Warriors Defense Issues, Jeremiah Fears & Luka Doncic Fight, & Draymond November NBA Monthly Awards

In this solo episode of the Draymond Green Show, host Draymond Green opens with a promotional plug for NBA on Prime before diving into a deep analysis of the Golden State Warriors' current struggles. He critiques the team's defensive presence, noting a lack of consistent stops and the need for a true defensive identity. Green outlines the injury barrage affecting the Warriors—Steph Curry’s thigh contusion, J.K. Smith’s return, Al Horford, Trace Jackson‑Davis, and Moses Melton—explaining how each absence impacts rotations and performance. He then explains the Warriors' salary‑cap situation, describing the “second apron” hard cap and how Seth Curry’s prorated veteran‑minimum contract was structured to keep the team under that limit. Green shifts to league‑wide observations, highlighting young talents such as Cooper Flagg, Jalen Durant, and Reece Sheppard, and offers a brief assessment of the Los Angeles Lakers, focusing on Austin Reeves’ all‑star‑level play and the team’s recent success. He defends Joel Embiid’s post‑injury progress, urging fans to give him time to regain confidence after knee surgery. The centerpiece of the episode is the inaugural “Draymond Green Monthly Awards.” Green announces a First Team (Shea Gildress‑Alexander, Cade Cunningham, Austin Reeves, Jalen Johnson, and “Joker”), a Certified Defender of the Month (Chet Holmgren), a Made the Jump Award (Jalen Durant), an Outta Nowhere Award (Reece Sheppard), a Firestarter of the Month (rookie Jeremiah Fears), a Must‑See TV Player of the Month (Shea Gildress‑Alexander), and a KD Just a Hooper Award (Austin Reeves). He explains his selection criteria, noting game counts, team success, and impact. The episode concludes with a call for listener feedback, podcast ratings, and production credits. Overall, the episode blends tactical critique, roster and cap analysis, league‑wide scouting, and a personalized award system, reflecting Green’s perspective as a veteran player‑coach and media personality.
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The NBA on Prime is back this Friday with a spectacular doubleheader. It's Lakers-Celtics followed by Mavs-Thunder. Not a Prime member? Sign up for a 30-day free trial. Coverage starts Friday at 6:30 PM Eastern, only on Prime. Restrictions apply. See amazon.com/amazonprime for details. What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. On today's show, I'll touch on some trending NBA topics before getting into the first ever edition of the monthly Draymond Green Awards. These awards will be a little different than your typical NBA Player of the Month Award. And now the NBA, I think, does a Defensive Player of the Month Award. And I think the NBA does a Rookie of the Month Award. So we will get into that. I'm very excited about these awards because we'll take a different approach. We'll take a different look at it. You know, one award we always talk about in the NBA is the Most Improved Player Award and what that award truly means by the way that it's voted on. It's not quite the most improved player. So we'll get into that, into the awards as well. Then we'll get into my dubs and we will go from there. We'll have a great episode. Let's get into it. First up, we got my dubs. We are 11 and 10. That is a little bit frustrating because I think we have probably completely blown 5 games. And yeah, maybe you blow 1 or 2 games, but even if you blow 1 or 2 games, you're sitting here at 14-7. 15-6. You know, like it, you, you don't, and it's frustrating because, you know, we dug ourselves a hole last year, made the trade for Jimmy, and then, but from that point on, we were in the playoffs forever, you know, because you're fighting an uphill battle. And so with the goal being to not put ourselves back in that position, right? Like, so you're not fighting an uphill battle. Yeah. You're able to possibly focus a little more on the playoffs late in the season as opposed to trying to get to the playoffs late in the season. With that being the goal, it's a little frustrating because you look back on those 5 games that you've blown through 20 games, like they catch up to you and they catch up in the end. You know, when you're talking playoff seeding and you're fighting for position and all those things, that's when those games catch up to you. So it's a bit frustrating. Draymond Green. That we've blown so many games. And the reality is, is at some point you gotta win games that you're not supposed to win to make those games up. Schedule isn't getting any easier. It's gotten easier from a travel standpoint, although we're about to go back on the road after tomorrow night's game. So it's gotten a bit easier from a travel standpoint, but from an NBA standpoint,— it doesn't get any easier. And we're headed east, which is never easy, right? Like, you, you head east, you got the cross-country flight, time zone change, all of those things. That's never easy, you know? And so the schedule isn't quite getting any easier, uh, to where you're just going to walk through the schedule. Like, you got to put together a great stretch of basketball, and I just don't think we've consistently put together great stretches of basketball. Mm-hmm. Or a great stretch of basketball. What I do think is I think we've put together some good spurts. You know, whether that's from game to game, different spurts, whether that's one game play a certain way, then following game play another way. But I just think we've put together, like, we're just playing too many spurts. And in order to win in this league, you have to play as close to 48 good minutes as you can play. And we're just not getting close enough to that. So you look at the Rockets game, for instance, uh, before Thanksgiving, and we were in control of that game for majority of the game, you know. And then, but you can just kind of see, like, you're— when you're not creating separation, you go to 12 and go back to 5, get 11 and go to 4. When you're not creating that separation, you let a team stick around and you get a Reed Shepherd going off. Mm-hmm. You know, and beat you. And it's like, it's been crazy. You know, we've all spoke about, you know, Jimmy and I have been very vocal about our defense, you know, and how we need to be better defensively. And you know, the offensive numbers aren't great, you know, so we definitely have to be better offensively also. But I just think the defense, like the defense is about a presence, you know, like in order to be a great team, you have to have a presence. And that presence is usually built on the defensive end. A team that just scores the basketball, it's not necessarily a team that you really worry about because they don't have that physical presence when it comes to the defensive end to even make you worry about them as a team. And right now, I just think our defense, we haven't had the presence that we need to have as a defense. When you look at our defense, we've given up, career highs to maybe 6 guys this year. Or, and if not career highs, just like these unbelievable games that they shouldn't have quite had. You know, not that they're not good players, but if you're a focused defense, if you're locked in, you're just not giving those things up. You know, Reece Sheppard goes for 31 in the absence of KD, Steven Adams, Tari Eason. Tari Eason. Dorian Finney-Smith still out, he goes for 31. You know, like we have to do a better job of collectively stopping guys that we're supposed to stop. And again, it's not like a disrespectful thing. Like, oh man, Reece Sheppard shouldn't like play well. Like Reece Sheppard's an NBA player, he's a top 5 pick, he should play well. But when I say stop guys that you supposed to stop, everybody's getting double their average. —like, you gotta hold them beneath their average. That's what I mean by stopping the guys you should stop. They shouldn't be getting double their average. This is like, you can't win at the— at the NBA level doing that. And so I think, first and foremost, like, we need to find that presence defensively, collectively. You know, if we can find that presence defensive— defensively, collectively, Because if you look at the win the other night, we played complete dog shit on offense. Shots didn't really go in, but we gave ourselves a chance on the defensive end. And when you give yourself a chance on the defensive end, you always got a chance. You know, it was a tie game, 96-96 maybe or something like that. And we went on a run, 93-93, something of that nature. And we went on a run because we were able to come up with stops. We caused turnovers, we were able to get out and run, get some buckets. And we took control of the game, was able to put the game away. So I think first and foremost, it has to happen on the defensive end for us. If we wanna be any sort of a good team, right now we're 11-10, we're playing 500 basketball. If we wanna be any sort of a good team, it has to happen on the defensive end. Uh, it's good to get JK back out there. Um, He came back in a day where Trace Jackson Davis was out, Al Horford was out, Quentin Post and myself started together. So which left us with no other bigs, if I'm not mistaken. Yes, no other bigs. So in turn, JK played a lot of backup 5 in his minutes because we had no other bigs due to Al being out, the injuries. And Trace Jackson Davis being out. So also another adjustment, obviously Steph's injury, dealing with a deep thigh contusion or something of that nature. Expected to be out about a week. Hopefully we get him back on the practice court soon and we're not without him too long. Pretty sure he'll be out for the OKC game. Yeah. Which is already a tall task in itself. The task gets a lot taller. Nonetheless, we will be looking forward to getting him back. Also on the injury front, getting back, I think Melton is right around the corner. I think he should be back sometime over the next week or two. He's been ramping up over the last few weeks, playing a lot of 5-on-5, playing a lot with the G League team, getting up and down against those guys. While J.K. was coming back from injury, him and Melt played quite a bit. So it'll be great to get Melt back. You know, coming back off an ACL injury, it's obviously gonna take him some time. Hopefully we can speed that up as fast as we can, 'cause I think he's gonna be a great addition to this team just with his shooting ability, with his defensive ability, and then also a secondary ball handler, which is kind of the role that he played last year before he went down with an injury, and it really hurt our team. So— Mm-hmm. Looking forward to getting Melt back. And then last but not least on the Warriors front, Seth Curry signing after. I know everybody was wondering like, man, why Seth Curry hasn't signed? What was the issue with that? And I can share that with you. So we are very close to a second apron team. The second apron is the hard cap that I always talk about that our incredible Players Association agreed to. In a time where league is doing record numbers, we agreed to a hard cap. And in turn, because we agreed to a hard cap, we are very close to that hard cap, aka 2nd April. And so due to that, Seth Curry's contract needed to prorate in order to fit us under, or keep us under the second apron. Because once you go into the second apron, you lose draft picks. It's very hard to improve your team. You lose draft picks. You lose your mid-level biannual exceptions. You lose roster spots. You know, and so when you're operating in that second apron, things just get really tough for you. And— Yeah. There's really no reason to go into the second apron right now. So with that being said, Seth Curry recently just signed and his contract is a veteran minimum contract. But because, you know, he missed some time in the season and he's signing for the rest of the year, that salary will be prorated. It'll be prorated still at the level of what his number would be, except it'll be less because it's not the full season.. And that loophole allows you to fit under, allows our team or our organization to stay under the second apron. And so that is why Steph Curry hasn't signed. Nonetheless, he has signed. It'll be great to have Steph. I'm sure Steph is excited as hell that they finally get to take the court together after 12 years. For those of you who don't remember, Steph Curry was with us his very first training camp in the NBA. Ultimately, ultimately was waived and then spent time in Santa Cruz and built his career from there. And so Seth is back, is great, provides some much needed shooting punch for us. He led the league at almost 46% from 3 last year. We know he shoot the lights out. So that'll be a big help to us as well. But. Hopefully over the next couple weeks we can get fully healthy. You know, that's getting Al back, that's getting Trace back, that's getting Steph back, that's getting Melt back, getting Seth into the flow of things, getting JK back into the flow of things. Hopefully over these next couple weeks we can get healthy and start to gain some ground because you don't wanna get too deep into the season losing these games and then trying to play catch up later. That just wasn't a good recipe for us. And ultimately I think it cost us in the end. Cooper Flagg, second player since LeBron James to score 30 points at 18 years old. He had 35, 8, and 8 versus the Clippers. And everybody's talking as, you know, or questioning or posing the question if he is starting to turn the corner and figure it out. And listen, the reality is with the talent level that Cooper Flagg has, I don't think, you know, it'll be long before he starts to figure it out. I think although against that game versus the Clippers, AD didn't play. I think getting AD back will help him a bit because it's someone that takes the focal point, you know, becomes the focal point of the defense. If you watch AD play versus the Lakers the other day, soon as AD caught the ball, they were sending 2 or 3 guys, you know? And so for Cooper Flagg, you know, if AD's getting doubled, you know, that'll open up the floor for him, you know? And he's not— Yeah. Kind of the main guy on the scouting report, you know? And so I think he will start to find his footing. And as he has, I think, you know, you look at that game versus the Clippers, he did a lot, you know, he did a lot off the dribble, attacking the rim, pulling up, shooting the 3. Like he showed you his full game. Defensively, he was good. He gave you the full arsenal. And you know, I think it was great. You know, the Clippers had some good defenders. There was some possessions that Kawhi was on him. You know, and Kawhi is able to make it, make it a little tougher than a lot of guys can make it, you know. But I think he is starting to figure it out, you know, 20 games in, roughly 20 games into his rookie season. Uh, not quite playing the point guard anymore, which I stated on, on the show before. I just think him playing the point guard, it's, it's not comfortable. It's not, not his position. You're also trying to set an offense. So if you have no one setting the offense, that's making the, the game even tougher for you. And so I, I, you know, I think he's starting to find his way. He's starting to get back to his natural position. And I think, you know, he'll continue to get better and better. But, you know, it's good to see the young fella have a game like that, you know, where you get to get, get the opportunity to really see him tapping into the potential that everyone knows that he has. You know, and I think, you know, as the season rolls, he'll continue to get better and better. Draymond Green put himself back, right back in at the top of that Rookie of the Year conversation. And he's also figuring out that Klay Thompson is on his team and Klay Thompson can really help you out if you get him going and knocking shots down. What it does to a defense, it really opens up the floor. Klay got it going there in that, in that, in that game versus the Clippers. And all of a sudden Cooper Flax getting downhill and getting dunks at the rim. Right? So it's incredible what some floor spacing will do for you. And I think for him, he's starting to learn and figure out those pieces. And I think that's also a part of when you say, is he figuring it out? Is he turning the corner? I think those things are a big part of it. Lakers beat the Pelicans last night and are now 15-4, only behind OKC in the West. Earlier this year, I spoke about the Lakers being one of the teams that's gonna be extremely tough to beat. They're playing some good basketball. Luka's obviously playing at an MVP level. They're just getting Bron back, who's playing a great role for them. Austin Reeves is playing at an all-star level, and DeAndre Ayton has been playing really good basketball. And so with the makeup of, you know, with, you know, the play of those guys, they've been extremely, Extremely competitive. Um, very good, very dominant. And Austin Reeves has taken another leap. Uh, he had 33, 5 boards, and 8 assists last night. Uh, he is playing at an all-star level. He is playing like a true second option. I think, um, what gets interesting for this team is, uh, Austin, as great a basketball as he's playing, and I know he continues to get better and better. Mm-hmm. What it's going to boil down to for this team ultimately is he's had a rough go in the playoffs. Last year against Minnesota, I know it was a little rough on him. And when you get into the playoffs, you know, you're drawing that, the defenders that you're drawing is no longer, you know, it's usually the first or second best defender. I think last year in their series, Ant-Man guarded him, you know, and Ant is a really good defender, you know. And when Ant wasn't on the floor, Jaden McDaniels would guard him, you know? So you're gonna have top level defenders guarding him. And I think he's starting to see more of that now. Although he'll usually always draw at least the second best defender because you got Luka out there. Nonetheless, when Luka wasn't out there, he was still putting up those numbers. So make no mistake about it, not taking anything away from AR. He's played some great basketball, continues to get better and better. Yeah. I love to see when a guy just works on their game and continue to improve. You know, it's true sign that they love what they're doing, you know, and I can respect that. And so Lakers playing some great basketball, man. And like I said, they got, you know, getting Bron back who's playing an obvious role, you know, but yet knowing that at any point he can just turn it up and go off, you know? And so I think having that, it'll be interesting to see like, playoffs are a year away, right? But in the playoffs, if someone's able to give Austin Reeves a tough time, how does Bron incorporate himself in that to become that second option, which he hasn't been thus far in the season, nor has he needed to be. And so I find that, you know, interesting. You know, a lot of people spoke about, oh man, Bron ain't gonna fit on this team. How he gonna— Yeah. Fit in, you know, and the role that he's playing, I think fits perfect. So it's been interesting to watch. Keep an eye on the Lakers, but they're playing some great basketball. And lastly, around the association, before we move into our monthly awards, just, I know there's been a lot of talk on Embiid and how he looks and what's the future of his career. And one thing I will remind people of is this, you know, a lot of people said he looks like a shell of himself and et cetera. What I remind you of is this. He missed the majority of last year with a knee injury. A knee injury that wasn't just injured last year, but has been bothering him and been an issue over the course of time. He needed surgery on that knee injury. He's been working his way back from that. Missed the beginning of the season and then just got back from a knee injury. And I find it a little unfair that everyone's like, oh man, he's a shell of himself. You know, he's not the player he once was. Again, he's coming off a knee injury. That takes time. Oftentimes when guys are coming off knee injuries, it's sometimes more the mental than the physical. You know, it's gaining the belief in, oh, I can jump, I can explode fast. It is all right to push off. It is all right to go. You know, it's the mental barrier that a lot of guys has to get over when coming back from these injuries. And I just think because we know Embiid has been hurt, everybody's like, oh, it's over, he's done. Because he's working himself back right now. He's working himself back into shape. You know, he's getting his timing back. He's getting his explosiveness back. So when you talk about the future of his career, I still think he's special. Yeah. I do think it's gonna take him some time to get there. You know, like, and so I was just saying to people like, have some grace. Like, it takes some time when you're rehabbing from these injuries. It's hard to just, you know, somebody MB's size coming off a knee injury, the way he play and just jumping back into it and like getting right back to it. That's tough. And it takes some time. So I would just say to people like, have some grace, let it play out. So oftentimes I think people put their foot in their mouth because they jump to conclusions too fast. So everybody wanna jump to conclusion like, "Oh man, he's done. He can't move no more." He ain't not moving great right now, but not many people their first 2 weeks back off a knee surgery is moving great. And that takes time to get that. And over the course of the season, I think that'll come. So as I said, Just have a little grace for the big fella. He still is who he is. And I think, you know, as this season go on, everybody will see that. Coming up next after the break, I am excited to present to you the first edition of the monthly Draymond Green Awards. Right back after this. Hey, Draymond here. The NBA on Prime is back this Friday with another great doubleheader. The action starts with one of the best rivalries in sports, as Luka Dončić and the Los Angeles Lakers face Draymond Green and the Boston Celtics. Then Cooper Flagg and the Dallas Mavericks meet SGA and the Oklahoma City Thunder. And if you're not a Prime member, that's not a problem. Sign up for a 30-day free trial to get started today. The Mavericks and Thunder, man, those matchups are crazy. You're getting offense, defense, stars everywhere. This is must-watch basketball. Coverage starts Friday at 6:30 PM Eastern, only on Prime. Restrictions apply. See amazon.com/amazonprime for details. Yeah. As promised, we will get into the first edition of the Draymond Green Monthly Awards, uh, moving around the NBA. And first off, we will start with our first team. Um, first team, I— it's been a very tough decision because there's been a bunch of guys that— I think have played at a very— not a bunch of guys, but a few more guys that I think have played at a very, very high level. Um, but unfortunately it's only 5 spots. First up on our first team, we got the reigning MVP, the point guard of the best team in the NBA, uh, sitting at 20-1. He's averaging 33 points a game with sitting about half of his team's fourth quarters. That's none other than Shea Gildress-Alexander. His first on our— this is the first pick on our first team. Secondly, we have Cade Cunningham. The Pistons are riding hot. They're number one in the East. Cade's playing great basketball. He's off to an incredible start. The Pistons are playing absolutely incredible. So I think Cade definitely deserves a spot on the first team. Third spot on our first team is Austin Reeves. Austin Reeves is averaging almost 29 points a game. He's averaging 7 assists a game and he's averaging 6 rebounds a game. I think he's played incredibly well. Uh, even when Luka missed his games, Austin continued to play well. He carried them to big time wins. I think Austin Reeves is deserving of a first team spot. This past month. Our fourth spot will go to the young fella out of Atlanta who's been carrying the load since Trae Young went out. He's playing incredible basketball. Jalen Johnson, who I thought was gonna be an All-Star last year, got hurt. He would definitely be a, a lock for All-Star this year. And I think he deserves a spot on the first team. And lastly, on the first team for the month, is none other than the Joker. Joker's been playing incredible. He's back at that MVP level, probably leading it right now if you ask most people. But Joker is doing what Joker does. Joker has people coming out making statements saying he may be the greatest player ever. That's how well he's playing. Well deserved. As our first team goes, guys that did not make the cut, Steph didn't make the cut, Giannis didn't make the cut, Wimby didn't make the cut, Luka didn't make the cut. The reason those guys didn't make the cut, now there would've been arguments arguments, right? Like, we only have 5 spots, so I'm, you know, you still have to figure out who goes if one of these guys were, but I did not put either one of those 4 guys in because they have all missed 4 or 5 games. And if you miss 4 or 5 games thus far through 20 games, that puts you on a pace of 60 games. Yeah. And that doesn't allow you to make any teams. So because they're on that pace, it's not that they haven't— it's not that they haven't played to the level. All those guys have played to the level. Tyrese Maxey has also played at a very elite level. And the reason I went with Jalen Johnson over Tyrese Maxey is because their record is better. He's leading to more wins and he's playing at the level that he's playing at. That's why I went Jalen Johnson over Tyrese Maxey. But make no mistake about it. Mm-hmm. Tyrese Maxey is deserving as well. However, back to Steph, Giannis, Wimby, and Luka. Um, all of those guys has missed 4 or more games. And I just think at this point in the season, if you've missed 4 or more games, it's tough to put guys on this first team. So that's why, uh, those guys aren't on there. Nonetheless, I think all these guys that we're talking about are playing incredible basketball. But to sum it up, our first team right now is SGA, K Cunningham, Austin Reeves, Joker and Jalen Johnson. And for my DG Certified Defender of the Month, this will go to the guy who I think is having the best month defensively. Obviously your team must be playing great. You, you will not get awards here if your team is not playing great. That's just not how this goes. I think they go hand in hand. And with the Defender of the Month, I am going to go with Chet Holmgren. I think Chet's playing at an all-star level. Chet's been playing incredible defensively. Their defense is smothering. Um, absolutely incredible defense that OKC has, and Chet has been the anchor of that defense. Uh, another guy who I really considered here, uh, was Amen Thompson, uh, playing absolutely incredible basketball. I think he will continue to make a push for it, and I think he will have some months where he is the Defender of the Month. Mm-hmm. On the Draymond Green show, however, with the dominance that OKC has had and Chet being right in the center of that on the defensive end, who I think right now is an early favorite for Defensive Player of the Year, my DG Certified Defender of the Month will go to Chet Holmgren. And slightly outside of that pick is Iman Thompson. Wemby would also be in the race here, but it goes back to the same thing. Wemby, I don't think has, you know, I think he's missed too many games up until this point. I think Wemby's only played 12 games. So he's missed too many games to make the cut. So, you know, we've always talked about Wemby and Chet and those guys rising together. And then people kind of stopped talking about it and Chet is saying, hey man, don't forget about me over here. I'm the champion over here, by the way. So Chet's making his case. I respect it. Those— that is the Certified Defender of the Month. Now it gets interesting. So we always discuss, uh, the Most Improved Player Award, and the Most Improved Player Award, I think, usually goes to a young superstar that is finally playing like a superstar, and I just don't think that's fair. And so with that being said, uh, we have broken it down into two awards. We've broken it down to the Made the Jump Award, a good player who is now really good. And we've made it the Outta Nowhere Award, a bench guy who's now a real contributor. Made the Jump Award, a good player who is now really good. I'm gonna go Jalen Durant. Jalen Durant is playing incredible basketball. You know, he didn't get the contract he wanted coming into the season. And because of that, you know, I think he's motivated. He's had the ball in his hands more. He's shooting mid-range. He's taking guys off the dribble. He's playing incredible defensively. Incredible defensively and the Detroit Pistons are following that and they're playing incredible. So I'm going to go with Jaylen Duran as the guy who I think is a good player that's, that's taken another jump, made the jump. And the Outta Nowhere Award, which is the bench guy who's now come become a real contributor. I'm going to go with Reece Sheppard. I think Reece Sheppard is playing incredible basketball. Reece Sheppard, who I think, you know, when we're talking about this award, Ideally, in most cases, it won't go to a top pick. However, I think coming outta last year, everybody thought Reed Sheppard was gonna be a bum, that he would not live up to the hype of the 4th pick. And right now, I don't even think it's about living up to the hype of the 4th pick. I think it's about contributing in a winning way. And I think he's contributing in a winning way, especially with the circumstances, right? Like you get Fred VanVleet go out with an ACL injury for the year. And you know, he hasn't started, he's still coming off the bench, but he's playing incredible. Averaging 13, 14 points a game. Like I said, after last year of nobody expecting, like I don't think many people came away from last year like, man, we think Reece Sheppard's really gonna put it together. And I think Reece Sheppard's putting it together. Another guy I really consider here is AJ Mitchell from OKC. I think he's been incredible. The only reason I didn't go with AJ Mitchell, I think he started, more games than I'd like, uh, for someone who's coming off the bench and being a real contributor. Nonetheless, he's playing incredible basketball and he has come out of nowhere. I also think his contributions will take a, a little bit of a hit with J Dub coming back. Nonetheless, AJ Mitchell's been incredible. Uh, was really in consideration here. I decided to go with Reece Sheppard. for the reasons that I stated. For our next award, it is a unlikely award, but one that I think is very fitting for me to have and one that I like. Like, I think you need those in the NBA. And this is our Firestarter of the Month Award. And for our Firestarter of the Month, this will be a guy who's always in shit, who's starting shit, who's— Draymond Green. His teammates getting shitty, he's in the middle of it. Like, you know, you will have these throughout the course of the season. And I think my fire starter of the month is none other than the rookie Jeremiah Fears. Jeremiah Fears is in something every night. I had an opportunity to go to dinner with Loon when we played New Orleans in New Orleans and was just talking to him about their young guys, asking different questions. And Loon told me, he said, man, Fears get into it with somebody every night. Like— Yeah. Fear's gone, he looking for an argument, he gonna start some shit. And, uh, and, and, and every night he get into something. Luka came and I'll lock him after the game. He said, I told you, Fear is every night. You look at him the very following night, he get into it with Luka. After he gets into it with Luka and has one tech, he's sitting at the free throw line pushing Rui's hip. Rui pushes him, he's about to walk up to him like— So Jeremiah Fears is our Firestarter of the Month. This award will be a fun one for me because who knows, I have no plans on ending up in this category at all this year, but who knows where it goes. Nonetheless, Jeremiah Fears took that one and there is no second place. Our must-see TV player of the month. I think this award, you know, this award, it just goes to the guy who's playing at an elite level, who you must watch on TV. Like, you gotta see it. We, like, they putting the butts in the stands. They're playing at the MVP level. Steph Curry, I think, is always in the running for the must-see TV player of the month because you just never know what's gonna happen. And I think Steph was very fitting for the must-see TV player of the month. Unfortunately, I just don't think we won enough games and you must be consistent with winning. And so I can't go with Steph here and I have to go with Shea Gildress-Alexander here. Shea Gildress-Alexander, like I said, he's averaging over 30 points and he's not playing fourth quarters. That mean he getting to it, he getting to it fast and he done, the night's over. That is must-see TV. That is elite. That's old Golden State Warriors-esque. I respect it. I love it. Steph obviously didn't make the cut due to games played and we haven't won enough. Must-see TV player of the month, none other than the SGA. And then lastly, our last award is the KD. It's just the Hooper Award. Like you just hooping, you getting to it any type of way you want to get to it. KD Just Hooper Award. And that award for me is going to Austin Reeves. I think Austin Reeves, like you talking about just hooping no matter the circumstance, Bron out there, not out there, Luka out there, not out there. Don't matter. The KD Just a Hooper Award for the month goes to Austin Reeves, who's been lights out. He just hooping. That's how KD do it. KD Love Hoop. Y'all know I got the utmost respect for KD. That will be the award here. And the very first annual one goes to Austin Reeves, who lighting it up, who said that contract that I want, I'm going to take it. And if the Lakers won't give it to me, I'm going to get that contract. And I'm gonna make sure everybody know that that's what I'm coming for. Austin Reeves is our The KD Just a Hooper Award of the month. We will do these awards every month. If there are some awards that you think should be added, some categories that you think should be added, this is not finalized yet. We can still add an award or two going into next month. Next month they will be finalized though. So if you think there should be some other awards, you can let me know at draymondgreen@audacy.com. Let us know what you think. About the awards. Let us know what you think can be added, should be added. As you know, you make this show. We do this for you. We appreciate you. You will always have input. We love you. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, and I appreciate you all tuning in again to the Draymond Green Show. Till next time, that's a wrap. Deuces. If you're rocking with the Draymond Green Show, be sure to click follow on your favorite podcast app. And while you're there, go ahead and drop a 5-star rating and leave a review. I wanna hear what you think. And it would also mean a ton to me if you share it with a friend that you think would enjoy it. Let's keep this thing growing. The Draymond Green Show is presented by Audacy and executive produced in conjunction with The New Media. Our executive producers are Leah Reese Dennis, Danny Freisinger, and Greg Hosman. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
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