In this edition of Hang Time, Draymond Green muses on the state of being, well, Draymond Green.
“That’s terrible — posture, form, effort, all of it. Terrible.”
Draymond Green’s assessment of my lat pulls, or whatever it is he has me doing with these dumb weights as he guides me through his dumb workout, was spot-on. I can admit, working out is not my thing. It’s his thing. Shoot, it’s literally his gym.
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The Warriors big man is the co-owner of this Blink Fitness in Warren, Michigan, about 100 miles southeast of his childhood home in Saginaw, as well as two other locations currently operating in Michigan and Illinois, three of 20 total that he plans to open in the Detroit and Chicago metro areas, all part of Green’s fast-growing business portfolio.
Over the course of a daylong adventure just prior to the start of the 2019-20 season, Green, 29, mused on his mindset ahead of his eighth season with the Dubs, his plans beyond the court, his fraught relationship with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and why his $100 million extension puts him only one-tenth of the way toward achieving one of his goals.
Growing up in Saginaw, I didn’t have access to a quality gym. When I got to Michigan State, I couldn’t do one pullup. I was overweight, so they put me on a StairMaster, but I didn’t know how to use it. I’d never seen a cardio machine.
I’m bringing affordable gyms to Michigan and Illinois. I don’t want the next young person to have to go through what I went through to pursue a career or just to live a healthier lifestyle. I want to fill this void at a very affordable rate while also putting jobs back into our community, which is extremely important.
I love spin class. There’s nothing more motivating than seeing a pregnant woman destroying the workout while I’m struggling.
I lost a good 20 to 25 pounds before the playoffs last season. I felt great, like no one could keep up with me on the court. I can lose weight in the blink of an eye, but I can gain weight in the blink of an eye too. It’s a gift and a curse.
I don’t always eat right. I was hurt in training camp. A month into the [2018-19] regular season, I went down with a toe injury. For the rest of the year, I was playing catch-up. I started to put on weight, which in turn affected my game. I wasn’t as fast. My shot wasn’t as good, and things just weren’t as fluid. I couldn’t lift up.
I love Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, right? It’s depressing, but Flamin’ Hot Cheetos just don’t work for me, body-wise. However, I can eat them one day a week. I’m going to give myself cheat days. [In the past] I would have a cheat month.
My fiancée is putting me on a wedding diet this whole season. Am I going to be in shape? I can’t go home if I’m not in shape!
If Klay Thompson had been healthy, I 100 percent believe that we win the title last year. We have no way of ever knowing, but I 100 percent believe that.
I’m going back to the way I was pre-KD, and that’s exciting to me. I had to give up shots to make sure Kevin [Durant] gets his touches, and I don’t regret that. It got me a couple of championships. But as a competitor, as someone who’s still in his prime, who’s been in the gym all summer trying to improve my game, it’s exciting to know that I can go back to playing the way that I was playing before.
You haven’t seen the best of me. I’m definitely not at my peak. I have so much room to grow, new heights that I can reach — like becoming a 40% 3-point shooter. That’d be amazing, right? My shooting dropped off the last couple of seasons, but it’s tough when you’re taking only two or three 3s a game. My percentages were a lot higher when I took more.
Y’all going to need some incredible in vitro to re-create me. I’m a splash from here, a little peck from there. I’m something new that the NBA hasn’t seen. We struggle with accepting the new.
It’s the same conversation as Drake. If I named my top five rappers, I probably won’t name Drake, as great as he is at rapping. And if I named my top five R&B singers, I probably won’t name Drake, as great as he is at that. Because you’re doing Drake a disservice by saying he’s a rapper or an R&B singer. He’s an artist that has created a completely new category, and he is the greatest that we’ve ever seen do that.
We didn’t have a ton. My family and support system kept me out of a lot of garbage. We lived with my aunt for three years in a two-bedroom duplex — my mom, brother and me, and my aunt and her son. Those are the things that shape you and give you the character.
Joe Dumars was like a father to me in high school. I was like, “Wow! He comes from a background similar to me, and he’s got it all, so I can get those things too.” He showed me the life that I wanted to live.
I remember coming to downtown Detroit eight or nine years ago, and you’re just blowing through stop signs. It was so bad. You weren’t stopping down here for anything. Just dusty fields, abandoned buildings and drug users.
It’s a community now. I give a lot of credit to Dan Gilbert [a co-founder of Quicken Loans, which is headquartered in Detroit, and a majority owner of the Cavs] for that. He’s done a great job in downtown Detroit. Now you’re starting to get outside capital coming in, where other people are dumping money into this economy. I want to build on that, give back to the place I came from by helping build this economy in Detroit, which also helps Pontiac and Southfield. It helps Saginaw, which is near and dear to my heart.
Just like a lot of communities, we’re still fighting drug addiction here. Opioids are huge right now. We still deal with racism.
There’s still a disconnect between the African-American race and the rest of America’s culture. I want to bridge that gap, the stigmas that we face daily, with the platform that I have and create more and more opportunities for African-Americans.
The Fair Pay to Play Act is very important to me. On the Michigan State campus, you couldn’t avoid seeing a No. 23 jersey. It didn’t say “Green” on the back, but we all knew who 23 was — and yet, I was broke. Then you go to a game, see the place sold out. And once again, I’m broke. Michigan State and Coach Izzo were great to me, but there were so many people making money off my play and likeness, and if I decide to do the same, I’m kicked out of school? That’s unheard of. “Hey, you’ve done X, Y and Z to put yourself in this position, and I can make all the money off that, and the moment you try to do the same, you can no longer play here.” That’s one of the most backward things I’ve ever heard.
The NCAA is making billions of dollars a year off college athletes. Not only do you not want to pay them, but you also don’t want them making money for themselves. I mean, let’s meet in the middle somewhere. You should definitely pay them something, but the least you can do is allow them to go market themselves and make money off their own likeness.
If Mark Emmert walked past here right now, I could not tell you, “Hey, that’s Mark Emmert.” You’re telling me Zion wasn’t allowed to make a dollar off of Zion last year, but Emmert makes millions of dollars a year? That’s backward.
I’d love to own an NBA team one day. Basketball, next to my family and God, is my first love. To have an asset like that would be special.
But I wouldn’t want to be known as “owner.” I have a problem with that term. When you think of the majority of these teams, you don’t necessarily think of a logo, you think of the players. Teams are great assets, but they’re only as good as the players who are driving that revenue.
You don’t hear anybody running around saying, “Oh, that’s the owner of Roasting Plant Coffee.” No, in other industries, you hear CEO, chairman, founder, co-founder. But in this people-driven business, which is driven by a bunch of young African-Americans, it just so happens that “owner” is the word we choose to use? I don’t feel that’s right.
I want to be a billionaire. But that isn’t the end goal. There is no end. I want to keep growing, attain as much knowledge as I can and, most importantly, spread that knowledge within my friends and family so they can build on it.
I’m living my dream. A part of my dream. But it’s only the beginning.
Celtics vs. Warriors — Friday, 10:30 p.m. ET, on ESPN and the ESPN App!
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