Draymond Green on Lakers Loss, Luka Doncic vs. Yaxel Lendeborg, & NBA Opening Night Overreactions

What's up everybody, welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. On today's show, I'm going to talk our first game of the season, uh, and I'm going to react to some big game 1— not game 1 of the playoffs, uh, game 1 of '82— overreactions. So, you know, in the wonderful world of sports media, let's just get into it. First, uh, we lost to the Lakers by a lot. I don't even know what the final score was. We got the last 3, 4 minutes of the third— of the second quarter and the first 4 minutes of the third quarter changed the whole game. As far as the game goes, I think there are some things that comes out of that game that, you know, we could take away and a lot that we need to throw away. And, you know, game 1, I think It's not just like, oh man, throw it away. Like, no, we got we got our ass kicked, and you go to the drawing board like we did today. You look at the film. You talk about some of all the things we've been talking about in camp throughout the preseason. You go through those, you know, you go through those boxes, if you will, and and see if they're if they were checked or unchecked. And the reality is a lot of them were unchecked. A lot of the things that we spoke about doing and being as a team, they went. Unchecked last night. It's game 1. You know, we've been new offense for 3 weeks, kind of a new defense for 3 weeks, you know? And so it's gonna take some time to adjust. I think the biggest thing, I think the biggest takeaway from last night was not necessarily that, oh, we need to get better at this, we need to get better at that. We kind of knew all the things that we need to get better at coming into the game. I think the biggest takeaway from last night is like, Third quarter, it just felt like we weren't competing anymore. And you can never be a team that doesn't compete no matter what goes on. And I can raise my hand as one of the leaders of the team and say that falls on me. That should never happen. And we cannot be a team that does that. And I let it happen. So I'll take that one on the chin. That falls on me, on no one else. I think ultimately, Our body language sucked third quarter. It's like after the run, after the— at the end of the second quarter, it's like after that, the belief was just kind of lost. And like I said, that's on me as a leader of this team to make sure that no matter what, teams are going to go on a run. And we have a young team when you're talking about experience. As far as NBA games go, obviously you got myself, Al, Steph, George Niang, who's in year 11. I think Meltz in year 9. You know, and there's a big, big drop-off after that, you know, as far as, you know, years of service, games played in the NBA. There's a big drop after that. And so I think it's on myself to make sure that doesn't happen. And that happened last night and it can't happen again. Other than that, you live with everything else, right? Like, yeah, you got to get better. Like I said last night, my press conference, you know, our point of attack defense has to be better, you know, and that's 1 through 15. You know, I think there was some point throughout all the— throughout the game where Luka or Austin or even Matisse Thybulle, you know, against closeouts, you know, guarding the ball one-on-one. I think there was some point in the game where all of us got drove past. And that just can't happen and you be a great successful defense if you can't contain dribble penetration. And we did not do a great job of that last night. And ultimately it led to threes, it led to dunks, you know, 'cause there's no help for a straight line drive. And so, We have to be better at the point of attack defense, and that'll allow us to set up the rest of our defense, but we have to be better there. Huge, huge story coming out of last night is Yaxel and Luka's on-court jawing. Number one, the whole world saw them jawing back and forth. For Yaxel to get a tech for saying something on one play that Luka doesn't say something, I thought was the weakest shit ever. I thought that was pathetic. I thought it, you know, like, I am all for a hierarchy in the league. Like, guys earn shit, right? Like, you earn your keep. You've done stuff for years. But when a guy is mixing it up with a guy and a rookie's not backing down, you don't punish the rookie with a technical foul because he's not backing down from the superstar. There's enough rookies that back down from superstars. But it's like, oh, like, get in line. Like, nah. I respect the hell outta Yaxel for willing to stand toe to toe. I'm gonna stand there with you. I'm not gonna run away from the matchup. I'm not trying to get switched off of you. I'm trying to guard you. I'm picking you up. Oh, you scored? All right, do it again. Like, I love that. If you can't rock with a guy like that who compete like that, who willing to fight like that, you're probably a loser. If you don't respect that, you're— you are probably a loser, a soft loser that when someone gets on you, you can't take it. Um, you probably have a victim mindset, um, and everything that falls in that category. Because if you can't get behind that, all the people like, oh man, he shouldn't be talking. Why shouldn't he? Why shouldn't he be talking? That's like this old adage of like, oh, you're a rookie, you don't talk. Fuck that. Why wouldn't I talk? And that's been my mindset from day one coming into this league. I came in talking. When I hit my game winner against the Miami Heat as a rookie, me and Bron was already talking, mixing it up. He tell me I'm too little. I score, tell him he too little. Then I get the walk-off. That was— guess what? When you see the respect and love that Bron and I have for each other now, it starts there, from a guy not backing down. That's where it starts. Man, that guy ain't gonna back down from me. He ain't gonna back down from me. Respect. That's where everything starts. Respect. So for these clowns out there like Eddie Johnson talking about he's a rookie, shut up. Like, no, you shut up. Why? Because he's a rookie, should he shut up? Why? Everybody always, oh man, this guy has done this in the league and that. He didn't do it to me. He did that to somebody else. You want respect from me? Earn it from me. Respect. You don't earn respect from me because of what you did to someone else. Because what if I don't even respect that guy or him or him or him? Or what if I don't respect them? So I'm just supposed to respect what you've done and who you are because of what you've done to someone else? No, this is competition. This is battle. I don't care what you did before. What you gonna do to me? What you gonna do to me? When I'm standing in front of you, what you gonna do? So I always struggle with that notion of like, oh, you come into the league, that guy's done this, you shouldn't be talking to him. Why not? If I'm not afraid of what comes with it, why does it matter? The guy you criticize is the guy that does that and then tuck his tail and run. That's the guy who should be criticized, not the guy who do it, stand 10 toes on it, continues to go forward. If you're criticizing him, you're a loser. And I'm sorry to tell you, but you don't know what winning means. You don't know what winning is. You don't know what winning takes. If that's the mindset, you are a loser. Come hand me your resume, I'll show you everywhere you lost. That's across the board. That's for athletes, that's for Business people. That's for— you name them. Show me your resume and whatever it is that you do, you're— I'll show you where you became a loser. If you can't rock with the guy who— I'mma talk, and whether it goes good or bad, I'm still right here the whole 48. I'm right here whether it goes good or bad. I'm not running away from anything. Regardless. Nah, shame on the dude who's scared of that bump, not shame on the dude who running to the bump. Why shame on him? No, shame on you. It's not shame on him. Luka has some choice words for Yaxel. Yaxel has some choice words for Luka. I'm not here to discuss the contents of their conversation, words that they said. I don't do that. I don't need to do that. But they both had choice words for each other. And didn't the young fella get a tech because he young? Nah, that's whack. We gonna reward guys for being soft and punish guys for not? That's whack. That's why I'll never respect that. Never respect that. Oh man, guess what? One thing you never see unless you're probably you know Anthony watching Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels. You don't really see players crush other players. You don't see it. Anthony Edwards will crush somebody in a heartbeat. Jayden McDaniels crushed the whole Denver Nuggets team and then went out there and did what he had to do. You don't see that often. Herro is a young fella doing exactly that after game 1 in his career, start of his career. I respect it. That's his feelings. That's his thought. By the way, should he probably say it by the standards of what everybody say? No. But he said it and he willing to live with it. So yeah, say what you gotta say. I respect it. I'll guarantee you one thing: he keep going toe to toe regardless of how Luca feels. He gonna have to respect him. You may not like him, you may hate his guts, but underneath all that is going to be a respect as a competitor because that guy won't back down from me. And the guy that backed down. People think, oh man, that guy respect me. No, he don't respect you. He just little bro-ing you. He just got you on a leash, little dog, like you ain't shit. Like, I'll do whatever I want to do with you. That's not respect. I have a— my family have a toy golden doodle, Ginger. Y'all have probably seen her on here. I love my dog. I walk her on a leash every day. I don't respect my dog. I love my dog. But what has the dog done for respect? That's what these guys do to these little dudes that back down. They put 'em on a leash and they toy you around whenever they want to. When they see you, they laughing, they laughing in your face. Huh, huh, huh, yeah, little bro, get outta here. You don't respect them. And that's all we all here for at the end of the day, right? As a man, you want respect. So yes, maybe he shouldn't have said it. I love that he did. Don't stop. If that's who you are, be exactly who you are. Be exactly who you are. Guess what? Big stage, LA, Bright lights, first game, assignment Luka Dončić. Wow. Expected to score. Wow. And he came out of it talking like that? That's a guy I want stock in him. I want stock in that guy. 'Cause that stock's gonna go up. That's the guy I want. Like, you know, everybody say what they want about Elon Musk. Have your opinions. Everybody do. You gonna bet on that stock? You gonna bet on him? Track record's proven stock's going up. Yaxel, track record proves stock's going up. And guess what? Track record in the NBA don't prove that stock's going up yet. But I know the stock's going up because I know what I see. And for all the internet scouts that think they know more than me, you don't. Run circles around you. So I want stock in that guy. As Ja Morant used to infamously say, Younger in his career, I'm running up the chimney. Yaxel running up the chimney. You gotta respect it. You have to respect it. And he stand on it. You gotta respect. He don't stand on it. You don't have to respect it. He stood on it. Respect it. I do. We all have big goals we want to achieve. But when you're balancing a career, family, and everything else life throws your way, finding time to go back to school can feel almost impossible. That's where Walden University comes in. 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Before we get into the rest of the show, obviously news came out about Porzingis yesterday leading up to the game. And, you know, was it a distraction? I saw people saying, was it a distraction? All that. I mean, listen, you, you know, you kind of been preparing for like, you know, maybe we won't have him. And you've been preparing for it, and you you kind of just wait it out and see. You know, I wouldn't necessarily say the news was a distraction yesterday more so than like you kind of have forgot about it. We've gone a whole preseason training camp and preseason without them, so you've kind of just gotten accustomed to the guys who are there, and then that you know news come out and it just make you think about it again. You know, and so I wouldn't necessarily say it's the biggest distraction, but it does suck, and it's like something that's on the mind. Like man. Something that had to be addressed, you know. I saw Shams reported that the Warriors would be looking at a trade. Shams know better than anybody than we do, you know, so we'll see what happens. I still wish him well. I hope he's healthy, you know, and I hope he can get himself to a space health-wise that he feels great about, whether it's about Whether he played basketball or not, it's not my concern. I just always want people in good health. You know, having bad health sucks. When you're sick, the only thought you have when you're sick is just feeling better. You know, and so I just wish him well in his health. Aside from basketball, basketball, you know, we play these jobs. We do this job, we play these games. We put the work in, but we ultimately go home. You know, when you go home, you wanna feel good. So definitely wishing him well and hopefully, you know, our hope that he's healthy, but you know, the team gotta do what the team gotta do. And let's go play and try to win basketball games. Now we'll move around the association. During the first week of the NBA season, every single year, There there comes the most outrageous overreactions that if you look back in three weeks, people already be looking like bozos. Every now and then, yeah, you're going to be right about some of them, of course. But like, some of them just be flat out just dumb. So. We decided that in this episode, in this segment around the association, we would skim through some of those overreactions that we've heard or that the talking heads around the hoops world's been talking about. So here's the reactions. The Sixers are better than the Knicks. Sixers beat the Knicks 106-100. I watched the game. I thought, I thought the Knicks, number one, it's always hard to win on ring night. It's just emotionally. And they played pretty good starting off considering, but emotionally it's just like, how do you get this ring that celebrates and like all everything you've tried to accomplish and then— You're not happy. You're now expected to play game one of 82 with that intensity. It's tough emotionally; it throws you off a bit. That's number one. Number two, I was a bit impressed with the Sixers because the talent is is outrageous. Anthony Simons off the bench is is an incredible addition. KCP off the bench, incredible addition. addition. However, uh, what was very impressive to watch is LeBron James play with that much talent around him. That's what was actually very impressive to watch. The talent around him allowed him to just make smart plays, which he will do over and over and over and over again. He'll— LeBron LeBron James will make the same smart play 10 times. Like, he never gets bored with smart plays. A lot of people you see in the game where you see like, man, they just ran this 3 times in a row and they scored each time and they go away from it. That's because they don't have the attention span to continue to do the same thing over and over because they get a little bored with it and wanna do something else. LeBron James will do the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over and over again until you stop it. If you never stop it, he'll do the same thing 25 times in a row. That's the type of discipline that he has. So to see him with that much talent around him, I thought was pretty impressive. The one thing I will say is the ball was spread out quite a bit. I don't know that spreading the ball out that much, like when you As the season go on, I think you do have to define like who's the first option, who's the second option. You know, from a standpoint of like team chemistry and guys get upset, like game 1 of the season is fine. But like you in game 37 and it's the dog days and like, you know, the game calls for like someone to take over, you kind of be needing to know who that's gonna be. Yeah. And so it'd be interesting to see who emerges. I know everyone's saying Maxey, but it'll be interesting to see who emerges as that guy or the first guy, the second guy. Like, it'll be interesting to see who emerges as that guy because the reality is your best bet is always going to be with the ball in Bron's hand. He gonna make the right play. So then again, what's the actions, right? So it'll be interesting to see them figure that out, but the talent was on full display. They didn't play great, and they were able to come out with the win. But however, the crazy reactions—this does not make them better than the Knicks. Not saying they are, but this game does not make them better than the Knicks. I know everybody said, "Oh, they went east now." They're but this is come on, man. It's one game. These guys just got their rings. They're feeling great about themselves. Give it a break. It's just one game. I saw some Ant-Man will MVPs after he had 45 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 assists. And here's what I will say, that, that is an overreaction. Except I think he can. I do think he's good enough to do it. And with a point guard like LaMelo where he don't, he's not in charge of playmaking for others anymore and he could just go be a scorer, that's dangerous. I think Ant-Man can go be the MVP. They're gonna have to win a lot of games, obviously, and he gonna have to play at a crazy level because let's face it, I don't think they want Ant-Man as the MVP. Like, but he's capable. So overreaction for sure, because again, like, why are we talking MVP after game 1? Like, what's the MVP ladder? I didn't even know one existed after game 1. Overreaction for sure, except he can't. LaMelo Ball got away with the travel of the century. So it was interesting because the one thing that I've been told about this traveling stuff is like, until a guy brings his second hand to the ball, it's technically not considered a gather. And because it's not considered a gather yet, You could move like that. You can move side to side as long as you don't bring the second hand to the ball. I saw the referee page tweeted that this is a travel, but by their rule, I'm looking at it, and once he bring the second hand, he 1, 2, and he's up. Steph Curry was saying like, yo, by rule, this ain't a travel. And I must say, I agree with Steph Curry. He never gathers, he never brings the second hand. When he does, he starts to rise up and shoot, 1, 2. I don't think it's right. Like, in any basketball world outside of the NBA, it is a travel. Except the NBA don't have the same rules as all the basketball leagues. The NBA, if I fall down with the ball, I can stand up. In other basketball leagues, that's a travel. But if I fall down with the ball, I can actually stand up. So I don't really know that I, I agree that this is a travel. In theory, yes. But in the NBA, we really need the other angle to see when that left hand actually gets to the ball. But it looked like he won too. He maybe took one extra one after the hand got to the ball. But it's the fucking NBA. NBA don't call travel. So one extra step is why everybody gonna go crazy on a travel? Guys do that running through the lane all the time where they take an extra step or two and travels don't get called. So I don't know why this one, or maybe he took a half a step extra or a step extra. That ain't getting called in the NBA. Unless it's off the catch and then go. Off the dribble, off the move, that ain't getting called. So I don't know, man. I think that's an interesting one, but I don't think it's a travel, and I see why the referees didn't call it. You won't believe this. I am about to let everyone see a different side of me in therapy. Meta presents Open Season, a new immersive VR series where you are in the room with me For my real therapy sessions. 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All 6 episodes are streaming now on the TV app on Meta Quest. Chet's built soft. Adeyemara will take his minutes, man. And here's what I'll tell you: Chet is a little light. You know, he—he's not a very heavy guy. Very high center of gravity. Tall, skinny, a little light. But to say he's soft? That guy was a key contributor on a championship team. I don't know that I could just call him soft. You'd have a better take saying he was weak than soft. King, I think I disagree that he's soft. I don't think he's soft at all. Again, kid gets stronger. If you said weak, Chet is a little weak, I'll be like, all right, I ain't gonna argue it. But soft? I'm gonna argue that one. I don't think Chet's soft. You also, you all should know that Chet Holmgren is a 4. He's a power forward. He's not a center. It's not what he do well. He is a power forward. Ademar is not a power forward. Ademar is a center. And I think he'd be really good next to Chet, but he's not taking Chet's minute. Chet's not a 5. Chet is a 4. He's a power forward. He's not a center. He's a 4 man. Adeyemo is not a 4 man. Young fella got a lot of promise. I don't know how old he is, but got a lot of promise. But he's not a 4 man. I can assure you that. So I think as far as Adeyemo goes, Chet's minutes are safe. Now, you know, I hear everybody talking, oh man, they may have to trade Chet or Jalen after this year, blah blah, second April. Now, you know, um, maybe Chet is moved due to— but it's not because DeMar was there to replace him. They're, they're 2 completely different positions. The Thunder are better than they were last year. They beat the Spurs 116-104. Uh, well, this overreaction, I, I do think, uh, what I saw in Game 1 with the Thunder was They came out pissed off. They had lost playoffs, conference finals year before, game 7, if I'm not mistaken, it was game 7. And they were pissed off. And they been listening all summer to people kind of be like, oh, it ain't OKC no more. So they were really upset. And listen, um, It showed. Like, they came out— Shea Gildridge Alexander even said this is like game 8 of the series, which tells me they're— they were approaching it with like, they just beat us, we're playing this game like a playoff game. And it looks like it. They held Wemby to 0 points— excuse me, 0 field goals for the Yeah. The bulk of the game and then he finished 1 for 13. Still had 13 points, but all of them were from the free throw line except 2. They were locked in. They were ready. They've been waiting on that team. Are they better? I mean, I think they were a little better last year, but this one game does not decide whether they're better or not. It's just an overreaction. The Wizards are a playoff team. They beat the Bucks 128 to 116 without AJ DeBonsa. AD had 34, 12, and got MVP chance. Trae Young, 20 and 13 assists. Are they a playoff team? I think they could be a playoff team, but this is a complete overreaction. I, I might I remind you that the, the Bucks decided to start over. They traded their franchise cornerstone who brought the only championship the city of Milwaukee seen to Milwaukee. They just traded him to the Miami Heat this summer. For those who didn't see it, Giannis Antetokounmpo is in Miami. So to think that this Bucks team is gonna be good is blasphemous. They have good talent, you know, some good talent, but like to think that you're gonna just trade a cornerstone of your franchise and you're gonna be good? That's, that's fool's gold. So needless to say, they won this game by 12 without AJ against the Bucks, who all— a lot of people think will struggle this year a lot. Okay. Um, it's an overreaction to say they're a playoff team after playing the Bucks once. Not saying they can't be, but that's a fucking overreaction. Come on. Paul George is back and will easily replace Jaylen Brown. Jaylen Brown is a 2-way star, still young, maybe not even in his prime yet as far as age, but definitely almost getting to— plays both sides of basketball. You can't possibly think PG in year 17 or whatever it is is just gonna replace him. PG came out and had a great night, uh, great day at 38, shot it well. But I can assure you PG won't get 38 every night. Now PG is PG and PG can score, but 38 every night, that's, that's a lot, uh, and I don't, I don't know that Um, yeah, I don't, I don't know that I can agree with this one. I think it's a bit of an overreaction. You know why it's an overreaction? Because you people said Paul George was dead just 6 months ago, and now y'all saying he'll replace JB. You people overreact crazy. And for our last overreaction, This is my guy. Ty Jerome is the real MIP candidate. The amount of times I've seen this over the last 24 hours is astounding. It's insanity. Now, Ty is more than capable. You know, Ty can— Ty is a good, good, good-ass NBA basketball player. Like, really good. But MIP? You know, last year Todd sat a lot of games because he was playing too well. If the team isn't doing great, does that ultimately affect, you know, if the team is, does that ultimately affect them playing him some games or not? Then ultimately, do we play 65 games? You gotta keep this up. Let's not overreact crazy, try to put more and more pressure on my guy after one game. But boy, it was a hell of a game. 45 on 25 shots, that's elite. Wanna thank y'all again for tuning into the Draymond Green Show. Until next time, deuces. If you're rocking with the Draymond Green Show, be sure to click follow on your favorite podcast app. And while you're there, While you're there, go ahead and drop a 5-star rating and leave a review. I wanna hear what you think, and it would also mean a ton to me if you share it with a friend that you think would enjoy it. Let's keep this thing growing. The Draymond Green Show is presented by Audacy and executive produced in conjunction with The New Media. Our executive producers are Leah Reese Dennis, Danny Friesinger, and Greg Holtzman. Video production and creative design by Kurt Courtney, Tim Meechel, Lauren Vieira and Evan O'Brien. Special thanks to the team at The New Media and the team at Audacy. Maura Curran, Josephina Francis, Hillary Shuff, Eric Donnelly, Kate Rose, Colin Gaynor, and Jake Galli.