Warriors-76ers reaction: Joel Embiid injured, Jonathan Kuminga shines | Draymond Green Show

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The Dubs take down the Sixers tonight, 119 to 117. Jackson has a note on my rundown about my foul on the jump ball. Number one, no one ever gets called for those fouls, okay? I did not think the tip was great. Like the jump, it wasn't great. And if the jump, if it was actually a better toss, I said the tip, the toss, if it was actually a better toss, the grab wouldn't have looked so egregious, but the toss was so bad. I was just holding on for a while for dear life. But there's guys that do that every game. I'm not really obviously one that jump balls every game. It's kind of this new thing. And I won one against AD like that. So I was like, why not? Let's try it again. That's the only chance that I had. And I went for it. And Tony Brothers being who Tony Brothers is called the foul because he spotted it. And yeah, that was my first foul before the clock even started. And I was nervous as hell because to get one foul and the clock hasn't started and your matchup is Joel Embiid, that is torture. So, and then I picked up a trash second foul and went to the bench for the rest of the quarter. However, guys held it down. And you know, we were in pretty decent position when I came back into the game and we, you know, was able to build some momentum in that second quarter. And we went into the halftime up 2. We struggled turning the ball over in the first half, in particular the first quarter. So we had some bonehead turnovers. I think we had 7 turnovers in the first quarter and also gave up maybe like 8 offensive rebounds in the first quarter. And it was very frustrating because if you looked up at the scoreboard or the stat board, they were shooting like 37%, 38%. And we were doing a great job defensively, but the turnovers and the offensive rebounds was crushing us. And so we needed to do a better job on both of those. And I think as the game went on, we did a better job of cleaning those things up. I think we still ended up with like 18 turnovers or something like that. Which could be better, but when you start off the first half with, the first quarter with 8 turnovers, it's tough. Needless to say, I think the turnovers are, you know, they were a couple of them, a few of them that we had were just bad. And you know, I think something that we can take care of. But really encouraged with how the defense has been looking over the last couple games. I think we're doing a lot better job on the defensive end. I also think our transition defense has been spotty. Good at times, bad at times. I also think we've been doing a much better job. The Laker game, call it what you want, say what you want. But I think we're doing a better job of defending without fouling. For instance, Joel Embiid to have 2 free throw attempts tonight. Like Joel Embiid, if I'm not mistaken, leads the league in free throw attempts. And— Draymond Green, for obvious reasons, he's impossible to stop. And so, however, it's not always on the guy that's guarding Joel that fouls, it's sometimes on the, a lot of times on the guys who come double team because you come and you reach and Joel is a master at that and he's gonna draw the foul. And so I think we did a good job, not just myself, but a good job overall as a team of swarming the ball defender without fouling. And trying to make him work for his buckets. And overall, I think it ended up being job well done by our team. And saying that, you can play that same defense, Joel can go for 70. But as a defender, your only job and goal is to just make him take tough contested shots. And you live with the results. Great players are great players for a reason. They make tough shots. They see every defensive scheme. That you can throw out there at them. They've seen everyone, known the man. And so it's just a matter of trying to make them take tough shots and live with the results. And our results was pretty good for us tonight. Joel Embiid left the game tonight with an injury. Number one, prayers up. Hope it's not bad. We know one of the stars and bright spots in this league, MVP, well on his way to a back-to-back MVP.

Yeah.

Which leads us to our next conversation, which is Joel playing tonight felt very much so because of the 65-game limit that we actually talked about once before on the pod. And in talking about that on the pod, I actually, I don't remember what I said verbatim, but I remember the gist of what I said, which was something along the lines of, Everybody's happy with this 65-game rule until you got a bum on NBA, All-NBA team. Until you got somebody that's not totally deserving to be the MVP of the league because someone else didn't qualify before the game because of this game limit. Now, what I think is actually quite bullshit myself is to incorporate something At this point, a rule like 65 games need to be played in order to win an MVP or Defensive Player of the Year, All-NBA. Guys didn't face those rules before, but those same NBA, All-NBA teams, those same MVP awards list, Defensive Player of the Year, those same, those lists are the same.

Like.

When the guys who win those awards this year pop up on the list that they'll be added to, or once again, it won't say, and by the way, they reached a 65-game limit to make that. Like, it's bullshit. Like, that hasn't been a rule. So essentially to make guys live up to a certain standard that wasn't the standard before to make these teams, but yet you only go on the same team, there's no added bonus. No added incentive for these things. So you end up on the same list as the guys who back in the day played and may not have played 65 games, but still made the list. I told y'all, I once lost a Defensive Player of the Year award to Kawhi Leonard, and I think he played 51 games. So whoever wins Defensive Player of the Year this year, it isn't gonna say, "But he played 65 games." That's bullshit. And so in turn, You get Joel who comes out there tonight because what, he's 3 games away from not qualifying to win MVP and he forces it. And Freak played with him and JK diving for the ball. But maybe it's not as bad if the knee isn't already banged up, right? And so now because, you know, Yeah, like Joel, I get it. Like, yeah, you wanna win MVP. You worked that hard, put the work in that he's put in to get better and continue to play at that level on a nightly basis. Of course you wanna win MVP. So yeah, you force it, you get out there and you put yourself in harm's way. And then Joel Embiid is hurt now. Now again, prayers up for Joel. As we hope it's not something too serious, but is that the goal? Is the goal putting people in harm's way just so they can qualify for an award? 'Cause I don't think that was the goal. Like, this man's actually dealing with an injury. Like, so again, because you're dealing with injuries for stretches of the season, you don't qualify? So I don't know, man. I don't think it's right. I think it's a tough rule to implement because like we travel crazy, we play a bunch of games. The speed of the NBA game today is totally different than it ever was before. Yeah. All of a sudden you seeing hamstring, a lot more hamstring injuries, calf injuries, soft tissue injuries, all these different things, knees. And you got guys forcing it to get back so they can qualify. Because guess what? These awards are very much so attached to the amount of money that you can make. They're very much so attached to that.

Yeah.

So it's gonna be interesting. You got a lot of NBA owners making huge investments into players and we're just throwing guys out there banged up just to meet these requirements. See Tyrese Halliburton came back tonight, probably forced his way back a little bit earlier, not long ago because he seen that those numbers start to creep up and guess what he did? Went out for what, another 4 or 5 games before he came back tonight? So it's gonna get really interesting when you got these owners making, these owners of these teams making these huge investments into players and yet you gotta throw them in harm's way just because there's a 65-game limit. Like we all know when somebody's egregiously just sitting and the difference when somebody's actually hurting. So if you don't have a core base of voters that can identify that, then maybe they shouldn't have a vote. Like, if you can't identify that, man, this guy's just been taking games off and taking games off and not giving, then just simply don't vote for him. Because it is in the hands of the voters, right? So then just simply don't vote. But to throw guys in harm's way, I don't really bang with it. And now we got one of our— Draymond Green. Premier faces in this league, the MVP of our league, possibly hurt for an extended period of time because he's forcing it. Because yeah, of course he should be in the running for MVP. Damn right he should. And so I think it's whack. I get what people was trying to get at, but you got a lot of people making these rules that don't know how it feel to play it back to back. That don't know how it feel to play a third game in 4 nights. That don't know how it feel to play 5 in 7. But aside from knowing how it feels to actually compete in that amount of games, because I know people say, "Oh, that's your job." Number 1, you take sick days and don't, and then go to work the next day. So shut up, we don't want to hear it. But number 2, Again, when guys are actually hurt, it's a real thing. There was no debate that Joel Embiid was hurt tonight. I don't think anybody, that's up for debate for anyone. And then you have something like that happen, right? Like, I don't think it's right. I disagree with it and It'll be interesting to see how far this thing goes because all of a sudden one of our main guys in this league, one of the faces of our league is out forcing it to try and it ain't so great now. So we shall see. But as I said before, wishing the best to Joel, prayers up. Hope to see him back on the court soon and hopefully it's nothing too serious. In other news, in Jonathan Kuminga is a star, man. That young fella is a stud. Getting to the basket at will, finishing with the best of 'em, getting to his spots. Nobody stopping him from getting to his spots. Showing you the promise that we've all believed is there. He's stepping into that now. He's playing a big role on this team now. And that's not changing. No time soon. Uh, he's been very dominant. Uh, had 25 and 7 over the last 7. I think he had 26 tonight. Um, and if I'm not mistaken, that's 7 straight games of over 20 points. And it's, it's a dominant 20. Like, you, you notice it. It ain't just like he just coming up with 20 and you like, oh, I didn't know. No, you noticing him dominate. And you know, JK had a comment where he's, you know, a few comments earlier in the year where he said, "I don't know my role. I don't know this, I don't know that, blah, blah, blah." And what I will say to the young fellas is, if you're ever gonna go out on a limb and say something, you gotta back it up the way JK doing it. The way he's playing has been amazing. I told him the other day, I was like, "Well, you should enjoy your last All-Star break. From now on, you gonna be at All-Star Weekend." But I mean, he is, JK is such a special talent. You know, getting downhill to what, the pressure that he puts on the rim is hard for any defense. Togar, and it's been special to watch. It's been a joy to watch him over the last 3 years now, continue to grow and grow and put the work in and grow. And regardless of what has come in front of him, sometimes minutes not being consistent, that's all a part of it. That's a part of this league, especially when you come on a team like he came on. That is a part of it. But he stayed the course. He continued to put the work in. A lot of credit to that young fella. Mm-hmm. Him and AV puts a lot of work in, lot of work in, watch a lot of film. And to see it paying off for him, that's what you hope. You know, you start to see guys in their third years. I was talking about it in my press conference earlier. I said to the guys one day like, man, we had guys who were a little older than us that was a part of the runs that we went on. You know, me, Steph, and Klay, pretty young. Yeah. "They riding our legs, they using us. Y'all got them young legs, go." And now as those tables are flipping, and now we're kind of the elder statesmen, you hope that you get young guys that you can now use their legs some. And J.K. is showing exactly what that maturation process should look like. Like, "All right, you guys have held the torch." Not that we're not still doing it, but you can trust me to take some of that responsibility off y'all backs. You can trust me in doing that. And he's playing great basketball and I love to see it. Love to see it. Tell him, ain't nobody can stop you. I watch, I'm watching, I see it. There's nobody that can stop you. Go at him, go at everybody, why not? It's incredible to watch. So keep going, young fella. I love to see it. Love to see it. Keep on going. Wiggs is playing a lot better basketball, which has been great to see. A lot of people doubting him. You should trade him. You should do this. Starting to look like two-way Wiggs again. And we love it. And it's coming at a good time. You know, you want to roll into this— We're soon to start a 5-game road trip., but you wanna roll into that All-Star break strong. So you roll into it and then you roll out of it strong, you know? And that's the goal for us. Obviously sitting here at 20-24, we don't have many games to give away. We've lost a lot of close games, including the one the other night against the Lakers, which was a great game, fun game to play in as always. You know, a game that I thought we should have won for sure, yet we let it get away. But you know, the Lakers is one of those teams where I feel like us, like on any given night, they can beat anybody in the league, can compete with anybody, no problem. And then sometimes you kind of have these letdowns and that's kind of been the story of our season as well. So, but shout out to Wiggs, shout out to JK, them young boys playing well. BP, young fella BP. Number one, congratulations to the young fella BP on being a rising star in this league. You know, it's beautiful to see. Job well done and well deserved. He's been playing his butt off all year, doing all the stuff, all the little things. And it's been a joy to watch. And you love to see guys who doing all the work, doing the little things, putting the work in, get rewarded. Be rewarded. I think my only message to the young fella is I've seen a lot of guys make that game and never make an All-Star Game. So make sure that that's a stepping stone and make sure that's, make sure that that is a sign of what's to come and not a sign of what has been. You see so many guys, I never made a, a Rising Stars game, didn't make it. But I know guys that was in both of the Rising Stars games that I could make it, that's never been an All-Star, hasn't come close. And so you make sure that that's a stepping stone and not a thing of the past. And I know the way that BP works, it will be, but just make sure you continue to grow. But congratulations, young fella. And not just to BP, all the young fellas out there, 'cause that message is to you too. I am one that support all the young guys. I wanna see this league continue to grow. And the growth is in the hands of the young fellas. And so that's to all the young fellas out there, congratulations. Keep going, keep getting better, keep putting the work in. But don't look at that and think, "Ah, I made it." That don't mean nothing.

No.

Nobody in 3 years remember who was in the Rising Stars Game. I know guys that was in the Rising Stars Game 3 years ago that ain't in the NBA no more. So to all the young fellas out there, keep it pushing. Congratulations, appreciate it, love it, enjoy it, embrace it. But know, when it's all said and done, that don't mean nothing. Ain't nobody gonna put on your resume, "Oh, he was a 2-time rising star." No, were you an all-star or not? And so make sure that that's the next step, young fellas. BP also called himself a young Draymond. I've been told that Steph laughed. What are my thoughts on that? I get it. Like, I understand exactly what he's saying. Somebody that's gonna do the little things, somebody that's gonna do the dirty work, somebody who reads and sees the game for what it is. You know, everybody can't read and see the game, so I get it. Can't say that we quite look like twins. Can't quite say that. But no, I get it. And honestly, I appreciate the compliment, you know, because that's saying that you think highly of me and you can only hope that your young guys that you're trying to show the way respect you and think highly of you and wanna be some sort of you, you know, some version of you. And so that means a lot to me. And it just means also that I need to continue to be better and better, a better leader, you know, continue to give him something to follow, something to aim for, and setting the example so he know exactly how to do it. So funny that Steph laugh, but I can definitely appreciate it. And he does do a lot of those little things. As I said before, we are embarking on a 5-game road trip. We always talk about getting the getaway gang. We obviously got that. That tonight. And now this road trip is big for us. I think it's starting off in Memphis, Atlanta, Brooklyn, Philly, Indy. Never easy road trip when you're headed east for that amount of game. I think you always wanna try to get off to a good start though. It's starting off on a back-to-back. Those are never easy. But if we can start this road trip off with a win in Memphis and a win in Atlanta, it sets up this road trip nicely for us. And it's a huge road trip. I said we're, we're headed out on this road trip. 4 games under .500. We came back, we can't come back more than 4 games under .500. So it's a big road trip for us at a crucial point in the season. We obviously all know that the trade deadline is, um, about a week away, 8 or 9 days away, the trade deadline. So, uh, started getting off to a good start on this road trip is very important for us. Uh, very important on how the team is going to look post-February 8th. And I think, you know, for us, that's motivation. And yet it's an opportunity to continue to grow and show growth and make sure that we're trending in the right direction when February 8th does roll around. Because that trade deadline can get a little treacherous. You either keep your phone on or turn it off, but whether you turn it off or keep it on, whatever's gonna happen is gonna happen. So for us, this is a big road trip and we gotta make sure that we approach it the right way, try to string some, wins together. It would be lovely to go 5-0 on this road trip. Always a tough thing to do with 2 back-to-backs especially. But in saying that, we've let some games get away that we shouldn't have and weren't supposed to. So you gotta go win some games that you maybe shouldn't win or not supposed to. And that's just the nature of the league that we play in. And that is also the nature of the position that we're in. So looking forward to going on this road trip. It's a big one for us, as I said. Hopefully the dubs will come out the way we should come out and the way we want to come out. Before we get out of here, a couple more topics. Um, I'm gonna say this, this, uh, this best one for last, but I'm gonna just go into, uh, the All-Star starters was announced. Um, East All-Star: Damian Lillard, Tyrese Halliburton, JT, Jason Tatum, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Big Joel Embiid. MVP. For the West, you got Shaq Gildress-Alexander, Luka Dončić, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, and Nikola Jokić. Something glaringly noticeable there, Steph Curry not starting in the All-Star Game for the first time in 9 healthy seasons.

Um.

And the question is, should the All-Star Game be positionless? Or is it good to keep positions? Quite frankly, if I'm honest, the question comes up at an interesting time because where, where basketball for a great period of time went positionless, I actually think you're starting to get back to a space. Like I think some of the change of the NBA is you're actually starting to get back to a space of having positions. And so that's kind of one of the things that I've been noticing. You're starting to see more teams play two bigs again. Started to see teams rely on bigs again. Like, and so I think the game is changing and you're kind of getting back to position basketball as opposed to positionless basketball. Quite frankly, that could be because most people couldn't win when it was positionless because we just dominated and you know, I get it. But also, you know, the season kind of goes in waves. I mean, the NBA kind of goes in waves, the style of play, it goes in waves and You know, I think that wave is starting to change. I think it's starting to take a turn. And so that whole question stems from, should Steph Curry be starting or not? Of course I think Steph Curry should be starting. Absolutely. Question is, who do you remove? Do you remove Luka? Do you remove Shay? Both of those guys are having MVP type seasons. The question you also ask, is the fan vote still the way? Um. Because I think that at times can get a little skewed, but it's never a perfect answer, right? Like the media has a say. Sometimes we don't think they know what the hell they're talking about either. Players have a say. Love Thanasis, but 3 people voted for Thanasis to be a starter. And so, I don't know what the right answer is. I honestly don't. You know, you're trying these different things, but Steph Curry is an All-Star starter. Not saying Luka should be removed. I'm not saying Shay should be removed, but Steph Curry is an All-Star starter. Sucks that he's not. Saying that, no chance he misses the All-Star Game as a whole. I've been an All-Star player, All-Star 4 times. One time I wasn't healthy. I didn't start in any of 'em and I don't care. Being an All-Star is being an All-Star. I'll take it. I'm sure Steph will take it. Although Steph is great and he probably is pissed off that he's not starting. It's just a weird thing, right? Like when you started for so long, that's a weird thing to see.

Yeah.

But in saying that, Brother's still gonna be an All-Star, but congratulations to those guys that are starters. You know, we, Jalen Brunson could have been an All-Star starter. Tyrese Maxey could have been an All-Star starter. And yet, you know, there's only 2 guard spots. And so I know a lot of people was shocked that Dame was the starter over those 2 guys. Dame Lillard is Dame Lillard. And the reality is when you're voting, you see the name Damian Lillard or Jaylen Brunson, you're probably gonna lean more towards Damian Lillard just because of the history. Like, if he's right there, it's like if one is right here and one is right here, the person who gets the nod is usually the guy who's done it over and over and over again. Very seldomly do you get the benefit of the doubt the first time. And I'm not sure if Jaylen Brunson has been an All-Star yet. Maybe he was an All-Star last year. Jackson, what we got on that? I kind of think he might've missed it last year. Yeah, I don't think he made, I don't think Jaylen Brunson has ever been an All-Star. So to think—

I don't think he has.

Yeah, so to think that Jaylen Brunson is gonna get the nod over Damian Lillard, it's just not a realistic thing because he's not an All-Star in the minds of people until you are an All-Star. And so sucks, but that's just the way it goes. That's how the cookie crumbles. I know Jalen Brunson will get in his first All-Star game this year and then you can have a different conversation next year. But to just think he's gonna get that nod over Damian Lillard, who's number 1 in the Eastern Conference for the first time in his 12-year career, just not gonna happen. Wishful thinking. No, the Knicks fans wanted it. But next year maybe. But to get, to think you're gonna get that nod the first time, that's just not how it works. And before we get outta here, speaking of Damian Lillard, the Milwaukee Bucks has hired Glenn Doc Rivers. Legend Doc. I saw Doc, I thought Doc was loving that job with ESPN on the sideline doing some reporting, some analyst work. I thought Doc was loving that schedule. He did hot. Back in the grind, Doc. Welcome back. Welcome back, champ. Adrian Griffin out 40 games into his first season as a head coach. I thought it would be tough for Adrian Griffin at the beginning of the season. The first couple games I saw, he subbed someone in for Giannis. Giannis sent the person back to the bench like, ah, get outta here, man. I'm not subbing out yet. That's just not a good tone to set. Says a lot about the respect of your star player and the head coach. And so you can kind of see like, ah, that's not good. And then the defense isn't good. And I think it's tough to blame Adrian Griffin for their defense not being good because I think it's more of a personnel thing. The reality is you traded away, your best perimeter defenders. You traded away Jrue Holiday, you traded away Grayson Allen, and I'm sure I could be missing someone else that you traded away, but those two guys in particular are really good defenders and Jrue is great. So to kind of blame him, and when I say him, I mean Adrian Griffin, for the lack of defense, I think that's a tough thing to do. I think that's very tough to do. Because there's certain challenges that's presented. Like they play a lot of drops with, with Brook and Giannis. When you got Jrue chasing over, Jrue's not screenable. So when you got Jrue chasing over, then it's easier to be in a drop. But when you don't have Jrue chasing over, then that drop looks totally different. All of a sudden guys coming out, dotting your eye. And that's a totally different thing. And so I think it's tough to blame— Draymond Green. That on Adrian Griffin. I also think that's a tough position for Doc to come in under also, because if the, if, if that comes from a lack of, or from personnel, if that's a personnel thing, what's Doc supposed to do? That's a personnel thing. So then you're coming in expected to be the savior and essentially of the defensive unit. I've never known Doc to be the greatest defensive coach in the world. What I have known Doc is to have some offensive sets that'll have you scratching your head like, where was I supposed to be and help on that one? Coming outta time, I was dialing plays up crazier than anyone we've ever seen. That's what I've known Doc for. And so tough circumstance, I think, to come in under. And then you're also coming in on championship and bust. Quite frankly, Doc has been under that since for the last 10, 15 years of his career, championship or bust. So it's not necessarily unfamiliar territory for him, but you're also coming in mid-season and you're expected to turn that thing around like that. I think that's gonna be interesting. I also think it's very interesting. Milwaukee Bucks are paying 3 coaches at once right now. But get your money, fellas. And Doc got that bag. Doc got paid. And man, how old is Doc? Doc gotta be pushing 70, maybe early 60s. I don't wanna age Doc too fast.

By the way, he looks—

62, 62. Okay, so early 60s. To get the money Doc just got at 62, Cali, Jeremiah, Austin, your trust funds just got better 'cause Doc just got broke off something crazy. And I'm happy for you, my brother. Get to that money. And I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of this year plays out. Looking forward to it. I think that's gonna be something that everybody will be watching for. And when you're expected to come in and be the savior, that's a tough spot. But if anybody can handle it, I think Doc can. You cut out for it, champ. We shall see what happens. But until next time, that's a wrap from this episode of the Draymond Green Show. Peace. Peace. Peace.