In this conversational YouTube segment, Draymond Green critiques the NBA All-Star selection process, focusing on recent snubs of himself, De'Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, and Trae Young. He argues that the league’s stat‑driven nature should favor these players, but vote‑splitting, team success, and positional limits create obstacles. Green explains how wild‑card slots work, how competing players from the same team can cannibalize each other's votes, and why high‑performing players on lower‑ranked teams (e.g., the Kings) are overlooked. He then outlines possible Eastern Conference replacement candidates should Julius Randle or Joel Embiid miss the game, naming Draymond Green, Scottie Barnes, Jimmy Butler, Pascal Siakam, Chris Stapp, Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, and others, noting that Commissioner Adam Silver ultimately selects replacements. Finally, Green discusses the controversy over Doc Rivers being appointed Eastern All‑Star head coach instead of Adrian Griffin, detailing the customary coaching selection rules (coach of the team with the best record in the conference) and arguing that Griffin, despite being fired, earned the right to coach. Throughout, Green mixes analytical critique with personal opinions, expressing frustration at perceived injustices while maintaining respect for the individuals involved.
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That is All-Star snubs. Draymond Green, 27 points and 11 assists. All-Star snub. Like this, this, this, this conversation will get a little interesting because it's like the tale of two tapes and yet both of them kind of got screwed. Which is, this is a very like statistical driven league. Like you look at analytics, you look at guys, You have some guys play for stats to get their contracts, to do all these things. Like, it is a very statistical-driven league. That's how you get awards. That's how you get the mentions, the honors. It is stat-driven, no question about it. So now if the league is stat-driven, These things shall get interesting. That is, Draymond Green, 27 points, 11 assists, currently on a 4-game winning streak and currently 10th in the standings. So they're currently the last team in the play-in game, half a game out of 9th place, uh, a few games out of 8th place. So now you may say, okay, they have not had a successful season, which is indeed true. But in saying that, then that does not explain why DeMontis Sabonis and De'Aaron Fox was snubbed. De'Aaron Fox is averaging 27.5 points and 5 assists. The Kings are currently at 5th in the West and has been in the top 4 for most of the year, uh, but they're currently at 5th, which means very much so in the playoffs, uh, right there next to home court advantage in the first round. But they're in 5th, 27-5. You got Domantas Sabonis averaging 19.9 points, so we just gonna give him 20, 13 rebounds, and 8 assists. Yeah. Draymond Green, and the Kings are in 5th place. Now that's interesting because in a stat-driven league, we have the tale of two tales, which is one team that's right on the brink of the playoffs, another team that is firmly into the playoff picture right now. All three with incredible stats. None make the All-Star Game.
Yeah.
Now, the one thing that I can understand is De'Aaron Fox and De'Montis Sabonis probably pulled votes from each other because they probably would both be wildcards. You look at the All-Star rosters and you got Karl-Anthony Towns as a backup in the West. You got Anthony Davis as a backup in the West. And so that right there, and there's one more front— oh, Kawhi Leonard, I think. Um, is Kawhi a backup in the West or is Kawhi a starter? No, Kawhi's not a starter. Kawhi's a backup. So there's your 3 frontcourt players. Then you get 2 backcourt players and then you get 2 wildcards. So now the wildcards, in which is what De'Aaron Fox and Sabonis would be fighting for, If you look at the roster, they probably pull votes from each other because if you're looking at them, you're like, ah, it's a bonus for me for that team. It's Fox for me from that team. And so in turn, I think they pull votes from each other. And when they pull votes from each other, then someone else kind of slides in that's solely getting the votes from their team. So for instance, an AD is solely getting the vote from the Lakers because Bron's a starter. Now you look at them and you say, wow, They got 2 guys into the All-Star Game and they are currently, they are currently in 9th place and have been around 9th through 11th most of the year. They got 2 All-Stars in the game. But like, which one of those guys do you take out? Because it's also a fan thing. Like for instance, Bron made, is a starter in part due to fans, media, and then also players. But let's face it, like Bron's gonna be a starter. Does AD deserve not to make it? AD's been playing all season. Everybody's complaint have been games, and he's played a bunch of games and he's producing at a high level. So should he not make it? But yet their team is in ninth. So again, it starts to weigh those things of like, what, like, what is the criteria? There's never been a set criteria. Is it your team success, personal success, a combination of both? Again, the Kings guys and Fox and Sabonis kind of proves that the combination of both may be screwing you a bit. And so it's very interesting. And like I said, I don't have anything for the Trae Young situation other than, you know, they say a lot of coaches or a lot of people don't appreciate Trae's style of play. You know, so he'd be voted in by the coaches and they don't appreciate his style of play or how he competes on the defensive end or whatever. I'll tell you what, guarding Trae Young is hell. Hell. Like the way he uses his live threats, the way he uses the guys around him, he's great in the pick and roll. He's super fast. Obviously we know he can shoot the blood out the ball. He gets in between, you know, the rim, that kind of mid-range area, kind of floaters, good finishing around the rim, all of that. So listen, I hear people complaints and all of that. But I'm gonna tell you, as someone who got— have to guard, it's hell guarding Trae Young. Now, yes, Trae Young uses different things to get by, drawing different fouls and different stuff like that, of course. But, but most of the great scorers in the league use things like that. So to average 27 and 11 and not make the All-Star. And like, this is the third year where he's averaged like 25+ points, 10 assists, dang near, and didn't make the All-Star team. And I just find that very interesting because I've seen guys make it off stats alone in previous years. And for some reason, that just does not apply to Trae Young.
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You got Julius Randle out and you have possibly Joel both missing the All-Star Game. And if they do, let's see, who would our subs be or replacements for the East? You got a group of Draymond Green, you got a group of Scottie Barnes, you have— Jimmy Butler, Pascal Siakam, Chris Stapps, Jrue Holiday. Yes, there's your list right there. By the way, for all y'all, there's Jackson stepping in, Helping me out, keeping us rolling. So yeah, you have a list of about 5 or 6 guys who could get in. I personally think with the talk around Draymond Green, you know, with a replacement being named, he's already an All-Star. All-Stars usually get the nod. I also can see that, him as one of the replacements. A lot of people said Scottie Barnes. I think Scottie's growth has been incredible. I probably would lean a little more. Jimmy's missed quite a few games. And so I think that'll work against Jimmy. Jimmy, quite honestly, doesn't care about being an All-Star or anything else anyway. You got Christos Przingis, who I think has had a good year and their team is right at the top of the East. Number 1, actually, by quite a, 4 games. Yeah. And so, however, that team also does have 2 All-Stars on it already. Do you get 3? Eh, I mean, there's no other All-Star for Cleveland this year. The Knicks got both of those guys. There's no other All-Star for Philly. There's no other All-Star for Indiana. Pascal, Pascal got traded to Indiana. So maybe Pascal. There's no other All-Star from Miami. Orlando, Chicago, maybe DeMar. And so when you start to look at it, I think Trae Young gets in. It'll be interesting to see who that second person would be. Like I said, I think it'll probably be Kristaps, maybe Jrue Holiday. One of those guys, I think probably more Kristaps, but.
Yeah.
There you go. You may have a couple replacements on that side of things, and it'll be interesting to see. Just for your information, the replacements are picked by Commissioner Adam Silver. That's who choose the replacements. And so we'll see. But like I said, I don't have a good explanation for you other than the ones that I've given you. Because again, that's two different tales of the tape. One team is winning, one team is not. All three got crazy stats and none of them make the All-Star Game. Wow. Especially, you know, with, you think like Fox coming off the playoffs he had and the different things like, and then to come back producing like he is, you think that he takes that next step in respect. And then you got, you know, it's funny because stuff like this always happen where you got guys making that next jump. —And depending on the jump of others can affect someone else's jump. You know, uh, we've seen it for years with Mike Conley being in the Western Conference and not being able to get an All-Star bid because Russell Westbrook is in the Western Conference, Steph Curry's in the Western Conference. Uh, the list goes on and on of guys who's in. Then you got— then all of a sudden you had Luka coming into the Western Conference on the tail end. The list goes on and on. Over the years. Tony Parker, Deron Williams, uh, Damian Lillard, Klay Thompson. Like, the list goes on and on where it kind of hurt— Chris Paul, uh, where, where it hurt Mike Conley. And so you could be seeing one of those situations as well, where Shea is playing so great, Anthony Edwards is playing so great. So you got those young guys in the West, right? You still got the Steph Curry, you You still got Luka Dončić, right? You still got these different guys. And sometimes guys just get squoze. And it's unfortunate. Somebody was saying the other day like, well, maybe they should raise the All-Star Game to 15. No, the hell they shouldn't. No, they should not raise the All-Star Game to 15. That's not happening.
Uh.
One more thing on the All-Star Game and then I got one last thing to hit on and then we gonna get outta here. Adrian Griffin, Doc Rivers. Let's rewind a little bit. Doc Rivers is the head coach after coaching 3 games, the head coach of the Eastern Conference All-Stars. That's crazy. Let me tell you why that's crazy. Number 1, y'all know I got mad love for Doc and Doc says something which I commend him on. Doc has always been a standup gentleman. NBA his whole life. That's why. Stand-up person. Um, stand-up gentleman. Nothing but respect and love for Doc. Absolutely insane that he's coaching the Eastern Conference All-Star Game when he was just, uh, talking at the Warriors game on, on doing, analyzing the game a week and a half ago. But, um, Doc said that, um, the ring from the All-Star Game and the bonus will be going to Draymond Green. Uh, Respect that. Uh, respect the hell out of that. Me personally, I think Adrian Griffin should have still been the coach of the All-Star team. And here's why I think that. Because Adrian Griffin earned the right to be the coach of an All-Star team in his first year. He earned the right being number 2 in the conference because last year Boston was number 1. So Joe Mazzulla and his staff was the coach. You cannot coach in the All-Star game 2 years in a row. That's why When the Dubs was dominating all those things, you wouldn't see Steve coaching the All-Star Game every year because you can't coach it 2 years in a row. So Joe Mazzulla and his staff are automatically disqualified, which means it moves on to the next team, which is number 2 seed, Milwaukee Bucks. And Adrian Griffin coached that team to the number 2 seed before he was fired. In turn, they— so they get the nod. Well, now the head coach is Doc. Why I personally, why I personally think Adrian Griffin should be the head coach of the All-Star team is because if a player got traded today, but they're an All-Star, guess what? They're still going to be an All-Star. So this man gets fired a week and a half, two weeks ago. Why shouldn't he still coach the All-Star team? The work was done. The work was done. So I don't quite understand that. If a player got traded and, and he makes the All-Star team, he's gonna show up to that team as an Indiana Pacer as opposed to a Toronto Raptor. Pascal Siakam is the most recent trade that came to my mind, but like, he still be in the All-Star Game. So I'm not quite certain why Adrian Griffin isn't still the coach of the All-Star Game. But like I said, I commend Doc. And that also could get weird as hell though, because Giannis kind of got to sign off on him getting fired. And Dame probably had to sign off to some degree. And so that could get a little awkward. Yeah. Knowing that these two guys signed off on you getting booted and now you gotta coach them in the All-Star Game where, hey, everybody celebrated. That could get quite awkward and maybe that's why. But however, I like Adrian Griffin. We don't know if Adrian Griffin will ever get another head coaching job in this league. In the one year that he did have a head coaching job for the all of 4 months, He coached a team to be, to be in position that he'd be an All-Star Game coach and he won't get it. And I'm not sure he'll ever have that opportunity again. And that sucks. So I wish they could have figured something out for Adrian Griffin to still be the coach of the Eastern Conference All-Stars because he deserved that and he got booted a little too soon. And that sucks. So wishing well for Adrian Griffin. And like I said, hats off to Doc. Much respect and love. Respect the hell outta that.
