Why Josh Giddey Makes Sense On Golden State Warriors, But Could It Actually Happen?

Why Josh Giddey Makes Sense On Golden State Warriors, But Could It Actually Happen?

The Golden State Warriors will be playing on opening night. We’ll tell you who the competition is, also the new network that they’ll be playing on. And Josh Giddy for Jonathan Kaminga and a swap. We’ll discuss this on today’s show. You are Locked On Warriors, your daily Golden State Warriors podcast. What are they going to say now? Part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. [Applause] What is up everyone? Long time no see on the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. This is Locked on Warriors and it’s considered our off season where I have to go from five shows a week to the quota of three. Uh good because there hasn’t been a ton going on in Warriors Land, but when we do have shows, they’re brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app today. Create an account. Use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. Matt Kowolski joins me. My name is Charlie Walter. I worked at 957 The Game of the Bay Area. Was a talk show host there. Also for CBS News Bay Area, cover the Warriors on TV. Kolski fulltime radio, alltime radio, just dissects things. Formerly 957 and K&BR. On today’s show, we’re talking a little team Australia. The Warriors all of a sudden are very interested in Australians, but is the latest name connected to them actually real or is this just one of many reports that we hear in a slow off season? We’ll guess some dates on when the Warriors may actually do some things, but first of all, we have actual news to get to Golski scheduling news. How exciting. What’s up, my man? Hey. Yeah, Warriors still at the the top of the call sheet, if you will, but uh not not not engaged in much so far in the offseason. So, it’s an interesting dichotomy what team will show up on opening night. I guess we’ll find out. The good news is um one, we have a lot of time to go before regular season. Oh, yeah. And uh the better news is that time will go very quickly, so we will have basketball soon to say the least. Dubs are playing on prime time. Cue up the music. NBA NBC’s back, man. That is nostalgia. We never have gotten to see Steph Curry with that music behind him. Um, obviously they transitioned it over to FS1. That was long after Curry was playing collegiate basketball. So, Steph’s never been connected to this. It’s more like Reggie and AI and Jordan and and Barkley and the those guys in that era. And here we go, man. LeBron and Steph on opening night, which also features the Oklahoma City Thunder, the defending champs, hosting the Houston Rockets with their new player, Kevin Durant, who just happens to be a former Thunder that probably could have stayed there and maybe won a title and instead he gets to watch him hoist a banner. And the Warriors travel to LeBron James and the Lakers. I guess let’s start off with this. The excitement of just hearing that music again. I I know nostalgia is always great, but there’s just something about the NBA on NBC and it’s good to have it back. Yeah, man. You don’t have to tell that to a kid that grew up in love with the Bulls in the 1990s, you know? That’s uh that music just gives me the best feelings of my life pretty much. So, don’t have to tell me twice. And getting to have Steph Curry introduced by Round Ball Rock, this is uh this is the stuff of legends. You know, you thought you’d only get to see it in 2K and now real life. And as far as Listen, man, we all peaked in 96. We all peaked in 96. We all, everyone hosting this podcast peaked in the 90s. Anyway, these guys, Stephan, LeBron, not in the 90s. They also probably are both post peak, but they are not post being the two biggest draws in the NBA. And so it’s no surprise at all that they play each other on opening night. And you know what, a pretty good matchup, I think, because both of these teams sit in a kind of where are we now middle zone of the Western Conference, I don’t think it would be fair to put either of them in, you know, sort of direct competition if it I don’t know the right way to say it, right? But if I’m if I’m laying out what I think the Western Conference is going to look like, the top tier is if it’s not just the Thunder, the other teams I’d put in there are the Rockets, the Nuggets, and then you know Clippers are old. I guess we Yeah, we could talk about the Clippers or T-Wolves, right? I probably for me it’s Thunder, Rockets, and Nuggets are the three teams that stand above the rest in the West. And then that next group with the Lakers, with the Warriors, with the Clippers and Timberwolves, if you ask me. Although, you know, look, a Timberwolves fan who said we’ve been to the conference finals the last two years, you they have to be wondering like what the what the hell do we have to do, Cole? No, they’ve got a point. They’ve got a point. So, maybe they belong in the top four. Either way, the Warriors and Lakers, I don’t think anyone would be shocked if either of those teams finished 10th, and I don’t think anyone be would be shocked if either of those teams finished fifth. Right. There’s a big range of outcomes. They each have one of the two most marketable players currently playing in the NBA. And look, this might be the last year that those two guys are the top draw because there’s a lot of exciting young players that are going to get a lot of national TV time this year, but that’s where we’re at. They’re still one and one a when it comes to getting people to turn on the TV and watch NBA basketball, LeBron and Steph Curry. And it’s been that way for at least a decade, if not more. They don’t stop, man. Warriors also get a prime time game on Christmas. We always know they’re getting these. They’re taking on the Dallas Mavericks. So Klay Thompson, Cooper Flag, and company coming to Chase Center Christmas Day. Uh that’ll be a great time as well. So all in all, the scheduling news good. Still the full schedule because one of these days with you, Coloul, I want to go through a breakdown game by game. No, that’s terrible plot. But I do want game at a time. We’re going to predict the score of every single No, here’s the thing though, man. Like last year, the schedule breakdown before the season actually kind of proved to be true because the Western Conference, aside from maybe the Rockets being a lot better than expected and then the Spurs probably being worse than expected, maybe the Grizzlies worse than expected, it was pretty accurate of how we thought it was going to be throughout the season. And it was fair to say when we looked at it before the season and said the Warriors have eight awful teams to start, then they hit this gauntlet with like the Thunder and the and the Celtics and that’s kind of going to be their testing phase to see how good they are. It kind of came to be true to start and then they just uh started losing to the Jazz and the the Raptors and it made no sense and then they they switched up everything. But how are we feeling as we get ready to enter the season in about two months preseason wise and still we look at a roster that’s very incomplete? Like how do we feel? Well, we feel like it’s all about Jonathan Kaminga and and and if I’m honest, I feel like we actually kind of do have a pretty good sense of what the Warriors off season is or is going to be. So, youford and Melton are set in stone no matter what. I I wouldn’t I would never say set in stone no matter what because that would be crazy even if they had already signed given the way the NBA tends to twist and turn. It would I think we have to agree it would be exceptionally weird if those guys those two guys in particular were just sitting out there unsigned available and nobody was signing them and the Warriors hadn’t entered some sort of uh you know winking agreement with them and and it would make sense because I think what the Warriors would say to guys like that both of them Horford and Milton and and Gary Pton the second for that matter as well is something like hey uh We’re going to have at least X million dollars for you, but if you just sit there and hang out for a minute while we handle this Kaminga nonsense, it’s possible we’re going to have Y million, which is a little bit more. So, no rush. We’re guaranteeing you the X million and and if you’re willing to sign for that, great. And if you’re willing to hang around for the potential of an extra million dollars or two for the next two years, then feel free to do that. And like if you are Melton or Horford and you believe the Warriors and take them at their word, which I think you would, then what’s the rush, right? That’s where I would guess this is. And they have to maintain flexibility by signing Kaminga first because Kaminga is the one where if by some strange development he got a much bigger deal, right, and he got like 30 million a year or something like that, then you’d only have certain tools with which to pay the mid-level, etc. to pay Horford. You’d probably have to sign Payton to a minimum contract, right? But if Kaminga either signs for less or gets traded for, you know, a different number of players whose contracts fit a different way, like there’s a lot of ways this could shake out. And it would just be too weird if the specific guys we think the Warriors are going after we’re just sitting unsigned and it wasn’t because the Warriors had told them, “Listen, we’re bringing you in. It’s just a matter of whether we can give you a few extra bucks.” So, there’s that. But the Kaminga part is still totally unknown. Let’s get the Kaminga part coming up because Josh Giddy, a name that’s been surfaced out, is one that the Warriors would be looking into for a signing trade. Last we heard everything was shut down. Warriors aren’t making any trades. And now we’re hearing about our friends from Chicago who we thought were out of the sweep stakes as they were working on this Giddy deal and uh they probably still are realistically, but it’s it’s August. It’s the middle of August. So, we’re talking Josh Giddy and the possibility of team Australia starting to form the Azis in the Bay Area. That’s coming up on Locked on Dubs. And most importantly, he a dog. We need more dogs. 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Terms apply again. Create an account, redeem code locked on NBA for $20 off. Download the Game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest prices. Guarantee. All right. So, Josh Giddy is the most recent name being connected to the Golden State Warriors. Basically, a Jake Fischer report saying that the Warriors are interested in potentially bringing in Josh Giddy, another restricted free agent in a sign and trade. Giddy’s numbers, 14 a half last year, eight rebounds, seven assists. He stuffs a stat sheet. Age-wise, you’re swapping one young player for another young player. It’s just very stylistically different. He’s 22 years of age. is Giddy, a former number six overall pick, whereas Kaminga, a former number seven overall pick. You’re essentially just just swapping parts right there. But two completely different players. Giddy 37% from three, getting better throughout his career. And a player that started off on the Thunder has made his way to Chicago and is either going to stick with Chicago long term or find himself a new home. Will that new home involve the Bay Area? I mean that is that question like you said probably not right I mean probably not is it possible I do I believe that the Warriors are interested yes it’s really hard to get this done for a variety of reasons uh first of all do you like Josh Giddy before we get into financials okay if we yeah I mean it’s not even financials as much as it’s trade rules right but let’s talk about the player first because I think anything with Kaminga at this point other than him just signing for the Warriors either in a way that hurts them or in a way that doesn’t it nothing is likely right so if this is the best possibility who cares if it’s a 10% or a 1% or a 50% like if it’s the best possibility let’s talk about how he fits and I guess what I would say to you is there is one well actually they’re similar sized interestingly enough but other than like height and weight right they’re both 68210. In fact, they’re both listed exactly 68210. Other than height and weight, the only thing they have in common is shooting, which is not a good thing. Other than that, they are virtually opposite players, which I think would tell you that stylistically Josh Giddy is kind of exactly what Steve Kerr likes. And and I think one of the interesting things like Josh Giddy is not a particularly good defender, right? In fact, I think if you are talking about deeing somebody up, Jonathan Kaminga is the far superior defender. He is going to if it’s one-on-one, Josh Giddy has no chance against Anthony Edwards, right? And we saw Jonathan Kaminga acquit himself about as well as anyone can against a guy like Anthony Edwards in a one-on-one scenario. On the other hand, Josh Giddy gets the game at a deep DNA level. He is a tremendous passer. He is a clever ball handler, if not particularly excellent. He knows where he should be on the floor. He does all the little things. He rebounds the hell out of the ball for a guy who is not a great athlete. Right? Josh Giddy is the guy Steve Kerr wants to point to when he says to Jonathan Kaminga, “You should be averaging eight rebounds a game.” Right? Because Josh Giddy’s 68210 and Jonathan Kaminga is 68210 and Jonathan Kaminga is three times the athlete that Josh Giddy is. And Giddy averages eight boards a night and it’s because he knows where to be. It’s because he’s thinking the game at a very very very high level. So for all those reasons, he’s a much better fit on paper for the Warriors. Now, he’s not a great individual defender and he historically is not a great or a particularly willing three-point shooter. Now, he shot it reasonably well last year, 37.8% four times a game. So, if he did that for the Warriors, I I think he’s playing 25 plus minutes a night and taking on a ton of ball handling duties, especially when Steph Curry’s not on the floor. If he shoots like the rest of his career and he’s a sub 33% career, you know, before this year, his career three-point percentage was like 31 and a half or something like that. 31. So, if he’s a 31% three-point shooter who’s not playing great one-on-one defense, I think he’s harder to keep on the floor because what’s the thing we’ve heard over and over again about why Kaminga can’t play with these Butler, Curry, Draymond lineups? It’s shooting. So again, on paper, much better fit, but I’m not 100% confident of his ability to impact things if he does not maintain the level of shooting that he reached for the first time last season. Um, in fact, I think most people who follow the league will remember the reason he’s on the Chicago Bulls is because the previous season in OKC, he was played off the floor in the playoffs because he wasn’t hitting open threes and then started being afraid to shoot them. So, I don’t know. He’s clearly a better fit than Kaminga. What would his impact be in reality? It’s certainly questionable. And and because I think you trust both Moody and Heield to knock down threes more consistently than you would trust Giddy, I understand the reluctance of the Warriors to include one of those two guys in the deal. On the other hand, this gets Kaminga out of town, brings in a guy who I’m sure would be interested in playing alongside Steph Curry, and also a guy that probably long run is a little easier to trade than Jonathan Kaminga. Certainly because he’s put some stuff on paper that Kaminga has not had the opportunity to do. I mean, Josh Giddy was playing 30 minutes a night from his rookie season. Is the future face of a franchise good if he can knock down consistent threes or is he more like a Robin like he’s he’s your number he’s more of a Robin to me he’s more of a like you know who he’s you know this is a you know who he reminds me of right now really is a is a Lamar ODM a young Lamar ODM right really not a super athlete although Lamar was probably a little bit better athletically but brilliant passer really smart. Is Lamar ODM like a power forward, though? Am I Am I Yeah, but what do you think Josh Giddy is? I mean, he’s a power forward with point guard skills. Yeah. Yeah, but but he’s not playing the one, right? He he’s a I guess if you put him next to Kobe White and you call Kobe White the shooting guard and Giddy the one and like, you know, Lonzo Ball the three, like, but it’s it’s all he’s really he’s a 34sized guy. He’s 68 210. So, you want him defending big certainly he can’t defend point guards right so essentially he’s playing he’s playing point power forward not unlike Draymond which is why again if he’s not knocking down the shot it’s it’s going to be a tough fit in some ways not stylistically with the coach but just mechanically with the other players all that said he is by far the best player that has been mentioned in any of this stuff right all right let’s talk about how we can do it man that’s the big thing that’s coming But just real quick, Chuck, right, the names are like Malik Monk, it’s it’s Keon Ellis, like there there’s some nice players in there, but Giddy is a 22-year-old with legitimate like top three on a championship team potential. So, okay, you know, that’s a guy and and if I were the Warriors, I would do my best to get it done at this point because I don’t think you’ll do a lot better. All right. Well, how are they going to get it done? That’s what we’re answering coming up on Lockdown Warriors. All right, man. So, signing trades of two restricted free agents, how often do we see this? What are the nuances involved? How how would the Warriors even make this deal happen if the Bulls were to say, “You know what? We do like Jonathan Kaminga as a future long-term piece of this this franchise. We’ll we’ll sign him to a little deal here and and you guys take on Josh Giddy. How would this look? Okay. So, it is first of all to answer the first question you asked which is how many times have we seen this? It’s absolutely the answer is zero because all of the rules around this have changed in the latest CBA. So, I I couldn’t tell you whether two restricted free agents were traded for each other under previous constructions of the CBA, but not under this one. And it is wildly complicated. And and so I am going to do my best and if I’m wrong, someone will correct me in the comments, I’m sure. And they’ll probably be wrong, too. Yeah. But as I understand it, both of these guys fall under that baseear compensation rule in all likelihood. I guess it depends somewhat on how big the uh per year salary increase for Giddy is, but in all likelihood, they both are base year compensation, which you would think would make it easier. I would think it would cancel out right now. No, because unfortunately the way base year compensation works is they count for a different amount going out than they do coming into their new team, which is to say each new team would still have to absorb the full load of the contract. So whether that’s 25 million a year, let’s say, let’s say they’ve signed identical contracts, right?$2 million a year. Essentially what happens is the Warriors and Bulls both send them out and they are worth 12 and a half on the way out and then they have to have the space to accept 25 coming back in. Ah, so that is why more so than the Bulls demanding, again, this is my understanding, but more so than the Bulls demanding the addition of Buddy Heel or Moses Moody, this is about potentially both teams having to include and then get either having to include those. No, I think both. Could the Warriors get 25? So, so each would have to get 25 is what you’re saying with 12 and a half million as a part of it. Well, no, but here’s the trick is they would have to clear 25, but but Giddy and Kaminga only count as clearing 12 and a half. So, you’d have to clear the others, but not to the other team. So, you’d have to have one potentially two other teams in this deal to accept Moody and or Healed and then somebody from the Bulls so that they also created the extra space to take in Kaminga, right? So, it becomes both very complicated and both the Bulls and Warriors, as I understand it, would have to give up more than they would want and not get anything extra in return. It’s not like That’s what I’m saying, though. Why couldn’t it be as easy with the new CBA is sending out, let’s say, hypothetically, Moody and Kaminga. Let’s say the prices come out to be about $25 million. If you’re talking base year compensation at what 12 million for Kaminga, 13 million for Moody, and then you take back an identical contract of um of Josh Giddy and then also like Patrick Williams or someone who makes because on the way in Giddy counts for the full 25. So they could send both of those guys out and get just Giddy, but the Bulls would have to be sending Giddy and then okay another 12 million to a to a third or or potentially fourth team, you know, and maybe there’s a way there might be a way to mix in some draft picks to I don’t know exactly how those affect the money, but but not in CBAs make you think this much or is this a new thing? It’s more dramatic. Th this is this is by far the most complicated CBA the NBA has had in our lifetime. um probably ever because I imagine they were they’ve always gotten more complicated how you know that’s right used to be a lot easier and then they did this the sort of matching money thing has been in place for a while but the specific rules with the aprons and the base year compensation thing that is part of the new CBA are are just honestly it’s a rare situation you know there are not a lot of times that guys even get to restricted free agency in the first place and on On top of that, there’s not a lot of times where it doesn’t make sense for their original team to just match whatever offer they get. And then there’s not a lot of times where there’s two guys in a situation where it’s not working the way it’s supposed to. And then where those two teams are actually kind of interested in swapping the like, it’s just a wild set of circumstances that have coincided to put us here. And and it is incredibly complicated, but it is not impossible. And that’s important. Now, would I want to give up Kaminga and Buddy Healed or Moses Moody? Boy, I’ll tell you, Joe Leica would really feel it if he had to trade both Moody and Kaminga in the same deal. Um, same draft, too, right? So, when you look back, all three of those guys, that’s what I’m saying. You’re trading seven and seven and what? 14 for six. And it doesn’t sound as crazy when you put it that way, right? if you really value who who’s there at number six, but it’s still the slap in the face of unloading the entirety of that draft, which you really believed in and still do. I think I think Joe Lacob still believes in that draft and the guys that they took. I will say if if we believe the Melton thing and we’re talking about, you know, two guardwing depth, you don’t need both Moses Moody and Buddy Healed. And in fact, I think if we’re committed to playing Pajk and Meltton, there’s not room for both. And Steve Kerr has shown he won’t play both. Especially if you’ve got Giddy, too, right? and Butler and and Jimmy and Draymond are that’s already 90 minutes a game uh every night pretty much at a minimum. You go with the less is more and kind of forced Kerr’s hand into playing less people and kind of shoring up your depth naturally. It is well established how I feel about Jonathan Kaminga and and I am not actually even prepared to say that the ceiling for Josh Giddy is higher or that Josh Giddy is assured of being a better player or any of that stuff. But we’ve seen what Steve Cerr thinks of Jonathan Kaminga. And whether I agree with him or not is kind of immaterial. I think we can agree that a good version of of of Giddy is a player that Steve Cerr is going to be creative to find ways to use. Brandon Pachki kept playing every night when he was shooting 15% from three-point range for a month and a half last year. Right. I think Steve Kerr, whether we want to say he’s better suited or he just prefers it, he is he is more likely to find a way to make it work with a Josh Giddy than a Jonathan Kaminga. And if the cost of that is giving up either Heield or Moody, and I think, strange to say, I think they would choose to give up Moody because there is something about that special sauce with Buddy Healed and Jimmy Butler that they really like. I think if I’m Mike Dunlevy, even if I believe in Kaminga and Moody, I’m biting the bullet here because the coach ain’t going nowhere as long as Steph Curry is here. And you want Steph Curry here as long as possible. So, I think I bite the bullet and whatever it takes to get this done. Maybe I even got to sweeten the pot with a couple of second rounders or something to get that third, fourth team involved. I think I’m pushing hard for this, man. I I don’t see a better option e emerging. Yeah. Yeah, and the Warriors have an easy middleman into this entire thing. We saw the Instagram picture of Josh Giddy working out with Terren Armstrong. Armstrong probably going to be on a two-way deal to start the season. So, there’s Alex Australian. Um, we got Bogat, you know, helping out the the coaching staff and everything with some decisions there and some scouting in Australia. So, maybe you open up that pipeline. I mean, locked on Warriors had Josh Lloyd on our on our last show from St. Mary’s basketball. to be the St. Mary’s of the NBA, you know, just just get that Australian pipeline open. See if see if Delvadova is available as a scout. You know what I’m saying? Send him over. Send him across the pond. Send him down under. See what he can find. No doubt about it, man. Team Australia. Who else? Joe, where’s Joe Engles at right now? He might be a free agent. He was looking I think he is. Yeah, he he looks almost in almost as good shape as me last time I saw him. Um Well, that’s what they Oh, god. That That’s what they said. No, that’s a good thing. Um, that’s a good thing. Now, Kolski’s in great shape. Um, I’m in terrible shape, dude. They said they actually compared Tui to Engles in some of his um in his draft comps. So, yeah. I mean, that’d be nice in in a few years. He’s not there yet if you watched him at all at summer league, but you know what? Quentyn Post wasn’t there a year ago at summer league. So, who knows? We don’t know what’s going on with these dudes. No. And then the Will Richard contract, everything like that, it’s all in Kaminga. Like at this point, everything is being held up by this Jonathan Kaminga. If you listen to the beat writers, they like Richard. He’s gonna be around somehow. Um they they TI is a is a project, right? He’s going to be on a two-way. This all it’s just nothing’s going to actually officially happen until the Kaminga situation is solved. And uh it’s been that way since what around December a year ago. We’ve been waiting for some resolution on the Jonathan Kaminga situation broadly speaking. And like I don’t think there’s one person who doesn’t wish it would was over. Jonathan Kaminga included. No doubt about it. Josh Giddy, Jonathan Kaminga swap. Leave your thoughts in the comments. For Matt Koulski, Chuck Walter, this is Locked On Warriors, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Check us out on YouTube and wherever you get your audio podcast. Peace. Get it done. Get it done.

The Golden State Warriors are reportedly interested in Chicago Bulls restricted free agent, Josh Giddey. Would a Kuminga for Giddey deal make sense, and is it actually possible for the Warriors to make happen? Matt Kolsky and Chuck Walter break it down.

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