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What's up, everybody, Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. We have an impromptu cave edition.
Welcome to the Cave edition of the Draymond Green Show.
And it's because I'm going to speak on something that I didn't necessarily think would have been a big deal.
And and uh well, in a sense, I.
Kind of thought maybe it would get picked up on, but didn't quite know.
You never know how something's going to land. And that is there.
It is shield USA Basketball and me not being included on the forty one player pool for the Olympics prepared twenty twenty four. And I've seen people relaying their opinions about it, or expressing their opinions or sharing their opinions.
On what should have been, what could have been, et cetera.
And I think for me personally, this is one of those things where like, your perspective is everything, and so so.
Be that great Hill shared that I wouldn't.
I was left off the pool due to suspensions publicly, I haven't the Draymond Green Show with all my loyal subscribers who subscribe and check for my thoughts and my opinions on things. I'd be remiss if I did not share an opinion or thought or my thoughts and feelings about being omitted from the Olympic roster or the Olympic pool.
And I'll say this disappointed, Yeah, of course, Like I had to have an opportunity to play in three Olympics, it's crazy, like I'm not sure the amount of people that's had the opportunity and even if you had the opportunity to play in three Olympics, which there's a lot bigger pool of guys in particular Europeans who've had the opportunity to play in three Olympics, or from all parts of the world, Europeans, Australians, South Americans like they more
so I have had the opportunity to I'm sure playing three, but in particular to have the opportunity to compete for three gold medals.
It's a totally different honor.
Be that I am one of two players, I mean, one of four players in the league currently that has two gold medals, the other three being Kevin Durant, Lebron James, and Chris Paul. I would love the opportunity to compete for three. However, I have been left off the pool. And I think where I have an issue is or not even necessarily an issue.
But where I where I necessarily don't agree, I'll say is number one.
Let me address me playing in the Olympics in twenty and sixteen and me paying Olympics in twenty twenty one, which is known as Japan twenty twenty. Obviously the pandemic was in twenty twenty. When in twenty twenty one, I'll take you back.
A little bit.
I played in the World University Games and going into my senior year of college for USAB, and we finished like six or seventh place. And as you all know, playing for USAB, there's a certain standard that must be upheld when you wear this shield. There's a certain expectation that come with that. And I think we placed maybe
sixth or seventh or some trash like that. And for me, going from junior year to senior year, where I said to my assistant coaching in college, like coach DJ at one point beginning to our senior year, like man D I think this may be my last year playing basketball because.
I don't know.
If I can go overseas, like I ain't never left the state of Michigan. Like I just think I'll be too homesick. I don't know if I can go overseas. And he laughed at me, He's like, man, get the hell out of here, Like you're gonna go.
To the NBA.
I'm like, I don't know, d And I just don't know if the overseas grind is made for me. So number one, much respect and much love to all the guys that go on that overseas journey. I know it's not easy, and I know you know the sacrifices that you're making, and so much love and respect the guys that make that sacrifice because.
I didn't believe I could do it.
And you know, thank God, I was fortunate enough to be in a position that I was in for the opportunity to compete for NBA spot and obviously going to have the career had But in saying all of that, in the World University Games and what I believe to be my last opportunity to ever play for USAB, my only first and last. We finished in six or seventh play, So I was like crushed, Like, man, my only experience.
To compete with one of the biggest.
Best winning brands in history of sports, USAB. He came in six or seven sucked, and I thought I'd have to live with that the rest of my life.
And then life happened.
Career starts to happen, and I get invited to the Select team, and it's.
Like whoa Like probably was a little older.
Than most of the guys on the select team, but I'm taking that opportunity, like because if they see me for the select team, then maybe one day I just made like, yup, I'm gonna go, and I want to play against Steph Curry and Derek Rose and all these guys can get those guys ready for the World Cup. And my ego is not too big. I'm I am thrilled to have that opportunity. And I went and it was incredible. It was incredible, incredible, a very memorable time.
I think back to, like, you know, you look at the NBA today, that's when Paul George had his catastrophic injury.
Like I was there for that.
And that was me being on the Select team, and so that's like a very memorable time for me.
I remember all of those things.
I did that with like total joy and thankful for the opportunity.
No ego, no nothing.
Yeah, I will practice as hard as I can to get those guys ready. And it was also an opportunity to play against some of the best in the summer, middle of the summer kind of what you've been working on, see how that's coming along. It was a great but also the pride and honor of helping national team go compete for.
A gold medal.
I took that with pride and I was very thankful for the opportunity. Lo and behold, the twenty sixteen Olympics is in Brazil, and a virus come along known as the Zeka virus, and a lot of guys due to the Zekra virus and also what had been called and deemed very dangerous of Brazil, you know, like as far as security and all of those things, a lot of guys didn't go from the twenty sixteen team.
Chris Paul didn't.
Go, Lebron James didn't go, James Harden didn't go, Anthony Davis didn't.
Go, Darren Williams, Dwight Howard.
When you think about all the guys that was on those twenty twelvefeen Andre Goudal. None of those guys went. Kawhi Leonard didn't go. He didn't do any before, but he didn't go. And at the time, we know who Kawhi Leonder was. We know who he is now. None of those guys went. So lo and behold, I get the opportunity to go to the twenty sixteen Olympics. Would I have necessarily gotten an invite if all of those guys want to go? Probably not, But you think I care?
You ever heard the saying one mass trash is another man's treasure. So I was afforded the opportunity to go to the twenty sixteen Olympics. And you know, at that time, the Warriors is number one. We're just winning championships, some defensive player of the year righting those things all star first time, Like, the cars lined up perfectly for me.
We're the best team in the world.
Just went seventy three and nine on everybody's TV screen. The cars lined up perfectly, and I took advantage of that opportunity and won my first gold medal.
Fast forward to twenty twenty. We all deal with with and I didn't.
By the way, I didn't play a ton in twenty sixteen, but I played in some very meaningful moments and had a couple of key plays and meaning for moments to help us reach a gold medal. In twenty twenty, I come back and the team is much younger now. It's not even the guys that went in twenty sixteen. Kyle Larry, no DeAndre Jordan, no Harrison Barnes, no Paul George, no Jimmy Butler, no Kyrie irv and no DeMarcus Cousins. KAD is still there. I'm still there. No DeMar DeRozan so,
no Klay Thompson. So me and KD are the only two guys to come over from the twenty sixteen team to twenty twenty. But guess what twenty twenty Tokyo Olympics. Guess what we're faced with? But we all know as the coronavirus. So it gets shut down in twenty. In twenty twenty one, I have an opportunity to compete on the Olympic team again.
Me just to take you back to Brazil, we stayed on a cruise ship.
Where we were on the cruise ship, we couldn't go to many things like a part of security, like smaller cruise ship, smaller room showers. Small guys didn't necessarily want to do that. I took advantage of those things. Fast forward back to twenty twenty one. I have an opportunity to play now, coming off to twenty sixteen, be that I played in now, and I think I would have had an opportunity to play in twenty twenty, but you never know if certain guys want to play.
But I get the opportunity to play.
Again, and this time because of the coronavirus, we're locked in the hotel.
The only place we can go when we leave a hotel is the arena.
So in a normal Olympic experience in twenty sixteen, I had an opportunity to see every event.
Talking about.
Michael Phelps break the record, Katie Ladecki break records, Neymark kick for gold in Brazil. You saying boat break the records, of course, Stevenson, I think Devin Haney possibly. I got to see Clorician shields, boxing matches like Allison Felix, beach volleyball, Carrie wash.
Jennings, like.
I had an incredible experience in Brazil, twenty twenty one. The only thing that only other games that we could go see was women's basketball because they played in the same arena as US due to the restrictions because of the coronavirus. Tokyo was still on lockdown, so we could not leave our hotel. If you left your hotel, which you probably are gonna be familiar, a couple athletes got sent home because they found out they were outside of the hotel. If you left your hotel, you would be
sent home. That was a sacrifice. I left my family in the middle of that for seven weeks, camp in Vegas for three weeks, then on the Tokyo A lot of guys didn't want to make that sacrifice. Lebron James, those guys, those level of guys, Steph they didn't They didn't want to do that. People didn't see that as ideal.
So again me and Kevin Durant being the only guys from the twenty twelve team, I'm sixteen team to come over the twenty twenty which happened in twenty twenty one, and now I have an opportunity and not only be a part of the team, but to actually help lead
the team. Because of my prior Olympic experience because of so, and I think I played a big part and had a big hand and help him win that gold medal from a leadership standpoint and also from a play standpoint, because I played a lot more than I did in the two thousand.
Olympics. Very proud of that.
And so I said all of that to say, when I look at the player pool today, the Warriors are.
No longer the number one team in the league.
We are not just coming off a championship, although we won one a year and a half, like and not when we lost in sixteen, but we're seventy three and nine.
It's different, different, different.
Yes, the recent suspensions happened, and I own those, and I've been very transparent with you on my journey through that. I think what frustrated me is like for it to be like, oh, Draymond is not on this list because of the recent suspensions, and it's like because.
Like, some tough decisions we're going to have to be.
Made, Like when you look at the pool of guys, like you think of all the things, this is Paris twenty twenty four. Everyone wants to go to Paris. It's going to be fun and it's the first Olympics back open. Like everybody know everyone in the NBA and the fashion thing. Everybody think they're gonna go walk the catwalk and like all of these things. So like you got probably half the guys that want to go because of that reason.
And they have to.
Some of the guys because they love USA B and what thing like Kevin Durant love USA B. Love playing for USA B and what that means and what that brings, Like myself, it's gonna play you got Anthony David, is gonna play Joe l and B, gonna play Bam out
of Bay. You gonna play Steph Curry, Kawhi Leonard. When I look at these the names on that list, I probably wouldn't have made that team anyway unless it was from a standpoint, and he's been on the last two Olympics and sacrifice during the time when other guys weren't willing to make that sacrifice. The suspensions kind of gave them an out. So you don't have to face that, And I'm totally fine with that. As you know, I'm
a man. I stand on my mistakes and things I've done wrong, and so I wish it just would have been like, yeah, like Dramond, I took advantage of situation. I'm a two time Olympic gold medalist and no one can take that away from me.
I'm very thankful to USA B. I know what it feels like to.
Be on that island when you are over there and everyone and around the world want to see you lose because you' USA B. And every time you turn on a talk show from back home, it's like, man, we're over here out in the world fighting for our country and the way that we can fight for our country. I thank you to all our troops who go and fight, put their lives on the line for our country. This is the way that we can fight for our country
and honor our country. And over there doing that, you turn on TV screen and every USA you know, TV publication, all these guys who really and women that really like cover the NBA and like us and our Mayora like they're crushing us. I've been on that island before with
my brothers. I know how that feels. It's awful to see Dwayne Wade, who is a part of our USA basketball brother brotherhood, and I say this story being had I said this to d Wade, So it's not like something that people are going to go run and say like, oh, like I said this to d Waye personally, it hurt when d Waye had just become an owner and he put a congrat good luck to Rudy Goberting in the Olympics, and like, I get it, you just became a jazz owner.
But you can kind of say nothing because you're kind of one of us. You are one of us, you represented, like we're now represented, and you know how it feels to be on that island and to look up and see one of our brothers say good luck to a Frenchman and they're trying to destroy us. End up beating us in game one and then losing us in the gold medal game, but they beat us in the first game pool play. Devin Booker had just got their day of Chris Middleton, Drew Holiday all landed the day off
because the NBA Finals ran later that year. They landed the day of the first game, and they all three played mini for minutes. Drew Holliday played twenty nine or thirty one minutes out of forty not forty eight. D book who ended up being a vital part of what we was doing. Drew Holliday changed our offense guarded ever forty A Patty Mills. You see those guys, you see them in the NBA when they go over there and they play for their country.
Them boys is different. They like Steph Curry and all that when they playing for their country.
Drew Holliday taking on that responsibility but also leading our driving kick offense that led to us shredding teams coach popping his first Olympics figuring it out, Drew Holliday unlocked our offense. Let's not overthink of guys, we're the best players in the world.
Let's do that. Let's have that meeting players only, Let's do that.
And so to see Dwayne Wade say that like they heard and so I said all of that to say, I get it, like I.
Know how it feels.
And personally, I think, again, there's different perspectives and ways that you can take things. And I want to express my gratitude for playing, having an opportunity to play two Olympics for Team USA and honor my country and win two gold medals. Yes, a part of me is disappointed because again, if if Grant, if Grant was gonna say that public was by the way, like I said, I got nothing of belove for ge Hill when I came into this NBA. And I've publicly said this before. There
was two guys I was starstruck by. One was Kobe Bryant and the other one was grand Hill. I grew up in the state of Michigan, Grand Hill, Detroit Pistons, and so I wish that he would have just said that to me, you know, especially if you're going to say that publicly like and so it hurt me a
little bit, Like from a fan standpoint as well. I'm a big fan of grand Hill, and to know like that there's been a personal relationship to tell me you need to tell me face to my face that you're gonna need me for the Olympics, and then like to publicly find out that. Although Steve talked to me and I appreciate Coach Kerk, I didn't see Steve publicly comment. I did see grantson so and I'm sure we'll talk
the next time we see each other. I got much respect for Granted Grant as a respectful man, but there's a lesson in this all. I took advantage of my opportunities, regardless of what people may say, regardless of how people may feel or why you got the opportunity, like, don't let your ego get in the way. Incredible opportunities. You may be the second option, you may be the third option. It's all relative. At the end of the day, we all get gold medals. Nobody's looking back until I just
walked y'all through that. Nobody's looking back like, oh, Lebron ain't want to play because.
Zeka, You're just like, no, he got two gold medals. So I said all of that to.
Yes, I was a little disappointed that it's like, oh, suspensions, Like no, if I'm not good enough for that roster, just say I'm not good enough because guess what.
Joe Ellen beaters Jordan b A D is a D.
Lebron is Lebron, Steph is Steph, Kawhi is Kawhi. You look at you think about the twenty twenty eight Olympics. This is Grand Hills first time around. They got to
prepare something for that. You're probably looking at bringing on some of the younger guys, Anthony Day, Anthony Edwards, possibly Powlo, possibly because you gotta look ahead, and I think there's a there's a place of entitlement where I could say, like, yo, those guys could could wait their turn, because to be still good enough to play the third time around, I think it's an incredible testament to my hard work.
But in saying that, I get all of those things.
And I said all of that to say, like I said, don't be so big in your own ego to where you can't take advantage of opportunities that are afforded to you due to circumstance. Because I've been placing an incredible position in my life and I work my butt off, and so you gotta work hard to be a product of great circumstance. And I've been a product of great circumstance, and I worked for that circumstance and I'm very proud
of it, and I'm thankful for it. But don't get so caught up into yourself that because they ain't call you the first time.
Or the second time, you're like, no, I ain't doing it now.
Because we see guys do that stuff all the time too and miss out on a great opportunity.
I tell you what, I'm going to support my brothers.
I hate that this is over here because I think it should be a butt of heart. But I'm going to support my brothers and watching them compee for a gold medal this summer. As you can see, I am I have interests in other avenues. So maybe I'll do something with the Olympics through this avenue, or you know, speaking about the Olympics with my Olympic experience, or you know, something of that nature. There's always a silver line and there's always other things and actions that you.
Can take.
And be that that's a path that I want to continue to pursue. Anyway, as again to our Lawyer subscribers, thank you. Then maybe this is just another opportunity for me to do this. But guess what, I am never too good to be second or third. A lot of things happened between the time of putting the pool together, putting a team together to play in the Olympics.
From now which is January to July. People drop out.
We have Brad Bill catch COVID at the Olympics, like bought the head out to Japan. Zach Levine know Zach ended up making it, but he had COVID and thought he's on miss and he ended up clearing Like.
These are.
These are things that happen, and I'm not too good for that. As I said, I thank USA B. And if I got a call because some guys drop off that list, that's just unforeseen for whatever reasons.
And then I need to fill a spot on that team.
Guess what, I'll be ready with my backspack and go play in the third Olympics because I'm not too big to be second. So I hope you all can learn something from that, just a different perspective on things. And that is how my true feelings on the USAB situation. Would have love to play, still would, but there's other things, and those guys gonna have my support no matter what, because I know how it is to be on the island by yourself against the world, and only the guys who's in it.
Can feel that.
I felt that like no other in twenty twenty one, where we was already isolated from everybody literally. So I'll be here supporting or wherever in the world supporting my S A B brothers. And if that roster don't pan out the way everybody see it, because everybody wants to play right now, I would gladly play again much law. That's a wrap from this episode of the Draymond Green show Peace