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'Pretty fun having Jimmy on our team' Steve Kerr Talks Jimmy Butler's Warriors Debut · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Jimmy. Pretty fun having Jimmy on our team. Yeah, he's
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: an amazing player.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: You know, the ability to get fouled, it just settles
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: the game for us at key times.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: But I'm most impressed with his passing.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I just think his his passing changes everything
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  Speaker 2: connects the game, you know, and he does.
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  Speaker 1: It from anywhere.
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  Speaker 2: He you know, he'll dive down to the post, catch
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: it down there, and or he'll you know, pass off
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  Speaker 2: the dribble, or he'll just make the quick swing to
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  Speaker 2: the skill the strength of the ability to get to
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  Speaker 2: the free throw line. And then you know, in the
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  Speaker 2: end he's goes beyond that. It's his uh, just his
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  Speaker 2: presence out there. He's a He's a lion out there.
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  Speaker 2: You know, he is, uh, he is a force.
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  Speaker 1: You played stuff the whole you know.
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  Speaker 2: Third, how much is that because of you know, having
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Jimmy in your back pocket to start the fourth kind
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: of looked.
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  Speaker 1: Like that old school formula. Well, it was more just
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  Speaker 1: because Staff was rolling.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I don't love playing him twelve straight, but
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  Speaker 2: he was just on fire.
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  Speaker 1: Obviously, he just couldn't completely flip the game.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: There was no way I was going to take him out.
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  Speaker 2: The big change I think in the.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: Fourth quarter.
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  Speaker 2: Was having keeping Draymond out there and putting Quinton with
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  Speaker 2: Draymon and and Jimmy and BP and Buddy, and that
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: that lineup was able to carry on that third quarter momentum.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Quinton was fantastic.
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  Speaker 2: You know, he gives us ad space five that that
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  Speaker 2: opens up the floor and it's you know, watching Draymond
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  Speaker 2: and Jimmy together defensively is really really something.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: What did you make it?
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  Speaker 2: The small boat units that featured Draymond and center with
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  Speaker 2: Jimmy part.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Of the group.
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  Speaker 2: Well, we tried to go to it in the second
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  Speaker 2: quarter to uh to try to flip things, and Chicago
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  Speaker 2: was making everything and we didn't really make up much ground.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: But I do like the look of that lineup with
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Raymond at the five and Jimmy at the four. I
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  Speaker 2: think it's going to be good for us, and you know,
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  Speaker 2: we can switch everything and kind of play through those guys.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, I thought tonight it it was more
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  Speaker 2: you know, Steph flipping the game and then you know,
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  Speaker 2: Jimmy kind of carrying forward that momentum and taking over
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  Speaker 2: the game once Steph went out, And it's fun watching
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  Speaker 2: it all unfold. If you kind of talk about all season,
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: how you you know, a team that gets to the
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: rim because to the free throw line, have a guy
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: like that with Jimmy, Like, how much does that almost
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  Speaker 2: shift the presence like you brought you brought.
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  Speaker 1: Up in almost pretty confidence free bet.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it gives us confidence that we can get get
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: easy points to stop momentum or to or to build
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  Speaker 2: momentum for.
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  Speaker 1: Us, but just to stop, you know, run from the
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  Speaker 1: other team.
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  Speaker 2: Getting into the lines the best thing you could do,
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  Speaker 2: and it takes the crowd out of it allows you
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  Speaker 2: to set up your defense.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: And so I think that.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: Was you know, a big part of the night was
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: his Jimmy's thirteen free throws. Were surprised by him almost
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: playing with thirty minutes and kind of just how well
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: he did fit in for a game one not really,
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: not really because you know, Jimmy, Jimmy, I said it before.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: The game, he reminds me a lot of Andrea Gadala.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: You know, they're different players, but the similarities are, you know,
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  Speaker 2: just incredibly fit athletes, incredibly.
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  Speaker 1: Smart basketball players. And so I never felt like Andre
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: got tired.
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  Speaker 2: Jimmy got tired tonight in the first five minutes, I
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: think he was so amped up for the game, but
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  Speaker 2: second half he was he was good and uh, you know.
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  Speaker 1: This guy is uh, he's ready to go.
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  Speaker 2: I mean he's excited and we're obviously excited to have
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  Speaker 2: him called him.
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  Speaker 1: You know, a lion out there. I'm just wondering, like
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  Speaker 1: that presence, what does that do for the rest of
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: your team? That's kind of a key to me. It's
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: it's the swagger that he gives us.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: I think he gives confidence to the rest of the
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: of the group and including Steph and Raymond, and that's important.
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  Speaker 2: When all those guys are feeling empowered and confident, you
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: feel the difference at both ends of the floor. There's
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  Speaker 2: just a palpable energy and.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: We needed that.
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  Speaker 2: You know, for most of the season, we've just you know,
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  Speaker 2: been kind of treading water and we.
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  Speaker 1: Haven't been able to generate that vibe.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: And so you know, this is the whole point of
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  Speaker 2: the deal is to try to you know, inject that
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  Speaker 2: confidence and that presence that Jimmy brings. Brandon sixteen five
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: and seven, how does the trade impact his rosine?
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Presuming more backup point or on.
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  Speaker 2: Jimmy is an extremely smart player and BP is a
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  Speaker 2: smart player. So you put smart guys together, generally good
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: stuff happens.
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  Speaker 1: They really looked.
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  Speaker 2: Like they had a good domination out there because of
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: their IQ and their their feel for the game. And
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: we started kind of discovering stuff, you know, with the
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  Speaker 2: two of them out there running some actions that we
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  Speaker 2: hadn't really planned on. And but Jimmy's so smart he
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  Speaker 2: just feels that and VP's similar, and so it's a
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  Speaker 2: really good combination.
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  Speaker 1: I imagine they'll spend a lot of time on the
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  Speaker 1: floor together. It's one game, really one half.
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  Speaker 2: But how important is it to just show everybody, for
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: the group, to show themselves very quickly, what the ceiling
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  Speaker 2: can be for this new group. It's important for the vibe,
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  Speaker 2: it's important for the confidence, and it's important in the standings,
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  Speaker 2: you know. I mean, we're came in in eleventh place,
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  Speaker 2: so you know the goal is to get up to
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  Speaker 2: six you know, that's that maybe possible, may may not be.
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  Speaker 2: We probably have to get really hot to get to sixth.
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  Speaker 2: But we got thirty games left and so we can't
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  Speaker 2: mess around. We gotta we gotta get going, he.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Said, I think, and then he only knew like three plays, right,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I think we didn't even put any new plays.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: We just you know, gave Jimmy three of our current
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: plays and.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: Before the game and then a couple of side side
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  Speaker 2: out of mounds and but it's pretty standard stuff. We're
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: not doing anything you know, that's that's out.
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  Speaker 1: Of the ordinary. And he's been playing in the league
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  Speaker 1: a long
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  Speaker 2: Time and and as I said earlier, you know, Miami
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  Speaker 2: plays a similar style to us, and so I think
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  Speaker 2: it's a very easy fit for him.