Draymond Green breaks down the MVP race, defending Nikola Jokic against stat-padding accusations and arguing Jayson Tatum deserves more respect for his defense and willingness to defer to Jaylen Brown. He criticizes mainstream media for lazy analysis instead of real game breakdown.
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JJ Redick and Kendrick Perkins, the new media member, JJ Redick and Kendrick Perkins had a little back and forth on First Take the other day. Now, quite frankly, I didn't see it, but I saw the clip on Twitter and I thought it was very interesting. I thought it was very interesting because of a few reasons. Number one, it was over the MVP debate, which I think is a very interesting debate, which I also think No one has solidified yet. I think Joker is right there in the running. I think Giannis is right there in the running. I think Joel is right there in the running. I think if it's ever been as close a race, it's this year. Race has been extremely close and I think it's still to be decided. I don't think, we're 66 games in. I'm not sure how many games in those teams are. They're somewhere between 63 and 67 or 68, I'm sure. And even at that number of games, for those of you who don't know, we play 82 games in the NBA. Even at that amount of games, I am still not sure that the MVP race has been decided. Who's also right up in that race is Jayson Tatum. I know quite frankly he's not placed there a bunch, but here's why Jayson Tatum is in that race for me. Jason Tatum's performance has been absolutely incredible. What you must understand is, and the reason, like, why you can't always just pay attention to stats, Jason Tatum could average easily 6 to 8 more points a game. He's that good, number one. But number two, Jason Tatum has done less to do more. What do you mean by that, Draymond? Well, I'll tell you what I mean by that. Jayson Tatum has done less so that Jaylen Brown can do more for the ultimate good of the team so that they don't go through what they went through last year, which is getting to an NBA Finals and losing again. Those guys, those guys have a goal of coming out on top, winning a championship. And I personally can tell you, I can look at it and tell I also know this from personal relationship, but screw the personal relationship. I can spot it from a mile away. Those— Jason Tatum has one goal and it's to win an NBA championship. I can tell, I can see it. I can see it in his demeanor. I can see it in his game. He's trying harder on the defensive end as he picked up last year. He's trying harder to make plays for guys as he started, showed improvement last year. But I think he's taken an even bigger step back this year to take a much larger step forward. And it's the most valuable player, right? Is that not valuable? Because again, if he averaged the 6 more points, what would people say? Would they say, man, it's JT 'cause he averaging 36 and not 30? It's quite ridiculous when you think about it that you can't take a step back and see, man, everything this guy's doing, he's still averaging 30 points, 5 or 6 assists or whatnot. 5 assists, I think, probably 8 rebounds. But quite frankly, I didn't check his stats 'cause I don't need to check his stats because my whole point is this actually does not matter. I just say to the voters out there, in looking at the MVP race, I'm not saying Jayson Tatum is the MVP. I'm saying, in looking at the MVP race, give Jayson Tatum more respect. Respect the step back to take the step forward a little more because it's very valuable. And that's the name of the award, the Most Valuable Player. So as I was saying, I think this race will still continue to go down to the wire. I don't think it's decided. The whole stat padding thing, accusations that Joker has been facing, I think is ridiculous. I think, I think if you were gonna make those about Joker, you had to make those about Russ when Russ was averaging triple-double after triple-double after triple-double. And quite frankly, even if you were gonna make those about Russ, I quite frankly don't care because you know how good you have to be to stat pad and get a triple-double. Like, you still have to be very good to stat pad and get a triple-double. So like, this whole narrative of like, oh, these guys are stat padding this— like, if you stat padded, you still wouldn't get a triple-double. It's not easy to get a triple-double, stat pad or not. You gotta be very, very, very good to stat pad and get a triple-double and most importantly, win. That's the kicker. You can't win like 29 games in a row or 30 games in a row. Again, I didn't check the stats because quite frankly, I don't care. But you can't win that many games in a row getting a triple-double and only be padding your stats. Common sense would say that doesn't make sense. Because how do you just keep winning? Like at some point your stat pattern and 30, say call it 30 wins. At some point your stat pattern in 30 games is gonna catch up to you. Like at some point, like you trying to get an assist. Like trust me, I see Joker stat lines often. There's oftentimes where he'll have 10 or 11 assists. So if he's stat padding, there, like, at some point you chasing that 10th, 11th assist is gonna cost y'all a game. It hasn't. So the whole narrative, and again, you're speaking to someone who just last week had Gilbert Arenas on the show and we were discussing Europeans not catching the same flack for American players for winning the championship. So— Yeah. Understand that this is no narrative. Understand that this is no bias. Understand that these are straight facts. And understand that the stat padding narrative is lazy. The stat padding narrative is, I don't have anything else to talk about, anything else to say. I need to say something. It's lazy. Just dissect the game. Dissect what Joker doing. 'Cause I'll tell you what, if I go sit and really watch the game, I'll dissect the game for you. Maybe I'll do that soon. I'm gonna watch a Denver Nugget game and I'mma dissect the game. And we gonna do it right here on the Draymond Green Show. And I'mma tell you if Joker is stat padding or not. And if in fact he is, you gotta be so good to stat pad and win and get them numbers that it don't really even matter. Sitting at number 1 in the West, 30 games in a row with a triple-double, and they said this man is stat pad. Like, if that ain't a reach, if I've ever seen one before in my life. So I'mma— I'm not gonna keep going on and on about this because you get my point. But let's stop being lazy. Let's do the job. These people are actually interested in what If you have a platform and you go on TV, they're actually interested in what you have to say. Take more pride in what you do and stop being lazy at this job. There's actually a world that you actually can stop being lazy and go dissect these basketball games. I speak, I speak on fans not totally understanding the game because I try to do all I can to help them better understand the game. So let's do that. They're looking for it. They need it. It'll only help our game. But in order to help our game, you gotta know what you're talking about. And a lot of times in this media, not the new media, but in this media, a lot of times I be looking and I notice a lot of y'all don't know what y'all talking about. So that's your last pass. We got to start dissecting these games again. 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.
