Yahoo Sports NBA reporter Vincent Goodwill is joined by Andscape’s Marc J. Spears to break down the All-Star’s move to the Bay Area, including if he will start for Golden State this season. Hear the full conversation on “Good Word with Goodwill” – part of the Ball Don’t Lie podcast network – and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you listen.
VINCENT GOODWILL: We got to talk the Golden State Warriors. Of course, they’re one of the more interesting teams coming into the season. Draymond Green gets his deal done. Jordan Poole gets traded.
Chris Paul comes in. Just as a general outlook, Chris Paul coming in, he’s trying to shake off the reputation and he’s fighting off time, he’s fighting off, like I said, even his own reputation with the Warrior players as being really this ornery guy. He’s even fighting off the perception that he’s coming off the bench, because he doesn’t want to even really talk about that. How do you see the personalities in this working? Steph, Draymond, Chris Paul Klay Thompson, how do you see all that working out?
MARC SPEARS: Well, I think for Chris, this is the first time in his career where he has to fit in. Right?
VINCENT GOODWILL: Yeah.
MARC SPEARS: This is different and this is unique and it probably, in some ways, makes him nervous. Excited too, but like this is the first time that he’s not the voice in the room, so to speak. There’s other voices. They’ve been there, they’ve been successful without you.
Kind of like KD coming in, in a sense, right? Like, you’re not the guy. You’re not the guy next to the guy, you’re not the guy next to the guy. They got these banners, these things that you haven’t had.
And so I think he feels like this new kid that moved and is thrust into this school where they’ve got a lot of greatness already at the school and they don’t necessarily need you, but maybe you need them. And so I’m curious to see how he is embraced. Curious to see how he takes in everything. I do expect him to start.
VINCENT GOODWILL: Really?
MARC SPEARS: I do, yeah. And I think it’s, like, 5 minute spurts. I don’t know that they really want his minutes to be high, but I think they’re going to try it. I could be wrong, but that’s the gist that I’m getting.
This isn’t an opinion, this is just what I’m hearing, that he’s expected to start. He’s never not started his whole career. And I’m going to put some respect on his name, man. Chris Paul is a future Hall of Famer.
His basketball IQ is among the greatest of all time, if not the greatest. And you put him and Draymond on the floor together IQ wise. And it’s not like he has to carry the team. He has to complement the team.
I think he could do really well there. For Chris, I expect Klay and Steph to be this and Draymond has to be this, is like welcome him in, make sure he’s comfortable. The same way you would want to be at your end of your career if you end up going somewhere else and just squeeze the best out of Chris Paul. Because if they do accept him, I mean, that’s like another coach on the floor, man. He ain’t got to carry the team, but he could make the team better.