Good Word with Goodwill – Draymond Green on why the Warriors should still be feared – Yahoo Sports

The Golden State Warriors forward spoke with Yahoo Sports senior NBA writer Vincent Goodwill on the team's focus heading into the upcoming playoffs - despite a recent run of injuries.

Draymond joined Yahoo Sports on behalf of Amazon, to promote its new Amazon Glow -- a new device for parents regularly on the road and looking for a way to make meaningful connections with their little ones.

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VINCENT GOODWILL: Vince Goodwill for Yahoo Sports here with three-time NBA champion, Defensive Player of the Year perennial candidate Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors. Draymond, you're joining us here as part of a promotion for Amazon Glow for Parents. Going to get to that in a second.

But first, there's this term called respectful fear, where you're supposed to fear your opponent regardless of the situation. If you guys are whole and healthy, is there anybody that you fear? Do you have a respectful fear of Memphis? Do you have a respectful fear of Phoenix? Or is it just a blissful thing because you guys have won championships, and you have to sweat equity?

DRAYMOND GREEN: No, you definitely have to have respectful fear in our organization. Steve Kerr, Coach Kerr called it appropriate fear. And I think you have to have appropriate fear. I don't care who you're playing against. If you don't have the appropriate fear, you're going to lose the game.

This is the NBA. Everybody has NBA talent. Everyone has NBA coaches. Everyone has NBA schemes. And anyone can be beat. And so I think you have to have the appropriate fear for everyone.

Now, in saying that, we don't fear anyone. Regardless of who we match up with, whether that's Memphis, whether that's somewhere down the line, whether that's Phoenix somewhere down the line, whoever we match up with, we don't fear anyone. But if you don't have the appropriate fear, you can forget about it. You will get humbled if you don't have the appropriate fear.

VINCENT GOODWILL: For years, you guys were the team everybody feared at the top, where teams would basically be psyched out of playing you before they even stepped on the floor. And you could probably kind of sense that. Do you feel like that fear of Golden State is gone just because you guys haven't had the continuity on the floor, you're a couple of years removed from a championship? Do you feel that fear is still there, or do you feel like you kind of have to reestablish that?

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DRAYMOND GREEN: No, I definitely don't think it's gone, because I played the first 33, 34 games of the year. Maybe I missed a couple here and there. But for the most part, I played them. And I saw that fear.

I saw it come right back when everybody was like, oh, they're good again. Oh, we got to deal with these guys again. I saw that fear. So I don't necessarily think it's gone. I think teams are able to get by that when you're not healthy.

Klay was coming back into the lineup. I left the lineup. I came back into the lineup. Steph left the lineup.

And so if you keep running up against a team that don't have all their guys, of course you don't have to fear anything. But when we were rolling at the beginning of the season and on top of Klay coming back, then everyone's terrified. I don't doubt, we step on the court whole in the playoffs, guys are going to be terrified. I don't doubt that one bit.

VINCENT GOODWILL: Draymond, you're here as part of a promotion for Amazon Glow. It's very, very helpful for parents. Explain that to us.

DRAYMOND GREEN: As you see the device right here, it is extremely helpful for parents, especially those that travel. In my case, we play 82 games a year. 41 of those games are on the road. It's a seven-month season. You're on the road for 3 and 1/2 months. I mean, you can imagine the changes that happens in a kid's life over 3 and 1/2 months.

With the device Amazon Glow, it helps bridge that gap. It helps lessen those miles in between. You're talking having the opportunity to be face-to-face with your family but interactive. We've seen several situations where you can do that, but you're not interacting. You're not helping your kids learn. You're not participating in these games with your kid and being hands-on.

And I think my appreciation and my want to partner with Amazon on the Amazon Glow product was simply, it's something that brings me closer to my kids. It's something that makes that time away from my children less stressful.

And most importantly, it's a way for me to continue to interact and do those same things that I'm able to do when I'm home when I'm away. And I think that's a beautiful thing.

VINCENT GOODWILL: Hey, like you said, you're away from your kids a lot. And you don't want to put that stress on one parent. So you know firsthand what the Amazon Glow product can do, man. Thanks so much for joining us this afternoon at Yahoo Sports, man. We appreciate it. Good luck in the playoffs, man.

DRAYMOND GREEN: Thanks, Vince, I appreciate it.

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Good Word with Goodwill - Draymond Green on why the Warriors should still be feared - Yahoo Sports