In this episode of the Draymond Green Show, host Draymond Green sits down with former NBA Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams to discuss what makes a great sixth man and to compare the careers of three of the most celebrated bench players—Jamal Crawford, Manu Ginóbili, and Andre Iguodala. The conversation highlights how each player followed a distinct path to success, with Lou emphasizing that he fully embraced the bench role and even gave it a brand, while Jamal and Manu pursued stardom in different ways. Draymond and Lou also share a memorable anecdote about Jamal Crawford’s private parking spot at LAX’s Signature airport, using it as a symbolic "Sixth Man of the Year" honor. Throughout, the tone remains informal, enthusiastic, and respectful, with occasional sponsor read for Hennessy. The dialogue underscores the value of the sixth‑man role, the personal identity players attach to it, and the lasting impact these players have on their teams and the league.
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What's up everybody? It's Draymond Green. Make sure you subscribe to The Volume's YouTube channel below so you don't miss any more of this great content going forward. Continuing on along with your career, you, Jamal Crawford, Manu Ginobili are viewed as like the guys coming off the bench, the sixth man. Like y'all are viewed as, in my opinion, probably the best those 3 guys. Now the one guy that I would put in that conversation and no one does because he wasn't scoring a lot was Andre Iguodala when he was with us. Or I mean, he's with us now, but when he first moved to sixth man.
Right.
And the impact that he had on our team, I'm like, oh, he should be in that conversation as well. You know what, but obviously you guys have the Sixth Man of the Year awards. To back that up. But how would you compare your game to Jamal Crawford and Manu Ginóbili game and their path as well? Hennessy celebrates those who never stop, never settle in their never-ending pursuit of greatness. Maurice Ashley lives his passion. An inspiring story of intellect and brilliance. His ability to push the potential of his own mind to new levels of greatness is universally inspiring. In the world of the mind, there are no limits. Hennessy. Never stop, never settle. If you wanna learn more about Maurice Ashley, visit www.hennessy.com. 21+. Please drink responsibly.
I think we all three had three different unique paths. All three of us got it done. You know, I think you can find a lot of spots in Manu's career where you can say he's the greatest sixth man. You can find a lot of spots in Jamal's career where you can say that, and you can say it about mine. And I think all three of us had such different routes and so different unique games. Like I can't do half the shit that Draymond do with the basketball. You know what I mean?
Yeah, crazy.
I can't do half of it. I couldn't even try. I don't know if I could have accomplished the things that Manu accomplished in that system the way that he did. And I don't think those guys could have put teams on their back the way that I did. So all of our paths were completely different, but you gotta respect all three. You know what I mean?
Yeah, nah, facts for sure. And they just start renaming all of these awards. If they—
I gotta have it.
With the Sixth Man Award, who'd that go to?
I gotta have it.
Hey, I could respect that.
I don't shy away from that because out of the guys that we compare, you know, when we start having a sixth man conversation, I think I'm the only one that embraced it, that said, "I'm the—" I agree. "This is a lifestyle." You know what I'm saying? I think Draymond Green always strived to be like a megastar, you know? And he was, don't get me confused. You know how this shit go, but he always was looking for that. And I was like, "If this is my job, I'm gonna make it embarrassing for me to come off the bench." And so that's the only reason I say I give it to myself because I just embraced the lifestyle of it. I made it okay for kids to wanna even accept that position. And I made this shit look cool. You know what I'm saying?
Absolutely.
And so I give it to myself.
I actually agree with that because, and it kind of goes back to what we were just speaking about was, If no one ever thought you was a starter before, you got to a point to where the team was yours and you still kept coming off the bench.
It's like, what are we doing? You know what I'm saying? It was like, what are we doing? It got to a point where Doc was like, you're still coming off the bench. He like, I'm not gonna throw you off of your rhythm. Like, I know what I get out of that. So I'm not even, yeah, I'm not even gonna play around with it. 'Cause I know exactly what I'm gonna get outta you when you come into the game at the 5-minute mark. I know his own. So we gonna leave that in place. You know what I'm saying? I think, you know, with the other guys, like, they were just a great unit with Manu. They were a great unit. Like, shit, you look at games, he was coming in the game at the 10-minute mark.
Yeah.
Like, he wasn't no sixth man for real. You know, Jamal was always striving to be a superstar, be an All-Star, be a highlighted player in this league. He was always striving for that. And I think I was just the one guy that was not saying that I was complacent and I was cool with my position. I just embraced it. And I gave it a name, gave it a likeness, gave it a vibe, gave it a feel. You know what I'm saying?
For sure. I think for those of y'all that don't know, if you pull up to Signature, the private airport at LAX, this man still has his own parking spot. That's dope. Sixth man of the year.
But hold on. But before it said Lou Will, just to keep it all the way 1,000, it said Jamal Crawford.
It said, ah, see, I ain't see that. I didn't see that.
Yeah, so it said Jamal Crawford. And once I won that first Clifford one, we came to the airport and it was changed. So it was him first.
Ah. Yeah, yeah. Okay.
It was Big Dog spot first.
I respect that. I respect that. And by the way, much love and respect to Jamal Crawford. One of the OGs, guys who did it the right way, continue, probably can still hoop if you want to.
Still hooping. I just seen somewhere, I just seen he had 40 this weekend in the Pro-Am.
Yeah, he different, he different. Benjamin Button for real.
For sure.
He different. But I think the fact that it's still to this day says that, that like, that carries some weight. Like this is Los Angeles, this ain't, it's not Oklahoma City.
Yeah.
This is Los Angeles, man. Everybody go to that airport.
Yeah, I know that. I know LeBron was looking like, "What the fuck is going on around here?"
