Dray's State of the NBA + Gambling Scandal REACTION

What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. I am excited as hell to be back here, man. It's been about 5 months since I got to chop it up with you all, but the NBA season is back, so we are back and I couldn't be more excited. Some things have changed. I am a part of the Odyssey team now, so I am excited to be a member of the team. It's been great. Putting everything together. The team has been great and the product will be great and better. So that's what this is about. Today's episode, we will get into the state of the NBA. I will personally check in with you all just on how I'm feeling, what I'm thinking individually, team-wise, NBA-wise. Obviously we'll have some Warriors talk. Yeah. We will talk the big gambling scandal. And then I'll share just some of my overall thoughts on the league. Players who's been hot starting the season off, playing incredible teams that'll be to watch out for. And then to wrap it up, we will do some award predictions here on the Draymond Green Show coming up next. What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. So as promised, we will get into the Dubs, and let's get right into it. Man, I am excited as hell to be in year 14. I never imagined early in my career that I would make it to year 14. The number that I always said I wanted to play was like, man, if I could play 15 years in the NBA, that would be crazy. Like, that'll be— That'll be mind-blowing to me if I could play 15 years in the NBA. And here I sit at 14 and I'm like, oh yeah, like, I'm gonna play longer than 15. I was talking to Mike Dunleavy, general manager of the Warriors. I was like, man, sitting there talking, I'm like, I feel incredible. Like my game that started around in the farm, like, I actually feel more ready for the season, like 2 days leading into the season today, than I even did in year 6 or 7. Like, I feel like I done found a rhythm already. And it's interesting of just how much as you go further, the further you go, how much you know exactly what you need. Like, I've always come into every season like, with the question of, did I do enough in the summer? Like just always, every year I would come into the season like, I just don't, with the fear of, I just don't know if I did enough. This year I came into this season knowing I did more than enough. I'm totally fine. I'ma find my rhythm. But I'm good. Like I've done enough. Like I'm ready. I'm in a perfect spot. As this camp go, I wanna cut 5 pounds. I wanna do this. I'm gonna keep working on it. Like me and Trav getting in the gym extra. Christian, young fellow on our staff, Jacob Rubin. Like we're getting our work in. And it timed up so perfect to be ready for the season. I was like, man, I told Mike though, I said, "Mike, I feel so great. I'm gonna say this to you now." I said, "Man, but last week I didn't know like if my game was coming around fast enough." I said, "So I started to wonder." He was like, and he chuckled and laughed and he looked and he said, "You started to wonder what? Like, was it not coming back?" I said, "Yes." It's like, damn, is it happening to me now? You know, like, because one thing's for certain, when you start to lose your game, when your athleticism start to go down, you know first, you know before anybody else. Some people fight it more than others, but you know first. Like, it's not like a reporter's gonna be like, "Oh man, it looked like so-and-so slowed down or don't jump as high." No, you know first. And so I'm like, yeah, Mike, man, I was wondering like, damn, is this starting to happen to me now? He started laughing. He was like, no, I know exactly what you're saying because that's kind of how it goes. Like you don't know. And then you look back and you like, oh, like you, okay. Like I see it happening. And I was like, yeah. I said, but I feel so good now. And, and— rightfully so, you know, coming into the season, I feel great. I feel my shot feel great. My game feel great. I feel like I can make the reads, like my passing, like I can make the passes. I can see it and make it, like that rhythm came back, you know, get preseason a little bit and you see a pass. That's crazy. 'Cause I told JK a couple of times, he liked that lob. And I'm like, JK, I saw you., but my body ain't reacting fast enough yet to actually get to pass that. But I just want you to know, I saw you. You keep making that cut. I'll, in a few weeks, a week or so, I'll get it to you. And so that's where I'm at now. Like all of that stuff has come together and I feel great, but it came together like right when it needed to come together. And so it's like that intuition of like, Yo, you know exactly what you need. And like, I didn't even have to question myself this year. So man, I'm excited as hell. Defensively, you know, I feel like defensively right now, I feel like I can see everything like in slow motion and way before it happens. And it's such a beautiful space to be in. Like— I feel like it's all starting to come together for me and just all everything starting to hit its peak. Like, and I need to keep that going. Like, I think this is a big year for me. Like, we've spoke, you know, I've spoke a bunch about like defensively and making that All-Defense team. And by the way, I want to make first team All-Defense. Like last year, One of the most beautiful things to me was when the all-defense team roll out and it was 22 years old, 23 years old, 24 years, 25 or 25, 26, 35 on the first team. Man, that felt wonderful. Like, yo, because you go through these stages in your career of like, you the young fella and then you get to that kind of middle ground where You not quite the young fella, you not one of the OGs, and you really fighting to get the OG status. But then once you get the OG status, so where's, it's kind of the cycle of life in the NBA. Once you get to the OG status, guess what you wanna be again? You wanna be with the young fellas. They start making they hay and they start taking over the league and— Yeah. Making all the teams and becoming a star. And so then you wanna be with the young fellas again. And so for me, on the All-Defense team, to see first team, to see my name and age next to them young guys, like, don't get me wrong, I still think I'm the best. But then you see all them young ages there and you understand it. And so I have so much gratitude to do that. But guess what? I fucking wanna see 36 next to 21, 22, 24, 26. 36, that's the goal now. You know, I wanna put my name back in the hat again for Defensive Player of the Year. You know, I wanna put my name in the hat to possibly be an All-Star this year. And more importantly than all, I wanna win another fucking championship this year. And I think we have the team to do that. I always say one of the most important things you need to be able to do when you're trying to compete for a championship is you need to have lineup, different lineups that you can go to. You can go small, you can go big, you can go defensive, you can go shooting. You need to have a variety when it comes to the lineups you can put on the floor. And we have that variety again. And it's so exciting. That's not even with Melt back. Moses Moody just been back for one game. Moses is gonna get his feet, foot under him. Get his legs underneath him. Right? So we still got more guys coming in. I feel great about our team. Like we can really match up wherever we need to match up. And that's when you start talking championship. And so obviously go through the season, you're gonna hit your peaks, you're gonna hit your valleys. That's just the nature of the beast of what we do. But overall, I think we are gonna be in a great space to make a run for this thing.— And I couldn't be happier. You know, you know, couldn't be happier as we sit here taping this the night before we play the Grizzlies. Sitting here currently at 2-1. Obviously would love to be 3-0. With the experience that we have, Steph, Jimmy, Al, myself, with that much experience, Man, and God's still moving the way all four of us moving. I love it. I love it. I think it's very important for us to win games and put a great record together so that you're not chasing it down the stretch. Just don't wanna be chasing it down the stretch. You wanna be peaking at the right time, healthy. And if we're those things, which I wholeheartedly believe we will be, watch out. 'Cause the Dubs is back in town, baby. And coming back, we got the state of the NBA. I'm gonna talk about 4 things that I think have been very interesting to me that have jumped off the screen at me to start this NBA season off. Number one, and first and foremost, I think we gotta talk about Wemby. What Victor Wembanyama is doing, like, it's insane. The first game of the season, like, for him to go at Anthony Davis the way he went at AD, like, it was like, oh, like, I came, I'm coming back for something I've been missing. You know, like, or something that got taken away from me. Like, I'm coming back for something. Like, I left some food on the table. I need that. Like, that's them the type of vibes he came out with. It looked like, you know, like he was almost trying to go at AD as if he got something against him. And not that it was in a manner, but he dunking and screaming and— Yeah. It was an impressive performance. And so, you know, you see that performance and you see some of the plays he made. And by the way, just so we're clear, I don't think that was like, yo, he— I think anybody could have got that work that night. Like he was on one. But then you watch that game and you're like, okay, Like he had a great first game. Wow. Then you watch the second game. And after the second game, you like, he played really well. Wasn't a special performance like the first game, but he played really well. Like, and he very much so is on the same course that he was on game. But then come game 3 comes. Yeah. And it's like, wait, what? Like, so this is just what we should expect this year. It's like, this is what he on. He's on like, I want the next MVP award. And I don't want it like then, I want it now. I think what he will have to show is that he can stay healthy. That's obviously important. And when you're playing at this level and you're having that type of output, you have to show that you can stand the test of time. That's pretty much the only thing that can stop Wimby at this point. I mean,— I saw some rankings of, you know, a couple of those rankings that do the top 100 or whatever they do before the season. And I saw a couple of them had him, if I'm not mistaken, I think one of them had him at like 4. And I saw a lot of people saying, "No, he ain't that high." And I must say, even for myself, I was like, "Uh, I feel like that's a little premature." for people to do. Not that he doesn't have that potential and not that he could, can't be that good now, but I just don't think that he had proven that he's the 4th best player in the NBA coming into the season. But through 3 games, he's showing it. He's very much so showing it. And so— Draymond Green. Like he stay at this pace, at this level, he's going to be like MVP, DPOY, most improved player. Like he could sweep 3 of the top. And by the way, I'm sure, For all our listeners that's been here for a while, you know my feelings on the Most Improved Player Award. I think it's given to players that are already have big up and coming names and then make another jump. Not necessarily a guy that goes from 3 points to 14 points a game. You know how I feel about that. No need to get into that. But, and how the awards are voted. Yeah. Like, he gonna be in position to compete for all those awards. And so I think, man, like, when you look at him, you can only sit and think and wonder, like, what type of player is it, like, is it gonna take to guard him? Because in this league, Everybody has kryptonite. I don't care how good you are, like the best, best, absolute best players in the world. Everyone has something that bothers them. And so now with the way that Wemby is playing, what's going to happen is these coaches, these assistant coaches and video coordinators and video guys in the video room, they're gonna become obsessed with what type of game plans can they build to affect him. And so that's gonna become the thing. Like when you're that good, that becomes the thing. Like what type of game plan can we build to affect him? And so I said all of that to say, it's going to be interesting to try and figure out what's the type of defender that you need to put on Wemby? And what's the scheme that you need to put on Wemby to affect him? That's kind of what it's gonna become. And so when I watch him play, and he's so well-rounded, man, like he's going to the post and just sitting in front of the rim and duck in, and his finishing at the rim is crazy. So it's hard to really put a small guy on him because— Yeah. Then they got that advantage and he don't need to like get right next to the rim. He can be at the block and just like kind of stretch over you. But, but our first initial thought, you need someone that can move their feet with some length that can crowd him and try to make him uncomfortable. That's my first initial thought when I think about Gardner. But then how does that work when he's ducking in at the rim? Are you willing to give that up? Because how often is he going to duck in at the rim? Has to be kind of the thought, right? Like, yeah, but I'm willing to give that up to take all the other things away that he does because If you got a bulldog, maybe you can push him off the post and then you can crowd him. Like, those will be the thoughts. And so it's going to be interesting to see as this season goes on what type of schemes are going to start being thrown at Wemby. And lastly, I think the question that everyone has is, with the growth of Wemby, And obviously Joker, who Joker is, and obviously Shea being who Shea is, is are we worried about the next Olympics? And I'm gonna say fuck no. Because I'm an American and that's what we do. We win the Olympics. So until somebody stop that, I see no reason to be worried about that. Yeah. Period. And our second topic in the state of the NBA will be top week 1 performers and the guys that I think won the week. Obviously we spoke about Wimby. Steph Curry won the week. Like Steph Curry looks like MVP Steph. Toss my name in the bucket. I got a little bit of something to say. Steph Curry, oh y'all thought I was slowing down, look at this guys, I got better again. That's the Steph we saw in week 1 and that's the Steph I think we will continue to see. I think another guy who definitely won week 1 was obviously the MVP, Shea Gildress-Alexander. It is week 1 of the NBA season and he already got y'all crying about how much he is getting to the free throw line. And that would be him saying, hey, guess what, guys? Y'all remember how much I got to the free throw line last year? Well, but guess what? I got better. So I'm gonna get to the free throw line a little bit more this year because I got better and I'm a champion. I'm a Finals MVP. I'm even more confident than I was. Oh, and my shoe selling off the shelves. My confidence is through the roof and I got better. So, Shai is also in our top week 1 performers. Another guy who has not been in the top performers of the week very often, but he must be in the top week 1 performers is Aaron Gordon. AG, incredible week. Obviously unfortunate they couldn't close the game against us. He had a 50 ball, But man, take my hat off to A.G. What he is doing out there, the way he continues to improve and add to his game, it's beautiful to see. If the 10 threes wasn't enough, I got a 360 windmill off a lob for y'all. If you need an ooh and an ah. And if you need to remember how I looked in a dunk contest. So I take my hat off, shout out to A.G. And our last— Top week 1 performer to round out our first week is Chet Holmgren. Man, Chet been playing some incredible basketball there, 3-0. I think Chet, Chet started off last season looking great. Had the hip injury versus us, ironically. And obviously didn't become an All-Star. The way Chet is playing, a lot like Wemby, And everybody's talking about Wemby. And I remember initially there was kind of this Chet-Wemby rivalry that everybody was talking about. Chet goes and get a championship, but then no one really wants to talk about that anymore. And Chet look like he's saying, "Hey, wait a minute, guys. I got something to say." So I think Chet, you know, obviously like Wemby, has to prove that with that output, I can stay healthy and I can continue to do that because you have to prove that, right? Like that, or you just can't get in that conversation. So Chet staying healthy, playing the way he's playing, probably reach his first All-Star game this year if he keep that up, especially as a champion. And so gotta round it out with Chet doing it on both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively. That's our top week 1 performers. We can get to the Western Conference, which is a complete bloodbath. And obviously we're only 3 games into the season. Everybody's bumped, jumbled up somewhere from 0-2 to 0-3 to 1-2 to 2-1 to 3-0. We're all right there. But if you cannot see at every night, the Western Conference is gonna be a bloodbath. I mean, look at our game against Portland. Like Portland look like a good team. So when I look at this conference, Spurs look good. Like, but when I look at the conference, I think the true contenders in my mind, when I think about this is like, OKC, yours truly, the Dubs, back in the Dubs Invitational. Denver. Obviously Joker, Champion, always gonna get 'em a chance. They always gonna be right there. Nightmare, matchup nightmare for everybody. They always, the way AG's playing, Aaron Gordon has looked good. They're always right there. You know, they're gonna make a run for it. And then I think you gotta look at both LA teams. Like both of those teams need good breaks, right? Like you got Bron starting off the season on the bench, unhealthy. We just found out that Luka's gonna be out for at least a week, you know, with some injuries, you know, and so they'll need it to break right. And then obviously the Clippers will need Kawhi to be healthy. You know, Kawhi is starting his season off strong. They'll need him to be healthy, right? Like, and again, we all need health on our side, but they're gonna need health, you know, You need Kawhi going through the full season and being healthy coming out of it. You know, and you know, obviously Kawhi has struggled a bit, not his fault, just what has happened with his body. And I know how much it means to him to wanna make it through this entire season and make a run at it in the playoffs. You know, he hasn't quite had that opportunity in a while. And so I think with a couple breaks for them, couple breaks for the Lakers, they're serious. But those are the teams that I see right now out the gate where I'm like, yeah, I think those are the contenders in the West. And my fourth and final topic in the state of the NBA would be the Eastern Conference. And quite honestly, I, you know, I just don't know that the East has any teams that can compete at a championship level. Yeah. With the teams at the top of the West. Obviously Boston being down right now, I think is a, has, plays a huge role in that. The Cavs haven't been able to show that. Darius Garland ain't playing. So, you know, obviously DG get back, you need to see how all of that come back together, right? Like just because you had a good year last year doesn't necessarily mean things come back together like that. Teams have had a whole year to scout your offense. You know, so maybe that'll look different now. Like, so you have to put all the pieces, lost Ty Jerome. I think he was big for that locker room. I think he was big for that team. Tristan Thompson not with that team, right? So when I look at the East, I just, right off the bat, I don't see any teams that can compete with the teams at the top of the West at a championship level. I just, I don't foresee that. You know, Milwaukee's still figuring it out. I just do not see, yeah, that's that. I don't, I don't, I'm a little surprised by it, but yeah, I don't see a team in the East that can compete on a championship level with the top teams in the West. As promised, I told you all I'll give you my awards predictions. Each month, by the way, I'll give out some of my own unique awards here on the Draymond Green Show. But for now, I wanna give you all my official predictions for the Rookie of the Year, DPOY, and MVP. And first and foremost, at Rookie of the Year, I am going to roll with VJ Edgecomb. I think VJ is gonna have every opportunity to be successful. I think he is NBA ready right now. They have his role figured out. Like, you know, I think in, for instance, Cooper Flagg, they're still trying to figure out like, is he gonna play point guard? What position he's gonna play? What's the lineup look around him? DJ Edgecomb role is figured out and he cut out for it. So Rookie of the Year, I'm definitely rolling with DJ Edgecomb. Defensive Player of the Year, I am rolling with Wemby. Wemby. I would love to roll with yours truly myself, but if Wemby is healthy for 65 games, the way he's blocking shots, we know everyone loves stats. They look like they're gonna be a really good team this year. If they win, if they're in the playoffs or somewhere, you know, I mean, last year he was, they were in 10th and they were gonna give him the award if he didn't get hurt. So if they're anywhere around that and what he's doing with the block shots, all the voters love stats. And he has the impact. Like, I'm not gonna just act like they're like made up blocks. Like, his impact is crazy. I'mma take Wemby at DPOY. And for the MVP award, I don't know that we've ever seen it done before, but if we have, excuse me and I apologize, but I don't think we've ever seen a 38-year-old win the MVP award. Mm-mm. And I think Steph Curry is gonna make a run for it. So my MVP, we gonna have a great year and he gonna keep doing what he doing. Steph Curry about to take home his third MVP this season. Before we close out the show, I know it's the elephant in the room, uh, the big gambling scandal. That's going on around the NBA. Everybody's kind of sharing what they think. It's an active investigation, it's an indictment, it's going to trial. I don't need to get off into all of that. But what I will say is a few things. And one is, I think it's complete bullshit that the whole world wanna act like all NBA players are just gambling on games. I wouldn't be losing my fucking mind on the court going crazy about a call if we were like, if we were all just, everybody always say, and that's just not me, right? Like you see multiple guys going at it with refs about calls. Like nobody's doing all of that. Like guys are really putting their lives into this shit. Like this shit really matters to us. Like we really trying to win these games. Like we really fighting for legacies. Yeah. So I think it's complete and utter bullshit how everybody just wanna act like, oh man, you see all these clips coming up. Look at this guy now, he missed shots, he point shaving. Like, man, we put so much into this fucking game to try to be great at this game. And just because guys do have bad days, I come to your fucking job and watch you. Not only do you have bad days, there's a possibility some people, you may suck at what you do. And yet we, you know, we play a very inaccurate, inconsistent game. It's very hard to make a shot. If you're absolutely great, you make 1 of every 2 and you shoot 50%. So we play this game that's really hard to perfect. And you add in the defenses and the skill level and the athleticism of guys that you're going up against, it's hard. And so then you put up shit like guys missing shots, like they should be investigated. Like, come on, man. Let's not act like everybody in the NBA, there are bad apples in anything. You go to any business, there's a bad apple. You go to any sport, any organization, anything, there's bad apples everywhere. But let's not try to act like Adam Silver has just built this league that does not care about people gambling and because there's a Fanatics Sportsbook, a DraftKings, a FanDuel sponsorship that Adam just doesn't care about players gambling. Like, stop the bullshit. Cut it out. We watch these gambling videos every year. They're on top of this. I got fined last year because I was making light of a referee talking about a line because I had seen the line. I got fined. And by the way, I'm not worried at all. I did my interview. They asked me, what were you talking about? I said, I saw the line on my phone. And then I saw a couple calls. I got fined. So, Don't give me the bullshit. The whole NBA is just rigged and everybody betting. Stop it. We put our fucking heart and souls into this shit to try to be the last one standing, to try to build great careers, to try to build great legacies. There's bad apples everywhere. In any business, any organization, any school, there's bad apples everywhere. So let's not just try to act like that's the whole, that's the league. Nah, it ain't that at all. And having partnerships with gambling houses and I mean, you know, the gambling websites and bet houses. No, that ain't it either. Partnerships are partnerships. I don't get free Bud Light and Budweiser to my house because the NBA is with Bud Light. I don't get a free FanDuel pass or DraftKings or Fanatics Sportsbook because the NBA is part of— No. People make decisions. You can go bet if you're an American and you're in certain states in America, you can pick up your phone and you can bet. So just like every other American, people can do that. But let's not act like because there's sponsorship partnerships that that's the reason. Come on now. Like, give it a break. Like, come on now. Give it a break. That's ridiculous. And the league Adam has built has been incredible. It's doing greatest it's ever done. It's larger than it's ever been. Everything that's great hit tough times. This was a tough thing on our league. Guess what? When you build great shit like Adam has done, like David Stern before Adam, when you build great shit, you plow through the tough times and continue to grow. And that's what's gonna happen right here. So cut the crap. Lastly on this, Chauncey Billups, I've known since I was 16 years old. I'm not getting off into all the allegations, all of those things, but I most importantly just wanna send my love. I wanna send my love to Chance. Always been incredible to me. Always been a big brother to me. Always showed me nothing but love. I send my love back to Chance's family. I send my love, I send my support. So I know how hard it is on them. Everybody, I don't, again, I'm not getting off into the allegations. They are what they are. You can read 'em for yourself. But most importantly, more than anything, I send my love to my big brother. I hope everybody can figure this stuff out, that our league can move forward with the reputation that this league deserves, that this league has built and earned. And everybody can figure they stuff out and I wish everybody well. But I wanna send my love to my brother. Man, that was so amazing to be back here in this chair with this microphone, this camera and this platform with you all. Our love, our love to our loyal supporters, our listeners, our subscribers. This is year 4 and I can't thank you enough for taking in what I have to say about the NBA and all other things. I do not take your time for granted and your listening ear. As someone who likes to share my thoughts and share my opinions and help educate, I hope you enjoy and I hope you continue to come because we will have a lot of fun here this year. Make sure you check us out Thursday on our next episode. Until next time. Peace. Deuces. If you're rocking with the Draymond Green Show, be sure to click follow on your favorite podcast app. And while you're there, go ahead and drop a 5-star rating and leave a review. I wanna hear what you think. And it would also mean a ton to me if you share it with a friend that you think would enjoy it. Let's keep this thing growing. The Draymond Green Show is presented by Audacy, and executive produced in conjunction with The New Media. Our executive producers are Leah Reese Dennis, Danny Friesinger, and Greg Holtzman. Video production and creative design by Curt Courtney, Tim Meekle, Lauren Vieira, and Evan O'Brien. Special thanks to the team at The New Media and the team at Odyssey. Maura Curran, Josephina Francis, Hillary Shuff, Eric Donnelly, Kate Rose, Colin Gaynor, and Jake Gally. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]