Dray reacts to Lakers trade for Rui Hachimura + Warriors-Grizzlies & Nets loss | Draymond Green Show

What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. This is a special episode. It's our 60th episode. I feel like every 10th episode you kind of feel like you're getting somewhere. Like the library is growing for content for you to go check out. If you've missed some along the way, you can go back and check 'em out, especially the interviews. Those, you know, on a day-to-day, we may be talking about things, games where you like, all right, I don't need to go back to listen to that. But the interviews, The interviews will be good 5 years from now. It'll be good 10 years from now. So you definitely go back and check those out. But like I said, I just feel like every 10th episode, it's like, it's like a celebration. So we're here to celebrate today. And then when we get to 75, 75 with Jackson, we gotta do something special for episode 75. Maybe, maybe like a 5-minute interview with a fan or something like that. Like 75 gotta be special. So look out for that. Yeah. This'll be a great episode. Today we're gonna talk about the Dubs' last few games. It's been 3 close games. Unfortunately, we've lost 2 and won 1 on games that we probably should have won all 3. So we'll get into that. We will get into the Rui trade, Lakers and Wizards agreeing to a trade. The Lakers and Wizards seem to have a thing going. A lot of players been going back and forth from there. It's been interesting to see. I am not implying that anything weird is going on, by the way. I'm just saying it's been a lot of trades going back and forth from there, which also, you know, means there's some good chemistry in between those two front offices. And that's okay. That's not anything wrong. But we're gonna discuss how this trade affects the Lakers. Does it get the Lakers over the hump? Do they still have the same issues? I'll give you my opinion on that. And then we'll also look ahead to Wednesday's game versus the Memphis Grizzlies. If you love the Dubs, you know that January is a key month for us. Big matchups at home against Phoenix, Brooklyn, Memphis, and on the road against teams like Boston and Cleveland. Gonna be a lot of fun to watch on television. But what if you actually could be at those games? For last-minute amazing deals on tickets, not just to the Dubs games, but your favorite NBA team, check out GameTime. The fastest-growing ticketing app in the US. And it doesn't stop with the NBA. GameTime has tickets to the NFL playoffs, NHL, and college basketball games. Even concerts and comedy shows too. So if you're in New York and you wanna go see the Knicks take on Cleveland or the Lakers, GameTime has you covered. Or if you wanna see Adam Sandler live tonight, this weekend, anytime soon, download the GameTime app, create an account, and redeem code GREEN in all caps. For $20 off your first purchase. Terms may apply. Again, create an account, enter the code GREEN, that's G-R-E-E-N, for $20 off. No matter where you live, get out and have some fun this week. Download Gametime today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. But now let's get into the show. We'll start, like I said, with the 3 close games of the Dubs. The first one being— Draymond Green. The Boston Celtics. Let me remind you, Jackson wanted to bet on that game, which is a bet he, if we bet, he should have lost. And the reason being is that is easily a game that we should, should have won. I'd say a game we dominated for 42 minutes, 41 and a half minutes. At about the 6 and a half minute mark, we lost our minds. We started turning the ball over. We start messing up switches. We start giving up easy stuff on the defensive end. We stopped executing on the offensive end. It's almost as if we're like, okay, we got the game won. As if that's not a team that we just met in the NBA Finals. 6 months ago? 7 months ago? Meaning they're not quitters. You don't get to the NBA Finals if you're quitters. Never gonna lay down. That game means too much to lay down. And not that it means more than one game in the win or loss column on the score sheet. I mean, you know, as far as the records go. But it just meant so much more from a standpoint of you think that's a team we could meet in the NBA Finals again. And you think mentally what that does if you dominate them in the NBA Finals, win 3 in a row, you then dominate them on, I think it was December 11th-ish, the last time we played for the first time this year. And then you go to Boston and regardless of what's going on on the road, regardless of what our record is, that's a team that know they could see us come June. And you go dominate them at Boston, which we did by the way, for all of 41 and a half minutes. Problem being, game's 48 minutes long. And in this league, 6 and a half minutes is an eternity, especially for a good team, great team. So I said all of that to say, and what I was going into is mentally, if you dominate that team like that, then if you see them again in the finals, that's a huge mental hurdle for them to— Yeah. Get over because of what they didn't believe. Like, and it's not that they believe that they can't beat you, but there's doubt. And if you can ever create doubt in an opponent, it's half the battle because the mental is so important to the battle. And so what that win could have done for us looking much further than our 500 or right around 500 record. It's mentally the imprint that you could have left in one's brain. The thought, the doubt that you could have left in the Celtics. And like I said, not that when you meet in June, that means anything more than they have another hurdle on top of beating us, the actual team in basketball. Yeah. They have another hurdle that they have to deal with. And when you can start stacking up those hurdles, you, you make it harder, tougher and tougher to get over them. And so that's what that could have done. You never can underestimate what a great win can do as far as momentum goes. You can never underestimate that. Getting a great road win like that and what it does. Yeah. We missed that opportunity. And then most importantly, how we carry ourselves as champions. You don't want to give games away. Great teams don't give games away. And— Draymond Green. That leaves a nasty taste in my mouth because that's something that we were doing early in the season. And to play a game like we played in Boston and then do that again, like where's the growth? You know, and so that's what we have to figure out is where's the growth? Like, okay, maybe you did do something early in the season, blow a game in Charlotte, right? Blow a game in Orlando. But where's the growth? And that's what we have to figure out as a team. We roll into the Cleveland Cavaliers, which for me, I'm a little bummed that I didn't, that we didn't get the opportunity to play in Cleveland because as you know, that's always a special place to play. Just the history that we've had in that building, the moments that we've had is always very nostalgic. And then also to, for the Cleveland Cavaliers to have a good team again and to go in that building and play against them. Last year we did. But you know, they're even better this year and they've grown even more. Little salty didn't get the opportunity to play in that game. But in saying that, you know, for good reason, but our young guys went into Cleveland and got it done. Ty Jerome, incredible game. Ty Jerome played, had 22 points and I think 8 assists that game. Mm-hmm. Jordan Poole, 32 points that game. 8 threes, 7 or 8 threes he made. To see those guys go out there. Jonathan Kuminga's first game back from injury, had a great game. Really good game. Really good game. Didn't shoot the ball particularly well. Missed some finishes. But that's all a timing thing, right? Like your first game back. But he was impacting winning. Yeah. And that was actually beautiful to watch. And just kind of, and to watch him kind of pick up where he left off at defensively, hounding guys, using his athleticism, using his gifts. Incredible to see Dante, I mean, J.K. back. J-Mike came back. I think J-Mike had 3 threes against the Cavs. Really well, really good to see J-Mike back. Definitely, you know, for both of those guys coming back, you know, add some length for us and some depth on the front line. So it was great to see J-Mike back and have a great game as well. Dante DiVincenzo, incredible game. So just to watch, you know, the young guys, Anthony Lamb, good game, knocked some shots down. To watch the young guys put it together. MPJ, excuse me, I called him MPJ. I actually just had finished reading a story about MPJ. PBJ came in and hit some big shots. So just to watch the young guys, I think, you know, and speaking of growth, a month ago, we couldn't win that game. And so just Moses gave some, had some great minutes. So just to see the growth in the young guys to understand, okay, we can go out and win a game like that now. That was huge. And that was good. And that was great for their confidence. And again, another one where you like, oh man, good win. We can build some momentum off that, right? Yes, of course we can. We roll into our first home game back from the trip. Dominating Brooklyn, completely dominating them. Go up 17 in the first half, end the first half up 12 points comfortably. Play well in the third quarter. Actually come outta halftime and, and, and it all started to go downhill. We've struggled coming outta halftimes this year. Same old story. And so again, another issue that— Draymond Green. Where's the growth and when do we correct the issue? That's what we have to figure out. But I mean, let's just speak about the game. Kyrie Irving had a really, really good game. You know, quite frankly, for me as a competitor, to see Kyrie Irving back on the floor and thriving, as talented as he is and what Kyrie Irving brings to this league, I think is absolutely amazing. Obviously had the opportunity to play against Kyrie Irving in 3 NBA Finals. Yeah, 3 NBA Finals. And just his skillset, absolutely incredible. Absolutely amazing. And he caused a lot of issues for us. Willed those guys back. And ultimately they ended up taking the game. I thought Claxton played a really good game, just playing his role, getting drop-offs, putbacks, rebounded the basketball well, and really, really defended really well. You know, that team switches 5. And I didn't think we did a good job of like, if you just bring it down, get us, you know, run a pick and roll and get a switch. He's really good at that. He can move his feet, uses his length well, he's bouncy, quick. I didn't think we did a good job of putting him in situations with all the switching that they're doing that's uncomfortable for him. And there are some things that we could have done to make him uncomfortable as opposed to just running ball screens and like getting the switch because that's what they do. They're used to that. So can you attack them and make them guard things when they switch that they're not comfortable doing? And we did not do a good job of that at all. I just felt like we were sped up. I think there are times in a game where you have to realize when you have to adjust. And initially that was working. And then you have to adjust and maybe go to a different style of offense, you know, at some point in the game if they start to figure that out. And that's on me because I'm usually the, our coach on the floor, if you will, to kind of work through those things. And I have to do a better job of getting us slowed down. Like we were so sped up that the things that we could get to, to bother all of their switching, we never got to. And so I did a poor job of that and I have to do a better job of that. But we scored enough points to win the game. We didn't get enough stops. When it was time, when it was down the stretch, we needed a couple stops to put the game away. We couldn't get the stops. And that was the same thing that happened in Boston. We couldn't get the stops. And so you have this theme here of, you know, it gets to a point in the game where, okay, you've scored enough points and if you get stops, you'll score more points. But if you're getting scored on every time and now you're playing against a set defense every play, it becomes much harder to execute and get points. And you're struggling on the other end. And so I think this boils down to stops. This boils down to us contain— containing dribble penetration, not allowing a Kyrie Irving to get in the paint and break our defense down every time and our whole defense collapses. But that doesn't just start with one guy. That starts by shrinking the floor so that Kyrie Irving doesn't see huge gaps. Because a ball handler like Kyrie Irving, I don't care what defender you put on him, he's gonna get past the first defender or get an advantage. He's that good of a ball handler. Like there were a couple times where he lost the ball where I normally, like I'm getting that steal. And like you go to reach for the steal and that's just when he got you. 'Cause he gonna, his handle is insane. It's like the best part of his handle is once he lose it. At least when you think. He's lost it. And so we have to do a better job of that. On, against Boston, it was Marcus Smart getting into the paint. It was Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown getting into the paint. And it just collapses your defense. But again, what we have to realize is that's not a one-guy task. That's not one guy that's just gonna sit there and say, "All right, you're not getting into this paint." It's also, it's a communication thing. We have to communicate better because it switches. It's, you know, it's guard-to-guard screens. A big setting the guard on the screen and now they get a switch and they get into the paint on the big. Like it's communication, it's shrinking the floor, it's making sure your shell is tight. We're not doing a good job of that and it's costing us games. And so it's very important that we understand where our mistakes are coming down the stretch and it's all defensive related. And those are mistakes that you can easily correct. But it have to tighten up. We have to tighten the defense up. So that's our last few games. Looking ahead to the Grizzlies game coming up on Wednesday, tomorrow. Obviously we know the history with these guys. We already played 'em once at home. We took the win on Christmas Day. They had been playing extremely well, winning 11 or 12 straight. And you know, gotta reset a little bit. But we know who they are coming in here. Very talented young team. Team that's looking to make that next step, take that next jump. And then obviously we've had our fair share of things with them over the last couple of years. Losing in the playing game, and then last year sending them home in 6. And— You know, there's never any shortage of bulletin board material. Everybody's trying to build it up to like be some rivalry. I don't think they've accomplished enough yet for us to consider it a rivalry, but it's always a great game. And it's one of those games that you're gonna get up a little bit more than, some other game. It's not the cliché, "Oh, every game is the same." It's not that. It's a big game. It's a fun game to play in. We know they're gonna come and bring the best out of us. We're gonna bring the best out of them. And it should be a good game. Ultimately, I always feel like, you know, I always say, if we play our, a good game, they play a good game, we win the game. We play our best, they play their best, we win the game. So what— Draymond Green. They're coming off a little drama actually with their game against the Lakers over the weekend. I think we all saw the Dylan Brooks, Shannon Sharpe incident. What did I make of this incident? I saw that Dylan Brooks said, "Oh, if that was just a fan, they shouldn't be allowed." It's Shannon Sharpe, bro. Shannon Sharpe coming back in the game. I get it. And like, by law, is that true? Yes. But it's not true. It's one of those like unwritten laws where it's like, yeah, bro, Shannon Sharp can come on the sideline and talk junk and like whatever. And like Shannon Sharp not getting put out the game. Also, you can't call Shannon Sharp a pedestrian. I, as someone who talks a lot of stuff to media and about media, like Shannon Sharpe is Shannon Sharpe. Shannon Sharpe is a Hall of Famer. But this is also the same guy who like called them a dynasty. So I guess the exaggerations be a little out there. And I get it, but like, you can't call Shannon Sharpe a pedestrian. I'm sorry, but Shannon Sharpe is one of the greatest tight ends in the history of football. And he's turned into an incredible media personality. You can't, like, you just can't really refer to Shannon Sharpe as a pedestrian because what that does is it make you look like a pedestrian. Yeah. Because people immediately then say, well, what have you done? And then they line up the things that you've done and line them up next to Shannon Sharpe. And like, you're still in the middle of a career, but quite frankly, there's no comparison to like Shannon Sharpe. Like Shannon Sharpe is like literally one of the greatest tight ends of all time. Stamped by his Hall of Fame orange jacket. I'll give Dylan Brooks the benefit of the doubt and say he's probably just watched Shannon Sharpe talk on TV, and because he's Canadian, he don't quite know Shannon Sharpe, and he's younger. So maybe he don't know Shannon Sharpe to be the great tight end that I grew up watching with the Denver Broncos, and then— Yeah. And then the Baltimore Ravens, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say, okay, he don't understand that. I hope that's the case. Because other than that, calling Shannon Sharpe a pedestrian, either you're misinformed or you're being super emotional. And neither is good. So that's my take on the incident. What happened, I don't really care. But you gotta know Shannon Sharpe not getting kicked out. And you gotta know Shannon Sharpe is not a pedestrian. Shannon Sharpe is like, yeah. So try not to do that one again. I was also very happy to see T and Shannon Sharpe hugging it out, talking it out like men do. As you know, the media will never show that. That's something you gotta scroll through Instagram and find because it's not controversial. And who wants to see the two guys make up and talk? And do things the right way and say, "Hey man, we just had our disagreement, we had our difference or whatnot, but now we good and we worked this out and kept this amongst men." I respect that, I love it. Job well done. My Black brothers, much appreciated. Something our young, children and young men need to see. Like, you can have a disagreement, you can have your differences, it's okay to talk it out and it's all good. And, and by the way, that doesn't mean whatever they didn't see eye to eye on after that conversation, they still didn't see eye to eye on it. That doesn't mean that, but they made it right, and I respect that. Respected them two brothers. Uh, last but not least, before we get out of here, uh, the Rui trade. Between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Washington Wizards, Washington Wizards are sending 3 second round picks. Excuse me, the Los Angeles Lakers are sending 3 second round picks and Kendrick Nunn to the Washington Wizards. The Los Angeles Lakers are getting Rui Hachimura back. In the trade, what do I make of this trade? How, as they say, grade the trade? I would say the Lakers won the trade. Not because, 'cause I actually think Kendrick Nunn is going to go to Washington and play well. I think Kendrick Nunn is gonna go to Washington and rediscover the Kendrick Nunn that we saw in Miami. And there's an opportunity for him to do that there. So I would say look out for that. But as of right now, as it stands, the Lakers want to trade for the right now. Why do I think that? Because the Lakers kind of have a logjam right there in the point guard spot with— Draymond Green. Draymond Green. Dennis. Pat Bev kind of being that in-between, like point guard defender, two, not really a two point guard. Anyway, and it just wasn't working out for Kendrick Nunn. He missed all last year. I think their patience had worn thin so he could never really solidify himself in the rotation. Oh, and then obviously you have Russell Westbrook. But Russell Westbrook is always in a different category for me. So that's why I did not name Russ. But so I think it was just hard for Kendrick Nunn to find his footing. And I also think they're impressed with what they've seen with Max Christie thus far. Max Christie being a pretty good defender, playing hard, knocking some shots down now, getting to the hole. I think they're pretty impressed with what they've seen from Max Christie. But I also felt like the Lakers know that they have to make some moves —And this is a way of doing it and still holding on to those two first-round picks that they haven't wanted to get rid of. Now, here's what I will say. The Rui trade is very good for the Lakers because anytime you can get length and athleticism, it's always helpful. Rui can defend multiple positions, and Rui can stretch the floor and knock, knock the three down. Now he's shooting it at 40%, which is really good. And it's not on one attempt a game or like he, he's shooting a good amount of 'em. But Rui's shot is the mid-range shot. And as you get into the playoffs, when you got a mid-range shot, that bodes well in the playoffs. And so I think this, the reason I say the Lakers win this trade is because this just adds another, player that can do multiple things, and everyone is gonna— like, how people will grade the trade, they'll say, well, they still need a true point guard or something, or, or no, or you know what they'll say? They need shooting, which we all can agree they can use some shooting, um, or a rim protector, because, you know, People look and they like, oh, they don't have this thing, they don't have that thing. And so it doesn't fit the makeup of what my template say a team should be. Well, I am of the belief you need players that can play. Now shooting, you do run up into a point to where you need some shooting because the, the paint will get tight during the playoffs. But rim protection. Yeah. Yeah, you gotta have some rim protection, but they do have Anthony Davis. Who's like incredible rim protector. So I think this trade helps the Lakers. Like I said, the fact that Rui can shoot all of that is great. But the fact that he's another player that you trust and can play and put out there, and he's a respected NBA player. I always talk to people about like a player can play well, but if other players don't really respect that guy, It's only so much you can do. Like respect. Like when I look on the other end of the floor and I'm like, okay, I respect that guy. That plays a big part in being successful in the NBA. And people don't understand that. And so for them to add just another respected guy, a guy who has a skillset, can defend, do the things that Rui does. I think this is a great trade for the Lakers. You hold onto those picks that you want to hold onto. You get rid of some, uh, 3 second round picks. Quite frankly, I came outta the second round, so you could be getting rid of a Draymond Green, but that's neither here nor there. You could be getting rid of a Jalen Brunson, but that's neither here nor there. So you could be getting rid of a Chris Middleton, but that's neither here nor there. You got Rui. I think that's a good trade for the Lakers. Does that get them over the hump? Not necessarily. What's gotta get them over the hump is what they've already had. Like you don't really make trade often that just gets you over the hump in the middle of the season. Doesn't really happen often. So does it get them over the hump? No. What has to get you over the hump is LeBron James and Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook. Now, does it make them a better team? Absolutely, 100% a better team. He'll help them. So that's my take. That's also the top of the show. That's a wrap this episode. Shout out to everybody who's listening to this on Amazon app. And also shout out to our listeners and subscribers that's been here along this ride. Later in the week, we have a good interview. Make sure you check that out. Yeah. I'm out till next time. Peace. What's up everybody? It's Draymond Green. Make sure you subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel below so you don't miss any more of this great content going forward.