In this monologue from the Draymond Green Show, Draymond Green previews the upcoming Western Conference Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Dallas Mavericks. He lauds Luka Dončić’s scoring talent and his claim that the NBA is easier to score in than overseas leagues, highlights the rise of Jalen Brunson and the defensive prowess of Dorian Finney‑Smith, and praises the Mavericks’ roster moves orchestrated by GM Nico Harrison, especially the Spencer Dinwiddie trade and retaining Kristaps Porziņģis. Green emphasizes the Warriors’ need to cut turnovers—admitting his own turnover issues—to improve transition defense and generate better scoring opportunities. He looks forward to the strategic “chess match” between coaches Steve Kerr and Jason Kidd and predicts that the Warriors will ultimately win the series.
Chapters
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. And moving forward, Dallas and the Dubs meet in the conference finals. Extremely excited about this, as I said. Definitely gonna be a tough matchup anytime you're playing against a guy like Luka Dončić. You know, he can control the tempo of games. He gets whatever shot he wants. He gets other guys involved. Just an incredible, incredible, incredible, absolutely incredible talent. He, you know, and he's been that way since he walked into the NBA. I remember when he first came into the NBA and he said, "It's easier to score in the NBA than it is overseas." And everybody, I know guys were like, "Wow, he's outta his mind. Is he crazy? This the NBA." And when he said it, I understood what he was saying. Like, and what he was saying is like, there's so much more space on an NBA floor. And overseas they pack the paint, they play from the outside in. Whereas the NBA, everybody's trying to take the 3 away. And so Luka's like, "It's way easier to score here." And I knew, I knew and understood exactly what he was talking about. I keep up with overseas basketball. One of my closest friends, Draymond Green, plays overseas, is having a great career over there. And I just pay attention to the game and it's just so much bigger. You get away with playing two huge bigs, like logs overseas. And it's just not that way in the NBA. And so I knew what he was talking about and he's proven what he said was true. 'Cause the way he scores the basketball is absolutely incredible. Jalen Brunson has been playing absolutely amazing. He's earned himself a nice payday coming up this summer, but he's taking that next step. You know, he was kind of coming off the bench and role player and he's taking that next step to starter and legit number 2. Option for those guys. And so gotta guard Jalen Brunson. He's huge. He takes advantage of smaller guys. You know, he kind of plays an old school game, doesn't make many mistakes. So Jalen Brunson will be big for them. And then they have those guys shooting the ball. Dorian Finney-Smith, who's an incredible defender. I've raved about his improvement. And even when he got his contract here, I spoke about that and just how much, how deserving he was. And he's continued to show that. The pickup they had with Reggie, Reggie Bullock and how he's defending and shooting the 3. What Niko Harrison has done in coming in his first year and building this team, building that coaching staff with Jason Kidd and the gym that no one talks about, Jared Dudley. I mean, Niko has done an incredible job and, you know, they pulling the trade with Spencer Dinwiddie. You know, no one would have gotten rid of Porzingis. You just— People don't do that in the NBA. Nico, I'm sure— I, I know Nico. I've, I've went up, up against Nico in negotiations when Nico was an executive at Nike, and Nico will make tough calls. Like, Nico is not a guy that won't make tough calls. And when I, when I look at that Spencer Dinwiddie trade with, uh, Christophs Porzingis, no one would have done that. And I am certain that that was a Nico Harrison call because I, I just I know the type of negotiator he is. I know he's not the type of guy that won't swing for the fences and stand on what he believes in. And I just don't think that's a move someone else would've made. I definitely think that's a Nico Harrison move. And Spencer Dinwiddie has shown how big of a move that was, not only in these playoffs, but the remainder of that regular season. And so, you know, when he played well, they tend to win. Maxie Claber, who's shooting the ball well, Dwight Powell, who starts the game for them, Draymond Green's been playing a lot more in this series, but all of those guys matter. And so, you know, they found Frank Nilikina, Nilikina has found himself a home and he's defending for those guys. And so, you know, that's a really good team. It's going to be a tough matchup for us. I think one thing we know we have to do is get our turnovers down. Those guys will feed off of turnovers. And, you know, that's something that, moving forward, we need to correct. And so that'll be a big deal for us because that allows us not only to get good looks and more looks at the rim, but it allows us to set our defense. And anytime you're playing against a set defense, it's just much harder than when you're playing in transition. And that's what we've allowed the Memphis Grizzlies to do, even some with the Denver Nuggets. They're just getting out in transition against us for turning the ball over. So we definitely have to take better care of the ball. And that'll be probably key number one on the offensive end for us is taking care of the ball. So if we can correct that issue, which I have no doubt in my mind that we can, I am the main one. I need to correct it myself. I've been, I think I may have had 4 or more turnovers in each game in the Memphis series. So I have to correct that issue as the rest of us do as well. But it starts with me. Yeah. And I will be better in that area. And I think that'll allow for us to be better as a team. Um, but I'm expecting a tough series. Uh, you got two great coaches, Coach Kerr and, and J-Kidd going up against each other. I'm looking forward to the chess matches, uh, the chess matches on the court against their guys. Like, that's all fun. And so looking forward to that. Dubs, Dallas in the East and the Western Conference Finals. And who's my prediction? My prediction for that For that matchup, it's the Dubs, of course. Of course. Draymond Green.
