Knicks in trouble vs. 76ers, LeBron & Lakers future, Nuggets are vulnerable | Draymond Green

Welcome to the brand new Draymond Green Show YouTube channel. Hit subscribe so you don't miss out on any of our content. What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. We got this first round wrapping up. Some games that we thought would wrap, or series would wrap, others that did, and we will get into that. I am excited about these games. We got a couple games going 6, which is, I think exciting because we had a couple sweeps in the first round. No one except the people providing the sweep ever really enjoys those. Been on the good side of those and they are fun. You get a nice little break, get the reset, you know, and in the playoffs you'll take that rest. So we'll talk about those. However, we are back live on Bleacher Report. So shout out to all of you. Yeah.— that are tuning in and listening to this, please make sure you drop your questions in the chat box so we can get to those before we get out of here. And then also, for those of you out there, make sure if you have not, you subscribe to the YouTube channel, youtube.com/@DraymondGreenShow. Tap into that, lock in, subscribe. We appreciate you. We love you. Let's get into it. 76ers versus the Knicks.

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112-106 in overtime. And I actually rewatched this game last night and I was, you know, my wife had asked me, she was like, who won this game? And at that time it was 97 to 92 with maybe like a minute and some change left for, and she was like, let me guess, let me guess. And she went through it. And she's like, "Did Philly win?" And I'm like, "Yeah, they actually did." And so we're watching it. And when you see some of those shots down the stretch that the Knicks hit, you like, "Oh, it's over right there." Right? Like, and so, you know, we're watching it and she's like, "Well, I'm just trying to see where the game changed. Like how did they win?" Like all of a sudden OG goes to the free throw line. He misses one free throw down the stretch. He missed the first one. And she's like, "Oh, this is where it changed." He make the second one, right? And so they go up 6 points. Where it really took a turn is Tyrese Maxey's 4-point play. Maxey got the 4-point play. He got Mitchell Robinson to leave his feet. Very, very, very smart play by Tyrese Maxey because in that situation, like in most situations, you know Mitchell Robinson is gonna leave his feet. He's a shot blocker. Most shot blockers with the makeup of Mitchell Robinson, they are jumping. Like it's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. They've been taught their whole life, when somebody shoot the ball, you try to block it. And they jump for everything. And so usually to, you know, it's to the benefit. However, when you get out on the perimeter, it gets a little bit dicey because if you leave your feet a little bit on the perimeter, the offensive player is getting the benefit of the doubt. I never understand why it's so much different when you leave your feet on the perimeter as opposed when you leave your feet in the paint. It's still shooting the basketball. One person's jumping and shooting the ball. And yet it's always officiated totally different. So in getting Mitchell Robinson out to the 3-point line, Tyrese Maxey, very hesi player, he shot fakes him. What does Mitchell Robinson do? He starts to jump and move forward. Instant kick. Ah, can't jump right there, but it's a little too late. Tyrese Maxey gets the 4-point play. All of a sudden, they're no longer down 6. 2-possession game, and those 2 possessions needing 2 threes, they are now coming back down. They only need a 2 if they can get a stop. Well, Maxey down the stretch was huge. Knicks come down, miss another free throw, and they go up 3, and Maxey comes down. Mix one, make one. Maxey comes down. Logo them boys, pulls up from the logo. And quite frankly, it was no surprise to me that Maxie had the game that he had. 46 points, 9 assists, 17 for 30 from the field, 17 for 12 from the 3. And the reason it was no surprise to me, because if you actually go back to my Twitter, I tweeted and I said half of the Philly players are like competing and trying to win. And half of them quit. And if you watch, like it was very evident of who were the players that quit and who were the guys that was going for it. Who were the players that believed? And Maxie was right at the front leading the charge of the players that was going for it. And he was dialed in on both sides of the ball. He was 100 miles per hour the entire game, getting pressure on the rim, shot the 3 very well. Like— Yeah. He played well and you saw some guys following, but you saw the body language on some of their guys and some, like, it just wasn't there. So even to start the game, like, you could tell the nerves were there to start the game. Some of the shots Philly took, and the Knicks, but some of the shots that Philly were taking in those first 7 to 10 possessions, just watching it like, what? Like, why? And like I said, when you get into it and, a closeout game, the nerves are high for both teams. One team, our season could be over and you're nervous about that. But yet you do get some guys going out like, we got nothing to lose, this is it. And that's the demeanor that Tyrese Maxey had going into, I mean, and to start the game yesterday. And so I'm watching it and I'm like, all right, Maxey feel like he got nothing to lose. Like he playing free. Like, and quite frankly, he carried Joel yesterday. Obviously Joel draws a lot of attention. He ended up with a triple-double, although had 9 turnovers. You know, Maxie was the guy. Kelly Oubre played some big minutes. Also, that finish Kelly Oubre had under the rim where Joel kind of lobbed it up and Kelly got caught under the rim and was still able to finish, that was a huge play. But anyway, Tyrese Maxey. And then also there was some possessions, and I don't know if it was just cross matches, I don't know if it was intentional, they were trying to throw different looks at Jalen Brunson, but there was some possessions where Maxey was guarding Brunson and like taking on that challenge. And I thought that was very interesting. So it was great to see Maxey had a game that he had in the Garden on that stage. And the game where, yeah, Joel finished with 19, 16, 10 assists. Yeah. But it wasn't a Joel type game. I think if you ask me, he struggled well. And where it's unfortunate when you, if you're Mitchell Robinson, where you get the foul to kind of turn the game towards the end, Mitchell Robinson was a large reason why they were in the position that they were in because he played really well against Joel yesterday. And you know, he had some good defensive plays, caught some good lobs, having that rim threat. Or that live threat at the rim is always important. I've spoke to you all about that and what it does for the spacing. And so I thought Mitchell Robinson played a really good game. Like I said, it's unfortunate that he had that play down the stretch on the defensive end, but he played a really good game. And so Maxie did a lot of the carrying last night. So, and going into game 6, you expect to see a very, very, very intentional, aggressive Joel Embiid. One of the things that I noticed in the game the other day was all of a sudden Joel was no longer in that drop at the rim when Jalen Brunson was coming off pick and rolls. And no, he was not at the level and kind of almost in the blitz every play because it's a reason he played a drop. Like it's hard as hell for a 7-foot, 300-pounder to get up to the level of screen, blitz the screen. He has to get back in there and rebound. So you're sprinting back every play. Like, that's a tall task. However, they have to do that. You can't just let Jalen Brunson get downhill and get to his spot. It's not gonna— it's not gonna work. And so I thought that was very interesting, or not very interesting. I think it's what needs— needed to be done. But I noticed that right away, that Joel had moved up to the level of that screen. And initially, Jalen Brunson got off to a bad start. Now, he ended up finishing the game from the second quarter on really strong. If I'm not mistaken, he may not have scored in the first quarter, and if he did, he had 2 points, 4 points, something like that. It wasn't a very impactful first quarter for him, but that second quarter, he got it going and he rode the rest of the game. You all knew my back and forth that, you all know my back and forth that I went through the other day about Jalen Brunson on kind of all of these things I'm trying to put together. And so we will get back into that a little bit. Number one, I love Jalen Brunson as a player. He is a guy who, you know, when you see him having the success that he's having, it's not a surprise to me that he's having success. And the reason it's not a surprise to me, because if you watch Jalen Brunson at any point in his life pre-NBA, he always has success. All-American, won two national championships in college. That's never really spoke about, but To win 2 national championships in college is incredible and nearly impossible. That's why only maybe 7 or 8 teams has done that. They didn't go back to back, but they had a year in between. But to win 2 is crazy. And so he's always been a winner. To say that anyone thought he'd have the level of success that he's had, I think, Most people would be lying. Now, when I look at that though, I am a little tilted on that because I am kind of a microcosm of the same exact thing, which is a guy who had success, a lot of success in college. I didn't have the opportunity to win a national championship, let alone two like Jalen Brunson. But you know, to see a guy dominate in college like that and then just be like, "Oh, it's the NBA now, get him outta here." Like he's not a first round pick. Blah, blah. Again, that's my story. So I got nothing but love for Jalen Brunson. But like I said, in going into it and knowing what it takes to get to the mountaintop, that's where my questions have been. And so you look at this game, Jalen Brunson, 15 for 32 from the field, 4 for 11 from 3, only 6 assists as opposed to the 10 or 11 assists he had in game 4. And you know, what I've spoke about is I don't love the ball dominant Jalen Brunson. And the reason I don't love that is A, I think it's too easy to guard. Not that Jalen Brunson is easy to guard, but just every time down the court, like, you know, our defense need to load up. Or if you decide and we're just letting him come downhill with 2 guys guarding, we're keeping everybody else home to, to keep the other guys out of it, to keep the other guys limited in what they're bringing to the game. Whatever that game plan is, ultimately, you know, it's on the coach to decide what they think is gonna beat them, what they think gives them the best chance to win. I don't necessarily love the ball dominant Jalen Brunson. I just don't think you can win at the level that they want to win at doing that. I just think they need to move the ball around. They need to get more guys involved. You know, when they were winning and like dominating, when they are winning and dominating, I should say, Dante DiVincenzo is playing great. Dante DiVincenzo is rolling. I've had the opportunity to play with Dante last year here with the Warriors, and Dante is very much so a rhythm and confidence guy. You get Dante confidence going, you give him confidence, you allow him to get a rhythm, he's gonna play hard defensively. He's gonna cut, shoots the ball really well, good slasher to the rim. He rolls. When you don't necessarily give Dante confidence, it's a little more of a struggle. When you don't show him that belief, I wouldn't necessarily say give him confidence, he's a confident guy. But when you don't necessarily show him that belief, he struggles a little bit more. And he had 9 points yesterday. If you look at their season over the last 2 months, he's pretty much been averaging 20. And so when I look at that, to me, and yes, he finished 3 for 10, 1 for 7 from 3. Quite frankly, those shots are a lot different when they're just coming in the flow. Mm-hmm. You know, when they're just coming in rhythm as opposed to like, ah, I catch it. Like, oh, now it's time for me to, like, oh, now I shoot it. And you're not in that rhythm. And like I said, Dante is very much so a rhythm guy, you know? And so I think Jalen has to get everybody else involved. Going on the road, yes, it's gonna take a heroic performance from Jalen to close out this series at Philly, but like I told y'all last episode, Philly does have the best player on the floor in Joel Embiid. Not necessarily playing the best, but at any given moment, he is the best for sure. And so as I said before, that always gives you an opportunity to come back. Obviously down 3-1. Now it's interesting what happened in these series when a team go up, when a team has the lead, can possibly close out, and then don't. Because every game you go further into that series, the pressure flips. And so for a New York Knicks team that don't have a ton of playoff experience, OG is a champion, but very young in his career winning a championship. Josh Hart, not a ton of— Experience. Playoff experience, not a whole bunch of playoff experience. Hardenstein, not a bunch of playoff experience at all. Draymond Green has got some playoff experience, although not a ton as the guy that he is now. And then Dante has some playoff experience with the Bucks, but was kind of a little banged up during a couple of their runs. And so, not a ton of playoff experience. Mitchell Robinson, not much. And Miles McBride, not much. So the pressure flips. Now with those guys not having a ton of experience, sometimes you go into it like they're oblivious to the moment. I don't think that's this group. I think this group has enough experience to not be oblivious to the moment. And sometimes being oblivious to the moment actually helps you because it's almost like irrational confidence. Like you're so oblivious to the moment, you don't even realize like the stakes. You don't even realize the pressure. Pressure that should be on you, but because you're not processing the moment, you're not even feeling that pressure. I don't think that's this Knicks team because they do have enough experience to know that, hey man, we, we don't want to go 7, right? So this series is now going 6 and it's headed back to Philly. And I must say, that's a danger zone for the Knicks. That is a complete danger zone because you're going to be expected to go lose on the road. Like that's just what it is. And you should go lose on the road when the other opposing team has one All-Star and also the MVP of the NBA. You should go lose. So Philly, you're supposed to win this game. However, Philly's going in like, hey man, we're, we face elimination. We're down 3-1. We just free swings, free swings. And that same timid Philly of some of the guys that I think, you saw last night won't be there in game 6. Game 6, they gonna come out with they chest poked out, feeling good about themselves. Like, yo, we gonna win this game. We taking it back for game 7 at the Garden. Right? And like game 7s are magical. Game 7's at the Garden. I can only imagine the feeling that that gives. And so the pressure in game 6 is all, and I mean all on Draymond Green. The New York Knicks. And sometimes guys don't deal with that pressure well. And so I think, you know, the Knicks has to deal with that. But like I said before, I think Philly's gonna win this series. I think they should take it. I think they can take it. And we'll see if, because here's the thing, if I'm the New York Knicks, gotta be a little careful of like, we gotta go in here and win this game. Like this is a must win. Because if you don't go win the must win, although you do got one more game, if you, really made this a must-win mentally, coming outta that and you lost, it's gonna be tough to bounce back for game 7 for the Knicks. And so if I'm Tom Thibodeau, if I'm Jalen Brunson, the leader of that team, I'm pushing it as close to the line of, yo, we gotta go win this game. Like we need to close this series out without quite stepping over of like, this is like, we gotta win this game. Like I'm not quite stepping over there, but I'm pushing it to as close to that line as I can. Because you understand that game 7 is a coin flip. Always, it's a coin flip. And they just don't know. Philly can come out and hit 23 threes. All of a sudden you lose because they shot the lights out. Like, you just don't know what's gonna happen in the game 7. And so you, as fun as they are, you don't want to get there. You just don't want to get there. And especially in a situation where you were up 3 to 1, you don't want to get there. Because it just don't always go your way. I've seen it, been a part of it on both sides of game 7s. It don't always go your way. And so Philly needs to win this game tomorrow. I think that's gonna be a little less Jalen Brunson ball dominance. Although he needs to be great, he gonna have to find that balance. And also, With Philly, another interesting thing that they did before I move on from this is watch out for that zone that they ran. They almost ran like a matchup zone dropping Joel all the way into the back. So to, A, to give him a break so he didn't have to be at the level on all of those screens. And I thought that matchup zone gave Philly problems. If I am Nick Nurse, I'm expecting that Tibs is going to over, like overly prepare for that zone. Not so much for their half court defense. They're gonna overly prepare for that zone to beat that zone. And I don't run as much of it if I'm Nick Nurse. Go to it a couple times if it's working, cool. But you go to it first couple times and they dice it up because they're so prepared for it, like you nix it. Because you know they're overly prepared for that and they may not be as prepared for your half-court, uh, man defense. And so be fun to watch the coaches play this game. Uh, as you get deeper into this series, the chess match really begins and you got adjustments being made. And so think that's an adjustment that New York has to make. They gotta be ready for that zone Philly was playing, keeping Joel in the back of the defense, letting all the guards and wing handle the pick and rolls.

Mm-hmm.

I thought it was pretty successful. Haven't seen any numbers from it, the analytics, but from the naked eye, it looked pretty, pretty successful. So we'll see what happens with that. But that is something to watch for in that series. And by the way, I got Philly in game 6. So that's that. Moving forward, Cavaliers take a 3-2 lead with the Magic. The home game ha— the home team has won each game in this series and I don't see that changing in game 6. Uh, the Cavaliers Cavs did take last night without Jared Allen. Not sure what, you know, if he's out, you know, next couple, next game or two or what his situation is. But they did take last night out to him and quite, without him. And quite frankly, this series, I got the Cavs winning this series. I think it does go 7. As I said before, 7 is always a coin flip. I got the Cavs winning the series. I really don't see either one of these teams going on the road and winning the game. I think the home team win these games. Cavs take game 7, and that is going to be kind of the wrap for that series. But I, yeah, I think both, neither one of them are going on the road and win. Orlando had a great opportunity last night. They let it get away. Gotta win the ones when you had those opportunities in the playoffs, young playoff team. Although they played that well and G, Harris, Gary Harris didn't shoot the ball well, had zero points. G's not gonna shoot like that again. So, but you still need other guys getting off and you, you know, you gotta go in facing elimination now. First time this team has faced elimination. Haven't seen these, it's their first experience. So how do these guys show up at home, right? Do they show up firing like we got nothing winning or lose, do they show up at home a little tight? That's always possible as well. But I got the Magic taking, uh, Game 6 and then Cavs taking Game 7. We'll see how it goes. But the question, the biggest question is how do these two teams fare versus the Boston Celtics? What if Porzingis isn't back? And quite frankly, Both of these teams are losing if Porzingis is back, is not back, or is back. It don't matter. Boston mopping both of these teams. That's just my opinion. I don't think either one of these teams have a big that makes the Porzingis loss huge. Where it does, where it can affect if you're playing against the Magic is how much from, Fron and Paulo gets downhill. All of a sudden you don't have Porzingis as a rim protector and they're getting downhill more. However, Boston has a, a great deal of length. They also have great perimeter defenders and so it'll be a little tougher to get downhill. But I also don't think the Magic are moving forward. But yeah, I think this Boston team is winning this next round pretty easily without Porzingis. I don't think it's a rush for Porzingis to have to get back for this next series. Do all that you can to get yourself ready for the conference finals because it'll be more needed then. Although I think the real test is regardless of either one of these series that they have left in the Eastern Conference, get ready for the finals, KP. That's the most important thing. Probably, yeah, he needs some games under his belt and all of that, but Boston getting through the East, no problem. So get ready for the finals. Um, That can also change if in the conference finals Philly does win and get to the conference finals and now you got Joel. But quite frankly, I don't think Porzingis can guard Joel anyway. Yes, it does help to get, throw another body out there, but who Joel is gonna have to face most and see if he can get by is Al Horford. Al Horford has given Joel all problems. So when you look at it and you do like addition by subtraction, KP being out in the conference finals, if they were to face Philly, could actually help them.

It's almost a good thing.

'Cause you like, you play more Al and Al guards Joel very well. Wishful thinking. I'm getting way ahead of myself. Don't even know if any of those series will take place. The moral of the story is whoever win this Cleveland series between Cleveland and the Magic don't stand a chance versus Boston. We're moving on to the other two teams in the Eastern Conference. Patrick Beverley, went back to Chicago Marshall on y'all, got it going and really affected the game and turned the game to where Milwaukee was then able to take off. Obviously Bobby Portis got off 29. Obviously Chris Middleton got off with 29. Bobby Portis being ejected from game 4, as you can see by the results of game 5, was huge for the Bucks because Bobby Portis is someone that when they they have guys out, or even when their guys are playing, what he brings for that team from an energy standpoint, what he brings from a scoring standpoint, is really something that they don't have from anyone else. And so Bobby Portis is huge. Was disappointed that Bobby Portis got kicked out for the little scuffle that he did, but nobody was kicked out of those games yesterday. The consistency, I just don't understand. Now, I did agree that guys shouldn't have gotten thrown out because if you don't have to throw somebody outta playoff game, you don't. Like we want these games to be decided based upon the players on the court, not the referee calling something or throwing somebody outta game. So a little disappointed that Bobby got thrown out the game. But you look at the stuff that was going on yesterday in these games and nobody's thrown out one technical, Mitchell Robinson threw Kelly down, actually almost jacked up Joel's leg. He was this close from landing on Joel's leg and taking it in this way. And then all of a sudden, right, so Mitchell Robinson throw Kelly Oubre, he lands on Joel ankle, hit the knee or something, and Joel's hurt. Then all of a sudden Mitchell Robinson gets thrown out of the game because Joel didn't get hurt at all. Mitchell Robinson actually didn't even get a technical foul, I don't think. And I just don't understand it. Like what's the consistency? So if he got hurt, then it's something. I don't get that. Like either it's something or it isn't. You can't judge these things by the results of the player and be like, oh man, that guy got hurt. Like we gotta do something. Okay, this guy didn't get hurt, it's fine. Like that's not, and nowhere in the rule book does it say, That's how these things should be officiated. You gotta pick a side. Like we're doing this, we're doing that. Like it can't be, all right, this time it's this, this time, and it changes based on the personalities and the games. Like it can't be that. It's either one way or it's the other. And so I think we need to see some consistency on that front. Either you're kicking guys out or you're not. Quite frankly, I sit on the side of you shouldn't be kicking guys out.— but it can't be one day Bobby Portis getting a little brush up and he's out and then nobody else the next day, nothing happens. So we'd love to see some consistency there. But, and speaking of this game going back 6 or the series going to 6 and going back to Indiana, if there's no Dame, I don't think there's a chance we see Giannis. This series is over in 6. I don't think Milwaukee can do what they did at home with neither one of those two guys and go on the road and win like they did in game 6. And so if no Dame, if no Giannis, I got this series ending. I think they play tomorrow. And I got the series ending. Yeah. Lastly, before we take a couple questions and get outta here, obviously the Lakers were eliminated by the Denver Nuggets on Monday. Was fun to watch Jamal Murray in that series despite a bum calf, despite all the things they were going up against, despite pretty much losing the entire series. And when I say losing the entire series, I mean, If you look at the margin or the amount of time that the Lakers led in the series, the series very much so could have been flipped 4-1 for the Lakers. However, Jamal Murray's heroics is a large reason why that's not the case. There was so much coming out of the Lakers. Well, before we talk about them.

Yeah.

Let's talk about the Nuggets. The Nuggets took the series, but I think they're in trouble. And the reason I think they're in trouble, and I said this before, I just don't think their bench is good enough. And we saw that again the other night. Like, they're just not getting enough from their bench. And as you move forward, I think the difference in this Minnesota Denver series could be the bench. You got Nas Reid coming off the bench, can play huge minutes. Kyle Anderson coming off. Monte Morris, who's a great backup point guard that they're not really using much, but can use. Nikhil Alexander-Walker, who's been playing great basketball. Like, I just think the depth of the Timberwolves is gonna give Denver problems. And yes, the matchup between Joker and Rudy Gobert trying to guard him is huge. But I've always told you guys, you win championships 6 through 10. Not 1 through 5, and the Denver Nuggets 1 through 5 is as strong, if not stronger, than any other 1 through 5 in the league. But their 6 through 10 is as weak as any team left in the playoffs. And I just don't know if they're gonna be able to overcome that, especially against these Minnesota Timberwolves who just had an incredible showing. And I think they're poised to try to make a deeper run and they're feeling that and they want that. And so— Yeah. That'll be an interesting series. Personally, I got the Timberwolves winning that series, I think, but we'll get into that later in the week, my predictions. I need to analyze a little bit more and like actually sit down and do the matchups of what I think will be and look at all these things. But quite frankly, just off the top of the dome, I think Minnesota should win that series. Interesting stuff coming out of the Lakers organization. Obviously, Bron set to possibly opt out of his contract and become a free agent. For the first time since 2018. Um, I think that is a very interesting thing because what that means is, if you know anything about cap, is LeBron could opt out of that deal, be a free agent. They could sign somebody with cap space and then sign LeBron back using bird rights, which means they could possibly add a third star or a couple really good players at $15 million a year or so. Yeah. And better their team. They could also decide that they're not spending that money and going into the tax with all these tax penalties. I think it'll be interesting to see. I think a lot of that will be depending on what LeBron decides. We obviously see the reports of the Lakers may draft Bronny.

Bronny.

I think that would be amazing, by the way. Absolutely incredible. But that's neither here nor there. I think the Lakers, they really gotta decide what it is that they wanna do though. Like, are you comfortable going into next season with pretty much the same supporting cast that you have and LeBron and AD? Are you comfortable going in that way? If LeBron decides to leave, what do you do then? Do you then trade AD? Like I think there's a lot of uncertainty coming outta that organization. What's gonna happen with Darvin Ham? Me personally, I think it'll be wrong to fire him for multiple reasons. However, you know, they'll get a lot, he'll catch a lot of flack for the season that they had, but their roster didn't get better than last year and they were a playing team. Yeah, they made it to the conference finals with LeBron James and Anthony Davis playing the way that they were playing, but they didn't get better. They lost Dennis Schroder. I don't think they replaced him well. Gabe Vincent didn't bring anything to the season. Obviously he was hurt, but even once he got in there, like he didn't shoot the ball well. Schroder was huge for them and they lost him. And so I don't think the roster got better, but yet you expected better results. And I just don't understand that. But everybody will blame Darvin Ham, like, oh, it's his fault. And like, is it really? Like, just because they went on a pretty decent run after they mustered up some energy after the trade deadline and got to the conference finals, got swept. Their season was their season. And yeah, you got through the trade deadline You found some energy, but then you come back into the season with that team and I don't think the belief was very high in the first place. Yeah, we could say the belief is high, but I don't think it was very high in the first place. And I don't think that team got much better. Obviously Van Dijk missing majority of the season, it's a killer. Obviously Gabe Vincent missing majority of the season, could have been a killer, although we don't really know because we've only seen him in Miami and—

Yeah.

We've seen guys leave Miami and it not be the same thing that it was in Miami. So the jury's out on that one. Nonetheless, I don't think they got much better. And so I'm not surprised by the year they had, but am looking forward to what's to come of this summer. Some people think it's a foregone conclusion that Bron is going back to the Lakers. Yeah. I don't know that it's a foregone conclusion. I think if there was something that came about that was interesting, I think he'd look at it. But ultimately, I don't quite see him leaving LA. Just don't really see it. Just my opinion. But we shall see what happens with that. I don't know. Hopefully they don't just fire Draymond Green as if it's his fault and no one else's fault. I think that's garbage.

Yeah.

But that's neither here nor there. And we shall see what happens in the Lakers organization. But I definitely think some changes are coming. I don't know where those changes will be, but they're definitely coming because it's the Lakers. They want to win. And that's just the standard. So we shall see. But before we get out of here, I'mma toss it to Jackson for a few questions, mailbag questions before we go.

From @KillaCam, what do you think of Paolo Banchero in the series so far?

Well, what I think of Paolo Banchero is exactly what I thought of Paolo Banchero back when Paolo Banchero was about to get drafted, which is he is one of those guys that changes an organization. If you go back to the podcast episode of when, right before Paolo got drafted, Paolo was the guy who I thought was the number one pick, hands down. A lot of people were talking about the guys. Paulo is showing that. I am one of the guys, and yes, Paulo has some things that I think he needs to get better at. He needs to become more comfortable shooting the ball. Uh, and as he do that, I think his game really opens up as he becomes more comfortable with his jump shot. But Paulo is a monster. Um, what he's doing, he's leading these guys. Now, what can really set this series off for Paulo is if they go win game 6 and then he can take them on the road and win a game 7. That really, in my opinion, puts Paulo in a different tier. No, not the top tier because he's got a long ways to go to get to that. Although I think he's more than capable of being in that top tier, guys. But if Paulo is to go win game 6, then take that team on the road and lead them to a game 7 win in Cleveland, You gotta bump his tier up and the respect has to go up. I think he's been very special in this series, but in order to be one of the guys that he wants to be, that I think he's capable of being, he has to be able to go get one on the road. This is his first crack at it, so it's not like, "Oh, Paulo is a bust," and blah, blah, if he don't go win one on the road in this particular series. But as he moved forward in his career, That's something that he's gonna have to do in order to take that next step. And I don't think it's impossible for him to do it this time, but he's playing a great series.

From @jamiecu, what do you think is the most underrated factor for a deep playoff run?

Jamie C-U, is that like Colorado University or is that like Jamie S-E-E?

It is C-U, letter C-U. So maybe Colorado, I'm not sure.

Wow. Prime Time got everybody repping that CU like it's Michigan State or something. Shout out to Coach Prime. Say that question one more time.

The most underrated factor for a deep run. I can tell you took a second. Most underrated factor for a deep playoff run.

Most underrated factor for a deep playoff run. I think the most underrated factor for a deep playoff run is can your coach make adjustments or not? I think that is extremely important. And then also, are you capable, are your players capable of handling those adjustments? Because sometimes you get in these situations where a coach wanna make an adjustment and they're like, I don't think our guys can handle that adjustment. For instance, In the playoffs in 2022, when we start sending all the Boston guys left, it was against our defensive rules. And so Mike Brown was kind of like, "Ah, it's gonna break our defense down because guys aren't accustomed to sending the ball up middle on the right side of the floor. We're accustomed to icing it and the defense pulling over. Now we're gonna be sending in the middle. Guys ain't gonna know where the help coming from." And we was just like, and so, A couple of us, like I started just sending Jay LeBron left, like wherever he was on the floor. And after I did it a couple of times, Mike was like, you know what? We've been wanting to make this adjustment, but was afraid. Let's just try it. And we tried it and it worked. But again, that was an instance of a coach being like, ah, I don't know if we could really make that adjustment. Although they had the adjustment in their mind, I don't know if we could really make that because it's against our defensive rules. And then the adjustment was made and we won the series. So I think it's a combination of both of those. Yes, your players have to be capable of taking those adjustments and making those switches. But a coach has to also be able to identify his adjustment. And when I watch these playoffs, most of these coaches actually can't make solid adjustments.

So. Yeah.

I think that's the most underrated thing.

We wanna be clear on the Draymond Green shot. That is not a shot at Mike Brown. That is a—

No, not at all. Not at all. That's never a shot at Mike Brown. Shoot, Mike Brown, one of the ghosts to me, especially when it come to that defensive side of the ball. Mike Brown gets it done. So no, not a shot at Mike Brown at all. Never will be. It ain't coming from here. Not on this show.

Last question from I hate CEP. Mavs or Clippers, Draymond Green, who wins this series?

CEP, Mavs or Clippers.

I was a little bit of at a loss with that username as well, but Mavs or Clippers, who you got?

Mavs or Clippers winning the series. Um, I got the Mavs. I think they're gonna be more consistent in their play. Uh, especially like I said, you just don't know with Kawhi. I got the Mavs winning this series. And if I'm honest, I actually got them winning the series in 6. The only person can change that outcome is Russell Westbrook. That's it. No, I didn't say James Harden. No, I did not say Paul George. Although, and the reason I didn't say those guys is because it's on Russell Westbrook. So put the battery pack in those guys back and have them playing at the level that they played at in game 4 in order to take that win in Dallas. And so I got Dallas winning it. But like I said, yeah, the only person can change it, nobody will ever give him credit, but he gonna get credit on this show 'cause he is the person that wills that team. Russell Westbrook is the only person that can change that outcome. But yeah, I got Dallas. And with that, That is a wrap from this episode of the Draymond Green Show. Be back later this week to tap in with y'all. We shall see if my theory on Jaylen Brunson being ball dominant can be, go by the wayside, or if my theory on Jaylen Brunson becomes true. However, I just wanna state this. My theory on Jaylen Brunson can be true and they still can win. I.e., Jaylen Brunson doesn't dominate the ball as much, and they win, that doesn't mean I was wrong. I'm not saying the Knicks is going to lose, although I got Philly, but I think Jalen Brunson need to take a little step back as far as dominating the ball. But he being great, so who can complain? Another 40-piece. That's a wrap from this episode of the Draymond Green Show. Peace.

Peace.