trade on that early
01:04because you were an early believer,
01:05but you might have missed the train on Yaxel as rookie of the year.
01:09Well, it went up because Steph just got hurt,
01:11and everybody knows what's about to happen.
01:13Like, his numbers.
01:13Because he continually goes for 25 and 10.
01:16So, here's what I want to talk more about what we were just talking about.
01:21I'm going to agree with you, 510, that as a basketball player,
01:25his numbers, his presence on the court,
01:28they already stack up to what we refer to as a star level.
01:31What I'm trying to say is what I see in his future
01:35is being one of the biggest names in the NBA.
01:39Not just, oh, yeah, he made some all-star teams or whatever.
01:43I'm trying to think of a comp.
01:44You know what I mean?
01:45Like, there's a lot of, like, Cade Cunningham is a star,
01:48but he's not a star.
01:49I was thinking Anthony Davis immediately.
01:52Yeah, like, I'm talking household name type guy
01:56because I find his skill set to be so bankable, number one,
02:01but I find his personality to be so unique.
02:05I just, if we're going to have press conference,
02:08if this guy's going to celebrate on the floor when someone fouls him,
02:12if he's going to smile constantly,
02:14if he's going to go to press conferences after games
02:17and just tell everybody what he saw and what he's seeing
02:20and what he said out on the floor,
02:22and he's going to be this transparent with the world,
02:25I think we're talking about someone who is kind of star plus.
02:29In other words, I think his stardom goes beyond the court.
02:32It will.
02:33It's not yet.
02:34He's only played 12 games,
02:35but he has all of the metrics from the stat sheet to beyond
02:41to have this go somewhere else.
02:45George Kittle's a great tight end.
02:46So is Trey McBride.
02:48Who's the bigger star?
02:50George Kittle.
02:51Well, Travis Kelsey is the biggest star,
02:54and it's because he's one of the best tight ends ever,
02:56but he's married to one of the most popular people on the planet.
02:59So if you want to use the multiple metrics to measure what a star is,
03:04like LeBron is maybe the ultimate star
03:07because he's got a great personality,
03:09and he's one of the best players to ever do it.
03:11Steph Curry is similar.
03:12His personality is not a lot like,
03:15I'm going to talk all the trash and this and that,
03:17but he's got the mouthpiece.
03:19He's got all the things he does.
03:21Tap into the sky.
03:21He does unique things.
03:22He's got a great personality.
03:24He's got now an actress wife, apparently.
03:27And so there are a number of different ways that you can ascend to that level.
03:31And I'm even thinking about Anthony Edwards,
03:33where he is a bigger star than his game in part because his personality.
03:39No doubt.
03:39And he's an unbelievable player.
03:40No doubt.
03:41But he gets elevated because who he is.
03:42And Kawhi Leonard is less.
03:44Fair.
03:45Like that's, he's less.
03:46Kawhi is so good and so accomplished that he stays in that stratosphere.
03:50But like we could do this with a lot of guys.
03:52Like who's Donovan Mitchell?
03:54Who is he?
03:55Right.
03:55Who are you?
03:57Who is he?
03:58You don't know.
03:59I know he's a really good player.
04:01He's an all-star level player in the league.
04:03I know less about Donovan Mitchell than I do about Yaxel.
04:08Not sure.
04:08Part of that is he's here.
04:09Right.
04:10But I mean, like the rest of the world, I think,
04:12knows already as much about Yaxel as they know about Donovan Mitchell.
04:16There's a guy today celebrating his 24th birthday who is a star,
04:20and his name is Paolo Banqueiro.
04:22But I don't think that he's at that same stratospheric level because of what
04:27you're talking about, the personality.
04:28And we're not in Orlando, so he might be a really swell guy with a good
04:33personality.
04:33But the whole thing with Yaxel coming out in the opener and going at the MVP
04:39in waiting and having strong words and then backing it up,
04:43those are things that elevate you.
04:44Absolutely.
04:45Absolutely.
04:47707.
04:47Yeah, he's giving Kevin Garnett, Charles Barkley vibes.
04:52That's fair.
04:53Great players on the court and a great media presence.
04:56I'm going to stop short of Chuck because that's kind of like, I mean.
05:01Well, those are both Hall of Fame guys.
05:03No doubt.
05:04And I don't even mean it from like Hall of Fame,
05:06but I'm sort of talking about the blend of greatness both on the court
05:10and then marketability and personality off the court.
05:14Chuck, for our generation, he kind of the goat on that level.
05:19Like Charles Barkley is a Hall of Fame player that today probably is better
05:25known for post-career than career, which is wild.
05:29Among people who didn't get a chance to watch him play.
05:32Even us.
05:33Like when you think of Charles Barkley's career,
05:35people love inside the NBA.
05:39It makes them cry when they think about it going away.
05:42We don't think about Charles Barkley's, by the way,
05:45non-championship career that way.
05:48Even though round-mound rebound was one of the absolute leaders of the league
05:54the entire time he was in it.
05:55And the way he evolved into a guy who could step out and shoot the three.
05:59And I think about if Barkley played today at, what is he, 6'4"?
06:036'4".
06:03I mean.
06:04Totally.
06:04He's shorter than Draymond.
06:05Sure.
06:05There's no question.
06:05Whatever he is, he would be a dominant force at 6'4 in today's NBA.
06:10Absolutely he would.
06:11And could shoot the three, especially later in his career.
06:14So anyway, that's all I'm saying.
06:17Why is Tim Duncan not considered one of the five best players of all time?
06:21There you go.
06:21And he, I mean, all he did was win championships,
06:23and he's one of the on-court greatest power forwards, center.
06:29What was he?
06:30Don't ask him because he won't tell you.
06:32But because of that, I mean, he's not put in that same stratosphere.
06:36No, we've watched.
06:36I mean, we could do this all day.
06:38Like, Magic Johnson was one of the great players in this game.
06:41But he's even a bigger deal than his basketball was because the personality,
06:47you couldn't keep it in the room.
06:48And his first name was Magic.
06:51That helped, yeah.
06:51Let's throw that in there.
06:53Yaxel.
06:53His name is Yaxel Lindeborg.
06:56But he's got, like, men were talking, okay, well, who are some of the other,
07:00you know, let's even talk about the rookies right now.
07:03Hi, my name's Darren Peterson.
07:06Hi, Darren.
07:07Yeah.
07:08It sounds like we're starting an AA meeting or something like that.
07:12Yaxel Lindeborg?
07:14The whole thing is perfect.
07:16The whole thing is perfect.
07:18And so that's kind of what I'm getting at.
07:20And starting tomorrow night, it's sort of the next thing on the staircase for him
07:26because he gets to at least moonlight for a month as somebody's best player.
07:31And it's on a team that right now, for the moment,
07:35is actually tracking as a good team.
07:37We'll see if they stay there for that month.
07:40But think about if they do.
07:42What if he does lead them to an 8-6 record while Steph's out?
07:46Even if they just tread water, like Bonte said earlier, Operation Tread Water,
07:50and Steph comes back in however many games it is, and you are 500.
07:54Maybe you're 13-13.
07:56You're 14-14.
07:57Whatever that number is, that to me is Operation Tread Water
08:01because think about some of the other rookies in the league.
08:04Darius Acuff is a great example where he's having a great statistical
08:08and offensive rookie year, but they can't beat anybody.
08:12You know, as we're sitting here having this conversation,
08:14it's adjusting my perspective on something.
08:17I'm actually going to reject this whole Operation Tread Water thing.
08:21I think that's our PTSD.
08:24I'm looking at this team right now with very, very little evidence.
08:29I understand that.
08:30Small sample.
08:31But what has happened over the last week and a half
08:35that suggests that this team is just going to flat suck when Steph leaves it?
08:40Give me the moment.
08:41Tell me the quarter.
08:42Give me the night.
08:43Give me last night.
08:44Give me the moment where Steph Curry wasn't out there
08:47and you're like, wow, this team's buns.
08:49Well, last night's a good example.
08:51Is it?
08:51You can look at an 11-point burst when you're down by 18,
08:55and it wasn't quite garbage time,
08:58but you were starting to, like, roll out the dumpsters
09:01because that thing was basically over.
09:03When Steph went out, they were down 9,
09:05and by the time you went on that run, you were down 18.
09:08So I wouldn't say that they were, quote, buns,
09:11but that game was never in doubt.
09:13I wouldn't look at the final score and say—
09:15That's interesting.
09:16So, wait, Steph goes out.
09:18By halftime, the Warriors are down by 5.
09:21And that was with a bucket at the buzzer for Houston.
09:26So, like, they had the ball down by 3 with 20 seconds to go
09:30as they head into halftime.
09:33In the fourth quarter, they cut it to 3.
09:35So, like, was the game in doubt?
09:38I'm with you.
09:39It felt like the Rockets gamed the whole night, no doubt,
09:42but I never felt like the Warriors were getting overwhelmed
09:45or blown off the floor.
09:47I guess my point is, is for three quarters,
09:50and, again, that's at Houston.
09:52That's one of the best teams in the NBA.
09:55So, when I'm looking at those three quarters,
09:58I didn't see the Warriors as looking like they were terrible,
10:02and they've played a couple games without him so far this year, and—
10:06They beat a pathetic Clipper team.
10:08Okay, but they won an NBA game without him.
10:11Sure, it counts.
10:11Yep.
10:12I'm just looking at, you know, Operation Treadwater
10:14and the games that they have.
10:16There are going to be some tough games.
10:17Friday night, if you win against San Antonio
10:20in an NBA Cup game on the road,
10:23and you're going to go and beat the Spurs in this spot
10:25without Steph Curry, okay, we're not treading water anymore.
10:28Or, we're Michael Flippin' Phelps all of a sudden again.
10:31So, not that one game changes everything,
10:33but that win on Friday would go a long way
10:36toward making me think that it's not Operation Treadwater.
10:40Okay, that's fair.
10:41Could I also not rebut with this?
10:45Even if Steph Curry is still playing,
10:47they are slated to lose that game tomorrow by nine.
10:53I don't think it was nine before the injury.
10:55I mean, if last night was six and a half,
10:56then tomorrow night would have to be,
10:58would have been seven and a half or eight and a half.
10:59Something like that.
11:00Spurs are better than the Rockets.
11:01The greater point for me is,
11:03if you have Steph, you've got a chance.
11:05And I go back to last year
11:06where you had to stay and play with San Antonio,
11:08and he went for, what, 45 and 47 in those games,
11:11and they were able to go out there and get it done.
11:13I guess what I'm trying to say,
11:15without saying, hey,
11:17like, I'm not going to rally the troops right here.
11:21All the Warriors are going to be amazing without him.
11:23That's not how I feel at all.
11:25But I guess what I am saying is,
11:27they've already spent the whole year surprising us.
11:30Right?
11:31They won eight games in a row
11:33when leading into that eight-game win streak,
11:35most people I know were like,
11:37this team's about to win 21 games this year.
11:40That's what it looked like.
11:41And so if they've already surprised us a bunch
11:44so far this year,
11:46and in these small doses that we've gotten
11:48to see them without Steph,
11:50they've held up.
11:51At least held up.
11:52Not like great, but they've held up.
11:55Why would I think
11:56that the Warriors are about to get steamrolled
11:59by the league because he's out?
12:01I don't think they'll get steamrolled,
12:03but there's a difference between going
12:05four and ten over the next 14
12:07and even six and eight
12:09because you have some teams that you're going to face
12:11that are already probably ready to give up.
12:14It's Utah, Sacramento,
12:16and the Clippers are terrible.
12:17You've got those teams ahead,
12:19so you'll be favored in those games
12:21and I think about the eight-game win streak
12:23that you had
12:23and you had Steph Curry in,
12:25I believe, seven of those eight games?
12:27I think so.
12:28Because he sat against Phoenix.
12:30Let me look at his game log.
12:31And then, yeah, I have it right here.
12:32He came back
12:33and he didn't play against the Clippers
12:35and you won that game,
12:37but Denver, Minnesota, the Lakers,
12:39and then the subsequent four games after that.
12:41So, you know, without Steph this year,
12:44you are one and one, basically,
12:48because if you don't count last night,
12:49you'd be one and two if you count last night
12:51because he barely played.
12:52Okay.
12:53Yeah.
12:54And now you're going to see
12:55at least a dozen games, maybe 15?
12:57But even if I do count last night,
12:59you know what I mean?
13:00I'm sure there's that Phoenix game,
13:02which, I mean, obviously,
13:04the Warriors started the year
13:07not really, I think, fully knowing themselves yet.
13:10And they very quickly improved
13:13to the point where they rolled off eight in a row.
13:17And then since then, once that started,
13:20we've had, I guess, seven quarters of basketball
13:23where Steph Curry was not a part of it.
13:26And, yeah, they're one and one.
13:29And I would argue last night, I don't know,
13:32to my eye, they held up.
13:34I get held up.
13:35It looked sort of like I expected the game to look
13:37even if Steph was in it.
13:39That's fair.
13:39I guess that's kind of what I'm saying.
13:40That's a fair way to put it
13:41because Houston is, I think, they're better than you.
13:44They're better, yeah.
13:45And it's a bad matchup.
13:46Yeah.
13:46So they're better, they've got better depth,
13:49and they've got a lot more size,
13:50and that's the one thing
13:51that you don't really have an answer for yet,
13:53especially when Al Horford is not very good,
13:57and EK and Bassey are still fighting their sea legs,
13:59and they've got five or six guys
14:01who are 6'11", or bigger,
14:03and a feisty two-guard in Aman Thompson.
14:05That's a bad matchup for you.
14:06And they were home and healthy.
14:09Sold.
14:10Well, Steven Adams is out.
14:13Put some respect on the Kiwi now.
14:14Who was the other guy?
14:15Who was that?
14:16Oh, Clint Capella.
14:16Yeah, of course.
14:17Clint Capella.
14:18Couple other seven-footers, you know?
14:20Yeah.
14:20Yeah, so anyway, until otherwise noted,
14:25I am going to expect that the Warriors continue to hold up.
14:31And that's what treading water is, is holding up.
14:34No.
14:35Treading water, see, and maybe we define it differently.
14:39Treading water, to me, sounds like somebody that's like,
14:42oof, can we just, can we steal a few?
14:46Can we beat the crappy teams?
14:47You've got to beat the crappy teams.
14:49It's as if it sounds to me like a Warrior fan does not believe them capable
14:54of going to beat a good team, especially on the road.
14:57And at this moment, I disagree.
15:00I don't know about tomorrow night, but I think some Warrior fans might look at next week
15:08and be like, we're not going to win in Dallas without Steph.
15:12I don't know if I feel that way.
15:14I don't know if I feel that way at all.
15:16So I expect them to continue to be very competitive,
15:22physically able to stand up toe-to-toe with whoever it is they're playing.
15:27They will not win all of them, but they will have opportunities to win most of them.
15:32You know what I mean?
15:33The whole treading water thing feels to me like, let me ask it this way.
15:37Are you expecting some blowouts?
15:39For them to get blown out?
15:41Yes.
15:41Absolutely.
15:42Yes, see, I'm not.
15:43Absolutely.
15:44Over the next however many games you want to look at,
15:47you're going to blow some teams out, and you're going to get blown out.
15:50It's the NBA.
15:51And you look at the game against, was it New Orleans the other night?
15:54New Orleans sits everyone.
15:56You should win that game handily, and you blew them out.
15:59So is New Orleans going to sit everyone again?
16:01I doubt it.
16:02So you don't have Steph Curry.
16:04That game will probably be a challenge.
16:06And honestly, tomorrow night, if you want to look at the games in which they possibly could get blown out,
16:14tomorrow is one of them.
16:15That's a tough spot for them.
16:16Yeah.
16:17There's no doubt.
16:18I mean, the Spurs are awesome.
16:20But, like, again, I want to see them get overwhelmed before I'm going to assume that they're going to get
16:26overwhelmed.
16:27We haven't really seen it yet.
16:28The opener, they got overwhelmed against the Lakers.
16:30They did.
16:31They did.
16:31With Steph.
16:32With Steph.
16:32CharliePet's Monday.