Draymond on reuniting with Steph Curry & Klay Thompson in first game back | The Draymond Green Show

Hi, it's Colin Cowherd. I started The Volume to bring you some of the most authentic voices in sports. While you're here, make sure you hit subscribe. Thanks. What's up, everybody? Welcome to the Draymond Green Show. This is episode 17, and boy, is it a big one. We've been processing this one for a while. Hope you caught that wordplay, processing it. Trying to make it happen. Schedules collide. It happens all the time. East Coast travel, West Coast travel. Sometimes can be hectic to put it together, but we got it done this week. And I am excited to welcome MVP candidate, 5-time All-Star, The Process, Joel Embiid to the show today. He will be our guest. And this interview, man, was it a good one. Eh. I mean, what would you expect though? It's Joel who talks a bunch of shit to everybody and anybody. And then it's me who like to talk from time to time. And it's us having a conversation. So I thought it was great. I hope you all enjoy it and take away from it some of the things that I took away from it. I thought it was an incredible interview. But before we get to that, let's cruise around the association a little bit. Starting off with my return. Phew. It was incredible, but it was a blur. I mean, I was like, if you watch when I checked into the game, I actually didn't process that welcome back and ovation. I didn't process it at all. I was nervous as shit. Like if you see me, like go back and watch the clip and look how, like watch how fast I'm like ripping my pants off and taking my shirt off. Like I turn and then I just head straight for the free throw line. And Rui says something to me next to me. He said, "Man, I thought they were cheering for me." And I was so out of it, I started laughing like, "Yeah, they were." Yeah. And I'm like, wait a minute. Ha, that was funny. Like, I mean the nerves that I was feeling and getting back out there, you know, when coming off an injury, you're just never, you can just never be too sure how it's gonna go. So it's that on top of not playing for a couple months. So on top of playing with Steph and Klay for the first time in 1,005 days. You know, it's all of that in one. And it was a blur. Like it just was moving way too fast for me. Like, I mean, even with the ovation, like most people would like stop and like wave or like acknowledge. I didn't even realize it. Like it took me to get home last night, check my phone. I went to Twitter and like my first response to the ovation, if you go look at my Twitter page, I think I said like, "Wow." Wow. That's the first I had really even heard of it. Like I had no idea. And by the way, it was 2, 3 AM by the time I saw it. Like I had no idea that was the case. And so I, most importantly, I wanna say thank you to Dub Nation. I mean, that was incredible. It was something that I would remember for the rest of my life of what I do remember of it. But I mean, just to be welcomed back like that I can't thank our fans enough. It was incredible. It was such an amazing night. Steph's birthday, to come back on Steph's birthday, it's obviously incredible. I said the other day in one of my interviews, like, no, this should be a very memorable birthday for him. Like, he scored 47. It's our first time playing in 1,005 days. 'Cause 34 sucks. Like, you turning 34, like, that's no fun. It's like I turned 32 last week. Like 32, like it's just one of those birthdays. And so, and 34 is even worse. Like 34, you're like right on the cusp of having a big 35th, but not quite there. And so it's like in reach, but not quite there. So it's boring as hell. But I think the birthday turned out great. Like it was an incredible night. Steph dropped them boys off with 47, which was, Beautiful to see. Wish he could have gotten 50, but we came out the game the last minute and a half. And I have no doubt in my mind that he would have gotten 50 if we were still in the game. But man, it was just, it was such an amazing night. I felt great for the most part. I think once I got to the end of my last, like the end of my 6-minute stretch, I got, you know, my wind and get a little challenge in there. But for the most part, I felt pretty good. Yeah. Couple times I'm dribbling down the court and I like just lose handle of the ball. Like it's got a feel thing. And so I'm still getting my feel back. I feel like I'm at about 70, 75% or something like that. And I got, I have a month to get ready for the playoffs and I have no doubt in my mind that I'll be back where I left off for the playoffs. But overall I thought it was pretty good. I thought, you know, we did some really good things on the offensive end. I thought we did some really good things on the defensive end and Like I said, some of the moments that felt great to me, number one, Steph putting me in the position as soon as I checked into the game to catch the ball on the post and hit him was incredible because as soon as that happened, which was the very first play I was in, as soon as that happened, I was like, oh, like I felt normal after that. Like I felt like, oh, I'm fine. Like once that first thing happens, then from that point, it's just kind of like, all right, like now it's just basketball. And so him putting me in that position was extremely important because you start to run up and down the court a few times, 3, 4, or 5 times and nothing happened with you. And then that nervousness just starts to build and build and build and build. And it gets a little hectic. So I was extremely appreciative of that. And then I think it was just such a moment, like, and so that moment really stood out to me. And then also another moment that really stood out to me was the— Draymond Green. The backdoor cut dime for Klay in transition. That moment was beautiful to me because it was Steph and Klay right on top of each other. And then it was myself. And so that play kind of involved, that play kind of involved all of us. And so I thought that was like, those were the two moments, like two plays in the game that really stuck out to me. That, that moving forward, I'll remember those plays in that game. It was such a beautiful thing. So riding the 4-game win streak, which I think is great, especially off of that stretch of games that we had that, I think we lost 9 out of 11. And so to see how the squad has bounced back from that and, you know, pulled out some very tough wins, by the way. I thought that was a beautiful, I thought that was a great, a show of character and resilience because the reality is this team, this team has not really gone through much. And you know, I know most people all say, oh, well they got championship experience. We got 4 guys with championship experience and then 11 or 12 guys with not much playoff experience at all. And so trying to get them to understand what it takes to win at this time in the season and moving forward, it's something that you have to really teach. And I think that's something that we needed to go to in order to figure it out. And I think, you know, we definitely showed that we're capable of figuring it out and putting it back together. So that's been beautiful to see. But yeah, man, I mean, and just wrapping up about the comeback, I mean, it was incredible. As I said in my press conference last night, I'm very thankful for Rick Celebrini and all the work that we put in to get back here. Man, it was not an easy road. 4 weeks ago, I could barely run. Like 2 and a half weeks ago, I was like super excited to dunk a basketball, like literally to dunk the basketball. And so like what I had to go through to get back to that court, especially in the time that I did, it was hard. It was— I'm sorry. I mean, super challenging, but very rewarding to know the work that I put in, that Rick and I dedicated ourselves to, to know that it brought me back here to do what I love with the guys that I love to take to court with every single night. And like I said, for the first time in 1,005 days, like, that's insane. And I could have never imagined that that would be our reality, but that is our reality. You know, the band is back together. And like I said last night, 2 seed, 3 seed, 7 seed, I don't give a damn. We winning the championship. And that's that. Also not quite around the association, but in the basketball world, I know you may see I have on my Michigan State Spartan sweatshirt. This is not a coincidence. As you know, we have one show a week. And so this show has to live for the Michigan State, Davidson Wildcat game. 7-10 matchup. My Spartans kind of let go of the rope a little bit down the stretch and ended up as a 7th seed. When 3 weeks ago we were number 1 in the Big Ten. We end up as a 7th seed in tournament. And so— 7-10. That's a story for another day. But my Spartan dogs is going into Greenville, South Carolina, which is essentially a home game for Davidson. And we are going to destroy Steph Curry's Davidson Wildcats. And there will be some good bets. There will be a monetary bet. There will be a bet of Steph Curry walking into the game in the Sparty. Costume. No, no, no. Not just my jersey, not just a Michigan State t-shirt. He will come to a game as the Michigan State Spartan mascot. Sparty, that's what it's gonna be. So I'm looking forward to that game. And so I had to wear this shirt just to let it be known, my Spartan dawgs, it's March. You know what they call Tom Izzo? Mr. March. You know how he gets it done at this time of year. And I don't think it's any different. Now this year, now the second round matchup that we have is Duke. And you know what Coach Izzo say, you give me the first game of the weekend, I'll get you the second one. And I have no doubt in my mind that he's going to give me the second one. I've actually never lost in the second weekend of a, in the second game of a weekend. That is his thing. You give me the first one, I'll get you the second one. And he delivers. So goodbye Davidson. Coach K, I got nothing but love for you, man. We won a gold medal together. Incredible. Great, great run. Congratulations to the legendary, the great Coach K. Such an honor I had to play for him in the 2016 Olympics. But Coach K, you must enjoy retirement after round 2, my friend. Yeah. 'Cause my Spartans, we getting it done, baby. That's what we do, Coach. But it's been a great run for you, Coach. And I am upset and sad that it has to end at the hands of my Spartans, Coach K. But it has to. And to all the dookie Blue Devils out there, JT, Seth, I can go down the list, Kyrie, like, I can go down this list for days. Bet the money my Spartans taking y'all down. So let me know what it is. All you dookie Blue Devils, all you guys who Zion, all you guys who showed up for the Coach K retiring game. Quinn Cook, by the way, I absolutely thought that was incredible of how everyone showed up. Like that was amazing. Kudos to the Duke program. That was spectacular. But all you guys, I'm taking all the bets. Michigan State, round 2, after we crush Steph Curry's Davidson Wildcats. Holla at me. I need those bets. You know I'm always rolling with my Spartans. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]