The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Draymond Green Show w/Baron Davis: Christmas Day Lakers Suplex Explained, Warriors Drama & NBA MVP Race

Episode Date: January 9, 2025

Draymond Green and Baron Davis discuss key NBA moments, starting with Draymond’s suplex move during the Lakers' Christmas Day game (4:15) and the reasons behind declining NBA ratings (10:00). They analyze the Kings' decision to fire Mike Brown (17:00), playing with Dennis Schröder (27:30), Draymond's take on Steph Curry's 'very mid' comment (35:00), and the Warriors’ upcoming road trip. They highlight Jonathan Kuminga’s growth and what the Warriors need to improve (38:15). The duo also touches on Kawhi Leonard’s return (47:45), notable fights like Amen Thompson vs. Tyler Herro &  Jusuf Nurkic against Naji Marshall (54:15), and debates whether Bradley Beal should come off the bench (58:45) and Anthony Edwards' performance (1:02:00). Baron shares a story about meeting Jay-Z (1:14:45) and reveals his picks for the top players in the league (1:18:00). (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) #Volume #Herd Follow The Draymond Green Show on social media:  https://www.instagram.com/draymondshow https://x.com/DraymondShow https://www.facebook.com/people/Draym... https://www.tiktok.com/@draymondgreen...  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The volume. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the Draymont Green Show with my dog, BD. What's happening to my brother? What's up, my dog? We already, you know, going into our second week, almost into the new year, man. Kids back in school now, you know, getting back into routine. How you feeling now?

A lot better, man. Jesus Christ. I love my kids. I love hanging with my kids. they are amazing. They keep, they breathe life into me, so I really enjoy it. But having four kids can be a bit overwhelming at times. And I can love my kids and enjoy being around them and want them to go back to school.

Both can be true. School is a good thing. Both can be true. And I am happy they back. You know, so we can start back really getting these episodes pumping how we do. know. So please subscribe to the Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis. So you don't miss any of these episodes or any of this banter. Make sure you subscribe. Yep, that's right. Follow the show on all social media platforms at Draymond's show. So you don't miss none of these announcements,

man. We got crazy announcements. I know we've been away for a bit. There have been many things that we need to cover. A lot of stuff we need to cover. So we're going to start off with the fast break. This is a segment where we'll cover three stories in 12 minutes and we have to start with Christmas Day. I don't know if you've seen or explain what happened during this play, but could you explain what happened when you pull down the Lakers? Well, what happened was. I was Scott Foster. I got a few referees I love, so I'm going to say one of my top, two,

top three favorite referees. I love Scott Foster. And I actually love Scott Foster. Like, the reason I love Scott Foster, you got all of it in that game of why I love Scott Foster. He don't care who you are. He's

going to call the call, however he sees it. Don't matter who you are. Love that about Scott Foster. You could be LeBron James, you can be Quentin Post. He's going to call it the same way and he ain't afraid of you. Like, no matter who you are, Scott ain't afraid. So I love Scott

Foster for that reason. So in true fashion, my favorite referee is right here on the baseline. On the boxout, they hooked their arms in front of me, which you can't do. It's illegal. Like, they connect and hold each other arms. How dare you, Scott? I'm like, Scott,

they can't do this. Got like, hey, unlock arms, you guys can't do that. So they unlock arms. And then they start move their arms back together. So I look back at Scott. I'm like Scott. He's like, you can't do that.

So you know me. Oh my God, dude. I think fast. So I'm like, all right. Well, if their arms are connected, if you run into their arms, it's actually a foul on him. So I'm like, I just alerted Scott twice.

He's seen that they lock it on arm. I'm going. So I take a little step back to load my run up. And then I just try to start take off running into their arm. When I run into their arm, Scott, you've seen that their arms was locked. You ain't going to blow the whistle. So I'm like, oh, they ain't blow the whistle.

Yeah, all right, I got to do more to get this. I'll call. You are nuts. Come here. Hey, man, turn. Come here. Hey, I blow this whistle one way. Hey, bro.

I swear, when I was watching that, it was almost like you told the ref, hey, look what I'm about to do. I told it I said Scott they can't do this So check this out I don't hear I don't hear a whistle blow

Yeah so I'm like oh Ain't enough contact yet Like let me create more contact So I create more contact with it Scott blows the whistle And go double foul No Foul on you

Shoot one free throw I'm like what Scott He's like Hell Draymond I don't know what it should be, but I know you filed. So whatever. Scott, but you just saw the hook arms. He's like, Draymond, it's a file on you for sure.

I said, Scott, they hooked arm. Scott goes to the referee who's now on the baseline. Hey, switch positions with me so he can come down there and talk. Do you think it was not a foul on you? No, I was definitely a file on me for sure. Yeah, yeah. But it was only a foul on me because he missed the first file. I ran into their arms.

Hell no. So, look at this. Hell no. So Scott comes to the baseline and has a full conversation. Incredible conversation. It was such a fun conversation. And he's like, Draymond, but I don't know which one of the guys I wanted to crawl a foul on you all. I don't know which.

He said if they were shooting free throws, I don't know which one of them I get a free throws to. And we had a whole conversation. Like I said, that's one of the reasons. Scott is one of my favorite referees because there's this common misconception of like, you can't talk to Scott Foster. And I think that is so far from true. You can have a conversation with Scott Foster the entire game all night. As long as y'all are having a conversation back to him, you can even raise your voice on.

He'll raise his voice back. And like I said, and at a certain point throughout the night, if you start to get disrespectful, Scott going to tell you I'm done, I ain't talking to you no more. And then if you talk to him, you're going to get a tech. But Scott's not just a guy that you're going to go talk to right away and get a tech. Like the man literally switched positions. Like, hey, switch with me. So he could come down there and talk some more.

Like, and it was such a fun. It was such a fun moment. It was. And to have that moment with Scott, like I said, one of my favorite referees. Truly a blast. Man, that was one of the all-time free throw. W.W.F. WWE.

That was an old school WWF Dusty Rhodes taking down boom with the double suplex then he looked at the ref and said what

the first file Scott I ran into their connected arm called the first file what did I do what did I do? Oh, hey, Scott, Scott, you hear that.

Scott, you should have caught that first foul. If Scott would have caught the first foul, then it would have made it all the more or better. I think he missed that call. He would have made it. Scott, I'm moving on. You hear this? But you owe me one next time you referee our games.

Hey, man, I'll let them boys lock arms like that, Scott. You owe me one, Scott. Hey, let me, let me swing this rock, man. Why are the NBA ratings down like this? Like, I know it's football season, but talk to me, what you got for? Storytelling, man. Storytelling, storylines.

I think, you know, as the visibility of the league is spanned, you need more voices telling more authentic stories and being able to tap into these players. Like, when I look at the media around the game, is different. It's all like, almost like, Like fake news, gossip news, all the bullshit opinions, weird ass, people giving hot takes. Everything is a hot take.

And now you kind of phasing out what we did every day in the streets. You know what I mean? It's like, who your top five, who the top 10 or who the top 25. And like you can't even really, we don't even have that no more. You know what I mean? We don't even have like, who the top five guards in the league, who the top five big dudes, right? And so, and then on top of that, with no stories, get no nicknaves, getting no superheroes with no superpowers. And so now the kids, it's like, you know what I mean? It's

like, I'm getting Steph, but where's the Steph, like the Steph LeBross story on Christmas Day got to be a Christmas dream. You know what I mean? And you got to have just more of the culture. I think you got so much media, but like you're given, once again, getting a microphone to the people who don't really know the game or the history of the game. And so where there's no nostalgia,

there's nowhere for you to kind of like dive in the game for you to get to know these new dudes and they don't, right? I've been saying that. Like this young generation, if we embrace them with their skill and learn who they are and learn their names, even though they're young coming in the league, like it would help.

even for them to know they pass. You know what I'm saying? And so like the questions may be a little different. The nostalgia may be a little different. Then you know why, you know, go to state and the Lakers got beef because it's history there. You know what I mean? You know why the Detroit Pistons in Chicago got beef in this history there.

So whether you're the best team in the league or the worst team in the league, you plan for legacy and to keep that streak alive. You feel what I'm saying? Or terror. And so the league just got away from like, man, like, what the hell are we watching the games for if they don't mean nothing? Yeah. No, that's the fact. I agree.

I think the storytelling's way down. I can't blame it all on media because players play. However, I do think players play by rules that are set. And I think the rules are not enjoyable to watch. It's just too clean. Like, it ain't no, and like, no.

There's no value. There's no value for possessions either. Yeah. So it's like, like it don't give you knowing, like I don't have no anxiety watching the game until the playoffs come.

You know what I mean? Mm-hmm. I ain't no anxiety. I'm like, damn, man, like we really need a stop right now. It's like, the game's always like coming back from 13

or it's never really a tight. game all the way through to build that narrative. And to your point, the rules, the rules and the style of play is just can't be appealing that. Like, everybody want to be stuff, but ain't everybody stuff, bro. That's a fact. That's a fact. A lot of bricking.

You know what I mean? It's a lot of fucking bricking going on. And it's like, why is this dude shooting like crazy shots? You know what I mean? And it's like, we want to see the superstar, superstar. No, that's fine. Listen, I agree with that. And by the way, media, no passes here.

I can't blame solely all, but people tired of hearing y'all talk about who somebody slept with last night. Oh, gosh, bro. Knocking it off. Such and such came in late. I mean, nobody care. They want to hear you talk about basketball, but they've now done the argument culture for so long in sports that they don't know how to talk about basketball. anymore. They don't know basketball anymore. So they spew out these

pointless numbers that no one understands. It's no soul with it. Like, you know, it's like the league has lost its soul. It's no soul in it anymore. It's hell of squares, man. It's just hell of it. Nonetheless, I do think yes, in America,

the ratings are down, for sure, but I'm sure globally. Oh, yeah, it's all the way up. Yeah, but we get, you know, like, where is the culture and the intersection. You know what I mean? You can't just it's gone. It's just like, oh, we just going to play rap music because like we just think that this is just going to appeal to people.

You know what I mean? It's like everything is like the NBA used to be the source of like culture curation. Yes. For sure. Content curation and commercials. Like look at all the whack ass commercials that's out. You know what I mean? Like, man, like name somebody who got a

dope shoe commercial. Nobody. I got the dopeest commercial. on TV. Man, the one with, with the, is it the Buick, what is that, a Buick? Uh, Kea. Come on, man. Okay. What's up, bro?

Are you all right? Tell you right. Hey, say me one of them. I can't tell you right. Wait, I wish I couldn't see you one of those. My kid tell you right. Me and my baby girl. That's a fire commercial. Uh, but it, but it, but it shows

personality and it show you in a different environment. So what you see on the court. You know what I mean? And it's new. Everybody else is just keep doing the same shit or hiring some influencers to like do social media. I don't want to see no social media content. I want to see a dope-ass Anthony Edwards commercial. You know what I mean? Not just a commercial. You know what I mean? I want to see what's the next KD commercial or trip. You know, like what's the step? Like everybody should like it's no competition and like, oh, who got the?

the doper's shoe, but who got the dopeest commercial, or who got the best swag, or who got the entourage? Like, it ain't even like that no more. You know what I mean? So it's like, why the fuck am I following when I ain't get, I'm only getting the game, you know what I mean?

And like, I don't even, and I know the players, I'm just saying from a fan perspective, it's like, I'm not tapped into all these guys because we don't know where they went to college. You know what I mean? Like, it's just yeah, you better get some We got to get some experts in here, man,

because we need some voices to, like, explain people background. All these dudes got incredible stories and come from somewhere. And, like, we just suffering from, like, surface type shit. Man, this is important. I need to get your thoughts. What do you think or what were you thinking when you heard that Mike Brown was being fired? Well, first of all, Travis asked me right away. man, you said three or four years ago that Mike Brown would get fired in three to four years,

even when he was having success. Why did you say that? I said, well, I was right, huh? He said, yeah, but why did you say that? I said, because he's in an organization that they fire coaches. And no matter what he does, he's going to get fired. I said, Mike Malone had their franchise player playing his best basketball he had played up until that point, DeMarcus cousins.

his first coach that they had brought in that he absolutely loved, and they fired him, and he was doing well. I said, so what chance does Mike Brown have? He doesn't have a chance. He never had a chance. And that's why I said that. I said, but also, Trave, another reason I said it is because people tend to forget things that go on around the NBA or that are set around the NBA,

and I don't. I actually remember everything. And I'm a, like, Vivek, who's the owner of the Sacramento Kings team, organization, he was a minority owner here before he bought the Kings. And so I know Vivette, Vavec's great. I have zero issues with Vavec. I actually love them. Super nice.

families nice, they are great. Where Vivek lost me was, and I quote or whatever, but I said another reason I knew he'd get fired is because people tend to forget these things, but Vivek's incredible, he's a great man. But he once thought we should play four on five. Like basketball should be played four on five. so much so that he tried it with the G-League team.

And I said, so, four-on-five. Yeah, you know, like, you should cherry pick one guy. He should never come back on defense. Oh. And you should play defense for, like that. And that's what he, and he thought that that should work. And he tried it with the G-League team.

And I was just like, you know, Traff, so for a guy to, like, try to play four-on-five, you can't think that he's going to be like logical with the coach daddy hire or fire like Jackie Moon and so like I said I love the Beck. My Beck's great. Jackie Moon. You're calling him Jackie Moon, ma'am, ma'am.

Just so we're clear, BD. Just so we're clear. Hey, bro, you call it. Every basketball set ran is to put you in an advantage, five on four. Oh, my God. three, two on one. Every basketball set, Fred, is to create that advantage.

You're just going to give us that advantage. So, you know, I wasn't, I was not at all surprised. And then the last thing I'll say BD is, on the hills of Moni, Williams getting paid, Buccoo bread, they didn't even want to pay Mike Brown.

They ended up giving them three for 30, a 10 of a year. I think he was trying to get like 13 to 15 a year. They kind of was like, all right, here's something. And so,

you know, with his contract negotiation this past off season, you could just kind to see the right. You could just kind of see the commitment wasn't going to be there.

The commitment wasn't there. And. Jackie Moon. I was not the least been surprised. Jackie Moon, baby, semi-prone.

Yeah. He, he, he, he, so that's, that's my take on Mike Brown being fired. Still shout out to Mike Brown.

Great coach. I'm sure you'll pop up somewhere. And, you know, just like time, we have went over time, way over time under 12 minutes. So apologize to y'all fans. We get kind of caught up. But we're going to stick to probably the next time. We're going to try and knock this thing out in under 12 minutes.

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void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.com slash audio. Moving right along. Dubnation. First, let's talk how it's been playing with my boy Dennis Schroeder for the past.

few games talk about that edition. Dre and what he means to your team as he starts to get more and more and acclimated. Man, I love playing with Dennis on our team. You know, we have battles against Dennis over the years. And so there's a mutual respect already there. But him coming to this team, he brings a fisciness that we need at the guard spot. He brings a demeanor that we need, an alpha male. you know, that doesn't hurt anyone.

You know, there's no alpha here that feels uncomfortable with another alpha next to them, you know. And so we invite that. We invite you to be the exact alpha that you are in every situation. And so, I've enjoyed it. Unfortunately, we haven't won as many games as we would like to, but it's, you know, it'll come together, I believe. But, man, Dennis is, he's a leader. Like he gets to problems. Like if there's a problem, he's seeing he go right to it.

He had one situation. I can't remember who it was, but like his first, this was like his first, this was like, I think his first game played with us, first and second game played with us. He, we were sitting on the plane, you know, we go back, he sits at the gamble and say with us, and we were waiting to start because he was at the front of the plane, to one of the players that some in the game, and he's like, no, I'm going to address that right now. And I just thought that was so dope.

He said to me the other day in the Memphis game, which really changed my focus. And I text him after the game. I said, man, I haven't had a teammates say anything like that to me in years. And he was like, yo, we was walking in a high time. He's like, yo, yeah, keep talking to them. Like, we at these boys. Like, and, you know, he said a few choice words that was a little different than that,

but we'll leave it at that. You're like, keep talking. We don't keep talking to them. They ain't cut like that. And I'm like, you're right. Absolutely. Yeah. But you're talking to the ruffs too much.

Yeah. Get off them roughs, man. Yeah. Talk to them. Talk to the grislies. We're talking to them. Get off them roughs. And I was like, make sense.

And I came back out in the second half, locked in. And I hit him after the game. and I say, yo, I appreciate you. Saying that to me because it locked me in on what I needed to be locked in on. And I'll be honest with you, not many people will say that to me. I'm thankful for that. Yeah. That you say that to me.

That's big time. Huge. And I think he's going to be a big help for us here. And, you know, I think he's going to be a big part. Like, he's still trying to get comfortable. Totally. You know, I don't think people really understand how it is to come to a team mid-season. Yeah.

People really don't understand how hard it is to come to a team mid-season and take the ball out of Steph Curry's hands. Because that's what he's done. You know, he's come and he's taking the ball out of Steph Curry's hand. Intentionally, like that was the goal, you know, to find someone that can release stuff a little bit. So you don't have to. Yeah.

Yeah, be on the ball, wasting energy the whole time. And Dennis, you know, he's coming in and do that. But it's hard to, you know, the times you can be out there and you feel like you're wrong, man. You know, you're on the court with Steph Curry. And it could feel a little wrong. It can mess with your head a little bit. So he's starting to get over that.

And we're starting to see it more and more. He's starting to get more aggressive. And I think as he does, it'll be great. And then he had said something else to me that I thought was like, all right, respect. He was like, Dre, I'm telling you, man, I'm so excited to get here. I miss my family.

He's like, I miss my family. And when they get out here, I'm telling you, the player that I am when they get here, I'm crazy. And I was like, people don't understand that side of it, though. You know what I'm saying? Like, this man missing his kids and his wife. His routine. That's hard, right? Yeah, like your day, like, every day is just off.

You know what I'm saying? So then you go into the game, but you've been filling off all day, every day for the last week and have, you know? And so he's starting to come around for us. Like I said, I think he's going to be really good for us. Like that. Jonathan, Kaminga, he's been balling. Been playing really good as of late, but he'll be sidelined for the next three weeks with an ankle injury.

I mean, I know you high on his potential. What adjustments do you believe the team has to make with somebody like Kaminga now that he, you know, stepping into that row, he's now going to be out for a long period of time. Yeah, man, it sucks, especially he's playing his best basketball, probably his career so far, you know, and just to see him taking that next step. Like what I've seen from him as of late is like, oh, I can get a ball up because I'm going to get the ball back every possession.

Right. Like, so I can actually drive in and make the next play, which is making him even more dangerous because he's starting to hit some open shooters and stuff, which eventually just opens the floor up more for him. And just seeing him take those next steps, you know what I'm saying, of a shot that he made with a force because he don't know. A, how long he going to be in the game? B, when he going to get the ball back. He ain't forcing none of that no more. No, I always say, when you got great scores, which I think he has the potential to be,

they're going to take some bad shots. Like, you're not going to be a great score and not take any bad shots. And so he's still going to take some shots that's questionable, as every great score does. But the way he's starting to see the game now, the way the game is slowing down for him, it's been special to see

and I think, you know, for us with missing him for these next three, four weeks, it's tough. I think we're going to need a much heavier dose of Andrew Wiggins. You know, in the last couple games, he's been aggressive.

We need that, especially starting the second half of that Memphis game. When JK went out, Wiggs picked it up, and we're going to need him to be really aggressive. I think also that, you know,

that's going to open up more minutes for slow-mo, which the last couple games, you've seen him. Yeah. And I think, you know, obviously we need JK out there and want them out there. But I think, you know, being in the space that we're in struggling a bit, getting a veteran like slow-mo out there can help write the ship. You know, it can help settle things down.

And so I think it'll be a little more slow-mo. We need a lot more wigs. Yeah. Consistently, which he's been great all year. You know, I'm not saying he hasn't been consistent. but we're going to need wigs to be even more aggressive, and then all of us got to pick it up. You know, everybody got to be willing to shoot

because it's not going to be as much pressure on the rim without JK putting that pressure on the rim, and everybody got to come out ready to fire. No, I agree. I mean, you know, this is a golden opportunity for some of the deals and for, you know, like we said in the beginning of the year, yeah, I got a lot of depth and versatility. So this is kind of like could be a great turning point.

And speaking of a turning point, you know, Steph calling the team very mid. What does I reflect about who you guys are right now, but what you guys can be going forward? How did kids say we're very mid right now? Which is very average. Right. I mean, and then he turned up the next game,

hit eight for eight from the three point line, but, you know, calling the Warriors very mid, you know, man, let's drill in on that. Man, listen, when he said, at that and I read it. I was like, oh. And I sat and started thinking about it. I'm like, yeah, I get what he's saying. I get where he's coming from. We are definitely like right at 500, like right middle of the pack, very mid. And we heard him. And I think we've played a little better since. But again, that's, that's still got an equal stack and wins together. And we

haven't done that. So until we do that, like he said, you never want to. when you're going through it, you never want to really accept that you're mid or that you're not a good team or whatever it is. Like it's a hard pill to accept. And we haven't accepted it because we still think we got a chance and we could write to ship.

But it's tough. Yeah. And so for him to just come out and say it like, hey, it's real. Elephant and we've made it right now. Like, all right. So now that we can acknowledge that what we got to do to figure this out and get better.

And so when I first saw it, it was like a double take, but then I'm like, hmm, yeah, we are very mid. Sometimes, but it's a humbling experience because sometimes you got to humble yourself and say like, yo, we're around here doing this, we're doing that, we're saying this, we're saying that, like we was this, we're not that no more. You know what I mean? So it's like almost like a self-check moment to be like, yo, we are very mid. And then to look up and be like, hold on, we mid. how are we mean?

You know what I mean? We need to recalibrate because ain't nothing made about, you know what I mean? What we doing? And so, you know, when it's when it's the big dog talking like that,

you know, it's almost like a wake-up call for... Absolutely. So, what awesome. Everybody. Everybody else, yeah. And it like, you know what?

Another thing that it does is it can also give guys confidence because it gives them like that freedom and be like, yo. Yeah, it's no preference. This is what we need to do. Right. And so then they don't have to live up to the pressure that's been created by what we've done.

You know, because that's a thing. Like you come here and you feel like you need to live up to the pressure of what we've been. And that's not a realistic thing. Yeah. And so I think that also helps with that. But we start a four-game road trip today in Detroit, followed by the Pacers and Raptors and Timberwolves. in your honest opinion what do you see

the toughest matchup of this road trip and where do you see the record being in this road trip? I mean, I would like to see y'all go three and one. That's a great road trip. Two and two is a good road trip. It's start in Detroit.

You know what I mean? Like these young dudes, they're hungry. They're coming off of 500. you know what I mean they're already 500 they just been playing really just playing the ass off you gotta beat detroit yeah because then that puts then that take the pressure off of you know haliburton you know what i mean go with that step fade and indiana they're coming out like you know what i mean they they coming out playing just as hard as y'all gonna play yeah one of the and maybe harder i like toronto I think that they are at home.

They're just like how the Toronto Rafters used to be when they weren't, when they were not, you know what I mean? When they were not contenders, you better not go in there half-stepping because you could get not. And then, you know, the Timberwell is waiting for y'all because they fit, you know, that's one of them other,

that's one of the team shit. That's very big, you know what I mean? Yeah. They hell of me is. So it's like who who's going to start land some foundation and concrete in that middle market. You know what I mean? And like really kind of thing. Mindset we got right now.

Yeah. Hell yeah. And like, you know, and it's that mindset to have when you in the season like this, getting ready for All-Star, you know, the ups and downs trying to get like we up, we down, we're down, we injured, people coming in and out. All of this, you know, for this All-Star push, like, what are your thoughts around? Just like talk to the fans about everybody is going through something, right? And then like what is kind of like your recipe or is there a team meeting or, you know,

how do you guys like start right in the ship? Is it a meeting? Is it, you know, like, because, you know, fans are always asking like, oh, we need a team meeting. those dudes should just get together and talk or like what is the philosophy around kind of like this winner talk? Like, winner is here. You know, you have team meetings here and there.

Just trying to figure it out and talk amongst each other, which we've done. But the interesting thing about this team is it's like, it ain't zero bad blood. Like, the chemistry on this team is incredible. And so it's not, one of them things of where you need to get in

and call somebody out like, yo, we, we ain't hitting on this. Like, it ain't none of that. Like, the chemistry on this team is incredible. And so, like, it's the play. Like, we just got to play better. And, like, that has to be the focus

for us. Like, we just have to play better because all the other stuff that you need to make you a winning team, we have. Like, rocking with each other off the court. We have, like, you know what I'm saying? Like, all the things that you need around the play to be a great team,

we have those things. And so we just got to play better and win some games. So I don't really always like stop losing games. That's what I'm saying. This ain't one of those situations of where it's like, yo, they're struggling and it's problems in the locker. It ain't nothing like that. And so we've thrown games away that we shouldn't. Like, you just got to win.

Yeah, I totally agree, bro. I totally agree. You just, you just got to stop losing the games. You're not supposed to lose or figuring out a way to like, you know, even like the little mid-season tournament going back to that and the Houston. It's like, look at that. Yeah. Like, damn.

And then it was like three games just like that. It was like, wait, what happened? Like, I thought we had that locked up. You know what I mean? Yes. And that's the difference. Prince between being buried men to be like, oh, we're still

solid in the top. You know what I mean? Mm-hmm. 1,000%, yeah. Let's go around the league a little bit. A few things happened since we were last here, starting with Kauai's Lennon return. How do you feel about his return

and how can he help this Klipper's team? Uh-oh. It's going down. It's going down. Once Kauai come back, uh-oh. You got the beard. You got Norman Powell playing out of All-Star level as far as like shooting guards are concerned in this in this Western

conference like he probably wanted it outside of Anthony Edwards maybe Booker he he putting up consistent numbers man he's talking about 53 45 90 you know what I mean and one on one ain't nobody stopping him getting this shot off defensively you know another added piece to now, you know, they defense. They got a great defense already. With Van Gundy. And so now I think, you know, really from a Kauai perspective, he gets to kind of be almost like the Kauai that was made for Toronto and the Kauai that

was made for San Antonio, right? Because it's like, oh shit, here go a solid-ass team. That's great defensively. They already got an offensively. They know how to play and win with James and Norman Powell leading to charge, right? And that Zubak combination. Now, Kauai is like, oh, shit, Kauai on the floor. Oh, shit, Kauai is killing.

You know what I mean? And like, you ain't got, it ain't nothing you can do but double team Kauai. Are you going to tear you up? You know what I mean? And so now it just creates a whole other dynamic. for the clippers to where Kauai is really that X factor that they need it.

But during this season, if he didn't come back, they were a solid team that was going to be there in the end, challenge. All right, so I ask you this question. So who's taking a bigger hit? Because something has to change

in order for Kauai to become Kauai. Who's taking a bigger hit? James Hardin and the way James has been playing this year or Norman? One of them ain't going to, Like, both of their production and can't say the same and Kauai then come be Kauai.

So which one of those guys are going to take more of it? Neither one. Interesting. Neither one, because Kauai don't get his money and Kauai is efficient. That just means

other people like coffee, you know what I mean? Dudes who was getting wide open looks and shit like that. You ain't about to get those. Those wide open looks now about to go to James and a swing to Norman Powell. You know what I mean?

Because you got to double team Kauai. If not, he'll light you up. And so when you look at Kauai, it's almost like you can clock in a quick dub. You know what I mean? Oh, let me clock in. Let me add that dump. And they don't really change nothing from what James doing because now James kicking to Kauai.

And so Kauai get a chance to like eat off of like what they already built. But like, now they just got a motor to where James has done an incredible job of picking his spots because he knows he has to be a finisher and a closer. Now, you know what I mean? You got big shot making, Norm Powell on the right side, Kauai on the left side, and now you got hardened, you know, hardening the zoo box screen, pretty dangerous. And defensively efficient too. No, that's for sure.

I can agree with some parts of what you're saying. only where my opinion differs is, I think James is going to take more of a hit because, in the words of beer himself, I am a system, and he is very much so a system. I just don't know if his system, the system that he is, that Kauai is going to necessarily just plug into that system. Why don't need a system? I agree. But in James' system, James always has the ball.

And I just think with Kauai now on the floor, that lessens how much James is going to have the ball. And again, as of I am a system, that lessens how much that James is going to have a ball. Obviously, I think James is going to continue to play great. But I think he's going to have to take a step back in order if they want Kauai to come back and be the Kauai of, oh, the Kauai that we know.

Now, he's coming back from a knee injury, so it's going to take time to ramp up and stuff and we'll see how it plays out. But if one guy is going to lose some of his production and touches, I think it'll be James just because I am a system. And that system, he got the ball. James is the system. Kauai don't need a system.

And so that means Kauai is the ultimate compliment to James, his system, because Kauai is Kauai. Kauai is on his own island. it's just a plug-in. You know what I mean? It's like a hell of battery charge. Now, James, all he got to do is figure out, okay, when I passed a ball to Kauai,

I'm not getting that one back, right? So I got to get Kauai five-shot supporter, you know, when he at full health. Other than that, man, James operating. He got resting moments now, right? where if you watch, you know, as James get older, he chills too. He gets off the ball now.

He's not the Houston James. He is the system, but he's not the Houston James. So he's been getting off the rock. And that's how I think Norm has been flourishing. You know, they run stuff for Norm. Remember, Norm average 20 points with Kauai and PG and Hardin coming off the bench. So, you know, now that there's no PG, and it's like, you know, not having Paul George, right, for the Clippers,

open up so many shots for so many people, you know what I mean? And it allowed James to kind of be the initiator and like Kauai to be the free spirit. Joe Missoula got what he wanted a couple weeks ago. He said, we need to start fighting in the NBA. A man Thompson got into it with Tyler Hero. I saw that. Nirkish got into it with. Najee Marshall.

I'm a one for a flat to this one. I'll take this one. Starting with the A-Man Thompson and Tyler Hero. I like that. Number one, while he swing Tyler Hero like that, like he was just a little kid, throwing him on the couch was crazy. He was the...

He swung him like the doll that wasn't supposed to be sitting there. Get you ass! Hey, whoa! And the way he swung him. It was crazy. Terry Rozier came and got involved the way he should, which I respected, the way he got involved for a young fella. I didn't see, I couldn't see all the rest of it.

Oh, yeah, Terry Rozier came and Pence, like, came right in. And you got to do that. Tyler Hero's about to be the face of that franchise, you know. And so I, I respected that. I did not quite understand, well, they were about to play us the next day. He ain't want no parts And he just out of nowhere

Like picked an argument And swung And I hope that brother Got the help he need Um Because That was random

Man, it was just like Out of nowhere Like something's wrong In life Like He must be going To a really hard time In life

To just go back And swing like that Or like Possibly maybe he didn't want to play against the team that he was going to play the next day like that could be a thought it was just a little surprising

that he would take it down to see him swing like that but then to get pushed on the ground and cry and then start whining about it and grabbing his face I was really shocked that you can't swing

and then get pushed on the ground and like grab your face and cry about it like once you swing you it was you that kind of said, this is what it is. And so I was just a little surprised, but that brother needs some help. And I hope he gets the help that he need.

Get that man, some help, come on, man. Because, man, you know. You can't just be swinging on people that ain't the pot. If that ain't the pot. If that ain't the pot, you know what I'm saying? You're just swinging out of nowhere surprising everybody. Oh, my God.

I was a little shocked by that when I'm not going to lie, but they was going to play against us the next day. Sometimes people get Draymonditis and I get it. It's all right. He was, okay. He was, he was, definitely not thinking about it. He was like, damn, I might as well get up out of this one. Let me swear.

BD, I would say, though, I'm very surprised that the guy who got swung on got suspended for more games than. That's weird. Like, that I did not understand. And they said, oh, he tried to keep going in the back. Like, stop. He gets one more game suspension than the guy who swung on him. So, like, what am I to do if I get swung on?

Just stand there because I'm going to get suspended. Like, that is crazy. And so I was a little shocked by a little bit. I was a little shocked by that. Just Najee Marshall getting suspended for more games than. Yeah, and he's the one who got swung than the guy that needs some help. Don't take it. Don't toss around that word enforcer like that.

That's ridiculous. He's coming for you, though. What if he was a... A-ha. Those quote said, man, I should have saved that one for Jemond Green the next night. Ooh. Just kidding. You don't want that.

I don't want that smoke. Hey, bro. Hey, I was watching the Mike Epps comedy thing when he said like that. I can imagine you outside the Phoenix Arena like not. He got to see me. You got to see me, bro. You can't get out of here like that.

You got to see me. You got to see me, Jeff. All right, man, continuing the son's ass Bradley Bill to come off the bench. 40, 60 million. He's a starter. As someone who's been asked to come off the bench earliest this season, bro, do you think this will help the sons

and does this make sense at all? It may help in the interim, right? Like, it may help. If they want to win at the level that they want to win that Bradley Bill is one of their best players, tough to bring them off the bench. You know, and he had 25,

the first game coming off the bench, which is great. But like that game, when he has six, it ain't going to necessarily be as pleasant. You know what I'm saying? And so shout out to Brad of being a professional and going to the bench and coming off the bench for 25 and the first time he did it since 2016.

But like I said, I don't, I think, yes, it could help in the interim. But to win at the level that I think that team is expected to win that, which is to be contenders, I don't think you can necessarily be a contender with Bradley Bill coming off the bench on that team. All right, man.

You know how motivated Doc Rivers this year. Whoever is the Phoenix coach, get your shit together, bro. Boonehoser. Man, get some shit together. You know what I'm saying? Like, get your shit together. Man, what?

Like, how are you going to win? And Bradley Bill kind of like, man, if you can't coach the three superpowers, you know what I mean? or superstars and figure out like that's your job. What the hell does him coming off the bench got to do with the first four minutes anyway because he's coming right in. You know what I mean?

It's like, man, it's fools going. You know what I mean? Because to your point, when he get 12 or he gets six and he can't really catch a rhythm, he got 25 because he was just mad. The way you start the game is the way you want to finish the game. and that's the confidence in them dudes to figure that shit out. Now, throughout the course of the game,

you got a sub. I'm bringing Katie out. Bill, it's your turn. Booker is you and Katie turn. Booker turn. KD. turn. You know what I mean? And, like, you got to understand as a coach how to get them dudes in flow. You got four quarters.

You know what I mean? They can all get their 15, 20 shots. Like, but I don't know about this coming off the bench. just don't make too much money to be coming off the bitch. What is we doing, bro? That is the most disrespect. Like, who's starting in front of it? Back. You feel?

You know what I'm saying? Who is starting in front of them? And I would like to understand what's the rationale, right? You put your best players on the floor. Ain't no way at Bradley Bill coming off nobody bench to be no six man or none of that shit when he's bona fide in a proven playmaker. and the piece that y'all went and traded for it to go get. All right, man, I'm going to take a TV time out.

We can talk about something a little bit more from the TV analyst side. This week, our boy Charles Barkley is discussing Anthony Edwards. Charles Barkley, I quote, I think Anthony Edwards has regress. Anthony Edwards, on the other hand, recently expressed frustration about being double team and scores career. high, 53 points, and a loss to Detroit. We know they are underachieve it. Do you agree with Chuck?

I don't think Anthony Edwards is regressive. I don't think Anthony Edwards has played the way everybody expecting him to come back playing from going to a Western Conference Finals, with the hunger, you know, with the tenacious attitude that he has anyway. I don't think he's done that. But regress, he's gotten better, actually, as a player. His jump shots are way better.

So I wouldn't say regress. I don't think that's the right word. If I was even going to make this argument, I think I would have went more along the lines like, yo, is Anthony Edwards content because he went to the conference finals? I would take more that approach if I was going to do that rather than like Anthony Edwards has regress because that's just not true.

He hasn't regressed one bit. I, yeah, I would just say more of that. But in saying that, removing a player like cat is a big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big deal. Yeah.

And it takes some time to figure out a move like that. Like, it can take some time to figure that out. I think, you know, you see the last two games he had 53, then he had 37. They lost. averaging 45 over his last two games.

And I saw that he complained about the double teams. The reality is that's just aunt being aunt. Like, Ant is going to say whatever he thinks. But he's going to get a double team. Like, you can't stop him one-on-one. So that's going to happen. And he should expect to see more of that. And his coaches better figure out how to negate those double teams.

But they ain't going away. You talk about losing a guy like Carl and the towns. That even opened up the possibility for double teams because you can help off a little more because the way he shoot the ball, I mean, excuse me, you couldn't help off as much because of how quick catch trigger is

and how well he shoot the ball. And so I think they still have some adjustments to make, like I told at the Olympics after the game, after they won the gold medal, don't be a moment guy. Like, don't be one of those guys that had their moment that went to the conference finals that we never hear from again.

And I don't think he has that attitude. But, you know, he got to take that next step. Yeah, I would definitely. I believe that he will. I do, at least. I agree. I think it's not regress, right? It's more like he hasn't taken the next step.

I think he's gotten better. But what does that mean for someone who's so talented and, you know, huge expectation? I think my challenge to him is he hasn't figured out how to get 53 and dominate a game. He hasn't figured out to walk on the court and say, not only am I the best player, I'm the most talented, I'm the most athletic, and I can win this game based on my ability, my know-how, my knowledge, time and score. I think he's still very similar to Wendy, right, is, he's learning the game.

He's learning how to play the game, but he's not learning yet to dominate the game or to be a winner in game situations. You know what I mean? And so it goes to like, yeah, he balling. He's a baller. He can't be stopped. But it's also like he has to figure out

how to make Julius Randall valuable for him in a different way. way than cat was because you don't have cat. Now, to say all that, not having cat and having Julius Randall, like, you got to figure out how does dude going to compliment you? Because the floor is different, the spacing is different, the style is different, the way Julius Randall want to get his shots, his touches. And so now you got Julius Randall, Rudy Gobert. You know what I mean? Conley, like it looked like the same team,

but you don't fear them beating you from the outside. You don't fear them beating you at the rim. You don't fear their height or their size. And so now you have nowhere to hide or disappear or your game for other people to really compliment you to step up because all eyes are on you, right? because it's just a different, like the spacing is different. The energy to close out on everybody else,

that's a shorter close out or it's a slower close out, right, which allow you to get double teams. So I think for him, he got to understand, like, there's a game within the game within the game, right? And for what you're saying, don't be the moment, dude. It's like you can get back to the air, but you're not going to get back to the conference finals with Carl Anthony Towns,

because you don't play there no more. So stop complaining about Randall, make that shit work, make Rudy Gobert do something, you know what I mean, and figure out, like, figure out how to be the centerpiece

of everything they need without saying, like, I'm passing too much, I'm scoring too much, I'm missing that too much. It's like, we don't need none of that.

No doubt I feel you, but the word regress. He's not, he's not, I've played against Anthony Edwards, this year, I can tell you for certain, he ain't regressed me, one bit. He comes down talking to you, like,

oh, Dre, you think I'm telling you, Dre, my three better. Wow, I told you, yeah, y'all ain't going to guard me like that. My three is nice. Like, he's talking to you while he's shooting it. He ain't regrets. His game got better. His game awareness, basketball, IQ,

as far as, like, taking that next step to be a superstar and be somebody that's, he's not feared. His 53 points, his points are not feared enough. You know what I mean? And so, like, there needs to be an opportunity for him to walk in the game and be like, I can beat you score in 53. I can beat you scoring 30.

I can beat you score like I can just win this game because I got control. And I think that's the situation he's in now in Minnesota because you don't have somebody with that high level of confidence that feel like I've won them won. too, you know what I mean? And so you don't have that to feed off of everybody. Got to feed off that shit from you. And so you got to be more responsible about once again, how do you play the game until it's time for you to be a winner?

You know what I mean? You may have to James Hardin and shit. I agree. So I don't know. We'll see. We got them next week. So we shall see. We got a new segment on the show call.

What's that tweet? It'll be explaining the reasoning behind certain tweets. To kick things off, let's look at a repose from BD. I was surprised to see Jay-Z performing by wearing a Baron Davis jersey. When did that take place? Also, when was the first time you ever met Hope? We was in college at UCLA. Shout out to the homie hip-hop.

The homie ivory, they came by. You know, hip-hop was a big basketball fan. And he was like one of the youngest A&Rs at Rockefeller. So he was like, you know, you want to meet Jay? Like Jay want to rock your jersey for the hard knock life. You've been coming out in different people, Jersey. I was like, what? Bro, we hopped in the whip, hit down sunset, cafe men's.

It was Jay. Dame Dash was there. He wasn't that nice to us. You know what I mean? But Jay was hella cool. You know what I mean? He was young. He was like, you know, it was.

Hard Knock Life tour. But he was like, yeah, I was like, yo, I got a jersey for you. I gave him the white one. I gave him the black UCLA jersey. Because me and Earl Watson, for the first time,

we designed, we told the coach, like, yeah, we should make black jersey. So they, we had a UCLA black jersey. I gave them like UCLA black jersey. They invited us to the concert.

Man, we was backstage. Like, as college kids, you know what I mean? You got red, man. You know, you backstage with, you know, a young job, rude.

Mex, Hove. And I was like, man, I thought he was going to bring me on stage and shit. He didn't do that. I was backstage. I was just waiting for my moment. Like, hey, bro, you know what I mean? I'm big out here too, dog. Bring me out on the stage.

But when he showed up with the jersey, that was just everybody went nuts. That's it. And so one of the moments that he kind of won the crowd over because he knew his jersey to wear, you feel. You saved hold that night, huh? Yeah, come on. Come on. I took the whole team, too. We had a nice little time, man.

We had no NIL bread, but I couldn't imagine if we did. Yeah, y'all had that illegal bread. That's cool. You know, stocks and bonds. Oh, man. On New Year's Eve, you talk about OKC saying shout out and shaking It hoot really well. What game were you watching?

And do you believe they are the best team in the NBA? Also, what do you think about SGA for MVP? What I was talking about was when I just said, I said shaking really hoop. And then I said chat out. The reason, what I was thinking when I said chat out, because I was watching that game and I was just like, man, this team is good as hell. Yeah. And chat out.

Chet out. Like, I'm just sitting there like, huh? Like, chat out. And they're this good. Yeah. It's crazy. And so that's what I was saying.

And then Shay can root really well. It was just like, you know, you watch Shay. He ain't really doing nothing that's blowing you away, except he may make a move here, you know what I'm. But like, it ain't like it's the most speed or the highest jumper, you know what I'm saying? I'm like the most flawless jump shot you ever seen. It ain't none of that. except he going to create all the space he won't.

Oh, my gosh. He's going to get wherever he want. He's going to get whatever shot he wants at whatever pace he wants to do with that. You cannot speed him. Like, it's crazy. And I was just watching, I'm like, yo, this dude, like, just simply put, he hooped really well. I'm not about to sit here and try to break this down. I'm not about to go shaking hoop.

Yeah. And that's just what I was watching them play against the tournament was. actually against Edman. The way they came back in that game it was just like so poised and like just watching Shea do what he do. I'm like, wow, this is crazy. Yeah, fuck you, bro.

I can't say they're the best team in the NBA. That's Boston. Until someone proves otherwise, the best team in the NBA is the Boston Celtics. I think OKC is real. Yeah. But until further notice, the best team in NBA is the Boston Celtics,

until you can beat them and dethrone them. That's the best team. And they got the same team from last year. So it ain't like they won a championship and lost big pieces. Until you can beat them, that's the best team in NBA. Period. That's how to always work. Period.

Oh, man, before we get out of here, I got five on it. Next up, I got five on it where BD discuss his five players that he's high on to start the new year. Who are your top five players in the league right now? Okay. about SGA, man, because he's just on the tear. You know, this in no particular order. I got... No, no, no, no, no, no.

Is this order? It's a particular order. Oh, wow. This, okay, this is my particular. Okay, this is high now. MVP. Like, this is it. Number one, ain't no particular order.

SGA, front runner, Canada. Number two. Number two. two, Joker, just because and shit. What else can you say? Number three, Tatum, which is kind of like a tool

because Joker are not once so many. Tatum have an MVP year, Boston, you know, just kind of like making that run, but the way he closing out games is like really on some like superstar MVP level. shit.

I'm the big donut type stuff. Yeah. Janice with just like it was because of he decided that he's going to turn the Minnesota Milwaukee bucks around. Right. And like Janus is back to Janus in. You know what I mean? Yeah.

And doing what he do. And then number five for me is I would say a sleeper in this whole thing is James Harder. Look at what the clippers have done up until this point. the season. You know what I mean? The beard is back. And I would say back better than ever, taking that two years in Philadelphia as a playmaker with Embed and allowed him to like now figure out, okay, now I know how to redefine. He redefined his system and now is working for the clippers. And, you know, he's just still one of the toughest dudes to guard, you know,

and that picking roll or I so. I am a system. And I, am Draymond Green and here's Baron Davis and that is a wrap in this episode of the Dremont Green show with my dog beat in. We out. Peace. The volume.