Draymond Green, John Wall, and Baron Davis discuss elite guard speed and Derrick Rose's dominance during his MVP season. Wall faced Rose as a rookie and calls him the toughest opponent he encountered. The trio explores how Rose's injuries derailed his career and what the NBA might look like if he'd stayed healthy.
Chapters
J-Wall, have you seen anybody in the NBA from baseline to baseline as fast as you? Either after you, before you?
Only one I could compare, you know, like, you know how this shit go, Draymond. Everybody try to compare somebody to somebody. Only guy I seen that's like close to me, I say De'Aaron Fox. He just left. Yep.
He crazy.
Like, I wonder, I remember, I forgot what year it was. We was in Houston about to play. We had a day off before the game. I went, I drove like an hour, 2 hours to go watch him play.
Wow.
And I was like, you know what? This is the one kid I can say is close to what I could see in myself. 'Cause I was basically supposed to be left-handed, but he was really left-handed. And I'm like, this is the only guy I seen that was close to me with that type of speed. Like, don't get me wrong, you know, like D-Rose is quick. Like, his quick is on a whole nother level. You know what I mean? I feel like Draymond Green got a different type of quick, but they don't have that speed to go baseline to baseline.
Facts.
That's a different speed.
Yeah. So I say the only one I can say is De'Aaron Fox.
Speaking of D-Rose, it's funny. I was just about to ask you a question about D-Rose just in, You know, in light of him just retiring, you coming into the league where like prime D-Rose, not even prime D-Rose, 'cause I would say like he never got the opportunity to really reach his prime. But what we know in his career is prime D-Rose. You coming into the league, what was those matchups like? You with the, 'cause the thing about your speed was it was speed, but your speed was powerful. You know what I'm saying? Like you played with so much force.— to where it just wasn't like, like De'Aaron Fox speed was like, and he still got it, but he played with way more pace now. But like his speed was just like fast speed. I feel like yours was like fast, but it was also like powerful. And coming into the league with a guy like D-Rose that, like you said, quick, but also powerful. What was those matchups like early on in your career against D-Rose?
Well, I tell you this, my rookie year was MVP year for him.
Wow.
So that was hell for me. Just to be honest. But I mean, we played him in preseason. I was just like, damn, this might be like the first guy I say that's like quicker, faster than me. I mean, just because he's already been in the league, he already had his twitch. He already had know what he wanted to do. 'Cause me, like when I watched him play in college, I forget, it was playing Tennessee, I'm Oklahoma in the garden. Mm-hmm. And I was like, this is where I'm going to school. Like when I seen that game and I seen him play Tennessee in Memphis, I already knew in my mind I'm going to play for Coach Cal, just because the way he allowed D. Rose to play. I knew I played a similar way. But when I was in the league, like I always tell you people, it's 3 people that was hard. Like 3 people, 3 to 4 people hard as me. Kyrie, 'cause he could do everything, scoring every level. But the hardest person I had problems with was D-Rose.
Yeah, he was a problem.
'Cause you gotta think with Tim's system, everybody around him was located to play defense.
And he was the guy get the ball.
Go get the ball and you couldn't stop him. It's unlimited pick and rolls. He's scoring at will. And you look at any other guards that played for Tim, they all got that. Freedom, but you know, D-Ro just on a different level. And like I always say, like, you know, injuries are part of the game, but I feel like if he ain't never had no injuries, bro, we wouldn't even be talking about a lot of these other guards the way we do.
That's interesting.
That's interesting.
Because guys, because a lot of guys was acting like they was sick when he came in town.
Yeah.
Yeah. I got an ankle injury or I got the flu. Like he was, he was scaring people.
He was that dude.
And I look at it like my third year, I kind of realized that to build my confidence to another level, like I really can go at this guy toe to toe. But at first, rookie year, I was like, man, this shit ain't right. This guy's different.
It's always interesting to think like, what does the guard race, if you will, or the guard outlook, like the outlook on the position look like if a D-Rose never got hurt, you know, if a— Penny never got hurt, right? John, if you never got hurt, like you got, I don't think people realize you got hurt right in the middle of your prime. And then it's like, and we'll get into the injuries a little later, but I always wonder like, what does the guard position look like if that never, what does the rap game look like if Biggie or Pac never get killed, right? Like you always have those what ifs of like, you see how it played out, right? Like Steph's, Steph's goated. Like Russ, like yourself, like the work everybody put in. But you just always wonder if it looks different at all if D-Rose never gets hurt. Like how does that pan out? It's interesting.
To be honest, I feel like, man, I don't know. Like you said, like they were so close to getting close to the championship in the East. Like if he don't get hurt, like how they was giving Miami a run every time. I mean, when they started to get to that point, He was right there on their toes. So, and then you had Indiana, you know, like with Paul George is there. So like, it's just like you say, you just never really know what could have happened or what would have went on.
For sure.
But you know what I mean? Like you say, you definitely gotta give DeRozan his flowers, bro. 'Cause being the youngest MVP, having the battles against him, man, it was super exciting to see him go through the journey he did and fighting back. You know what I mean? I watched the game when he had his first 50-point game and breaking down in tears. And I been watching a lot, you know, he never really talks. So I watched a lot of his podcasts he'd be having, you know what I mean? He was talking about like when he realized he was injured with his torn ACL, had to come back. Like people don't realize that shit.
That's the hardest thing in the world.
Injuries, bro. Like you be on top of the world and then you just feel like you hit rock bottom and you just gotta get through that. And everybody thinks everything's fine because we make the money and we living this lavish life. But the game we love is taken away from us for the time being. So you gotta fight your ass off to get back to even feel like you 100% healthy.
Yeah. That, that happened to me. You know, but I was—
I know, I watched you since college.
But in college, right? And it's a lonely island, especially as a point guard, when you're an explosive point guard, because now you have to figure out a different way to jump, a different way to land, you know, how to, you gotta change your game. And I was gonna ask you that, you know, as you came into the league, you know, as fast, explosive, one-man fast break, talk about, the steps of how you evolve, right? From a point guard perspective, from like year 1, 'cause you made the leap from year 1 to year 3 to being dominant, right? Talk about that process.
I think like really just, man, like having Sam Cassell around, you know what I mean? Him being my coach, like he was the master of a mid-range. So he was like, yo, you can't outrun everybody. 'Cause I'll be pushing the break. I'm like, damn, where everybody at? They not even past half court yet. So he was like, you gotta slow down. Like you gotta figure it out. Just watching film with him and understand like you had to master the mid-range. But like I always told people my whole life, I never had to shoot. Like I always got wherever I wanted. You know what I mean? No matter if I played up or played, I never tried to play my age. I played up. I always got wherever I want. Even in college, like they'd go zone or box. I find ways to get there because we were just so talented. But in the league we had real powerful, real centers. So nobody's, you might would probably shoot 10 threes, 11 threes a whole game.
Right.
Yeah.
So your most mid-range was your foreman. So the paint is packed and then you come across the lane, they hitting you. So just, just working with Sam a lot, working with Rob McClanahan at the time, that was D. Rose, you know, Kevin Love, Russ, Kevin Durant, all those guys, trainer, just teaching me the basics. Like, yo, you just gotta slow down. You gotta be able to knock down the mid-range.
Yeah.
'Cause no, you was going on these screens, it's a race to the basket. I feel like I can get there every time, but I might have a 7-footer there. So just learning that, like learning how to change my pace and learn how to knock down the mid-range a lot more. With confidence, I think that made my game evolve. Like I was always good at passing, always trying to get my teammates involved and finding those guys because I knew in the fourth quarter, if I passed the ball early on in the fourth quarter, you can't double team me as much because my teammates have the confidence to make these open shots instead of them only getting the ball in the fourth quarter. And they like, damn bro, I don't got no rhythm. So that's kind of how I took my development, just working with Sam a lot, working on my mid-range, working on change of pace and just watching film, bro. And just watch how teams was guarding.
