Dubs Talk: Why Bucks hold all the cards over Warriors in potential Giannis trade
Warriors legend Chris Mullin joins Monte Poole on "Dubs Talk" to discuss Golden State's trade talks for Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Dubs Talk: Why Bucks hold all the cards over Warriors in potential Giannis trade originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Video Transcript
Welcome everyone to Dubs Talk, special edition.
I'm the host today with Monty Poole.
My good friend and partner, Monta Hill, is away today, so we have a special guest on.
Hall of Famer, former Warriors general manager, former Warriors player, dream teamer.
His name, Chris Mullin.
Thanks for joining us, Mullin.
Always a pleasure to be with you, Monty.
I know we got a lot of talk- to talk about leading up to the trade deadline here, so let's get it going.
For sure.
For sure.
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Let's get to basketball now.
Here on Dubs Talk, we've been talking for the last week or so about, what the Warriors will do as they approach the trade deadline, and about a week ago, the name Giannis Antetokounmpo hit the market.
And there are four teams that are putting- trying to put together a package, and there are a couple other teams, from what I understand, in talking to people around the league, that have kind of looking into it, too.
So maybe six teams.
Mullin, I wanna ask you, first of all, how hard is it to make a trade?
Now, m- and, let me, let me go back to a trade you made when you were the general manager.
You brought in Baron Davis in 2005.
Go through that chronology, I guess, when it started and what happened along the way before you got it done.
Yeah, Monty, that was obviously a big deal for us.
Baron came in and changed the franchise, and I would, compare it to the Jimmy Butler deal last year that Mike Dunleavy, consummated.
a player on a roster who was somewhat, disgruntled.
Jimmy Butler was not playing at the time.
Baron Davis was in a similar situation.
and, you know, we were able to put together a deal that was, you know, that New Orleans liked, with picks and some players and some relief.
so sometimes these deals come up, you know, unforeseen, for, for outstanding reasons besides basketball, and when you have the opportunity, you have to try and jump on it.
and depending on the, the impact, of the player that's involved, that you, you know, how, how much you think he can impact your team, the more you put into the deal.
obviously, last year with Jimmy Butler, it changed the team drastically.
You know, they were sputtering around five hundred.
When they acquired him, they went twenty-three and eight, and they were a threat in the playoffs.
Baron Davis was similar, maybe more drastic, for our team, with that We Believe team.
So, you know, these deals sometimes come up, outside of basketball reasons, and then you gotta get involved, and as you mentioned, there's probably three or four or five teams involved right now, pre-trade deadline.
and that's, that's a key component, because if the Milwaukee Bucks decide to wait, all of a sudden more teams have access to picks, and maybe more destinations become available for Giannis.
Yeah, in the summer, if they wait till summer, the, the three or four or five or six teams could grow to eight or ten or twelve.
I mean- Correct.
And so if you're the Bucks, you gotta figure out, if you wanna make the move now.
If somebody makes an offer that you just feel is too good to pass up, you probably make the move.
But on the other hand, you have- you can be patient.
They can afford to be patient right now, which they have been, and even if a deal is made before the trade deadline, chances are it's gonna happen right at the deadline, because you wait till the very last minute to see what else might happen.
Correct?
Absolutely.
There's a deadline for a reason.
that, that puts a little more pressure on, on both sides to a degree, but as you said, Monty, the Milwa- Milwaukee Bucks are holding all the cards.
Now, Giannis is gonna have a say on where he goes.
but for the most part throughout his career, he's been very cooperative with the, with the organization.
It's been a collaborative effort to put players around him.
They've, they've done a l- pretty good job.
They've won a championship, and even last year, putting Damian Lillard around him, although injury, you know, sidetracked that whole deal, they've made a, a lot of efforts to put the right players around him.
so if you're the Warriors, Minnesota, Miami, at this point, really the Milwaukee Bucks are putting the deal together.
There's not a deal that they're gonna turn down, really.
You know, you put your offer on the table, if they come back and say, "I want this," you're pr- you're not gonna say no.
so I think what's going on is, they're, they're looking at the best deals they can get between now and Thursday.
Like you said, if it's something that they really feel great about, as far as picks and players, they may pull it off.
But also what they might do is take all those great offers and say, "Look, we'll put these on hold.
Let's talk, in June before the draft."
and as you said, more teams become involved, more picks will be available, and pr- maybe the most important part, Monty, is you'll know exactly where those picks are- Mm-hmm ... after the season.
Right now, getting five picks, you have no idea where those picks land.
When the season's over, you can pinpoint some of those picks and say, "I want that pick."
Yeah.
"Or go give me these three picks, and give me this player, and we have a deal."
Right now for the Bucks, you know, it can look good on paper, but you, you can be a little bit more sure- of what those picks are, and you can really pinpoint players.
you know, you look back at the OKC deal that they did.
You know, everyone talks about OKC with all those picks they have.
Mm-hmm.
But the main component was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, which was the trade with those picks.
Yes.
You would think Milwaukee, of course, the picks are a huge factor, but I do think they want a, a player that they can build with moving forward, maybe two.
Mm-hmm.
So, from the, from the Warriors' standpoint, do they love Kuminga?
I don't know that.
But that's usually a piece that's gonna come.
And, you know, the other thing I consider, too, Monty, is, you know, they did a deal with Dame Lillard and then wound up doing a long, buyout stretch clause.
Mm-hmm.
I'm not quite sure they're into that so quickly after that deal.
So that, that would be like a Jimmy Butler contract type thing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
they've been through that already pretty recently.
Didn't work out too well.
So, we'll see.
You know, time will tell.
You know, I've been watching a lot of shows today, and even the experts You know, I saw someone say that the Milwaukee Bucks are fielding offers that may incline them to make a deal before the Thursday trade deadline.
And that same person said, "But Milwaukee Bucks have also said they're not You know, they're inclined to maybe wait till after the trade deadline."
So no one really knows what's gonna happen between now and Thursday.
but from my standpoint, Milwaukee's basically holding all the cards.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I want to go back to the Baron Davis deal for this reason.
Do you remember how long it took?
I mean, how long were you guys in communication?
Was it a matter of days, weeks, or months?
it was, it was more probably weeks leading up to the deadline.
back then, Monty, and you know this, the trade deadline was after All-Star break, so- Which it should be now, too, but hey.
Well, we used to Everyone would go to All-Star break, and there'd be some meetings, and you'd meet up with, other GMs at, at that time, and then have some serious conversations.
Then you had, like, maybe a week or less before the trade deadline.
That's when the talk started.
and you talk about the trade deadline, that, that deal actually literally went down to the last second.
We just got that deal done right before the dead- like, at eleven fifty-nine local time, literally.
'Cause we had another one, one more piece had to get thrown into that deal, and we, and we were waiting on that third team to, take a player from us and move him off.
So that literally was right down to the deadline.
So that's, that, that is legit.
Those things do happen.
and, you know, the more teams involved, the more communication and complication is added to it.
Yeah.
From your standpoint, is it better to have one elite player or two good players?
I guess what I'm saying is that if you have two good players, but you can get an elite player, is it worth trading those two good players to get an elite player?
Well, again, like, it depends on what You know, 'cause there's different levels of, of, you know, All-Star players, there's different levels of elite players.
You know, a guy like Giannis, you know, you, you throw him with Let's talk about the Warriors.
You throw him with Steph, and then I feel like you can build a roster around those two pretty much with minimum guys if you had to.
Not, not only from a skill standpoint, but also, I think players are gonna wanna come play next to those two guys.
but, you know, if you're talking about the Bucks, you know, if they're gonna start a rebuild, I think you want a, a player that you feel is gonna be an All-Star to move forward with and then have those picks to add to that.
you know, with the Warriors also, Monty, you know, one of the biggest strengths of this roster is depth.
Mm-hmm.
So the reason I said Milwaukee You know, if, if Milwaukee came to the Warriors and said, "You know, we want four or five picks and these players," whoever, whatever players they pick, I feel like they have enough on their roster.
you know, if they took Moody, you have Podz.
If they took Podz, you know So the depth piece makes a lot of sense.
but again, if they can get it done between now and Thursday, that would be amazing.
You think about it, be able to pull off two trade deadline deals, one for Jimmy Butler and then one for, Giannis Antetokounmpo in consecutive trade deadline deals, would be amazing.
But again, we'll have to wait and see, what, what the Bucks decide to do.
When you look at the Warriors and trying to chase Giannis, I mean, it's pretty obvious that, I mean, the chances of this happening are still pretty long.
The odds are still pretty long.
and the reason why is because, like you said earlier, the Bucks still hold all the cards.
But I'm wondering, is there a point where you want to have a secondary plan?
you know what I mean?
Like, okay, if the Giannis thing doesn't happen, what do you do?
because Jimmy ain't coming back this year.
So you know what team you have without Jimmy, and you know it's a huge loss.
So you've got to figure out how many eggs do you want to put into the basket this year, and then how much you want to, you know, just push off into next year.
How difficult is that to, to navigate, and do you have to have a plan B?
No question.
Plan B, C, and probably D, Monty, really, on the board.
You know, much like the draft.
You know, when you go to the draft, your boards You got your board all made up for the top players, but you also have contingent plans when that player is picked, and maybe there's a trade ahead of you.
So you always have those scenarios figured out and what you prefer to do.
yeah, so with those trades, and the trades that we've heard about, I think could really help this Warriors team immediately.
You know, Mike Porter Jr., who's, you know, supposedly on the trade block from Brooklyn, I mean, that could be a tremendous backup plan, you know, if the Giannis thing doesn't go through.
You know, Trey Murphy from, from New Orleans, you know, it's a player I think would, would be a perfect fit.
And the other thing, too, if, if that Giannis deal does not happen- those backup deals could be players that you could use again in a trade later on.
Right, right.
You're adding to, adding to your value, in the next deal.
So the other thing, too, is to consider, too, Milwaukee, I'm sure sitting there saying, for instance, the Warriors deal that's on the table, allegedly, is that gonna get better, or is that deal something I can have now and at the draft?
So you think about the, the, the one thing that a year ago when, when Dallas dealt, Luka, the big criticism their front office received was, "How could you just call one team?
Why did you not get the- Right.
"Why did you not get the entire league involved just to even find out if there's more assets that you could collect?"
So I think that's a- that's something I'm sure Milwaukee's looking at, too.
because the Luka deal, for the most part, was dealt with one team to one team.
I think there was other calls made, but they basically went, right to Dallas and the Lakers, and they caught some criticism for that, for not surveying the league entirely to try and collect the best collection of assets.
Yeah.
You know, you mentioned, Trey Murphy III, who the Warriors liked in his pre-draft workout before he was drafted.
They did not draft him.
He was available for both of their lottery picks, but they didn't take him.
but Swem, what I'm gathering around the league, the Pelicans are reluctant to move him.
They like him a n- a lot.
You know, he's six foot eight.
He can shoot it.
he's a good athlete.
defensively, he's okay.
and so they're looking at maybe keeping him and Zion and maybe Herb Jones, too.
You know, all three of those guys who you thought maybe a month ago might be available, they might be saying, "Nah," and Joe Dumars is like, "You know what?
Maybe we wanna build something here."
They like their rookies, you know.
the two rookies they brought in, Jeremiah Fears and Queen, they like those guys.
So those are five young players.
Z- I mean, Zion is still somewhat young, but those are five youngish players that you think you can either build around or use them to get you something, another p- another piece, you know?
Because it looks like Dejounte Murray wants out, and he hasn't played all year.
Still recovering from his a, his Achilles, situation, so, But Michael Porter Jr. is interesting because the Nets seem to be rebuilding every year.
It's like every year they're rebuilding, so you look at what they're doing now, and the thing is, is that you- what they have, with the roster they have right now, is one of the things that they, they haven't decided whether they wanna trade Michael Porter Jr. And if they do, that changes everything, and that, for the Warriors.
But so far, it sounds like they're leaning towards not trading him.
So if you're the Warriors, and you can't get Trey Murphy, and you can't get Michael Porter Jr., you know, the outlook starts to look pretty grim for what you're looking for.
Yeah.
I, I think then, like most of the league, Monty, then you could look forward to the, to the draft and that time of year to, you know, change your roster.
Well, you look, we have free agency, you got the draft, and you got the trade deadline where you can change your roster, and they're all- they all come around pretty quickly.
And a lot of those deals that don't happen get pushed over to the next, to the next timeline, and, and conversations are picked up, and, and you take notes on what was offered to you previously- Mm-hmm ... and then you can try and put a deal together.
You talk about New Orleans, I agree with Joe Dumars.
I would do the same thing, keep those young players together.
The one thing he might be looking at, like you mentioned, Dejounte Murray or, or one of those younger players, 'cause he did give up a few picks to get Derrick Queen.
So re- re, reacquiring those picks may be something they wanna do moving forward, but that's a nice, young nucleus Joe Dumars has there.
Michael Porter Jr., you know, the thing with the Brooklyn Nets is, you know, this year's draft is, is, you know, the stars- Stack.
... you know, stars up top, a- and it's deep also.
Right now, they may be winning too many games- Yeah ... messing up that pick.
So whether they trade MPJ or, you know, he starts playing selectively a little bit, because a lot of teams are gonna start doing that because there, there's some big-time star players at the top of that draft that can turn franchises around almost immediately.
Now, if the Warriors are unable to make a significant trade, what does that mean for this season?
Because y- Jimmy ain't coming back, and we saw what they looked like without Jimmy last season, and Steph got runner's knee, so he's got to be managed for a while at least.
He's not gonna play Tuesday night against the Sixers.
Don't know when he'll play again.
I, I mean, i- is this season maybe just kind of a loss season if they can't make a trade?
I wouldn't go that far because, you know, the, the Warriors, like I just mentioned, the depth has been tremendous.
You know, uh- Sure.
I thought Steve Kerr did a masterful job figuring out the puzzle, the pieces to the puzzle, with Jimmy Butler playing early in the first quarter and then going to the second unit.
And Jimmy, I think the way he solidified that second unit, that confidence has carried over.
They've, they've been tremendous, even since Jimmy left, so they're s- they're playing really good basketball, off the bench.
Reestablishing the starting lineup's important, and Steve's been messing around there a little bit with, with Al Horford back in the starting lineup.
If, if Al Horford and Andrew melton can start increasing their minutes, I think that would be a huge help.
and then, of course, Steph Curry's health is number one, first and foremost.
But then if let's assume nothing happens.
Now, all of a sudden, the player that you acquired is Jonathan Kuminga.
Mm-hmm.
Can you reactivate him?
We've seen him right before, he, he This last injury, his last two performances were almost impeccable.... those two games he played- Yeah.
He played great off the bench, looked, really calm and poised.
I was really impressed, I think it was the game in Minnes- was it Minnesota where he got hurt?
Uh- So where did he get hurt?
I think he got hurt before that.
One of those games, though, I, I was really impressed with his, his patience, and looked really, you know, playing within the team, the t- framework of the team, and Granted, small sample size, but he looked, he looked really good.
So if you do nothing, you are getting him back.
Yeah.
I'm assuming he'll get back from injury at some point.
That could be a jolt in the arm.
He, he played really well last year.
So again, you know, you try and do everything you can, but I would, I wouldn't say the season's lost at all.
Be- because of the parity, the Warriors are, you know, what are they, eighth now?
I think- ...
They've been eighth for the season, yeah.
Yeah, and even when they went 12 and 4, they went They stayed at eight.
So I th- I think they're, they're solid there.
Can they, you know, be a threat in the playoffs?
I- they could.
I don't think anyone's fearing them, but I wouldn't say the season's lost.
I think they can still, you know, maintain their eighth.
I'm not quite sure they can move up to sixth, you know, in the West, but I wouldn't say it's a lost season.
I would look at Jonathan Kuminga as being the addition that you haven't had for a while, and try to figure that out, make that a, make that a positive.
You mentioned Kuminga, and I, I'm thinking about this, about Giannis in this way, too, in the same context, in that the Warriors wanna They wanna move Ku- Kuminga.
Kuminga wants to move.
Both sides want a divorce, and I think in Milwaukee, Giannis wants out.
We know that, and Milwaukee has come to the conclusion that, "Okay, it's gonna have to hap- happen."
So is there a risk to keeping a guy on your team after everybody in the world knows that they don't wanna be there?
Uh- Whether it's Giannis or AK.
Yeah, I mean, with, with Giannis, it's I think it's, that situation, it's a long-term relationship that, that they've had.
They've won a championship together.
He's actually not playing right now.
Right.
He's out with a, with a calf, so, you know, I don't know all the inner details with the relationship, but it seems like they could, they could work things out, whether it be short-term or long-term.
Obviously, with the Warriors, they've been dealing with this, and Jonathan Kuminga for four years.
So I don't think it's anything that's foreign to ei- either of those franchises.
and look, in this, in this day and age of player empowerment, this, the part of pl- part of the player empowerment is working together.
That- that's pretty much the difference between decades ago, where you really had no insight on what was going on.
Now, most players have a, a good feel, especially the star players- Yeah ... of what's going on in the organization.
you're not always gonna agree, but part, part of collaborating is, you know, being able, being at If you wanna sit at that table, is being able to disagree, maybe move, may- maybe move a deadline back for, for You know, that, that's part of, the collaboration, to me anyway, when, when the players are involved with the franchise.
I'm gonna pivot a little bit and ask you this question, and, and it's, it- it's not related to Giannis necessarily, but it might be at some point, could possibly be.
And that is, you all- we all know what Draymond Green has done for the franchise over the years, you know.
he's, ba- basically the coordinator of their defense on, in real time on the floor.
he and Steph, we've seen them work together for years.
Really good pick and roll action between those two guys, and so forth.
If, if you're the GM, would you consider trading him for the right, for the right deal?
Yeah, I, I, I think, honestly, I got tremendous respect for Draymond for all the reasons you just mentioned.
you know, I think defensively, everything speaks for itself.
All his Defensive Player of the Year.
His, his first Team All-Defense for nine of ten seasons, so that, that speaks for itself.
I still think, in my, in my When I watch him, I watched the last game, the first half, he's got 15 points.
I still think he, he can be a really effective offensive player.
That's my personal opinion.
I know he doesn't prefer it, or maybe sometimes the team doesn't prefer it, but I think it, it's there.
That's- Yeah.
I think actually it's still untapped.
That's in, in my opinion, but, so if I'm another team, I might, might be considering that- ... that I could unleash his three-point shooting.
But, a deal like this, of course, I think if it's If you're talking about Giannis- Yeah ... everybody's on the table except Steph.
Yeah.
But I, I do think, that's why I mentioned earlier, it's basically Milwaukee putting a deal together, and you basically agreeing to it for the most part.
Because it's, it's gonna be the picks, and it's gonna be a combination of players.
Who, who knows what they prefer?
You might- Right.
You, you definitely have preferences, and I'm sure the Warriors present them.
"This is, let's say, four or five picks and these players."
But Milwaukee came back and said, "Well, we want those picks and these players," are you really gonna turn it down to get Giannis?
I think it Really, are you?
If it's- Yeah ... if it's one player replaced by s- by another- Yeah ... and that makes the deal work for them, I think either way the answer is yes.
Yeah.
What, what I've heard from people around the league is that the Warriors would be reluctant to move Draymond, but he's not off the table.
And that positionally, they like the trio of Steph, Jimmy, and Giannis more than they like Steph, Draymond, and Giannis.
Yeah.
And so- Mm-hmm.
Yeah, you probably understand why.
I mean, with Giannis, Giannis is a natural four.
So is Draymond, even though he's five inches shorter, that's his position, though.
Whereas Jimmy is more of a three, you know, he's a wing.
He can shoot it, he can play-make, and, and Draymond can do play-making, too.
But- Jimmy's contract happens to be in alignment with, with, with, that of, of Giannis.
So if it's Draymond in a deal, you'd have to add more salary, such as Kuminga.
Draymond and Kuminga together, salary, you're getting pretty close now.
Mm-hmm.
Right?
You're about two or three million short, so it's possible.
But if you're the Warriors, I guess the question is, they already said that the picks will be on the table.
It's gotta be anybody, except for Steph, who's, who's available.
And if you're Mike Dunleavy and Joe Lacob, and they trade Kuminga as part of a package, that will mean they've had three lottery picks, and two of them have been, have been traded: Wiseman and Kuminga.
And the third one, Moses Moody, has been a starter lately and But he's gonna be on a good team, he's a good rotation player, or a very contender team.
Is there ego involved in these kind of moves, too, in terms of, you know, you- how it looks if you have three lottery picks and you don't have a star?
No, I don't think so.
Es- especially, you know And then players say it all the time until it affects them.
It, it's a business, right?
And that, that's the part of it.
So you separate the emotion, you separ- you separate what's gone on in the past to try and make the right deal now.
That's what the focus is.
and but that's why, Monty, a lot of people are focused on this draft, because this draft is loaded with talent.
Not every draft is.
Right.
Some drafts, you get the best player in that draft, it's just not as good a player as, you know, just a different, you know, the draft coming up, say.
So, I personally think they picked the right players- Mm-hmm ... that didn't work out, and probably more because the Warriors were a championship team.
It's hard to break in to a team that's contending for championships and have, has their top five or six, rosters, roster rotation players in place.
So I don't, I don't think I wouldn't look like that at all.
the fact that they were able to acquire Jimmy Butler last year at the deadline, and have a, a chance to acquire Giannis Antetokounmpo this trade deadline or into the off-season, tells me people are not really being honest about what they feel about the roster.
Right.
Because if they're willing to make those deals I know most of it's picks- Yeah ... but, but, their, their players are pretty well thought of, and not publicly.
You know, we, we hear enough about not enough talent around, you know, Stephen, Draymond, and, and so on.
But I, I personally think those young guys have done a pretty good job in what's been asked of them.
Yeah.
Yeah.
so, but again, like, for me, for them to be involved in back-to-back deadlines with, with players of the caliber of Jimmy Butler and Giannis, it's pretty amazing.
When you look at those three drafts, though, all three of those guys came in as teenagers.
They were all 18, and, and since then, the Warriors have kind of pivoted a little bit, and are being open to more guys who've got a little bit more experience in college.
Podziemski, couple of years.
You know, Will Richard, four years.
Quentin Post, five years.
I mean, there are some teams in the NBA that are, like, almost afraid of guys who've been in college for four years, because they think they can't play.
But is there Where do you fall in terms of drafting a guy with raw potential versus drafting a guy who you've got 100 and something games of college ball to look at?
Yeah, I mean, that used to be the norm, right?
Back in the day, you got four years of, of data and, and game experience and, you know, all different, information.
That's not the case anymore.
but, but the guys you mentioned, Monty, and it's not, it's not just the Warriors, the top seven players are usually the youngest.
Mm-hmm.
Because there's more upside, you're talking about raw talent, raw ability, and that's the risk/reward.
You know, you get down to the teens and the 20s in the second round, yeah, guys are much more confident picking four-year players.
Mm-hmm.
The fact of the matter is, if you look at the top of this draft coming up, it's gonna be guys playing one year of college, at best.
Mm-hmm.
So that, that's the risk/reward.
That's why, you know, not only from a team standpoint, even individually, those young players, they wanna get through that rookie scale contract to get to that second deal.
Yeah.
the flip side is, if you pick a four-year college player, say he's 22, say he's third overall, and you pass on a kid who's 18, and he blows up, right?
And you get- He got ... Yeah, ex- exactly.
There you go.
Exactly.
Perfect.
Perfect.
But I mean- And so ... the odds are, most of the odds are against that, though.
I mean, you know, how many guys There's a few Kevin Garnetts and Kobes that come into the league and become All-Stars within five years.
Mm-hmm.
But most of those guys, you know, they, they have a, a harder road to, to get through.
And you look at, at where, where the Warriors are now, and where Kurt- where Steph is now, it kind of makes sense to, like, get guys who, and who can give you something, kind of immediately, something.
And you know, watch a guy like Will Richard, and he's having a pretty good year for a late second-round pick.
You know, he's helping out and giving this team some things they need.
He's made a few starts.
defensively, we already know that he can play at this level.
And offensively, he's been good, not great, but he's been good.
And so, it feels like their draft strategy has changed a little bit.
But like you said, the second round, second round picks, I mean, are, I mean, experienced college guys are less of a risk.
And so you, you swing for the fences in the lottery- you hope you connect.
If you don't connect, you end up where the Warriors are, where they had three lottery picks, and not one of those guys is yet an All-Star.
Um- Yeah, and the, the other, the other lottery picks that had worked out, went to teams that were not pursuing championships, so they were getting 30 minutes regardless of, you know, the outcome of games, and whether they were turning the ball over.
They had a lot more, leash to stay out on the floor, you know, to put up good numbers and things like that.
So there's a lot more things that are involved, you know, with guys' development.
but in particular to the Warriors, I mean, it's I think we kind of And, you know, Monty, you and I have been around long enough, this run that they've been on has been incredible, and all the things we're talking about are the by-product of their success- Yeah ... and trying, and trying to maintain that level.
So you've got to give, you know, Joe Lacob, and his group, and then Mike Dunleavy, and Steve Kerr in- incredible, credit for, for trying to maintain this high level of, of dynasty.
You know, most teams never even see that level of success, never mind, you know, own up to say, "Oh, we're gonna try and keep this going as long as we can."
Yeah.
It's a really amazing run they've had, and for me, I just want them to make sure they get the credit for not only what they've done, but how they handle it moving forward.
It's important, I think.
Well, that's- It's important for their legacy, how they, how they handle this, this, this, immediate future.
The last thing I want to run by you is this.
I was talking to Al Horford the other night, and I asked him about what it's like when you're at approaching the trade deadline, and you know your front office is busy trying to make something happen.
You know, Al's been around.
He's been in the league 19 years, so he, he knows, he's seen it all.
And he said, "It's There's a level of stress for everybody, but it's different from player to player maybe.
But when you see your name out there, it's elevated."
In your mind, what, I mean, what, what's the hard part about dealing with the last week or two before the trade deadline for a player?
Yeah, I- In the, in conversation.
Yeah, I would say, Monty, the thing is, it, it's much more like experience.
The first few times around it becomes You know, it could be stressful or, you know, you get some, anxiety, anticipation, things like that.
But I think after a while, because every- all players say, "Oh, it's, it's the business side," but that's, that's a, that's a quote.
Yeah.
But the business side, when you deal with it, is, is different.
But you do get used to it, I think, at some point.
It also depends on what level player you are.
You know, the, the higher level players, they have, they have information, they have insight, whether it be from the team, from their agents.
and a lot, a lot of times those guys can control situations by letting other teams know, "Look, that's not gonna work for me."
So that's the player empowerment part, you know, I, I, I think gives the players a little bit more control.
But in the realm of things, you know, it's, it's just part It is, it's part of the business.
The more you go through it, the more comfortable you get with it.
And, it'll come Thursday, then everything calms down- Yeah ... and you're back on the court.
Yeah.
for the guys that stay where they are, they calm down anyway.
And then the other ones, you know, some people will be excited about that move, and some will be disappointed.
But, yeah, I think like Al Horford probably told you, the more you go through it, like- Yeah ... like anything else, the experience part becomes part of your schedules.
Yeah.
Much like, much like pre-season, and then you got your, you know, pre All-Star break, and then- Yeah ... and the post All-Star break push.
It becomes, it becomes routine.
Yeah.
He, he said that, after the All-Star After the trade deadline passes, he go, "Everybody can take a deep breath."
Yeah.
He go, "Okay, now you know what's happening for the rest of the season at least.
You're in that place, and you can go out and just play basketball without thinking about all the other stuff, because all the speculation and rumor stuff dies down, so..." Yeah.
when What Draymond said, though, was that, "Hey," he said, "He's not losing sleep over it."
He goes, "It's the business.
If I get, if I get traded, I get traded.
You know, if it happens, it could happen."
And as a couple of guys in the locker room pointed out, "Hey, Luka got traded."
So that means- Yeah ... anybody can get traded if Luka got traded, so.
Well, back in the day, we used to say, "If Kareem, if Kareem got traded, anybody could get traded," so.
He got traded.
There's a long, there's a long list of those guys now.
All right, back to Mancini, our friends at Mancini here again.
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Chris Mullin, Hall of Famer, Dream Teamer, former Warrior, still got the Warrior blood in him.
Thanks for joining us, Chris.
Appreciate your time, brother.
Monty, always a pleasure to be with you, my friend.
I'll see you tomorrow.
For sure.
This has been Dubstock.
We'll see you guys later.
