Mailbag: NBA All-Star fixes, load management, Steph Curry vs. Magic Johnson | Draymond Green Show

What's up everybody? It's Draymond Green. Make sure you subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel below so you don't miss any more of this great content going forward. What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. It is post All-Star break. Well, NBA season is kicking back off, I should say, not just our season, but the games are kicking back off. Excited, time to really, You know, the pretenders, they really identify themselves. And the contenders, they identify themselves. This is the time of the year where you kind of get to see who's that team headed towards making a push, who's already shipping their cars home and getting ready for vacation. The NBA stretch run is upon us. Huge matchups across the league as my dubs and I battle with the teams in the West for playoff position. Gonna be a lot of fun on TV, but— But. What if you could actually be at some of these games? 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I had the pleasure and honor of doing the commentating the All-Star Saturday dunk contest, skills competition, 3-point contest alongside the great Reggie Miller and the legend Kevin Harlan, which was an incredible experience. Like, you know, just sitting at that table. Number one, doing live event like that was a totally different thing for me in a different avenue and something that I've wanted to get experience in. It's not quite a game, but it was a great experience. But most importantly, it was fun. Like the energy that those two guys brought was absolutely amazing. Along with Adam Lefkoe, who was doing the sideline reporting. It was an absolutely incredible experience. Got a chance to witness Damian Lillard take home the 3-point contest. As I said here, I told you Tyrese Halliburton was my dark horse pick. He was in the final. Mac McClung shocked a lot of people in dunk contest. Did not shock me. Mac McClung winning the dunk contest. And then the Utah Jazz, their group, Collin Sexton, Jordan Clarkson, and Walker Kessler taking home the skills competition. That was All-Star Saturday. The energy was incredible. As we know, Mac McClung came and saved the dunk contest. Last 2 years were absolute disaster. So it's good to see Mac have his moment though. Like, you know, we've seen Mac all over YouTube for years doing all of these crazy dunks and just going viral and taking YouTube by storm. And to see him get that moment on an NBA stage was absolutely amazing. He took full advantage of it. I think one of the most impressive things that he did was he didn't miss a dunk. Like he didn't attempt a dunk a second time. Everything's first try. And to me that adds to the prestige of the dunk. Like, 'cause it's a mystery. If you showed me 7 times the dunk you're trying to do and then you finally get it, like I know what you was trying to do. I can imagine it before you actually do it. So I don't, you know, I don't— I don't know. The missing dunks thing is, it gets tough. But shout out to Mack McClung. Dame Dolla took home the 3-point contest as expected. Dolla had all, obviously had more experience than these guys. It was interesting to hear him say, I won and now I can retire. But I have a different take, Dolla. Steph Curry won it last year and could not defend his title this year due to injury. Dollar won it this year. I would love to see a Steph Curry Dame rematch with Klay Thompson in there next year. Like let's get all the heavy hitters in there. Just like we need to get the heavy hitters in the dunk contest. Let's get Ja Morant in there. Let's get Zion Williamson in there. Let's get Anthony Edwards in there. Although Ant-Man say he don't do the fancy dunks. Like let's get the guys in there with the bounce, the superstars that we, that we know. Like let's get those guys in dunk contest. And then obviously you gotta bring Mack McClung back. He's the champ. Gotta bring Mac back. But how can we get guys to do that? Well, number one, quite frankly, I think the league has to share more of that money. Get the sponsors more involved, get the pot up so guys have incentive to do it. I think that'll be huge. I think it'll be great for All-Star Saturday. And we need to move that in the right direction. Now, and speaking of that, All-Star Sunday, I know there's been a lot of questions about The All-Star Game, how can you make it better? Number one, let me rewind back just a little bit. This is a mailbag episode. I will be answering your questions. But how do we make the All-Star Game better? I saw a lot of people complaining about it and just the intensity and the defense. And it's crazy because here's another way of thinking about it that I don't quite think people think about, which is if those guys go out there, I've been in the game. If you go out there and play as hard as you can play and someone get hurt, then everyone will be on TV saying, "Oh, those guys shouldn't be playing that hard. Now you get hurt, you miss your team." Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So you can't have it both ways. Now in saying that, how can you make guys compete more? You'd be surprised what a little bit of money would do. And when I say a little bit of money, it's— Money. Not a little bit of money. That is the sarcasm in the comment I'm making. But it's all relative. And why is it relative? Because say if the bonus was $500 grand or $1 million, like you're gonna have guys really out there competing and the fans gonna get what they want, which is the show that they came to see. Now, where's that money coming from? I don't know. That's not my job. That's on Adam to figure out and Michael Levine and— Yeah. It's on those guys to figure it out. But I definitely think a bigger incentive to play hard will have guys playing much harder. And you know, like the new format where guys were playing by quarter and winning for charities, first couple years or first year, that was amazing. And so like, just like anything else, you have to keep improving it to keep that. Yeah. That hunger, to keep that fire, to keep, you know, guys really competing at the level that when you go to these games, you want to see them compete at. And you know, that's a league thing. But I think it's something that needs to be done. If everyone's going to complain, these guys aren't playing hard, then give more of an incentive to play hard. But like I said, you can't do that, something goes wrong, and then everyone's going to jump off the bandwagon and say, oh, they shouldn't be playing that hard. It's only an All-Star Game. This, that, and the other. Should there be more defense? It's basketball. I think it should be, but in the same token, I understand the other side of it too. Let me give you another side of it for those of you that don't quite understand the journey through All-Star. By the time you get to the game Sunday night, you're exhausted. All the commitments that you've had leading up to it, whether they're NBA commitments, sneaker deal commitments, uh, other endorsement deal commitments, uh, just, um— Draymond Green. Foundational commitments, just different, the different things that you have to do. By the time you get to the game Sunday night, you're exhausted and just trying to get to your next spot, which for most people is vacation. I know y'all probably heard Luka say the most, the thing he's looking forward to most was going to Mexico. Like by the time you get to the end, you're exhausted. And then you think about it, like some of the cities that the All-Star Game has been in, like you have to remember everyone goes on All-Star break, And the All-Stars have to report to these cities. Shouldn't it be held in like a Vegas on a regular, or Miami, or New York, or LA? Cities that guys really want to be in because it is an All-Star break. And on top of it being an All-Star break, like it's a privilege to make All-Star. Yes. But then you're like stuck like in certain cities and it's just not as pleasant. You know? So I think that's another thing that can make All-Star better is like, where are you having it? Like let's get some mainstay places and let's put it there. Yeah. Hasn't been in a hot city in God knows how long, a warm city. Like, so I think those are other things to look at as well in making the all— just the overall product better. I think those are definitely things that needs to be looked at. But in saying that, shout out to Jayson Tatum taking home All-Star Game MVP, 55 points. He said he was going for, if I'm not mistaken, this is the first year that the trophy is named after Kobe. If not, last year was the first year, but we all know We all know Jason Tatum's love for Kobe, relationship, fandom, whatever you wanna classify it as. To see him take home that trophy. Like I remember him coming out, he like, "I'm going for the MVP." And he went out there, got hot, got it going. And for a while there, it was him and Draymond Green on the same team going back and forth when they both was knocking shots down and JT kept it rolling. Was able to take home— The MVP. Take home the MVP trophy in LeBron's first year losing as a captain, which I thought was a big deal. Giannis didn't play this year, but Giannis' team took home the All-Star Game trophy. And you could tell Giannis was all into it. In saying that, I thought the drafting was absolutely awful. It was awful. It was too long. It was drawn out. Like if you gonna go, if you gonna say I'm going playground style, line the guys up across the free throw line, pick 'em playground style real quick and let's go. Like that thing took an hour and 20 minutes just sitting there like that, that was not pleasant at all. I think the idea was great and like everybody was excited about the idea, but I think if you're gonna go playground style, line the guys up across the line, pick, pick and go play the game. That would, and I understand like you have you have to do certain stuff for TV and like the production and all of that. Like it's fine, but that was a little too drawn out and I did not enjoy that at all. So hopefully we'll see some changes with that next year because it did not roll over the way I thought it would or the way most people probably thought it would. I just thought it was drawn out for no reason. So I'm looking forward to seeing if we can change that. But in saying that, Mm-hmm. Like I said, my overall experience was great at All-Star Weekend. My Turner family brought me in. Shout out to Tara August, by the way, who repped 18 years at Turner/TNT. Just this weekend, her last day was Sunday with the All-Star Game. Tara's been absolutely incredible inside the NBA as you know it, brought all the things that you've seen with TNT, the talent, Tara has a huge hand, had a huge hand in making all of that happen. And like I said, Inside the NBA Today, as you know it, she had a huge hand in making that happen. Tara, job well done. Looking forward to whatever it is that you do next. Know you'll be great. It's absolutely a pleasure to work with. And I thank you for bringing me into the fold. Can't thank Tara August enough and job well done. Thank you. So now in saying that, let's get to the mailbag. It's been a while since we've done a mailbag and I think it's a great time for us to do the mailbag coming off an All-Star break. Jackson, let's get into it. You got some questions for me?

Yes sir. Let's start with something fun. Which visitor arena is your favorite to play in, including college?

My favorite visitor arena? Well, that's two different, two totally different things.

Okay, let's go pro, one pro, one college.

Yes, exactly. Because they're for totally different reasons. Like my favorite visiting arena to play in in college was in Indiana Assembly Hall. Just the history, the way it's built up, it feel like the noise is coming down on top of you because the thing is built straight up. Very interesting arena, it's super loud in there. That was my favorite arena to play in in college. My favorite arena to play in in the NBA visiting arena Is Staples, which is formerly Staples, now Crypto Arena. It's a great, you know, especially when you're playing the Lakers, the stars are out. The Lakers kind of have that thing of where like the court is lit up, but you look in the stands and it's dark. Madison Square Garden also has that. I think Brooklyn has it now, but initially it was only the Lakers and Madison Square Garden. The aura in there is just always great. And, and, and Staples is like a great shooting gym. Like something with the lights and the rim, it's a great shooting gym. I've always had really good games at Staples. So that is my favorite arena to, away arena to play in on the road.

I like it. This one from, sorry, that question was from @mcsole. These are all from Instagram. Shout out the Instagram. Go follow @DraymondGreen.

My guy, Money Mike.

Okay, next question from @slothislegend. Do you know which refs are working your games ahead of time or do you find out game day? And does that sort of impact your strategy at all or you just, or does it not matter?

Uh, if I'm not mistaken, I think the NBA either releases referees the night before or the morning of the game. Either way it goes, when we get to the game for shoot around, well, when we get to the arena for shoot around in the morning, they'll actually post it in our locker room of who the officials are. Does it change my game plan or how you approach the game? I mean, depending on the ref, like you do know some refs are less tolerant of whatever it could be, but for the most part, like, You go into the game with the same mindset, like, that you're gonna go into the game with, not necessarily trying to tailor it for the ref per se. But, you know, as far as me like getting texts or something, like, you do know which referees are, you know, less likely to talk to you or have conversation, which I think is a big issue, honestly. But you do kind of know that, and so you kind of adjust that. But for the most part, you go in with the same mindset. Yeah.

Next one from ya boy Ant. Who is your favorite player to lock up and talk smack to?

My favorite player to lock up and talk smack to is DeMar DeRozan.

Ooh, okay.

Because, no, honestly though, it really is. And quite frankly, like, I'll have some possessions where I get the best of him, and he, of course, DeMar's gonna have possessions where he getting in his spot and getting the best. But like every time I get a stop, I'm saying something to him, or every time he score, he gonna say something to me. But that's my brother, like super tight. So it's just kind of that battle within the battle. And like I said, if I get that stop, he gotta hear it. And if I don't get the stop, of course I'm hearing it. So I would say that's my favorite one for sure.

I like that. Next one, let's do in a similar vein, "Do you talk shit playing dominoes like you do on the court?

From Where Is Rob G's." Rob G and playing dominoes, if you're not talking, you're not playing. I've never been to a domino game and they don't talk. You better have your one-liners ready to go. You got to be ready to talk. That's a part of the game. Like you gotta mentally try to tear your opponent down as well. So I think in dominoes, if you're not talking, I mean, that's a boring dominoes table if you're not talking at the domino table. I'm talking Big Bronco at the domino table. Probably even more than in a basketball game, which it's crazy.

That's kind of hard to believe a little bit.

Absolutely.

Next one from @DTNGleek1. What did you spend your first NBA check on?

My first NBA check, I brought some furniture for my apartment. I had no furniture. I was, So for those of y'all out there, when you get drafted to the NBA, you sign a contract. And if, you know, once you, whenever you sign your contract, you can then take an advance of like out to like maybe 10% of your salary or 10, 15%. Because for most guys who are not like top 5 picks, you don't get like money right away with sneaker deals. Now obviously all that's changed with NIL and stuff. You got these kids that are coming with money. And blah, blah, blah. But for me coming out, I had no money. And like, so, you know, you kind of just trying to scrape along, scrape along, and you don't get your first check. Now mind you, we get drafted in June, you don't get your first check till November 15th. So trying to scrape along. Now once you get your, once you sign your contract and you get your advance, then you're fine.— But that can take a while. Like I didn't sign my contract till like almost September. And so you gotta think like June, July, August, I got no money. I was about to borrow some money from one of my homeboys. I'll never forget Jerrell Worthie. He had got drafted to the NFL, second round, you know, signed like a $3, $4 million signing bonus. I was about to borrow money from Werv because I was just trying to get to my advance and I had no money. And so I was about to borrow some money from Word and sure enough, like he was gonna send me a wire the next day and my advance finally came through. And I'm like, "Bro, I don't need the money. Like I'm good." But my first check, I know I gave you way more than what you asked, so I apologize. But my first check, I bought some furniture for my apartment. Ashley's Furniture Outlet in Oakland. I furnished my entire apartment at Ashley's outlet store in Oakland. It was great.

Okay, next one from Blakely Thompson. This has been kind of in the news recently. What are your thoughts on Anthony Edwards' comments on load management and just your thoughts on load management in general?

My thoughts on Anthony Edwards' comments, I think you'd be crazy to knock what he said because quite frankly, You have to understand the point, which is there's someone out there that that could be the only game that they can afford. And they come to see the game, want to see a particular player play or 2 or 3, and they're not playing, but are physically able to play. That sucks. And I think as players, you do have to take that into account because fans drive, you know, fans are a huge part of this game. Fans drive a lot that happens with the game. Game of basketball. So you have to respect that side of it and understand it. Now in saying that, I think for me, it would be hard for Anthony Edwards to speak for me. I've been in this league 11 years. I've played a whole extra 2 seasons in playoff games, which is at an entirely different level of competing than the regular season itself. So I think that right there alone is one thing. Mm-hmm. That you really have to take into account. So I don't knock what Ant-Man said at all. However, that should be his mindset. He's what, 21, 22 years old? Knock on wood. Knock on wood. He's never had any injuries for real, like any real injuries, maybe some nicks and some knacks there. And so that should be his mindset. Uh, but I think everyone's situation is different, and I posed the question back: if a guy is really at risk in a game, uh, with all the science and different things that are used now, uh, to make these decisions, if a guy is really at risk of injury, do you go out there and risk the injury and risk missing 2 weeks, 2 months, a year, um, due to injury, and you knew what the risk was and you could have avoided That's also another side to look at. You get a much better product if guys are healthier in the long term, as opposed to trying to force one game. Ultimately, I don't know what the right answer is. What I do know is we, we in this game, in the NBA, and I say we, I'm speaking of the league as a whole, there's way more science involved to it. There's data tracking, player tracking, your— Yeah. What your workload was for the day, what your workload was for the week, what it was for the month, how the schedules line up. You have all of those things. And so I don't think it's as clear cut as, oh, black and white, this is the answer, that's the answer. But I think at the end of the day, as players, you want to be out there and put on a show for the fans. As you know, that's what makes us tick and you want to do that. And so I don't—

Draymond Green.

I know that players wanna be out there and at times, like there are some back-to-backs this year that I didn't play in that I wanted to play in and the team held me out. And they held you out because they're looking at these numbers and you're in the red and in danger for injury and playing this game to the point to where you're 70% likely to get injured. And if you take this game off and play the next game, you're 7% likely to get injured. Well, I think in anyone's life, um, when the difference in percentage is 70 and 7, you're usually going to choose the thing that's 7. And as far as, um, percentage of getting injured or whatever that thing may be, most people are going to pick 7 because it's the logical thing to do. And so I don't think there's a great answer or, um, one answer that's right or wrong. I think at the end of the day, players have to do the job of understanding why you are sitting or why you aren't. And then I think it's also on fans and us for them to understand all of those things. And however, those numbers and things aren't made public, so it's hard to understand them. But I would just hope and want fans to know that, you know, quite frankly, we want to be out there as well, you know, but in the same breath.

Yeah.

The science is the science. The data is the data. And if you don't follow the data, then everyone's screwed.

We got a couple questions, similar ones about Steph Curry and where he ranks all time. I know you don't like to do all-time ranks, all that. So I'm not gonna ask you to place him somewhere all time, but at this point, the best point guard of all time conversation for most people is usually between Magic Johnson and Steph Curry. Magic Johnson, a Spartan. Steph Curry, your teammate. Very different play styles. How do you compare the two?

I think comparing those two is lazy. Just like I think there's still only 5 positions in basketball is lazy. You know, we all speak about positionless basketball, right? Like, that is a lazy term. Like, I think it's all lazy. Steph Curry and Magic Johnson, if you watch those two guys play basketball, you probably wouldn't say they're the same position. If you just watch with no understanding of positions, if you just watch those two play, you probably wouldn't say they're the same position. Just like if you listen to Draymond Green's whole catalog and you went and listened to Jay-Z's catalog, you probably wouldn't say they're in the same genre of music.

Yeah.

People very lazily throw Drake in the same category with Jay-Z. I feel the same way about Steph and Magic. It's like, yes, both point guards as far as the term goes, but two totally different players and went about it two totally different ways. Quite frankly, there's someone that's gonna like the way Magic went about it because they're like, oh, that's more of a true point guard. And that's what I know to be a true point guard. And then there's others that's gonna appreciate Steph more because it's like, man, look what he done at the position and scoring how he affected defenses and all of that. Totally get that. However, I think they're both GOATs. They are both the greatest point guards of their eras. And you know, like I said, I just get tired of the comparing eras because quite frankly they're just hypotheticals or, you know, someone wishing upon a star that they could have saw this person against that person. Like it's never happening. Yeah. The game was totally different when Magic played than when Steph played. Like literally a totally different game. Like they're almost not even both basketball. Like, and so it's just totally different. And we get into like making these comparisons or which one is better than the other. And quite frankly, those, both of those guys dominated their era at the point guard position and they both should be given their flowers and appreciate their greatness. Because they're both all-time great players.

Love that answer. From Verden Verdict, is there such a thing as going too far when trash talking?

Is there a thing going too far? I think I wouldn't necessarily say there's a thing that's such a thing that's going too far. I just think once it does go wherever too far is, you gotta be willing to deal with whatever comes with that. You know, if that's something off the court and a guy is like carrying that grudge off, you gotta deal with what comes with that for something that you said, you know, and you can't run from that. And I've seen that happen on the court where, you know, guys say something that they not really, they don't really wanna stand on. And if you don't really wanna stand on it, then don't say it. But don't tell me, "Oh, that went too far." because in the heat of the battle, the gloves are off. And so if we're just competing and we're both talking junk, what's said is what's said. Now in saying that, I think you do have certain respect for other guys and certain guys, and those guys you just wouldn't say certain things to because the respect is there. Where the problem gets is when there is no respect there and guys get to talking and then you just, you say certain things and there's no coming back. From certain things that's said. And then at that point, I can't necessarily say it's going too far. I would just say you have to be willing to deal with whatever comes with whatever quote unquote going too far would be.

Next one, and then we'll sort of close with a little bit of a rapid fire segment. What is it like balancing being a professional athlete and being a father? I know this is a topic you care a lot about.

Oh man, it is tough honestly, because quite frankly, you want to give all that you can to your kids. Your career. And in order to do that, that requires time. And yet you want to give all your time to your children. And in order to do that, that pulls away the time from the career. Quite frankly, I think you do the best that you can to find that balance. And by the way, that's with anyone in work, right? Like that's with a CEO, that's with a janitor. Like you have to find that work-life balance. Yeah. Work/life/parent balance? And for me, you know, you just really dive into the time that you do have. I don't worry so much about the time that I don't have. I worry more about making the most of the time that I do have and ultimately understanding and hoping that your kids will understand that You know, when it's all said and done, you were doing this for them. You know, you missed Christmas Day game for them. You know, I mean, you missed Christmas Day because you had a game and ultimately you're providing for them. You know, to leave my kids in the position that I, to never leave my kids in the position that I was in is always my goal. That requires work, that requires, you know, sometimes you're gonna miss some things. And you just hope that you raise your kids in a way and that they understand that, you know, and not really hold a grudge or, you know, feel a type of way about you as a parent because you're out, you know, doing what you have to do to provide.

To close out the mailbag, let's do a bit of a rapid-fire segment, okay? I'm gonna ask you some questions quick. You gotta just answer first things that comes to your head.

Let's go.

What's your favorite nighttime snack?

My favorite nighttime snack is potato chips. I'm a big potato chip guy.

Okay, what flavor?

Hot Cheetos is my favorite, but I kind of stay away from those. Those do a number on my stomach at times. So if I had to go outside of Hot Cheetos, I would go sour cream and onion Ruffles. Cheddar, cheddar sour cream and onion Ruffles, excuse me.

What's your favorite song right now?

Uh, my favorite song right now. Oh man, my favorite song right now. Uh, I think my favorite song right now is one— is still— it's, you know, one of my favorite songs of all times, which is Song Cry by Jay-Z.

Who is the last text— who is the last text message you sent to?

I was just texting my wife.

Which Warrior is the flakiest?

Which warrior is the flakiest is by far Klay Thompson. But I don't wanna use the word flakiest because the word flaky just comes off as like distasteful. But you just never really know what to expect with Klay.

Which warrior is the funniest?

Which warrior is the funniest? Ooh man, who is the funniest Warrior? I am going to have to say, ah, I am looking around the locker room and the funniest Warrior to me is Jonathan Kamenga.

Flats or drums?

Drums.

Favorite all-time video game?

Favorite all-time video game is NBA Jam.

Last one, tough one. Rihanna or Beyoncé?

Beyoncé. Rihanna's incredible, by the way, but I think Beyoncé, Beyoncé's one of the greatest entertainers we've ever seen in this lifetime.

All right, that's it for the mailbag today. Come back for the show next week. Got a great guest.

Appreciate y'all. That's a wrap. Welcome back to the stretch run of the NBA season. That's a wrap from this episode of the Draymond Green Show. Jackson, I appreciate the questions. To everybody out there that submitted your questions, we thank you. Stay tuned to @DraymondShow on Instagram for maybe more mailbags or other things. Until next time, peace. What's up everybody? It's Draymond Green. Make sure you subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel below so you don't miss any more of this great content going forward.