Draymond & Baron on Warriors-Pelicans, battling Zion Williamson, Kuminga story overblown, NBA fights

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[MUSIC] What up everybody? We back. The Draymond Green Show with my dog Baron Davis. What's good, my brother?

First off, Warriors 2-0 without Steph, and in the second game versus the Pels, You, my friend, stepped it up. You made 3 threes, 3 for 5. You ended with a game high and a season high. Well, you ended with a season high, 14 points, 5 blocks, 4 rebounds. You know what I mean? Assists, what, 5 assists?

Yes, sir.

All around, you know what I mean? Vintage Draymond. What changed in your approach for the game?

I just wanted to come out more aggressive, man. I, you know, I felt like I started off aggressive last game, took a couple threes in the beginning of the game, and then I kind of let that aggressiveness go. And so I just wanted to make sure I come out with that mindset, knowing that they're not necessarily daring me to shoot, but you know, it's there and just raising up. And then also with Steph being out, the first good look you get on the possession may be the best look you get on the possession. Where as opposed to with Steph, the first good look you on the possession is usually not the best look of the possession. And so just kind of changing that mindset. And then Zion got at me last night, you know? So, you know, he played well last night. So I wanted to come back and bounce back, you know, and have a, have a great game and make sure We took care of home court.

Yeah, it seemed like rhythm, rhythm, rhythm, rhythm, right? I like the volume, you know what I mean? 5 for 11, 11 shots. Like I think in this stretch you just gotta like get shots up, you know what I mean? 'Cause you gonna make shots when you know you going in the game, okay, I'm gonna get, you know, my 11, 12 shots a game. I'm try to get to the line 3, 4, 5 times a game, you know what I mean? Like once you, like you in that mode, even when Steph come back, that's just, man, that's that other dynamic again. You feel what I'm saying? But the defense, bro, Defensive Player of the Year.

Come on, come on, come on, come on.

Let's make that case.

I'm locked in on it, bro. That's my goal, man. You know, going into or just living through this offseason, well, number one, To see my name not on the All-Defensive Team last year pissed me off. Now I know I wasn't eligible because of the amount of games that I missed, but it pissed me off. And I want to continue to build on what I hope ultimately ends up being a Hall of Fame career.

Absolutely.

And you know, the more accolades you can stack up, the better. And so for me personally, that is a goal of mine coming into this year. You know, I, I've heard all the talk about Chet on the defensive end and Wimby on the defensive end. And I'm not taking nothing away from those guys. Those guys are special.

Right.

But I know I can affect a defense in a different way than them. I'm not 7 feet, you know, so.

Right.

I have to use positioning and my brain to be great on the defensive end and a tenacity that I need to bring to the game in order to be great on the defensive end. So, That is one of my goals this year, man.

I love that.

To get back in that Defensive Player of the Year race, get back on that All-Defense First Team, and just keep running that up. So I'm locked in, bro.

I love it, 'cause that's the piece. That's the championship piece. You know what I mean? And like putting that goal in front, like, man, that's that winning piece, man. I'm telling you, that's that championship piece for you guys. Especially with the talent, with the depth you got, the versatility. Like, you adapting that role and going after that and still being aggressive on the offensive end, because, you know, offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds, the way you are a play— like, your playmaking ability on offense and defense. I think you got to be thinking offense too, you know what I mean? Because Defensive Player of the Year, you gotta also show that, you know, I can score against these dudes or we can make their best defender look vulnerable.

100%. And that's the goal. You know, when you're going into these games, you know, you, you, you, you wanna make their best defensive player look vulnerable because if you can make their best defensive player look vulnerable, everybody else is subject to whatever the hell gonna happen, you know?

Right.

And so that's always gotta be the goal for us. And you're right, I have to keep that same level of aggression on both sides of the floor.

Draymond Green.

Which is gonna be a goal of mine. And it's a mindset thing, you know? So I just gotta make sure I stay in that mindset, but I will. You know, I found a—

You better. I found that— You got to now.

I found that love again this summer for competing and goal setting and reaching these goals. You know what I'm saying? Like, year 13, first I'm looking at it like, man, I probably got a year left or two, you know what I'm saying? And I'm out.

Yeah. And then I'm like, why?

Why are you looking at the game of basketball that way? Like, lock in, be as good as you can be. Live in the moment. That's been the goal the whole, absolutely. And so that's where I'm at with it, man. I'm locked in. I got these goals that I set, we got these team goals and I feel like I can reach all of 'em and we can reach all of 'em. So that's the goal. That's what's pushing me every day, bro.

I like that. Stay in the moment, bro. Stay in the moment. That's it. We ain't thinking about nothing else but this moment. And, and this Defensive Player of the Year, man.

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Before we move on, let the people know what we chopping it up about today.

Oh, in today's episode we gonna discuss Kaminga coming off the bench. Interesting comments from the 2024 number 1 draft pick and a coach who says fighting should come back to the NBA. Ooh, okay.

With all the punishment I done went through from fighting, miss me with that.

At halftime of Tuesday's game against the Pelicans, You challenged the guys. What did you say to inspire the team to perform differently in the second half?

Well, I just told them, you know, when we picked up our force on the defensive end, they started to look like a completely different team. And I reminded them last year when we played this team, this team was up 20 points on us and we started to lock in. And once we locked in, once we locked in, We were down 20 points and we ended up winning the game by 15 points. I reminded them of that. I said, hey, here it is. We were down 20 points. We picked up our defensive intensity. We're up 4. If we go back outta this locker room with that same defensive intensity that we started playing with in the second quarter, we'll win this game by 20 points. We fell a little short of that. We won the game by 18 points. But you know, guys came out locked in, accepting those challenges defensively. And although Zion had a big game, although B.I. had a big game, I think if I'm not mistaken, they were the only two guys on the first night of the back-to-back in double digits. And so shutting off everybody else water the way we did, you know, it allowed us to have a great defensive game and ultimately do what I challenged the guys to do coming out at halftime.

That had to happen, dude. And then before the first game, against the Pelicans, it was announced by Sham that Kaminga was benched.

Which was a complete overreaction, by the way.

Yeah, I was gonna ask you that. Like, did you get a chance to talk to him and all that? But you know, especially with like how the media positioned it, like, oh, Kaminga is benched. And you know, it's like, this is what other dudes are getting. I feel like he, you know, I feel like Kerr like to play with lineups anyway. But I think it was blown outta proportion. Can you lend some insight on that?

It was 100% blown outta proportion, which is why you see JK enter the game the way he entered the game. He entered the game with his foot on the gas pedal.

Mm-hmm.

And he entered the game playing with a force that we need him to play with. A complete overreaction because the reality is the lineup change was actually because Steph wasn't out there. And so with Steph not being out there, you need to add more shooting in different spots.

Right.

And so as opposed to JK being in, we added Moses, we added Buddy because you need that shooting to space the floor or else they were just gonna zone us, which they tried some anyway and they were just gonna clog the paint. It was gonna make it hard for everybody. And that is not a knock on JK. If anything, it's probably a knock on me.

Yeah.

And Trace, you know, but he approached it with the right mindset. He came off playing hard. The media tried to blow it up as they always do. But that's what the lineup change was about. And ultimately it was a great call by Steve last two nights because not only did we find shooting, we found spacing, but it actually sparked J.K. and he had his best two games of the year so far.

Yeah, I do agree. I do agree. He had a different, he had a different kind of motivation and swag and, You know, almost like I need him to have that chip on his shoulder the whole year. You feel what I'm saying? Like he, like you said, he never let off the gas.

J.K. put this move on B.I. today to have B.I. looking like me yesterday when Zion spent on me baseline and had me standing out of bounds and he was laying the ball up. Like, J.K. hit B.I. with the, "Ah, left step." He stepped left but put the ball right. And B.I. went way left. He was at the rim laying the ball up, man. It was beautiful. What I loved about that though is like, B.I.'s been an all-star in this league. B.I. is body type, you know, prototype 3, like J.K. is. And to me, it looked like he took that personal. Yeah. When he put that move on B.I.

Yeah. It's like, yo, it was almost like, I can do this too. You know what I mean?

Exactly.

Exactly.

That's like, I'm here too.

That says a lot, bro. Especially like you going at somebody that is your prototype. You know what I mean? That's, you know, oh, like you get a move off like that on a dude like B.I., you know what I mean? In a game like that, like it take your confidence to the roof. You know what I'm saying?

Who was the guy for you when you came in the league where you was young and you looking like, okay, that, if that's who y'all saying is the guy, I need to go at him. Because for me it was actually Blake. It was Blake and LaMarcus Aldridge where I'm coming in and they like, yo, these the top 2 power forwards in the league. And I'm like, oh, I'm locking them up. Like I'm at they net. Who was the guy for you like that? Because I saw that outta J.K. tonight.

I think for me it was Jason Kidd. You know, you had Jason Kidd, you had Marbury, You had Steve Nash, Gary Payton when I first got in. And then the scary thing was everybody else. Rod Strickland, Nick Van Exel, Sam Cassell. You know what I mean? And then dudes in my class, Andre Miller. You know what I mean? But it was really like Gary Payton, Jason Kidd was like, he was that dude. You know what I mean? Iverson, Mulberry, they were like the guards in the East. You know, when I was coming up. And so it was like, you have to go, you have to go and make your name, you know, against those dudes. So that was kind of like, you know, when I came into the league, that was my target. It was like, man, if I can get Jason Kidd respect, you know, and he gonna have to pay attention to me, like, you know, I know I'm here, you know what I'm saying?

Mm-hmm. That part, that part. No, I definitely feel that, man.

And so you felt like it was Blake for you and LaMarcus Aldridge?

100%. Like those were the two power fours that everybody was talking about was the best. And obviously you then you had like Z-Bo.

Yep.

You know, when I came in the league, Timmy D was still in the league. He was aging, you know, he had a couple more years left. Dirk was still going, but you know, they were on their back nine, you know what I'm saying? So the two younger guys that, everybody was talking about was Blake and LaMarcus. And they was in our, Blake's in our division, LaMarcus in our conference. We playing those guys, you know, 4 times a year. Every time we play them. And so at that time, you know, I got the moniker that I'm too small on me. You know, I got that tag on me that I'm too small. So every time I see these guys, I'm locked in, I'm biting, biting my bottom lip. I'm trying to go at these boys.

Right.

And that's, You know, that's how ultimately you make your name in this league. You gotta go at the guys that's the ones.

Absolutely. I mean, you wanna be able to walk in the room and people know who you are and gain that respect.

1000%.

And it's almost better for dudes to like not really like you. Mm-hmm.

You know what I'm saying?

Exactly. I see them ones, you know, it's like—

Exactly.

You walk in the room and they don't really like you and you know why, it's like, 'Cause like, nah, you ain't do what you was supposed to, you know, when we locked up, right? Our matchup, like I won the matchup, you know what I'm saying?

Exactly.

So that's—

That was my mindset, bro. When I came in, I came in talking crazy to everybody. I'm talking crazy to Bron, I'm talking crazy to KD. And like Russ and ultimately see KD and Russ, they used to hate it, man. And they'll go at you crazy and talk bad to you. And ultimately, You know, at first they start talking bad, like, who are you? You this, you that. And then you start to gain their respect. And I remember I was on the USA Select team and the respect that KD and Russ showed me walking, I was like, ah, A, I felt good. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. But B, it gave me confidence. Like, oh, they noticed me, they respect me. Right. They're speaking to me. Like, you want that, you want that, that validation from the guys that, you know, the guys. And like, when they was giving me that validation, that's what made me feel like, yo, I could keep taking this next step because these guys are starting to respect me. This episode is sponsored by Gametime Ticketing App. The start of the NBA season is underway and you don't wanna miss the hype atmosphere watching a basketball game live.

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All right, so look, it's your first back-to-back of the season. How are you?

Well, you've been sitting here with this dumbass hat on waiting for me to get on 'cause I'm hurting. I had to get— A lot of treatment. I had to get treatment, then I had to lift, then I had to get treatment after the lift.

Damn.

That's a big boy, man. He fast, he's strong. I tell people about Zion, he ain't just strong, he's powerful, man. Like, it's powerful, forceful, man.

Right, right.

And so taking them bumps for 2 days in a row, man, my back hurt, my hips hurt.

Bro, trying to stay in front of a dude like that is crazy.

I'm hurting, brother. But you know what? It was good to get that first back-to-back under my belt.

Yep.

You know, play well in it, get both games. You know, there's a confidence that comes with that. Like you playing that first back-to-back, especially, you know, as you get older in this league and to just to remind yourself like, yo, I can still do that. You know what I'm saying? Like I can still do that at a high level. You know, I feel good that I was able to play as well as I did in both games. But I'm happy we got the day off tomorrow.

Hey, always. My body is hurting, bro. A day off is always great. But you know what, usually like on the second game of the back-to-back, for some strange reason, like, You feel good. Like, you like, man, I don't, like, I feel better than I did the first game, right?

Yes.

That's crazy. Yes.

I actually did. You go out there because it's a mind thing as well. So you go out there and it's kind of like tiptoeing around. You kind of do something and you're like, ah, all right, I can do that. I ain't tiptoe around somebody.

Right.

Ah, all right, I could do that. Before you know it, I'm like, all right, I got it, man. Like, I got it tonight. I'm ready to go. It's very, it's very weird like that. 'Cause it happens that way sometimes. And then mentally, I think you just lock in differently knowing like, I can't let the back-to-back be the demise of me. I gotta lock in.

That's what it is more, is mental, right? I would say it's more like the mindset 'cause you almost like in a survival mode on the back-to-back.

1000%. Like, let me get through it, let me get through it. And then you get to a point where you like, nah, let's go. Like, I got it. Like, we good. But initially, mentally, you're like, man, I just gotta get through this. Like, and you count down and you're looking at the clock and you're like, all right, one quarter down.

Right. Yeah, we close.

Eventually, hopefully you reach that point to where you, you forget about it and you just in the game. You know what I'm saying? And that happened to me tonight. First quarter, I was like, ah, all right, I'm feeling it out. Second quarter, I'm like, it's go time. I feel it, I got it, I'm all right.

Yeah, you feel cool. Yeah, and it's almost like just a trust. And up next you got a 5-game road trip. So no load management for you. And so this got me thinking about how long the season is, how long it's about to be for you, you know what I mean? You in year 13. So before you go on this long 5-game road trip, I ordered you something from Amazon yesterday, my brother.

That's this box.

For several hours.

Appreciate it, brother.

But I got the right one for you.

Ooh, I need this right now.

Come on.

Play my backfield.

I got you covered. You know what I mean? We ain't on the load management.

I need that right now.

Oh man, I got you covered.

You know what I'm saying? I appreciate that, my brother. Hey, see, there go that experience kicking in. You know, these old dudes ain't had these when they was playing.

Man.

I appreciate you, man. You should know, you know, most old dudes like you would hate to not give me this 'cause you want me to feel like y'all used to feel. Nah, nah, nah.

I appreciate you, old man. Yeah. They gonna be calling you Unc in a minute. They gonna be calling you, they call you Big A. Once they start calling you Big Homie, Somebody gonna come in the league and be like, "What's up, Unc?" Big homie, OG.

Somebody actually has called me uncle already. Bro, you got the young fellas come up to you like, "Man, I watched you growing up, bro." I'm like, "Bro, that's sick." It's like, "Yo, what is this, man? This is crazy." I'm gonna tell you a funny story. So when JK first got here, Kaminga, and like, One thing about Kaminga I learned is you have to earn like his trust, his respect. Like he ain't coming in like, yo, you did this. Like you have to earn the relationship with him. And it's great. I respect it. When he first got here, his rookie year, he would just walk past me and every time he walked past me, he would laugh. He just started laughing. Like every time he snicker, he walked past me. Every time he look at me. All class, JK. And Trav asked me one day, my boy Trav, Trav said, "Man, how's you and JK relationship?" And I was like, "Well, you know, every time he see me, he laugh." And he's like, "Oh, okay, that mean he like you." I'm like, I said, "Nah, Trav, the way it feels is he looking at me laughing like, 'You old motherfucker.'" I said, "Trav, because—" When he see me, the laugh, what the laugh give me is when you see an old school player walking through, first thing you do, you laugh. Yeah, he gonna laugh. Old school, I see you.

Like, all right, I see you old school.

I said, that's the laugh he giving me. Like, you weird, you old, you something, you ain't dressed right, you ain't doing this right, you ain't move right, you ain't dance right. I'm like, that's the laugh he giving me, bro.

That's sick.

It just happens overnight though. Like one year you the young guy on the team, then the next year somebody come in and they like, okay, OG. I'm like, what?

Dog, for real.

It happens overnight, man. It's crazy.

It's sick. It's like everything you say, everything you do is funny to them. You know what I mean? Like, why are you so serious? Like, what?

Yeah.

Oh man.

They laughing at me, bro.

OG, see, man, I got a lot gotta look out for my OG, you feel me?

Nah, for sure, bro. But I, I definitely appreciate this. I need it, you know what I'm saying? You get, you get on this road, sitting on these planes, back-to-back games, traveling a lot, you know, this is, this, this, this is good. So I, I appreciate it. But speaking of the road trip, uh, we got a 5-gamer coming up early, fast, getting right into it. Got the Rockets, um, we got the Rockets, We got the Wizards, we got Boston, we got Cleveland, and we got OKC. Rockets, young up-and-coming team. They starting to put it together. The Wizards won their last 2 games. You know, a team that most people was looking at is gonna be the worst team in the league, won their last 2 games, sitting at 2-2, feeling good about themselves. Boston, we all know Boston, no surprises there. Cleveland, 5-0. First 5-0 start since 2016. What is the significance of 2016? It's a dumbass year for Cleveland is the significance of 2016. And we don't care about that year. You delete it from the record books, delete it from everything.

Yeah.

But it's their first 5-0 start. Kenny, my guy Kenny got them rolling. And then OKC, young, you know, young team. I wouldn't call them up and coming no more. They are here.

Yeah.

They have arrived playing really good basketball. They know who they are. They know who their top dogs are. They play good roles. Lindy Waters is a product of OKC and I am thrilled at the way that he knows how to play ball.

He's nice. He know how to play some basketball.

He knows the right play to make on both sides of the floor. He's an OKC product, you know? So.

Yeah.

Those gonna be some tough, it's a tough road trip, a tough 5-game. Which one of them games you see and you get most excited about?

I mean, obviously, I think this OKC game because it's a conference game. Boston, 'cause y'all get to see, I wanna see, you know, an early version of what y'all versus Boston look like, you know, without Steph. But the Wizards and the Rockets are the games I'm looking forward to. Because one, I like the Rockets. They like my little sleeper team. But the Wizards, you know, Jordan Poole, Kyle Kuzma, right? Hey, Doc. Hey, bro. My bros, they are unpredictable, but they, you already know they gonna be up for that game. That, ooh, that Golden State Wizards game. Like, people don't think about it, but that's going up for sure.

No, They gonna be up for it for sure. You know, both of those guys are some gunslingers.

Hey, dawg, they coming out gunning.

I think JP averaging like 22 and 8 right now, shooting 45% from the 3. So he playing well.

He ballin'.

Kuz got off to a bad start, but last game he got going. And so, you know, those teams, those are natural letdown games. However, we're having a guy like JP there who's been here, you know, you know he gonna come out going at us. So hopefully that'll have guys alert and ready to go. But it's a natural letdown game for sure. Nonetheless, it's such a tough road trip that the ones you supposed to win, you gotta win.

You gotta win those.

And so that's one that we supposed to win. We gotta make sure we take care of business. But you know, it'll be a really big game for them and we gotta make sure that we approach it with that same mindset.

Like in this 5-game road trip, like are there any other games that you look forward to? Like you like, man, ooh, I can't wait till we get there?

So for me, some of these games you get like nostalgia. Like for instance, anytime we go back to Houston, it just always take you back to the moments that we was playing JH.

Yeah.

And Trev and CP and Dwight and Capella, Eric Gordon. Like it takes you back to those moments.

Yeah, that's a fact.

You know what I'm saying? Like you walk in there and it's like, oh man, like I remember how—

You know how to win in here too.

Absolutely. And so it takes you back there. The Wizards, Wizards is always a tough game. But like I said, hopefully that gets us up for that. Boston, that's a rematch of the finals a couple years ago. That's the defending champ. Everybody wanna play against the defending champ. So, you know, that's it. Cleveland, another one.

That's a good matchup.

In that building, you know what I'm saying? So every time you walk in there, you feel like, man, I own this building, but now they back. You know what I'm saying? They playing good basketball. Kenny got them guys rolling. And so that's what that is. And then OKC is the same thing. Like we had some battles in that arena. They back, you know what I'm saying? Them young guys rolling, they ready to take it to us. And so it's a tough, tough road trip, man. Nonetheless, if we can come outta this road trip strong, watch out.

Y'all gonna be good.

Yeah.

Don't look down. Y'all can grab a couple of these wins. Ooh, that's gonna put y'all in it, just in a whole different swag. You know what I'm saying?

1000%. This is one of those road trips that come early in the season where you go play great and then you start looking like, "All right, we serious." You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, we can beat anybody.

Yeah, you start to have a certain level of confidence to where you like, "All right, like, it's ain't no fluke. Like, we can for real put this together." So I like this road trip for us. Like I said, it's coming fast, came up fast on us, but— I like where we at and I like, you know, this is an opportunity for us.

I always say the earlier the better too, 'cause it give you a chance to like do some team bonding, right? To be stuck in the city together, go eat, you know, have a day off, you know what I'm saying?

For sure.

Let your guard down somewhere else where you not just, where you not going home, right? Like you in the hotel. Everybody there, okay, what we doing? We going to dinner? You know, it give you a chance to kind of, you know, build that camaraderie. Is there anything like you like to do on like big road trips with the team or, you know, stuff like that?

So we always try to make sure we get together at least in one of the cities, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. 5-game road trip, you probably want to get together in 2 of the cities. But get together at least once, we do dinner, we kick it. And the good thing about our organization is, We play for the best organization in the league. And so we have these team dinners when we on the road, you know what I'm saying? Where like you can bring 10 people, 15 people, 20 people, like it don't matter. And that's something great that Joe Lacob and Peter Guber allows, you know, our staff to do. They provide these dinners and you figure these dinners ain't, they ain't cheap. Like we go to great restaurants. We don't be at like some rinky-dink restaurants. We'll be at the best of the best restaurant. And so that always allowed for team bonding. You know, sometimes it's a DJ there, you know what I'm saying? We be kicking it. And so that stuff is good.

That's crazy.

Doing stuff like that, you know what I'm saying? Is always, always great. And then you get on the road, you know what I'm saying? Your family ain't there and different things like that. And so you're able to lock in and focus and be in the moment and be present with those guys. And it's just us, you know what I'm saying? We actually say that in the huddle. It's just us. And so, you know, road trips like this are always good. You know, and like you said, especially with it coming early in the season for us, you get a chance to continue, or you get to continue to get to know the guys you with even better. So it's good. It's interesting though, these road trips for us now, they're not as long as they used to be. You know, when you was playing, I know when you was playing, y'all had long road trips. Two weeks. 'Cause when I came in the league, we had a 16-day road trip.

Hey man.

My first year in the league.

16, 8.

You got any cool road trip stories? Like how was y'all road trips? I used to hear these stories. I mean, when you come into the league, you know, you see, we all saw Love and Basketball. I love Love and Basketball. And where he say, you know, you walk into the hotel lobby and there's 50 girls waiting.

Amen.

In the hotel lobby. Man. You know, there's 20 girls that make it past security onto your floor. Man. The boldest one is standing right at your door. And young in the league, I was looking for that and I never saw that. Did y'all have that?

How big of a donut and a zero? Hey bro, hey bro, I thought the same damn thing. I was watching the movies, I was like, okay, We about to get off the bus. It's about to be fans, groupies. We rock stars. No, it was like 12:30 in the morning. There was nobody out there but some autograph people. It was like, hey bro, this is bullshit. Yes. The next city, it's like, nope. The next city, like, we getting there early. Maybe shit change. Nope.

Nope.

Okay. Hey bro, that was the biggest myth.

That's crazy. I'm like, for sure it's about to be chicks in the lobby.

Where we at? Man, I get in the league. Nobody.

First couple years in the league, I'm thirsty scouring around the lobby, bro. Ain't nobody there.

Nobody, bro. Room service.

It's crazy.

Watch a movie. Go to sleep.

And go to sleep. This is it.

It ain't nobody around. And you liking, Come on, dude. You in, what, Pontiac, Detroit? You know what I mean? You in Milwaukee. You in Indiana.

You know what I'm saying? What you not gonna do though is disrespect going to play the Pistons.

No, I'm saying you stay in Pontiac. You not staying in Detroit.

Well, you used to stay in Birmingham.

Birmingham.

At the Townsend.

At the Townsend. Which is an incredible hotel. Which is an amazing hotel. Nice little village. Go to the movies. Go to the little restaurant. They got a couple spots you can go to. Townsend's was great. Great, great rooms. Sleep all day. It's snowing. Leo's Coney Island a block away. Hey, dog, you remember E-Rob, Eddie Robinson?

Yeah, absolutely.

Okay, so, so, so E-Rob. Oh, okay. Yeah, that's my dog. Eddie Robinson, when we was in Detroit, he had this van, right? And when he was a rookie, he had like a, it was like a maroon van on like gold Dayton's. You feel what I'm saying? Like, you know, like I was like, man, that shit hard. So look, bro, we get to—

You lied to him. You the problem.

Nah, that shit was, you know, that was like back in the day you had your gold, your gold rims, but he had like the, uh, like the camper van. Like, I don't know, like, you know, like a, uh, he was one of the first dudes with like the stage— not a stagecoach, but whatever that shit was. It was a van, but it was roomy, you know, bucket seats, all that shit. So I'm like, hey bro, uh, he was like, yo, you can use the car, you can use the car. Um, I was like, man, I want to go to the mall. I said, let me use your car, go to the mall, I want to catch a cab. He was like, man, you can, uh, you can use the car, but you can't make no left turns. What? What? He said the left turn was broke. I said, man, get that shit to me anyway. Look, I was hitting rights, bro. Bro, I hit like 12. I was hitting like 12 rights. Hey, I was scared as shit.

That's crazy.

Hey, dawg, I was scared as shit. I was scared as shit in Detroit. I was flying.

Man, you could not make a—

You could not make a left turn.

The fact that you actually decided to still drive that car, I got a question for you. This is madness.

For real, for real, for real.

Flagrant, flagrant.

Hey, the shit didn't turn. Like if you tried to turn it left, that shit wasn't that. Fuck it, make another right turn.

That's crazy. Shout out to E-Rob.

Shout out to him.

Flint, Flint, stand up.

One of the best athletes I ever played with though, E-Rob. That was my dog. We was rookies together. I'll never forget that shit though.

Hey, speaking of athletes, we moving around. Let's move around this league a little bit. We must have a conversation about the number 1 pick in the 2024 draft. Zach Richardson talks about his situation during training camp, and he says, I— and I quote, back in France, I was super athletic, and now I'm just a regular dude. Uh-oh. If you are the latter half, how alarming is that statement?

Uh-oh.

This man already think he regular. He's the number one pick.

Uh-oh.

5 games in, he said, I'm just a regular dude. How alarming is that?

No, that is— ring the alarm, bro. Sound the sirens. That is, that's a major alarm.

Red alarm. Are you kidding me? Red flag.

What?

Are you kidding me, bro? Even if you believe that, brother, lie.

You cannot say that, bro.

Anthony Richardson, if you are tired and you took yourself out because you tired, say, "Ah, I felt tired right here." Yeah, yeah, my neck felt, yeah, a little knickknack or something. What are you doing? If you believe that lie, Because that to me just shows a level of confidence that you don't have. A level of dog that you don't have.

You ain't gonna persevere out of it. Exactly.

So you gonna be a regular dude. And quite frankly, if I'm being honest with you, being a regular dude as the number one pick in the NBA ain't okay. You can't be regular. Nobody gonna let you be regular. So my man, you better figure out how to stand out And you better do it fast.

Yeah, you know, it's just, bro, it's just a testament to like, you see these kids and they playing against competition and the competition that they play against may be a little older, less athletic. And so, you know, when you young, you feel like, man, I'm, you know, I'm a superhero. And then when you get to that level, right? You know, it's people like Jonathan Kuminga, you know what I mean?

Yeah.

People like my boy Sharp, Shaden Sharp, you know what I mean? You looking at dudes like, and then you got Jalen Johnson on your team.

Yep.

So you like, damn. Yeah, you like, damn. Like, but it shouldn't be about just your athletic, your athleticism. And you should never say you regular.

Yes.

You never wanna be regular, bro. You didn't come here regular. You wasn't the number— if you figured out that you was regular, like, then you should say, hey man, I wanna reset my contract. You know what I mean?

And send me back to Friends.

And send me back to Friends, bro. We can't be doing no regular shit. What is regular?

I'm a regular dude.

What is regular? That don't even make sense, right? I ain't never met— Really, I ain't never met an NBA dude that thought that he was a regular dude. Even the dudes who don't play, like, they don't think they— like, it's your confidence is everything, bro. Regular, regular don't exist.

Regular? Somebody called me regular, I take such offense.

I be trying to whoop they ass.

And this man said, I'm just a regular dude over here.

Or maybe he meant it in a different way. I don't know.

No, he meant exactly what he said.

That's it.

And for all these Twitter fingers out here, you see how different the NBA is now. So shut up. That's what y'all need to do. Shut up.

Shut the hell up.

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Joe Mazzulla expressed his desire for the NBA to allow more fighting, similar to other sports. He stated, the biggest thing we rob people of from an entertainment standpoint is that you can't fight anymore. I wish we could bring back fighting. He told this to NBC Sports Boston. Is he tripping or is he right?

I mean, one thing I would say to Joe Mazzulla is, fighting had you out of this league, brother.

For real. So basketball is a gentleman's game, by the way.

I always say that. I get what Joe's trying to get at, and more so what he's saying is the intensity.

Yeah.

And you know, the shit talking.

Yeah.

And like guys getting testy. Like we take so much of that outta the game today. And so I think that's what he's getting at. But like actual physical fights, Joe, I'm here to petition against you and say, no, we not doing that. Because where that almost led me, my man, I don't want none of that. I'm cool. Y'all can have the fighting, Joe. I'm gonna leave that to Joe. Joe, you go fight. Smoke it, Joe.

Yeah, I think what he meant was, you know, allowing people to tussle, allowing people to push, you know what I mean? Bringing the fight back into the game, right? Where people are pissed off. You know, you got some fouls, you got some rivalries. 'Cause right now it's like, when you look at rivalries, it's like, all right, who gonna make the most threes? And like, a little bit of jawing, right? But like, can we allow dudes to lock up?

Fact.

Not necessarily fight, 'cause I don't think basketball, you know, basketball is a gentleman's game, you know what I mean? And so you got etiquettes and shit like that. And you know, it's just certain rules and codes to where you ain't trying to hurt nobody, take nobody out. You look like a, you know, like a maniac or whatnot. But there's also like an emotional capacity that if you allow, you know, dudes to like get they emotions out, you know what I mean? It'll create definitely more entertainment, more emotion, you know what I mean? And more intensity in the game.

No, I agree with you 100%, man. I think it'll definitely bring a level of intensity to the game that we don't see. I also think a lot of these guys that be talking don't really be about that. And it stop a lot of guys from talking the way they talk.

Bingo. Bingo.

And so, you know, I get some of it. I get what he's saying on some fronts of it, but it ain't happening, Joe. Smokin' Joe, you better take your ass back to the boxing ring. Smokin' Joe, they was about to have me out here last year, champ.

For real. For real. Over some light. Over some light, right?

Yeah. Over a Coors Light.

That was super light. Chat versus Wemby. This could be a huge rivalry, but in their first match of the season, Wemby only has 6 points versus the Thunder. He's shooting 42% from the field and 22% from the 3. Why do you think he is having such a tough start to the season?

Oh, well, number one, when you come back from off that first summer, everybody been watching you.

Yeah.

You know, defenses are prepared. It's not the first time everybody's seen you. There's game plans that's built to stop you. And so you have to adjust to that. And I think Wemby's just going through what most of us go through where he has to make those adjustments. I think what he'll start to learn is, you know, shooting 22% from 3 is some of them he take his back and, you know, start picking and choosing his spots on when he takes some of those shots that he'd be taking. Yeah, you got the ultimate, ultimate green light, but there's still a responsibility that comes with that on the type of shots that you're getting, which will ultimately help him get back to playing like the player that we know he can. It's 5 games in, nobody's pressing the panic button, but you know, this is starting to grow into a rivalry, uh, with him and Shet. And to come out and have 6 points, lose the game by double digits.

Yeah.

It's disappointing. Uh, I think Chet finished with like 19 and 8 or something like that. So, you know, Chet got the best of him this game. Uh, it's just one game. It's not the end of the world, but you know, Wimby's gonna have to figure out what teams are doing differently to him than they've done last year and make those adjustments. And you know, with his skill level and his talent level, there's zero doubt.

Right.

He will figure it out and make those adjustments. But you know, credit to Chet. He came out ready to go.

Came out ready.

He's number one this year.

Yeah, Wimby also like sometimes you think it's sweet in the second half of the season because you starting to find your way, you know what I mean? And like rhythm and flow. And then you coming into the next season thinking like, oh, you know, it's gonna be as sweet as it was last season. But to your point, people are prepared for you, right? There's a different level of intensity, right? And everybody is fighting for a spot and not like, oh, we don't care, we play San Antonio. You know what I mean? Let us be cool. Like, everybody laughing and joking towards the end of the season if you ain't really in the playoffs or not. But at the beginning of the season, the intensity is high. So he got to figure out how to make adjustments in the game, not his game, but like, can you get some tip-ins, you know what I mean? Can you, uh, can you get to the free throw line, right? Can you get on the offensive glass, get some putbacks? You know, he gotta learn to have a better all-around feel for the game, especially when everybody gonna be focused on him.

100%. And then is he a little tired? You know, he played a full EuroLeague season.

Yep.

Went straight into the NBA draft, training for the NBA draft, NBA draft, summer league, rookie season, Olympics, NBA season. You know what I'm saying?

That's tough.

That's the European model. You know, he young and the Europeans, they, They all, you know, play summer basketball pretty much every year. And so that's just what it's gonna be. So not making excuses. Check out the better of 'em today.

He did.

But you know, I expect Wemby to get it going. I think, you know, he will. But that's why you see a lot of guys go through that, what we call a sophomore slump, because it's just gonna be a little different than it was for you that rookie year.

Totally.

Love to see it. Before we get outta here, man, get at me @Buckus_2024. Rudy Gay recently retired. Baron, you played against him and Draymond Green. You played with him as a teammate. How special was Rudy as a player? Do you guys have any stories about Rudy Gay?

Rudy Gay. Rudy. Congratulations, my bro. That's every time I see him, I say Rudy. Man, I would say you talking about phenomenal talent, you know, somebody who was a bucket. I think for him, like, the amount of talent he had, he became like just a great teammate. And he was like the epitome of like being this ultra talent and then becoming like this great talent on a good team and a good team player. You know what I mean? And off the court, you know, that's my dog, Mr. Fashion, you know, cool, you know, uh, just a solid dude, you know, just always embraced me, embraced my family, you know, always tapped in. And so, you know, I got big love for Rudy. Congratulations on retirement, bro. Uh, you know, welcome to the— welcome to the good life.

I respect that, man. Like you said, congrats to Rudy. You know, I had a chance to spend a little bit of time with him last camp. You know, he came in the camp with us. I was actually hoping he make the team. You know, when you get on some of these teams, especially as young as we were last year, you'd be looking for somebody to hang with.

Right.

You know what I'm saying? I'm like, I can kick it with Rudy. You know what I'm saying? He a great dude. And you know, just having an opportunity to play against Rudy, especially in his prime, man, he was special, man. He would put you to the rim, take you off the dribble, get to the middy, shoot the 3. Rudy Gay couldn't do anything on the basketball court. That you needed or wanted to be done. And, you know, like you said, just a special talent for him to go to the situations that he ultimately ended up going to after he left kind of Memphis, then Toronto, and take on the roles that he was willing to take on just shows you the type of team player that he was, the type of guy that he is.

Mm-hmm.

Not a guy that's all hung up on himself, can see the bigger picture. And I'm happy, you know, he had a great career. I'm happy to see him retiring. Under his terms, moving on to his next thing in life. Wishing Rudy well, man. Job well done, my brother. 18 years. Rudy, yeah.

Love you, man.

That's a lot. Congrats. It's a lot, lot of years, man. We can only hope to make it 18 years. So job well done, my friend. Enjoy retirement. Well deserved. Much love. We appreciate you, Rudy.

My dog, we love you, Rudy, man.

And for those of you that has tuned into this episode of the Draymond Green Show with none other than the one and only BD, Baron Davis, we appreciate y'all. If you haven't already, please subscribe. By the way, before we go, I'm sorry, tell them why you got that dumbass thing on your head.

Los Dodgers!

I'm happy we can't hear you clap.

Let's go Dodgers! Bow down when we Westwood bound. Bow down to them Dodgers, that's greater than you.

Y'all have a great weekend.