The Bill Simmons Podcast - Ep. 90: Draymond Green

Episode Date: April 14, 2016

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons welcomes world-champion Warriors forward Draymond Green to discuss 73 wins, GSW's management of playing time (8:00), their "lucky" 2015 championship (12:00), Curry's added edge (16:00), the Game 7 loss to LAC (19:00), the proposed Klay Thompson–Kevin Love trade (28:00), Magic’s mentorship (38:30), Curry's confidence (41:00), and defying the Pats’ undefeated curse (44:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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For God's sakes, I don't ask you for much. The podcast is free. Please do it. And we're off. Yeah. Clear enough for you. Well, he's a one-time champion. He's part of a record-setting team that won 73 games in one season.

I did not think that was possible. I did not think a lot of things this guy is doing was possible. Draymond Green, how are you? I'm good, good. How about you? Congratulations. Thank you. Steve Kerr was on my podcast, I'm going to say four years ago, back when he was a media guy,

before he became the coach of a champion in a 7-3 win team. And he was saying he thought this was impossible. And he said that the only reason they won 72 games was because Michael was wired the way he was. And there were just eight to nine games when you should lose because of the schedule and you just don't because you have Michael Jordan on your team and he's a maniac. So how did you guys do this?

I mean, you know, he actually told us last night after the game, like, guys, I'm going to be honest with you, this record may never be broken. When we won 72, like, I thought this record, it would never be broken. I thought this record, it'd never be broken, and here we are sitting here, and we just broke the record. I'm not sure. I mean, I know we have a couple guys that, I mean, honestly, we have a team full of competitors. You know, when you really break down our roster, you're talking to Sean Livingston, who the doctors tried to amputate his leg.

Right. You know, and he should have never played basketball again. Yet he beat the odds, you know, and made it back. And, you know, he was a key contributor to our team. You're talking to Fess DeZili, who didn't start playing basketball until he was 19 years old. He's not supposed to be in the NBA. You know, you're talking to Fess DeZili, who didn't start playing basketball until he was 19 years old. She's not supposed to be in the NBA. You're talking to Steph Curry, who went to Davidson

and had one Division I basketball offer, and nobody gave him a shot. You know, he's too small. He's not quick enough. He's not strong enough. He's not big enough. All this stuff. You're talking to a guy like myself who no one gave a chance.

Klay Thompson, who apparently was recruited, you know, had three Division I schools recruiting him. When you look at our roster, it's made up of guys who's overcome odds, you know, and who's continued to fight no matter what situation was placed in front of them. And that's the makeup of this team. And that's why we're able to accomplish something of this magnitude. Because no matter what the situation is, we're always fighting to overcome those odds. And we have that chip on our shoulder as individuals, which make it a lot easier to have it as a team

because you've got a group full of individuals that have a chip on their shoulder. A collective chip on their shoulder. I like it. Like Jordan was basically, you know, there were nights when he wouldn't let them lose. And I watch you guys this year, and even though it wasn't just a singular guy that was imposing his will like that,

it almost seemed like people would take turns, and collectively a lot of it came from you and Steph. And, like, for instance, when you were in Boston, I think in December, and I thought the Celtics should have won that game. And you, Steph was off that night. Warriors not playing that well. You're in the middle of a road trip. And you just took the game personally for whatever reason.

You wouldn't lose. And then there are other nights where Steph did that. How many times in this season do you say you probably shouldn't have won the game, but you guys just wouldn't let yourselves lose? When I look back on this regular season, you know, there's, like you said,

you have the Boston game. You have the Milwaukee game at home. Yeah. You have the OKC game where Steph hit the bomb from 50 feet to win the game.

We should have had no business winning that game. Saturday, Memphis. The Memphis game over the weekend, that's definitely one of them. Absolutely. The Memphis game, for sure. We had no business winning that game. I say that's four right off the top of the head. The Nets, you needed Brooke Lopez to miss that little three-footer,

and Iguodala hit the big three right before that, but that was another one you pulled out. That's five. When I really look at this season, there's at least 10 to 13 of those games that we had no business winning. Right. And somehow we found a way. So how many did you blow?

I thought the Celtics in 86 were the best team I ever saw. They went 67 and 15. And if you look at some of the games they lost, they just blew a bunch of dumb games to bad teams. It's amazing. I think they lost 10 games to 500 or below teams. You guys didn't really seem to blow any dumb games, or am I not remembering one?

I think as well as they played, we blew the Minnesota game last week. Oh, yeah, you're right. You should have won that regulation. I agree with that. They won the OT, though. They played well in the OT. They did. We blew that game.

I think we had a four-point lead with like two minutes to go or something like that. And usually we're able to build on that or at least hold on to it. We blew that game. Other than that, I don't really think we really blew any games. I mean, we just – like the Lakers came out and just beat the crap out of us. San Antonio asked San Antonio. They beat us.

Detroit, at Detroit, they just beat us. I don't think we really blew any games other than the Minnesota game. Right, because usually teams are going to let up. They're going to take games for granted. The Lakers game was really the only atrocious loss that you had this season. Yeah, it was such a weird feeling, too, because I'm so used to us winning those games. Yeah.

It's like four-point lead. When I look up and I'm like, oh, we got a lead. Like, oh, that's like clockwork. That's game. And when we lost that game, I couldn't believe it. Like, wow, we never lose games like that. So we blew that one for sure. I'm a huge Patriots fan, obviously.

And when they went 16-0 in 2007, about, I would say around week eight, maybe week nine, every game became a playoff game. And it was the biggest game of the season for the other team and they just had to carry that week after week after week i actually thought it wore them down why didn't you guys wear down during this during this whole run you know i think there's uh there's several reason why number one like like you spoke at the beginning, every night it's not just Steph carrying the load. Yeah. Or every night it's not just, you know, Draymond had a good game

and took over this game. Or all of a sudden it's Klay caught fire. Like, it's somewhat different every night. Like, I can look at most of our games this year, and I can honestly say there's at least 12 of our guys that won us that game. And there's not many teams that can say that. You know, when you look at your roster and say, all right, Marty Space won us that game.

You know, you look at it and say, Brandon Rush won us that game. Not many teams can say that. You know, you look at it, usually it's like, all right, maybe four guys won us a game this year. But most of the times it was one or two guys. Our team, some, just about everybody won us a game this year. Right.

And that's, I think that's a huge part of the reason that we don't wear down because everything we do, we do it collectively. And they manage the minutes pretty nice with you.

I saw some, I was reading something this week about how many times Jordan played 40 minutes or more during that 95-96 season. I think Steph only did it four times. I thought that was really smart. Just in general, it seems like teams think about the schedule in a much more intelligent way.

But at the same time, you had a brutal road trip during that streak. And I thought for sure you were going to blow one of those games in the streak. When did you guys, when did 25, well, you didn't know you were going to 25-0, but when did that undefeated streak really, when did you really start thinking about it? You know, I think after, when we, I think the Clippers was like game 11 or 12 or something like that. 13 maybe. I went to that game.

And, yeah, that was a good one. Yeah, that was a good one. And when we came, yeah, when we came back and won that game, I think we were down 24 in the first quarter or second quarter, something like that. Yeah. And when we came back and won that game, it was like, okay, let's see how long we can ride this streak out.

And then, you know, once you win a game like that, now everybody's looking like, well, that was the game they were supposed to lose. So all the numbers start coming out of it. Best start in NBA history. Best start in major sport, you know, out of the four major sport history. You know, you start seeing all that stuff, and then you start to try to go for it you know so i'd say after that clipper game was when we really looked at the streak and said wow

all right well let's see how long we can ride this out and also it probably helped that you guys win the title and then everyone spends the whole summer and off season shitting on the fact that everybody was you played was injured and here comes San Antonio, has the Marcus Aldridge, and Cleveland's going to be better. And it was like you had no chance to go back-to-back. That must have been motivating. 100%. You know, we're already a pretty self-motivated group anyway.

Yeah. You know, but when you're every day, you look up and there's someone else saying this or someone else saying that. They didn't play such and such. They didn't play this first. And it's like, really? Right. Okay. You know, so that allows you, you know, to where when you're coming back from a championship season,

the one thing a lot of former champions told me was that it's so hard to start the regular season again because the last time you played together, the last time you were on the court together, you were in game six or whatever game it was that you ended the final. For us, it was game six. You were in game six of the NBA final. How do you come back in the regular season three months later and try to match that intensity level? You can't. It doesn't live up to what you

just left. And so, a lot of guys told me that that was the tough part. Well, when you just finish game six of the finals and everybody's saying, oh, that championship is lucky. You know that? They didn't play such and such. They didn't do this.

They're not really that good. It fuels you. So it allows you to make game one feel like a playoff game. Because now you're out there achieving more. So the best thing that happened to you guys was San Antonio signing LaMarcus Aldridge. Because then everyone was just like, oh, San Antonio. Oh, my God. They did it again.

And then nobody's talking about you. That was a good thing, I think. I think that was good for us because, number one, we came into the season like not the favorite anymore. They kind of took pressure off us in a way. Yeah, I would agree. You also didn't, you know,iley i was i wrote about this whole i have a whole chapter about this in my basketball book about pat riley called it the disease of me where you win something good happens with the basketball team you win the

title everybody sacrifices to win that title but then you win it and then everybody's like okay man all right i'm ready for more minutes. I'm ready to get paid more. I want more shots. They just want more and more and more. But that didn't happen with you guys at all, so why? Well, I think when you look at, you know, stuff like that. I think that's usually based on who your stars are. Yeah.

Who's your core, you know, who's your core group of guys. And when you look at that for us, Steph is one of the most humble human beings you're ever going to meet. You know, Clay, he's humble. He doesn't care about anything but winning like now clay cares about his shots but right it doesn't matter that he cares about his shots because that's what he do for us like so he don't have to come out like i need to get more shots no you're going to get them anyway because that's what we need you to do you know um harrison who has every contract here you know who couldn't reach an you know an agreement on an extension

who can come out and say i need to do this i need to do that it's not his personality like he's not that type of guy you know um and andre goddard who's coming off of finals mvp isn't coming back in saying oh i need to start now like yeah he's comfortable with what he brings to this team and so you know myself taking less money so we can continue to build you know so we can make sure these things stay together. That's the type of guys that you have. And so I think that's also a credit to our front office, to the type of guys that they built this team on, you know, that they put in place.

You know, everybody's okay with their role, and we're not trying to come out and say, hey, I need this, I need that, I need to do more of this, more of that. Because one thing we all know is that if you win, all the other stuff will take care of itself. You know, the things that guys worry about trying to go take

and end up losing it because of it, they don't get because they don't win. But if you win, all that stuff takes care of itself anyway. Let me ask you about Steph. Because, you know, Steph and David Lee were on my podcast a million years ago. And Steph is a very unassuming guy. You know, you would never...

I thought he was, you know, one of the best shooters i've ever seen i thought he was going to be a very good pro i never expected this to happen but when you meet him as you said very humble unassuming guy and yet over the last two years especially this year got a little bit of an fu edge to him a little bit of it's almost like you injected a little bit of your dna into him um was that how much of that is you and how much is that just him being like you know what i'm just great at this and i can't help myself um well you know a part of that is him, you know, he's just grown into himself. You know, with me being the vocal leader on this team, I think, you know, when you put yourself in the leader category,

if you can't impose some of your personality on guys, then what type of leader are you? If you can't put some of you in someone else. Because at the end of the day, leading someone is taking them in the direction that you're going, taking them in the direction that you're going, taking them in the direction that you want to go. And so you have to be able to impose some of yourself on someone that you're leading.

You know, if you're running a company, it's hard. You see a lot of CEOs or, you know, someone who's managing a company get upset with people that's working with them because they feel like they're not following their lead. They feel like they don't have that same work ethic. They feel like, you know, what they're trying to accomplish, this person isn't helping. And they're not picking up on what they're trying to show them.

And so, you know, it's, I think, you know, he probably fed off of, you know, the way I am a little bit. But at the same time, you're not that great just feeding off someone. Yeah. Like, he's great, you know. And maybe it took someone like myself being around him every day for him to just go with it and run with it. Right. them every day for him to just go with it and run with it right but i can't necessarily take credit for what he's grown into because that also comes with all the hard work that he puts in you

know he's so confident in everything that he does simply because of the work that he put in and so no i think it all goes hand in hand for sure. I think unquestionably you guys feed off each other as well as any two first-team OMBA guys that I've ever seen. I think Jordan and Pippen got there. When Jordan came back from baseball, they just went to another level. It was like they were a tandem. It was like Pippen became this mirror image of Jordan in a lot of ways, and they just made each other better. I definitely feel that way when I watch

watch YouTube but at the same time like I keep going back to that game seven you lost to the Clippers when we had no idea that Steph was going to become this yet we knew he was going to be really good um I went to that game Chris Paul beat the shit out of him for four quarters. He committed 120 fouls on him in that game. And Steph kept coming back and fighting and trying to get his shot and just fighting for whatever reason. They just weren't calling fouls at all in that game. And I thought that was the most important game of his career for what kind of ensued. Am I right or am I wrong?

No, no, I think, I think you're definitely right. You know, after we lost that game, like, his whole mentality was different. You know, it was kind of like, I think that's what really finally brought him out. You know, Chris is a guy who Steph grew up working out with, who's kind of like, you know, a big brother to him kind of. And I think at that point, you know, it's kind of like that point where you get tired of, you know, your older brother and you're going to go do something about it.

Right. And I think that game right there, that series, was like that point of where I was like, okay, now I'm going to show you who I really am okay now I'm gonna show you what who I really am now I'm gonna show you what I made uh and from that point on he's taking he's like Steph's taking the league over yeah since then and it's um it's incredible you know to watch from where he's come from that game seven to where he's at now. It's amazing.

I think that definitely had a role in where he's at now, for sure, 100%. And he's that type of competitor. I think that was failure for him. No, some people with failure, they fold. And some people with failure, they use it to fuel them. I think it fueled him. No, some people with failure, they fold. And some people with failure, they use it to fuel them. And I think it fueled him. What did you take away from that game? Because you also made a big

leap the following season, too. That game right there showed me I really belong. You know, not only that game, that series, but really that game seven showed me that I think we all have a you know, we all reach a point seven showed me that, you know, I think we all have a, you know, we all reach a point where, like, okay, you know, you understand I can do this.

And when I left game seven of that series, I told my boys, I said they done messed up. So they done showed, they done let me figure out that I can do the same thing I've done at every level at this level. I said they done messed up. It's time. I'm about to take it to another level. That's what that game showed me.

I think it was your rookie year. I was on TV, and you guys were in the playoffs. It was one of the first times Steph got really hot on the national stage against the Spurs, and I was talking about how the Warriors nobody else could shoot threes on the Warriors and I said something about how you couldn't shoot threes and you got mad you tweeted at me about it

and I remember thinking like I like this guy this guy took it like you were shooting like 28% when I said you couldn't shoot threes but you took it personally I was like I'm going to keep an eye on this guy. I like this guy. Do you remember that? I do remember that. I'll tell you exactly what it was. First off, I was shooting

28% from the field. I was shooting like 17% from threes. First off. So that's the first part. The second part, I remember you tweeted you said something about no one else can shoot threes and then you said does Draymond Green not realize he can shoot

he's open for a reason oh I remember that okay yeah that was good and I said oh okay so I tweeted back yeah and I said alright I'm going to show him and everybody else I can shoot. And stuff like that has always

fueled me. Because it's like, alright, people are going to always doubt you and they're going to always do this. But it's always fueled me. It's funny because I was just watching Kobe last night. And when he finished,

at the end of his press conference, he thanked the media and he said, you know, at the end of his press conference, he thanked the media and he said, you guys don't understand what y'all do for the game. You know, whether we hate it or not, sometimes, whether it's a good article you write, whether it's a bad article, sometimes it helps players. And those things right there help me because it makes me work. And it shows me what I need to work on.

Okay, well, this is, you know, what they're saying about me. Let me go work on this and turn this weakness into one of my strengths. And so that right there has helped me become the shooter that I've become. Now, I'm not a shooter. I can make shots. But, you know, it's helped me get the shooter that I've become. Now, I'm not a shooter. I can make shots. But, you know, it's helped me get to this point. And so I thank you for that. Thank you.

Because it's like, I mean, I thought I could shoot then, and my percentages wasn't saying it. And so it made me get in the gym and continue to work. But without that tweet, do I even realize how bad of a shooter I am? Sometimes you get so caught up and lost in feeling yourself that you don't even realize the reality. Well, I have someone else you should thank. I think we all go through that.

I think you should also thank Jalen Rose because he was, when we were watching those games in the little TV room with all the TVs, he was the one screaming that you were open for a reason, and I finally tweeted it. So you thank him as well. He was the other one. That's a Jalen phrase. Jalen loves yelling that people are open for a reason.

On your team, nobody is ever open for a reason because everybody can shoot long range except for Bogut. You guys have basically reinvented basketball. I mean, there's been pieces of it. The Suns pushed people along. I think the Spurs did too. But you made 13 threes a game this season. And, you know, it just doesn't make sense over 82 games. You would think there would be 15 or 16 times a season when people just go cold.

And it just doesn't happen with you guys. Do you guys even think about that anymore? You know, I think there's really one game this season where we were just cold, couldn't hit anything, and that was the Lakers. I think we ended 4 for 30 from 3 or something like that. Yeah, that was it. And, like, other than that, that's the only game I can really remember where we were just cold, cold, cold.

You know, when we have nights where they aren't falling at the rate that they usually fall, we'll say, okay, you know, let's get to the hole a couple times and then work our way back out. Right. You know, because the game has always been played, and coaches don't even tell me this, the game has always usually played outside in. I mean, inside and out.

You kind of play outside in. And, you know, Coach Curl tells us sometimes, hey, we need to get the ball to the post. Even if it's not the score, get the ball to the post because you're kind of breaking the defense a little bit. And then we start kicking back out. But, you know, we don't really go into it thinking about what we're going to do with these shots. We just kind of go as the game goes. I think we've gotten to a point now where we know each other so well that it's like, all right,

just look at each other and realize what we need to do. And that's, I think, you know, when I look at the Spurs' dominance, I understand now why they've been so dominant for so long because those guys have been together for so long. You know, we've been together for four years now and understanding that we already have

each other. I think this is Tony's 15th year, which means, I think, what's this, Timmy's 20th year, 19th year? Yeah, 19th, I think. Something like that. Yeah. Ginobili, what, 16th or 17th year? I think Ginobili and Parker are 15, and Duncan's, like, 19.

And so you look at that, like just think about what you were doing 15 years ago. Right. They've been playing together that long. Like, that's incredible. Like just imagine if you had a podcast with someone for 15 years straight and y'all have talked for nine months of the year, every day for 15 years straight. And y'all have talked for nine months of the year. Every day for 15 years straight.

They'd be tired of me. Like, you would never talk over each other or anything. Like, it would just be like clockwork. Well, wasn't that... I understand why they've been so dominant for so long. And that's kind of where it works. And that's, you know we're going to be. And I feel it heading that way.

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Kevin Love is one of the 10 best players in the league. And yet, if you make that trade, none of this happens. And as you're watching that just from afar, are you praying that trade doesn't happen? Not only is it bad for the team, but it would have been bad for you. You'd lose minutes. You know, I didn't want that trade to happen at all. I thought it was crazy that we were thinking about it.

I mean, I'm going to be wrong. Like, Kevin Love's a good player, a really good player. But I just didn't think, like, when you have a backcourt like Clay and Steph, you don't break that up in the third, going into the third year of one of those guys' career. Like, that's just something that you just don't do. Right. And so I didn't want it to happen for that reason.

You know, I knew that we were already trending the head into the right direction. And to be honest with you, there's a possibility that I would have just been a throw-in in that trade. So who even knows where my career goes from there? You know, like, sometimes it works out for a throw-in. Sometimes you don't get a shot. You know, when you look at a Shannon Brown, for instance,

a guy who's closer to me, Michigan State, he was a throw-in in the Lakers deal. Two championships later, 10 years later in the career, it worked out. But it don't work out for everyone that's a throw-in. And so it's a slippery slope. I know this would have never happened where we're at now, obviously. But for myself, I don't know where I would be. Would I be out of the league?

High possibility. When you're a throw-in, you sometimes just don't get a chance. I don't think you'd be out of the league, but I don't think you would have had as fun of a time in Minnesota the last couple years. I'm positive of that one. I think both on and off the court it would have been a loss. Yeah, on and off the court I think you lose both ways on that one.

By the way, that's one of the things I've enjoyed about you. I've watched a ton of Warriors games this season, partly because you guys are just so much fun to watch, but also I'm on the West Coast, and, you know, my choices were you guys, just so much fun to watch, but also I'm on the West Coast and my choices were you guys, Sacramento or the Lakers or the Clippers, so I can't watch anymore. So I was usually gravitating to you, but it seems like, this is a theory, I might be wrong, I'm guessing. It seems like you know who's at the game and you know what celebrities are around and you kind of establish a little back

and forth with them even if it's just eye contact like if jay-z's at the game and he's in the front row you know this am i correct absolutely you know growing up in saginaw i was always taught to always be a rare use around i'll always know who you have around you. And so that's something that I always pay attention to. You know, even when I was in college, you know, like, you go to the visiting arena and, like, your coaches will never say anything to me about it, but it's like an unwritten rule. You don't talk to the other people's fans. You don't look in the crowd.

Like, that's kind of an unwritten rule you don't you know you don't talk to the other people's fans you don't look in the crowd like that's kind of an unwritten rule in sports really um but definitely basketball um and i've never really followed that rule like i go up to to other teams crowds and talk to their student sections and talk junk to them and they'll talk junk and tell me i was i sucked and i'll go up to them and tell them like you just made it bad for the person guarding me today. And so, you know, that's kind of where I was at in college. And then you get to the league and like,

you see a Jay Z sitting in the front row or Beyonce or, you know, Floyd Mayweather, you know, and it's just like, wow. All right, here we go.

So I, I, I just always talk back and forth. You know, when we're playing the Clippers, I've actually started to build a relationship with Anthony Anderson. Yeah. He's a big-time Clippers fan. So I have back and forth with him the entire game when we're playing the Clippers. He'll text me before the game, like, hey, you know I'll be there. I'm coming for you.

And I'll text him back like, y'all have a shot. And we have fun with that. And so it's one thing about, it's funny too, you know, because there's a saying, and I think it's so true, all rappers want to play basketball and like all basketball players want to rap

and so it's kind of just you know mess with those relationships a little bit you know while you're on the court so I always know who's around all the time. Well you guys this season you became the hottest ticket in 20 years. I mean, I was there for the entire MJ Bull run in the mid-'90s,

and we had Celtics season tickets. And when they came in, it was important, especially if your team sucked. Like this was the two times a year some unbelievable team would come in, and we got to watch real basketball, and there were so many fans of the Bulls that would be there. And there was just kind of electricity in the crowd. People would show up before the games, well before to watch the warm-ups and things like that.

You guys took that to another level. When did you realize that you would become kind of the same type of traveling circus that that Bulls team was? You know, our fans started, I mean, we've always had a few fans traveling with us, but, like, it went to a completely different level. And I think last year, you know, it kind of got to a point where it's like, all right, you know, we're getting a good turnaround on the road.

Yeah. Then all of a sudden this year, like, I said, everything went to another level during that winning streak. Like, you know, you show up to these hotels at 2 o'clock in the morning, and, you know, there'd be 15 people outside an autograph. And then they got to a point where, you know, we're showing up to hotels and, like, it's 250 people, 200 people outside at 2 in the morning. Right. Yelling. And it's like, yo, are you kidding me? Like, what is up with this? And so, everything went to another level during the winning streak.

I'd say probably halfway through it. Because then it became, not only was our fans struggling with us, but everybody wanted to see when we were going to lose that first game. Everybody wanted to see who was going to be that team to beat. Right. And it just became a zoo. Not to mention Steph's celebrity wit has gone to a completely different level. And that's made a huge difference as well.

Yeah. As we talked before, Steph is one of the most humble superstars we ever had. It is weird. Like, he's so popular now. I just don't understand. It is weird. He's so popular now. I don't understand. It's going to be so hard for him to kind of maintain that humility. But I guess that's why he has people like you in his life, right? You still bust his balls?

All the time. Okay, good. All the time. But, you know, he has a great family. When you're talking family as in his family that he's built, you know, with his wife and kids, but also, you know, a great support system from his mom and his dad.

You know, I never worry about Steph wavering, although at the end of the day, he's still a human. Yeah. And so you're always going to have those moments where you have to pinch yourself and say, hey, let me continue to be me. You know, let me not let this change me. Because it's happened to so many people. Like, you know, when everything just changes like that, I mean, in some ways it forces you to change.

But I think he'll always stay as closest to who he's always been as possible. Like I said, he's going to change. You have to change some. That just comes with it. But he'll always be true to who he is as a person.

And that's what's most important. I'm sure things have changed for you. One thing I was thinking though was, you're Michigan State. And that was most important. But now you're a successful NBA Michigan State graduate, which pushes you to a whole other level on the Magic Johnson scale. How much in your life is Magic Johnson? You know, it's always great to have a relationship with a guy like Magic, you know, who's been through so much basketball-wise, as a celebrity-wise, life-wise, and now business-wise, that he's someone that you can always call for pretty much anything because he's been through so much that he can almost give you advice

on anything you're going through. And that's pretty incredible, you know, because not many people can say they have that. And so it's a blessing, you know, to be able to call on a guy like that. You know, that's why I'm – Isn't that one of the best – To make sure they go to Michigan State. Yeah, I was going to say, that's one of the best Michigan State perks.

They should put that in the brochure and stuff. If you do well on the basketball team, you get to have Magic Johnson in your life. He'll give you advice on things. It's definitely a great perk, that's for sure. How many people can say that they got Magic Johnson in their life? The biggest rap on you in college, you had two. Well, you went way too late in the draft. It was stupid when it was happening.

I thought you were going to go in the last half of the first round. But people said you're an inch and a half too short, and they said you weren't in good enough shape. Why weren't you in good enough shape in college? You know, I think coming out of high school, I was in terrible shape. And when I got to college, I got in better shape. And the better was, you know, I was so far behind. I was so far behind that I thought I was in good shape

until I got to the NBA and I realized what good shape really was yeah so you know it was never oh you're not working you know but it's kind of like the old saying if you knew better you do better I think when I when I knew better I started to do better but from where I came from high school to where I was at in college, you saw me in high school, you'd be like, wow, you were in good shape in college. Yeah. But it just doesn't compare to where I am now.

And, you know, you start to learn more. You know, it was funny. I think it was after my sophomore season. I went up and Coach Izzo Austin out, and's office, and people would laugh at me for this. I was so excited, like so excited. I went in Coach's office. I had did some cardio that morning, and I went in Coach's office. I said, Coach, Coach, you'll never believe what happened to me today.

He was like, what? What happened? He was excited. I said, Coach, I caught a second wind. And he was like, what? I said, Coach, I caught a second wind. And he was like, what? I said, Coach, I caught a second wind. Like I was doing my cardio and I got super tired. And I just pushed through it.

And all of a sudden I wasn't tired no more. He just started laughing at me. But I never knew I had a second wind because I never pushed myself that far. So it was just like I never had an idea that if I just continued to go, that I'd catch a second win. And there you go. I never knew it. And so that was just one of those things where it's like, all right, I figured that out.

And I started to use that. Once I got to the NBA, you realize how good a shape you have to be in. Number one, I think one of the things that really forced me to get in shape and better shape in the NBA too is because the schedule's so long that I dealt with bad knee tendonitis my rookie year. And I didn't want to go through that again.

So it showed me that I wasn't in good enough shape to where I thought I was in good enough shape. When did you realize you could guard pretty much anyone over 6'4"? You know, my rookie year, you know, it was – I knew that in order for me to stay on the floor, I had to defend. And so, you know, I started to take defense so serious that I'm like,

I got to do this, I got to do this. I got to do it. And when I really put my mind up to it, to really do it and focus on it, I realized, like, all right, boy, I can guard this dude. And so then the next guy will come along, and I'm like, all right, I can guard this dude. Like, I can guard him too. And so it's just like offense.

You start to get a certain confidence of, like, I can guard this dude. Like, I can guard him too. And so it's just like offense. You start to get a certain confidence of, like, I think the person with the highest confidence offensively in the NBA is Steph Curry by far, other than Kobe. Now, Steph Curry, like, he can miss 10 shots in a row, and he may shoot the next three from 35 plus feet. Like, that confidence is hard to come by. Right. And, like, that's kind of where my confidence is defensively. Like, I think I can stop anyone.

But that was kind of, it started my rookie year where when I started to take defense so seriously because I knew it was something that I had to do in order to make it, that it was like, okay, I can guard him. I can guard him. I can guard him. All right, well, I kind of got that confidence of where I can guard anyone. I know you have to go, and I left some stuff on the table for the next podcast that we do which

will be at some point in the playoffs because i'm forcing you to come back because i enjoyed this but i'll be back for sure i wanted to mention one thing i just want you to think about this as you head in the playoffs i'm a diehard patriot fan we went 16 and 0 in the regular season it was incredible we lost the super bowl guess what guess how Guess how many times I've talked to my buddies about the time that my football team went 16-0? Zero. So you got to win the title now. You just have to. You have to finish it.

Those are the stakes. Absolutely. That's it. You guys have a chance. You have the chance to be immortal. This is it. It's all sitting there. You need 16 wins.

Immortality. No doubt about it. And, you know, that's the plan. You know, come out here and really do what we have to do in these playoffs and win the title. Because at the end of the day, I've stated it before, you know, as bad as I wanted to win the 73 game, it means

absolutely nothing if you don't win the NBA title. I told them the other night, I said we were talking about it in the media and I said as a matter of fact, it was a couple days ago after practice

and they were asking me about it after we won 72. And I said, well, you know, when you go to Chicago and you look up and see them banners, there's no banner with just like 72 and 10 all by itself. Right. The championship banner says 72 and 10. I'm pretty sure if they didn't win the championship, you wouldn't see 72 and 10 in their gym.

So we got to finish the deal. Well, if you need motivation, I can mail you my 16 and 0 Patriots t-shirt that I have from 2007. If you guys want to hang that in the locker room, I'm happy to do that. You guys can stare at it. You know what? I think as much junk as I talk, that's enough motivation for me. If we don't, I'll never hear the end of it. You know what? I think as much junk as I talk, that's enough motivation for me. If we don't,

I'll never hear the end of it. Listen, I've had some great wins as a Boston fan and some bad losses. When they lost that Giants game to go 18-1, that was way, way up there and I still haven't gotten over it. So yeah, you gotta finish it. You have a great team.

It's a once-in-a-lifetime team. Good luck. Please come back later in the playoffs and come talk to us again. Thanks a lot. I appreciate you having me, and I'll be back for sure. All right. Take care. Thanks so much to Draymond Green, and thanks to Stamps.com.

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Just a stone's throw after the night of April 24th. Just a stone's throw after the Game of Thrones premiere on HBO. And thanks to TheRinger.com. Check out our newsletter. Sign up for it at TheRinger.com. Follow us at Twitter. At TheRinger.

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Ringer. Yeah, facebook.com slash Ringer. All this stuff's really easy to remember. And I have a special surprise for you. Coming back tomorrow with one more podcast. We're going to do a little playoff NBA preview with our old friend, Harala Bob Valgares. He has some opinions. I look forward to hearing them.

See you tomorrow. Anytime y'all want to see me again, rewind this track right here, close your eyes, and picture me rolling.