Draymond picks Ja Morant as the active player who reminds him most of himself, citing leadership and defensive intensity rather than surface skills. He also reveals Taj Gibson as a non-superstar who has consistently given him trouble, forcing defensive switches throughout his career.
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. From Ambitious Youngin, what younger player reminds you of you the most? The younger player that reminds me of me the most? Hmm. That's interesting. That's interesting. I'm one of one, baby. Ain't no carbon copies. It's an interesting one. Ooh. The one player that reminds me the most of me as a young guy, I'm gonna have to go with, That is a good one. That's a good one. You know why? Because I don't— I think there are so many layers to that. Like, yeah, you may be able to pass the ball at my size or at my position, but do you lead? Like, you may lead, but do you defend? You know, if you defend, do you have a high IQ? Like, so I don't know, I just think that's such a multilayered thing. And I think the sauce is in putting it all together. Yeah. So if I had to pick one young player that reminds me of me, see the— and then the issue I also have is because you can say one guy and because like the collective basketball IQ of basketball fans is sometimes so low, they'll be like, ah, but— 'He shoots better,' or like, 'Uh, he dribble different.' And it's like, yeah, you're kind of missing the entire point. But if I had to pick one guy that reminds me of me, I'm going to have to go with, um— Draymond Green. In a much different way, Ja Morant. I ain't bowing down to none of y'all. I don't care what you've accomplished before I got here. That has absolutely nothing to do with me. I believe in myself and my abilities. I'm gonna show you that. I'm gonna lead. I'm gonna talk to you and let you know about it while I'm doing it. I'm gonna carry others with me. And most importantly, I'm gonna do it my way. And all of those things that I just named, I see Ja Morant do. Now, does that mean Ja Morant and me are the same player? We're nowhere near the same player. But that's who reminds me of a lot of me. Hennessy celebrates those who never stop, never settle, in their never-ending pursuit of greatness. Maurice Ashley lives his passion. An inspiring story of intellect and brilliance. His ability to push the potential of his own mind to new levels of greatness is universally inspiring. In the world of the mind, there are no limits. Hennessy. Never stop. Never settle. If you wanna learn more about Maurice Ashley, visit www.hennessy.com. 21+. Please drink responsibly. Let's do from 757 Da Man. Who's a non-superstar that you sometimes have trouble guarding? Non-superstar that I have trouble guarding my whole career is Taj Gibson. I feel like everyone in their career has one guy that is a damn good basketball player, but to the world you just think like, oh man, like he does X, Y, and Z or X. Or whatever, or in your mind you may not think like, "Oh man, he's the superstar." And I think for me, that person has always been Taj Gibson. I played Taj Gibson in college. I was a freshman and it was his last year of school. I'm not sure which year of college he was, but I know it was his last year of school. And then he went to the NBA draft and our starting center, Goran Sultan got in foul trouble. And so I came off the bench and I had to guard Taj and I was locking that shit up. Now Taj, I don't know if y'all remember Taj at USC, but Taj at USC was serious. By the way, Taj had a, still playing, had an incredible NBA career, but Taj at USC was different. And I went in chubby pudgy freshman and I was locking it up. And I felt like, and that game was, you might have heard it with DeMar, that game was the, Damar and Taj played together for those of y'all that don't remember. That was they last college game. And I kind of made it a little tough on Taj. I was frontin', I was doing the whole thing and mixing the coverages up and everything. And I think Taj remembered that because every chance he got to play against me after that, he would destroy me. I remember my second year and I'm never asking for no switch. I ain't asking for no double team. You just gonna have to destroy me. That's just what it's gonna be. I had to switch with Jermaine O'Neal, 'cause I couldn't stop Taj. And I knew it. I'm like, this dude got my number. I can't quite stop him. And Jermaine O'Neal had to guard him. So that guy for me, non-superstars, Taj Gibson for sure.
