Draymond Green goes OFF on Jusuf Nurkic after Suns-Timberwolves sweep | Draymond Green Show

Welcome to the brand new Draymond Green Show YouTube channel. Hit subscribe so you don't miss out on any of our content. Uh, number 1 on the list is the Suns losing Game 4, 122-116, to the Timberwolves, uh, in a sweep. And if I'm honest, the Suns is always a, is a touchy one for me. Because I'm a little conflicted. I like to see, I wanna see the Suns do well. Matt Ishby, a Spartan dog, got, you know, became the owner of the Phoenix Suns franchise about a year ago. So I'm always rooting for Ish. Book, man, I'm always rooting for Book. You know, I've talked to y'all a million times about, you know, my love for Book and wanting to see him succeed. And Book got that seriousness to him that you need from your star players in order to win in these big moments. And I really wanna see that happen for him. I think Book is in year 8 now, if I'm not mistaken, year 7 or 8. You know, and the thing about Book is Book window started a while ago and he's been so good for, you know, since coming into the league, he's, you know, when his rookie year started, wasn't playing a ton, and you can quickly see he was the best player on the team. And before you know it, the ball was in his hands, and you know, it's been in his hands since. And so, you know, I don't wanna see Book get to that point where people start writing him off as if he's not one of the guys, because he is one of them guys. And so there, man, I got nothing but love for Brad. You know, I wanna see, just seeing Brad compete, Yesterday he fouled out trying to guard Anthony Edwards. And I talked to y'all before about what I think needed to happen in that series. And Brad went down swinging and everybody will say, oh man, he had 9 points and blah, blah, blah. Like no, no, brother was guarding Anthony Edwards. And so if you go back to what I said about what Kevin Durant needed to do, Kevin Durant needed to go take on that challenge. And the reasons I said that, One of the things that I did say when I gave the reasonings was Kevin should not focus on offense. Kevin should lock in on Anthony Edwards on the defensive end, play a role on the offensive end, get what comes to him on the offensive end because he's still Kevin Durant. So the defense gonna overreact, but lock in on the defensive side of the ball. And you know, whether that's spotting up, whether that's, you know, getting in your spot every now and then, on the offensive end, but your main focus shouldn't be on the offensive end because I don't think that's what the team would need at that point. With Grayson Allen being out, a lot of that changes because they're missing about 15 to 20 points from Grayson Allen. They're missing some floor space that Grayson Allen provides. They're missing, you know, Grayson Allen's presence. And so I do understand a little more from that standpoint. But essentially what I'm getting at is that's essentially what happened to Brad Bill. Brad Bill is so focused on trying to take Anthony Edwards out the game legs gone, came and hit a shot. It started spiraling for him fast, foul trouble, but he went down swinging and I gotta respect that. And unfortunately that is all folks. That is all. I'm not sure which tweet aged worse. Shout out to my man Kuz. I love Kuz, got nothing, you know, known Kuz for many, many moons. Yeah. But there's no, Kuz is a truth teller. Kuz is a real one. And there's no secret that Kuz's tweet about not being the team did not age well this year. It just didn't age well. Washington struggled a bit this year, finished with almost identical records to the Detroit Pistons after Kuz's tweet. And so the tweet spoiled fast for Kuz though. Like, it spoiled fast. And ironically, the tweet may have spoiled even faster from the big softie. Big softie wanted to tweet after we lost, you know, wanna post pictures. That tweet spoiled so fast. Like that's spoiled milk. And yeah, that is all folks. So, you know, you gotta be really careful when you're not, that's successful and you try to take jabs at people because you really don't, when you really don't have control of your own success, you know, when you don't play a large enough role in your team's success, when you can't really affect the outcome of the game, like you can go have 20 rebounds and lose a game. You know, like when you really don't affect the outcome of the game, it's really tough to take jabs at people. —because you got a jab and then like you can't affect, you know, what your end result is, you know? And so, yeah, the big softie bowed out. You know, Rudy Gobert played great. Hey, by the way, Rudy Gobert, Karl-Anthony Towns has been in the league maybe 8 years, 8 to 10 years for both of them, give or take. And what Anthony Edwards has taken those guys and done is absolutely amazing. Like Rudy, Rudy actually not trash anymore. Like, and I think it's like a lot of people agree that he just wasn't like, he defends now. And ironically, you know, he got all the defensive rep, but I mean like when you see him on the switches, he's up at the level. He not just sitting back in the drop stop no more. When he gets switched on to the guy, it's like his antennas pop on. Like, oh, I gotta sit down. Like, they about to go at me and I'm guarding. And I think it's been interesting to watch because he is actually impacting winning and he's actually doing that on the defensive end. Whereas opposed to other series, he's gotten played off the floor. Although Phoenix went small, at times to try to get back in the game. There were times that they still played Rudy on Royce O'Neal. Before, if you went 5 guards, there was no chance Rudy Gobert can play. Like 0% chance. Even if you went a big that can stretch the floor, or a big that can move, there was 0% chance that he could play. And those things have changed. Yeah. If I'm honest, I don't think at this point that was a change in ability. That is a change in what's required of you. And quite frankly, like, even if you listen to Ant's press conference last night, he's talking about KAT fouling too much. Like, quite frankly, I think that that's the leader requiring more of both of those guys. Like, I saw some things, uh, during the game last night, especially when KAT was at the 5 and Rudy was out, that I'm like, KAT, you could still cover that. Like, you know, maybe like, dude, you guarding Royce O'Neal, he at the free throw line, drop one extra step, you could take that layup away D-Book just got and things like that. However, KAT is not a defensive-minded player. So to try to nitpick at all of those little things, it's pointless to do, you know? Yeah. And in saying that, I think what Anthony Edwards has required from those guys has allowed them to take the next step in their careers. A young 22-year-old basketball player, superstar, phenom, whatever you wanna call him, I personally can tell when something is being required from a leadership perspective. And the way KAT, is attempting to defend. Like, KAT was chasing Kevin Durant around. Nas Reid was chasing Kevin Durant around. These guys ain't do that before. And yes, I do give Chris Finch his credit as a coach. I do think, you know, he's a good coach. But man, in the NBA, at the point of their careers that those guys are at, ain't no coach making you slide your feet like Rudy Gobert sliding his feet now, and KAT attempting to defend. That's a guy who you out there with saying, "Yo, this is what I need." And you don't wanna continue to hear from that guy. And Ant definitely gives me that demeanor. And I think what he's feeding to those guys, like, yes, his play was stellar, but I think what he's feeding to those guys is even more important because— Yeah. His play could be as stellar as it want. If he ain't got those guys playing the way they're playing, it's the same old Timberwolves. What's changing is his demeanor and changing all of those guys. And now you look at that team and that was a far more complete team than the Phoenix Suns. If I'm honest, that's a far more complete team than the Denver Nuggets. Yeah. We'll get into the Denver Nuggets a little later in this show, but that team that we just watched that are the Minnesota Timberwolves is a complete team. Now Anthony Edwards has had the luxury of bringing in over the last year and a half a veteran point guard like Mike Conley. And I know Ant is pulling things from him and that's huge. But we've seen Mike Conley with star big men before, not be able to get it done. So I gotta give that credit to Anthony Edwards, man. Now, not taking nothing from Mike Conley. Mike Conley has been a mainstay in this league for a long time. We've had battles with teams that Mike Conley's been on. I got nothing but love and respect for Mike Conley. And this is not a hit at all to Mike Conley, but more so the praise of Anthony Edwards. Yeah. That kid is special. And what he's doing, it's no surprise. You know why? Because he said all along, this is what he believes in, this is what he was gonna do, and he just gonna do it now. And so I think, I think, man, that was beautiful to watch. Anthony Edwards is the star that I've believed he could be since day one, and that I'm sure a lot of people did believe he could be. Still remember trying to figure out how to trade up from 2 to 1 and get that man. But you know, special, special talent. So the question that comes next is what happens to the Phoenix Suns? What does this mean for the Suns' Big 3, blah, blah, blah. Nothing. They'll come back in next year with that same big 3, and hopefully they'll try to retool around that big 3. Now, we knew coming into the year that not having a point guard was gonna be a problem, that that was going to be an issue no matter what. And everybody said, no, Devin Booker can play the point. Brad Bill can play the point. And don't get me wrong, they can get you an offense, they can win you games, but they're not point guards. And being a point guard and trying to think, "Oh man, Kevin hasn't had a shot. Oh man, D-Book hasn't had a shot." Or Brad, you know, D-Book thinking, "Oh, Brad haven't had a shot." That's a totally different game you gotta play than come down, all right, get to my spot, get us something good, get us a good shot. That's a totally different game you gotta play. And quite frankly, it doesn't best suit those guys to play that game. Can they play that in spurts? Of course. But to play that game an entire season, that's a tall task that quite frankly, um, showed to be, proved to be one that they couldn't overcome. Mm-hmm. Because all year long, you know, you'd see them and they start to make a run and those guys are playing well and then it just like fall off. And I think that is because, you know, the consistency in the style of play due to not having an initiator that you know, all right, this game, every night, this guy is getting us into X, Y, and Z. And I think that made all the difference. And so, If you're the Phoenix Suns, the highest trade value you're gonna have is Devin Booker. Do you wanna move off your franchise player, Devin Booker? I highly doubt that. Matt Ishby has taken over as a new owner. I highly doubt he's gonna come in and within a year move on from Devin Booker. D-Book is also one of those special players that you just don't just move on from. But he will have the highest trade value of the three for a couple reasons. His age, obviously his play, contract situation. You know, he's like got a couple years left, could sign an extension, all these things, but he's, 27. And so he'll have the highest value of all of them. Brad's contract is big with the injury history and you know, some people will look and say, oh, he only had 9 points in this last game. We can't trade for him. So his value will be less than Book. KD's in year 18. So his value will be less than D-Book. So. With no draft picks in the next, they got a draft pick. I think the Suns had a 22nd draft pick this year, but outside of that doesn't have another draft pick through 2030. So you don't have picks to move and you don't really have many players to move outside of those three. And two of those, well, one, Brad value on the trade market probably wouldn't be as high with the salary that Brad has and then the new second apron and all those things. Coming into effect. That makes it tough there. Like I said, KD in year 18, you know, with a team not knowing where, if he's even gonna wanna come there or blah, blah, blah. And so your biggest asset is Devin Booker. Do you move on from Devin Booker? Now, interestingly enough, we talked about Rudy Gobert. The Rudy Gobert trade completely killed the trade market because they took 5 first-round picks and then no one wants to ever do that again. So you even seen guys like Dame, I think it moved for 2 or 3 first round picks. So with Book, what's the most you can get and what's worth it? I don't think anything's worth it, but you have to assess everything when you're in the position that the Suns are in. Now, however, they've played together for 1 year. The Books are what they are anyway. So my opinion, you gotta come back with those guys. You gotta try to retool around them and you gotta give it another go. But the reality is none of these things really work in the first year unless you're Golden State Warriors, then they work in the first year. But none of these things really work, ever work in the first year. And so I'm not on the hype train, oh, it's over and they need to figure out and blah, blah, blah. And like, no, but you definitely have to go back to the drawing board. You know, I saw the whole Frank Vogel would be fired thing. Quite frankly, I think that was all, that was a decision that we all questioned as soon as it happened. I don't think any of us thought that Frank Vogel would be Monte's replacement until Frank Vogel's name came up and you're like, whoa. And so just in thinking back to that, I don't, you know, you know, Kevin saying, I didn't know my role in the offense. And I don't know if Kevin said that or not. That was a quote that's been put out there from sources. You can never be so sure. Those sources oftentimes are correct. Um. Frank Vogel's not an offensive coach. So Frank Vogel, I personally don't think was ever going to be the one to put all of those pieces into place from a standpoint that, "Hey, we don't have a point guard. How can we make this work moving all of these different guys around and being creative?" That's not what Frank Vogel does. And so I never expected that. And yet to see that come out, that's no surprise. Because Kevin's not someone that's just gonna bring the ball up à la Book, à la Brad Bill, and get his own. That's not what Kevin's gonna do. So that does not shock me one bit. One bit. You didn't see Kevin coming off any pin downs to the elbow area, getting to his back. That's when Kevin's most dangerous. When you get Kevin in those spots where, okay, I can't just raise up on you because you're too small. One drill will pull up, I can completely get rid of— like, you gotta know the spots to get Kevin in. And to Kevin's credit, if that statement is true that Kevin said that, I agree, he did stand in the corner a lot. Now, I do know that Kevin will sometimes get upset and just go to the corner, but all year he was just in the corner. And like I said, you watched their offense and none of those plays was getting Kevin to the spots. Yeah. That he likes to get to. And I know the spots that he wants to get to to score. None of the sets that they were running were really getting him into those spots. And as great of a scorer as he is, he still needs the ball in the spots in order to be as efficient and productive as he can be. Get him to his spots and it's a wrap. Who's gonna stop him? And so I never seen any of that. Yeah. And like I said, I'm not very surprised by it because I didn't, when the hire happened to Frank Vogel, I didn't view that as, uh-oh, their offense is about to be crazy. No, the first thought would be they're gonna be a good defensive team. And quite frankly, their offense, they struggled in a lot of fourth quarters and that usually tells you don't have a point guard to get you into the things that you need to get into. So in turn, it turns into like Book getting off or, Brad trying to get to it, but how sustainable is that to do that for entire quarters? All of a sudden you miss a couple and you go down and that team's been playing team basketball. So nonetheless, I don't think it's over for the Suns big three. Yes, every headline will be, what do they go next? Or is it over? Like, I don't think so. I think you gotta try to retool around those guys. You bring— Draymond Green. Grayson Allen back, but you bring Grayson Allen back, if I'm honest, he gotta come off the bench because you need a point guard. Now you sign Isaiah Thomas for the rest of the season. I thought that he'd at least get a shot to try to see if he could take on some of the responsibility. We didn't see that. So that's the Suns. Timberwolves moving on. I'm excited for the next series with the Timberwolves. We all think that it'll be the Denver Nuggets. Denver Nuggets also has their share of issues. Their bench is not it. They do not have a very good bench at all. And you need a bench to win championships. And I just don't know if their bench is gonna get it done. Should be enough to get it done in this series. I think for sure it'll be enough to get it done in this series. But as you go deeper into the playoffs, the flaws that you has get more and more exposed. And if it's gonna get exposed, it has to be this next round. It has to be by Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Now, all of the praise that I just gave to the Timberwolves and their bigs and Rudy Gobert and KAT and what they've done, what Anthony Edwards has done for them, And next series, if they go on to face the Denver Nuggets, that will be put to the test with the big fella, Joker. And we will see. But right now, Timberwolves are looking like cut and dry the best, second best team in the West, arguably the first best team in the West. Like I said, just with their depth, on, you know, with their depth, that puts them ahead of Denver. What brings them right back to Denver is Joker gonna be like, I don't need no help. I mean, you know, you need help. What'd he tell Rudy Gobert? Brother, I got 47. You need a double team. So it's gonna come down to, can Rudy Gobert not stop him? 'Cause you're not stopping Joker. But can he affect the game the way he was affecting the game in last series? That'll be a big thing. Ant gonna do what he do. It was good to see KAT back out there and have a good series coming off that long layoff. Still fooled the Phoenix Suns in telling them that he was the most important player in the series and Ant wasn't. That was a lie. Ant is and will be the most important player in the series.