2026-27 Warriors Season Preview #ChasingWins

whether people see it or agree with that or not, he is to some extent vindictive. And he is biased to players that he's familiar with, veterans, we know this. And so that's why I was saying earlier, there is a possibility that Geesanto starts over Yaxl. And I've been floating that for months because I understand how Steve thinks. But there is a world Jordan where Yaxl is good enough to just say, I'm the starter. What, you know what? I think I'd be in favor that I like to get you guys to stop on this. Like, I feel like if Steve is intentional, we can work him in by increasing his load, accrucing the plays that he's involved in throughout the season because we don't want to get elbowed in this. We don't want to throw our best look out there immediately in terms of basically showing all of our cards. I think Yaxl should be worked in seamlessly. And but in the meantime, you know, definitely focus on discipline. And then let the Yaxl develop, you know, coming into the, I think him starting off the gate is just, I don't know. I don't want to stunt anything he has going on if he needs more time. So I'm here. But if Steve's in town, no, arguably opposite, start him day one. So Pablo, if Steve's intentional, we should see him start soon though. Pablo mentioned in the discord that it seems like the warriors actually aren't planning to stream media day. This season, again. So we'll see if we can find another stream, but we'll still be in kick and we'll react to it there. But yeah, like if they're not streaming it again, then we're just gonna have to find a way around that. But either way, we're gonna watch all the long form videos, the interviews, the clips, everything across the board. Do you know what's disappointing though? Like, and because it always comes into media day excited, because I do want to hear from our guys, but I feel like nowadays in media, we get more in-depth answers obviously. I feel like this is a given, but from podcasts and more long form conversations than media day, because the real questions are often not asked by our media team. Like, or their discourage should be asked because I'm pretty sure their questions are pretty screened. Like I want to hear what Steve has to say. I did everybody at media day. I really want to hear from our coach. Because I think I want him to expand on kind of what he was talking about in that interview that we saw him do, I think a couple weeks back. Like what he wants to do, how he wants his guys to play, and basically how you're about the possession, maxing, and you know, what does the different look this year? And then I want to hear from Yaxel in poor Zingas as well. I think Stefan Dreyer going to be obvious, but I think the three guys when he from office is K.P. Kerr and Yaxel. Because K.P.'s health is apparently better now. And I want to see that word at set. So yeah. Yeah, it is allegedly, but I will say, so if they don't stream media day on YouTube, I'm sure there will be a stream out there at some capacity, but they'll have the full clips. We'll watch those, but you are right. They screen the questions. And a lot of these reporters are muscled when it comes to asking some of the tougher questions. So I am curious to see what are, like pods, for example. Are they going to ask him questions about starting? Are they going to ask him questions about his role? Like how deep are they going to get into that? Because I'm sure there are a few reporters that do a good job and really try to do their due diligence. But at the end of the day, I understand that the organization likes to draw a line when it comes to certain questions and certain topics, even though I don't agree with it, but that's the decision. So. We're back at Holi for the training camp, right? Yeah. So yeah, we'll cover training camp too. And training camp, they usually do the media spray where you'll have like a coach on the side or a player near the back poster. And they'll have those media scrums where they ask questions about training camp practice, thoughts going into the season. And so we'll cover all that as well. But like I said, I'm very interested to see what the young guys have to say because I really believe, like we all know Steph, Dremon, Jimmy, Pozinga, is like their veterans. When they're healthy, we kind of know what to expect from them. But it's the young guys that are really going to determine the ceiling of the team, whether we like it or not, but it's the Yaxal, it's pods, it's Gis Santos. And by the way, there's been a lot of positive words about Gis Santos the last few days from Dremond and from Steve. I've been listening to some of the media coming from them and they've said a lot of good things. So it sounds like. It's a lot of Gis Santos. Yeah, Gis preparing for a big year. Again, he's not probably, you know, like he's not like a bonafide starting level. Like he's a good player. He'll come off the bench, he'll produce. The guy that I'm really hopeful for, we mentioned him, Yaxal. And I think Yaxal should be good enough to establish a starting role. Just take it. Whether it's from Guy or whoever, but my feeling and based on what Dremond said as well, if Yaxal is as good as advertised, he should be the clear cut starter, which I believe he will be, unless Steve is playing games. And that's what I'm saying. I'm just very interested to see what his attitude is like. Like what's his temperament? Yeah. Because if Steve, and I like to hear you, that's why this too, Andre, I feel like if anything, right, after the whole drama of he was considering retiring, all of the questions, last year him being frustrated about the whole cominga situation, like I think not more than never, I think we're primed to see the most dedicated, since the championship runs, obviously, of Steve Kurt, most focused Steve Kurt, that makes sense coming to the training camp. So, I think he's a monetized ship. So Jordan, that's a good point because I've heard him say that, you saw the reports, I'm sure. So that's an interesting angle, because if you listen to Steve on the Tom Tolbert podcast and other media situations, he has mentioned how rejuvenated and reenergized and reinvigorated he is for the upcoming year. Steph talked about it too. Even Steph said, Dreymon mentioned it on his podcast. They were unsure if Steve was gonna come back. By the way, is it such a good sign that a coach was one foot out the door, ready to retire and then made the decision to pivot and ultimately return? Like I don't know if that's the problem. No, no. Yeah, no, it's not. That's why I said it was worth questioning. Take no 100%. And so I am very curious. I think as a fan base, I understand that there are people who are pro-Steve, not a lot, it's a short list, but there are some. We have conversations on stage in the chat, whatever. But I will let you know right now. Me personally, I am going to put a very tight, close microscope on Steve Kurt this year. Very close. I'm going to be micro-analyzing every word and every decision he makes. Because if he, cause here's the problem, if he had said, look, I'm gonna take a step back, I'm not ready to continue coaching or if he had said, I had no thoughts about retirement. I was ready to coach no matter what. Like if that was his position, cool. But he said he admitted that he was ready to retire both mentally and emotionally. So, and even he mentioned physically, because one of the biggest issues that Steve has brought up about coaching still at this point is the travel. On the Tom Tolbert podcast, he mentioned how the travel has been a burden for him. That he's older now, he's had chronic back issues for years. So for him, getting up, going three game road trip, traveling all the way back, having these home stands, like I understand to some extent the toll that it might take on him. But he made a conscious decision to come back for two years, two more years. And if he's gonna come back and he's messing around, making certain decisions, playing with minutes, tweaking, experimenting with life. I'm gonna answer your question. Yeah. Who does it benefit Steve Kirk coming on saying, oh, I was about to retire. I really didn't want to come back. Oh, well, I really wasn't gonna come back, blah, blah. Who does that benefit? I don't think it really benefits anyone, other than maybe himself. Steve? Yeah, other than him so now. So now if I come back for these two years that I'm just on bullshit, hey, Brian, you want to come back? That's what I'm saying. So I think, Andrea, your angle is correct. I think he's setting the stage because now I will say we did bring in Frank Vogel, but to your point, Jordan, if he's gonna come in here, and Steve is going to revert back to some of, let's say we go on like a four game winning streak, and then that fifth game, he's all of a sudden experimenting, three guard line ups, whorfers out there on an island because we have no point of it. Like if we're seeing that again, I promise you, I will make this season all about Steve Kirk, if I have to, I will do that, and I will make it loud, because I'm not saying we have the best talent, but the last thing I want to see is something working, and then Steve going away from it. Because you've seen that, right? We have seen that sometime. Now again, we don't have a ton of talent, especially with Jimmy being hurt. This roster's just interesting, though, because it takes away a lot of Steve's vices. Like I remember, I get, Audrey, I just talked about this. I've heard Jim talk about it, I've heard everybody talk about it. I'll put it this way. Taking away all those guards off the roster, Kim maybe makes Steve actually do his job and put out feasible line ups. I think the guys have talked about this for sure. 100% we have positional size. So here's what I'm gonna say, going into the season, 2026, 2027. Yeah. I don't think the biggest issue with the roster with the team is Steve Kirk. It's not. The biggest issue is not Steve. The biggest issue is talent. It's youth, it's positional size. It's skill, like we can point to a million things before we get to Steve going into the year. But I will tell you this. And even Steve took accountability. I don't know, I clipped it up actually, like last week. He said a big reason why we were behind the A-POL and we struggled last year overall was because we got off to a poor start. We lost four or five games early that we shouldn't have. You shouldn't have lost yet. And he said that he mentioned the Bucks game, the Pacers game. That's probably. Yeah, there's a few games like that and it was inexcusable. So when I tell you that Steve Kirk, like I've never been that guy that immediately pivots to Steve as like he's the reason every, you know, I've always looked at LAKA, I've looked at the lack of talent, I looked at, you know, some of our draft selections, I look at those things, those decisions and those misses. But I do think we have enough talent to at least hold the fort down. I think we can hold the fort down. And for Steve, if something is working, you double down. You don't go away from it. So that is one of the biggest things I'm going to key in on this year is what does Steve say and what does he do? Because last year and last year, it was also very polarizing because of kind of JK. Caminga, that entire situation, I understand. Like I'm not putting that on Steve because to some extent that was politics. That wasn't even necessarily player coach. That was politics. So let's put that to the side. JK didn't want to be here anymore. Like he wanted to be traded. Steve was over it. We'll put that to the side. But when we talk about this roster, we have positional sides. Like you mentioned, I know they're older, but you got Yaxl, who's young, you got Porzingus, you got Horford, right? You bring in some pieces, Dreymond. Now I'm curious to see what he does with Dreymond. Now did you hear what Dreymond said about Steve on his podcast and the new role? I haven't watched, I don't watch a lot of Dreymond. But there was a clip. And he was talking about how he's excited for his new role as a shooter. Like he's going to stand probably in the corner or on the wing. And he's going to be shooting threes. Teams are going to leave him open. The expectation is those shots are going to be available and those opportunities will be plentiful. And so Steve, right? And Dreymond, and the way he framed it, was very interesting. He framed it almost as if that's a role that he prefers over making every play, turning it over. So I think to some extent he was catering to the public perception. He was trying to frame it in a way that absolved him of responsibility as much. But he made it seem like Steve wants the ball in his hands. Steve, for many, many years, wanted Dreymond to make those plays, throw those passes that led to turnovers. So it is interesting. If Dreymond is playing this new role, he seems to be excited for it. And we revert back. Am I going to look at Dreymond or am I looking at Steve? Because the way Dreymond was framing it on his podcast, he's making it sound like it steves it idea to play that way. Not his, right? Dreymond has a type of guide. I know what it goes around. He was like, ah, I'm just following orders. He may be a guy who wants, actually wants to basketball. It's trying to cater to the public in a way, like you said. Yeah, 100. That's what I'm saying. So, but that's an important thing though. Because if he, so if Steve is saying, OK, we're going to play Dreymond at the four or at the five. And he's going to be essentially a spacer, even though he can't space the floor. But he's going to be camping out in the corner or on the wing. And he's just going to be shooting open threes. Essentially, Steve Kerr is saying a live ball turnover is worse than a shot turnover. So I'd rather you take the shot if it's 0.73 points per possession, then turn the ball over where you're giving up two points every turn. Right? So I understand the math. And there, this is more of like an analytically driven decision. Essentially what they're saying is I'd rather bad than worse. Right? And so I understand it. But what I'm saying is Jordan is I'm telling you I was listening to Jimmy Butler last year. He was talking about selfishness like.