Draymond Green says Anthony Edwards is NOT ready to be face of NBA | Draymond Green Show

What's up everybody? Welcome to the Draymond Green Show YouTube channel. Make sure you hit that subscribe button. Make sure you like the post that you love, but you can get everything the Draymond Green Show right on our YouTube channel. So make sure you subscribe, check that out. Thank you. What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. We're back from All-Star break, which means there was a game last night versus the Lakers. Dubs got the win. Couple more things we'll talk about on this episode. But first, I hope you all checked out the Jamal Crawford episode that released earlier this week. We recorded that at All-Star Weekend at the great legendary Hinkle Fieldhouse on Butler University's campus. Thank you to Butler coaches, Coach Dad Mata, Maurice Joseph, John Diebler, for allowing us to use the— Thank you. Facilities, it was great to step in there. You know, Hinkle Fieldhouse is one of those basketball places that when you go there, you just feel the magic in there. I actually got an opportunity to watch the game, go check out Butler versus Creighton. Creighton ended up taking the game, which was a big game for Butler's playoff or NCAA tournament hopes. But like I said, just to feel that environment, to be in an arena like that and then have an opportunity to shoot our episode there with Jamal was great and very fitting because that was a high-level basketball conversation. And in a setting like that, it's only right. So if you haven't checked that out, go to our YouTube page, check that out. Make sure you subscribe to our YouTube page. For those of you that have subscribed to the Volume page, a while ago, it is a different YouTube page, and that is Jackson. YouTube.com/@DraymondGreenShow. There it is. Boom. So make sure you all go check that out. Go subscribe. We're waiting on you. Let's do it. And then after we get into a couple topics, we will have a mailbag section where we will take some of your questions. Jackson will fire them away. I will fire some answers before we get out of here. But let's get into it. Only right that we talk All-Star break coming out of All-Star break or All-Star weekend, the All-Star game in particular, and Saturday coming out of All-Star weekend. Get in on the action with the DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA. New customers who deposit $5 or more can get a no sweat bet up to $1,000 back in bonus bets. How cool of a deal is that? All you have to do is download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now. Takes 90 seconds and use the code COLIN. C-O-L-I-N. This is the best deal you're going to find. New customers, it's a no sweat bet up to $1,000 if your first bet loses. How cool is that? Only at DraftKings Sportsbook. Code is COLIN. The crown is yours. Uh, number 1, there's been a lot of fuss about— I saw Stephen A. Smith say LeBron James killed the— single-handedly killed the dunk contest. And as you all know, we love Stephen A. Smith. It's those statements that just does not sit well with me. It's just like so far-fetched. Like, hey man, this one guy who did not participate in the dunk contest single-handedly killed the dunk contest. And that just can't be factual because the reality is when LeBron James would have been in the dunk contest, which was like 20 years ago, literally 20 years ago, there has been several great dunk contests since. So for Stephen A to say LeBron James single-handedly destroyed the dunk contest, it's, it's, it's, quite the reach and it's not quite accurate because that mean we doesn't get Zach LaVine dunk contest performances. If I'm not mistaken, he won 3 dunk contests, but I'm for sure 2. We don't get Dwight Howard in a dunk contest. We don't get Nate Robinson winning dunk contest. Since LeBron James won the— or could have been in the dunk contest, those around the time Jason Richardson was winning dunk contests. And so there's been so many great dunk contests. And by the way, let me not forget, um, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart because it's ridiculous, the great Aaron Gordon in dunk contest. Aaron Gordon Draymond Green is still the best dunk contest performer we've ever seen to not have a dunk contest trophy. It's absolutely insane. I know his, I know he's a bit in his feelings about it and I get it. I would be too. And I know he has an ego about it and I get it. I think he should get back in there though because he need that crown. And there's no Zach Lavine. So I think he should get back in there. I've already said my piece before about G-Leaguers being in the dunk contest. Like a part of being in the dunk contest and being a part of All-Star weekend is being in the NBA. Mack McClung's my guy, as I told y'all, he came to camp with us. Great, great, good dude. But you kind of gotta be in the NBA to be in the NBA dunk contest. If not, then we should just go get like all of those guys off, off, off of those dunk squads and all that. And like say, hey man, this is just a show we're putting on. It's not necessarily All-Star Weekend. So we, we got that. Let's get Aaron Gordon back in the dunk contest. Or because the dunk contest is 30 years old and the, Maybe it's time to think a little outside the box and come up with some different events because, you know, it's just the reality. All things come to an end. All great things must come to an end. So maybe it's just time to explore that. I don't know. That's neither here nor there. But the dunk contest is pretty bad. To say the least. So Aaron Gordon, the dunk contest needs you. And that's not as far as a reach as LeBron James single-handedly destroying the dunk contest. I know it was a slow day in media. I know Stephen A, there was no game. Stephen A needed to draw some people in. I get it. I understand. When I saw that, I was just like, whoa, come on, Stephen A. Yeah. It's been too many great ones since then. And moving on, the All-Star Game, absolutely pathetic. It's ridiculous. And to see guys like, and by the way, I have some suggestions on ways to fix it. But to see guys like Anthony Edwards, who some people, a lot of people are hailing as the next face of the league. Like blatantly say, ah, we don't care, we don't wanna play, we don't wanna be there. To me, that was a bit disheartening because it's one thing if Steph Curry don't wanna be there. It's one thing if LeBron James doesn't wanna be there. It's one thing if even Luka, who, you know, sits on the fence of what I'm about to say, but he's been there 5 times. Yeah. Joker 5, 6 times. And so in saying all of that, for Anthony Edwards, who was in his first All-Star Game that he was actually voted into last year, was his first All-Star Game playing, and he was a replacement, saying like, ah, we don't wanna be here, I don't wanna play. Like a big deal on guys' resumes is All-Star Game MVP. Yeah. We've seen Kobe win it over the years. AI, Shaq, LeBron, KD, Steph. Like when you look at the guys, I don't understand why a young Anthony Edwards wouldn't want his name sketched in stone next to the likes of those guys in anything. Because anytime you can be next to the likes of those guys, I just don't understand why you wouldn't want that. And so to play defense backwards, to shoot left-handed threes, I thought that was a little outlandish. I thought it was a little crazy. And like I said, a little disheartening just because of who he is, who we all think he is going to be to this league. And a part of being the face of the franchise, of the NBA, and I keep seeing, seeing so many people talk about being the face in the NBA. A part of being the face in the NBA is also being a steward of the game, a steward of the NBA. When you look at LeBron James and how long he's been the face of the NBA, you look at Steph Curry and being one of the faces of the NBA, they're stewards of the game, of all things NBA. Yeah. As the face of the NBA, you're kind of in direct partnership with the NBA to continue to move this thing forward. And so, and maybe Anthony Edwards doesn't wanna be the face of the NBA, 'cause everybody don't want that. And I get it. Like there's different things that comes with being face of the NBA that not everybody wants. And he's entitled to want that. But if Anthony Edwards is who I think he is, Somebody needs to be teaching him that. If he is who I think he is, which I think he is exactly who I think he is. And so someone need to tell him it's about more than just being good at basketball. Like you actually have to be a great partner to be face of the NBA. And that's just kind of what it boils down to. When you're the face of a franchise, you have to do more than those that don't. At media day, you have to do more than those that aren't the face of the NBA, face of the franchise. Steph Curry's media day is a little bit longer than ours because he is the face of the Golden State Warriors. Well, guess what? That same thing goes for being the face of the NBA. If you ask Adam Silver how great of a partner LeBron James has been, I'm not sure he'd be able to come up with the words to explain to you how great of a partner he's been. If you ask Adam Silver how great of a partner Steph Curry has been. I'm not sure he could come up with the words to let you know how great of a person, how great of a partner Steph Curry has been as far as the NBA goes. So I'm gonna need these young guys to take some notes on what it means to be the face of the NBA because it's not just being good at basketball. Yeah. There's been a lot of people to be good at basketball come through the NBA, even great, come through the NBA and has not been the face of the NBA. So understand what you're speaking on, understand what you're asking for, understand what's being asked of you if you want to drop your hat, your name in that bucket. And by the way, no one's going to decide that. It just kind of naturally happens. No one really decided that LeBron James was gonna be the face of the NBA, although he was the chosen one. And although he had all the hype that he had, LeBron James became the face of the NBA way faster than everyone thought he would. You probably thought Kobe was gonna be the face of the NBA when LeBron James all of a sudden became the face of the NBA. Mm-hmm. Why? Because it just happens. Adam Silver doesn't come and say, okay, now the face is boom. It just don't happen that way. It just naturally happens. And it naturally happens is because, or in large part, because those guys are stewards of the game. So. Yeah. Young guys, take some notes. As far as the All-Star Game goes, one thing the NBA should understand is how much, like, for instance, we have a game today. As soon as I finish this, I'm gonna start going to do game prep, core activation, flow movement, getting my hips and things moving. Flowing. A little spin on the bike just to get the blood flowing. It's 10:23 AM. We play at 7. Where are you going with this, Draymond? It's called game day for a reason, because everything you do that day is to prepare for the game. So it's called game day. The All-Star Game, you do a million other things before the game, including on the court warming up for 50 minutes, 60 minutes warming up. And then you're asking the highest level of athletes which means they understand their bodies at the highest level to then go exert an extreme amount of energy. And it's easy to say the guys before you did it. Number one, guys weren't training the way we train. All the core activations and different things weren't a thing because all of those things has elevated and grown As time has grown, we learn more about the body, we do more as time go on. There wasn't so many media obligations because media wasn't as big as it is now. There wasn't as many partnerships, sponsorship obligations. You know why? Because the NBA wasn't as big. So there wasn't as many partners, there weren't as many sponsors. So it's very easy to say, Kobe took the game serious, and Kobe did. And by the way, we all wanna see guys take the game serious. But it's easy to say, Mike, MJ took the game serious. There was 4 sponsors. There's 40. There's 40 now. Maybe more. Just throwing a random number out there. So if you want the game to be a game, Then on Sunday, you need to make sure that guys can prepare for what? A game. Which means the NBA should be covering physios being there. Steph Curry has a physio that he works with before the game. The NBA should be covering that physio's travel, that physio's hotel room, that physio being at the arena. Doing what? Getting Steph Curry's body ready to play a game. Getting Luka Dončić's body ready to play a game. Everybody keeps saying, oh man, raise it up to $1 million. That's when you're going to get guys hurt. Because if it's the same obligations that has been, all the things that you have to do to where you can't focus on getting your body ready for a game, and then you're going to say, hey, here's a bright shiny object that is $1 million. Yeah. Everybody now go play hard and go get the million dollars. That's when you're going to get guys getting hurt. Why? Because they are exerting energy to get a million dollars and not properly prepared to exert that energy. Bodies aren't prepared to go that hard. So then you start talking about injuries, that's when guys are going to get hurt. So if we want this to be a real game, let's make this a real game day. Yeah. Let's allow these guys to prepare for proper game day. If that's what we're asking. If that's what we're asking. You can't say, hey man, you get no time to go through your game routine, but then we need you to go play like you're playing in the game. That never works. Anybody who knows anything about— Practice. Preparing for an NBA game knows what goes into preparing for the game. And it's, and an All-Star does not allow you to do that. So if we want the big show, if we want the corporate sponsors and all of those things, if those things are going to continue to be what's of most importance, then let's not say we're sick of the All-Star Game being bad. Yeah. But if we want the game to be what's most important, then those are a couple of the changes that we need to make. Yes, it'll be great to up the money. You got all these sponsors coming in saying, hey, they want to be a part of All-Star Weekend. You look at All-Star Weekend stands, that's not an Indiana crowd. That's a crowd full of corporate sponsorships, which takes me to another point. Having these All-Star— All-Star Weekend used to be a draw. All-Star Weekend used to be a big thing. Not quite the Super Bowl. Nothing is the Super Bowl. Draymond Green, but All-Star Weekend was a thing. It was a thing culturally. It was a thing for the NBA, like NBA fans. It was a big thing. It's all just corporate stuff now. And so I said all of that to say we give these teams home court per se. Just think of where the All-Star Games has been the last 3 years. Those aren't fun places to go. But again, you're asking guys to give up the break to be in these cities. The least we can do is put it in great cities. Or, you know, Miami, where guys wanna go. Los Angeles, where guys wanna go. San Francisco, everybody doesn't wanna quite come to San Francisco. San Francisco's a great city. I don't think anybody's looking at going to San Francisco like they're looking at going, to Utah or to Cleveland or Indianapolis. So Phoenix, like, put the— put it back in places where people want to go. Vegas, we just saw the best Super Bowl I've ever seen in Vegas. Or you know what you can say? If Indiana is supposed to host this year, It's going to be in the Bahamas. Guys want to go to the Bahamas. Guys will take their families there and make a whole week out of it. Great. Guess what? You also get other NBA players that's not All-Stars there. Hmm. Or say Salt Lake City is supposed to host it, then it's in Hawaii. Salt Lake City's Utah— Utah Jazz are still a host. But it's in Hawaii, and say it's in Waikiki. Local sponsorship dollars, you give back to the, to the city. Guys gonna go, make a whole week vacation out of it with their families. It's a desirable place to go. All-Star Weekend becomes a draw again. Yeah. Maybe. I don't think that's very far-fetched. The game starting at 8:45, so late. Only thing guys can think of is, I need to get out of here, get to my plane so I can get to Cabo. Start the game at 5. I don't know, these are just a couple suggestions of things that I saw with my own eyes. Shout out to the Turner family, by the way. At the Outcast, we got great reviews on Taylor Rooks, Charles Barkley, Jamal Crawford, myself. Shout out to the team. Great work at All-Star. It's a beautiful thing. Had so much fun. Absolutely incredible. Taylor, I think is great. You all have heard me talk about that before. Charles Barkley is the easiest person to work with in America. He's the best. Jamal Crawford working the sidelines, how he was working the interviews that he got, amazing. Thank you to the Turner family, that was great. I'm sorry, I keep saying Turner. TNT Sports family, that was great. Thank you. Also, thank you to all of y'all who tuned in. But back to this All-Star Game. Make it a real game. Yes, raise the money because if we're making this all about corporate sponsors, then they need to put more money in to those players. Reward the team that wins, but allow guys to have a proper game day if you want that type of play. If you want that type of effort, make it a real game day. We've all had a frustrating experience buying tickets, even me. You all know I love to go to concerts, shows, and it can be hard to find last-minute tickets. You shouldn't have to worry when you buy tickets to your next big event. GameTime is the fast and easy way to buy tickets to all the sports, music, comedy, and theater shows near you. I'm looking through the GameTime app right now, and it's really easy to find tickets at different price points. I know it isn't cheap to see the Dubs play anymore, but we got some fun matchups coming up versus the Lakers, the Mavericks, and more. Draymond Green. Gametime is the only ticketing app that gives you complete peace of mind with your purchase. They have all-in pricing, so you know exactly how much you're going to pay. Plus, the Gametime Guarantee means you'll always get the best price. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use the code word GREEN for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Create an account, and use the code word GREEN, G-R-E-E-N, for $20 off. Download Gametime today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. In other news, the Dubs beat the Lakers last night, 128-110. No LeBron. Steph, 32 and 8, 6 for 13 from 3. Wiggs, 20 points, continuing to play at a high level. Draymond Green. Draymond Green, 17 points and 5 rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench. Klay Thompson name will not show up here, but the impact Klay Thompson had on the game was absolutely incredible. Weakside attacks, the drop-offs he's getting to Trace for layups. Klay had 5 assists, I think 4 of 'em was for dunks and layups to Trace, maybe all 5 of 'em. Had a great floor game, missed great shots, had great looks. We know he'll make those. Absolutely amazing game played by Klay and it won't show up in the stat sheet. So nobody will look and be like, wow, Klay played a great game. Klay was incredible last night. And one of the keys to us winning that game, well, it was great to beat the Lakers. Obviously we're right there in the standings. I think us beating them last night gave them one more loss than us, although we haven't played the same amount of games. So we're still half game or so behind in the standings. But thought that was a pretty good win for us. Obviously to keep it rolling, went into the break playing really well and to come out the break playing the way we did, it's great. Jackson want me to talk to y'all about my 3-point percentage. I am not, don't jinx me. We're not gonna talk about that. We're gonna leave that thing floating where it is and keep on putting them things up. That's what we gonna do. Always looking forward to playing against LeBron with the matchups that we've had over these years. Obviously sucks that he didn't play last night, but you gotta play who they suit up and we will take the win. Who knows, that win may come back and be important for us later. So we will take it. And like I said, it was good for us to come out the break. Now we got another game tonight versus the Charlotte Hornets who, It's playing a lot better since the trade deadline. I think if I'm not mistaken, they've won 4 or 5 games in a row. Uh, 4 in a row and they went to Utah and got a good win last night. It's important for us to continue to take care of our home court. Uh, 2 more games on this homestand before we head out on a Washington-New York-Knick-Toronto-Boston road trip, 4-game East Coast road trip. East Coast road trips are never easy. So it's important that we take care of home court tonight. And then also knowing that Sunday is gonna be a tough game. It's Denver, always a tough game, defending champions. So it's important that you handle the ones you're supposed to handle. And tonight is one that we are supposed to win. So it's important for us to keep it rolling and— Draymond Green. Make sure we close out this homestand the right way. And lastly, everybody want me to talk about Isaiah Stewart only getting suspended for 3 games for punching Drew Eubanks. And everyone wants to know my thoughts on this. I'm never in favor of people getting suspended and losing money. So you're not gonna get me to be like, aw man, he should've got suspended for more games. Nope, that's not who I am. It's not how I roll. I think the only thing you could talk about is consistency, but I don't really even care to talk about that because I'm not in favor of anybody getting suspended and losing money. It's how we feed our families. Not gonna sit here and castrate Isaiah Stewart. Number one, you all start castrating people and don't be knowing the full story on anything, and I don't know the full story on that. Much love to Isaiah Stewart. I'm also not about to sit here and say I hope he get the help he needs. Not the route Draymond is going. I got love for the young fella. He is who he is. Be who you be. Y'all figure it out. And moving on. Lastly, before we get to the mailbag questions. JJ Reddick versus Doc Rivers and Patrick Beverley and Austin Rivers and who else? Whoever else. Things got spicy, and JJ went in, and the gist of it was pretty much him calling Doc out and saying, Doc, stop making excuses. You keep making excuses, you keep blaming guys, you keep doing this, you keep— enough, stop it. And I saw JJ apologize and said, listen, my tone, I looked a little hot and my tone could have been better, but I'm not apologizing for what I said. I meant every word that I said. And I agree with JJ. When I watch, been watching these doc interviews, these guys were in Cabo. That guy was here. We didn't, something didn't go right. It's only been 2 days. Every interview is another excuse, and that just can't work. Like, you knew what you was signing up for, Doc. You took over a team more than halfway through the season, uh, through the halfway mark of the games of the season, if I'm not mistaken. 3-7 in the last 10. You knew what you was getting yourself into. You knew the issues that the team had before you got there. You knew all of these things. You can't, you can't go make excuses now because you were actually brought in to fix those very things. And so you can't come and make the same excuses of the things that we already knew, because if that's the case, then you couldn't really accept the job with all that money that they gave you. Yeah. So I totally understand where JJ was coming from. Um, Pat Bev understood where JJ was coming from, and Austin Rivers understood where JJ was coming from. And the reason you know they understood where JJ was coming from is because they never said anything about what JJ said. What they did was attack JJ's playing career and say Doc saved your career. What all Doc did for you for your career. Now, if I was watching JJ's hit, it did come off as a little like, I got a little animosity built up from my playing days under Doc and I'm getting them all out now. It did come off a bit that way. But I played for Tom Izzo. And playing for Tom Izzo, you learn something early, you learn it fast, and you get the lesson often, which is listen to what I'm saying, not how I'm saying it. So I listened to what JJ said, not how he was saying it. Although again, I did get the same gist that you all got. JJ might not like Doc. I did get that a little bit, but More importantly, I heard what JJ was saying and what he was saying was very accurate. We cannot have the excuses, Doc. I love Doc, as you all know, I've stated that on this podcast several times. Nothing but love for Doc. But every press conference, it cannot be a different excuse. And we all wanted to be in Cabo. My Cabo days got even shortened because I had to go to Indianapolis for my TNT Sports family. Which was great. I wouldn't change it for nothing in the world. Enjoyed it, had a blast. It was money. But we all wanted to be in Cabo. That is your role as the coach to make sure them guys ready to play. That is Giannis and Dame's role as leaders to make sure guys are ready to play before the All-Star break. So I get where JJ was coming from. Mm-hmm. —and nobody disputed the things that JJ said. They almost were disputing how it came off. What you mean? It was facts. So Doc, we can't do the excuses, Doc. We love you, man, but you gotta get that team going. That's what they hired you for. You knew the challenges before you took the job. You took the job, you there. Gotta do what you gotta do to right that ship, Doc. Jaxson, before we get outta here, you got some questions for me? I do. I do. Thank you guys for asking the questions. We're gonna do this every time we have a Bleacher Report live episode. First one from @channing. What do you see Trace Jaxson Davis's role on the team being going forward? Um, you know, as a rookie, uh, what'd you say his name is? @channing? As a rookie, always hard to get consistent minutes because things change from time to time and you are usually the first one to get your minutes teetered with. In saying that, Trace has a very good connection with Klay. And what young guys should understand is that will get you on the floor. When I was a rookie, You go watch it. I'd egregiously like come from anywhere on the floor, like headhunting stuff, man, and set screens. It created chemistry. It got me on the floor. So you gotta understand the things that can get you on the floor. And if I, I know how important Klay Thompson is to this team. So if I can build a connection with him, that gets me minutes. So, Draymond Green should understand that. Where, what his role will be is what he is when he's in floor, when he's on the floor, he's a rim protector. He's a lob threat. He's screening and rolling, rebounding the basketball. That's what, that's what his role will be. How much that will be, you gotta talk to Steve Kerr on that one. Next question from @t.drilly. Are you guys legit title contenders this season? I 100% believe that we are legit title contenders this season. I don't see any team out there that we couldn't beat. Obviously the cards gotta fall in place. Obviously a lot of things gotta go your way. Obviously you need some luck. That's just the nature of winning championships. But I don't see any team in the NBA that we can beat and compete for a title. And mama, we still got that man. I 100% think we are. Staying on the topic of title contenders and sort of connecting it back to your conversation about Doc, do you think the Bucks— sorry, this is from @JakeSteak. Do you think the Bucks have a legit title shot this year? Do I think the Bucks have a legit title shot? Uh, they have two great players in Draymond Green and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Um, that always gives you a chance. However, they need a very healthy Chris Middleton. Chris hasn't seemed that healthy this year, and because of that, I don't think they are title contenders because they're going— if they're going to have any chance to compete with anybody, Chris has to be healthy. He's too important to that team. Uh, what he brings is something that no one else on that roster brings. So They can get Chris healthy, that puts them in the conversation. If Chris is not healthy, no chance. Last one. We said we would do 4 today since we only did 3 last week. Let's do our 4th question from @bvd313. Do you think the judging has killed the dunk contest? I've heard a lot of discourse about this before. The judging I think is bad. Um, I think number 1, you should probably have some Listen, Dominique, human highlight reel, is a staple in the dunk contest, so can't say much there. Nick should always be there. But you need to, like, where's the Jason Richersons? Where's the, you know, Fred Jones was there, was Indianapolis. But like, where's the younger guys? Not quite, like, there were a couple guys on the panel where it's like, ah, like, Let's get some of these Zach Levine. Like— I want Zach, I want Vince. Vince, you know, like let's get some younger blood in the judge seats on the panel. I think that does play a role in it. It's so inconsistent. We saw some dunks and we were like, oh man, that dunk was weak. And then it was like a 49. You're like, whoa. Like it's no consistency. You don't really know what they're judging. So I think the judges do play a role in it. However, it's the dunkers. The dunkers has to be better. It can't just be on the judge. You do gotta get 'em something better to judge, but the judges have not been great. Would love to see some of the guys we just named as the judges. I think that helps it take a step up, in my opinion. Yeah. That's a wrap from this episode of the Draymond Green Show. You can still check this episode out wherever you get your podcasts. You wanna run something back, go check it out. You know to go check our YouTube channel out. Subscribe if you haven't. Next time. Peace.