Draymond Green announces he'll return March 14 against the Wizards. LeBron James dropped 56 points, Jayson Tatum had 54 against the Nets, and Miles Bridges joins to talk his breakout season and their Michigan connection.
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Thanks. What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. This is our 16th episode and we got my little brother, my little Spartan dog brother, Miles Bridges on the show today. We will talk about his breakout season, him thinking he can dunk on me, which is beyond me. We're also gonna talk about Michigan high school basketball as well as the AAU circuit and a lot more. I've known Miles for a very long time. I think I've known Miles since he was maybe in the 8th grade. And you know, just watching him grow his entire journey, becoming somebody in the basketball world. Mm-hmm. As a kid from Flint, it's just not that easy. And I know that because I'm from Saginaw, Michigan, and they're one and the same. And to watch him work and become who he's become and being able to provide for his family the way he provides makes me extremely proud because I know what it's like to start with that dream and not have a clue of how it's going to work out. And to see him— Mm-hmm. Living his dream and flourishing. It means the world to me. But before we get into the Miles Bridges conversation, let's take you around association as we love to do. Number 1, LeBron's historic night, historical night against my Warriors was brutal to watch. Number 1. But in the same token was extremely incredible. I mean, you're talking a guy— Draymond Green. At 37 still being able to produce at that level. And yes, you know, he had 56, which was incredible. You know, it's not as if this is just surprising and LeBron had 56 and we're like, oh my God, like that came out of nowhere. It didn't come out of nowhere. It's insane that LeBron is still able to produce at the level that he's producing in his 19th season in the NBA. It's funny because we were just in Cabo a couple weeks ago for All-Star break. I walked into Bron's crib and he's like, he's using this stim, like electrical current type machine on his quad. And I said to him right then, I said, "Dude, you just don't stop." Yeah. Like, and he's like, "Man, gotta do it. Gotta get the quad fire. You know I had the knee issue, so I need to get this quad." And I'm just like, "You just never stop." Like, it's always something with you in regards to your body and the game. And like, it's mind-blowing to me. Obviously I was there, I was rehabbing, so.
Yeah.
You know, I'm in the weight room every day and you know, he comes down every day to get his work in. Now I will say I was up before him. Early bird get the worm. No, but obviously my workouts are way longer 'cause I'm rehabbing to come back from injury. Which by the way, I am projecting or targeting my return next Monday. Next Monday. Yeah. The 14th versus the Wizards. That is the date that I am targeting. I'm excited as hell. I mean, it's been 2 and a half months, almost 2 and a half, 2 months for sure. Almost 2 and a half by the time I play. I've never missed that much time during season. Now I have once had an ankle injury that kept me out for a very long time in high school. But it was the offseason. So this is something different for me. So I'm extremely excited to get back out there with my guys to try to help right the ship. You know, it's been a little haywire these last few weeks and, you know, but we'll figure it out. I think this rough patch has been great for our team. You know, people always look at our team and they still think like this is the Warriors that was winning championships. And the reality is it's not. You know, Klay Thompson's won championship, championships. Andre Iguodala's won championships. Steph Curry's won championships. Draymond Green and myself. That's 5 of 17. And so this isn't the same Warriors that won championships before, which is why I'm happy we're going through this patch because now you really have to figure out what it takes to win in this league. Now you really have to dig deep. We're in a rut, so you're gonna have to claw your way out. You're gonna have to gut a nasty one out, probably. That's just normally how it goes. And so, as much as it sucks to go through this, no one ever wants to go through it, I'd much rather this be happening now than get punched in the mouth the first round of the playoffs. Yeah. And scrambling, trying to figure out how to respond because so many guys in our locker room have not witnessed or have not played under that type of pressure, have not played in that type of environment, have not run up against a tough period, a tough stretch, and had to get through it. You know, this season for us, it's pretty much been rolling through. And so, like I said, you never feel good about it. You never feel good about losing. You know, we always say like, you'd much rather get, you'd much rather get, learn your lessons from winning. That's just always the better way to learn lessons. And saying that, it just doesn't, normally doesn't go that way. And that's kind of where we are now. So, you know, the team will keep fighting it and we'll get better and we'll figure it out. I have no doubt in my mind that we'll figure it out. But I am very happy to be returning and able to help right the ship. So that's gonna be good for me. I have a doctor's appointment today, got my final clearance. So I'm ready to roll now. Just, you know, getting a little more playing under my belt, a little more 5-on-5, 4-on-4, just kind of trying to get my legs back under me and get my stamina back, my endurance back. It's going well. And I am looking forward to that date next week for my return to the court. I think it'll be fun. And I think that'll give me like maybe 12 to 14 games or something like that to gear up for the playoffs, which, you know, ideally would I want more? Absolutely. Of course. But this is what I got. And so, I'm gonna make do of it. And speaking of returning from injury, we also know Kevin Durant just returned from injury. And boy, did they run up into a monster the other day. My goodness, Jayson Tatum, 54 points. The one move where he threw it out between Kyrie and somebody, I think maybe Bruce Brown, it's like, and then split up. I can't even— Explain it. I can't even walk you through the move how I wanna walk you through it because it was so unorthodox and so incredible. So if you have not seen that clip of Jayson Tatum splitting those two guys, whatever the hell he did, it was one of the most insane moves. And you know, to see Jayson Tatum going up against the Brooklyn Nets, up against Kevin Durant and go for 54, Insane. I already know and understand how good Jayson Tatum is. And saying that, and spending a ton of time with him in the Olympics, you quickly realize how young he is. And he's, I mean, he's been playing at a very high level since he came into the league. And so when you have guys like that, you tend to forget how young they are. And then you spend a ton of time around Jayson Tatum and like some of the questions he asks and you realize like, yo, like he's still a baby. And you know, we've started to, we've built a relationship, which I am extremely thankful for. I don't take any relationship for granted. I am a relationships person. I build relationships. I cherish relationships. They're very important for me. So I am very thankful for the relationship that we've built. But to see him put the team on his back after the way the Celtics were struggling to start the season, you heard all the talks about needing to break Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown up. And I commend Jayson because he came out right away and said, no, me and Jayson, I mean me and Jaylen, "We're not a problem. Like we can play well together and we're gonna figure it out." And they are figuring it out. And it's been beautiful to see, extremely happy to see such a young man take onus of a situation. And in doing that has produced like no other. And his team is now, I think, 11 games above .500, maybe in the 4th or 5th seed in the East and continuing to climb. So it's a beautiful thing to see That was an incredible game. It was also great to see Kevin back on the floor. I mean, this Kevin is, I think everyone already know how incredible I think Kevin is, but you know, he used to be like a walking 25, dude, a walking 30 piece now. I mean, he come outta injury. I think his first game he had 31, second game 37. I mean, just for a guy to, miss what, 7 weeks of time and then come back out and doing that like it's nothing. It's the most insane thing. The Nets are having some problems of their own. They're on some losing, they've been in the midst of a losing streak or a couple different ones. And so they need to right their ship as well. And you know, I'm looking forward to seeing how they handle it just as how we're gonna handle it. 'Cause we're kind of in the same space. Maybe not as far as like—
Yeah.
Public issues or whatnot. But as far as records, I mean, our record is better, but as far as like currently what you're doing right now, we're kind of in the same space. So I'm, as a basketball fan, I'm looking forward to seeing how they come out of it as well as I'm looking forward to seeing how we come out of it.
