I’d spent the morning thinking about the behind-the-scenes video on our YouTube channel where Jimmy Butler III dapped up Draymond Green in triumph at Jimmy’s BigFace coffee and dominoes party, presumably after six hours of playing — note: the upload is mashed with one Wardell Stephen Curry fullcourt heave before the Toronto game (deemed later to be an airball, actually) and the bad loss in Atlanta where I’m convinced Harry The Hawk was responsible for reverse-jinxing the good luck charm of Kendrick Lamar album release dates affecting the Warriors’ title chances with the mascot’s own (hilariously awesome) rendition of K.Dot…
I was thinking how lucky I was to actually know how Draymond and Jimmy felt. You see, dominoes was also a staple of my Filipino squad. I remember as a bunch of ballers in our early 20s, we all used to gather at Anthony Del Rosario’s house — “Tone” played pickup with us, but the tournaments were another level, but still we always hung out at his family’s which had the best sound system hooked up to the big screen TV.
That’s where our 2-guard Andy Shin taught me how to play dominoes. It took me maybe a year, maybe more, but I eventually learned how to count the tiles and predict what hands guys had and I became quite good. But this was against a bunch of dudes who were more into just hanging out and conversation whereas I was the quiet dude with the engineering degree — I admit that it took me too long to keep track of the tiles and they probably should’ve gotten on me for that or had some sort of timer like they do for chess matches.
And then Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN today came out with the super-excellent read about Jimmy and Draymond’s budding relationship and how they’ve bonded over dominoes, it occurred to me: I’m soooo lucky to actually know how that feels.
Bonding over basketball and dominoes. Ain’t nothing like it.
Being part of a team that hung out off the court. Wow.
Thank you, Andy, for inviting me on the Ghetto Boys — he came up with the team name, not me. And for carrying our team in a few tourneys with your legendary two-handed jumpers from beyond the arc. He was splashin’ before that became part of the hoop lexicon. I should just go ahead and mention Chester Labucay because he’s the only one left on the Ghetto Boys I haven’t already mentioned somewhere on this site. Andy liked to make fun of him and in doing so, welcomed me as part of the family.
There’s something about Fil-Am amateur/community basketball.
And so when it comes to Jimmy and Draymond, as I said maybe two articles ago on here, I’m not worried one bit and this is gonna be an unbreakable bond. We’ve got the Big Three all lined up through to the Summer of 2027. I couldn’t have dreamed adding Butler would be this good.
And yet, the loss on Saturday to the below-.500 Hawks. Here are my fixes from 32,000 feet:
• Now that we know Curry is out again, utilize Jonathan Kuminga more, especially with the inverted screen by Buddy Hield. Now, this would otherwise seem obvious to me, but I’m willing to give the coaching staff some grace. There’s been a lot of talk from Steve Kerr (probably transcribed below) on how Jimmy is the No. 1 iso player in the NBA and so they’ll just focus on that until it didn’t work. Well, it finally didn’t work in Atlanta — Denver was because of the turnovers — and I’m also willing to give the staff some grace from the long East Coast flight the day before. I’m just thinking they’ve gotta be exhausted as well, although unlike Steph they don’t have to do anything physical. But they’re probably really mentally exhausted and I hope the five-day stay in Miami helps the Xs and Os out, too.
• Call more timeouts in the first half. Kerr ended up calling only five total timeouts in Atlanta, although normally he would’ve called one more before the use-it-lose-it at 3:00 Q4. He didn’t that night, probably because the squad was surging in their comeback attempt. And I know how important it is to have those two going into the last three minutes, but like I used to see Filipino teams do in my rec leagues I ran back in the day, some of them used three of their allotted four per game in the first quarter when they came out flat. Later on in the game, a teammate would complain they ran out of timeouts and their coach would say, “Well, you guys sucked coming in here, so…” And that is the same thing Steve should say if the Warriors come out flat and end up without the timeouts they need late. He admitted they lost the game in the first quarter. Well, time to change the paradigm and do something about that, even if it would’ve left them without any closing out the Hawks, if it were a one-possession game. But I understand how we’ve been traumatized by late-game giveaways the last two seasons 🤷🏻♂️
• Some of the Atlanta was just growing pains for the youngsters. There were two plays where somebody completely forgot who they were guarding. Against a run-n-gun young squad like the Hawks, that’s death. And so Moses Moody, Quinten Post and Kuminga had a bad one where Zaccharie Risacher scored on the Red Sea parting (with Draymond visibly upset) and then Gui Santos forgot an assignment later, which without looking at the tape, I think was the reason for him only getting a two-minute stint there and sitting the rest of the way.
• Hopefully JK will stop arguing with the refs, get an infusion of humility and simply go back to what I preached before his ascent which ended with the ankle injury: cut hard! Doesn’t matter what you do on offense, idc, really, score zero points, it doesn’t matter, but when you don’t have the ball, could you please cut hard to the cup? It’s tough to just watch the screen and see JK weakside watching basketball play unfold before him. Get in there and go get the ball. But then again, he’s super young and didn’t start playing organized ball until age 13. I give grace for that.
Below are the interviews and transcripts from the last couple days:
00:00 Going back to Miami Tuesday, looking forward to playing there?
00:03 JIMMY BUTLER: Another game for me. Another game that we’re expected to win, for sure, so we gotta figure it out, figure it out very quickly.
00:11 Jimmy, you curious what kind of reception you’ll be getting?
00:14 Not really. It don’t make no difference. I’m a member of the Golden State Warriors. I love that fan base, a lot of love while I was there, but I’m there to win now.
0:27 When you look back at your career in Miami, how would you categorize what the team was able to (inaudible)?
00:33 We was alright. We didn’t win nothing like we were supposed to. I don’t know, we made some cool runs. We had some fun. I think that’s all we did.
—
00:49 What do you think (inaudible)?
00:49 DRAYMOND GREEN: We just didn’t come out ready to play. We came out like we were just gonna win the game and we got diced up defensively in the first quarter and from that point on, you’re fighting an uphill battle, so everybody’s comfortable and they took it to us, so we gotta be better. That starts with me. We were terrible defensively. Once — this is the NBA. Once guys get into a rhythm, it’s hard and they got into a rhythm, had it rolling. It’s tough to stop that, so we gotta come out ready to play.
01:26 How do you look at a loss like this where, I guess shorter scope, you guys are, whatever, 16-4 in the last 20, but obviously it’s a bad loss.
01:35 It’s a terrible loss. When you are in a position — when we got a chance to compete for something, 11 games left with everything to play for, you shouldn’t have a loss like this. It’s too much on the line. Gotta win the games you’re supposed to win. Obviously, Steph’s out. Still a game we should win, so it’s a terrible loss.
02:01 I guess with that in mind, what are the keys to responding to Miami?
02:04 I gotta come to play, come out, play defensively, come out and play hard. We got Jimmy over here. I know this is a big game for him. They got Wiggs over there. I know it’s a huge game for him, so just we wanna win for Jimmy. They’re gonna wanna win for Wiggs. We gotta come out ready to play. They’ve lost, what, 10 games in a row. Six or seven of those games come down to four- or five-point games, last couple of possessions, so a little fool’s gold that they’ve lost 10 in a row. We know who the Miami Heat are. They play hard, disciplined, so we gotta come out and play our brand of basketball.
02:44 Draymond, as a former Defensive Player of the Year and a contender again this season, you saw Dyson Daniels tonight, who’s also considered amongst the favorites. What do you make of his defensive impact and what you’ve seen from him this season?
02:59 I just think his game, overall, the way he’s grown, he came into the League 8th pick, I think, and that, I think, everybody wanted something so fast and that’s just the nature of the league that we’re in. And then he was in New Orleans where it’s a log jam at his spot and so you get a quick opportunity to show yourself and if not, it’s on the next one, so I applaud him for just sticking with it. He’s come to a new situation and he’s taken total advantage of his situation, being a lot more aggressive offensively this year, so just applaud him for sticking with it and getting the opportunity to show who he is as a player. He come all the way from Australia, first year, you’re adjusting to being in America, all these different things and — did he do the Ignite? That’s right, yeah. You are adjusting to life in the NBA, all those things and so, you gotta give credit where credit’s due. He’s found his way. He’s gonna be in this league doing what he is doing for a long time.
04:10 And just how much more challenging is it for a non-rim protector? You are not technically like a center in that sense —
04:16 I’m an elite rim protector though.
04:18 No, I know, but I’m —
04:19 About just as elite as they come.
04:22 In the sense though, that you’re not a center, a traditional center.
04:24 Nah, yeah, I know. I’m just joking. I’m messing with you.
04:27 Just how much more challenging is it for a non-center to win this award?
04:33 It’s tough ’cause a lot of the time it’s judged off blocks, but he got steals. He is doing a good job there, but it’s a tough award to win. It’s just the way it is, but I hope he don’t win this year, so we’ll see. All right.
—
04:54 What went wrong?
04:55 BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: Just not physical at all in the first six to eight minutes. Just let ’em get in the rhythm and they’re really good at swing-swing. They’re second in passes, I think, off drives in NBA. They thrive off that, especially if you ain’t being physical with them and, yeah, role players hurt us.
05:17 Anything you feel like you guys found in the fourth quarter, defensively?
05:20 Physicality.
05:22 When you — one way to look at the loss is, generally, you guys have been really good over a couple weeks. It’s the NBA. Bad nights happen, but also obviously, what the standings look like right now. How do you view a night like this?
05:38 We got some favors the past few days from teams above us. Thankfully, a lot of those teams that are above us have to play each other, so it’ll be in our favor at least one way, but we gotta take care of games like these. It was a game we’re supposed to win. We just gotta figure it out. I think the physicality part’s big and I think we just gotta rebound for Tuesday. Obviously, Jimmy’s going back to Miami. We gotta be ready for him.
06:04 What do you expect in Miami?
06:06 I expect us to go in there and be on 10 and just do whatever we can to win the game. It’s gonna be scrappy. It’s gonna be physical, as expected. Obviously, Jimmy’s, emotions and energy’s gonna be high and so we gotta do the right thing and be there for him.
—
06:24 Did you lose that in the first quarter?
06:25 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME GSW-ATL: Yeah. Yeah, 40 points in the first quarter. We were swimming upstream the rest of the way and I love the way the guys fought after that, but it was a layup line in the first quarter, transition defense was awful. Give them credit. They were ready. They came out smoking hot, but at halftime I think they had 23 assists, three turnovers and we didn’t impact the game defensively until it was far too late.
06:58 Did, I guess, the lack of effort surprise you or lack of — ?
07:01 No. I think these games are tough. When you fly across the country and a team’s waiting for you and they’ve been playing well and they just blitzed us. It’s just, it’s disappointing and you want to have a better effort coming out of the gates, but I’ve been in this league a long time and I’ve seen this an awful lot. Tough to get the legs moving and the mind working that first game. We had this earlier in the season, I think, at Charlotte. Terrible first half. It’s not an excuse because it is what it is. Everybody deals with it and they were by far the better team out of the gates and that set the tone.
07:59 I guess just big picture where you at, how do you feel about your point-of-attack defense at this point?
08:04 I didn’t feel good about it tonight, but we were the second-ranked defense in the league coming into tonight since we traded for Jimmy, so overall the defense has been really good. We’re right at the top of the league in deflections, forcing turnovers, but it didn’t happen tonight. The biggest thing is, we gotta respond, bounce back. We got a big game in Miami. It’ll be a great atmosphere. You lose a game like this, you gotta respond and, especially where we are, in the playoff picture and with everybody right there in the West. So we gotta bounce back.
08:50 Steve, I think Kuminga scored 16 in the first half. What’d you see in him and then, second half, did you just go with the guys who were getting you back in the game?
08:57 Yeah, yeah. Yeah, JK did a good job in the first half and then second half, I just went with the guys who I felt gave us the best chance. Thanks.
—
09:13 With regards to the turnovers of the last couple weeks, anything you’ve been noticing on that end and is it the way teams are guarding you, are they unforced, combination of both? What are you seeing?
09:26 STEVE KERR, PREGAME GSW-ATL: Mostly unforced, I would say. I think it’s been — decision-making has been poor. We’re just being reckless and, with that said, teams are playing aggressively and Toronto really got into us. Atlanta will get into us tonight. Daniels is a one-man wrecking crew. We’ve gotta be ready. We can’t afford to turn it over against these guys.
09:56 Do you feel pretty positive about the Steph news?
09:59 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
10:01 He’s just getting treatment at the facility?
10:04 Mm hmm.
10:06 You’re hopeful, I assume, he can join you at some point on the trip?
10:09 Yeah. I’m very hopeful that at some point he’ll join on the trip, but just not sure when at this point. But, no, he’s doing well.
10:20 I just wanted to know, Jimmy coming from Miami to Golden State, just what makes him such a good fit for your team, in your opinion?
10:28 Jimmy would be a good fit with any team. He’s just an amazing basketball player. He’s an incredible decision-maker. He is strong as an ox. He gets into the paint and reads the defense. As long as we’re spaced well, he’s gonna get us a good shot and so it’s been amazing to watch him acclimate so quickly to our team and then vice-versa. We’ve got to acclimate to him, too, and I think we’re getting there, but we’ve had some time to get used to playing with him and it’s a different look for us. We’ve never really been an iso team and he’s one of the great iso players in the league, so it’s been a nice mix, but I think we can get better with our offense, for sure.
11:16 And leadership-wise, when it comes to what you’ve seen from him on the court as well as off the court?
11:20 Yeah, phenomenal, just the way he looks after our young guys, playing one-on-one with him after practice, pulling him aside during games, talking. He’s been an amazing leader.
11:33 Coach, a big conversation around Atlanta is whether a guy like Dyson could be able to win that Defensive Player of the Year. I know you didn’t play with Mike (Michael Jordan) when he won his, but playing with him and just knowing what it takes to be such a special player to win something like that, what do you see as it taking a guard to pull off that kind of award and what do you see out of Dyson that just makes him so special?
11:56 He’s got a great chance. Just watching tape to prepare for this game, the first two games I turned on, three steals immediately in each game. It was remarkable. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that, like, literally first three possessions of the game, three steals. So he’s a wrecking crew. He causes a lot of havoc and great hands, great anticipation, so he’s, for sure, First-Team All Defense and I think he’s right in the mix, especially with Wembanyama out, I think he’s got a great shot at it.
12:38 Coach, what do you think about the progression of Zacharie (Risasher) and those other good French basketball players?
12:44 Yeah, I just, we don’t see Atlanta very often, obviously just twice a year, but watching tape today, he looks like he’s gaining a lot of confidence and he looks very fluid out there. There’s a reason he was the No. 1 pick. He is a very talented guy, so they’ve been able to give him a lot of minutes this year and he looks like he’s playing very well.
13:08 Coach, you were a successful coach at the Olympics in Paris last year. It was a great tournament and in the FIBA rules of the 10 minute quarters, one of the challenges the NBA faces is load management, long games, long season. Do you think there is a case to be made for potentially shortening NBA quarters to 10 minutes?
13:26 I do. Doesn’t look like anybody is gonna shorten the schedule anytime soon, which would be my preference, but if they’re not gonna do that, I think, 40-minute games would make a lot of sense.
02:14 Hey Jimmy, thanks for coming out. We appreciate it, man. what are your thoughts being back in Miami today?
02:20 JIMMY BUTLER: Yeah, I ain’t worried about it. I get an opportunity to be around my kids, be around my friends that are here, do what I used to do while I was in Miami, a ton.
02:31 Jimmy, could things have been worked out better if Pat (Riley) and you had sat down immediately after last season and they offered the extension?
02:38 No.
02:39 You felt even at that point, you were at a point of no return last April or last May?
02:47 Pretty much, yeah. I think I knew in what direction I was going. Nobody ever asked me though, so y’all just all got to jump to assumptions and conclusions.
02:59 And for a team that you took to three Eastern Conference Finals, two NBA Finals, to suspend you three times, even now, I heard there’ve been some bills forwarded your way also, are you surprised that it went from the best of the best to something so different?
03:12 Nah, not necessarily. You can talk about it whenever we talk about it later on, but I think the suspensions are more because they just didn’t want me to be around the team. It wasn’t anything that I actually did, ’cause I didn’t do nothing too drastic to deserve X amount of games being suspended, but it is what it is. Yeah, I got some bills and, so what, it’s all taken care of.
03:37 What are your thoughts when you see Pat Riley tomorrow?
03:40 I don’t got no thoughts. Like I said, man, I don’t got nothing to say to nobody. I don’t have no hard feelings. I’m in a better place now for me and continued success to those guys over there.
03:51 Jimmy, what’s better about —
03:53 Better about what?
03:53 What’s better about being in California as opposed to here?
03:57 I don’t know. I guess I live in California. We’ve been winning a couple games as of late. A lot of friends of mine that I’m very close to also live in California. My people still out there with me, so it’s all the same. I just, I gotta get my babies out there.
04:13 And you, your family’s here, correct? And you talked about missing them. And can you elaborate for us two kids? Is that right?
04:20 My family, it don’t matter. Everybody. I still got Mac out here. Who else I got? Remy still works for the Heat, so a lot of my people are on this side, but they’ll be out there with me soon.
04:33 You’ve been through this a few times where you play your former team after a move or a trade or whatever. What are those games like and what is the experience of going through it before? How’s that kind of prepare you for what’s coming tomorrow?
04:45 Man, this is basketball. This is very simple. I don’t have all the emotions that everybody think that I’m gonna have. It is what it is. I realized that I had some great years here. I’ve built some incredible bonds with some individuals in the organization, in the city, hell, in the state of Florida. But I’m going in there to hoop. I’m going there to play basketball. Ain’t nothing nobody say, nothing nobody do, it’s finna get me outta character and nobody got me outta character whenever I was going through what I was going through this entire season with the suspension. It’s another day for me.
05:20 Jimmy, with a sense of you left here on some pretty rocky terms, especially with your fan base, so what do you say to those folks who almost look at you with a sense of disdain? What do you say to those folks?
05:33 I wonder if they look at the Heat the same way. Ain’t like I was the one that was doing everything. It’s gotta be 50-50, maybe 51-49, 49 towards them, 51 towards me, but there’s no way that I was a cause of all of this.
05:48 On the schedule, did you notice that you’d be coming back during Miami Open?
05:54 No, I did not, but my boy, Carlos (Alcaraz) got knocked out early, so it took me away from Miami Open as a whole.
06:02 But you’re in town for four or five days. Are you gonna catch any of it?
06:05 Nah, nah. I’m dominoes, coffee, chasing kids and being with everybody else that I’ve missed being around while I was gone. Exactly the same. Exactly the same.
06:16 I feel like in some ways you were almost painted as the bad guy here and I’m just curious with the turnaround with the Warriors, how you’re performing, do you feel any level of validation for yourself or understanding?
06:27 No, I’m always playing it as the bad guy. Like, everywhere I’ve been, I’ve always been the problem, so we’ll take it. I don’t got nothing to say. I’m not mad at being the bad guy. It’s all the way that everything gets portrayed. Some people talk to the media, some people don’t. I’ve never been one to. I tell my side of the story to almost anybody, let everybody think that this is what happened and we’ll ride with it and then in a year’s time, it’s gonna be somebody else’s fault besides mine.
06:56 So what did it mean to you that when you came to the Warriors and Steve just talked about it, they changed a lot of what they do for you, more iso and things like that. They didn’t ask you to fit into what they do. They’re trying to fit into what you do best. What did that adjusment — ?
07:08 A lot, but I try to fit in what they do as well. It’s a give on both sides of those things and I’m still learning. As I’m X amount of games in, I don’t even know how many, but I’m still learning how to be more of in their system. And then, obviously, when 30’s out of the game, I get to play more like I know how to play, but I think it’s amazing that he wanted me to come in and just pick up right where I left off, so try my best to help us win. We’re doing an okay job over it now, but we got a big one tomorrow.
07:40 If they have a video for you, is that something you watch during the timeout or anything?
07:44 Would I watch? Yeah, I’d watch if they had one. If they don’t, makes me no difference, it really don’t.
07:51 Just from a competitive standpoint, you haven’t played any of these guys matchup-wise. Is there any matchups you’re looking forward to? Obviously, you haven’t. It’s been practice only.
07:59 I’m cool. I ain’t — I know those guys. Those guys know me. It ain’t a team game. Whenever I blow by somebody, somebody gonna be there to help, so it’s gonna be the same way that everybody else is gonna guard me. Seen it time and time again and then you go out there and you make something happen.
08:16 What’s it been like for you at the coffee shop, playing dominoes?
08:20 A long day of being around the locals, people that I’ve seen time and time again when I was here, some of the squad came by. It was a good time. It’s what I really enjoyed doing days off, being around my people, play a competitive game, get you locked in and before you know it, you’ve been there five or six hours.
08:38 You’ve been there for six hours?
08:39 Something like that, probably yeah, six.
08:43 Is it like a tournament?
08:44 Nah, just messing around, playing some dominoes. Me and Dray went undefeated, so that’s always great.
08:51 Have you decided if you’re gonna keep the shop?
08:54 Yeah. Yeah. Shop ain’t going nowhere. Like, coffee, myself, being around the locals, that’s worldly. That has nothing to do with basketball. That’s all about having a place to go, vibe out, chill and not have to worry about signing autographs and taking photos. Just get to go in there and be yourself.
09:13 Will you be expanding the shop list?
09:15 Yeah, yeah. A lot of more places, definitely in the Bay, but we talking all around the world. We got some big things coming very soon.
09:24 Jimmy, thanks.
09:24 Of course.
09:25 Appreciate it.
00:00 Any thoughts on tomorrow night?
00:01 STEVE KERR: Excited, big game for us. Every game’s big now. 11 games left and we’re in a tight race out West, so coming off a loss, we’re all excited to get back out there.
00:14 Coach, we’re here, we sent you Jimmy and so can you talk for a minute about the impact he’s had on your team?
00:20 It’s been amazing. He’s one of the best players in the league. He has instantly transformed our team. We’re 16-4 since we got him. He’s a very unique talent. He’s a superstar, but he’s a subtle superstar. He doesn’t wow you with his leaping ability or shooting prowess or speed. It’s just his brute strength and his brain. He is one of the smartest players I’ve ever been around and his ability to just generate open shot after open shot is impressive and he is, obviously, a great two-way player. He is a hell of a defender and we’re lucky to have him.
01:03 You’ve been through a lot of these “guy plays former team first time” moments.
01:09 Mm-hmm.
01:09 Today, it’s a big deal. When the ball goes up, is it a big deal tomorrow too, or — ?
01:12 Sure. It’ll be a charged atmosphere. I mean, the — I’m sure it’ll be emotional on many levels. I know Jimmy’s just gonna lock in and play and he’s very capable of that, but there’s no getting around the fact that what he meant to this team, this organization, this city, that will come out tomorrow. And it’s part of sports, but it’s kind of what makes sports, too, is the emotional connection that everyone has with players and teams and so you get these nights that can be tricky, but I know Jimmy will handle it well. I know our guys will handle it well.
01:56 And there’s a flip side too with Wiggs, obviously, and we all know how highly you thought of him and rightly so, of course. Just how happy are you to see him again, I guess?
02:05 We’re all thrilled to see Wiggs. Wiggs is one of my favorite guys. I wish we still had Miami in the Bay, so that will have to wait till next year, but Wiggs will get an enormous standing ovation when he returns to the Bay in front of our fans, both for his contributions and for just for his humanity, who he is, what kind of person he is. He’s beloved in our locker room and throughout the Bay, so it’ll be great to see him and hopefully he doesn’t have 42 against us.
02:37 Do you sense that Steph has a little extra motivation to try to get back for this game because of the Jimmy factor?
02:45 Jimmy — I mean, Steph feels an obligation always to be there for his teammates, regardless of the circumstances. He’s an amazing teammate and he wants to get back as soon as possible, mainly so we can win games and climb the ladder in the playoff race, but no doubt he wants to be there for Jimmy, too, and it’s one of the things I love about Steph. He’s always there for his guys, in that sense.
03:14 You guys had the Durant return game in OKC. What do you remember about, I guess, the internal motivation for y’all to perform for Kevin that night?
03:24 Yeah, that was maybe the most emotional return game I’ve ever been a part of and kind of got ugly, really, so it was important for our guys to to go to bat for Kevin and they all did. And it was nice to, get that behind us when it happened, but yeah, like I said, I mean, there’s just gonna be games like this in the NBA season because of the emotion involved in sports. So you handle ’em when they come and you just support your teammate and then you move forward.
03:57 Talk about the battle in the West. There’s one in the East now, too. Do you feel like playoffs kind of started very quietly two or three weeks ago for a lot of us?
04:05 I do. I think the Play-in tournament — maybe this is the fifth year of it, sixth year or something like that — it’s basically generated a playoff race within the playoff race from the day it started. I haven’t loved it because we’ve been on the wrong end of it. We’re 0-3 in these Play-in games and so you finish in the Top Eight, you feel like you should be in the playoffs. On the other hand, it’s been great for the league. If you’re 8th or 7th, well, you had 82 games to do better and you didn’t do better and this is the new format, but it has been really effective in generating these races within the races and it’s kept a lot of teams in the hunt, I think, in general. That’s a really good thing for the league.
04:58 How does he, I mean, how did Steph look at practice today?
05:00 Good. Good. We didn’t scrimmage or anything, but he was moving great, surprised he knocked down a lot of shots, too.
05:06 Watch any college ball at all?
05:09 I watched my Wildcats last night. Yeah. Yeah, so it’s Tournament time, always fun.
05:15 Was this a particularly, I dunno, spirited practice, considering not what’s up tomorrow, but the fact that you got two off days and you actually got a practice in?
05:24 Yeah, well we needed a practice. We haven’t practiced in a week or so and so we got some good work in. Hopefully, that’ll sharpen us up a little bit and yeah, I mean, we gotta bounce back tomorrow, for sure.
05:36 Are you seeing slippage?
05:38 I thought the other night our defensive rotations were poor. I think we haven’t done as good of a job as of crashing the offensive glass. That’s led to some poor transition defense the other night. The first quarter, I think, they scored 40 in Atlanta against us and a lot of slippage on both ends. And so that’s kind of how it works in the NBA. 82 games, you go through a lot of games, you have a stretch where you don’t practice, you lose focus a little bit and it’s important to bounce back and refocus, so that’s the plan at this point.
06:13 How up-to-speed would you say Jimmy is, in terms of knowing all the plays, both defensively and offensively?
06:20 I would say that it’s been more about us evolving as a team. It’s not about plays. There are still a couple plays that we run that maybe he’s not sure of, ’cause we haven’t run it very often and I might call something and he’s not sure of it, but we’ve changed our style. You can see it and it just happens organically, like, we didn’t sit there as a staff and say, “All right, we’re gonna do this and that.” It’s guys playing basketball together and Jimmy is, analytically, he’s the No. 1 iso player in the league, so we’re in iso. We’ve never been an iso team, but we are going to iso because that’s what our personnel tells us we should do. So what we’re working on is spacing around Jimmy, making sure we’re in the right spots. We’ve had four or five plays in the last couple games where we didn’t get guys to the corner when Jimmy was driving and it’s, like, you have to have a guy there ’cause he’s gonna find you. And so it’s been more like subtle adjustments like that to playing a little bit different style and then, hopefully the end result is we blend both. We have the iso Jimmy, we have the movement of Steph, we have the pace, we have the energy and if we can put all that stuff together, we feel like we can improve our offense.
07:41 Steve, how much iso would you say you’ve run in your tenure?
07:44 Not much. I mean, Kevin, we’d put Kevin on the block a little bit and try to get a switch and throw him the ball on the block and there were some of that, but Jimmy’s a very unique iso player because of his strength. He’s just a brute force when he’s coming into the paint downhill and his footwork is amazing, so jump-stop, pivot, bodies are flying around and then he finds shooters all the time. So spacing is paramount and, yeah, we haven’t done a whole lot of that, but that’s what we’re gonna do because soon as he got here, we started winning and it wasn’t anything about strategy. It was about the guys learning how to play around him and that’s what we have to focus on. And it makes — it actually simplifies things. As long as we’re spaced, we’ll just get him the ball and he’s gonna get us a good shot.
08:38 Following that, how impactful was it to have his scoring presence or pop in the post, in particular?
08:44 Big. It’s big. The foul — the free throws that he gets, the fouls that he generates and then, if teams are gonna top-lock Steph like they’ve been doing a lot and there’s no help defense if Steph is on that weak side — and so there’s a lot of room in there for Jimmy. And so that’s the balance we’re trying to find and exploit.
09:05 Of course, watching Jimmy and we all know just how talented he is, but what is something that you didn’t really realize or be able to fully appreciate until he was on your team?
09:13 I think the subtle nature of his game is more easy to appreciate when you see it every day, so it’s the consistency of the effort, the energy, the style of play, the way he pulls his teammates aside to advise them, talk to them, the way he plays one-on-one with them after practice to try to help them get better. He’s an amazing teammate and he’s a pro. I mean, he’s just — he’s ready to work every single day and so it’s been a joy to coach him.
09:50 Are you enjoying Florida residency?
09:52 We are, yeah. Five days in South Beach can either make or break a season, so we’ll see how this goes.
09:59 While we’re on the West, real quick, I know there’s gonna be a matchup against the Lakers here and they got some newfound talent as well and so have you given that any thought down the road as far as — ?
10:08 Yeah, it’s like four or five games away, so I’m not giving it any thought. Thoughts are all on Miami right now.
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