Dray's WWE move vs. Lakers, Steph & Warriors drama + NBA MVP race | Draymond Green & Baron Davis

What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show with my dawg BD. What's happening, my brother?

What's up, my dawg? We already, you know, going into our second week almost into the new year, man. Kids back in school now. You know, getting back into a routine. How you feeling now?

A lot better, man. Jesus Christ. I love my kids. I love hanging with my kids. They are amazing. They keep, they breathe life into me. So I really enjoy it. But having 4 kids can be a bit overwhelming at times. And I can love my kids and enjoy being around them and want them to go back to school. Both can be true.

School is a good thing.

Both can be true. And I am happy they back, you know, so we can start back really getting these episodes pumping how we do, you know. So please subscribe to the Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis so you don't miss any of these episodes, any of this banter. Make sure you subscribe.

Yep, that's right. Follow the show on all social media platforms @DraymondShow. So you don't miss none of these announcements, man. We got crazy announcements. I know we've been away for a bit. There have been many things that we need to cover, a lot of stuff we need to cover. So we gonna start off with the Fast Break. This is a segment where we'll cover 3 stories in 12 minutes, and we have to start with Christmas Day. I don't know if you've seen or explain what happened during this play, but could you explain what happened? when you pulled down the Lakers?

Well, hey bro, what happened was I was— Scott Foster, who's— I got a few referees I love, so I'm gonna say one of my top 2, top 3 favorite referees. I love Scott Foster, and I actually love Scott Foster— like, the reason I love Scott Foster You got all of it in that game of why I love Scott Foster. He don't care who you are.

Yeah.

He's gonna call the call however he sees it.

Yeah.

Don't matter who you are.

Yeah.

Love that about Scott Foster. You could be LeBron James, you can be Quentin Post, he gonna call it the same way and he ain't afraid of you. Like no matter who you are, Scott ain't afraid. So I love Scott Foster for that reason. So in true fashion, my favorite referee is right here on the baseline. On the box out, they hooked their arms in front of me, which you can't do. It's illegal. Like they connect and hold each other arms. How dare you, Scott? I'm like, Scott, they can't do this. Y'all like, hey, unlock arms. You guys can't do that. So they unlock arms and then they start to move their arms back together. So I look back at Scott, I'm like, Scott, he like, you can't do that. So, You know me.

Oh my God, dude.

I think fast. So I'm like, "All right, well, if they arms are connected, if you run into they arms, it's actually a foul on them." So I'm like, "I just alerted Scott twice. He see that they locking arms. I'm going." So I take a little step back to load my run up, and then I just try to start taking off running into they arm. When I run into they arm, "Scott, you seen that they arms was locked. You ain't gonna blow the whistle?" So I'm like, "Oh, they ain't blow the whistle yet. All right, I gotta do more to get this foul call." You are nuts. Come here.

Hey.

Come here.

Yeah, I blow this whistle one way or another. Hey, bro, I swear when I was watching that, it was almost like you told the ref, "Hey, look what I'm about to do." Hey, I told him.

I said, "Scott, they can't do this." So check this out. What?

Soup flex.

I don't hear a whistle blow yet. So I'm like, "Oh, ain't enough contact." contact yet. Like, let me create more contact. So I create more contact with it. Scott blows the whistle and go, double foul. No foul on you, shoot one free throw. Like, what, Scott?

Like, bro, that was—

he like, what the hell, Draymond? Like, I don't know what it should be, but I know you fouled, so whatever. Scott, but you just saw the hook arms. He like, Draymond, It's a foul on you for sure. I said, Scott, hey, hook on. Scott goes to the referee who's now on the baseline. Hey, switch positions with me. So he can come down there and talk.

You think it was not a foul on you?

No, it was definitely a foul on me for sure. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. But it was only a foul on me because he missed the first foul where I ran into they arms.

Oh no.

Hell no. So listen, So Scott comes to the baseline and has a full conversation with me, incredible conversation. It was such a fun conversation. And he's like, Draymond, but I don't, I don't know which one of the guys I wanted to call a foul on you on. I don't know which. He said if they were shooting free throws, I don't know which one of them I get a free throw to. And we had a whole conversation. And like I said, that's one of, that's one of the reasons Scott is one of my favorite referees because there's this common misconception of like, you can't talk to Scott Foster. And I think that is so far from true. You can have a conversation with Scott Foster the entire game, all night, as long as y'all are having a conversation back. And you can even raise your voice.

Yeah.

He'll raise his voice back. Like, and like I said, and at a certain point throughout the night, if you start to get disrespectful, Scott gonna tell you, I'm done, I ain't talking to you no more. And then if you talk to him, you're gonna get a tech. But Scott's not just a guy that you're gonna go talk to right away and get a tech. Like the man literally switched positions. Like, hey, switch with me. So he could come down there and talk some more. Like, and it was such a fun— It was such a fun moment.

It was.

For me. And to have that moment with Scott, like I said, one of my favorite referees, truly a blast.

Man, that was one of the all-time Free throw, WWF, WWE, that was old school WWF. Dusty Rhodes taking down Boom with the double suplex. Then he looked at the ref and said, "What?" Call the first foul, Scott.

I ran into their connected arm. Call the first foul. What did I do? Hey Scott.

Scott, you hear this? Scott, you should have caught that first foul. If Scott would've caught the first foul, then it would've made it all the more better. I think he missed that call. If he would've—

Scott, I'm moving on. You hear this? But you owe me one next time you referee our game.

You ain't gonna let them boys lock arms like that, Scott.

You owe me one, Scott. Hey, let me swing this rock, man. Why are the NBA ratings down like this? Like, I know it's football season, season. But talk to me, what you got for me?

Storytelling, man. Storytelling, storylines. I think, you know, as the visibility of the league expand, you need more voices telling more authentic stories and being able to tap into these players. Like when I look at the media around the game is different. It's all like almost like fake news, gossip news, all the bullshit opinions, weird ass people giving hot takes. Everything is a hot take. And now you kind of phasing out what we did every day in the streets. You know what I mean? It's like, who your top 5, who the top 10, or who the top 25. And like, you can't even really, we don't even have that no more. You know what I mean?

Yeah.

We don't even have like, who the top 5 guards in the league, who the top 5 big dudes, right? And so, And then on top of that, with no stories, get no nicknames, get no superheroes with no superpowers. And so now the kids is like, you know what I mean? It's like, I'm getting Steph, but where's the Steph? Like the Steph LeBron story on Christmas Day gotta be a Christmas dream. You know what I mean? And you gotta have just more of the culture, I think. You got so much media, but like you giving, once again, getting the microphone to the people who don't really know the game or the history of the game. And so where there's no nostalgia, there's nowhere for you to kind of like dive in the game for you to get to know these new dudes and they dope, right? I've been saying that like this next, this young generation, if we embrace them with they skill and learn who they are and learn they names, even though they young coming in the league, like it would help even for them to know they pass. You know what I'm saying?

Mm-hmm.

And so like the questions may be a little different. The nostalgia may be a little different. Then you know why, you know, Golden State and the Lakers got beef because it's history there. You know what I mean? You know why the Detroit Pistons and Chicago got beef in this history there. So whether you the best team in the league or the worst team in the league, you playing for legacy and, and, and, to keep that streak alive. You feel what I'm saying? Or territory. And so the league just got away from like, man, like what the hell are we watching the games for if they don't mean nothing?

Yeah, no, that's a fact. I agree. I think the storytelling's way down. I can't blame it all on media because players play. However, I do think players play by rules that are set and I think the rules are not, enjoyable to watch. It's just too clean. Like, it ain't no, ah, and like, nah.

There's no value. There's no value for possessions either. Yeah, it's not. Like, it don't give you no, like, I don't have no anxiety watching the game until the playoffs come. You know what I mean? But ain't no anxiety. Ain't like, damn, man. We really need a stop right now. It's like the game's always like coming back from 13 or it's never really a tight game all the way through to build that narrative. And to your point, the rules and the style of play is just can't be appealing that like everybody wanna be Steph, but ain't everybody Steph, bro.

Mm-hmm, that's a fact, that's a fact.

It's a lot of bricking, you know what I mean? It's a lot of fucking bricking going on. And it's like, why is this dude shooting like crazy shots? You know what I mean? And it's like, we wanna see the superstar superstar.

Nah, that's a fact. Listen, I agree with that. And by the way, media, no passes here. I can't blame solely y'all, but people tired of hearing y'all talk about who somebody slept with last night or—

Gosh, bro. Knock it off.

Such and such came in late. Like, nobody care. They wanna hear you talk about basketball, but— They've, they've now done the argument culture for so long in sports that they don't know how to talk about basketball anymore. They don't know basketball anymore. So they spew out these pointless numbers that no one understands. It's no salt in it. Like, you know, it's like the league has lost its soul. It's no soul in it anymore.

It's hella squares, man. It's just hella—

Nonetheless, I do think, Yes, in America, the ratings are down for sure, but I'm sure globally—

Oh yeah, it's all the way up. Yeah, but we get, you know, it's like, where is the culture and the intersection? You know what I mean? You can't just—

It's gone.

It's just like, oh, we just gonna play rap music 'cause like we just think that this just gonna appeal to people. You know what I mean? It's like everything is like, the NBA used to be the source of like culture curation.

Yes.

For sure. Content curation and commercials. Like, look at all the whack-ass commercials that's out. You know what I mean? Like, man, like name somebody who got a dope shoe commercial.

Nobody. I got the dopest commercial on TV.

Man, the one with, yeah, with the, is it the Buick? What is that, a Buick?

Kia commercial.

Kia, okay.

What's up, bro? Are you all right? Tell your ride.

Hey, send me one of them.

I can't tell your ride. Wait, I wish I could send you one of those. I can't tell you why. Me and my baby girl.

That's a fire commercial though. But it shows personality and it show you in a different environment. So what you see on the court, you know what I mean? Like, and it's new. Everybody else is just keep doing the same shit or hiring some influencers to like, do social media. I don't wanna see no social media content. I wanna see a dope-ass Anthony Edwards commercial. You know what I mean? Not just a commercial. You know what I mean? I wanna see—

That part.

What's the next KD commercial or, you know, like what's the Steph, like everybody should, like it's no competition in like, oh, who got the dopest shoe? Or who got the dopest commercial? Or who got the best swag? Or who got the entourage? Like it ain't even like that no more. You know what I mean? So it's like, why the fuck am I following when I ain't get— I'm only getting the game, you know what I mean? And like, I don't even— and I know the players, I'm just saying from a fan perspective, is like, I'm not tapped into all these guys because we don't know where they went to college, you know what I mean? Like, it's just—

Yeah.

You better get some— we gotta get some experts in here, man, because we need some voices to like explain people's background. They still— all these dudes got incredible stories and come from somewhere. And like, we just suffering from like surface type shit, man. This is important. I need to get your thoughts. What do you think, or what were you thinking when you heard that Mike Brown was being fired?

Well, first off, Travis, um, asked me right away. He said, man, you said 3 or 4 years ago that Mike Brown would get fired in 3 to 4 years, even when he was having Yes. Why did you say that? I said, well, I was right, huh? He said, yeah, but why did you say that? I said, because he's in an organization that they fire coaches and no matter what he does, he's gonna get fired. I said, Mike Malone had their franchise player playing his best basketball he had played up until that point. DeMarcus Cousins.

Yep.

His first coach that they had brought in that he absolutely loved, And they fired him and he was doing well. Yeah. I said, so what chance does Mike Brown have? He doesn't have a chance. He never had a chance. And that's why I said that. I said, but also Trav, another reason I said it is because people tend to forget things that go on around the NBA or that are said around the NBA. And I don't, I actually remember everything. And, um, I'm a, like, Vivek, who's the owner of the Sacramento Kings team organization, he was a minority owner here before he bought the Kings. And so I know Vivek, Vivek's great. I have zero issues with Vivek. I actually love him, super nice. Family's nice. They are great. Where Vivek lost me was, and I quote, or whatever, but I said another reason I knew he'd get fired is because people tend to forget these things, but Vivek's incredible. He's a great man. But he once thought we should play 4-on-5. Like basketball should be played 4-on-5. So much so that he tried it with the G League team. And I said, so—

4-on-5?

Yeah. You know, like you should cherry pick one guy. He should never come back on defense.

Oh.

And you should play defense for— like that. And that's what he— and he thought that that should work. And he tried it with the G League team. And I was just like, you know, Trav, so, for a guy to like try to play 4-on-5, you can't think that he's gonna be like logical with the coach that he hire or fire.

Like Jackie Moon.

4-on-5. And so like I said, I love Vivek.

Vivek's great.

Jackie Moon.

You calling him Jackie Moon, huh?

I want to play basketball 4-on-5. Just so we're clear, BD, just so we're clear.

Hey bro, you calling me?

Every basketball set ran is to put you in an advantage.

5 on 4. Oh my God.

4 on 3.

That's true.

2 on 1. Every basketball set ran is to create that advantage and you just gonna give us that advantage? Like, so, you know, I wasn't, I was not at all surprised. And then the last thing I'll say, BD, is on the heels of, Manny Williams getting paid beaucoup bread. They didn't even want to pay Mike Brown. They end up giving him 3 for 30, uh, 10 million a year. I think he was trying to get like 13 to 15 a year. They kind of was like, all right, here's something. And so, you know, with his contract negotiation this past offseason, you could just kind of see the writing on the wall.

Commitment wasn't gonna be there.

The commitment wasn't there. And Jackie Moon, I, I was not the least bit surprised.

Jackie Moon, baby, semi-pro.

So that's my take on Mike Brown being fired.

Uh, still shout out to Mike Brown, great coach. I'm sure he'll pop up somewhere. Uh, and you know, just like time, we have went over time. Way over time of the 12 minutes. So apologize to y'all fans, we get kind of caught up, but we gonna stick to probably the next time we gonna try and knock this thing out in under 12 minutes. But moving right along, Dub Nation. First, let's talk how it's been playing with my boy Dennis Schroeder for the past few games. Talk about that addition. Draymond Green and what he means to y'all team as he starts to get more and more acclimated.

Man, I love playing with Dennis on our team. You know, we had battles against Dennis over the years, and so there's a mutual respect already there. But him coming to this team, he brings a feistiness that we need at the guard spot. He brings a demeanor that we need, an alpha male. You know, that doesn't hurt anyone. You know, there is no alpha here that feels uncomfortable with another alpha next to them, you know? And so we invite that. We invite you to be the exact alpha that you are in every situation. And so, and enjoy, I've enjoyed it. Unfortunately, we haven't won as many games as we would like to, but it's, you know, it'll come together, I believe. But man, Dennis is, he's a leader. Like he gets to problems, like if there's a problem, he see it, he go right to it. He had one situation, I can't remember who it was, but like his first, this was like his first, this was like, I think his first game play with us, first and second game play with us. He, we were sitting on the plane, you know, we go back, he sits at the gambling table with us and we were waiting to start because he was at the front of the plane talking to one of the players that something in the game. And he's like, no, I'm like, I'm gonna address that right now. And I just thought that was so dope. He said to me the other day in the Memphis game, which really changed my focus. And I text him after the game, I said, man, Haven't had a teammate say anything like that to me in years. And he was like, yo, we was walking at halftime. He like, yo, yeah, keep talking to them. Like we at these boys. Like, and you know, he said a few choice words that was a little different than that, but we'll leave it at that. He like, keep talking. We gonna keep talking to them. They ain't cut like that. And I'm like, you right.

Absolutely.

Yeah. He's like, but you talking to the refs too much. Yeah. "Get off them ruffs, man." Yeah. "Talk to them. Talk to the Grizzlies. We talking to them. Get off them ruffs." And I was like—

Makes sense.

And I came back out in the second half locked in. And I hit him after the game and I said, "Yo, I appreciate you saying that to me because it locked me in on what I needed to be locked in on." And I'll be honest with you, not many people will say that to me. And I'm thankful for that.

Yeah. Say that to me. That's big time.

So huge. And I think he gonna be a big help for us here. And you know, I think he's gonna be a big part. Like he's, he's still trying to get comfortable.

Totally.

You know, I don't think people really understand how it is to come to a team mid-season.

Yeah.

People really don't understand how hard it is to come to a team mid-season and take the ball outta Steph Curry's hands.

Yeah.

Because that's what he's done. You know, he's come and he's taken the ball outta Steph Curry's hand intentionally. Like that was the goal, you know, to find someone that can release, relieve Steph a little bit so he don't have to—

Yeah.

Yeah. And be on the ball wasting energy the whole time. And Dennis, you know, he's come in and do that. But it's hard to, you know, the times you can be out there and you feel like you wrong, man. You know, you on the court with Steph Curry and it could feel a little wrong. It could mess with your head a little bit.

And so—

He's starting to get over that and we're starting to see it more and more. He's starting to get more aggressive. And I think as he does, it'll be great. And then he had said something else to me that I thought was like, all right, respect. He was like, Dray, I'm telling you, man, I'm so excited to get here. I miss my family. He's like, I miss my family. And when they get out here, I'm telling you, the player that I am, when they get here, I'm crazy. Yeah. And I was like, People don't understand that side of it though.

You know what I'm saying?

Like this man missing his kids and his wife.

His roots. That's hard, man.

Yeah. Yeah. Like your day, like every day is just off. You know what I'm saying? So then you go in the game, but you've been feeling off all day, every day for the last week and a half. You know? And so he's starting to, you know, he's starting to come around for us. And like I said, I think he gonna be really good for us.

I like that. Jonathan Kuminga, he been balling. Been playing really good as of late, but he'll be sidelined for the next 3 weeks with an ankle injury. I mean, I know you high on his potential. What adjustments do you believe the team has to make with somebody like Kaminga now that he, you know, stepping into that role, he now gonna be out for a long period of time?

Yeah, man, it sucks. Especially he's playing his best basketball probably in his career so far, you know, and just to see him taking that next step, like what I've seen from him as of late is like, oh, I can get a ball up because I'm gonna get the ball back every possession.

Right.

Like, so I can actually drive in and make the next play, which is making him even more dangerous because he's starting to hit some open shooters and stuff, which eventually just opens the floor up more for him. And just seeing him take those next steps, you know what I'm saying? Of a shot that he made with a force because he don't know, A, how long he gonna be in the game, B, when he gonna get the ball back. He ain't forcing none of that no more. Now I always say when you got great scorers, which I think he has the potential to be, they're gonna take some bad shots. Like you, you not gonna be a great scorer and not take any bad shots. And so he's still gonna take some shots that's questionable as every great scorer does. But with the way he's starting to see the game now, the way the game is slowing down for him, It's been special to see. And I think, you know, for us with missing him for these next 3, 4 weeks, it's tough. I think we're gonna need a much heavier dose of Andrew Wiggins. You know, in the last couple games he's been aggressive and we need that, especially that second, starting the second half of that Memphis game. Yep. When JK went out, Wiggs picked it up and we gonna need him to be really aggressive. I think also that, you know, that's gonna open up more minutes for Slow Mo, which the last couple games you've seen him.

Yeah.

And I think, you know, obviously we need JK out there and want him out there. But I think, you know, being in the space that we're in, struggling a bit, getting a veteran like Slow Mo out there can help right the ship. You know, it can help settle things down.

Yep.

And so I think it'll be a little more Slow Mo. We need a lot more Wiggs.

Yeah.

Consistently, which he's been great all year. You know, I'm not saying he hasn't been consistent, but we're gonna need Wiggs to be even more aggressive. And then all of us gotta pick it up, you know? Everybody gotta be willing to shoot because it's not gonna be as much pressure on the rim without JK putting that pressure on the rim and everybody gotta come out ready to fire.

No, I agree. I mean, you know, it's a golden opportunity for some of the dudes and for, you know, like we said in the beginning of the year, y'all got a lot of depth and versatility. So this is kind of like could be a great turning point. And speaking of turning point, you know, Steph calling, the team very mid.

What does that reflect about who you guys are right now, but what you guys can be going forward?

How did Kidd say it? We're very mid right now? We're just very average.

Right. I mean, and then he turn up the next game, hit 8 for 8 from the 3-point line. But, you know, calling the Warriors very mid, you know, man, let's drill in on that.

Man, listen, when he said that and I read it, I was like, oh. And I sat and started thinking about it. I'm like, yeah, I get what he's saying. I get where he coming from. We are definitely like right at 500, like right in the middle of the pack, very mid. And we heard him and I think we've played a little better since, but again, that's, that it's still got an equal stack in wins together. And we haven't done that. So until we do that, like he said, you never wanna, when you're going through it, you never wanna really accept that you're mid or that you're not a good team or whatever it is. Like it's a hard pill to accept. And we haven't accepted it because we still think we got a chance and we could right the ship, but it's tough.

Yeah.

And so for him to just come out and say it like, hey.

It's real.

Elephant in the room, we mid right now. "All right, so now what?

Now that we can acknowledge that, what we gotta do to figure this out and get better?" And so when I first saw it, it was like a double take, but then I'm like, "Hmm, yeah, we are very mid right now." Sometimes, but it's a humbling experience 'cause sometimes you gotta humble yourself and say like, "Yo, we around here doing this, we doing that, we saying this, we saying that, like we was this, we not that no more." You know what I mean? So it's like almost like a self-check moment to be like, yo, we are very mid. And then to look up and be like, hold on, we mid? How are we mid? You know what I mean? We need to recalibrate. 'Cause ain't nothing mid about, you know what I mean, what we doing. And so, you know, when it's the big dog talking like that, you know, it's almost like a wake-up call for— Absolutely. Absolutely. So, but also—

Everybody.

Everybody else. Yeah.

And it, it like, you know what, another thing that it does is it can also give guys confidence because it gives them like that freedom to be like, yo.

Yeah. It's no pressure.

This is what we need to do. Yeah.

Right.

And, and so then they don't have to live up to the pressure that's been created by what we've done. Mm-hmm. You know, because that's a thing. Like you come here and you feel like you need to live up to the pressure of what we've been. And that's not a realistic thing.

Yeah.

And so, I think that that also helps with that. But we start a 4-game road trip today in Detroit, followed by the Pacers and Raptors and Timberwolves. In your honest opinion, what do you see the toughest matchup of this road trip and where do you see the record being in this road trip?

I mean, I would like to see y'all go 3-1.

I think— That's a great road trip.

2-2 is a good road trip. It start in Detroit, you know what I mean? Like these young dudes, they hungry, they coming off a 500, you know what I mean? They already 500, they just been playing, really just playing they ass off. You gotta beat Detroit.

Yeah.

Because then that puts, then that take the pressure off of, you know, Halliburton, you know what I mean? Don't want that Steph fade. And Indiana, they coming out like, you know what I mean? They coming out playing just as hard as y'all gonna play.

Yep. And maybe harder.

I like Toronto. I think that they are at home. They're just like how the Toronto Raptors used to be when they weren't when they were not DeMar, you know what I mean? When they were not contenders, you better not go in there half-stepping 'cause you could get knocked. And then, you know, the Timberwolves waiting for y'all because they fit, you know, that's one of them other, that's one of the team shit that's very mid, you know what I mean? Yeah. They hella mid. So it's like, who's going to start laying some foundation and concrete in that middle market, you know what I mean? And like really trying to create—

Pretty much the same mindset we got right now.

Yeah, hell yeah. And like, you know, and it's that mindset to have when you in the season like this, getting ready for All-Star, getting, you know, the ups and downs, trying to get like, we up, we down, we injured, people coming in and out, all of this, you know, for this All-Star push, like, What are your thoughts around, just like, talk to the fans about everybody is going through something, right?

Mm-hmm.

And then like, what is kind of like your recipe, or is there a team meeting, or, you know, how do you guys like start righting the ship? Is it a meeting? Is it, you know, like, 'cause you know, fans are always asking like, "Oh, we need a team meeting. Those dudes should just get together and talk," or, Like what is the philosophy around kind of like this wintertime? Like winter is here.

You know, you have team meetings here and there just trying to figure it out and talk amongst each other, which we've done. But the interesting thing about this team is it's like, it ain't zero bad blood. Like the chemistry on this team—

Crazy.

Is incredible. And so it's not one of them things of where you need to get in and like call somebody out like, yo, we, we ain't hitting on this. Like, it ain't none of that. Like, the, the chemistry on this team is incredible. And so I guess the play, like, we just gotta play better, you know? And like, that has to be the focus for us. Like, we just have to play better because all the other stuff that you need to make you a winning team, we have. Yeah. Like rocking with each other off the court. We have like, you know what I'm saying? Like all the things that you need around the play to be a great team, we have those things. And so we just gotta play better and win some games. So I don't, you know, I don't really always like—

Stop losing, stop losing games.

That's what I'm saying. This ain't one of them situations of where it's like, yo, they struggling and— It's problems in the locker room. It ain't nothing like that. And so we've thrown games away that we shouldn't. Like, you just gotta win.

Yeah, I totally agree, bro. I totally agree. You just gotta stop losing the games you not supposed to lose or figuring out a way to like, you know, even like the little mid-season tournament going back to that and the Houston, it's like, look at that.

Yeah.

Like, damn. And then it was like 3 games just like that. I was like, wait, what happened? Like, I thought we, I thought we had that locked up. You know what I mean?

Yes.

And that's the difference between being very mid to being like, oh, we, we still solid in the top. You know what I mean?

Mm-hmm.

So it's—

1,000%. Yeah.

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Let's go around the league a little bit. A few things happened since we were last here, starting with Kawhi Leonard's return. How do you feel about his return and how can he help this Clippers team?

Uh-oh, it's going down. It's going down once Kawhi come back. Uh-oh, you got the Beard, you got Norman Powell playing at an all-star level as far as like shooting guards are concerned in this Western Conference. Like he probably one of the, outside of Anthony Edwards, maybe Booker, he putting up consistent numbers, man. You talking about 53, 45, 90, you know what I mean? And one-on-one, ain't nobody stopping him getting his shot off. Defensively, you know, another added piece to now, you know, they defense—

They got a great defense already.

With Van Gundy. And so now I think, You know, really from a Kawhi perspective, he gets to kind of be almost like the Kawhi that was made for Toronto and the Kawhi that was made for San Antonio, right? Because it's like, oh shit, here go a solid-ass team that's great defensively. They already got an offensive weapon. They know how to, they know how to play and win with James. Draymond Green and Norman Powell leading the charge, right? And that Zubac combination. Now Kawhi is like, oh shit, Kawhi on the floor. Oh shit, Kawhi is killing. You know what I mean? And like, you ain't got, ain't nothing you can do but double team Kawhi. Are you gonna, you know, are you gonna tear you up? You know what I mean? Yeah. And so now it just creates a whole nother dynamic for the Clippers to where, Kawhi is really that X factor that they needed. But during this season, if he didn't come back, they were a solid team that was gonna be there in the end, challenging.

All right, so I ask you this question. So who's taking a bigger hit? Because something has to change in order for Kawhi to become Kawhi. Who's taking a bigger hit? James Harden and the way James has been playing this year, or Draymond Green? One of them ain't gonna like, Both of their production can't stay the same if Kawhi didn't come be Kawhi. So which one of those guys are gonna take more of a hit?

Neither one.

Interesting.

Neither one because Kawhi gonna get his money and Kawhi is efficient. That just means other people like Koffee, you know what I mean? Dudes who was getting wide open looks and shit like that, you ain't about to get those. Those wide open looks now about to go to James and a swing to Norman Powell. You know what I mean? 'Cause you gotta double team Kawhi. If not, he gonna light you up. And so when you look at Kawhi, it's almost like you can clock in a duh, a quick dub. You know what I mean? Oh, let me clock, let me clock in, let me add that dub. And they don't really change nothing from what James doing because now James kicking to Kawhi. That's true. And so Kawhi get a chance to like eat off of like what they already built. But like now they just got a motor to where James has done an incredible job of picking his spots because he knows he has to be a finisher and a closer. Now, you know what I mean? You got big shot making Norm Powell on the right side, Kawhi on the left side. And now you got Harden, you know, Harden in the Zubac screen. Pretty dangerous and defensively efficient too.

No, that's for sure. I can agree with some parts of what you said. The only where, where my opinion differs is I think James is gonna take more of a hit because, uh, in the words of Beer himself, I am a system. And he is very much so a system. I just don't know if his system, the system that he is, that Kawhi is going to necessarily just plug into that system.

Kawhi don't need a system. Kawhi is— He, I agree.

James, in James' system, James always has the ball. And I just think with Kawhi now on the floor, that lessens how much James is gonna have the ball. And again, in the eyes of I Am A System, that lessens how much that James is gonna have the ball. Obviously I think James is gonna continue to play great, but I think he's gonna have to take a step back in order— if they want Kawhi to come back and be the Kawhi of, oh, the Kawhi that we know. Now he's coming back from a knee injury, so it's gonna take time to ramp up and stuff and we'll see how it plays out. But if one guy is gonna lose some of his production and touches, I think it'll be James just because I am a system and that system, he got the ball.

James is the system. Kawhi don't need a system. And so that means Kawhi is the ultimate compliment to James. His system because Kawhi is Kawhi. He is a— Kawhi is on his own island. It's just a plug-in, you know what I mean? It's like a, a hella battery charge. Now James, all he gotta do is figure out, okay, when I pass the ball to Kawhi, I'm not getting that one back, right? Mm-hmm. So I gotta get Kawhi 5 shots a quarter, you know, when he at full health. Other than that, man, James operate. He got resting moments now, right? Where if you watch, you know, as James get older, he chills too. He gets off the ball now. He not the Houston James. He is the system, but he not the Houston James. That's a fact. So he been getting off the rock. And that's how I think Norm has been flourishing. You know, they run stuff for Norm. Remember Norm averaged 20 points. With Kawhi and PG and Harden coming off the bench. So, you know, now that there's no PG and it's like, you know, not having Paul George, right, for the Clippers opened up so many shots for so many people, you know what I mean? And then allowed James to kind of be the initiator and like Kawhi to be the free spirit.

Joe Mazzulla. Draymond Green got what he wanted a couple weeks ago. He said we need to start fighting in the NBA. Uh, A-Man Thompson got into it with Tyler Herro.

Saw that.

Nurkic got into it with Najee Marshall. I'm a 1-4 flat to this one. Uh, I'll take this one starting with the A-Man Thompson and Tyler Herro.

I like that one.

Number 1, why he swing Tyler Herro like that? Like he was just a little kid throwing him on the couch was crazy. He was the—

Draymond Green. He swung him like the doll that wasn't supposed to be sitting there. Get your ass.

Whoa.

Whoa. The way he swung him was crazy.

That was sick.

Terry Rozier came and got involved the way he should, which I respected. The way he got involved for the young fella.

I didn't see, I couldn't see all the rest of it.

Oh yeah, Terry Rozier came and— Pins came right in and you gotta do that. Tyler Herro's about to be the face of that franchise, you know? And so I respected that. I did not quite understand, well, they were about to play us the next day.

Oh yeah. He ain't want no parts.

And he just outta nowhere, like picked an argument and then swung.

Yeah.

And I hope that brother got the help he need. Draymond Green. Because—

That was random.

Man, it was just like outta nowhere. Like something's wrong in life.

Yeah.

Like he must be going through a really hard time in life to just go back and swing like that. Or like possibly maybe he didn't wanna play against the team that he was gonna play the next day. Like that could be a thought.

Maybe.

It was just a little surprising— —see him swing like that, but then to get pushed on the ground— And cry. And then start whining about it and grabbing his face, I was really shocked. Yeah, you can't swing and then get pushed on the ground and like grab your face and cry about it. Like, once you swing, you— it was you that kind of said, "This is what it is." Yeah. And so I was just a little surprised But that brother needs some help, and I hope he get the help that he needs.

Get that man some help. Come on, man. Get Nakisha some help, man. You know. You can't just be swinging on people.

You see what you do?

If that ain't the pot. You better stand up.

If that ain't the pot.

You know what I mean?

You know what I'm saying? You just swinging out of nowhere, surprising everybody. Oh my God. I was a little shocked by that one. I'm not gonna lie. They was gonna play against us the next day. And sometimes people get Draymond-itis and I get it and it's all right. It's okay.

He was, he was—

I'll give you a pass.

He was definitely not thinking about it. He was like, damn, I might as well get up outta this one. Let me—

BD, I will say though, I'm very surprised that the guy who got swung on got suspended for more games than—

That's weird.

Like that, I did not understand. They said, oh, he tried to keep going in the back. Like, stop. He gets one more game suspension than the guy who swung on him. So like, what am I to do if I get swung on? Just stand there because I'm gonna get suspended? Like, that is crazy. And so I was a little shocked by— I, a little bit, I was a little shocked by that. Um, just Najee Marshall getting suspended for more games than—

Yeah, and he the one who got swung on.

Than the guy that needs some help. Don't take it. Stop it. Don't toss around that word enforcer like that. That's ridiculous.

He coming for you though, next.

Ah.

What if he was you?

Ah.

Uzi Quill said, "Man, I should have saved that one for Draymond Green the next night." Ooh, just kidding. You don't want that.

I don't want that smoke.

Hey, bro.

I don't want that smoke.

Hey, I was watching the, The Mike Epps comedy thing when he said, "Like that." I can imagine you outside the Phoenix Arena like, "Nah, he gonna have to see me." He gotta see me, bro.

You can't get outta here like that. You gotta see me. You got to see me, champ.

All right, man, continuing, the Suns asked Bradley Beal to come off the bench. $40, $60 million, he's a starter. As someone who's been asked to come off the bench earliest this season, bro, do you think this will help the Suns and does this make sense at all?

It may help in the interim, right? Like, it may help. If they wanna win at the level that they wanna win at, Bradley Beal is one of their best players. Tough to bring him off the bench, you know, and he had 25 the first game coming off the bench, which is great. But like that game when he have 6, it ain't gonna necessarily be as pleasant, you know what I'm saying? And so shout out to Brad of being a professional and going to the bench and coming off the bench for 25 and the first time he did it since 2016. But like I said, I don't, I think yes, it could help in the interim, but to win at the level that I think that team is expected to win at, which is to be contenders, I don't think you can necessarily be a contender with Bradley Beal coming off the bench on that team.

All right, man, you know how I motivated Doc Rivers this year. Whoever is the Phoenix coach, get your shit together, bro.

Boot hoser.

Man, get your shit together. You know what I'm saying? Like, get your shit together, man. What? Like, how you gonna win in Bradley Bill Conley, man, if you can't coach the three superpowers, you know what I mean? Or superstars and figure out, like, that's your job. What the hell does him coming off the bench gotta do with the first 4 minutes anyway, 'cause he coming right in. You know what I mean? It's like, man, that's, it's fool's gold. You know what I mean? Because to your point, when he get 12 or he get 6 and he can't really catch a rhythm, he got 25 'cause he was just mad. The way you start the game is the way you wanna finish the game. And that's the confidence in them dudes to figure that shit out. Now throughout the course of the game, you gotta sub. I'm bringing KD out, Bill, it's your turn. Booker, it's you and KD's turn. Booker turn, KD turn. You know what I mean? And like, you gotta understand as a coach how to get them dudes in flow. You got 4 quarters. You know what I mean? They can all get they 15, 20 shots. Like, but I don't know about this coming off the bench. This dude make too much money to be coming off the bench. What is we doing, bro? That is the most disrespect.

Like, who's starting in front of him? Draymond Green.

Facts. You feel what I'm saying? Who's, who is starting in front of him? And I would like to understand what's the rationale, right? You put your best players on the floor. Ain't no way Bradley Beal coming off nobody bench to be no sixth man or none of that shit when he's bona fide and a proven playmaker and the piece that y'all went and traded for to go get. All right, man, I'm gonna take a TV timeout. Well, we can talk about something a little bit more from the TV analyst side. This week, our boy Charles Barkley is discussing Anthony Edwards. Charles Barkley, I quote, "I think Anthony Edwards has regressed." Anthony Edwards, on the other hand, recently expressed frustration about being double-teamed and scores career-high 53 points and a loss to Detroit. We know they are underachieving. Do you agree with Chuck?

I don't think Anthony Edwards is regressing. I don't think Anthony Edwards has played the way everybody expected him to come back playing from going to a Western Conference Finals, uh, with the hunger, you know, with the tenacious attitude that he has anyway. I don't think he's done that.— but regress, he's gotten better actually, uh, as a player. His jump shot's way better. Uh, so I wouldn't say regress. I don't think that's the right word. I, if, if, if I was even gonna make this argument, I think I would've went more along the lines of like, yo, is Anthony Edwards content because he went to the conference finals? I would take more that approach if I was going to do that rather than like Anthony Edwards has regressed because that's just not true. He hasn't regressed one bit. I, I, yeah, I would just say more of that. But in saying that, removing a player like KAT is a big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big deal.

Yeah.

And it takes some time to figure out a move like that.

Yep.

Like it can take some time to figure that out. I think, you know, you see the last two games he had 53, then he had 37.

They lost.

You know, averaging 45 over his last two games. And I saw that he complained about the double teams. The reality is that's just Ant being Ant. Like Ant's gonna say whatever he thinks, but he gonna get double teamed. Like you can't stop him one-on-one. So that's gonna happen and he should expect to see more of that. And his coaches better figure out how to negate those double teams, but they ain't going away. You talk about losing a guy like Carl Anthony Towns, that even opened up the possibility for double teams because you, you can help off a little more because he's the way he shoot the ball. You, I mean, excuse me, you couldn't help off as much because of how quick KAT's trigger is and how well he shoot the ball. And so I think they still have some adjustments to make. Like I told Ant at the Olympics after the game, after they won the gold medal, don't be a moment guy. Like don't be one of those guys that had they moment that went to the conference finals that we never hear from again. And I don't think he has that attitude, but you know, he gotta take that next step.

Yeah, I would definitely—

I believe that he will. I do, at least.

I agree. I think it's not regress, right? It's more like he hasn't taken the next step. I think he's gotten better, but what does that mean? For someone who's so talented and, you know, huge expectation. I think my challenge to him is he hasn't figured out how to get 53 and dominate a game. He hasn't figured out to walk on the court and say, not only am I the best player, I'm the most talented, I'm the most athletic, and I can win this game. Based on my ability, my know-how, my knowledge, time, and score. I think he's still very similar to Wemby, right? Is he's learning the game, he's learning how to play the game, but he's not learning yet to dominate the game or to be a winner in game situations. You know what I mean? Mm-hmm. And so it goes to like, yeah, he ballin', he's a baller, he can't be stopped. But it's also like he has to figure out how to make Julius Randle valuable for him in a different way than KAT was. 'Cause you don't have KAT. Mm-hmm. Now to say all that, not having KAT and having Julius Randle, like you gotta figure out how this dude gonna complement you. Because the floor is different, the spacing is different. The style is different, the way Julius Randle wanna get his shots, his touches. And so—

It's different.

Now you got Julius Randle, Rudy Gobert, you know what I mean? Conley, like it looked like the same team, but you don't fear them beating you from the outside. You don't fear them beating you at the rim. You don't fear— their height or their size. And so now you have nowhere to hide or disappear, or your game for other people to really compliment you to step up because all eyes are on you, right? Because it's just a different, like the spacing is different. The energy to close out on everybody else, it's a shorter closeout or it's a slower closeout. Right, which allow you to get double teams. So I think for him, he gotta understand like there's a game within the game within the game, right? And for what you're saying, don't beat a moment, dude. It's like you can get back to the air, but you're not gonna get back to the conference finals with Karl-Anthony Towns 'cause you don't play there no more. So stop complaining about Randle, make that shit work, make Rudy Gobert do something. You know what I mean? Yeah. And figure out like, figure out how to be the centerpiece of everything they need without saying like, I'm passing too much, or I'm scoring too much, or I'm this and that too much. It's like, we don't need none of that.

No, no doubt, I feel you. But the word regress—

Is not, yeah, he's not regressing.

I've played against Anthony Edwards this year. I can tell you for certain, he ain't regressing one bit. He come down talking to you like, "Oh, Dray, you think I'm telling you, Dray, my 3 better. Wow, I told you. Yeah, y'all ain't gonna guard me like that. My 3 is nice." Like he talking to you while he shooting it. He ain't regress.

Now his game got better. His game awareness, basketball IQ, as far as like taking that next step to be a superstar and be somebody that's, he's not feared. His 53 points, his points are not feared enough, you know what I mean? And so like there needs to be an opportunity for him to walk in the game and be like, I can beat you scoring 53, I can beat you scoring 30, I can beat you scoring, like I can just win this game because I got control. I can do it. And I think that's the situation he's in now in Minnesota because you don't have somebody with that high level of confidence that feel like, "I'm one of them ones too." You know what I mean? And so you don't have that to feed off of. Everybody gotta feed off that shit from you. And so you gotta be more responsible about, once again, how do you play the game until it's time for you to be a winner? You know what I mean? You may have to James Harden this shit.

I agree. So I don't know. We'll see. We got them next week. So we shall see. Hey, but we got a new segment on the show called, What's that tweet? It'll be explaining the reasoning behind certain tweets. To kick things off, let's look at a repost from BD. I was surprised to see Jay-Z performing by wearing a Baron Davis jersey. When did that take place? Also, was like, when was the first time you ever met Hov?

That was in, we was in college at UCLA. Shout out to the homie Hip Hop. The homie Ivory, they came by, you know, they was, you know, Hip Hop a big basketball fan and he was like one of the youngest A&Rs at Rockefeller. So he was like, yo, you wanna meet Jay? Like, Jay wanna rock your jersey for the Hard Knock Life. You've been coming out in different people's jersey. I was like, what? Oh bro, we hopped in the whip, hit down Sunset, Cafe Manz. It was Jay, Dame Dash was there. He wasn't that nice to us. You know what I mean? Yeah. But Jay was hella cool. You know what I mean? He was young. He was like in, you know, it was the Hard Knock Life Tour. But he was like, yo, I was like, yo, I got a jersey for you. I gave him the white one. I gave him the black UCLA jersey. 'Cause me and Earl Watson, for the first time we designed, we told the coach like, yo, we should make black jerseys. So they, we had a UCLA black jersey. I gave him the UCLA black jersey. They invited us to the concert, man. We was backstage. That's college kids, you know what I mean? You got Redman, you know, you backstage with, you know, a young Ja Rule, DMX, Hov. And it was, I was like, man, I thought he was gonna bring me on stage and shit. He didn't do that. You feel me? I was backstage. I was just waiting for my moment. Like, hey bro, you know what I mean? I'm big out here too, dog. Bring me out on the stage. Yeah. But when he showed up with the jersey, that was just, everybody went nuts.

That's it.

And so one of the moments that he kind of won the crowd over 'cause he knew which jersey to wear, you feel me?

You saved ho that night, huh?

Yeah, come on, bro. Come on, I took the whole team too. We had a nice little time, man. We had no NIL bread, but I couldn't imagine if we did.

Yeah, y'all had that illegal bread. That's cool.

You know, stocks and bonds. Oh man. Oh man. On New Year's Eve, you talk about OKC saying, "Shout out," and shaking hoop really well. What game were you watching? And do you believe they are the best team in the NBA? Also, what do you think about SGA for MVP?

What I was talking about was when I just said, I said, "Shake and really who?" Yeah. And then I said, "Chet out." The reason, what I was thinking when I said, "Chet out," because I was watching that game and I was just like, "Man, this team is good as hell." Yeah, and Chet out. And Chet out. Like, I'm just sitting there like, "Huh?" Like, "Chet out and they this good?" Yeah. It's crazy. And so that's what I was saying. And then Shaq can hoot really well. It was just like, you know, you watch Shaq, he ain't really doing nothing that's blowing you away except he may make a move here and there, you know what I'm saying? But like, it ain't like it's the most speed or the highest jumper, you know what I'm saying? Or like the most flawless jump shots you ever seen. It ain't none of that except he gonna create all the space he want.

Oh my gosh.

He gonna get wherever he want. He gonna get whatever shot he wants at whatever pace he wants to do it at.

Yes. You cannot speed him up.

Like, it's crazy. And I was just watching, I'm like, yo, this dude, like, just simply put, he hoop really well. Like, I'm not about to sit here and try to break this down. I'm not about to go, Shaq can hoop.

Yeah.

And that's just what I was watching them play against the Timberwolves, actually against Ant-Man. The way they came back in that game and was just like so poised and like just watching Shay do what he do, I'm like, wow, this is crazy.

In your pocket, bro.

I can't say they're the best team in the NBA. That's Boston. Until someone proves otherwise, the best team in the NBA is the Boston Celtics. I think OKC is real.

Yeah.

But until further notice, the best team in the NBA is the Boston Celtics. Until you can beat them and dethrone them, that's the best team. Believe that. And they got the same team from last year. Last year. So it ain't like they won a championship and lost big pieces. Until you can beat them, that's the best team in the NBA, period.

That's how it always work, period.

Oh man, before we get out of here, I got 5 on it. Next up, I got 5 on it where BD discuss his 5 players that he's high on to start the new year. Uh, who are your top 5 players in the league right now?

Okay, we just talk about SGA, man, 'cause he just on the tear. You know, this in no particular order, I got—

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Is this order? It's a particular order.

Oh wow, this, okay, this is my particular, okay.

This is how I announced it. MVP, like this is it.

Number one.

What do you mean ain't no particular order?

SGA, front runner candidate. Number 2, Joker, just because. And shit.

What else can you say?

You know what I mean? Number 3, Tatum, which is kind of like a 2 because Joker done won so many. Tatum have an MVP year, Boston, you know, just kind of like making that run. But the way he closing out games is like really on some like, superstar MVP level type shit. Giannis.

Become the big dog type stuff.

Yeah, Giannis with just like, it was because of he decided that he's going to turn the Minnesota, Milwaukee Bucks around, right? And like Giannis is back to Giannisin, you know what I mean?

Yeah.

And doing what he do. And then number 5 for me is, I would say a sleeper in this whole thing is James Harden. Look at what the Clippers have done up until this point in the season. You know what I mean? The Beard is back and I would say back better than ever. Taking that 2 years in Philadelphia as a playmaker with Embiid and allowed him to like now figure out, okay, now I know how to redefine. He redefined his system and now it's working for the Clippers and you know, he's just still one of the toughest dudes to guard. Yeah. You know, in that pick and roll or ISO.

I am a system. And I am Draymond Green. And he is Baron Davis. And that is a wrap on this episode of the Draymond Green Show with my dog BD.

We out.

Peace.