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What's up, everybody, Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. We're back full time so for it will be giving you two episodes a week, as we've always done, sometimes more depending on what's going on around the league, what's going on in the world.
You never know.
We may pop in from time to time as we've done in previous years.
And also later this week, we.
Have an incredible, incredible, amazing first guest back, someone we never thought we'd see on The Draymond Green Show. Excited for that guest. Hope you guys enjoy that later on this week. But as we get into it the top of the week, top of show, whether you're watching this episode on the br app on YouTube or you're just listening to the audio, we need you to subscribe to our new YouTube channel, YouTube dot com forward slash at Draymondgreen Show.
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It's been a while, it's been a long time coming.
So if you've been here, we thank you, and if
¶ Dray's first game back
you're new here, we also thank you. And if you're in the future, we thank you as well. Now that that business is done, let's get right into it. I myself, Draymond returned to the Warriors lineup yesterday and unfortunately it came in a losing effort. Would have been very fitting and fun to return in Memphis and win a game on Martin Luther King Day.
All the things that didn't.
Happen, But however, it felt great to be back out there on the court play twenty three minutes, coming back on a miny restriction, which, if I'm quite honest, I don't necessarily feel.
Like I need much longer.
But as you all know, you've heard the name Rick Celebrini a million times from either myself or other guys or people around our organization. He is a legend. He is the don and I don't fight with Rick. I take his guidance, I listen to it, and I roll with it. Every now and then I push back on it, but for the most part, initially I'm always going to roll with it because I trust him. It's a lot of cases more than I trust myself, and he is someone that also protects us from ourselves.
As a competitor.
You just want to go, go, go, go go, and Rick is the sound mine is the expert, and like, ah, we shouldn't push it pass here because you're putting yourself at risk for injury. And after a month of not playing any NBA basketball, I totally get it. So I was on a twenty four minute restriction. Got right up to that, and I felt incredible. You know, gotta get my time and stuff back my reads. A few things felt like they were maybe half a count too slow, but not too bad. I felt good to hit the
first three you come back. You never know how that's gonna feel when you got defense running at you, so that one felt good.
It also felt good to boot a crowd back because they were.
Booing like always in Memphis, which is quite crazy that the Memphis fans hate me so much, be that they wanted me a free agency it would have been really funny if I ended up in Memphis. It would have I just wonder what the reception would have been if I actually ended up in Memphis. Uh. But yeah, they really hate me there, and to be honest, I love it, and I love them. I love that they love to hate me. I think it's a very great thing. I think their fans are hilarious and it's always a good
time for me. It's always in good fun, except when I flick them the double birds when they cheer when I got injured. Uh, that was a fun time in my life and a fun moment in my NBA career, but I felt like they were well deserving at that point, Like you cheer for someone getting injured, that's like the lowest class of class. However, Uh, I love the city of Memphis. I'm a huge Memphis rap fan. As you all know. You're talking Gotti, you're talking Dolph, you're talking Key Glock, money bag.
Like, I love, absolutely love Memphis rap.
And then my got rich freshness from Memphis, who always keep me looking fresh. So I got nothing but love from Memphis. Although they hate and they boo, I love those boots.
Keep them coming. It's great.
Absolutely pissed off that we didn't get a win there yesterday because number one, we needed to win. You know, sitting here at eighteen and twenty two, we've lost quite a few.
Games this year that we should have won.
Yesterday was one like on paper we should have won, but like if you watch the game, they'll played us, and so I don't view that one as like, oh we let one get away that we should have won. Yes, in theory, but like I'm talking like the O case game that we clearly should have won. There are some games this year that like we one hundred percent clearly should have won and we kind of lets slip away.
I don't necessarily think that was the case last night, but you gotta get those young guys some credit.
Man Gg Jackson.
Man, he he got off and he shot the ball like he was Klay Thompson. I mean he was catching, like no hesitation, raising up. I haven't seen him play a ton, so I'm not sure if he's always like that. I do know he's always aggressive to score, but he's like all the clips and things that I've seen, he's
like aggressive getting downhill. He was raising up like he shoot forty five from the three, and maybe he do, like I said, I didn't check to see if he does, but the way he was shooting that ball last night, man, you gotta give him credit. He just answered the bell, he said to Steph. Halftime, he waited for Steph at the half court line. He said, Man, I got uninvited from your camp, which I thought was interesting.
Steph ended up telling us, telling us about that last night.
He's like, he got uninvited from the camp, and Stepf's like, oh, like I remember that. Like we were filled on spots and so they had to like pull some invice back and Steph was like, I kind of froze for a minute, like it caught me a bit off guard, like what do you say to that? And so after the game,
I learned that it was very personal for GG. Not only was it like, oh, I'm getting a chance to play against Steph Curry, but he found this extra added motivation of like, they uninvited me from the Steph Curry camp. So now I don't have any any real say so in this GG, but you're invited to the Steph Curry camp next year as a counselor. If you want to go back, you're gonna go with under armbrus So whatever you're gonna do, because that seemed real personal last night.
But like I said, you gotta get a young fella some credit. He answered the bell and we were standing at the free throw line. He said, Man, it's an honor to play against you, like I've watched you win championships. Like when you get things like that from young guys,
it is one of the most rewarding feelings. But it also shows you who's student of the game, who's the students of the game, and who's not When when young guys say stuff like that, And by the way, not that you if you don't say anything like that, you're
not a student of the game. But it's very evident when you start saying stuff like that, because that means you've been watching like that means you've been paying attention, you've been appreciating, but you've been watching and learning and so not surprised that a kid like that can go have a game the way he did because just those things, you know, with Steph, with what he said to me, it's like, no, this this this kid, he gets it.
He's a student at a game.
Vince Williams h who just signed a contract with the Memphis Grizzlies about a week ago. He showed up and he been playing his tailoffs, which is why he earned that contract.
But he took it to anything, uh another level last night.
He's a good defender, handles the ball pretty well, shoot the ball pretty well, get downhill like he doing something. Everything got to get Give him some credit. Man, All those guys answered the bell. Uh where does that leave us? As I said before, it was great to be back on the court. Uh just with my teammates.
You know.
It wasn't much of a conversation to be had with my teammates and coming back because those conversations had already been had, the ones that needed to be had. Uh, my conversation with coach Kerr, uh, I know, people were like, oh, he's started starting, he's coming off the bench. And my conversation with coach Kerr was great. You know, he was kind of sharing to me his thoughts and shared with him my thoughts, and like a that unit had been
playing well the last couple of games that started started. Uh, that started the game last night. So you got a unit playing well, putting it together, you don't mess that up. But also like, I'm returning from a suspension, not an injury, you know, so you don't just walk back into the starting lineup, you know, because you return from injury. And so I felt, you know, right along with coach Kurter, is its best that I came off the bench, because you know, there's we play a team sport like this
isn't this isn't an individual sport. So how other guys feel about certain things matters, because that affects the cohesiveness of a team, you know, and if you if you negatively affected togetherness of a team, a guy is like, oh, man, he come back from injury. And now he just start Like it's been enough to deal with. So definitely not something that I want really care. Also, am not hell bent off coming off the bench of starting. It is
what it is. Ultimately, you're going to play the minutes that you're gonna play, regardless the minutes that you're supposed to get, whether you come off the bench or start, You're gonna get those minutes, you know you, And.
So I don't get extremely caught up in that.
Whatever the best lineup sorry for our team to be successful, I'm with that always because my number one goal and stepping onto the basketball floor is to win the game at all times and whatever that has to look like, if that's getting benched and going offensive defense in Game four of the NBA Finals, and that's just what it is, or Game three of the NBA Finals, that's just what
it is. And I think it was Game four, yeah, because then we came back home Game five and I started the game with a dunk and it felt great. And so yeah, like whatever it is for my team to win, I'm always willing to do. And like I said, you just don't get to come back from suspension and like things just go your way. You gotta earn those things back. Not sure how long I'll come off the bench or if that'll be the way it goes the
rest of the way, don't know, really don't care. I do care to get the mental restriction off me because I feel like I can play more minutes. But as I've told you all before, our step our performance to have do a great job of simulating game action, of putting us in, making sure we getting the right amount of hits of actual game play leading up to coming back.
And so they do an incredible job.
And every time, you know, I've come back from an injury or you know, suspension in this case, I feel like I'm in good shit. Like they do an incredible job. They keep you working. Now, who I will have to give credit to is Travis Walton. Travis who is my personal trainer. When I was away from the team, Travis put this whole plan together, had me working out every day, had me lifting every day. And when I came back, one of the like try to find silver linings through
the bad times. And one of the I think one of the silver linings was or one of the bright spots for me returning was you know, they were very pleased with my condition and how I kept myself together and coming back, and.
That to me it felt great.
Number one, like I said, thankful the Travis of putting the plan together and making sure I was locked in and dialed in and had the right plan so that when I did return, I was in a good spot. But also you know, as a professional, you know, to continue to become a better and better professional, it's always a big deal to me. So I was very pleased with how they felt about me returning in a way that I came back, and just my conditioning all those things,
and like I said, I feel good. Hopefully the minute restriction will come off. That's my goal. I'll talk to Rick and see what happens. And moving forward with the Dubs, we got some stuff to figure out because we have sucked. We're sitting here twenty two, at eighteen and twenty two, it's not good.
And like I said, yeah, we've lost.
Some games, and you win a few of those games that you shouldn't have lost, and you may feel totally different, but the reality is we did it, and so you got to make up ground, and right now we've been struggling to do that. I can always raise my hand and say, corporate a reason number one sit right here in front of you. And so I take that up on myself to try to beat that sparkan and write it and write the ship. Do I still think we can? I do think we can. But our defense has to
be better. You know, we always talk about man like gods shooting the lights out the ball when they play against us, and that they did last night. In my press conference, I was like, man, we gotta guard people want like you gotta take on the challenge. And by the way, I stand by that. You always have to take on the challenge. I want to stop my man. Whoever I'm guarded, I want to stop this guy. Defense is all about want a wheel. I want to play defense.
You don't want to play defense. You want to be good defensively. You gotta want to play defense. And so I still stand by that. However, and looking at the film, they were some well contested shots, like very well contested shots, and they got going and they knocked them down. We've all had a frustrating experience buying tickets, even me. You all know I love to go to concerts, shows, and it can be hard to find last minute tickets. You shouldn't have to worry when you buy tickets to your
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You have to make people miss. So we still got to figure that out.
Everybody does play better against us, that's just the reality. That's what comes with the territory of being a dynasty, a great team, a team that's done what we've done for years.
That's what comes with it.
In a lot of cases, you're people's super Bowl and so yeah, they're excited to play, they're gonna knock shots down. It's just something else that comes with it. They're playing free because they feel like they got nothing to lose. We have to adjust to that, like you have to adjust to it because it's going to continue to happen, like those accolades, that track record, it's not changing, which means the way people look at us ain't change.
So we have to figure that out.
You can't just sit back and say, oh man, they hit shots to night that they want supposed to say.
We got to figure it out. We have to figure it out.
Defensively, it starts with our defense twenty fifth ranked defense in league this season, like and we're eighteen and twenty two, makes sense, that's the twenty fifth ranked best defense. Everybody always talked about the Warriors and our offense and how beautiful that was, and rightfully so. But the reason we want championships is because of our defense. Our defense has
always been top ten. I think maybe one time we won a championship we were eleven defense maybe almost positive, Like, you have to have a great defense if you're going to compete for titles, and right now our defense is atrocious.
It's atrocious, and so we got to figure that out.
We have to defend better if we want to win, if we want to turn this season around, we have to defend better. It is extremely important. That will never change. If you do not defend, you can't win. It's very simple. I know Steph has talked a lot about the Warriors and us and we're just and us just not being a good team right now. And that's a fact that is one hundred percent in fact that one hundred percent agree. We are not a very good team right now. Can
we be a good team? I still believe we can't be a good team. Do we still have championship aspirations? I don't think those ever go away. However, it starts with game by game. We need to get better game by game and try to stack some put some wins together and get this thing back on the right track.
If you look up, we're not far behind everyone else.
So there's still a chance to put.
Some games together and make a run. And I do not.
¶ Warriors trade rumors
I am not of the belief that we can't do that. So we have to figure that out.
I also know in regarding the doves, there's been a lot of trade rumors. I know my name has came up. I know everyone name has come up, except for Steph Curry. My name has not come up in trade rumors too often. And you know, Jackson said, how are you handling that? To be honest, I have not thought about it one bit. I don't make much of it at all. Rumors are just that there are rumors. I know we've been linked to a Pascal Siakam. I hear all the same things that all.
You guys here.
That is the the gift and the curse of social media, That is the gift and the curse of cell phones. That is the gift and the curse of the accessibility that all of these things provide to us. That that's just what comes with the territory these days. As far as if I'm traded or if someone like that's the business like The business is you can be traded, the businesses you could be waived, the businesses you can be benched, the businesses you can start, The businesses you can play well,
the businesses you can play bad. That's the business that comes with the territory. I'm not gonna sit and dwell on the rumors or oh like beat myself up, like rumors are just that.
They're rumors until they're true.
And so if that ever came to fruition, then you deal with that when you cross that bridge, when you get there. And so it's not really something that I worry about. I know, you know, everybody's saying, oh, the Warriors got to make a trade, They're going to make a trade. I mean, if you're eighteen and twenty two,
how can you question anything someone does? You know, we've had the opportunity to get out there and play and prove ourselves as a team because the reality is we've never really been a very active team at the trade deadline. I think I can count right off the top of my head guys we've traded for at the trade deadline. Steve Blake, going way back when I was young, young Steve Blake, Jordan Crawford and Marshawn Brooks Wiggs GP coming back. I know we've traded a couple of people away at
the deadline. I remember Brad Wanta Maker, Glenn Robinson, Alec Burks, d Low and the Wig Straight. Maybe I'm missing one or two, but like over the course of twelve years, that's what eight or nine guys, It's not a lot. So we've never really been an active team at the trade deadline. However, we also do have a new gym and Mike has been incredible by the way, But you know, he could work differently than Bob. He could be more aggressive at the trade deadline than Bob were.
I don't know.
I don't really have a feel for it. Would I be shocked if something was to change or some trades happened, No, I wouldn't be shocked. Again, We're eighteen and twenty two with if I'm not mistaken, the highest payroll in the league or top two three, So.
How can you sit and complain. Joe has a business to run.
As an owner, Mike has a business to run as a general manager.
I get it. I get it, and so do I think I'll be traded?
No?
Do I hope not.
But if you know, any of those things happen, that's a part of the business that we chose to be a part of. And you got to take the good with the bad. And I've always been one to unders
¶ Western Conference contenders
standing out and take to go with the bad. So no, I don't really think about it, but you one of my thoughts on it.
There you go, man.
You look at the Western Conference, which I think is very interesting. You got the t Wolves, the Thunder, the Nuggets, and the Clippers sitting at the top of the Western Conference. T Wolves fairly young team, although Rudy Gobert has been around for a while, Cat's been around for a while, but they're very young in experience, especially playoff experience.
Kyle Anderson has been around for a while.
But they're young, and they're being led by a very, very very young guy. And Anthony Edwards their star player, who's playing well, who's talked so much about one that spot and won that responsibility, and he's handling it.
As good as you can handle it. He's poised, he's carrying the team.
He's taking a franchise that hasn't won ever anything, and he's carrying them and propelling them and showing that all the things that he's been saying he means, and you got to give him some credit there. And then you have the Thunder, Young Thunder who I've always told we all knew was coming, Like we knew that those young guys were growing, and it was only a matter of time before they had to be wreckon with the time is now they have to be wreckon with Shay Gilgrims.
Alexander is first team on NBA performer, a problem. Not sure why he's not higher up in the MVP conversation.
Incredible.
Jalen Williams, the guard from Santa Clara Special, Special, dude can shoot, he can pass, he can handle, he can finish, he can defend. He has great size so he can guard multiple positions. He's athletic, he's great in the pick and roll. Like Jalen Williams is special and over under two years before he's an All Star himself.
I'm gonna take the under.
He is a problem, and it's gonna get interesting because, Okay, see, got a lot of young guys right now, but those guys are starting to grow, and it's gonna be time to pay those guys and they're gonna end up coming down to some decisions that they're gonna have to make in the near future. Over the next couple of years, especially being a small market team, They're gonna have to make some decisions on those guys. Jayalen Williams is one problem, really really good.
Check Holmgren a.
Problem, really good like and Chet has the demeanor like he talks like he feels like nobody can check him. They got lou Dort being who Lou Dort is. All those young guys have gotten better. Aaron Wiggins has gotten better, Giddy has gotten better, like Isaiah Joe has gotten better.
Like those guys.
That's a good, good team man, and they're showing it at night in and night out. Yeah, they're still young. I won a championship in my third year, so it's not impossible. But and they got a guy Shay And when Shae's and foul trouble, they got another guy who takes over Jaylen Williams like and check.
You know, So that team is a problem and they.
Gotta be wreckon with. Then you have the defending champs, the Dinver Nuggets. We all know who they are. Not much that I need to say there. They lost some key pieces, and they look like they're picking up right where they left off. Uh, they got some young guys stepping up. Peyton Watson is playing more, much larger role in more minutes. I saw Peyton Watson workout as pre draft workout with the Warriors, and I like, man, I really like that kid. Like that kid got a chance
to be really good and he's improving. He's showing it. And some of the questions that people had about him on why he fell in the drift, h professionalism and all those things.
Young fella doing it.
And he's in a great organization with a great head coach, one that's going to hold you accountable, and he doing it. So you got to get those guys credit. And then you got the Clippers. The Clippers who were the first seven games of their experiment we all thought were dead and had no chance, and they.
Are playing great basketball.
James Harden running the point being who James Harden has been James Harden. I think, by the way, James Harden should be an All Star this year. I'm not sure how people are viewing that, but he only missed like the first four games for the Clippers. For first four or five games, like and then he got traded there and he's playing at an All Star level when the way their team is playing. I think James Harden is an All Star this year. Should be will people look at
it from what? Will people judge him on what's happened the past few years, that's the question. But James Harden should be an All Star this year. James Harden is playing at an All Star level. Kawhi Leonard, congrats on his extension. Kawhi Leonard signed a three year, one hundred
and thirty million dollar extension. Maybe one one God, one fifty two Jesus Christ, but we all know Kawhi Leonard is that level of player when he's healthy, and he's been extremely healthy this year, and their team's success is because of it. Pg's been pretty healthy this year and their team's successes is showing that Tylu great coach, willing to take on James Harden when nobody else wanted to,
and it's paying dividends. And so then you got the Clippers, and then you start talking about contenders, like I think it's still early to say, oh, this team is a contender. That team is a contender. You know, you like to
¶ Nick Young's comments
think all of those guys will be contenders. But playoffs are different for a lot of people than regular season basketball, and so I don't know, we'll see, but those teams are playing extremely well, and you got to give them your credit before we get.
Out of here.
I saw my old teammate Nick Young on Gills Gilbert Arena's podcast talking about me and gil are the same type of leader.
What was Draymond like as a teammate. Well, he got a little bit of Gill, and he got a little bit of Gill. Like when I played with Gill.
If I didn't do something right here, the mo ain't ready, you don't put him in. Say that, shout loud to the coaches. So Draymond did some similar shit. I shot the ball. You're like, Nick, we don't do that ship here. He don't shoot that type of shot here, I said, Curry just shot the same shot I shot. You know what I'm saying that to him?
He said different. He wanted a championship. He ain't win ship. Yeah. I was like, all right, man, I don't.
I don't know much about Gill's leadership, never heard much about it.
I know about his game.
I watched that and he was a problem shoot the lights out of the ball, score the ball with the best of them. But to hear what Nick Young said, like I respect Gil, like if you coming in and you ain't ready to play, you gotta go sit back down.
You have to go sit back down.
I remember talking to Nick about the shot he was talking about as well, and yeah, I meant that, like, you know, like Nick, some some guys like Steph Curry is going to take those shots and you gonna live with it, and I'm gonna live with it too, because he's gonna make him more often than not. But like, we just can't be casting all type of shots, nigga, Like come on now, hey, you know he took the
advice and guess what, we got a ring. So I can't say to Nick no more, you can't shoot those shots because you ain't won a ring yet.
Notice he said yet. By the way, I knew he win and we did.
And Nick Young came up huge in that Houston series, didn't play a ton and then came in big games, hit big shots, check.
James Harden.
Played a big role, big role for us in those playoffs when we won that championship. So shout out to Nick Young. I know he talks a lot of nonsense. Was still one of my favorite teammates. Was very fun to play with. And it's good, you know that he's you know, to see him, you know, kind of re emerging in the media space. Extremely funny dude. I think he's great in the media space. He know, he knows
the game, but it's very lighthearted. You know, he talk about this what he called him what he called him corner? What corner corner?
Something?
He hilarious and like I said, you know the game. He's an NBA champion. So it's good to see Swag reservicing in a major way in the media space giving his opinion. I love it, although I don't always agree with it, and sometimes I think he don't know what the hell he be talking about, and sometimes he's talking to be funny. None the less, I do know what he's talking about. Appreciate Nick. That's my dog.
Gil.
Shout out to you and your leadership. Baby, it gets it done. Much love to everybody. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of The Draymond Green Show. Thank you for your patience. I thank you for staying here with us. And like I said before, if you're new, I Thank you for coming to check us out and hope you do stay here again. Make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel YouTube dot com, forward slash at Draymond Green Show, lock in check us out on Instagram
at Draymond Show. Check us out, tune in, subscribe lock In with Us got another episode coming later this week with an interview I think you guys love.
Until then, that's a rat piece.