In this inaugural episode of the Draymond Green Show, Draymond Green hosts former Laker guard Derek Fisher (with a cameo from Colin Cowherd) to dissect a hypothetical best‑of‑seven series between the 2001 Los Angeles Lakers and the 2017 Golden State Warriors. The conversation swings between nostalgic reverence for Shaquille O’Neal’s physical dominance, the evolution of pick‑and‑roll and three‑point shooting, and how rule changes (hand‑checking, illegal contact) have shifted the balance from size to speed. Green and Fisher argue that under today’s rules the series would be a coin toss, heavily influenced by home‑court advantage, while under 2001 rules the Lakers would likely prevail. They also touch on personal basketball upbringing, respect for past champions, and the cultural impact of teams like the Pistons, Spurs, Bulls, and Celtics. Mid‑episode, Green delivers a sponsored read for Hyperice’s NormaTec Elite compression boots, emphasizing recovery benefits for athletes and non‑athletes alike. The episode closes with a brief DraftKings betting plug from Cowherd.
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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. I was recently on the Big Fella Podcast, Shaqstradamus, Shaq Diesel, the Big Shaq-tist, you name it, the Big Aristotle.
Yeah.
I was on his podcast, he was on the show, and we discussed the '01, Lakers versus the '17 Warriors. Now quite frankly, if I'm honest, I hate when people have these discussions because it's like, these people have these discussions and it's no merit to the conversation or anything.
Right.
A bunch of hypotheticals or what ifs. However, I hypothetically love fucking having these conversations with guys that's been a part of it. And so let's discuss this. Like me and Shaq obviously disagreed on Who will win the series? I quite frankly got us beating y'all in 5, but like, how you see this series going, Fish?
Yeah, no, I mean, obviously, you know, it's champs only, you have to respect champions. So I don't know. Absolutely. You know, in 5, I think is, you know, I don't know if you got the Lobos in there with you or what's going on, but in 5, I don't know about that. I mean, champs against champs. It should be a battle, you know, it should go to game 7.
It should be a battle.
It's like you said, it's always fun even though it's not real, right? To just talk about the possibilities and the matchups and, you know, you obviously always should think your team is better than anybody else's team that, you know, that got it done in that way. You know, it's hard to explain to people how physically dominant Shaq really was.
Man.
Like I think people see the videos.
Absolutely.
And they see the backboard smash and all of that. But I don't know if there's a recognition of like the way we now run pick and roll to put pressure on the rim to create threes.
Yeah.
Shaq literally was every pick and roll you ever try to run, you could just throw it to him to get the ball to the rim. Like it— Wow. And the most efficient shots in basketball are at the rim, corner threes, free throws. And we got all of that because of him in theory. And then obviously Kobe was able to do a lot. But am I naive to think that like, who's guarding Kevin Durant? You know what I'm saying? Like Rick Fox was amazing defensively. Maybe that's a cover that he could figure out 'cause Rick was physical and, you know, but KD was KD. Obviously Steph in his prime, how elite you guys were defensively, you know, like we were with our '01 team, we were fairly predictable because of Shaq's dominance. So, you know what I mean?
Yeah.
So defensively, you know, you guys definitely would've been able to scheme some things and try to, you know, maybe front and back him and send a guy over on the baseline side if he was fronted as the ball was in the air. But you know, Shaq literally has changed people's dental work, bro. Like—
Man, correct.
That just no double team, triple team, anything could fathom. All of that to say, to me, when you talk about like the greatest teams ever, it's gotta be a coin toss.
Yeah.
And it, it probably would depend on who has home court.
Mm-hmm. That helps.
And it depends on what rules are we playing.
That's true. 'Cause if we play today's rules— The way I play defense, "Hey, we might have a chance 'cause I'm beating him up." Before we get into it, this episode is brought to you in part by Hyperice. As you know, as a 12-year veteran myself, Draymond Green, a lot of guys miss out on the recovery that it takes to play in the NBA. It's important that my body can bounce back as I get older. As I've told you all before, I am a super big fan of Hyperice. Especially the Normatec boots because I just feel like Superman when I come out of them. And as you all know, um, or may not know, I'm letting you know, the Normatec Elites are new. They're the best. They ditched all those extra hoses and the control units from the old model so you can get on the go. If you need the Normatec Elites, they are great. Uh, this one is fully self-contained. What's that? With a small set of buttons to select your compression level. Super easy to travel with and to get set up after a hard workout, after a game, or if it's for you who's not an athlete, after a hard day of work or walking around or chasing the kids around. Because by the way, as I get older, chasing these kids around, it's tough. Hey. And, and my son calls me old on the daily. So these are for you as well. On top of that, the NormaTec Elite packs 4 hours of battery life, which is enough juice to I get full leg compression cycles in before games, after games, on the plane, after work, before work, at work. How about that? At work. You saw me podcasting in the NormaTec Elites, and I was at work. That is my day job right now, as we have lost and the finals are going on and we're not playing. So don't get me started on the tech inside this thing. The HyperIce has been pioneering recovery science for years, and the brand new NormaTec Elite takes it to another dimension with 7 different compression levels to choose from. As I said before, it's not just for pro athletes, it is for you. Whoever is not a pro athlete, which most of you aren't pro athletes, and it is for you. So shop all your warm-up and recovery needs at Hyperice.com. Use code Draymond. For those of you who hate the name Draymond because you hate me, but you watch this podcast because you hate me, I got a gift for you. Use the code Draymond on hyperice.com for 15% off your order today. Exclusions may apply.
If I can hold and grab like we could in '01 compared to— What? We might be at a guard duty.
Listen, Fish, I may have to get thrown outta one of the games 'cause I gotta come get you off my man with a crazy screen one of these games. Yeah, for sure. I can't just let you grab my man.
For sure.
No, but honestly, man, for me, like, you know, y'all were the golden standard. Like, we grew up watching y'all and the Spurs dominate everything. For me as a kid growing up in the state of Michigan, obviously, you know, seeing the Detroit Pistons and their dominance, and I know they were able to win one championship, but they were going to conference finals each and every year, couple finals. And that was kind of the standard. And like the brand of basketball that y'all played then is obviously totally different than the brand of basketball that's played now. And you know, when I look at like the rules that y'all played by, quite frankly, if I'm honest, I don't think we could have beat y'all at those rules. Like no chance. Like we play a totally different game. However, if the rules are how they are today, like—
Yeah.
I don't think there's a chance y'all can keep up with us. 'Cause you can't grab. Like, so now guys just moving around, it's speed, it's a bunch of— And with those rules, size becomes less important because you're almost protected from the size, you know? And so it's a very interesting thing nonetheless, man. I think, you know, just to be in that, for me, to be in a conversation of the teams, like I grew up watching, like— Yeah. The Lakers, the Bulls, like—
Yeah, bro.
The Pistons, the Spurs. Like to be in the conversation with those teams, to me, is always mind-blowing. Because those are the teams, like as a basketball— Like I was the kid that went to sleep with my TV on. I slept the whole night with it on. And it's on ESPN all night, SportsCenter. Like I ate, breathed, and you know what else? Basketball. Like NBA basketball. And so, just to be mentioned with those teams for me is more of an honor than I could ever imagine.
Yeah, same here. That's why I like, I refuse to kind of try to fall into the like, "Oh yeah, well we would've," and this and that. 'Cause just to even be in the conversation is amazing to begin with. And like, you have to show respect, man, to teams that have got it. Like I got asked about how I'm gonna feel if the Celtics and/or when the Celtics do win the title as a former Laker. And I'm like, well, yeah, of course, you know, I would want the Lakers to win as much as possible. But the way that I watch, I mean, I had 2 years to go to state, but I'm not part of the Warriors fabric in the way that you guys are.
Absolutely.
But I can watch it and respect it and cherish greatness. And teams that win titles found a level of greatness in that season that nobody else did. And I, I can't hate on that. I, I might not love it, but I'm not hating on it.
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