In this episode of the Draymond Green Show, host Draymond Green and guest Isiah Thomas discuss the all‑time great point guard debate. Thomas argues that the conversation should be a debate because it engages fans, and he defines the point guard role as the player who brings the ball up, initiates the offense, and sets the defense. He ranks Magic Johnson as the best point guard, Oscar Robertson second, and places himself among the elite, noting his unique achievement of leading his team in both scoring and assists during back‑to‑back championships—a feat he claims no other point guard has matched. Thomas acknowledges Steph Curry’s unprecedented shooting ability, describing him as a different category of player who excels at catching and shooting rather than traditional point‑guard duties. The dialogue shifts to the Warriors’ offensive system, with Draymond recalling the transition from Mark Jackson’s era—where Curry handled the ball more—to Steve Kerr’s philosophy of “swing the ball,” emphasizing ball movement, read‑and‑react, and collective scoring. Thomas links Kerr’s approach to the teachings of his former college coach Bob Knight, suggesting that the Warriors’ motion offense is an evolution of Knight’s principles. Throughout, the conversation blends historical comparisons, personal anecdotes, and analysis of how offensive philosophies shape the definition of a point guard. A brief DraftKings ad read appears mid‑episode but is peripheral to the core discussion.
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What's up everybody? Welcome to the Draymond Green Show YouTube channel. Make sure you hit that subscribe button. Make sure you like the post that you love, but you can get everything the Draymond Green Show right on our YouTube channel. So make sure you subscribe, check that out. Thank you. And speaking of Steph, how do you look at the, how do you look at the all-time great point guard conversation? Like obviously you're right up there, obviously Steph's right up there, obviously Magic's right up there, but how do you look at that debate? Or do you even think like those should be debates?
They should be debates because they're good for basketball and it's good for, you know, we always want the general public to be interested in what we're doing, good or bad. Absolutely.
Absolutely.
So when you, When you define the position of point guard, you know, this is an era where they say we are positionalists. But then you want to say, okay, well, he's a point guard, he's not a point guard. So let me just tell you what the way I think about point guards. And the Golden State Warriors, You are the point guard. You have more assists than Steph. You bring the ball up. You initiate the offense. You set the defense. You run the show. Steph comes off screens, he catches, and he shoots. And he's one of the greatest shooters ever. And what he's been able to do for this generation of play And the way he's won with it, key word, the way he's won with it has been different than anybody else has ever tried to do it. I won a different way. As a point guard, I led my team, and I may be the only one who's done this as a point guard, where I've led my team in scoring and assists to back-to-back championships. Wow. I don't think Magic led his team in scoring and assists in back-to-back championships. He may have led them in assists. He may have led them in scoring. I'm the only one that's done it in both categories. Now, what Steph— when I look at Steph, I look at Steph, when he talks about the people that he's emulated, he talks about Reggie Miller. He talks about Ray Allen. Mm-hmm. He talks about, you know, guys coming off catching and shooting. And he by far has taken it to another level. But when you talk about the point guard position, the way I was taught and the way I think of it, not today's point guard, but I would say that the Michigan State point guards, right? So Eric Snowhead, Allen Iverson, Right? Allen Iverson was not the point guard. Eric Snow was the point guard. They never want to give Eric Snow the credit for being the point guard, but that's who ran the team.
Mm-hmm.
For the Golden State Warriors, you're the point guard, and that's okay. Now, what Steph is, Steph is— Steph has been able to do something at his size that no other player has ever been able to do. So he really does have his kind of own category, just like I think I have my category. But if you wanna say who's the best point guards between us, it all depends on what era you wanna put us in.
Mm-hmm.
Now, I think Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson, because of their size, they always have an advantage over me and Steph. In a real basketball game, right? And Magic could score, he could run the show, and he, to me, he's the best to ever do it. Second best is Oscar Robertson. And I would say, in terms of the way I had to do it in my era, the little guys, don't nobody compete with me.
Mm-hmm.
But I would also say with Steph Curry, the way he has done it, nobody could compete with him. Allen Iverson was the closest small guy to come to doing it the way Steph is doing it, you know, but he, he by far is in a different category. So point guard, shooting guard, whatever you want to call him, you know, the— Draymond Green. The assist number for the point guard is always what we were like, okay, can you do this? That's what really what you were judged on. We weren't judged on how many points we scored. We were judged on how can you help your teammates score?
I can appreciate that answer 'cause I was gonna sit here and argue with you about my point guard, But then you said he's in a whole different category and how he goes about things. So I can accept that. But I also do think like when we were playing for Mark Jackson, Steph had the ball more, he led the team in assists and all of that. Once Steve came in, it's not quite the offense, you know, like the offense is all, you know, swing the basketball, move the ball to the next guy. Ultimately, I remember when Steve first was implementing his offense, we like, man, "Like you keep telling us to swing the ball. You keep telling Steph to pass the ball, then pin down. Like Steph's supposed to get these shots, man." And I remember Steve telling us like, "You guys are looking at me like I'm crazy because I keep telling this guy to swing it and Klay to swing it and they should be pinning in too." He said, "But I'll tell y'all, the shots are going to find the guys that they're supposed to find. I can promise you that. You just gotta trust it." If you trust it, I promise you the shots will find the guys that they supposed to find. And so I do think, you know, like the way our offense run and me having the ball a lot and initiating some of the offense, I do think, you know, that is also kind of a product of our system as well. You know, where Steph isn't gonna dominate the ball. You know, he's not gonna have the ball all the time, making play after play after play. 'Cause it's just not like, If Steph did do that, Steve would lose his mind. Like Steve would go ape shit if Steph just sat there and like was trying to make every play. Like he just had a, we were playing the Knicks the other day and I was trying to wave Moses through to get Steph coming off the pin down. He pulled me to the side. He's like, yo, just swing it to Moses. Like stop trying to get the ball to Steph. Like it'll find Steph. You gotta swing that ball to Moses. And I'm like, all right, cool, I got you. But like, I think Steve would lose his mind if Steph was trying to lead the, you know, if he was putting himself in a position to lead the team in assists or do it that way. I don't think it would necessarily work for the way Steve wants us to play either, you know?
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Yeah, so let, now I'm gonna give you a history lesson, okay? The offense that you run, I played for the guy who invented it. His name was Bob Knight.
Oh, absolutely.
And I won, yes, I won championships at Indiana University as a student under Bob Knight. When I got into the NBA, I had never ran a pick and roll in my life. I had never ran a pick and roll in my life. I played passing game in high school, I played passing game in college. When I got to the NBA, they gave me a playbook and told me I had to remember the plays. I'm like, what? Play 72, play 32 down, 52 up, 7 out. What the hell is this?
Mm-hmm.
So what you describing in terms of your style of play and Steve Kerr's basketball philosophy, that passing game, read and react, move the basketball, set screens, that comes from Coach Knight's philosophy on how offensive basketball should be played. And by the way, your team is very successful with it and have been successful with it. And that's what makes Steph Curry such an anomaly because he, you guys don't really have a point guard. You don't have traditional 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 man. You don't post up, you know, and put it in the boat. You move, read, react, back cut, dribble, hand off. You force the defense to play every single action.
Mm-hmm, absolutely.
And if that defense isn't on a string, it only takes one man to break, right? And if that defense isn't on a string and they don't understand how to defend down screens, cross screens, flare screens, dribble handoff, you know, split cuts, If they don't understand how, and they not tight enough to defend all that, then guess what? You gonna get a layup.
