I’ve been asked a few times now on our Watch Party livestreams why Jimmy Butler never goes to the postgame podium. My guess from afar is that, at least for home games, Butler doesn’t want to hike up the flight of stairs from the locker room next to Oracle Performance Center in the basement of Chase Center, to the Bill King Interview Room.
But for road games, I don’t really have a reason other than maybe Warriors PR going out of their way to find little nuances like only doing interviews from his locker, that make his transition to the Golden State an easy one where the franchise caters to his every need, within reason.
Will that change, now that it seems Buddy Hield got on Jimmy’s nerves last night in Phoenix?
(Full interview is below, with transcript, per usual.)
The answer to that is probably nah. Truthfully, Jimmy seems to enjoy the back-and-forth and so do we, as diehards of DubNation. Danny Emerman of the SF Standard even tweeted that Jimmy joked he needed to buy some boxing gloves.
No one could have guessed Butler’s locker room chemistry would be this good and, well, “smiley,” as he even fired a playful subtle verbal stray bullet at Brandin Podziemski at the outset of Hield’s goading (see video/transcript below).
This was not the first time Buddy has heckled Jimmy while on camera in the locker room. Hield shouted at him to go upstairs after the home win against Toronto, after claiming Jimmy had notched a “fake-ass triple-double.”
Maybe Buddy has been trying to even the score of late.
Steve Kerr roasted Buddy on-air last night while mic’ed up for TNT:
Last week, Butler claimed Hield couldn’t spell the word “connector” while cameras were rolling — Buddy may have even actually misspelled it, I’m not sure, you’ll have to check the evidence yourself:
Draymond Green has even had some fun, asking out loud what Butler has just said about Hield (you can hear Green in the background of one of these).
Things get pretty chaotic when Buddy raises his voice. He’s even heckled one Wardell Stephen Curry.
On the night Curry passed Jerry West on the all-time scoring list, Steph was having a moment as Kerr made the announcement postgame in the locker room about the feat, only to have Buddy blurt out, “Are you emotional?”
He sort of inappropriately sang Rihanna’s “Take A Bow”, although the specific lyrics of “That was quite a show, very entertaining” were on-point, the overall theme of the song was quite the opposite of Curry dropping 56 on the Orlando Magic:
As for the actual topic at hand, whether or not Jimmy should score more, I think he’s still figuring it out. He’s only been a Warrior for 28 games, after all. Whatever happens this season and playoffs, I have a feeling things will gel even more by the end of training camp next late-September. That’s just the process of basketball teams.
As Kerr said pregame Spurs just a few minutes before I posted this article, “What’s our record, 22-6? I’m good.”
Butler’s response to Hield? I think he was just fishing for a comeback at Buddy: “Motherf’er, Draymond threw you the ball and you gave him a turnover. That’s why.”
I’ll have to think about that one some more because I can’t quite connect the dots to how that pertains to Jimmy shooting more.
But he also told a Phoenix reporter (again, as he was quizzed after the Houston game), “I wanna do whatever it takes to win. If you’re open, my job is to get you the ball and I will continue to play that way.”
Videos and transcripts from Phoenix plus behind-the-scenes vs Rockets below:
The video above includes a hilarious AI-generated clip of Ime Udoka dancing and Kevin Durant meeting up with Steph after the game in Phoenix. On the livestream we speculated where Durant might end up next season and our deduction led to… the Denver Nuggets — but more on this sometime in the future.
00:00 What kind of tone do you feel like that first quarter set?
00:02 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME GSW-PHX: It’s great. I loved how Draymond and Steph and Jimmy, our vets, really established the tone even before the game started at shootaround. They were locked in and it showed right from the outset.
00:17 How much of a stress reliever is a night like tonight?
00:20 Yeah, I mean, it’s a great night for us with the back-to-back, to keep everybody under 25 minutes or so. I guess Steph was almost at 26, and then to get a lot of minutes for guys off the bench. I mean, it’s always important to to keep the spirits up when you’re one of the guys who doesn’t play a whole lot. Really happy for Trayce, with Quinten out. We had him in the rotation from the beginning of the game and he really responded and played well, made some big plays for us out there and he’s kept such a great attitude and worked so hard during this time the last couple months and showed who he is.
01:02 Was that an easy decision to bring him back into the rotation tonight, Post out?
01:05 Yeah. Yeah, with Quinten out, made perfect sense to reward Trayce. 5 minutes at the five anyway and, like I said, I thought he looked really good.
01:17 Coach, you guys have the third-best offensive rating in the NBA since the All-Star Break. Tonight, only 61 points for the Suns through three quarters. I’m just curious, in your opinion, what makes you guys so special on that end of the floor?
01:27 Starts with Draymond Green. The first seven minutes of the game were an absolute defensive clinic. I was just blown away watching all the nuance to what he was doing, helping everywhere, taking away angles, showing out on pick-and-rolls. We were switching some, but he was kind of mixing and matching and the guy’s a one-man wrecking crew. He really is. Jimmy has come in and fortified our defense. He’s also brilliant at that end of the floor and I think Draymond and Jimmy really work well together. And it’s been fun to watch them get more and more comfortable as Jimmy racks up the games here.
02:13 Jimmy plays a lot of power forward for you guys. I’m curious, is that something — does he really seem to enjoy the physicality of playing down low and having to take on that challenge?
02:22 Jimmy’s really strong. He is strong as an ox and the other night we had him on Zach Edey in Memphis and you can put him on anybody, really. He’s an amazing player.
02:38 Brandin’s three-level scoring, what kind of dynamic does that open up for you guys?
02:41 It’s changed everything just the last month or so, knocking down the threes, feeling so confident back there, but the way he can get to the rim, use his Euro-step, the way he runs through the catch against closeouts and breaks the defense down and either scores or find somebody else for an open shot, Brandin is generating a ton of offense for us.
03:05 Do you feel like he’s taking a leap?
03:07 Mm-hmm.
03:08 I guess, how sustainable is that?
03:08 I do. I do. Yeah, he’s definitely taken a leap the last month and it’s really coincided with Jimmy’s arrival. The two of them have this great connection. Brandin solidified his spot as a starter and I’ve always felt when you can stack together a lot of high-IQ players, the game becomes easier for everyone and that’s what I’m seeing right now between Jimmy, BP, Draymond, Steph. It’s really fun to watch them all click.
03:41 What stuck out about Braxton (Key) and his time with the program?
03:43 He can really guard. Our Santa Cruz guys have told us he’s an NBA defender. I really enjoyed watching him play tonight and great young guy. He’s got some NBA experience, learned how to play defense at Virginia under Tony Bennett, great coach. And so I think Braxton is, he’s got a chance to make it in this league with his defensive play.
04:10 Buddy is, he’s played every game this year. You played all 82 games, I think it was, four times in your career. Just how tough is it to play every night, to go out there every night and, for you as a coach, what’s it like knowing you have a guy who’s gonna be out there every game and you know he’s gonna be in the — ?
04:25 It’s a huge blessing when you can count on a guy like that, night after night. And it is hard, but it’s also of a point of pride. I always felt great at the end of the year when I played 82. It’s just a badge of honor to know that you were out there every single night for your teammates and that’s one of Buddy’s strongest qualities, is just his consistency with his availability every single night and also his attitude and his approach. He’s just an absolute joy on the sidelines every night, so he adds so much more to our team than just the shooting.
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05:05 A loss like this, how do you even wrap your head — a game that was, in essence, a must-win and for it to turn out the way it did?
05:15 DEVIN BOOKER: Like I said, there’s no answer for it. There’s no words for it. Nothing I can say can really make it better.
05:21 Curious, just it looked like you guys, I think, got it down to the single digits in the second quarter and then it looked up again and it was 20-plus. What do you feel like led to that flip that quickly in the second.
05:34 I mean, that’s a championship-level team. They built the culture and the environment that they’ve sustained for a long time and they don’t expect nothing less than a championship and understand what goes there, so it showed.
05:51 You’ve been the face of the franchise now for a while, and I know you care about this franchise. What’s the hardest part about going through the past couple months where it just seems like nothing’s working?
06:06 I mean, that’s a loaded question with a lot of answers. There’s not one thing or one person or one player, one coach is the problem when you have a season this bad. It’s a bunch of things, so I think the most frustrating part is being that close a few years ago and now back to where we are.
06:31 You talk about always learning. Are there lessons inside what’s happened the last couple of months that you think can carry over for you to next year?
06:39 Yeah, I’d say kind of the opposite of what we were doing.
06:44 Bud said in there that he feels like you guys are still responding to the coach and coaching staff. Do you see that? I mean, do you feel that when you’re out there on the court?
06:52 That we’re responding to him? Yeah.
06:54 You’re at the point where a loss or a Mavs win, you guys are officially out of the Play-in. How do you kind of regroup going into OKC tomorrow, with the season on the line?
07:05 Just another high powered team that will also be one of those teams competing in the playoffs and competing for a championship, so we’re gonna have to bring it.
07:16 Do you think there is that requisite belief after a performance like this?
07:20 Yeah.
07:21 From a point to personal pride. How do you feel about this?
07:25 It don’t feel good.
07:26 Is it embarrassing to you?
07:28 Yeah.
07:29 How embarrassing? You’ve played a lot of games like this, this season.
07:32 Yeah.
07:34 And you haven’t been able to correct?
07:36 Correct.
07:37 Okay. And you say there are multiple reasons for it. What’s the top two or three?
07:44 Can’t weight them. All of them hold their own value, so just no winning habits.
07:50 Turnovers?
07:51 Last one.
07:53 Turnovers, that kind of stuff?
07:55 Yep.
07:56 Yeah. Thanks, Book. Thank you, Book. Thank you, sir.
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07:59 Coach always talks about you making the right play. Why do you think your passing has gone underrated in your career?
08:06 JIMMY BUTLER: I dunno. It doesn’t make me a difference either. I just, I wanna do whatever it takes to win. If you’re open, my job is to get you the ball and I will continue to play that way as long as everybody —
08:18 (BUDDY HIELD:) Shoot the ball, Jimmy! (Inaudible), Jimmy! Shoot the ball. Tell Jimmy to stop passing the ball. Shoot the ball.
08:24 I’m not Brandin, so I’m a pass-first type guy. Motherf-cker, Draymond threw you the ball and you gave him a turnover, so that’s why.
08:35 Jimmy, you guys have had the third best defensive rating since the All-Star Break. Coach complimented you and your ability to help defend for this team. What do you think has made this team so special on that side of the ball?
08:44 I think DPOY, Stephen Curry. No, I think Dray’s the anchor behind that and then I think it’s a lot easier to play defense when you got somebody like Steph that’s constantly making shots. You get to get back and get your defense set, but man, we’d be flying around and it looks good and it’s very fun. I got the easy job, I get to gamble in the passing lanes, get some steals, get the ball to some running players.
00:00 How nice is it to have a game like this where you know it’s not too stressful and everybody can kind of take a load off in the fourth quarter?
00:12 GUI SANTOS, POSTGAME GSW-PHX: At that point of the season, it is like everybody tied and the standings, you look to the standings and you see you cannot lose games. We have a game like that is good, so we can play basketball free, just move the ball, everybody touch the ball. Everybody feel good. That gives the boost that we need for the end of the season.
00:33 How much of a topic of conversation are the standings?
00:37 We don’t — we talk about it for sure, but we don’t focus on that because we know it is game by game. We gotta win every game, every game, every game, so we — of course, we talk about it a little bit, but we know that it doesn’t matter if we don’t win, so when we gotta play, we just lock-in, say let’s play, let’s win. Then we talk about it.
00:57 So for the standings, are you just, like, checking it once maybe in the morning, like, “Okay, this is the standings,” then you ignore it after that, or — ?
01:02 Yeah, after every day, like, when the day ends and every team play, you look at the standings and see like, “Okay, we not in the Play-in plane, we going to the — we over the 6th seed. So we gotta keep like that.
01:17 What have you made of the way Brandin has been playing recently?
01:20 He’s playing well, man, like the way — biggest part that we winning big games is because of him, because he been hitting tough shots. He been hitting a lot of important shots for us, so if you have a — because you already have Steph, you already have Jimmy, draymond and all these guys, but if you have another guy like BP, like he’s playing right now, it’s so tough to beat us.
01:47 That it? Cool.
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01:53 How nice is it to get a win like that when some of the veterans can rest in the fourth?
01:58 TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Yeah, it’s great especially coming off a loss and then seeing the standings and how they are and coming here, taking care of business so we can get ready. Get those guys, the older fellas, a little bit of rest is really key.
02:11 When did you know that you’d be in the rotation?
02:15 Coach — I didn’t really know until I was on the bench. I knew QP was out, but with everything, like, you never know, so then I got to the bench and then Weems, Coach Weems came up to me and he said, “Top of the second.” So just started preparing myself for that moment.
02:29 How good did that burst feel that you had in that stretch, in that second quarter?
02:33 It felt really good. I mean, Draymond, Steph, Jimmy, just all talking to me, steph giving me two lobs, Draymond telling me I’m playing great and stuff like that. Jimmy trying to coach me a little bit just shows what our vets do and they instill confidence in you.
02:48 (Inaudible) mentioned it on the way in here, but you’re the first Warriors player with a hundred dunks back-to-back seasons since ’97, ’98.
02:53 Yeah. It’s something I like to do, dunk the ball with force and so I’m glad I got that, but still a lot to build on.
03:03 You have a favorite dunk this year?
03:04 Favorite dunk this year? I don’t know. It’s been a long year, man. Long, long year, so too many to choose from.
03:14 And you said when you heard that you were gonna get the call that you were preparing for this moment.
03:18 Mm-hmm.
03:18 How’d you prepare?
03:20 Just mentally, just staying locked in. I’m always kind of staying locked in and ready to go, but obviously the rotation’s been not leaning my way as of recently, but always in the back of my mind, you never know if Coach is gonna throw you out there. And so I’ve been in this situation before. It’s nothing new to me.
03:36 The way Brandin’s been shooting the ball for you guys last, I guess, five, six weeks, just what kind of momentum can that build for you guys?
03:45 It’s huge, just the way that he’s been playing, connecting, doing all the little things on the court. He’s got a lot of confidence and we’re gonna need that when the playoffs come around.
03:56 When you say it’s been a long year, what do you mean by that?
03:59 Oh, it’s just been a long year, man. I feel like this year has been like twice as long as last year. I don’t know why. Maybe it was just like a rookie thing. That season went by fast, but this year it’s felt like it’s been like ages.
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04:07 Steve said he thinks over the past month or so that you’re definitely taking a leap. Do you feel like you’re taking a leap?
04:22 BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI: I mean, I feel like I’m playing better, but the good players in this league do it for a long period of time and they do it in the playoffs and so, for me, that’s really the goal is just keep pushing through this stride. I’m glad it worked out this way and struggling early and finishing good late, instead of vice-versa. Like I said, the good ones, the All-Stars, they do it consistently. Steph, Jimmy, they do it every night, then they do it in the playoffs.
04:48 What kind of challenges do you anticipate in the playoffs, sustaining this through throughout?
04:55 I mean, we’ll see a bunch of different things teams will try to do, whether they — I mean, it’s gonna be hard for teams ’cause you saw the last two games, they put the 5 on Moses. Obviously, in the playoffs we’re gonna have counters for that and so it’s been interesting to see what different teams are gonna do. Every team’s gonna be a little bit different, but whatever challenge is thrown at my way, I just try to keep it simple.
05:17 As you’ve ramped up your scoring, have you noticed defenses kind of guarding you differently or maybe loading up on your side or have you noticed anything like that?
05:26 I mean, I haven’t ran as many ball screens as I did before Jimmy got here, so it’s a little hard to tell, but they are running me off the line a lot and passing, I think, is one of my strong suits. And so, just like kind of Jimmy does, you draw two people, you make the right play and if they close-out short, you shoot the ball, so I’ve just been trying to do that. My number’s been pretty good.
05:48 In terms of your footwork, changing speeds or finishes and whatnot, what kind of drills, what kind of drill work do you do for those kinds of finishes?
05:56 I mean, just what you saw there tonight is what I rep out. Just kind of understanding if guys are out of position, they try to use their athleticism to make up for it and so just trying to use that against them. Obviously, the one in transition, I saw Book and Ryan Dunn kind of loading up to block the shot and so I knew I could just slow down and sometimes it pays when you can’t jump.
06:17 I think you did it a couple times tonight, slow down transition. I guess, where does that come from? Is that a move that you kind of developed or did you learn that from somebody else?
06:26 I mean, I didn’t know that footwork was legal until we played Memphis in the In-Season Tournament at home and I remember Scotty Pippen and Santi Aldama both did it and just stood on one foot for the longest time and I thought it was a travel. They told me otherwise and so since then, I just been kind of using that to my own advantage. Just me not being that athletic, there has to be other ways that I can figure it out and so that’s what I’m trying to do.
06:54 Have you ever gotten called for a travel on that move yet this season?
06:57 No, no.
06:59 Brandin, a common theme with Jimmy is that everyone, including Coach — I think he just said that he always makes the right play. You think that his passing has become under — has been underrated throughout his career than it’s been in the NBA and why do you think that is?
07:12 If so, I mean, I think everybody knows Jimmy as Playoff Jimmy, the guy that scored 50 in the Finals, all that type of stuff, but I think so far he sometimes — he almost passes to a fault and we want Jimmy to be ultra-aggressive. I think, I mean, I talked to Steph before the game when tipoff started. We just tried to get Jimmy the ball as much as we could to start the game, to try to get him in rhythm and even though he only shot four shots tonight, he made the right play over and over again, but I know when playoffs roll around and it’s time, Jimmy will be there.
07:43 Trayce had a big night tonight.
07:44 Mm-hmm.
07:45 Just how nice was it to see him do what he did tonight?
07:47 It’s been great. I mean, I’ve seen him do it in the little mini-games for guys that are in the “stay ready” group. He’s been doing it for the last couple weeks now, so it was good to see him, Pat, Kevin, Jackson, and Braxton get out there and get some run, but he is just staying the course. He’s being an ultimate pro about it. I know it’s probably tough going from starting to being a Rising Star and just all of a sudden not being in the rotation. I know that can be tough mentally for him, but I think me and him play video games every night together and so just trying to keep his mind off that stuff, but he’s been an ultimate pro about it. He gets in the gym, gets his stuff done and just ready when Coach needs him.
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