Draymond Green discusses return to Warriors, trade rumors, Western Conference contenders

Draymond Green discusses return to Warriors, trade rumors, Western Conference contenders

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C o l i n and the crown is yours what’s up everybody welcome back to the Draymond Green show uh we’re back full time so going forward we’ll 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 know we may pop in from time to time uh as we’ve done in previous years um and also uh later this week uh we have an incredible incredible amazing first guest B uh 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 show um whether you’re watching this episode on the BR app on YouTube or you’re just listen listening to the audio uh we need you to

Subscribe to our new YouTube channel youtube.com Draymond Green show uh check that out uh we really want to grow that YouTube page uh with all of our fans our subscribers uh everything from the show you will be able to find there you will also be able to find some clips there

That may not necessarily make the show um but just some extra things and you know from from the pie for our loyal subscribers our loyal fans we always appreciate you it’s been a while it’s been a long time coming so if you’ve been here we thank you and if 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 um I myself Draymond uh returned to the Warriors lineup yesterday and unfortunately it came in a losing effort would have been very fittting and

Fun to return in Memphis and win a game on MAR Luther King day all the things uh that didn’t happen uh but however it felt great to be back out there on the court uh played 23 minutes um coming back on a minute restriction which if I’m quite honest I don’t necessarily

Feel like I need much longer um but as you all know uh you’ve heard the name Rick celebrini a million times uh from either myself or other guys or people around our organization he is a legend he is the Dawn and I don’t fight with

Rick um I take his guidance I listen to it and I roll with it every now and then I push back on it uh but for the most part initially I’m always going to roll with it because I trust him um 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 mind is the expert and like ah we shouldn’t push it past here because you’re you’re putting yourself at risk for injury and after a month of

Not playing any NBA basketball um I totally get it uh so I was on a 24 minute restriction um got right up to that and I felt incredible you know got to get my time and stuff back my reads uh few things felt like they were maybe a half a count

Too slow but not too bad uh felt good to hit the first three uh you come back you never know how that’s going to feel when you got defense running at you so that one felt good it also felt good to boo the crowd back cuz they were booing like

All ways in Memphis um which is quite crazy uh that the Memphis fans hate me so much be that they wanted me in free agency um 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 um I think their fans are hilarious and it’s always a good

Time for me it’s always in good fun except for when I uh flicked them to double Birds um when they cheer when I got injured uh that was a fun time in my life and a fun moment in my NBA career um but they I felt like they were welld

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 um I’m a huge Memphis rap fan as you all know um you talking Gotti you talking DOL you talking keylock um moneybag like I love

Absolutely love Memphis rap and then my guy Rich fresh is from Memphis who always keep me looking fresh so I got nothing but love for Memphis although they hate and they boo I love those Boos 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 um you know sitting here at 18 and 22 uh we’ve lost quite a few games this year that we should have won yesterday uh was one like on paper we should have won but like if you watch

The game they outplayed 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 OKC game that we clearly should have won there are some games this year that like

We 100% clearly should have won and we kind of let slip away I don’t necessarily think that was the case last night but you got to give those young guys uh some credit man GG Jackson um man he he got off and he shot the ball like he was Klay th

Something me 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 like he shoot 45 from the three and maybe he do like I said I didn’t check uh to see if he does but the way he was shooting that ball last night man you got to give him credit he just answered the Bell he said

To Steph uh halftime he he waited for Steph at the half court line he said man I got Uninvited from your Camp which which I thought was interesting Steph end up telling telling us about that last night he’s like he got Uninvited from the camp and Steph’s

Like a like I remember that like we we were filled on spots and so they had to like pull some invites 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 gigg 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 Ved 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 go with under arour or something whatever you going to do because that seemed real personal last night but like I said you

Got to give a young fell some credit uh 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 like that from young guys uh it is one of the

Most rewarding feelings but it also shows you who student of the game who 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 um you’re

Not a student of the game but it’s very evident when you start saying stuff like that because that mean 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 um not surprised that a kid like that

Can go have a game the way he did because just those things you know with the step with what he said to me it’s like no this this this kid he gets it he’s a student of the game um You Vince Williams uh who just signed a contract

Uh with the Memphis Grizzlies about a week ago um he showed up and he been playing his tail off which is why he earned that contract but he took it to an uh in another level last night he’s a good Defender um handles the ball pretty

Well uh shoot the ball pretty well uh get downhill like he doing some everything gotta 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 um

You know it wasn’t much of a conversation to be had with my 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 was like oh he’s not starting he’s coming off the bench and my

Conversation with Coach CT was great you know he was kind of sharing me his thoughts and share with him my thoughts and like a that unit had been playing well the last couple 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 um you know right along with Coach cart

That it’s it’s best that I came off the bench uh 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 affect the togetherness of a team a guy’s like oh man he come back from injury and now he just start like H 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 um ultimately you’re going to play the minutes that you’re going to play regardless uh the minutes that you’re supposed to get whether you come off the bench or start you’re going to get those minutes you know you and so I don’t get uh extremely caught up in that

Whatever the best lineups are for our team to be successful I’m with that always because my number one goal in stepping on to 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

Offense to 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 no 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 so yeah like whatever it is for my team to win I’m always willing to do and like I said just don’t get to come back from suspension and like things just go your way you got to earn those things back um

Not sure how long I’ll come off the bench or if that’ll be the the way it goes the rest of the way don’t know really don’t care um I do care to get the minute restriction off me because I feel like I can play more minutes I as

I’ve told you all before our staff our performance staff do a great job of simulating game action of putting us in making sure we get in them 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 shape like they do an incredible job they keep you working um now who I will have to give credit to is Travis Walton uh Travis who is my personal trainer when I was away from

The team Travis put this whole plan together have me working out every day have me lifting every day and um when I came back uh one of the like try to find silver liners through the bad times and one of I think one of the silver liners was or

One of the bright spots for me returning was you know they were very pleased with my condition and and how I kept myself together and coming back um and that to me uh it felt great um number one like I said thankful to 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 um 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 uh very pleased with how they felt about me returning and the way that I came back um and just my condition and all those things and like I said I feel good hopefully the minute restriction will come off um that’s my goal I’ll talk to Rick and see what

Happens and moving forward uh with the dubs um we got some stuff to figure out cuz we have sucked um we’re sitting here 22 at 18 and 22 that’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 didn’t and so you got to make up ground and right now we’ve been struggling to do that that I can always raise my hand and say corporate a reason number one sit right here in front of you

Um and so I take that up on myself to try to be that spark and write it and write the ship uh do I still think we can I do think we can but our defense have to be better you know we always talk about man like guys shooting the

Lights out the ball when they play against us and that they did last night uh in my press conference I was like man we got to guard people want like you got to take on the challenge and by the way I stand by that you always have to take

On the challenge of I want to stop my man whoever I’m guarding I want to stop this guy defense is all about want a will I want to play defense you don’t want to play defense you won’t be good defensively you got to 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

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And say well we contested the shots well and they just made them 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 a dynasty a great team uh a team

That’s done what we ‘ve done for years that’s what comes with it in a lot of cases Europe a people Super Bowl and so yeah they’re excited to play they’re going to knock shots down it’s just something else that come 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 changing so we have to figure that out you can’t just sit back

And say oh man they hit Shots tonight that they weren’t supposed toit we got to figure it out we have to figure it out defensively it starts with our defense 25th ranked defense in the League this season like and we’re 18 and 22 makes sense got the 25th ranked best defense everybody

Always talked about the Warriors and and our offense and how beautiful that was and rightfully so but the reason we won championships is because of our defense our defense has always been top 10 I think maybe one time we won a championship we were 11 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 have to

Defend better it is extremely important that’ll never change if you do not defend you can’t win it’s very simple I know Steph has talked a lot about uh 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 100% a fact I 100% agree we are not a very good team right now can we be a good team I still believe we can be a good team uh do we still have Championship aspirations I don’t think those ever go away how

Ever 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 uh if you look up we’re not far behind everyone else um so there’s still a

Chance to put some games together and make a run uh and I do not I am not of the belief that we can’t do that so uh we have to figure that out I also know uh in regarding to dubs 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 um my name has not come up in trade rumors too often uh and you know Jackson say here how are you handling that to be honest I have not thought about it one bit um I don’t

Make much of it at all uh rumors are just that they are rumors I know we’ve been linked to a pascal seak I I hear all the same things that all you guys hear that is the the gift and the curse of social media um that is the gift and

The curse of cell phones that is the gift and the curse uh the accessibility that all of these things uh provide to us that that that’s just what comes with the territory these days as as far as if I’m traded or if someone like that’s the business like the

Business is you can be traded the business is you can be waved the business is you can be benched the business is you can start the business is you can play well the business is you can play bad that’s the business that’s what comes with the territory I’m not

Going to 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 you cross that bridge when you get there and so it’s not really something

That I worry about um I know you know everybody saying oh the Warriors got to make a trade they’re going to make a trade I mean if you’re 18 and 22 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 we 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 um Steve Blake uh going way back when I was young

Young Steve Blake Jordan Crawford and MarShon Brooks um wigs uh GP coming back I know we’ve traded a couple people away at the deadline I remember Brad wer maker uh Glenn Robson Alec Burks DLo and the wig straight maybe I’m missing one or two but like over the course of 12 years

That’s what eight or nine guys it’s not a lot uh so we’ve never really been a active team at the trade deadline however we also do have a new GM uh and Mike has been incredible by the way um 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 um would I be shocked if something was to change or some some trades happen no I wouldn’t be shocked again we’re 18 and

22 uh with if I’m not mistaken the highest payroll in the league or top two three so how can you sit and complain uh Joe has a business to run um as an owner uh 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 I hope not um but if 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 understand that and take the good with the bad so no I don’t really think about it but you want of my thoughts on it there you go man you look at the Western Conference which I think is very interesting um you got the t-wolves the

Thunder the nuggets and the Clippers sitting at the top of the Western Conference um t- wolves fairly young team although Rudy goar has been around for a while cat’s been around for a while uh but they’re very young and experienc especially playoff experience um Kyle Anderson’s been around for a

While but they’re young and they’re being led by a very very very young guy in Anthony Edwards uh their star player uh who’s playing well who’s who’s talked so much about won that spot and won that responsibility and he’s handling it as good as you can handle it uh he’s poised

He’s carrying the team he’s taking a franchise that hasn’t won ever anything and 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 uh

Young Thunder who I’ve always told we all knew was come like we knew that those young guys were growing and it was only a matter of time before they had to be reckoned with the time is now they have to be reckoned with uh Shay gild Alexander is First Team all NBA

Performer a problem uh not sure why he’s not higher up in the MVP conversation um incredible uh Jaylen Williams the guard from Santa Clara a special special dude can shoot he can pass he can handle he can finish he can defend he has great size uh so he can

Guard multiple positions he’s athletic he’s great in the pick and roll like Jaylen Williams is special and over under two years before he’s an All-Star himself I’mma take the under um he is a problem and it’s going to get interesting because OKC got a lot of young guys right now but they’re those

Guys are starting to grow and it’s going to be time to pay those guys and they’re going to end up coming down to some decisions that they’re going to have to make in the near future over the next couple years especially being a small Market team they’re going to have to

Make some decisions on those guys Jaylen Williams is one problem really really good Chad hren a problem really good like and C has the demeanor like he talks um like he feel like nobody can check him they got Lou Dort being who Lou Dort is um all those young guys have gotten

Better uh Aaron Wiggins has gotten better um 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 uh night in and night out yeah they’re still young I won a championship in my third year so it’s not

Impossible um but and and they got a guy Shay and when Shay’s in foul trouble they got another guy who takes over Jaylen Williams like in chat you know so that team is a problem and and they got to be reckoned with um then you have the the defending

Champs the Denver Nuggets uh we all know who they are not much that I need to say there um 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 uh

Is playing more a much larger role in more minutes um I saw Peyton Watson work out his pre-draft workout with the Warriors and I like man I really like that kid like that kid got got a chance to be really good and he’s improving uh he’s showing it and some of the

Questions that people had about him on why he fell in the drave uh his professionalism and all those things Young fella doing it and he’s in a great organization uh with a gray hair coach uh one that’s going to hold you accountable and he doing it so you got to give those

Guys credit and then you got the Clippers uh the Clippers who the first seven games of their experiment we all thought were dead uh and had no chance um and they are playing great basketball uh James Harden running the point um being who James Harden has been um James

Harden I think by the way James Harden should be an Allstar this year I’m not sure how people are viewing that um but he only missed like the first four games for the Clippers four first four or five games like and then he got traded there and he’s playing at an All-Star level

And the way their team is playing I think James Harden um is an allar this year should be uh 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 um kawhai Leonard congrats on his extension um kawh Leonard signed a three year dot dot $30 million extension maybe 152 one God 152 Jesus Christ um but we all know kawh Leonard is that level of player uh when he’s healthy and he’s been extremely

Healthy this year um and their team success is because of it uh PG’s been pretty pretty healthy this year and their team success is is showing that uh tyou um great coach willing to take on James Harden when nobody else wanted to uh and it’s paying dividends um and so

Then you got the Clippers uh 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 um you know you you like to think all of those guys will be contenders but playoffs are different um for a lot

Of people uh than regular season basketball and so I don’t know we’ll see but those teams are playing extremely well and you got to get them your credit uh before we get out of here uh I saw my old teammate uh Nick Young on Gil’s 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 Gil in him he got a little bit of Gil in him like when I play with Gil if I didn’t do something right here the

[ __ ] ain’t ready don’t put on me say that out loud to the coach and [ __ ] so Draymond did some similar [ __ ] I shot the ball he like [ __ ] we don’t do that [ __ ] here we don’t shoot that type of shot here I said Curry just shot the

Same shot I shot you don’t say that to him he said it’s different he won the championship he ain’t win [ __ ] yeah so I all right man fck I don’t I don’t know much about Gil’s leadership um 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 um but to hear what Nick Young said like I respect Gil like if you coming in and you ain’t ready to play you got to 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 gonna take those shots and and you gonna

Live with it and I’m G live with it too because he gonna make them more often than not but like we just can’t be casting all type of shots Nick like come on now and 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 we’d win and we did and Nick Young uh came up huge in that Houston series didn’t play a ton and then came in big

Games hit Big Shots check James Harden um played a big role big role for us in those playoffs uh when we won that Championship so shout out to Nick Young I know he talks a lot of um nonsense uh but still one of my favorite teammates uh was was very fun to play

With and it’s good you know that he’s you know to see him you know kind of reemerging in the media space uh 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 his what he call him uh

What do he call him Corner what cor corner corner something um he hilarious and like I said you know the game he’s an NBA champion so it’s good to see swag uh resurfacing 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 just talking to be funny nonetheless I do know what he’s talking about appreciate Nick that’s my dog uh 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 uh thank you for your patience um 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 out and hope you do stay

Here again make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel youtube.com Draymond Green Show lock in check us out on Instagram 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 wrap peace N

Draymond Green gives his perspective on his first game back with Steph Curry, Steve Kerr, Klay Thompson, and the Golden State Warriors, why the team’s defense is so bad right now, and how they’re handling trade rumors that include himself, Jonathan Kuminga, and others. Then he breaks down the top contenders in the NBA’s Western Conference including Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder, James Harden and the Los Angeles Clippers, and Nikola Jokic’s Denver Nuggets. Finally, he responds to comments Nick Young made on Gilbert Arenas’s podcast about his leadership.

00:00 – Start
02:15 – Dray’s first game back
20:00 – Warriors trade rumors
24:00 – Western Conference contenders
30:30 – Nick Young’s comments

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