Warriors co-chief Kirk Lacob talks: CP3, Cory Joseph, Kuminga’s great attitude, the whole summer league roster, and much more

GSW might have a camp competition for the 14th spot

Who is Kirk Lacob?

Son of Warriors owner Joe Lacob and now second-in-command to GM Mike Dunleavy Jr. (I am not sure what Kirk’s new official title is.) His family relation gives him an unavoidable advantage in getting jobs and being promoted. However, he has had quite a number of jobs in the organization, so he wasn’t promoted straight to the top.

According to RealGM (the dates look funny but the roles are real):

• Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations of the Golden State Warriors since 2019-2020 (Promoted).

• Vice President of GSW Sports Ventures of the Golden State Warriors since 2016-2017.

• General Manager of the Santa Cruz Warriors from 2012-2013 (Hired) to 2013-2014.

• Assistant General Manager of the Golden State Warriors from May 14, 2012 (Promoted) to 2019 (Promoted).

• Director of Basketball Operations of the Golden State Warriors from Nov 12, 2010 (Hired) to May 13, 2012 (Promoted).

• Public Relations Intern of the Boston Celtics from 2006-2007 (Hired) to 2006-2007.

The following are interesting selections from Kirk Lacob’s remarks from a radio interview on July 7. One takeaway I had is that unless GSW finds a home run 14th spot free agent, they will instead keep it open until training camp and have a competition for the spot.

The Chris Paul trade

Unbelievable. I think that's actually the key word unbelievable. I’ve been a Warriors fan my entire life and obviously working here for the last 13 years. I never thought Chris Paul would be a Warrior. We've had a lot of battles against him. But I think all of us have always respected him a ton.

[Negotiating the deal took] probably a couple of days. But when you're in it, it feels like a year. Those discussions take a while to really come together. And you never really know until the end, whether it's real or not. Probably three or four days that it took to really put it together.

And I think it was important that if we were going to do it, that we did it early enough to shape the rest of the team.

New free agent signing Cory Joseph

Cory is a pro's pro. He is as good as they come. He's competitive. He works his butt off on off days. He's not afraid to push people every single day in practice. He can shoot the ball. He's improved every season of his career. He always adds something to his game.

He's been in the league 12 years. Yeah, I couldn't believe he had played that long. But no, every step of the way, the intel on him was tremendous. And you know, these guys we build profiles on over the years. This is a guy who for years we felt would be a good fit and the way we do things in our locker room, and I think he's gonna fit in seamlessly.

How to fill the last two roster spots

We've done this the last few years: we've made a camp competition for final spots. And I think we're possibly looking at something similar this year. We'll see if we actually get to that point but could be a spot, could be two spots.

We're looking for guys who compete. That's what we love is guys who come in and they take the job. So we want someone to come take it, it's gonna be an open competition, we're gonna give some young guys a chance, probably some veterans who are looking to get back in it. And, you know, it's whoever wants it the most and brings something to this team and fits.

Brandin Podziemski

There were a couple really good players in this draft that we thought would be around our position. And Brandin was absolutely one we had targeted pretty early on. He had been our radar since the beginning of the season. We've done a lot of work on him, a lot of Intel. It just kept popping up over and over: this guy really wants it. … From the beginning, when you're not even maybe on draft boards yet. To get a guy like that at 19, I think is great. Mike has said this, but you know, he's gonna be given every opportunity but he's got to earn it.

Trayce Jackson-Davis

He's a guy we had ranked much higher than [#57], obviously. He's a guy we've watched a lot. I've really liked him since he was a freshman. I thought he was a first round player that year. And here you are four years later. I think he was runner-up National Player of the Year and I think maybe two-time Big 10 Player of the Year. This is a guy who has shown it at high levels of college basketball. He's improved his game every year. And we think he's a great system fit for the way we play. He's a great guy. He understands the game obviously. It's in his blood. But he was really good and obviously can't play yet and we hope to see him out there soon.

Lester Quinones

I think that's the key word: development. Lester's earned everything that he's gotten to at this point. I think he came with a lot of really good pedigree, but hadn't really learned how to play basketball yet. And we really put it on and laid it on him hard last year, you're gonna really have to improve and this is how you're going to do it. It's your choice, whether you want to put in the work and the time with the coaches. And he completely bought in.

His growth from the beginning of last year to the end was tremendous. And he's continued to show it during the summer portion. He's been great. And then obviously Sacramento, you put up huge scoring games. I know he hasn't hit some shots yesterday, but the growth of his all-around game and how he fits with the way we play has been tremendous. His attitude has been tremendous. And he again, he's earned it. He's got every opportunity. He did a great job last year, put himself in this position. He's got a chance to earn one of those [roster] spots.

Gui Santos

Man, I'm such a Gui Santos fan. What a great person. Boundless energy. Positive attitude, really works hard. Has wanted to be an NBA player for a long time.

And I remember Leandro [Barbosa] told us this story when he was like 15 or 16. His dad played with Leandro and he was the young guy. But he asked Leandro, what do I have to do if I want to play in the NBA? And he said, If you really want to play in the NBA, you need to learn English. And you need to learn, you know how to fit in an American locker room. And so since he was 15, he has been focused on that. … It's poignant for such a young guy to ask those sort of questions. What do I need to do? Not just on the court, but off the court?

He's been such a joy to be around. He made huge strides last year in Santa Cruz, you look for a young guy to change in his body already, to put the work in the weight room like that has been great. His attitude is just so good. He's such a joy to be around. He was at a bunch of Golden State games this year, soaking up knowledge from coaches and players. So, huge fan, and he looked really good here.

The biggest change… is his core. He has such a way, this kind of herky-jerky game, stops and starts, all these funky off-step Euro-step stuff off of it. But to be able to do that, you really have to have a strong core. And your balance has to be really good. And he last year knew what he wanted to do, but realized that at this level, it was hard to do that, and really worked on that core strength and that balance. And now those things that he mentally was thinking about doing are starting to show and he can finish those plays.

Q: What goes in to the thought of what to do next with Gui Santos? You could stash him another year, he could be a two way guy, roster competition…

I think it's all going to be on the table for him. It's something we have to discuss with him and his representation and figure out what the right path is for him. But it's certainly all on the table. And if he continues to do this, he's going to have options and they're gonna be good options.

Other favorites on Summer League roster

yeah, I obviously don't want to leave anyone out…

Jayce Johnson is another guy who really put in the work last year in Santa Cruz and stayed with our program and was an absolute dominant rebounder in the G league last year, I think was the best offensive rebounder by a mile. And probably the best defensive rebounder too,

The way he's changed his game, playing the way that we like our bigs to play, be able to create for the guards, set good screens, read the cuts that they're making. He's been really impressive. I thought in Sacramento [Summer League] he held his own against some really talented high-ranked draft picks.

Kendrick Davis started for us tonight. He had a terrific career in college really impressed us last year and has had a great attitude. Great work ethic so far.

Yuri Collins, I think led all of NCAA in assists… the last two years. A great passer, table setter. Yeah, there's there's a lot of guys that we got here who I think fit us really well.

Moses Moody

We talked about the third year leap all the time. That's when you kind of make or break your early career. Moses is such a young guy. We forget sometimes because he's so mature. Yeah. But… I don't think he's turned 21. We're looking for him to make a big leap this year. And I think you saw that at the end of last year, similarly to how Jordan Poole really started to show things at the end of his second year, and then really popped his third year. We expect that for Moses. I put a little bit of pressure on him to do that and I think he expects it of himself. I know he's gonna put in the work whether people are looking or not. He's always in there looking for extra work, asking, you know, what can I do better? Watching film with coaches. So we expect big things out of Moses.

Jonathan Kuminga

He had his opportunity earlier in the year … playing 20 plus minutes a night for a really good stretch. And then unfortunately, you know, when we had everybody healthy, he was just not in the rotation at that point in the playoffs, but he kept his head up.

He's working really hard right now. We've sent coaches to go work with him. He has a great attitude right now. And I think he's really poised. He's another one. I'm pretty sure he's not 21 years old yet, either. So I think this third year leap is coming. But man, is that guy talented? And he works really hard. It's a good combination.