Draymond Green and Stephen A. Smith discuss balancing an active NBA career with media work. Green credits a moment when Nikola Jokić thanked him for on-air criticism as proof that honest analysis builds credibility. They contrast player-driven "new media" with traditional punditry, emphasizing selective honesty over personal attacks.
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When I started this podcast last year, and you know, maybe a little different because I was doing it after game, but I caught a lot of heat for actively doing a podcast and providing the content that I was providing during the playoffs, during the finals. I caught a lot of heat for it. When you first started doing that, did you catch a lot of heat? And I know it was different, but it wasn't social media and all of that stuff. But did you catch heat for that when you first started doing it?
Absolutely. Because as you know, in order to be colorful and/or good at this job, that mean you gotta say something. There's a lot of people that's vanilla and don't say nothing. But you and I are strong-willed, strong opinion, and we ain't scared to stand on it. And what ends up happening is while you still playing, I'm still running into these players, into these coaches, into the managers, into the agents and the fans also. And so guys used to sometimes take it personal. Oh man, how you gonna call me out like that or whatever? I'm like, dog, you had 6 points and 8 turnovers. Like, what you expect me to say? You know what I'm saying?
Like— Absolutely.
And what ends up happening is people start to earn your res— you start to earn the respect of the players and of the coaches and of everybody. When they know when you speak, not only are you knowledgeable, but it ain't personal. Like, I ain't got nothing personal against you. I'm just saying what I see, giving my opinion. When you do poor, I'm gonna say it. When you do great, I'm gonna big you up. And I know you notice this quick. You can big up people all day and they never shout you. They never say thank you. They never give love. But soon as you criticize them or call them out for some BS that they did, Then they wanna at you, then they wanna get butt hurt. And so that's when I learned at that time, I'm gonna just stay authentic, be authentic to myself. And when I started to do that, I started to see me get results.
You know, one of the things that I wanted to do, especially that I'm actively playing is, I felt like I needed to find a balance of like, authenticity and telling the truth and being very critical, but doing it in a way where, like, I still gotta play these guys. I still have to play possibly with some of these guys.
Right.
And I felt like that was one of the biggest things that I, adjustments that I had to make in going into TV right now. And I've spoke about this before. One instant that made me really happy because it was actually my first time doing TNT. I was doing the segment on, and we were doing the Denver Nuggets game. They were in the playoffs, it was during the bubble. And Joker.
Mm.
And I pointed out his defense, that he's the low man, he's the back, he's the center. He has to be everybody eyes. He has to be the communication. He has to cover up everybody mistakes if somebody breaks down the defense. And he was missing his rotations. And so I pointed it out on TV. And I tried to do it in a way of like not bashing him, but letting the world know like this is an issue. And when I saw him the following year, he said to me, he said, "Hey, I saw your comments about my defense. I've gotten better and I appreciate it." Mm. It gave me so much confidence in TV, like in doing TV. Like, oh, so I can do it.
Yes.
It gave me so much confidence. That was a very huge moment for me.
That is huge. Very huge moment. That is huge. But here's what you also know, and you know this balance. Anytime you see a player doing this job, we only really saying like 40% of what we really know.
Facts.
You know, like we know everything. So it's like if I'm on TV and I'm talking about somebody had a bad game, I know where they was at last night. I know who they was with. I know what time they got out. As a matter of fact, I probably was with them. You see what I'm saying?
That's funny.
So now when I'm on TV, if I'm speaking on what happened in the game, they know it ain't personal, but they know I ain't saying everything that I could say. And that's what the Joker felt about you. He saw you breaking it down and giving knowledge, but it wasn't like you was trying to clown him or disrespect him. And so that to me is when I started to draw the line because I don't like media members that name call. And so I remember when I was making my bones and I was doing First Take and I was doing the show with Skip Bayless, I used to sit back and take notes and it's a debate show. So I'm like, wait a minute, he calling— Yeah. Chris Bosh Spice? Like, like, like, like, this is really happening? Like, that bugged me out, you know what I'm saying? And so I'm like, all right, I'm gonna have to have some material ready for this dude because if he come at me like that, I got the jab, I got the headshot, I got the body blow, I got whatever he gonna need because I don't like the name calling. I think that went too far. Yeah. Like I seen him do this recently with Dak Prescott when he had just lost a family member, I believe, and he was dealing with some issues and homie was like basically saying, I don't care about his mental wellness.
Yeah.
And so those are the examples for me that give us a different level of credibility that can never be matched because we can be authentic and say a portion of what we know without saying too much, but yet know what not to say to make it personal.
And speaking of that, I always talk about this term new media and old media. And quite frankly, people has always assumed that when I say new media, I'm talking about basketball players, current players, or like it's this actual thing of new media. And the reality is, When I speak of new media, I'd be speaking of a way of going about the job. Because I think the way people used to go about the job and the way people go about it today, it's totally different. And so I speak of new media and I always say like, it's truth telling. It's being upfront and honest. You know, it's actually analyzing the game and not just going with this stat sheet and saying, oh man, this guy played bad because he missed shots. Like, no. Yeah. He could have played an incredible game and missed those shots. You know? And so when I speak about new media, but there's also this new way of doing things. And then there are the Skip Baylesses of the world that are old media. Like it's tired. It's all of that.
Right.
What do you make of new media and also, but player-driven media as opposed to the old-fashioned way of media and kind of how we're seeing a change of the guard, not in a sense, because there's still a space for that. But there's a space for both. What do you make of that whole thing?
The thing I make of it, first off, is I love the term. And it reminded me, like, this is my 20th year covering the Finals, right?
That's right.
And so what ends up happening is when you come onto the scene and you say the term new media, it reminded me of like an old school rapper for example, or somebody that been out for a while and then somebody else come into the game and people try to put us against each other. I saw that happen when LeBron started his school. And if I'll be on TV and I'm like, yo, LeBron did this, they lost the game or whatever, whatever. People be like, oh, he just jealous because LeBron started a school. I'm like—
What?
Like, I want all people to, to give back to their community and start a school. I'm not quote unquote jealous because his school got more hype. Like he's one of the most famous people to ever walk the earth. Like I'm happy that he did it because now it hot. It's almost like this. Michael Jackson wasn't the first person to do the moonwalk. He popularized it. And that's what LeBron now can do for people like me when he starts a school. Mm-hmm. It's the same thing when you say new media. People's coming to me like, "What Draymond talking about? You was doing that 20 years ago." I'm like, first off, that's family. We ain't even doing that. Second off, he's right. And what you're talking about is the ability, A, to articulate the game and be unapologetic. See, at first when we got into this gig, kind of had to walk on eggshells. There was times where, fam, I stopped wearing earrings. Because they was frowned upon. I always wore long sleeves because tattoos wasn't necessarily welcome. I wore my hair a certain way. I always wore a tie and a blazer because the game was different then. Now, for me, new media is saying what you feel, dressing how you feel, driving how you want to whip, and then having a way to articulate yourself that you're speaking the language of the people that you play with. See, when you see me, I'm rocking what y'all rocking.
Absolutely.
I'm listening to the music that y'all listening to. And so for me, it's up to the guys that's been doing it a long time to stay current.
Facts.
Not the other way around.
Facts.
And so when I saw CJ get eliminated with Portland and he was covering y'all, I pulled Nephew to the side. We got numbers, we exchanged. I remember when he got drafted, I said that he was gonna be that. Same with JJ Redick, same whatever. And so the more of us that get into it and the more we support one another, that now changes the entire narrative when we're all pulling together and we're all saying it.
What's up everybody? It's Draymond Green. Make sure you subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel below so you don't miss any more of this great content going forward.
