Is Nico Harrison to Blame For Mavericks Failure? + Detroit Pistons Basketball & A Big Warriors Week

What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show.

Excited to have you all back. We appreciate you coming back and checking out the show.

Hope you're enjoying it. On today's show, I'll get into our weekend without Steph, which sucks.

We'll look ahead to a really important week for us as a team as we are going on the road. We are starting a 6-game road trip in Oklahoma City where I am right now tomorrow. With a back-to-back on Wednesday in San Antonio with an NBA Cup game in San Antonio again on Friday. So just looking ahead to an important week, we will get into that.

And then I'll also go around the league, give my thoughts on the red-hot Detroit Pistons before another edition of Red Light, Green Light.

Let's get into it. You know, when you have a couple games like we had, I don't I don't think there's real concern, but you do, you know, you'd be making a mistake if you're not going back to the drawing board and like taking a look at everything that you're doing. Although Steph was out, I just don't think we looked very good as a team, as connected as we needed to be on both sides of the ball, had the same fire that we need to have. Looked a little lost, which again, without Steph, that's some of that's gonna happen. But then also some of the stuff on the defensive side of the ball, whether Steph is out there or not, shouldn't be happening.

You know, and so you definitely have to take a look.

I don't think there's any real concern. Like we know we're gonna be a damn good basketball team. And the interesting thing about the NBA is one week you're feeling good, the next week everything's crashing and burning. And that's just the nature of the sport that we play. You know, the business that we're in. So no real concern, but definitely, you know, identifying what we're doing well, what we're not, what we need to do more of, what we need to do less of. And then more importantly, I think building identity, you know, that's something that we've been talking about.

It's like, who are we as a team?

You know, we—

every night when we go out there, what is one thing for certain that this is our identity, you're getting this for sure. And I don't think we've necessarily figured that out yet. And so, you know, I think that's important in coming out of this also is that we understand we're building the identity and what that identity is going to be is up to us. There are several different identities that team have, that teams have.

Mm-hmm.

And I think for us, We have to figure out, and we have to figure out fast, and we will figure out fast, what that identity will be for us.

And I think the one thing that it has to be is you have to be a defensive team. You have to be a team that defends if you wanna compete at a high level in this league. We have not been defending at a high level over the course of 48. We've had spurts of where we're putting it together at a high level, and certain groups that's putting it together at a high level, But we have not done that consistently for that to be our identity, and that needs to be a part of any team's identity, as I said, if you're gonna compete for a championship.

So, that's kinda where we are. And I think this is an important week. It's a great test.

Obviously, OKC, the defending champs, coming into their house, they're gonna be ready to go. It's a great ball club. San Antonio is playing incredible basketball. We gotta go to them 2 games in a row. They're feeling good.

You know, so, Very important week, and then obviously ending the week off in New Orleans versus the Pelicans. So, you know, we've talked about winning the week.

This is an important week for us to win, and if you win this week, you gain some ground, you know, and you gain confidence.

And so very big week for us that we're looking ahead to.

Playing OKC is obviously always tough.

Obviously defending champs, they're the defending champs for a reason, and they're hungry still. You know, they're missing J Dub and they're playing like this.

Caruso has been in and outta lineup and they're playing great basketball. They've done an incredible job of building this thing up.

And they got a standard that they've set for themselves that they abide by and they live up to their standard every single night. They're not coming in the games beating themselves. You have to beat them.

As I said before, it reminds me, not the style offense, but the way you have to win, it reminds me a lot of the old San Antonio Spurs. They were just never gonna beat themselves. You were going to have to beat them.

And that's this OKC team. Shai's having another MVP-like year. You know, gotta try to defend him without fouling.

We know how tough of an assignment that is. And I think for us, it has to be understanding that Shai is not a one-person assignment. Shai is a full team assignment. And that has to be the mindset for us going into this game. You know, if you're not on the string defensively, you're gonna get ate up. Uh, these guys are great one-on-one players and they have a great offense that they run. And so, um, that's where we are as a team and looking ahead to this OKC game, which I think is a very important game for us for morale, for where you are, for most importantly, just continuing to win, uh, getting back on the winning track.

After the break, I'll talk some Detroit basketball, the Fire Niko noise. Jalen Brown and the Celtics, and my take on how the West is looking.

Back after this.

As promised, now we move around the association. We got some Detroit basketball first. We will get into that.

As you all know, if I'm not cheering, and obviously not cheering, but playing, and you know, as myself, a Golden State Warrior, I'm rooting for the Detroit Pistons.

That's the crib. Always wanna see the Pistons do well. It's very near and dear to me in my experience growing up.

Jordan Dumars granted me the access that they granted me to be around Detroit Piston basketball and what that did for my life.

So I'm always rooting for the Pistons. And this year they are looking incredible. They are. They are off to a 9-2 start and they won in OT last night. They look good. Cade Cunningham is looking like an MVP candidate. Jalen Dern said, y'all didn't pay me, I'm coming to get every penny that I'm asking for.

He playing some grown man basketball.

Isaiah Stewart is being Stewie.

He's knocking down the 3. I saw he hit a big 3 the other night. You know, Caris LeVert is now there, a big addition for them. Duncan Robinson is now there, a big addition for them. Asar Thompson taking another step. Detroit Pistons is looking really good.

Albeit, albeit they haven't had a tough schedule. I know that's the first thing everybody gonna say is, "Oh man, their schedule hasn't been that tough." Well, there's a couple ways of looking at that. Number one, it's the NBA.

You gotta win the games regardless. The schedule not being tough, that's nonsense. Every game is hard.

But number 2, they're getting in season mode. They're learning themselves. They're getting their confidence. They're learning how to win close games. So when you play against the stiffer competition, you feel like you've been there before. And there may be some adjustments you have to make that a veteran team or championship team like OKC or ourselves who won championship, there may be some adjustments that you have to make in those games and that some things that you still have to learn. But this is also a team that's been to the playoffs. Like, and when you come outta the playoffs, when you come out of a series, remember the Detroit Pistons should have beat the New York Knicks last year. And when you come out of a series knowing everything that you did wrong to win, that next step, you're coming in that next year, you're saying around amongst each other, yo, we're ready to take this next step. We know we did X, Y, and Z wrong. And if we can correct those things, we're in the Eastern Conference Finals. We're giving ourselves a chance. And so they're coming out with that type of energy and that type of attitude and they look great. They look incredible. Anytime you're gonna compete for a championship, guess what you must have? You must have an MVP candidate. Kade Cunningham is definitely that right now. You usually have a second All-Star. Jalen Duren is showing that he gonna be that this year. You usually have a great defender. All-Star time is— Laying his, he's putting his fork in the ground. You must have a good bench. Caris LeVert coming off that bench scoring. You must have some shooting. So when you start to look at the team, you like, yeah, the schedule is what it is, but these boys coming. And like I said, you losing in the playoffs, I know what that's like. You lose a series you thought you should have won, could have won. But a team was more veteran than you. Look at when we lost to the Spurs. You know, when we lost to the Clippers, you like, "All right, we taking that next step." And that's what Detroit looked like to me. So it's beautiful to watch, man.

And regardless of what the schedule been, the Pistons are taking that next step. And I'm looking forward to watching it all year.

Next up, we will talk Niko.

As you all know, Nico has been under constant fire. Nico Harrison, that is the Dallas Mavericks general manager, has been under constant fire with the teams getting off to a bad start. And everybody's yelling, "Oh man, fire Nico." And there are stories coming out now that Nico and the owner is no longer on good terms, and XYZ, it's only a matter of when, not a matter of, If.

We're starting to hear all these things.

And you know, when stuff is going wrong, everybody's quick to jump and try to pounce on it. And that's just what people do in this business.

Quite honestly, the team that Niko has placed his bet on, and I say that no pun intended, but the team that he's constructed to go win a championship hasn't been on the court. Nobody assumed Kyrie Irving would tear his ACL. AD started off with the eye, he's had the injury as of late. You know, the team hasn't really been out there. You know, and so I find it crazy that everybody's just gonna act like Kyrie Irving is this easily replaceable guy. That him not being out there does not matter. Do you see the Indiana Pacers without Tyrese Halliburton? They look like a completely different team. And we're gonna act like Kyrie Irving not being out there while he recovered from an ACL tear, that this team is just supposed to come out and look great. Yes, they got the number 1 pick.

Guess what teams that get the number 1 pick usually look like the next year?

Bad. Trash. 'Cause guess what? You're gonna play that number 1 pick. And albeit, although they may have a ton of potential, man, they gotta learn the NBA game. And that takes time, mistakes.

But you have to play 'em for them to get the time under their belt. They mess up on defensive rotations. They don't quite understand the concept of the offense.

They don't quite understand what the defense is trying to do to them while they're on offense. Like, it takes time. Klay Thompson is having a bad year. You think that's not due to not having the point guard out there? Not saying it's all on not having a point guard out there, but having a great point guard out there makes a huge difference. The setups that you're getting, the open looks that you're getting because they draw more attention. All of that stuff is a domino effect. PJ Washington shooting well below what he's been shooting from 3. You think that's not a byproduct of that? So I find it weird that everybody's just like, Luka's playing great. Everybody was shitting on Luka last year. Now Luka's playing great and everybody want to take that opportunity to shit on Nico because Dallas is playing bad. But it's not apples to apples. The team that he constructed to be out there isn't out there. And I know what everybody's gonna say, "Oh man, their injury history, you knew, you had to wonder that or think that that was gonna happen." Well, AD for better part of the last 2 years has been extremely healthy before getting to Dallas. So remember AD came into the league at 18, 19 years old. So then you take it upon yourself to be like, oh, what most people would think, man, this guy's been around LeBron James who takes incredible care of his body. He's learned so much.

He's now healthy often.

He's not the guy that's always hurt. Kyrie Irving, since being in Dallas, has been pretty healthy. So miss me with the injury history stuff and going back 10 years and guys has been healthy the last 2 or 3 years.

I don't buy that.

But to try to pounce on Niko and make like, "Oh man, they're off to a bad start in 10 games." Number one, coaching has something to do with that. Not saying J-Kidd is not doing a great job, but I'm saying like, you can't just, y'all just wanna go point the finger at Niko because that was a storyline.

Now let's make that a storyline again. That shit is whack to me.

The team that he put out there. So next year, they come back, that full team that Niko intended to be out there and they have success, then what? Then what? You can't tell me they don't have good players. Everybody, you know, everybody's always talking about, oh man, wonder what's gonna happen with Daniel Gafford. We wanna see the trademark of it. Like they have great pieces. So let's see it all together before we just yell fire Niko. Let's see it all together. Let's see if it actually works. Because if it work next year, what y'all gonna say? Oh man, but Cooper, Cooper Flagg got a year older. Not the team that he put together. So let him see it through before we just yell fire Niko. Let him see it through. Then you make your decision. But let him see it through because again, let's not forget. Yeah.

No general manager is trading Luka Dončić without the owner's approval and without the owner's belief.

So let's not forget that. We can run the scapegoat play, cool, go ahead. I understand what you're doing. I understand that. So we can run the scapegoat play, cool. Or, and I'm not blaming Patrick Dumont of that, But I think that's what everybody else is trying to get him to do. Yes, the Dallas Mavericks did it, you know, they just had their first game not selling out since 2001.

I understand all of that.

But Rome wasn't built in a day. I saw Dirk say, "Oh man, I feel bad for Dallas Mavericks fans, the Mavs fans." Yeah, cool. But what happens if you win with those same guys that Nico believed in? Then do you feel great for those fans? I get it. But I think the noise is, it's a recycled story that people was hoping would happen.

And unfortunately, they've been caught by the injury bug and it's not going great. But the team that he built is not out there. So let him see it through.

And speaking of the Mavs, great segue is, you know, has the West been what we all thought the West would be? And I would say from a record standpoint, you kind of have to think so because in the beginning of the season, all West teams are playing against a lot of West teams. And so the records are kind of all over the place.

I think as this season plays out, we'll see those records take shape of what we kind of think. But they're all over the place right now. Yeah. Spurs have been a great surprise.

Not necessarily surprise, but they've been great. We've struggled a bit, the Clippers have struggled a bit, the Lakers have been great. You know, OKC's obviously been great, Houston's been really good.

You know, so I think the West is exactly what we thought it would be. It hasn't quite played out the way we're thinking, but I think it is exactly that.

And when you're in a tough conference, teams are gonna lose to each other. Portland has been really good.

Portland's been really, really good.

Took a tough loss to Orlando, but been really good.

Cross-country flight, first game is always tough. They've been really good.

So I think the West is exactly what we thought it's gonna be. It's not gonna be an easy conference.

It's gonna take some time to play itself out. But yeah, it's a reason everybody losing each other. It's a very tough conference. I think— We'll continue to see that as this season goes on.

And lastly, around the association, Jalen Brown and thoughts without Tatum.

Does Jalen Brown have much to prove?

What I would say about that is Jalen Brown is Jalen Brown. If you're Jalen Brown, of course you wanna prove that like, yo, I can do this too.

I can be the number one option.

We could be a great team. I would say, I think it's unfortunate for people to try to judge if Jalen Brown can be the number one option right now because quite frankly, Jalen Brown doesn't quite have a championship-built roster around him. You know, I think when you look at them, they kind of wanted to reset the tax a little bit this year and then swing again once JT's back healthy.

Not that Jalen Brown can't do it, but let's give yourself the best shot. And I don't think anybody thinks the best shot is with Jason Tatum out for the season. Mm-hmm. I don't think anyone thinks that.

So in turn, with the new salary cap that I've talked to y'all about, that is garbage, or not salary cap, CBA, garbage.

I think with that, you have to take that into account and you gotta play by the rules.

So what a better time to use those rules in your favor and get under the tax so you can swing again for another 2 or 3 years once Jason is back healthy.

So—

Yeah. Does Jaylen have something to prove as a competitor where he is in his, his career? Yes, I'm sure he thinks so.

But what I will say for people that's gonna try to criticize him if he's failing is he doesn't quite have a roster that they will be building to win a championship.

And he's also missing a player that makes $65 million a year.

That makes a difference. That's not quite a fair assessment. Nonetheless, I think Jaylen Brown is having an incredible year.

Mm-hmm.

And I expect that to continue.

That's it around the association. Now we will get into our little game, Red Light, Green Light. We've done this one before, but as a reminder, it's called Red Light, Green Light. Our producer Greg will read out a headline or an opinion, and I'll give a green light, red light, or a yellow light.

If I have mixed feelings, I'll give a yellow light.

Let's do it.

All right, Draymond Green, first one. Joel Embiid saying Trenton Watford triple-double reminded him of Ben Simmons.

I'm gonna say red light.

I've played against Trenton Watford.

He's a really good player. I don't think anything about him reminds you much of Ben Simmons. However, Joel's a troll and I feel like that was his way of trolling a bit, but I'm gonna give that a red light.

All right, next one. Darren Peterson is the best player in college basketball and will be the number one pick of the draft.

Darren Peterson is an incredible player. Is he the absolute best player in college basketball? I think, listen, with his polish and his ability, his shooting ability, scoring ability, I think is great. But right now, currently, I'm going to take AJ Dabansa. And the dark horse, Caleb Wilson.

That's a yellow light, yellow light.

It's not a red light 'cause Darren Peterson is special. So I'm not gonna red light like that's just bullshit. It's not bullshit. I just, AJ Dubonca is like, I think, man, that's who I'm going with currently. And like I said, Caleb Wilson is special and underrated.

Who do you think Dubonca's player comp is right now in the league?

AJ Dubonca's player comp in the league right now It would be, I think it's interesting because he gets downhill like Ant-Man. Like the way he attacks the basket is like Ant-Man, but he's 6'10".

And I just don't, like, you wanna say Paul George, but he don't have the smooth, the handle that, he got good handle, but he don't have the handle that Paul George has. And he's way more powerful like downhill.

So I don't know, man. It's interesting. He's like a mixture of guys, you know, he could be a generational talent.

Might be a true one-on-one. All right, next one, the NBA Cup.

The NBA Cup is a yellow light. It's, you know, it's great. It brings some excitement to the games, but I think ultimately What I've heard from guys that's won it is, and it gets a bit tiresome, like it takes a toll on you in the regular season. So yellow light because it's great with all of the hype that it brings, but also yellow light because it takes a big, a much larger toll on you than you realize.

The next one, Brandon Ingram slamming that water bottle.

Brandon Ingram slamming that water bottle, yeah. A red light. It cost him $25,000. He hit this guy in the face. I know he felt bad about it. Got all over Scottie Barnes. It's a red light. But hate to see anybody get fined. Shout out to Beato.

Last one. The Sixers Iverson black jerseys are the coolest throwback jerseys in the league.

The Sixers Iverson black jerseys are the coolest throwback jerseys in the league because it makes you think of Allen Iverson.

The jersey isn't that special to where you're like, "Oh, it's the absolute best." They are fire, don't get me wrong. Nice looking jerseys, of course. But more importantly, you immediately think of Allen Iverson, which we all wanna do. AI, AI's one of the GOATs. Of course.

That's a wrap on this edition of "Red Light and Green Light." And that is also a wrap from this episode of "The Draymond Green Show." I thank you all again for tuning in to "The Draymond Green Show." We've got another huge show episode coming up this week. Gotta reset and lock back in. I'll see you guys on Friday.

Deuces.

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