NBA ALL-STAR MEDIA DAY

February 19, 2022

Draymond Green

Media Day Press Conference

Q. (Question about Nikola Jokic.)

DRAYMOND GREEN: That's good. His defense has gotten a lot better.

Q. Why?

DRAYMOND GREEN: I think he just made more of an effort on that end. I think over the last couple of years you have seen him lock in and focus more on that end, and I think it's made a big difference in their team as well.

Q. (No microphone.)

DRAYMOND GREEN: Yeah, I can't stop him. I don't really think there's many people that can. I mean, throughout the course of a game I'm going to win my fair share of the battles and he is going to win his, but ain't nobody just stopping him.

Q. Defensively against teams that have big men that are very dominant, how do you feel this team is going to make a run against all those guys that really dominate the paint with the lack of size you have?

DRAYMOND GREEN: I think it's not so much worrying about what they have and how they can dominate the paint and how they have so much size more so than putting them in positions that is uncomfortable for them. When you do have that size, you also have to guard on the other end as well. How can you take advantage of that? What way can you take advantage of them going inside on the offensive end? How can you use that against them?

I don't think it's necessarily worried about what they're so good at and how they're going to punish you, more so than how do you combat that and make them pay for the size and make them pay for playing traditional big.

Q. On inexperienced teams winning a championship:

DRAYMOND GREEN: I think I've won a championship on an inexperienced team. We won a championship my third year. The majority of us were going into that playoffs 15 to 20 playoff games in our career and we were able it win a championship. So I don't view the inexperience as a problem.

One thing about inexperience is when you go in those situations, you are unfazed because you really don't understand how big that moment is. So you're kind of just going into it like it's another game. You can use inexperience to your advantage as well.

Q. Who has been the biggest surprise team to you?

DRAYMOND GREEN: I think the biggest surprise team to me is Cleveland, for sure. I don't think anyone expected them to be this good, and they're really putting it together. I think, obviously, in finding a young star in Darius Garland, who is leading the charge, Evan Mobley. They have a great young group of guys that -- they're putting it together now, but they're going to be good for years to come. And so if I had to pick a surprise, I think it's Cleveland.

Q. (Question about Luka Doncic.)

DRAYMOND GREEN: I think it's been incredible. You know, you watch him year in and year out continuing to improve. Kind of came into this year -- I don't think people truly understand when you are coming off the Olympics and you are trying to find the time to rest and then you get injured. He went through the injuries earlier on in the season, and he had COVID earlier in the season. But he has hit his stride now, and over the last six weeks we've started to see that Luka Doncic again that we're accustomed to seeing.

Obviously, great young guard in our league. He has pretty much dominated from the time he came into the NBA. I think that's been beautiful. There was a lot of doubt with him coming from Europe and will his game translate? I think he killed those questions right away.

Q. (No microphone.)

DRAYMOND GREEN: He don't talk much trash. Luka give you the smile like, eh, I made it. Eh. He don't talk much trash.

Q. If you could play with any former Hall of Famer --

DRAYMOND GREEN: MJ. Got to be MJ, because it's M.J. I don't think you need to say more. It's MJ.