Draymond Green predicts LeBron James' future + Why Lakers shouldn't fire Darvin Ham

Welcome to the brand new Draymond Green Show YouTube channel. Hit subscribe so you don't miss out on any of our content. Interesting stuff coming out of the Lakers organization. Obviously, Bron set to possibly opt out of his contract and become a free agent for the first time since 2018. Um, I think that is a very interesting thing because what that means is, if you know anything about cap, is LeBron could opt out of that deal, be a free agent. They could sign somebody with cap space and then sign LeBron back using Bird rights, which means they could possibly add a third star or a couple really good players at $15 million a year or so and better their team. They could also decide that they're not spending that money and going into the tax with all these tax penalties.

Um.

I think it'll be interesting to see. I think a lot of that will be Depending on what LeBron decides, we obviously see the reports of the Lakers may draft Bronny. I think that would be amazing, by the way. Absolutely incredible. But that's neither here nor there. I think the Lakers, they really gotta decide what it is that they want to do though. Like, are you comfortable going into next season with pretty much the same supporting cast that you have? LeBron and AD, are you comfortable going in that way? If LeBron decides to leave, what do you do then? Do you then trade AD? Like, I think there's a lot of uncertainty coming out of that organization. What's gonna happen with Darvin Ham? Me personally, I think it'll be wrong to fire him for multiple reasons. However, you know, they'll get a lot, he'll catch a lot of flack for the season that they had, but their roster didn't get better than last year and they were a playing team. Yeah, they made it to the conference finals with LeBron James and Anthony Davis playing the way that they were playing, but they didn't get better. They lost Dennis Schroder. I don't think they replaced him well. Gabe Vincent didn't bring anything to the season. Obviously he was hurt. Yeah. But even once he got in there, like he didn't shoot the ball well. Schroeder was huge for them and they lost him. And so I don't think the roster got better, but yet you expected better results. And I don't just, I just don't understand that. But everybody will blame Darvin Ham like, oh, it's his fault. And like, is it really? Like just because they went on a pretty decent run after they mustered up some energy after the trade deadline, and got to the conference finals, got swept. Their season was their season. And yeah, you got through the trade deadline and you found some energy, but then you come back into the season with that team. And I don't think the belief was very high in the first place. Yeah, we could say the belief is high, but I don't think it was very high in the first place. And I don't think that team got much better. Obviously Van Dijk missing majority of the season.

Yeah.

It's a killer. Obviously gave Vincent miss a majority of the season. Could have been a killer, although we don't really know because we've only seen him in Miami and we've seen guys leave Miami and it not be the same thing that it was in Miami. So the jury's out on that one. Nonetheless, I don't think they got much better. And so I'm not surprised by the year they had, but am looking forward to what's to come of this summer. Some people think it's a foregone conclusion that Bron is going back to the Lakers. I don't know that it's a foregone conclusion. I think if there was something that came about that was interesting, I think he'd look at it. But ultimately, I don't quite see him leaving LA. Just don't really see it. Just my opinion. But we shall see. What happens with that? Uh, I don't know. Hopefully they don't just fire Darvin as if it's his fault and no one else's fault. I think that's garbage, but that's neither here nor there. And we shall see what happens in the Lakers organization, but I definitely think some changes are coming. I don't know where those changes will be, but they're definitely coming because it's the Lakers. They want to win. And that's just the standard. So we shall see. But before we get outta here, I'm gonna toss it to Jackson for a few questions, mailbag questions before we go.

From @KillaCam, what do you think of Paulo Banchero in the series so far?

Well, what I think of Paulo Banchero is exactly what I thought of Paulo Banchero back when Paulo Banchero was about to get drafted, which is he is one of those guys that changes an organization. If you go back to the podcast episode of when, right before Paulo got drafted, Paulo was the guy who I thought was the number one pick, hands down. A lot of people were talking about the guys. Paulo is showing that. I am one of the guys. And yes, Paulo has some things that I think he needs to get better at. He needs to become more comfortable shooting the ball. And as he do that, I think his game really opens up as he becomes more comfortable with his jump shot. But Paulo is a monster. What he's doing, he's leading these guys. Now, what can really set this series off for Paulo is if they go win game 6 and then he can take them on the road and win a game 7. That really, in my opinion, puts Paulo in a different tier. No, not the top tier because he's got a long ways to go to get to that. Although I think he's more than capable of being in that top tier, guys. But if Paulo is to go win game 6 and take that team on the road and lead them to a game 7 win in Cleveland, you gotta bump his tier up and the respect has to go up. I think he's been very special in this series, but in order to be one of the guys that he wants to be, that I think he's capable of being, he has to be able to go get one on the road. This is his first crack at it. So it's not like, oh, Paulo is a bust and blah, blah, if he don't go win one on the road. Role in this particular series. But as he moved forward in his career, that's something that he's gonna have to do in order to take that next step. And I don't think it's impossible for him to do it this time, but he's playing a great series.

From @jamiecu, what do you think is the most underrated factor for a deep playoff run?

Jamie CU, is that like Colorado University or is that like Jamie?

It is C-U, letter C-U. So maybe Colorado, I'm not sure.

Wow, Prime Time got everybody repping that CU like it's Michigan State or something. Shout out to Coach Prime. Say that question one more time.

The most underrated factor for a deep run. I can tell you took a second. Most underrated factor for a deep playoff run.

Most underrated factor for a deep playoff run. I think the most underrated factor for a deep playoff run is can your coach make adjustments or not? I think that is extremely important. And then also, are your capable, are your players capable of handling those adjustments? Because sometimes you get in these situations where a coach wanna make an adjustment and they're like, I don't think our guys can handle that adjustment. For instance, in the playoffs in 2022, when we start sending all the Boston guys left, it was against our defensive rules. And so Mike Brown was kind of like, "Ah, it's gonna break our defense down because guys aren't accustomed to sending the ball up middle on the right side of the floor. We're accustomed to icing it and the defense pulling over. Now we're gonna be sending in the middle. Guys ain't gonna know where the help coming from." And we was just like, And so a couple of us, like I started just sending Jay LeBron left, like wherever he was on the floor. And after I did it a couple of times, Mike was like, you know what? We've been wanting to make this adjustment, but was afraid. Let's just try it. And we tried it and it worked. But again, that was an instance of a coach being like, ah, I don't know if we could really make that adjustment. Although they had the adjustment in their mind, I don't know if we could really make that because it's against our defensive rules. And then the adjustment was made and we won the series. So I think it's a combination of both of those. Yes, your players have to be capable of taking those adjustments and making those switches, but a coach has to also be able to identify his adjustment. And when I watch these playoffs, most of these coaches actually can't make solid adjustments.

So. Yeah.

I think that's the most underrated thing.

We wanna be clear on the Draymond Green Show, that is not a shot at Mike Brown. That is a—

No, not at all. Not at all. That's never a shot at Mike Brown. Shoot, Mike Brown, one of the ghosts to me, especially when it come to that defensive side of the ball. Mike Brown gets it done. So no, not a shot at Mike Brown at all. Never will be. It ain't coming from here. Not on this show.

Last question from I hate CEP. Mavs or Clippers, Draymond Green, who wins this series?

CEP, Mavs or Clippers.

I was a little bit of at a loss with that username as well, but Mavs or Clippers, who you got?

Mavs or Clippers winning the series. Um, I got the Mavs. I think they're gonna be more consistent in their play. Uh, especially like I said, you just don't know with Kawhi. I got the Mavs winning this series. And if I'm honest, I actually got them winning the series in 6. The only person can change that outcome is Russell Westbrook. That's it. No, I didn't say James Harden. No, I did not say Paul George. Although, and the reason I didn't say those guys is because it's on Russell Westbrook to put the battery pack in those guys back and have them playing at the level that they played at in game 4 in order to take that win in Dallas. And so I got Dallas winning it. But like I said, yeah, the only person can change it, nobody will ever give him credit, but he gonna get credit on this show 'cause he is the person that wills that team. Russell Westbrook is the only person that can change that outcome. But yeah, I got Dallas. And with that, That is a wrap from this episode of the Draymond Green Show. Be back later this week to tap in with y'all. We shall see if my theory on Jaylen Brunson being ball dominant can be, go by the wayside, or if my theory on Jaylen Brunson becomes true. However, I just wanna state this. My theory on Jaylen Brunson can be true and they still can win. I.e., Jaylen Brunson doesn't dominate the ball as much, and they win, that don't mean I was wrong. I'm not saying the Knicks is going to lose, although I got Philly, but I think Jalen Brunson need to take a little step back as far as dominating the ball. But he being great, so who can complain? Another 40 piece. That's a wrap from this episode of the Draymond Green Show. Peace.

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