Draymond Green on Steph Curry injury, Dwyane Wade's Heat statue, Baron Davis runs into JJ Redick

In this episode of the Draymond Green Show, host Draymond Green and co‑host/guest Baron Davis discuss a range of current NBA and MLB topics in a candid, conversational style. They begin by analyzing Steph Curry’s recent injury, debating how it reshapes the Warriors’ spacing, decision‑making, and Draymond’s role in a new offensive system. The duo then humorously critique the newly unveiled Dwyane Wade Heat statue, questioning its artistic choices. A brief anecdote about Baron running into former teammate JJ Redick adds a personal touch. The conversation shifts to the intrusive presence of media in NBA locker rooms, recounting a past eavesdropping incident involving Kevin Durant, the loss of privacy during COVID, and the discomfort of mixed‑gender locker rooms. They argue that media access should be eliminated to protect player privacy and reduce sensationalism. The hosts then segue into baseball, debating fan loyalty as Draymond, a lifelong Yankees fan, confronts the Dodgers’ recent dominance, including a discussion of Shohei Ohtani’s deferred, long‑term contract and its financial implications. They exchange banter about World Series history, the Yankees’ 28 championships, and make predictions about the ongoing series. Throughout, the tone remains informal, opinionated, and peppered with humor, while the content provides specific claims, anecdotes, and insider perspectives on league policies, player contracts, and media practices.
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What's up everyone? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. BD, how you doing, my brother? What it do?
What's up, big dog? How you feeling?
I feel great, brother. Disappointed loss last week, but we'll get into that. But I got something over the weekend. I see you tweeted, just ran into @JJRedick at the car wash. He had the laptop watching film. Players coach Lakers in great hands. Hashtag dedication. Talk to me about this. Like, like what, what are you thinking when you run into JJ?
You know, hey bro, It's a casual Saturday, you know, you doing parent stuff. It's your day off, you know what I mean? You probably coming off a back-to-back. You know, we all in the same, you know, Dray, we all in the same neighborhood. Our kids play at the park. And so I was going to get my car washed and me and my kids went and got some lunch. I come back from the car wash, I see JJ Redick. He run up on me. What's up BD?
What's up JJ?
I look over there, I'm like, "Damn, bro, you over here, you getting it in, huh? You working." He like, "Man, I ain't playing around." And we sat there, we had a conversation about just him, the team. And I was telling him like, "Yo, bro, your personality on this team gives them real leadership." And he was just talking about like, you know, looking at breaking down film, but talking about the game. And he's one of those dudes, You could talk basketball all day.
Yes.
You know what I mean? And you know, I got excited 'cause it's, you know, it's like talking to one of your peers that's a coach and you like, man, I want you to win so bad 'cause you know what the fuck you talking about. You know what I mean? And you gonna get these dudes to play. Like he talking about all the other players. You know what I mean?
He talking about— No, that's a big deal.
But he talking about the ism, you know?
Absolutely. Bron gonna do what he do, we know that. And AD, now we all know how special AD is, but AD right now is playing at the level that everyone has kind of hoped and thought that he would play at for many years. The way he's dominating right now is unlike an AD we've ever seen, in my opinion. Totally. And I think, you know, that, that does have, you know, that, that does have a lot to do with coaching. I, I think coaching has, you know, one of the biggest roles for a coach is you're one of two things. You're either, either a confidence giver or you're a confidence taker. And what it's looking like with not only AD, but with Rui Hachimura.
Rui. You know, Draymond Green. Austin Reeves.
Austin Reeves, D-Lo hasn't played as great, but what it's looking like with those other guys is Jackson Hayes. They have confidence. They have a belief in themselves. And man, when you got that type of confidence and you getting that from the coach, it goes a long way.
Especially in the league. It goes a long way. Right, 'cause everybody can play. And a lot of it is like, I don't think fans or people really understand it's all the intangibles. —right? Am I playing? Do I got confidence? I'm working out. Like, when people say basketball is a mental game, it's all the mental components of the things you have to have, like some mental fortitude. You know what I mean? Like, I'm really good, I'm sitting on the bench. You know what I mean? I'm losing my—
Yeah.
Like, so having a coach believe in you and letting you go out and hoop the way you know how to hoop, Bro, that turns you into a whole different species. You know what I mean? And I think we seeing that, you know, from the Lakers. I think, you know, when y'all had the run, you knew that. Like, you already knew who you was coming to the game. You know what I mean? And you could do anything. You can make adjustments on the fly. So that type of confidence, right, allows you to be a real, real basketball player. You feel me? And not a system player.
That's a fact. 100%. I agree. So they, they looking good. We'll see, you know, how it continues as we move forward. Because one thing I do think is if they're gonna continue to play at a high level, they are gonna need a better D-Lo. Like, D-Lo with his shot making ability, his scoring ability, they're gonna need him to play at a high level.
I agree.
And some of his interviews I saw early was kind of like, a little eye-turning, eye-catching, you know? It was like you couldn't kind of tell whether he was like over it or pulling. Overthinking. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? So which way they turn him, I think will be ultimately will be important as teams get into the season. You know, everybody start to get to, you know, a position of where they know what's going on, conditioning levels, all the stuff. And everybody's clicking as you get into the season. You're gonna need a better D-Lo. So I think that's something to watch for. But I think they doing well. But I got one for you. I got another one for you. So a lot of people talking about this one. It's from your era. Although I did play against D2. Number one, first I wanna say congratulations to D-Wade on the statue, man.
Congratulations to Flash, my dog. That's my dog.
Yes, sir. I think like to get a statue, man, like that, Ah, come on, dude. To get your jersey retired is one thing. Like, that's incredible. It's great. To get a statue, like you—
That's on a whole nother level, bro.
That's a totally different level.
You're immortalized.
You feel me? Absolutely. And so, number one, like I said, congrats to him. But we must have to ask, what was your first thoughts? When you saw the statue, people are, you know, people are making a lot about it. D-Wade said, "Who is that guy?" And what, man, man. What's your thoughts, man? Man, man. All right, first of all, first of all, I wanna echo what you said.
You feel what I'm saying? Flash, Hall of Famer, Olympian. You know what I mean? NBA champ, you know, to have your jersey retired, to be immortalized in a statue, you know, incredible. You know what I mean? Probably emotional day. All the people out there, and shout out to the Miami Heat organization 'cause they just always, you know, do it right.
Mm-hmm. Until.
They do. Until they picked a person to design the statue, bro. Well, I got, I got some jokes 'cause I, I felt, I felt you was gonna ask me this. I said, why did they give D-Wade a Timu statue?
When he said, yeah, when he said, who is that?
I was like, man, who is that?
You know?
Hey bro, who is that?
Who, who, who is that?
Hey, I would like to make an announcement right now to anybody retiring or anybody picking another statue, please consult with Baron Davis Enterprises on how to approve and design a statue. Come on, dude. I mean, come on, dog. We back. Hey, dog, they did— look how they did Iverson in Philly.
It, it was like this big. I couldn't believe AI statue was like this big.
Hey, dog, they had— they gave AI a, a Oscars— Oscar trophy.
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Yo, so check this out, check this out. I saw pictures of D-Wade viewing the statue face. Um, it's actually, I think it was on Rachel Nichols' page, if I'm not mistaken, of D-Wade viewing the statue. And I must say, the mockup of his face looks absolutely nothing like the statue turned out. So everybody's like, "Oh, D-Wade saw it first." Like, he know, he saw, he approved it. But the mockup of his face before the turn up, it looked like D-Wade. Afterwards, it looked like Tim Thomas. And—
Hey, bro.
I don't quite understand. How it ended up that way.
That's sick.
But my thing is, like, don't they show the statue to maybe someone like Matt Riley, like, when it's complete before they just unveil it and everybody like, "Oh yo, who is that guy?" Damn, dude. I just, and then another one is, then the guy who made the statue, comes out today with a statement saying it is not for all humans to understand. It's not for all human activity or something of that nature. And I'm just like, yo, you can't come out here and defend that. Chill, homie.
And you know what?
One person that came out and agree with you is Statue of Liberty, bro.
You can't do that. You got, come on, dawg. You got, this is what I think. I think they were like, yo, D-Wade, "We need you to pose for this statue." And you know how busy he is. He like, "Man, I ain't got all day." And this shit was taking all day. So he called his cousin and said, "Hey man, fill in." So you think it's not D-Wade? It could be his cousin. He was like, "Man, I'm tired of this shit. Hey cousin, stand in for me." And the artist didn't know if it was D-Wade or the cousin. Yeah.
Dwyane Wade. Damn, man. Shout out to D-Wade, man.
We love you, bro. We love you, bro. It's just—
Nothing but love. I actually saw D-Wade last week, man. It's always a pleasure to see D-Wade, to be in his presence. But D, you got— can they like redo the face mask?
Man, that's what I was gonna say, dog. We gotta do something, dude. We gotta do something. We gotta do something. 'Cause like, think about like 20 years from now, you know what I mean? Like, he gonna be like, yo, like, here's my statue. You know what I mean? And your grandkids gonna be like, hey man, knock it off.
He look 20 years older in the statue right now.
Damn. Hey, hey, hire me to find the artist to create art or statues to represent these legends.
Lauren Halsey. Lauren Halsey.
I'm not dissing the artist.
She'd be great at it.
I'm not dissing the artist or nothing 'cause I understand art, I understand artistry. But when you do sculptures of people, you know what I mean?
Mm-hmm.
You're gonna face the most backlash because we know what D-Wade look like. You know what I mean? And so we wanna see, we wanna see a D-Wade statue. You know what I mean? Yeah.
That's a fact. I agree. I hope they can like twist the head off and like change it out or something because—
Or paint like a hologram on the face. You know what I mean?
Like maybe— Something. Use some AI, a 3D printer, something. We got too many things today. This must be corrected.
This must be corrected.
D-Wade, these are jokes, man. We love you, dog.
Hey, D-Wade. D-Wade is, hey, that's my boy, man. D-Wade gonna be on my next season for WTF Baron Davis, so. Man, it looked like our boy Steph will be reevaluated on Friday. He had an ankle injury against the Clippers. Now with him missing the next 2 games, I think, you know, it helps. But how do you feel that changes your game with Steph not being there, you know, early on this season?
Uh, gotta be more aggressive for sure. I think, you know, you gotta find, I mean, number 1, it was very uplifting and refreshing to see him walking today. Absolutely. He's walking pretty good. So I thought that was, that was good to see. Gives you a little more hope than what, than what you initially had when I saw him leave the floor.
Yeah.
So that was good. I think for me, I obviously have to be more aggressive, try to find different spots to score. Gotta get up out that corner. And then I'll probably handle the ball more, you know, be more of a decision-making, in more of a decision-making role. But it's interesting because, you know, I don't really know what that entails today because we're kind of running an entirely different offense, you know?
Right.
So in a normal world where, you know, the offense that we've been running for the last 10 years, 9 years, I know exactly what that looks like, but we're kind of running a different offense this year. And so it's hard for me to say currently what, what that'll look like for me.
Yeah.
But I imagine that, you know, shots will come in different areas because the gravity that Steph pulls, it won't be there. So you'll probably find shots in different areas than normal. So just gotta be aggressive and willing to take those shots because With all the Steph on the floor, the first open shot you get is probably gonna be the best shot that you're gonna get throughout that possession. As opposed to you get an open shot with Steph on the floor, you still, something else still gonna open up once he start moving because he just draws so much attention.
Yeah, I've been watching the way y'all play too, and I think you can take more opportunities to just, get more points, you know what I mean? It's like, especially like posting up, you know what I'm saying? So like the way I was looking at it is like, man, this should help you, it should help the young guys, right? And start figuring out like, oh shit, let me start getting back in the post because ain't nobody posting up, you know what I mean? And like, shit, you got post work, you know what I mean? You got post work. Sure. So it's like, It could be. And then also like now Steph out, now you back to secondary push, pace push, you know what I mean? Moving the ball, cutting, like all that little murkiness, you know, with the intelligence. Okay, I'm gonna get to the free throw line. Okay, we can slow the game down. Like I think with y'all new offense and with these young guys, like it's gonna be like, it should, open something up so when Steph come back, when other people, like the gravity, like you say, the gravity he pull, it's almost like, damn, like pick your poison.
Facts.
You know what I mean?
Facts.
Pick your poison.
100%.
I like that, man. And there was a moment. I think so too. Yeah, but there was a moment in the Clippers game when Steph and you collided. You came up hobbling. Has something like that ever happened to you in the 13 years?
Listen, man, man, that shit hurt. Ah, yo, number one, that shit hurts, bro. He came up to me after like, yo, you all right? I kind of ran into you. I'm like, you think you ran into me? I saw you try to hop out the way, but I kind of ran into you. You good? I'm like—
Bro, that shit was so funny.
Yeah, I'm all right. That hurt, bro. Crazy. No, I have never had anything like that happen to me. Let's move on. That was crazy. We got back-to-back coming up against the Pelicans. Obviously everything becomes tougher with Steph out. But not only is Steph out, you got Wiggs out, you got De'Anthony Melton out. And so, you know, it's crazy because we going to last night and it's just crazy. The NBA, man, it changes everything as you know, man. It changes so fast. And so you going into yesterday and just won 2 games by 77 points start season combined. Yep. Feeling good, looking at a home stretch where you like, all right, we got the Clippers coming in, then we got the Pelicans coming in twice. You know, you're looking at that, you like, yo, we could possibly start 4-1, 5-0, which is a great start. You let one get away yesterday that, you know, they just came out and they punched us in the mouth.
They was balling.
Yeah, they punched us in the mouth. They defended great. They were really good offensively. They put a lot of pressure on the rim getting downhill. You know, Derrick Jones Jr. hit 3 threes. Like, they had guys making shots. They played well. And all of a sudden you lose that one. But not only do you lose that one, again, just how quick stuff change. You got those 3 guys out now and with a tough back-to-back coming up. So not only are you losing some of the depth, which we spoke about, But you're going into a back to back and losing that depth. And so it just makes things a lot tougher and just shows you how fast stuff can change in this league. All of a sudden, like I said, you looking like, yo, we could possibly start 4-1, 5-0.
Yeah.
And then you're faced with these injuries, man. And it's just crazy just looking at it like that.
Man, you need the, when you looking at the schedule, I remember I used to look at the schedule month to month and say, damn, these gonna be the tough ones. These are the ones we have to get, you know what I mean? And then this is a rubber game, you know what I mean? Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
And so when you got injuries and you know, you get a hard-fought game like the Clippers and like, damn, you know, we was rolling, we got caught up. Now you got Zion coming in, you know what I mean?
Yeah, for sure. And we gotta slow him down. Like Zion, Totally. Zion is a very tough, tough cover, man. 'Cause he, Zion is like a linebacker who's like, you can't run the ball against him. Or like a running back who's just constantly putting pressure on, on your front seven. He always puts pressure on the rim. Like at all times he's putting pressure on the rim. Which reminds me a lot of, Blake Griffin. When I was playing Blake, when I was playing Blake during, you know, them years when he was with the Clippers, always putting pressure on the rim, always a lot of force, strong as hell. And like, you can do what you want, they're putting their head down to get to the rim.
Totally.
And you know, it's just a matter of you like trying not to foul, trying to make 'em make tough shots and then trying to keep a body in front of 'em. Understanding your distance to the rim because ultimately you gotta know once that, once both of those guys are inside the free throw line.
Oh yeah. They just gonna jump.
At that point they'll just jump. Yeah. And once they jump, there's nothing you can do. Like they gonna figure it out in the air because they got that type of bounce. And so, yeah, slowing down Zion is tough, you know, and you know, one of the ways that you try to slow Zion down is not always defensively. It's in putting him in action on, on the defensive end because you don't want him getting the rest on that end. And with Steph out, again, that's another one of those things that makes it tougher to kind of bring him into the action and also try to wear him down on the other end as well. So, you know, it, it creates, it creates a lot of issues. But nonetheless, it starts with doing the job of Zion, which we'll have to try to slow him down in order to try to stagnate their offense.
Yeah. And like, I think with him and Blake, you know, the difference is he brings the ball up the court.
Yeah.
Right? So, you know, I like how they use, I wish like Vinny Del Negro would've used Blake like my boy Willie Green is using Zion as like a playmaker, initiate the offense, move him around. But I do think, you know, there's a gift and a curse with that. Right? Because Zion, for how he's built, he's, he's downhill, downhill, downhill, downhill. And, you know, I always say this about bigger guys, it's like when you play a guard game and you move like a guard, you're susceptible, right, and prone to more injuries, right? Because you're cutting, you trying to be finessed. And like, with a dude like that, he coming downhill people getting in his way, right? It's, it's, it's— and like, his cut and the way he moved is just— it just put a lot of wear and tear on it, on him, and put a lot of fatigue. So in a situation like that, you got to put him in pick and rolls, you got to post him up, because he puts the ball up 2 or 3 times, go to the hole, he gonna foul on the other end, right? And so you got to play that, you got to play that. kind of like that game and stay in front of him and ground him as much as you can. You know what I mean? Like I used to see Blake, like I used to tell Blake like, yo bro, if you got space, I'm just gonna throw the ball up. I don't even care. 'Cause can't nobody get vertical faster than you can. You know what I mean?
Facts.
But I do think you can stop him because you know why I'm picking you, bro? You my front runner for Defensive Player of the Year. I appreciate that. And I'm about to lead a campaign throughout the season, right? And so I wanna share with our fans some impressive stats. To start, my guy Draymond Green on my Fantasy Sleeper app is holding opponents to just 29.6% shooting through 3 games this season.
I hope you get points for defense because my 2-2-5 did not serve you well last night.
Oh bro, I think like 40 points from you, dog. I was, I take the L, you know what I mean? I take the L.
I'm gonna bounce back, man. I gotta get myself up outta that corner.
I just need to get up.
But I'm gonna bounce back for you, bro.
8-5, yeah. You know what I mean? All that with the Defensive Player of the Year. You know what I mean? I need that. Like, we gotta get the boards.
You know what I mean?
You know what I'm saying.
We gotta up that. We gotta up the ante on that. Like—
For sure.
You, AD, I got you because I think your team is going to be a great defensive team and you gonna be a different type of anchor than AD. So I got you and AD. Defensive Player, but I'm campaigning for you.
I appreciate that, bro. No, I think we definitely got a chance to be a really, really, really good defensive team. Obviously that starts with me as the anchor of the defense. And so I'm really locked in on that end, man. I think, and then, you know, seeing AD and what he's doing, I'm like, man, AD need to stop talking about Defensive Player of the Year and go put himself in that MVP category with JT, man. Come on, man. Go on away from over here, man. Go do it. Go ahead over there. Yeah, AD, what you doing, man? Go ahead over there.
Yes, sir.
You know what I'm saying? So now I'm locked in though. I think, and then also, you know, we brought in Jerry Stackhouse and Stack is coaching the defense and Stack got everybody locked in. He like grading everything you do every game. And so there's a level of accountability.. And last night, man, he had my grade low and I'm like, Stack. And he showed, he showed a couple of the clips of what he said I did wrong. I'm like, yo Stack, I can't leave Zubac's body right there and trap that box with James coming downhill. I gotta meet James at the rim. If I leave too early, that's a lob. And he like, nah, Wiggs can get there. I'm like, nah, Stack, Wiggs can't get in front of Zubac that tight to the rim if I leave early. Mm-hmm. But what I can do is meet James at the rim. And then there was another one that he dinged me over and I saw the clip and I'm like, he like, Draymond, no box out. I'm like, no box out? My man is shooting the ball. That's not my man getting the rebound. No box out. And so stack, stack, stack, stack. Let's go stack, man. Let's go stack.
I'm stack.
And he's brought a couple like different things. Like as you know, just about everybody in the NBA do the same thing defensively. Stack coming back from college, he brought a couple different things that he wanted to incorporate and I think is really ultimately gonna help our defense a lot. So, you know, having someone like that to hold you accountable like he's holding us accountable, it make you feel like, yo, I wanna do this for him. You know what I'm saying? Not just necessarily for myself. Like, yo. He one of the boss.
Exactly. I wanna do this for him. Stack is one of the ones, bro. He, you know, as a player, You know, as a vet, as a coach, as an OG, you talk about somebody who love the game, bro. It's all like, it'd be a different level when they love that game. You know what I mean? When they know the game and love the game, that's, you know, I'm just a fan now. It's just all my dogs in my era, they coaching and shit. And like, they coming back and like, they giving y'all something. You know what I mean? 'Cause that's what I've been waiting for. Like, we need the stacks. You know what I mean? We need Rico Hines, we need Earl Watsons and JJ Reddicks, and you know what I mean? We need all these dudes around, you know, Willie Green. We need these dudes 'cause they got, they connected, you know what I mean? They connected and they can challenge you. So man, shout out to Stack, man.
Yeah, sir. OG Stack, man. It's been great having him around. I always tell him like, yo, he remind me of my Uncle Benny. I'm gonna bring my uncle out here. They sound alike, they act alike. They got a seriousness to them, you know not to fuck with them.
Yeah, already, already.
They remind me so much of my uncle. So it's been great having Stack around, man. So I think that's gonna bode well for us and it's definitely helping me.
Now, you know, we gotta talk who you keep saying, I gotta get myself out the corner. I know what that means, right? Explain to our fans, what do you mean? 'Cause you keep saying, I gotta get myself, I know, I gotta get myself out the corner. What does that mean?
So coming into the season, like I said, we, we kind of been running a different style of offense. The spot of the offense that I'm in, it's just, it's in the corner. As players, when you're adjusting to a new offense, initially you just go to your spot, right? Like you haven't figured out the loopholes in the offense where you can find different space, how to find that space. And so for these first 3 games, I'm just kind of in the corner and I don't necessarily know where those spots are yet. Like I'm still trying to figure out where I can find my way out of the corner.
Yeah.
And not mess up the spacing, right?
Yeah.
Like you incorporate an offense, everybody got their spots, that's cool. But then as players, it's on us to then figure out like, All right, like where can I find my spots? You know what I'm saying? Within this offense to where I'm not in Steph's way or I'm not in Wiggs' way, but yet I'm putting myself in a position to be successful as well. I've never really been that successful outta the corner because I've never really, except for my rookie year, I've never really operated outta the corner.
Mm-hmm.
And so, —new terrain, just trying to figure out that spacing and how I can find my spots and where I can go to get out the corner and not bust the offense up. And so, uh, that's kind of the challenge for me. And it's, um, no, it's definitely a challenge, but just trying to figure that out.
Yeah. And I would say, uh, like, the way I translated it was like, damn, I'm stuck in the corner, like I'm flat-footed, you feel what I'm saying? So like getting comfortable is really like, okay, I know I'm gonna be here. I gotta get my puppies moving. So it's a shot, it's a move, it's a post, it's, you know what I mean? And then being able to, but sometimes it's like, 'cause like it'd be a new offense and you like, damn, what do I do now? You know what I mean? And basketball is—
Exactly.
Way faster than that. So I think, you know, as, you know, just talking to the fans, as you get more comfortable in the offense, you know what I mean? It's also just getting comfortable in the corner and realizing that I don't have to stand here. I don't wanna be, I can't be stuck here. Like I gotta try some shit too, 'cause it's early in the season. You know what I mean? So for someone like you just try, it's like you, but what makes you, what makes you so great is a lot of young guys and a lot of players would try to force action.
For sure.
Or like, hey, I'm not involved. Like, instead of figuring out, you know what I mean? Great players take chances and then they figure out their space and where they comfortable and then they start building towards that. You know what I mean? So I think— 1000%.
That's my translation. That's where I'm at. That's a great translation. That's exactly where I'm at with it. I like it though. No doubt. And I know like I gotta figure it out.
But that's why I was saying—
Like it's on me.
With the posting, crashing weak side, like I see it. You know what I mean? The fadeaway, the 3-point shot, the pump fake, you know, getting to like baseline, getting to the middle. Baby Hook, you know, like putting pressure on the defense from that. Like I can see it, you know what I mean? But a lot of times it's like with the new offense, everybody is learning how to figure each other out.
You know what I mean? Basketball is a very instinctual game.
Yes.
And right now I can't say that I'm playing off instincts because you're trying to just figure out.
Right.
Kind of the nuances.
Yeah.
And so gotta find a way to speed that up. Yeah. To where it becomes instinctual. 'Cause when I'm playing off my instincts, you know, the one thing I trust is I trust my instincts. Yeah. I trust my brain. I know what's going on on the basketball court. So just gotta find a way to make it more instinctual. And that's what I mean by getting myself outta that corner. This episode is sponsored by GameTime Ticketing app. The start of the NBA season is underway and you don't want to miss the hype atmosphere watching a basketball game live.
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My gosh.
I would ask you, who do you got as the best undefeated team left? You got the Thunder, you got the Celtics, you got the Lakers, you got the Cavs. Who is your best team? Or I wouldn't even say best because I think the best, everybody's gonna say Celtics. Who are the team that you're most excited about in that bunch?
I say the Lakers. 'Cause I just think they got, they gotta, they gotta, they got and they are one establishing an identity, which like we don't know what the identity of the Lakers have been. You know what I mean? Since the bubble or whatnot. But the Lakers never really had an identity outside of like, it's LeBron's team. Now they back to being the Lakers. I like OKC because they probably have the most talent of any team in the league. You know what I mean? And those young dudes are highly skilled basketball players and they just gotta get mean. You know what I—
Yeah.
And I think by them losing in, in the playoffs last year, getting punched up, Like they got a little bit more confidence, you know, to go with it. And then the Celtics, you know, defending champs. Cleveland, you know, I like what they putting together, but I don't think that Cleveland is, I don't think they one of the best, you know, I think they would be the weaker out of the four, but they playing some great basketball. And they, you know, they gotta go— They got a better system. You know what I mean? They got a better system. But if Darius Garland and Mitchell, if they can, if they can, they can sync like they was that one year when they were both All-Stars, they could be dangerous.
They can. I think, uh, my— I, I think OKC definitely has some special talent. Uh, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is crazy, one of the best players in the league, and I don't think there's anyone that you can find to debate that. Um, I think he's going to put himself in that MVP category, uh, possibly compete for it, possibly come home with it.
Yeah.
And they got a lot of, Jalen Williams.
I love his game.
Special. Chet Holmgren is special.
Crazy.
The one thing I will say about them is there's a certain readiness when you're ready to win. And I don't care how old you are. I won my first championship in my third year. Steph's sixth year, Klay's fourth year. And we used to joke around. We would pour water on a guy's head and, you know, we would pour water on a guy's head every now and then. You sure happy to win. And after the game. And we would do little stuff like that every now and then. Not every time. But the one thing I see with the OKC team that is a little alarming for me is like their postgame. Like 7 guys in the interview. Like there's a certain seriousness that it takes to win in this league. And there's a certain fear you have to instill in a team, in teams in order to win. And I just don't know if they're instilling that fear in teams with all the bromance and stuff after the game. Like, bro, oh, we all the bros, it's the homies. Like, that's cool. There's a time and a place for that. But after every, every time somebody's in the interview, you got 7 guys, 8 guys, then you got the same 7, 8 guys with a picture with Josh Giddey right after they play. Like again, I'm all for having fun. Like it's an 82-game season, you should have fun. But you also have to understand when people are looking at you to be the team and you have to understand when your moment is. And right now, I don't know if OKC understands, But their moment is now. Their moment started last year. You go out, you had that great regular season. Your clock starts now. You're no longer the team that's just building through the draft. You've arrived. It is now time for you to take that next step. And I'm not sure that they quite understand everything that that entails. You know, they understand to play them, them boys special. Like they get out there.
They can hoop.— they gonna, they winning.
It's another level.
It's another level to, they gotta get, they gotta get 2 more levels to get to the championship.
Absolutely.
Right? So it's, when I'm watching that and I'm, and you know, I'm in your conference and we about to play in the playoffs. If I think you soft, there's no fear.
Yes, exactly.
There's, I'm not anxious. I'm not, I'm like, oh bro, I'm going right at these dudes. You know what I mean? And so, you know, all that, like the fun and games is fun. Like it is dope seeing them, but there's also like, they gotta mature a little bit and become more professional so the stars can be the stars. You know what I mean? Like let the stars do the interviews, be the stars. You know what I mean? And like, let's start getting this pecking order right. 'Cause when the playoffs come, you know, and everybody buddy buddy and everybody in panic mode, I mean, anybody will shoot the shot. You know what I mean?
100%. 1,000%.
That's how they got bottled up. That's how they got bottled up last year.
Exactly. And you gotta think about it like, even like you said, the stars being stars, Shea Gildress-Alexander, Shay is on the verge of becoming like a superstar. I don't quite personally think he's a superstar yet because superstar to me is worldwide. Everybody know you. And to me there's only a few superstars in the NBA, but Shay has superstar level talent. However, just because you have superstar level talent doesn't always make you a superstar.
Yeah, for sure.
And for Shea Gildress-Alexander to take that next step. There are certain things that superstar does. Like for instance, like I said, the interview, Shea, people wanna hear what you gotta say. They want to hear you speak. They want to hear your thoughts.
That's so great, bro. Yeah.
Exactly. And they don't want to hear it with 7 guys in the background. They don't want to hear that because they're not actually getting to experience who Shea Gildress-Alexander is.
There you go.
And that's what the world want. And by the way, like I said, that goes hand in hand with taking that next step and becoming Shea Gildress-Alexander. Not Shea Gildress-Alexander who all the players look at and be like, "Yo, he nice." But Shea Gildress-Alexander that all the players look at and be like, "I'm not looking forward to facing him today." Like everybody know going into the game that Shea gonna give you 30. He gonna work. But now it's time to instill that fear and all of that goes into that. And by the way, I know Shea got that killer and got that dog in him. If you ever meet his pops, he ain't got no choice but to have that dog in him.
He gotta get that to his team.
Absolutely.
You feel what I'm saying? Absolutely. He gotta give all that ism to his team and he gotta like, Hey man, like all these games and shit and playing around like that shit cool. But like, yo, come on guys. You know what I mean? Like I remember my second year in the league, Sacramento, Chris Webber, they came to Charlotte, bro. And they was tripping and Chris Webber was like, yo, it was the second game of the season. He was like, yo, we did not come in this season to be bullshit. We trying to get a championship. Lock in. Absolutely. I was like, damn, this is game 2. They talking about—
Game 2.
Championship. You know what I mean? They talking about they on a mission. And so like, and that's the year you see Sacramento take that leap. 'Cause it's like, man, you gotta put yourself from the beginning of the season in that mode. I don't want no friends, bro. You can't have no friends.
People don't understand this. Championships are not won in April, May, and June. That's actually the whole thing with the Joel Embiid thing. It's like a championship Chip is the process. Yeah, it's the process. It is a process from day one. And every day, practice games, you're chipping away at that. And you chip away and you chip away. You have a setback, chip away, chip away, chip away. Take two steps back, chip away, chip away. It's an everyday process over the course of 9 months. It's not just get to April healthy, get to May healthy and we good. Nah, you building every single day.
You gotta build blocks.
And that's what those guys gotta understand, that there's just gotta be a certain seriousness. And it was cool when y'all were the new guys on the block last year coming out winning 50+ games. Now you're expected to do that. We expect y'all to win these regular season games. We don't need 7 guys in the press conference anymore. We need Shea Gildress-Alexander and then Lou Dort's gonna have a great game and they ain't gonna want Shea that night. They gonna wanna hear from Lou Dort because he clamped somebody and he had 20. And we need Lou Dort in that interview. Yeah. And that's the type of seriousness that this group I think is going to need. In order to take that next step. Because what they must understand is you got a year or two to take the next step. If you don't, you start pulling pieces out and you start plugging other guys in and you pull this guy out and all of a sudden, Shay gonna be making $300 million and Chet gonna be making $300 million. Can they also afford to pay Jalen Williams $300 million? Then you start to run into those issues. So you gotta take advantage of it as soon as your window open. Because as fast as that window open—
That shit closes fast.
It closes. It closes even faster.
Yeah, I mean, that's, you crazy if you don't take that moment right now. You know what I mean? Because you gotta be, you also gotta be aware and have a great deal of respect for who in front of you, who next to you, and who coming behind you, bro. You know what I mean?
That's 1,000% fact.
Every year it's like, you don't know. You know what I mean?
Yeah.
But OKC need to mature. If they mature, If they mature this year and take that leap, all of them, and get serious and get serious about, hey man, we won this game, let's get to the next one. You know what I mean? They gonna be all right. But speaking of, like, speaking of some of the teams, bro, I saw in an interview my boy Giannis. Now my son loves Giannis, bro. And he was talking about how the Bucks need to find their identity. Gotta find ways how to win the game. Right now we don't have an identity, you know what I'm saying? Like, how are we going to win the game? Are we going to defend 48 minutes? Are we going to move the ball for 48 minutes? Are we going to attack? Are we going to play fast for 48 minutes? Or 36 minutes, slow down the last 12? Gotta find an identity. We don't have that right now, you know? And you could— I feel like game, we're good. But these last two games, as you say, we have to find that, we have to find ourselves. Like, that's a big word in sports. That's almost like a bad word in sports. A good word or a bad word, they just fell to 1-3. Um, and when it comes to team finding an identity, like, who, like, who sets the precedence, players or coaches?
It's, it starts with coaches. The coaches have to come in with a certain swagger, with a certain confidence, with a certain seriousness to A, let guys know what their roles are. I think on any great team, coaches come in and they define, and it's not, "All right, Draymond, your role is boom, boom, boom. Steph, your role is boom, boom, boom." It's like, no, you come in and they start establishing This is what we need. These are the roles to fill. You're gonna, you know, we need you in this spot, da da da. And you start to figure out your identity and your, well, first your roles. You discuss what it is that we, what we want our identity to be, right? So we want our identity to be X. We want our identity to be a great defensive team. We want our identity to be a fast-paced offensive team. Push the ball. Yep. Get up and down. That's what we want our identity to be. So from day one, that's what we're trying to build, right? And so it starts with coaches.
Right.
Then it moves to your best players. What are y'all doing on a day-to-day basis to make sure that you're bringing X so that everyone else know they gotta bring Y and Z? Right. Because if the top players are bringing X, everybody else, you have to bring Y and Z or you're no good here.
Right.
And so then it starts with players. And I'm gonna tell you this, one thing that Coach Izzo used to teach us, and he would always say, it's a saying he would always say, he said, "A player-coach team is better than a coach-coach team." And that was his motto. When we had a leader that was coaching up the team and holding guys responsible on the court, that things that Izzo didn't have to do because he had a leader doing that.
Makes sense.
It makes his life easier.
Yeah.
It make your players, it make your players' relationship with him better and all of these things, right?
Mm-hmm.
And the things that he have to focus on changes.
Yeah.
It allows him to expand his bandwidth because he don't have to focus on that. And so as much as it is, coaches have to establish it.
Yeah.
It then falls on the players. Who are you gonna bring? What are you bringing to the table? What type of intensity are you coming to the table with every, each and every game? And then what is important? Is winning important to us? Because if winning is important to us, then we'll do the things that we've identified that we want our identity to be. If winning is not the most important thing to us, we usually become a team that is not sure what their identity are. And you don't know from night to night what team is gonna show up. And those teams can't win in the NBA.
And I've been on a lot of those teams, right? And the shit, for real, I've been on a lot of those teams. And like, the thing is, there's no trust or communication, you know what I mean? And so when I look at Milwaukee, you don't trust the system.
Yep.
Right? There is no system that's putting you in a position to where you feel like you're game, you know what I mean? Everybody's stuck in the corner, you know what I mean?
That's a fact, that's a fact.
If Giannis and Dame Lillard are stuck in the corner, are stuck in they separate corner and they not communicating, right? Then now you gotta go to the coach as the guys talk to the coach. You know, now it's therapy, right? And it ain't basketball, you ain't figuring it out, you ain't figuring it out together. And the team that don't communicate, Right? Like the Bucks need a little bit of what OKC got.
Yes.
Because they're too serious. You know what I mean? Yeah. They're almost too goddamn serious. It's a balance. Yeah, it's a balance. It's a balance you gotta find. And because Giannis has won a championship, right? He is like, that's his determination. And so if people are not up to, that level or can't get there, or a coach can't bring them to that level, then that's where you have identity issues. I would always say even the Boston team with KG and Paul and Ray Allen, I mean, they got one, you know what I mean?
Mm-hmm.
And I would say for a team like that with all that talent in that era, how they put that together, you know what I mean? They were, they were beatable. You know what I mean? Like, Doc, the way he puts this team together, the way he coaches his teams— his teams are extremely talented, but the way the system is, is you're playing against the system. So you can beat, you can beat them playing Doc's system. And so it's got to be a little bit of Doc gotta figure it out, Giannis and Dame gotta figure it out.. But everybody else on the team gotta say, hey man, we ballers, this is what we like to do. And then you gotta go and try and force that in the game, right? Can't be sitting back at 1-3 saying, man, we don't know what I— all right, then you gotta go establish one now and almost go kamikaze until you get in flow. 'Cause it sound like they ain't been in flow from last year. Yeah. They ain't have a good training camp. It sound like they ain't coming into the season And it's still like a major disconnection between your top 3 people, your coach and your 2 superstars.
So I'll ask you this question because I actually came across this earlier today and I hadn't thought none of it until we just started talking about the Bucks. I came across a clip earlier today and Gil was talking about Dame and he pretty much said, He doesn't think Dame has figured out how to pick and choose his spots when he should be looking to score. Gil's, and he compared it to himself in Washington when he had Tawan Walker and, or no, Tawan Jamison and—
Caron Larry.
Caron Butler.
He had a whip.
Absolutely. And so he compared it to himself and he said, listen, I would just pass to those guys to start the game. Let them drive. Caron getting to the cup, getting fouled. Why am I just drawing a blank?
I just said his name. Larry Hughes, Antoine Jamison.
Antoine Jamison getting to the hole, getting fouled. And I let them get the fouls up. Now once they start getting the team to like 3 or 4 fouls, I know you have to guard me differently is what he said. He said, I know you have to guard me differently because we're in the bonus. And so now I can really attack you. Now I can take advantage of my skill. And, and so Gil made the comparison. He was like, he don't think Dame is letting Giannis go, go, go, and then pick and choose in his spots. He said he think Dame's come out, take 3 or 4 tough shots, and then if you miss 'em, and then it's kind of tough from there. What are your thoughts on that? I can't necessarily speak to that. I'm not a point guard or I was never a scoring guard. What, what are you, what are your thoughts to that?
Well, I totally agree. I think Dame is super talent, he's super elite, and for the majority of his career, he had to come out and damn near put up 40 for them to have a chance to win, right? When he played with LaMarcus Aldridge, give it to LaMarcus Aldridge, let him anchor. I think he gotta start going back to that mentality. Like, okay, I got Giannis, let me load Giannis up, let me get, uh, these dudes going, right? And not that you not— it's not yourself, but it's not your points, you know what I mean? Like, you starting the game hitting 3, 4, 5 3-pointers in the first quarter, like, that's not going to help the Bucks win. You know what I'm saying? Like, if it was Portland, oh yeah, he about to go off. Everybody is gonna rise to that level because he's elevated them. And in Milwaukee Bucks land, that's like keeping you in the game the way they play. You know what I mean? Yeah. So he gotta learn how to finesse the situation so it opens up for him. —right? And be Dame time, right? Script, like write a script for yourself, right? Go home, write a script for yourself. Every game, write a script. This is what Giannis gonna give me. Boom. This is what Portis gonna give me. This is what I'm getting from Lopez. This is what I need in this game. And then 4 minutes, 6, we up 6, it's Dame time.
Mm-hmm.
And so you start making your points matter based on, oh damn, we down 6, let me go get to the line. Boom, we up 6, let me take, let me take 2 of these just to see if I can put some distance, right? And so I think it's more so Dame trying to— once again, it's the system— Dame trying to figure out how to do Dame time and Giannis trying to figure out how to do Giannis time. And so if you remember with the Clippers, you had Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.
Mm-hmm.
And, and they played two different styles.
Mm-hmm.
And that's why the Clippers could never beat you guys. You know what I mean? They could beat, they beat San Antonio because Blake played well, Chris Paul played well, but together, you know what I mean? There wasn't like, they didn't dominate the game. They actually like allowed you to stay in the game because one player was balling. The other player was balling. But if they were ever balling in sync, they were gonna blow your ass out. You know what I mean? And I think that's where Milwaukee is kind of handicapped because there's no connective tissue for like yin and yang. There's no yin and yang.
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It's the system, bro. You feel what I'm saying? 'Cause if you look at Giannis in this system, he don't play like Giannis. You dig what I'm saying?
That's deep.
Like he not pushing it. He not taking it, you know, taking it on the wing and saying, hold on, like, I ask for forgiveness later. Right? So he's kind of lost a little bit of who he is and how he could help Dame, right? Or like, it's almost like they're trying to help each other so much that they're overworking without working together. Mm-hmm. You know what I mean? Yeah. And then when you go into the system, like identity is a system thing. Because if Giannis is saying we got an identity problem, that means somebody don't know who the man around here. And then somebody don't know who the man, when the man is supposed to be around here. You know what I mean? And so everybody's uncomfortable. You know what I'm saying? And so that system, the way they play, there are only two playmakers on that team. That's a fact. Giannis and Dame Lillard. And Dame Lillard is a scoring playmaker. Giannis is a scoring playmaker, a defensive playmaker. Neither one of those guys are assist guys. They don't set, they're not, They wasn't molded to be great to set people up. Their greatness is in their points, you know what I mean? And their pressure that they put on defense from an offensive standpoint. Giannis on both ends of the floor, you feel what I'm saying? So like—
Yeah.
Dame is not gonna be Jrue Holiday for the Milwaukee Bucks. Milwaukee Bucks gotta go find somebody that can do that so Dame can be a better version of whoever was the 2 guard when they won it. You know what I mean?
For sure.
So does, does Chris Middleton, whenever he get back from injury, does he change that or do you still have the same issue?
No, it, it, it, it, well, one, I wanna see Chris healthy cuz you know, he's, but he's another scorer, right? And so if you asking Chris Middleton to come back and be the Chris Middleton he was during the Finals, then you a fool, you know what I mean? Because he was bringing the ball up, he was playmaking. They need somebody that can break down the defense, or they need somebody that can look for people, you know what I mean? And you know who they need? They need Ben Simmons. Mm-hmm.
I was just about to say, ideally, who do you think?
They need Ben Simmons, bro.
You think, so you think Ben Simmons is the answer to the Milwaukee Bucks problem?
Hell yeah, hell yeah, hell yeah.
All right. I mean, listen, Ben Simmons—
But I don't think the system is going to work. I think, you know, they had something good with Adrian Griffin, whatever the, like, bro, you know how the drama go, when it's drama, That's all drama and soap opera. Milwaukee has found themselves in the basketball soap opera of, oh, you used to be good, now you about to go through some shit, now you gotta figure it out, now you gotta unravel it, and you don't wanna piss off Giannis 'cause he can leave.
So might I remind you that Doc Rivers was the coach of the Ben Simmons fallout in Philly? Yeah, I know. So I don't know if Ben Simmons is still gonna be the guy. They did. And Bill, listen, Bill was special, man.
That's the guy, bro. 'Cause he will put you in a system that only he knows how to coach it.
So that's what you're saying the problem is? It's not Dame, it's not Giannis. It's neither one of them. It's the system, bro. It's the system.
It's the system and the way you built the team. And so you built the team around two guys that are incredible basketball players, right? But you have nobody in the middle that's bringing them to a point of their ultimate capacity.
Yeah.
If Dame is going, Giannis ain't going. If Giannis is going, Dame ain't going. Why the fuck aren't they both going at the same time? They're deadly in a pick and roll together. Of course. Who's on the opposite side, right? What's happening on the opposite side? Who else is chiming in? Who else is making a play for Dame or a play for Giannis? So when Giannis make a play for Dame and he wide open, it's like, damn, I'm wide open. I ain't never been wide open in my entire— Dame Lillard has never been wide open in his entire career. Unless he made himself wide open.
100%.
You feel what I'm saying?
1,000%.
It's new to him too, but they gotta get that connective tissue. And I think you gotta change the system, right? Y'all gotta fast break. Y'all gotta get back to playing defense, right? But you gotta let, you gotta let Draymond Green figure this shit out and get out the way sometimes as a coach. 'Cause you still gonna get wins based on they, their talent.
Facts.
Like, I'm just, you know, when I'm looking at coaching, I'm like, yo, a Doc Rivers team is a beatable team. I don't give a fuck how much talent they got, 'cause they only playing patterns.
I respect it. So speaking of Ben Simmons, did you see the fan yesterday when Ben Simmons is walking past tell him he's trash to his face? Trash!
Why didn't you say it when I was there, pussy?
Who talking shit? Draymond Green.
Wow, that was crazy, bro.
In Orlando, so in Orlando, you walk to the locker room and they had this guardrail up and you're walking right next to a bunch of fans, which number one is ridiculous. They allow fans to line up right there when you're going in the locker room, when you coming out, people standing there screaming, trying to get autographs. An NBA locker room is the most non-private place.
Oh my gosh.
In the, in the building. Like, come on. There's no privacy. You're getting dressed, there's people in the locker room. You're doing media, like you're, you're getting prepped before the game. There's people in the locker room. Soon as the coaches break the huddle after the game, there's people in the locker room. It has to be the most insane non-sanity or however you want to frame it, place in an NBA locker room. I mean, in the NBA arena. And it's just like open season. Like you go in, you do what you want. There's a million people in Orlando next to, like, but then if we say something back. We get in trouble. We get in trouble, we get fined. But this kid, who's standing there with his dad is gonna say in my face, I'm trash. He don't know what it takes to make it to the NBA.
Right.
You really wanna beat his dad up for letting him talk like that, control your kid. But yet, it's just like, oh, respect the game. Fans can, like, they pretty much say what they want to you and you just have to take it. And just the empowerment of fans to say what they wanna say to us as if we're not human beings now.
Yeah, we just gotta hit him exactly like your mama. We just gotta like bring your mama back. You know what I mean? Like your mama, your daddy. You know what I mean?
Yo, would you tell her I'll slap your daddy? Shut up.
Or have one of those little laughy, Those little things.
Bow, bow.
Get down.
Shut up.
That's crazy, yo.
I thought that was wild, but I thought, you know, Shorter came back to his defense. Ben kind of said, why you ain't say it in my face? Like, but you know, I just think that's always been an ongoing issue. They still ain't figured it out. Probably never gonna figure it out. It's just something that we have to deal with. And it is what it is.
It is. Hey bro, Donald Sterling, when I played with the Clippers, bro, we won a game and he came in there with like, no lie, like 8 old ass ladies. They had to be like late 50s, 60s, something. I mean, they looked like they was 70, 80. And he came in with an entourage, bro, I bullshit you not. And Coach had just finished and he said, "Hey ladies, you know, meet the guys." And I'm sitting right at the door and he was like, "Man, you can sit in here. You can sit right here and talk to him. Wait till he take his towel off." Whoa, chill. And the old lady was just sitting there asking me all kind of questions. Bro, I'm sitting there with my towel. Like bro, I'm not about to, I'm about to wait this old lady out. I'm not about to get up. Bro, it was, hey bro, it was dialed back.
She was waiting for you to take your time.
In the Clippers locker room, it was crazy, bro.
That's insane.
It was crazy. He was like, wait, he was like, wait for him.
That's nuts. I'll tell you what though, I'm gonna tell you what, all this gonna take is for somebody to get sued in this climate. You got so many people in the locker room, Yeah. People can say anything. Guess what? You're, even if you ain't guilty, you're guilty by public perception.
Yep.
And we live in a world where you're guilty until proven innocent.
Totally.
And once you're proven innocent, nobody's gonna talk about it.
Yeah.
But before you're proven innocent, you're going to get talked about like a dog, like you're guilty.
Man.
And all it's gonna take is for someone to sue and say X, Y, and Z. But it's just unfair to players that you have to be put in that situation.
Well, you can't say nothing in the locker room no more, right? So like, even if you were, even if it was a team inside joke after the game and you yell something, right? And people can take anything now out of context. You know what I mean? It's just, man, this shit is crazy. Like there gotta be some type of like privacy for like the players and the team to have a moment before people rushing in. Even for some players, like say you did something wrong or say something happened in the game, like get that dude a moment, you know what I mean? And maybe talk to the team, talk, you know, talk to the players and be like, "Hey bro, don't do that." You know what I mean? Don't crash out.
Yes.
But the media be trying to, now they trying to, They be trying to make you crash out on them.
Nah, for sure. For sure. And it's something that guys have complained about for years. It's something that went away during COVID and you thought it was one of those things like marijuana that went away during COVID Them testing for marijuana. You thought it would be one of those. Do they? Nah, that's what I'm saying.
That's killing.
They stopped testing for that during COVID They also stopped letting media members in for pretty much a year and a half where you didn't have media in the locker room.
Yeah, you would just go to the little conference.
Yes, and everybody was like, "Yo, this is great," and thought like that would be the end of it. And then it came back and I just don't understand in the world we live in today. I don't know why they got media in the locker room. Listen, I don't talk to media before the game. I don't talk to 'em before the game anyway.
So why are you in there?
But I just be hanging out, eavesdropping. Eavesdropping. You got whispering shit. You know what I mean?
We had an eavesdropper before.
Yeah.
Yeah, we had an eavesdropper before that when KD was on our team. We were having a conversation in the locker room. I'll never forget it. It was in Utah. And the guy tweeted like a conversation we was having. And I was just like, yo, like you can't, like we're not talking to you. We're having a conversation amongst each other. And you eavesdrop on our conversation and then go tweet it? But you know, you always talk about like the protection of the players. There is none. It's— Freedom of players. And it's crazy. You don't, you, and yet nothing gets accomplished by media being in the locker room before the game. Guess what? The media come in the locker room after the game and then Raymond Rivers say, all right, I'm taking Draymond up to the media room.
What's the point?
Like, help me understand.
Help me understand.
Why'd they come in here when I was just sitting in my locker? Help me understand that. And so I don't know, man. It's one of those ridiculous things that you would've been, I'm not even gonna say need to go away because you would've thought, let's keep it. Maybe if we say, hey, everybody keep it, they'll get rid of it. 'Cause this should've been gone a long time ago.
I think they should get rid of it 'cause it creates more of a mystique. You're not getting dudes with cameras, with towels on, their shirt off. You like get 'em at the podium dressed up. It just creates more of a vibe for what the league is trying to do with fashion and personality and shit like that. Instead of the mystique of, you know, somebody with a camera in the locker room. Like, I ain't even— I'm getting dressed. Somebody getting an interview, I'm in the back. You know what I mean? And so like it just cut out all the confusion.
It's really uncomfortable. It's really uncomfortable in the locker room. You have men, you have women, and I'm trying to get in the shower. It is a very, very, very uncomfortable space to be in.
Man, man, well speaking of, you know, locker room and naked in the locker room, right now my boys, the Dodgers, up 3-0 in New York. The media must be in that Yankee locker room.
I'm a Yankee fan.
I am, I am a Yankee fan.
And however, you know, my guy Peter Guber is the owner of the Dodgers, so I'm not upset. I want to see Peter do well. How can you be a Yankee fan? Magic. How can you be a Yankee fan Because I've been a Yankee fan since I was a kid. I'm not switching up now.
Then how can you not be upset? How can you?
I am upset. I wanna win.
No.
I wanna win.
But you know, I'm happy for Peter.
Oh hell no.
I'm happy for Peter. But the series isn't over yet. We not gonna do that.
No, no, no, no, no. You can't be happy.
We not doing that.
You happy for us, bro?
Oh, look at you now. I'm happy for Pete. I didn't say I was happy for the Dodgers. I said I'm happy.
Hey bro, we don't want you to be happy for us. It does not, You are a New York Yankee fan. It does not feel good when we win that you guys are like, oh, you guys beat us. We like, no, we want you to hate us. That is the problem with the Yankees. Y'all like, y'all too nice.
We got 28 World Series pennants, bro.
I don't know what, what more you want. Nice, Mr. Nice Guy.
We have 28.
That's nice.
Y'all just made y'all 23rd appearance. We got 28 of 'em.
That's okay. We on the way. We on the way though. You know, we on the way. Uh, Ohtani, 10 years.
Hello? Those contracts are bad after 3 years.
No, no, no. His whole contract is deferred.
His whole contract is deferred. Yep. After 3 years, y'all gonna be paying him. Yo, load up the wagon. 10 years from now.
We paying Ohtani $3 million a year.
Load up the wagon, everybody. It's a shame they let y'all cheat like that.
Hey bro, that's smart. That's smart business, bro.
All right, you know what?
You would do it.
You would do it.
Y'all about to, it went wrong for us.
We about to win the World Series.
We should, we took game 1, it changes the series. We let it get away.
You took what? What happened?
And now y'all feeling good. Oh, you know what happened in game 1, or did you not watch? Yeah, you saw what happened. Because you probably didn't believe. You weren't believing at that point. So you weren't watching.
No, not at all.
And then you hop on the bandwagon. You probably an Angels fan anyway. And now you wanna act like you a Dodgers fan. Oh, that's what's up. You an Angels fan.
You a Yankee fan from Michigan.
Yeah, absolutely.
That don't count.
Absolutely.
That don't count.
Why not?
That don't count.
Why not?
You know, you know, you know, You know who my favorite Dodger is? Fernando Venezuela. Come on.
You know who my favorite Yankee is? No, man. Outside of the captain. Outside of the captain and Mo Rivera. My favorite Yankee growing up was Darryl Strawberry and Chuck Knoblauch.
And where Darryl Strawberry from? Crenshaw High, LA. What that got to do with me? I don't— He wanted to be— it's that Dodger essence.
Shout out to Crenshaw High, but he went over there to win championships. The Dodgers wasn't winning no championships then.
He went over there.
We birthed him in LA. You know what I'm saying? He went over there to win championships. Shout out to Crenshaw High, but he went to, he went to, he went over there.
The essence. He went over there.
The essence of the Dodgers. He went over there, bro. Freddie Freeman. It's cool.
Oh my God. Hey bro, I'm in Erewhon. I did 5 laps around the Erewhon.
And now he, and he wanna come alive. He has 0 home runs and 1 RBI at the time. And then he wanna look up, man, stop it. Grand slam. You heard it here first. The Yankees coming back because guys who don't win championships get excited before the series is over. And now the Yankees coming back and we about to take this World Series. You heard it here first. That's a wrap from you two guys. Appreciate y'all tuning in. Check us out later this week.
Peace.
Peace.
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