Klay Thompson recalls a workout with Knicks GM Donnie Walsh, who compared him to Reggie Miller and made him believe he'd be drafted there. Mark Jackson's early confidence in the Warriors' shooters and his freedom to let them shoot shaped the team's identity and the modern NBA's emphasis on three-point shooting.
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Welcome to the brand new Draymond Green Show YouTube channel. Hit subscribe so you don't miss out on any of our content. Mark Jackson said very early on, I'll never forget it 'cause I remember everybody saying like, yo, he's crazy, what is he talking about? Blah, blah, blah. He said very early on a couple things. He said, I got the two baddest shooters on the planet. I got the baddest backcourt in the game. "Best backcourt ever." And when he said that early on, everybody's like, "Ah, what's wrong with him? What is he talking about? What does he see?" And yet you guys go on to completely change the way the game of basketball is played. Like completely. But at that time when Mark Jackson goes on live television, national television to say that. What did that do for you or what did it do to you? How did you feel about it?
Well, I knew Steph was in that realm. At the time, I did not know if I was there yet. I knew I could be. What's funny is when I was really active on Twitter back then, I put my bio, even before I ever played an NBA game, I put I'm chasing Ray Allen as far as trying to break that record or whatever, right?
Yeah.
So to kind of follow that mold of being a Ray Allen, Reggie Miller type player, and then for Mark to say those things and him not even budge about it when, you know, the experts and analysts were dogging him for it gave me so much confidence. And Mark isn't just gonna gas you up like that. He's seen the best ever play. He's played against the best ever play. So when someone like Mark Jackson says that, it did so much for me, especially internally. And I'll never forget another time when— This is why I knew I had another chance to, be special or do some cool things was Donnie Walsh for the Knicks. I worked out for the Knicks and I had a good workout. I was like 22 of 25 in spot shooting. And then Donnie comes up to me and he's like, Klay, you remind me so much of Reggie Miller. And when he said that, I was like, man, that's really cool because I watched so much of Reggie's film of him just coming off floppy action, pin downs, his game-winning highlight reel shots. So those two instances, as far as just giving me confidence from Mark to Donnie Walsh, I knew if I kept working that despite what the naysayers say, I would be able to do some really cool things in this league.
What do you think about, like, and knowing, speaking of that, the confidence that Mark Jackson, Coach Mark Jackson instilled in you, And I always speak about that. Like, I think back to those days and like, if there was one thing that he did is he, like, Mark would put confidence on a plate and just hand it to you.
Yeah.
Like, he, that's what he did. Like, he could give you confidence. Like, I think that was one of his strong suits. And then you look, he was a point guard. It's in a sense of what point guards do. They make you feel good. They get you the ball in your spots and all those things. And Mark had that ability as good as anyone I've ever seen. I think he was absolutely special in that department. And saying that, when you look at all of these teams around the NBA, young teams in particular like we were, when Mark instilled that confidence, Coach Jackson I call him, but we're speaking on here.
Mm-hmm.
And Mark instilling the confidence that he did, and you look at all of these young teams around, NBA who can't get a win, suck year in and year out. And knowing and understanding the confidence that he gave us at that point when the Warriors is coming off winning 23 games in the season, what do you make of none of those teams hiring him knowing what he did for us at that point in our careers?
Yeah, it's strange. It's, uh, it just doesn't add up because without Mark, there's no foundation for what was to come, especially defensively. I mean, we had the top-rated defense in consecutive years with Mark, and then for him to, you know, let Steph and I shoot the shots we would shoot, um, that was kind of taboo back then. But now I'm watching all levels of basketball and you're seeing dribble packages, step-backs, transition threes. You're seeing crazy pulls from all levels, which is great. It's the evolution of the game. But if it wasn't for Mark, this would never have happened. So it does, it, it does not make very much sense how he has not had another shot to lead a franchise. But I hope he really does because he, man, he was great. And those were really special memories for not only me, but when we, when you were young and Steph and—
Yeah.
All the guys we play with, Kent, freaking HB, Festus, we were a young team. And without that kind of false bravado that Mark provided, we would've never believed we could beat a Tim Duncan-led Spurs or go to Denver and win a playoff series being 23 years old, 22.
20.
Yeah, some young 20-year-olds. So I'm, Don't know why that hasn't happened, but Mark was great, and I really think he get— should get another shot because he was such a joy to play for, and he was such an incredible motivator. And I just love picking his brain about the times he faced Michael, or what was it like running a pick-and-roll with Patrick Ewing. And because I grew up playing NBA Jam and watching so much hoops, so it was really cool just to, you know, learn from him.
Absolutely. And I second that. I always talk about just the confidence that he instilled in us. Especially you two guys, like you said, the shots that he allowed y'all to take and like it started the transition in basketball of what we see today.
No question.
And then take you far back again. I remember Steve first coming in and Steve is implementing his offense and we're going through training camp and he's like, "Klay, swing the ball. Steph, swing the ball. Move the ball." And like every time we come down the court, he's just like, "Move it, move it, move it." And I remember asking him, "Yo, Steph and Klay, like they get the shots here." All right, the NBA season is in full swing.
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