GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 30, 2024

Draymond Green

Media Conference

Q. This team is not used to these long, long off-seasons like you had this off-season. What's that like for you? Because you guys are usually running around until June.

DRAYMOND GREEN: It was good. I took a break, worked out, got bored, took another break, started back working out.

Just did a lot of stuff that had nothing to do with basketball, spent a lot of time with family, got a lot of stuff done on the business side.

Just tried to take advantage of the time, but it was definitely weird. It was long.

Q. Was there enough time to like physically refresh a little bit?

DRAYMOND GREEN: Yeah, you definitely -- you know, within reason as much as you can. It's funny because I was telling my trainer, we were lifting yesterday, he's like how does your body feel? I'm like I feel good. All right, so you're a hundred percent? I was like I'll never be a hundred percent, like that would never happen for me.

But you know, like within reason of 13 years of basketball, I feel great. So, yeah, you try to let your body recover as much as you can, but after all the wear and tear, I don't think you'll ever see 100 percent again.

Q. How much did you personally miss the postseason? That's what you guys play for.

DRAYMOND GREEN: I missed it a lot. I tend to play my best basketball that time of year, so to not kind of have that outlet, if you will -- you know, you go the whole season looking forward to that, and to not play in it, it's never fun.

But we're about six months removed from not playing in it, so it doesn't feel as bad as it felt when it was going on, but it was tough to watch.

Q. Draymond, we know you went up to Paris for the final game or final two games, I think?

DRAYMOND GREEN: I went for the final game.

Q. You've seen Steph do that many times, but to see him do it there at this stage in both of your careers, just what was that like?

DRAYMOND GREEN: That had absolutely nothing to do with me, but to see him kind of embrace that moment with the who's whos of basketball, especially over the last 20 years, and I think what I appreciated most about it was watching the guys that don't get to play with him, their reactions to being on the same side as him. I thought that was pretty cool.

To see him, after all these years of not playing in the Olympics, and everybody's, oh, Steph's never played in the Olympics. When's he going to do Olympics. He's going to end his career not doing the Olympics, and to watch him go own the moment the way he owned the moment, only he can do that.

He had a very pedestrian Olympics, and then he gets to the final two games -- it's Steph. Like most people, if you're in that situation, most people, you get taken out of the lineup. You get -- you know, it doesn't end the way it ended for him. But with Steph, he wasn't shooting well, but you always know it only takes one, and he hit one, and you know what follows it. We saw it happen.

I thought it was absolutely incredible to see. I was honored to be there for the moment, to watch him have that moment and to witness that, it was amazing because all of the stuff he's done in the NBA is great and everybody around the world knows him.

Outside of America, I think everyone else takes the Olympics more serious, like if you go talk to most Europeans, they probably would rather win an Olympic gold medal rather than win an NBA championship. It's not that way for us growing up. You grow up in America, the goal is to win an NBA championship. All of a sudden you realize, oh man, I may be good enough to play on Team USA. I want the opportunity to win an Olympic gold medal.

Nikola Jokic grew up dreaming of winning an Olympic gold medal, not winning an NBA championship. To see him on that stage where everyone else in the world is watching that thing and like that's the thing that you need to do in order to be this guy in our eyes. Michael Jordan went to Barcelona in 1992, look what he did, right? Like you start to look at what those guys have done.

Steph needed that. And to watch him not only go get it -- like we all -- we always say, you play on Team USA. The hard part is making the team. Once you make the team, you're going to win, so you're going to get a gold medal. He made that his moment in getting the gold medal. That was as special as anything I've ever seen him do.

Q. You guys certainly recruited Paul George this summer, to even try to get him on the market, and that didn't happen. I was just wondering your perspective on those things not happening and what the roster kind of reconfigured to where it is today.

DRAYMOND GREEN: The job Mike's done with reconfiguring the roster, I thought Mike did it and Joe and this organization, they did an incredible job of not panicking. In the moment where you feel like, oh, you miss out on a guy or two, most people didn't make a bad deal because everyone around the world, everyone -- the microscope that's always on this organization for the last 10 years, it's still there, and everyone around has thoughts about what this team should look like, the makeup of the roster, who they think should be on the roster.

To see them stand pat and say, no, we're going to pluck away, we're going to sign a Buddy Hield, we're going to sign a De'Anthony Miller, we're going to sign a Kyle Anderson, and just pluck away and chip away at it, I thought that was incredible. I thought it shows who this organization is, and it is a testament to Mike Dunleavy and who he is as a basketball mind, a guy who's grown up in the NBA his whole life.

Like I said, in most situations, you see someone panic, and they make a move that set them back for five years. One move in this league, it can pretty much set you up for how the next 10 years of your organization is going to go. Sometimes the best deal you can make is to not make a deal, and I think we did a great job in going out and getting pieces that's going to help this team grow, that will allow young guys opportunity to grow and yet keeping the future of this organization as bright as it's ever been.

Q. Did you enter this off-season thinking, considering how the past season, past two seasons went, like we do need a little bit of a face lift, a bit of a changing with the roster?

DRAYMOND GREEN: I think every year, even when you win a championship, you need a face lift. You don't -- the likelihood that you're going to win a championship, return with the same exact team and win again, it's hard because everyone is now building to beat that team that just won.

So my approach, it's no different than if you just won a championship. When we won a championship in 2022, that next year we were trying to figure out what moves can we make that are going to help us win a championship because we won't go back with this team and win another championship. That's just not the way it goes.

So I think the mindset is the same. Every year you go into the summer, you'd better be looking to get better. If you won a championship and you're not looking to get better, you will lose next year. If you didn't win a championship, you'd better be trying to figure out how to win it.

I think our mindset, my mindset is the same as going into every year. All right, we didn't get it done this year. What can we do to possibly put ourselves in the position to get it done? Or we got it done, and it's about to be hard as hell to get it done again the next year. I think you've kind of got to be along that same mindset regardless of whether you win or lose.

Q. You said you aren't ever going to be 100 percent at this point, but how do you feel heading into the season? Specifically mentally, considering a lot of what happened last year, just how are you?

DRAYMOND GREEN: I feel great heading into the season. Mentally I feel great. Physically I feel great. The time off to get away from the game of basketball, have a break after the many years that we've been doing this is never too much of a bad thing, try to find things that you can to keep your mind busy but also make sure you're doing things to get better and staying sharp.

So just always trying to find that balance. But overall going into the season, I'm excited. It's a new opportunity, a new challenge. With Klay leaving here, things just look different, it feels different. It's not the same thing anymore. For so long it's just been the same thing.

I think, with it being the same thing, it makes it even tougher to perform at a high level because it's like, you know, the drummer usually gets mad in the band and the band break up or the -- not the lead singer, but one of the next guys in line, they get upset and the band falls apart. That's because you get tired of doing the same thing over and over and over and over, and you get bored with chasing that greatness.

I think we did a great job of not getting bored chasing the greatness, always trying to give ourselves a chance to compete at the highest level and compete for championships. Now we turn the page. Turning the page doesn't mean we're still not competing for the same thing, that's always the goal, but it's just going to look a little different now. It's not going to look the way it looked for the last 13 years or 12 years.

You go into it with a little uncertainty because after 12 years of something you kind of grow accustomed to it, but at the same time, where there's the most uncertainty, that's usually the biggest opportunity for growth. That's kind of where we are, and I'm looking forward to that challenge.

Q. You know people worry about you, fans, maybe your teammates.

DRAYMOND GREEN: Why do they worry about me? I'm the most successful black man in America doing incredibly well. What's to worry about me?

Q. They worry about you.

DRAYMOND GREEN: There are way more people to worry about in this world than me.

Q. We're here now.

DRAYMOND GREEN: We're all here. I don't think you should worry about me. I'm doing pretty well. If you were to told me when I was 13 years old in Saginaw, Michigan, without a pot to piss in, that you'd be sitting here and somebody would say they're worried about you, I would have probably told them they were out of their mind. I'd be sitting here and they'd be worried about me.

Q. Well, they're worried for themselves too. They want to know -- they know the team needs you.

DRAYMOND GREEN: Why are they worried?

Q. Because they know the team needs you.

DRAYMOND GREEN: They don't feed their families doing this. I'm here. I've been here for 13 years now.

Q. You're going to be here every night?

DRAYMOND GREEN: Been here pretty much every night for 13 years, very much so. We all have. Look, Kevon Looney played 82 games two years in a row and everybody was celebrating. We all miss games.

Q. They want to know if you're going to be here like mentally --

DRAYMOND GREEN: I'm always here. And? Suspensions -- the guideline of getting suspended is something that's in place because it's a possibility.

Q. Nothing changed with that?

DRAYMOND GREEN: I don't know what would change. I don't get the question. I think my mindset has helped us do some great things. That's pretty cool.

It's all about how you spin it. I love how you try and spin it, but it ain't my spin to it, player. It's good.

Q. The four young guys, Kuminga and Moody obviously going into their fourth year. What specifically can they do to take another step forward? And how much do you expect from Brandin and Trayce now that they had their rookie season? There usually is a big difference coming in your second year obviously.

DRAYMOND GREEN: What can they do differently? I think, when you look at all four of them from J.K., Moses, B.P., and Trayce, when you look at all four of them, I think from the time we first saw them to where they are now, all four of them, I think we can all see the growth. On this journey, that's all you can ask for.

The rate that that growth happens, it varies for everyone. Steph Curry's biggest level of growth probably game between years 4 and 5, like that's when he started to really become Steph Curry. LeBron James was an All-Star in year 2. You look at where the two are today, I don't think you would guess that one was like that in year 2 and one of them became that in year 5 or year 6.

But that's just kind of how the cookie crumbles sometimes because it's not a direct science. It's lineups, which is based off coaching, sometimes nothing you can do about that. It's shots that you're getting, is Coach running plays for you, are you just getting the shots when the ball come to you on the floor in offense? All of that makes a difference in terms of a guy's development and where they are in their careers.

So I think, when I look at all four of those guys, the thing that I can appreciate most is their work ethics and where they are today as opposed to where they were when I first saw them. All of them have made considerable strides.

I think one thing that every young guy has to figure out -- and I think those four have to figure it out as well -- is what makes you an All-Star in this league, what makes you a household name in this league, more important than anything is consistency.

I think, when you deal with young guys, the one thing you see weighing more than anything is the consistency in which they do it. That's because it's hard as hell to learn how to go out there and do it for 82 nights. 82 nights, then the playoffs. But once you become one of those household names and got to do it for 82 nights, then the requirements of everything else that you have to do, you're now learning and picking up on that.

Those are all the things we never take into account. When I was in my second year coming off the bench, the amount of ask that I had at Media Day, my sheet was probably filled up halfway. The amount of ask that it is once I started to become who I became in the league is two sheets long full of things to do, right? Like you're adjusting to all of these things.

The reality is the only part that people ever take into account is what they see you do on the basketball court, but the amount of adjustments that you can be dealing with in life and your career, and for those young guys, I think they just have to embrace that. They have to approach the night every single night with the same intensity, the same mentality, understanding that I'm trying to reach this level of consistency that's going to make me a household name, that's going to make me an indispensable role player, that's going to make me a superstar, that's going to make me an All-Star.

It's a level of consistency that they all have to reach, and I don't think either one of them have reached it yet, and I think that should be the goal for everybody. It's not about what you do. Whether you go out and score 20 points a night or get 10 rebounds a night, that's not the most important thing.

You're going to do one of those things, whatever the thing is that you're great at and know that the team needs you to do, but what's more important is that you can bring that to the team every single night because the guys around you are going to depend on you to bring it every single night. The coaching staff, their game plan is going to be based on you doing that thing every single night.

I think that's the biggest thing that young guys have to adjust to, and these four guys are no different.

Q. Going to double barrel this. I know it's early, but what difference do you think the new additions can make on this team, and is there anybody in particular among them that you're really curious or interested to play with to see what they can do?

DRAYMOND GREEN: I think new additions -- new additions were the real reason we won a championship in 2022. The signing of Otto Porter, the signing of Nemanja Bjelica, the signing of Gary Payton II, those new additions are what took us from a borderline playing team to a championship team.

I always tell people -- I'm sure y'all have heard me say this before, championships are won 6 through 10. Championships aren't won 1 through 5. We see great 1 through 5s all the time, and everybody in the world is like, uh-oh, watch out for that team, that starting five. How are you going to beat that team? You get against that team, and they lose in the first round, and you realize, oh, they ain't that good. That's because they were 1 to 5 dominant.

The teams that you see that have got a really good 1 to 5 but their 6 through 10 are strong, those are the teams that are going to compete for championships. So when you're speaking of the new additions, when I look at guys like De'Anthony, Kyle Anderson, Buddy, Nemanja Bjelica, Otto Porter, those are guys that come in that you know -- I know exactly what those -- I can sit here and tell you right now exactly what those three guys are going to bring this team.

We know, I know when we talked about the level of consistency with the young guys, I know the level of consistency they're going to bring that at. That's what helped you get to Conference Finals, NBA Finals, it's those guys. And no one ever gives them credit. It's the Derrick Whites of the world. Derrick White been getting a lot of credit over the summer. He end up starting for the Boston Celtics, but he was really brought in to be like 6th, 7th, 8th man, like that's the stuff that really pushes you over the top.

Al Horford. Al Horford wasn't supposed to start on that team. Porzingis was supposed to be the starter right, which makes Al Horford your 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th man. That's how you win championships, when you're strong there. When I look at the new additions on this team, they're proven guys, guys that's respected around this league, guys that you know what they're going to bring every night.

Last time we added guys like that, we did what we love to do. So I like it.