In this inaugural episode of the Draymond Green Show, Draymond Green breaks down the Minnesota Timberwolves–Phoenix Suns playoff series, focusing on Anthony Edwards as the Timberwolves' decisive factor. He highlights Edwards' recent Instagram story captioned “15 more,” interpreting it as a sign that Edwards is already thinking like a 16‑game (playoff) player, a mindset he deems rare among young stars. Green contrasts “82‑game” regular‑season players with “16‑game” playoff‑ready players, arguing that Edwards embodies the latter. He asserts that Kevin Durant should be tasked with defending Edwards throughout the series, not Karl‑Anthony Towns, and explains why Durant’s defensive presence is essential while the Suns rely on Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, and Grayson Allen for offensive firepower. Green repeatedly emphasizes Edwards’ importance, predicts his rise as a future star, and urges viewers to consider “buying stock” in Ant‑Man, using sports‑analogy language to stress Edwards’ growing value.
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Welcome to the brand new Draymond Green Show YouTube channel. Hit subscribe so you don't miss out on any of our content. Anthony Edwards over the Phoenix Suns and, well, Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves over the Phoenix Suns. And I said something to you all about that series last week that I think will need to happen. And when I walked away from that game the other day, what I said to you all is going to need to happen more. So we're gonna get a little further into that. Everyone is talking about the moment where Ant Edwards had with KD. He had him on the left wing, sized him up, hit the Tracy in his face off the dribble, which gave them a sizable lead. I think it put them up 18 at that point, 15 or 18 at that point. And Ant was talking. Ant had everything to say that he'd been having to say. And that was a moment. That was a very interesting moment because as I told you all, I think Anthony Edwards is poised to be that next guy. He want to be that next guy. He telling you he that next guy and he going to play like he that next guy. And I think it's something special to say when you are as good or when you are good enough to say, I'm better than you and y'all old and all of the things that Anthony Edwards says. And then he goes out and prove them. Now, I saw something the other day that made me like, I kind of really been all in on Anthony Edwards since day one. Thought he was a special talent since day one. When I say day one, I'm going back post or, you know, pre-draft. Thought he was special going to Klutch Pro Day. I remember that first year Klutch ever did their own, their Pro Day on TV. Anthony Edwards. Um, so I personally been high on Anthony Edwards, but Anthony Edwards did something yesterday or two days ago and it had absolutely nothing to do with the game. A little bit to do with the game. But I always like to watch the game within the game, and that is what's going on around the series. What are guys saying in their press conferences? You know, what are guys posting? What's the game around the game? And the game around the game the other day for me that Anthony Edwards did that you just don't see young guys do that ain't ready to take that next step, man, Anthony Edwards posted on his Instagram story, 15 more. That was the caption. 15 more. Why is that interesting? Because half of y'all favorite players that's young and y'all think ready to take that next step don't even realize that you need 16 wins for a championship. We used to always talk about when building these championship roster, you need a mix of 82-game players and 16-game players. 82-game players, you got a regular season, 82 games is super long. A lot of nights that guys are just, when you're playing for a championship year in and year out, a lot of nights that guys are just tired, don't have it because it's the same thing over and over again. You need some 82-night guys that's gonna step up for you on those nights, that can give it to you those nights. But those 82-night guys, when they're specifically an 82-night guy, they don't play in the playoffs. They can't play in the playoffs. Not ready for the playoffs. And there's a lot of guys out there, some of you on some of your favorite teams, there's 82-night guys and now they in the 16, 16-game time. They in the 16 and they don't know what to do. Some of your favorite players, some of the star players on this team are 82-night guys, not necessarily 16. And so Anthony Edwards said 15 more. I said, oh, he different because he been in Minnesota riding, right? Like Minnesota has not had a good go at it for years and they've turned that around. But for him to already be thinking like, oh, 15 more.
Yeah.
Man, that mean these boys been talking about winning the championship. He's standing on that. 15 more after game 1. He been paying attention. That mean he been watching year after year guys compete for championships saying, "I wanna do that." Some of y'all favorite players, these young guys that y'all like, don't even watch basketball. That mean he been watching the game within the game. Jimmy Butler post 15 more. You got guys post that, like, that been competing for championships. He been watching the game within the game. So man, the stock is high on Ant-Man right now and you should be buying. You should be buying stock in Ant-Man. 'Cause it is, sometimes you, there's an old saying, you buy low and sell high. Sometimes you miss the boat and you have to buy high.— it ain't as high as it's gonna get on Ant-Man right now, but it should be high. Still get in now because this is still— Ant-Man is different and he carrying them boys. Now I saw something in that series that I think is interesting. As I told you all, Kevin Durant is going to have to guard Anthony Edwards, not Karl-Anthony Towns. Anthony Edwards is also— oh, remember I talked about the game within the game that Anthony Edwards is playing? I saw an interview where Anthony Edwards said Karl-Anthony Towns is the most important player in the series. 'Kyle Anthony Towns is gonna make sure we win.' I'm here to tell y'all, Kyle Anthony Towns is not the most important player in the series. Kyle Anthony Towns is an important player, but Anthony Edwards is the most important player in the series for the Timberwolves. Kyle Anthony Towns could have still been out. Anthony Edwards still was gonna be doing this, make it a lot harder for them to beat the Phoenix Suns with Kyle Anthony Towns out. But Anthony Edwards is the man. However, Anthony Edwards telling y'all in the meeting, 'Yo, he the—' the media, 'Yo, he the guy.' Go over there and focus on him. So what does the Phoenix Suns do? They come out the gate with Kevin Durant on Karl-Anthony Towns. As I told y'all before, Brad Beal is a good defender. Brad Beal sit down, check, he guard, he compete. Like, I love that. And this will go for some other guys that we gonna talk about in this segment, but It's a reason guys start putting long wings on these guards. The shot making ability is too crazy. This ain't 2000, this ain't 1984, or this ain't the '80s and '90s where guys were great, don't get me wrong. But the shot making ability today is way more complex than it used to be. And that's why guys start putting it, the shot, the shot creating ability, I should say, is way more complex than the shot making ability. It's top tier. And that's why guys start putting long wings with length on these guards. And that is why you need Kevin Durant. Now, however, KD is in year 17, 18, something like that. And so what happens is you still see like KD, Bron, these guys, Steph, Steph different. Steph is smaller, not carrying as much weight. Limbs is different. You see these guys still playing at an insane level, which they are. But once you get to that age, you can only do it in spurts. A la Damian Lillard last night. Great first half. Can give you that in spurts, which we'll talk about that as well. But so with KD, Can't give you that 48 minutes straight every night. Although it helps during the playoffs that you get those days in between, it's impossible. Both ends of the floor. KD, the best defender on that team and the best offensive player, one of the best offensive players we've ever seen. Yes, Devin Booker's a great offensive player, like top tier. Brad Beal, great scorer his whole career. But KD is just different. KD is 7 feet. We've seen this movie before. What the Phoenix Suns are gonna have to do is they're gonna have to play KD on Anthony Edwards the entire series. That has to be his matchup. And what Phoenix has to do is they have to rely on Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, Grayson Allen. You gonna have to hit some shots. And they gonna have to rely on those guys to carry the load offensively. Because to ask Kevin to go try to lock up Anthony Edwards and then go carry the load on the offensive end, he in year 18, it ain't happening every night. He may give you that one night, two nights of a series, but he can't give you that every night because the years are getting up there, man. The legs is different. And what you need Kevin Durant for is to say, K, we need you to go stop him. We need you to go stop him. Don't worry about the offensive end. If you get some stuff in the flow in the offensive end, great. I know this is like, oh man, that's Kevin Durant. You should never tell him. But K capable of doing that defensively. And Devin Booker capable of carrying the load offensively. So is Bradley Beal. Grayson Allen just got that extension. He got to make these shots in the playoffs now. Can't just be an 82-game player. Gotta be 16. Gotta be 16 if I'm not mistaken. Grayson Allen won a championship before. I'm not certain on that. I thought he won with Milwaukee Bucks. I could be wrong. However, the kid's a winner. Went to Duke, played in Milwaukee for years, meaningful years. Kid's a winner. You gotta play these 16. You gotta hit shots. Especially this series. K, if you get stuff in the flow, cool. But we not about to depend on Kevin Durant on the offensive end. We need him to lock down defensively tonight. That's the role we need in this series. So when I said that at the beginning of the series, I still think that's true. And you know what? It ain't Carl Anthony Towns that's winning you this series. It's Anthony Edwards. And you need to go put Kevin Durant there.
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