After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 3

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AutoTrader. Do you think Mike Malone likes this music? I bet. When do we get salty Mike Malone? It's been a while, I feel like. The championship ring are kind of melding him out for a couple of months.

And his team has played much better basketball since the All-Star break. Now didn't end up with the top seed, but ends up with the two seed and will take on the Lakers coming up this weekend with game number one. I don't have the heart to go over the entire schedule, but producer Jay thinks it's really funny to look at the random nature of the NBA first round schedules. Pick one, Jay.

Just pick one and go over the random nature of it. Let's do Knicks, Sixers. Okay, just for fun, Knicks and Sixers, which has got a lot of intrigue around. It starts Saturday at 6 p.m. New York time, which is 3 p.m. Pacific. Then game two would be Monday.

Okay, so they go Saturday, Monday. Game three, Thursday. Thursday. Thursday.

And game four, I actually don't have it in front of me. I thought you said it was the following Sunday. I'm 99% sure that it's Sunday, so there's another three day gap in between there. Because it's such an extensive travel experience to go from Philadelphia to New York. You can drive from Philadelphia to New York in two hours and I'll bet they're not flying.

I wouldn't be surprised if they were bussing. So that means that first round, it'll go over a week and that's if it's a sweep. If it's a sweep. That means if it goes seven, we're looking at a two week series. I'm telling you, I'll be coming back from my honeymoon and we'll barely be starting the second round, if that.

Totally agree. Good thing I'm not missing anything. And that's just one of the series. Some of the higher profile series with superpowers like LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and then of course the Denver Nuggets with Nicole Jokic, Jamal Murray, who's one of my favorite players to watch in the NBA. Yeah, that one's going to potentially be on nighttime national TV and they're going to want to take advantage of either over the air networks like ABC or also take advantage of primetime viewing nights.

Although it does start on a Saturday night, which is not generally a great viewing night, so we'll see. I'm looking forward to seeing how these matchups play out and hoping that we get some longer drawn out series. Now, the East last year was weird and actually a lot of the playoffs last year were weird. They were blowouts.

Really, you would get maybe competitive series, maybe, except that within the series, a lot of the games were blowouts one way or the other, which is not at all entertaining. Miami tends to change that. We'll see whether or not the Heat are able to get past the Bulls.

Remember, it was this time last year that Chicago had the lead over Miami, ended up losing. Miami barely made it out of the play-in tournament, and then as the eight seed ends up running all the way to the Eastern Conference. So, yeah, was it eight seed or seven seed last year? Eight, they were the eight. They were the eight. That's right.

That's what I thought. They had their last ditch hopes and were able to rally and get into the main bracket. So we got Friday night's games first, end of the play-in tournament, and then on into the full schedule Saturday and Sunday. Stanley Cup playoffs also start Saturday with a pair of games and then Sunday with four more.

I tried to explain to the Hubs, this is his first time going through the spring with me, where we were dating this time last year, but we were long distance. So I'm not sure he gets that on any given night in these first couple weeks. So we'll be on vacation starting May 1st, but these first couple weeks you can routinely have seven or eight games at the same time.

Well, it's probably more common that it's six or seven, five, six, seven, something like that, but it's ridiculous how crazy it is these first two weeks. So we always have plenty to talk about the storylines. Even now, we've got updates on injuries.

No Zion Williamson for Friday night's game in New Orleans between the Pels and the Kings. We also know that Jimmy, sorry, I choked on the word Jimmy. Jimmy Butler, by the way, coffee connoisseur. Do you remember what he did when he was in the bubble in Orlando? He took a coffee machine and an espresso machine and then he kept having the supplies shipped in. So they were ordered in and someone from the NBA had to go out to the edge of the property.

Oh my gosh, how crazy that was. Wasn't he charging like $20? Yes, he was charging $20 a cup of coffee or an espresso because players had no other options.

They were sequestered in Orlando with no freaking coffee. How did he get away with that? How did he get away with that?

How come no one else thought to do that? That was a pretty lucrative operation he had going on. It was.

He was making money on it. Really impressive. There's no way that I would have been sequestered in Orlando without either my Keurig or an actual pot, like a brew, a pot to brew coffee. So I, like Jimmy Butler, when I travel, I take coffee with me so that I don't have to worry about going out to get it. Right. So when I travel.

Yeah. So this past weekend, we went to Buffalo and Niagara Falls. Thankfully, there was a coffee maker because that's what the hubs prefers. There was no Keurig, though. And so instead, I took my I buy cold brew and I took it on the road with my almond milk and with.

Well, I forgot the half and half. Thankfully, the Airbnb had half and half. Anyway, I go ever since. And this is when I learned my lesson ever since Thanksgiving of 2020.

So I didn't advertise it at the time, of course, because I didn't need people telling me how I was breaking all ethical codes, whatever. So I drove from New Jersey to Atlanta to spend Thanksgiving week with my best friend who was just part of my wedding. I took Penny with me. And I thought because I had driven that corridor so many times. I thought that I would have no trouble stopping at some of the overnight or the 24 hour convenience stores or truck stops or any of the rest areas that were on the way. Again, I've driven that corridor a bazillion times.

What I didn't account for in late 2020 is that so many of them had stopped operating 24 hours because there were fewer people on the roads. And so I ended up driving overnight from Richmond to I think I got all the way into South Carolina. No coffee. And I was so exhausted because when I left Richmond, I'd stopped to visit a friend, a college friend who lives in Richmond. She said to me, do you want coffee?

And I was like, oh, don't worry. There's a Starbucks that's open. This was about eight o'clock at night or so Starbucks. It's open around the corner.

I'll stop there. So I was going to and then I realized, you know what, I'm not all that tired yet. I think I'll wait until I really need the coffee.

And I get on to 95 and there is nothing, nothing available. And I was so tired that I actually had to stop and pull over and sleep for a half hour because I couldn't keep going. I was so tired, could not find coffee until it was after 6 a.m. And I was in South Carolina and I learned my lesson. Now I travel with a cooler and coffee because you never know when that might happen. You know, the trips that I've made back and forth to Houston over the last 10 years. I now take the coffee with me in the more recent trips. And so Bob and I both, we take coffee. We're never without it just in case we can't find it. Control the situation. Yeah, absolutely.

So that's how much I need coffee for the crazy hours that I do. Yeah, so I'm always pleased to say that Jimmy Butler and I are kindred spirits. And which, because of that, I'm sad that he will be out for a couple of weeks, which is what we're hearing from the Miami Heat. Now they're assuming that they will continue playing for a couple of weeks.

But without him, the formula just isn't quite the same. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on the Infinity Sports Network. You can find our show Twitter at Amy After Hours and also on our Facebook page. Now on both of our social medias, we've been playing with the photos. We've been tweaking the header photos. I know some of you like it. Some of you have been very kind to weigh in. We've actually gone through multiple iterations on our Facebook pages trying to figure out which one we like the best.

So you can weigh in. We had a little radio in the corner and it looked like clip art. Do you remember clip art? Is that why you took it out? So I have other ones that actually have it back in there.

I took it out for the moment because we're still just going through so many of them. And every time I changed it, I have to change it on there to make sure I can look it out on my phone. Which means it puts a post up on our Facebook page.

Yeah, it's kind of funny. So on Twitter when you change your profile picture, so I did that recently with Twitter. I changed it to a sneak peek of me as a bride. So if you haven't seen it, you can go to my Twitter page because there is a new photo, a profile photo that shows part of me on my wedding day.

Anyway, that's all you. I know that they offer you the option of posting with the caption, new profile pic. It's a hashtag, new profile pic. But you can say not now and you can X out of it. On Facebook, you can't do that. They automatically post it. Now you can delete it.

Well, not delete it. You can hide it from your profile or from your page, but it still shows up on news feeds. So yeah, Jay has inundated the news feed of our followers with seven different photo changes.

I saw comments coming in. I was like, I thought I hid that. Well, no, it's on the news feed. It may not be on our page, which would be kind of funny to have seven posts of me with a new photo. I just didn't want to spam the page with that.

Spam the page, spam the page with the photo of the host. That's funny. So yeah, we're trying different things.

We haven't quite figured it out yet, but we'll work it out. Also, if you missed my conversation with Todd Walsh of the Arizona Coyotes, the team formerly known as the Arizona Coyotes, we're going to bring back part of it next hour, but you will want to go and listen to the conversation in its entirety. He had just come from Shane Doan's house where they were lamenting and saying goodbye and maybe eulogizing. But also, I'm sure there are a lot of stories shared about their time in the desert, but it's about to come to an end.

There are no more games. The team is headed for Salt Lake City and his emotional roller coaster, not just this week, but since day one with this franchise. He's been with the franchise since 1997, and his video, his farewell tribute, went viral from Wednesday night, which is why we reached out to him, and he was so generous with his time as well as with his authentic emotions. So I highly recommend you get it out of our podcast. We post the link every weekday morning on both our show Twitter as well as on our Facebook page. We will bring some of it back and hoping we can throw it up on YouTube as well because it's YouTube-worthy. Not that everything we do isn't YouTube-worthy. We could do a show on YouTube, Jay, couldn't we? Oh, absolutely. I feel like that's sacrilegious to say right now, but you never know when we might come in handy. Yeah, you're right. Anyway, our phone number 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4CBS. Coming up this hour, Josh Allen talks about life post, Stefan Diggs, and both Klay Thompson and Steve Kerr, along with the new general manager of the Golden State Warriors, talk about life after their early exit from the playoffs and what this offseason means for the team that has been, well, it's been one of the top stories in the NBA since Steph Curry came on the scene. But certainly since they won three NBA titles in five years and then tacked on the fourth then in 2022.

Could that core possibly remain together? That's really the conversation around the Warriors this offseason. But we told you that one of the head coaches in the NFL is actually living in an RV.

He promised when he was introduced by the Chargers that this was in his future. I told my wife this, should I tell them? Okay, so I want to drive my RV out. I want to drive my RV out and go to a trailer park, you know, like down by the water or by Disneyland. There'll be two that I've researched that are close to the facility. And I want to Jim Rockford it for the next couple months until we move to the new facility.

I have that thought going through my head. He is as random as Mike McDonald. Mike McDonald, not Mike McDonald. McDaniel.

Thank you. My goodness, it's definitely NFL offseason. But it's about to get real again because the draft is not even a week away. Next week, we'll be talking about the first round of the NFL draft.

Credence to that. Thank you, Mike McDaniel. I'm so sorry about getting your name wrong. I'm not great with names. You get my name wrong. It's any name.

It doesn't really matter. I'm here too. Okay.

Well, I'm here 12. Okay. So Jim Harbaugh says that in his introductory press conference that he's driving his RV from Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Los Angeles, presumably because they'll have to find a house and all that jazz. Plus, his family may not be joining him immediately. Well, now he's done a whole tour for Chargers YouTube. Now, we only have the audio. We don't have the video.

I highly recommend going and watching the video. But he really is parked in an RV and beginning his tenure as the coach of the Chargers out of his RV park. We're in Huntington Beach at the Waterfront RV Park. This is my Quantum Thor motor coach. I'm inspired by growing up watching the Rockford Files. Got my DVDs. I've been watching that. Nothing will make you feel more like a dad than when you figure out how to dispose of the waste.

Felt like a real dad. Now, G-Row, I said this is a Class C here. It's like with the rock bands going around right here. I mean, for one person, this beats any hotel room in America. You know what I mean?

Took the words out of my mouth. Yeah. Living the RV life, G-Row.

Yes, sir. He's at an RV park in Huntington Beach. Can you imagine what the rest of the residents must think about the fact that Jim Harbaugh is living there? And there were a lot of them from the video. It's a huge community.

Yeah, it is. Well, in a lot of these places, they may not be permanent residences, but they're parked there long term. I've had friends who, in between building houses or moving, they were sold one house and weren't sure where they wanted to go. They've lived in a camper, or probably not as nice as his motor coach, but they've lived in one of those kind of transient styles. My mom and her husband have a 39-foot fifth wheel, and when they've moved in the past, they've actually had to stay in it along the way. As they're waiting for their stuff to show up at their new place, it actually happened in Houston. They had to live in their fifth wheel because their furniture and their belongings didn't show up in Houston right away. Or when a house is getting renovated, something like that. But the fact that Jim Harbaugh is a coach in the NFL, they would probably put him up in temporary housing. Airbnb, a really nice one, or a hotel that's, he could have an entire floor if he wants it, right?

Sure. Instead, he's living in his motor coach, which is so perfect. Got my DVDs. He's got his DVDs.

I mean, good. He's so proud of it. He's on vacation, is what he's doing. He's on vacation in the Huntington Beach area, if you'd like to go by and visit. I wonder if he has extra security, if he's just hanging out there. By the way, he may be listening for the show, to the show. He's a big, well, he's a big insomniac, I think a lot of football coaches are.

And he's got advice for those of you who can't sleep. I'll tell you, some of the nights it was raining, is there a better night's sleep that you could get? No. In an RV, when it's raining. When the rain's hitting the top of it, no way.

No. Puts you right to sleep. That is true. Producer Jay and I ascribe to that theory that when it's raining, it's better for sleeping. It's the best. Partly, I don't know about the sound as much, but partly it's because it's darker out. And the dark grey, if it's a real heavy cloud cover, oh goodness, it makes for great rain. I actually like the sound. It's soothing. Yeah, well I just don't hear it as much. So there's a skylight in my bathroom, if it rains really heavy, I can hear it on the skylight in my bathroom. That I love. But the bedroom itself, I don't hear it a ton because there's an eave over the house, or eaves over the house. So I don't hear it as much upstairs, but I do love to sleep when it's raining, naps when it's raining. I'm trying to convince my husband that's the best time to nap.

The best. Actually, he was allergic to naps until he met me. All these things that I've convinced him are, you know, first of all, life is better with me. But all these different things that I've passed on to him, Star Wars, Nerddom, so many things. I try to remind him frequently that I'm willing to share all the great finds, the great life hacks.

And naps is one of them. Alright, coming up. Josh Allen on life without Stefan Diggs. And what that means for him as the leader of the Buffalo Bills. I just stayed in Allentown. It's a section of Buffalo. I was right down from Allen Street. Kind of felt like I got the full Josh Allen experience while I was there. Mind the gap.

That too. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence here on the Infinity Sports Network. You are listening. Call from Mom. Answer it.

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Get softer, smoother skin in Shopovino now at Target. And into the after hours podcast. You know, without going into the discussion with Josh, when the last time we spoke was I did alert him that, you know, there had been some inquiries and it wasn't 100% off the table.

This is after hours with Amy Lawrence. In Buffalo, it's been some drastic change. Many of you will say now that you saw this coming. You knew the Buffalo Bills were going to trade the top receiver, one of the best receivers in the league, Stefan Diggs. Because, you know, he's not the same guy that he was.

He's not as good a receiver. He fell off at the end of the year. There were problems between he and Josh. The Bills were tired of dealing with the drama. Well, Brandon Bean, he didn't say any of that. What he did say is that there were offers that were made to them and they felt like the offer from the Texans was too good to pass up.

Brandon Bean also did give Josh Allen a heads up that something could be coming down the pike. And now here we are inside of a week to go until the NFL draft. The Bills have run into their glass ceiling the last couple years, have been unable to get back to the Super Bowl. They're looking for a number one wide receiver. They still have Josh Allen, of course. But in addition to Stefan Diggs, they've lost captains on both sides of the ball. Many of those being salary cap considerations, weirdly enough, because the salary cap just took an astronomical rise. So Brandon Bean and his staff have a lot to work on.

Meanwhile, Josh Allen meeting the press as part of the voluntary workouts that are going on with teams all over the country now. And he's speaking out about losing his number one guy, Stefan Diggs. It's definitely hard to part ways with a guy that's been very instrumental in our success here over the last four years. And again, I can't thank him enough for when he came in and how hard he worked and what he taught me along the years. And obviously, I wish we could keep everybody. We've made a lot of changes this offseason, lost a lot of veteran leadership, Steph being one of them. I guess that's the nature of the business.

And going into year seven now, it just kind of is what it is. I don't get paid to make changes on the team. I get paid to be the best quarterback that I can be and try to lead the guys on this team. That's the line we got from Tom Brady a ton. I'm sure those of you who remember his career or how abruptly the Patriots would deal with personnel decisions sometimes. Because Bill Belichick is not so warm and fuzzy. One year, they traded lawyer Molloy.

I think this was during training camp, but traded there right before the season started. He was a captain on the defense, and he was Tom Brady's best friend in the locker room. And Brady was blindsided. And he was ticked. Felt like he didn't have a heads up, that the team didn't consult him, and that they traded away one of their most valuable defensive pieces. And over the years, being in that regime in New England, with Bill Belichick, recognizing that he would always put the health of the roster and the good of the team first. Now, that was his opinion, right?

It didn't always work out. But he was not going to get warm and fuzzy and loyal because his job was to put the best roster together for the Patriots. And he was ruthless with it. I'm sure at some point there was an emotion about it, maybe missed a guy here or there, but he was damn good at doing his job. As he felt like his job needed to be done. And Brady would say, I don't make these decisions. In essence, I just work here. I'm an employee like everybody else. And that's what Josh Allen is saying, though he did have a heads up before the trade went down on April 3rd.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. People asked whether or not he's spoken to Stefan since the deal. I shared a text with him and got one back and just thanking him for everything that he did for me and always have a spot in my heart for him. And I'll always love that guy like a brother and wish him nothing but the best.

Yeah, on the field for sure. He joined the Bills in 2020, spent four seasons there. And together. They were able to produce four consecutive.

Thousand yard seasons. While they were together, Stefan led the league in catches and was fourth in receiving yards. So over that four year span. Actually, we'll just say he was top four in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. And also led the league in catches and. Four consecutive seasons with over 100 receptions is tied for the second longest streak in NFL history. So he and Josh were extremely productive together.

And yes, there was some drama. He missed the first day of minicamp and. Sean McDermott had to run interference. You had his brother on the Cowboys, Trayvon Diggs. Talking about getting his brother out of Buffalo.

And there were always cryptic social media comments. Take him for what they're worth. But Josh Allen is recognizing now that without digs, for better or for worse, on the field, that's one thing.

But off the field in the locker room. He has to step up. He's got to be even more of a leader to the guys, especially on the offensive side of the ball. I think it's an opportunity for for myself to grow as a leader and to bring along some of these young guys or new guys that we've brought into our team. And that's an opportunity, frankly, that I'm very excited about.

You know, it's something that is going to be very challenging, but I'm very willing to do it. He's also really complimentary of that relationship with Stefan, even saying that working with him taught him how to be a better leader in the locker room. Having that type of humility where it's like you're able to say when and where you're wrong. And I think that's what we've learned over the last few years, not just with him, but with other receivers and with other players as well. It's everybody's got a different type of relationships. You know, everybody has something different that makes them tick. And then again, I think we're using this time right now to utilize and find what does make these guys tick.

What is their reason for playing this game and just diving deep into that relationship and finding to, you know, getting to know them on a deeper level, try to utilize that to help push them, become the best that they can be. He certainly has matured into year seven. You can see and hear a different man.

And he's not going to say it because there's no point in airing grievances. But it's not just leadership responsibilities that fall on him even heavier. It is the responsibility of, you know, not that different from what Patrick Mahomes has done the last several years, even though the Chiefs have been Super Bowl champions three of the last four years. It's been a revolving door of receivers around him. Other than Travis Kelce, it's been nonstop changes. Both with the running backs, but specifically with the wide receiver, sometimes in the middle of a season. And his responsibility has been to bring him along, bring him along, bring him along so they're ready by the playoffs. It's certainly not just him.

But it's in large part due to him and the way that he works with them. Peyton Manning did it. Tom Brady did it. Aaron Rodgers, when he gets back on the field, should be doing it. The best quarterbacks make everybody else better.

But it's not easy when it's a different set of faces in your receiver room every year, every few months. One more from Josh, and this is his perspective on being an elite quarterback, being the best on your team and one of the best in the league, and how it's not just a weekend gig. As a franchise quarterback, guys that get to their second contract, right, you're not getting paid just to be the quarterback. You're getting paid to be the best leader that you can be.

The best quarterback obviously comes with that. So leadership looks like a lot of different things. You wear many hats in this building, you know, and sometimes it's not the easiest thing. And especially when I feel like I'm one of the guys and sometimes I have to remind myself that, you know, you're looked at a little bit differently.

You know, guys are relying on you a little bit more. When Josh Allen plays at the highest level with all of his tools, using all of them, he's the best quarterback in the NFL. The arm, the ability to extend plays with his legs, the strength, the power, the explosiveness, the field vision, the leadership, all of those things. He can be so dynamic. And of course there have been the turnovers, and that's a little bit part of what comes with the territory when you're living on that edge.

I wouldn't call him a gunslinger, he's so much more than that. But there are times, of course early in your career, you always make decisions that you wish you could have back. But even more than it's been, the responsibility now falls heavy on him. And I don't know about this whole window is closing thing, there are certainly receivers to be found in this draft. The Bills have to select wisely to replace what they've lost, because I think on paper it's pretty clear they've lost more than they've gained so far this offseason. Alright, I've got to go record my sports minute about Sidney Crosby.

It's like a hockey heyday here on the show as we round into a Friday morning, but coming up... It's hockey. Could Klay Thompson be leaving the Warriors?

Not quite the same fashion as Stefan Diggs, and certainly not the same situation. Because Klay was drafted by the Warriors and has won four titles with them, but is an unrestricted free agent, and that is the question. Will the Warriors pay him what he's willing to accept? Or will he go somewhere else and get a massive deal?

Right now, as I look up, the Warriors-Kings game is being rebroadcast on NBA TV. Oh, it's gonna hurt! Don't miss out on any of the great stories from yours after you finalize your offer.

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Price and coverage match limited by state law. After Hours Podcast. We go through so much over 82 games and the fact that he was able to turn his season around with a new role and adjusting to coming off the bench for a long period. And then, you know, back in the starting lineup and just really just having fun playing basketball and being at peace out there.

This is Clay Thompson, four time champion with the Golden State Warriors. You're listening to one of the best shows in America. After Hours with Amy Lawrence.

All right, you're going to have to give me the amended version so I can share it on our social. That needs to be immortalized because Clay Thompson called us one of the best sports shows in America. One of the best shows in America. One of the best sports. What do you say?

Tell me again. This is Clay Thompson, four time champion with the Golden State Warriors. You're listening to one of the best shows in America.

After Hours with Amy Lawrence. And as I look up, his face is in a close up on NBA TV. I can't imagine no clay in Golden State. It will be jarring. I don't want to see it.

I think there are a lot of fans who don't want to see it. It was a tough last game for him. He goes over 10, no points in 32 minutes in the play in game and obviously was really frustrated.

Did not speak to the media following that game on Tuesday, but did speak as part of his exit interview this week. And he says at this point, he's he's not ready to think about the future. We don't want to talk about the season first. You want to talk about the future? There's a lot of games played, man.

That was a pretty big accomplishment. What's up with y'all not wanting to live in the present, bro? It's ridiculous. I'm going to assume he's being a little sarcastic playing with the media, though, of course, it's painful to know that they ran into the Kings in the play in tournament. And that's as far as they got. But they played fast and loose with defense too much this season. Obviously, the suspension of Draymond Green, the injury to Gary Payton, some of the other injuries.

Andrew Wiggins was out for a while. I mean, they've they've missed major pieces. And so they didn't capitalize on the opportunities they had all year.

And for that, they come up woefully short. But even though he says, hey, it's an accomplishment to get through a long season. People are going to keep asking about him returning to Golden State. To be honest, I really haven't given it much thought because the season we had and how much commitment it takes to play the games we did and give it our all. So I really haven't thought about that deep in the future because I still need to process the year we had.

And it was one filled with ups and downs. But ultimately, we personally and our team did everything we could to try and win as many games we possibly could. Now, we've heard from head coach Steve Kerr, as well as the general manager, first year general manager Mike Dunleavy. And he echoes what I think a lot of fans are feeling. Certainly we want Klay back, first and foremost.

I expressed that to him yesterday. I think our players have expressed that, our coaches, front office ownership. Look, everybody wants Klay back. Everybody wants Klay back.

Now, that's a feeling. It doesn't always translate into a contract extension. What about Steve Kerr? Now, he said the same thing about wanting Klay back. But does the team need a shakeup to make sure they don't get stuck in the same space again now? This is two years in a row in which they've been out relatively quickly. So the play-in tournament this year, they were the sixth seed last year, beat the Kings in a game seven, but then lost to the Lakers.

Right? So it was there for the taking. The Lakers were essentially a two-man game. If the Warriors had not squandered, that had gotten by the Lakers, they would have been in the Western Conference Finals. Now, I still say Denver would have prevailed, but it was there. The year before that, of course, they were the surprise winner against the Celtics in 22. Before that, they were in the play-in tournament and didn't advance out of the play-in tournament. So this window, it's kind of shaky.

The window's loose. It's creaking a little bit with Steph Curry still having a couple more years, no doubt, but in his mid-30s, as is this core of Klay and Dre. So Steve Kerr is a shakeup required to get farther next season. The fact that we won 46 games means something. You know, that's not insignificant. And by any account in this league, if you win 50, you've had a good year, right? Well, we should have won 50, right?

I can count. Right now, I can tell you three or four games that we should have won and that I take some blame for, you know, we all take some blame for. So we can't get too out of sorts and say, oh my God, this is a disaster. You know, we've got to revamp everything. But we also have to be honest.

Why did we blow those games? These are tough questions that the team has to face. What about Draymond Green and his future?

There's a question. People have even said to me, get rid of Draymond, trade him away, spend the money on Klay. He's one of the most loyal people I've ever met. He's one of the most competitive. He's one of the smartest players I've ever been around. And yet he makes these decisions that hurt the team that aren't smart. So how do you reconcile all that?

It's really difficult. You know, the number one thing I would say is if we decided he wasn't worth it, you know, then we would have moved off of him years ago. But he's worth it. And he's worth it not only because of the banners that are hanging out there, but because he really is a wonderful human being.

Wow. They continue to endorse him over and over. And that should tell you, despite all of the challenges and the ways that he cost them, he's still worth it. I mean, that's some kind of confidence that Draymond Green is still the heart and soul of this team. Now, Klay Thompson stopped and looked around in Sacramento and people kind of wondered if that was him taking it all in just in case.

I did look up in the nosebleeds and I did see a man wearing a number 11 jersey. That made me happy, you know, considering my history in Sacramento from playing a state championship there to playing the Kings in the playoffs. That was kind of a full circle moment for me. So that was actually a good moment just seeing that Warriors fan standing by his lonesome up in the 300 level, repping 11.

That made me, made me grateful. I think it's a mutual feeling. I mean, the guy's been here a long time. He means so much to the organization. You know, we really, really value him. And so there's nothing that would make me think that he wants to go somewhere else or we don't want him back. And for that reason, I'm hopeful we can make it happen. But, you know, it's a deal. Both sides got to be good with it and we'll work through that.

But I think, you know, hopeful and optimistic I am about it. Mike Dunleavy, Steve Kerr, Draymond Green, Steph Curry. They've all indicated they want Klay Thompson to return. I mean, Draymond still has 77 million dollars and three years left on his contract extension. He's locked up and they're committed to him. They've got some young guys on rookie deals that were great contributors this season in Brandon Brzezemski and Trace Jackson Davis.

Chris Paul isn't likely to be back, so that can free up some money. But it certainly didn't look good at the end. I mean, they had a great run at the end of the regular season, but they still stuck in the 10 spot. They didn't do enough with what they had. And then they lost to the Kings by 24 points. In some worlds, that would mean maybe not blow it up, but you've got to make significant changes. So it's a huge offseason for the Dubs.

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