State Of The Warriors, March 2021: Not Over Green's Antics
(originally written 3/19/21)
Draymond Green has been making the rounds lately, hasn't he? When he's not pitching Subway sandwiches alongside Jayson Tatum of the Celtics, he's telling the media (who didn't ask) what he thinks of the Blake Griffin/Andre Drummond situations, or he's calling into local sports radio to defend his tweets. One thing we know about Draymond Green: he likes to be heard.
And his insistence upon being heard cost his team a game they could and should have won back on 2/20 at Charlotte. Remember?
(There's also that potential win against the Spurs 2/8 ruined by Green's brain-diarrhea. But this blog targets Green's behavior rather than his basketball.)
There is a reason why I am not an NBA executive—I'm way too emotional and reactionary. (Yes, THAT'S what's keeping me out of NBA front offices.) If I ran the Warriors, Green would have been traded that night, and in my furor there's no guarantee I'd have necessarily sought equal value.
Fortunately for Green, I am just a fan. A fan who's seen Green lose total control of his emotions time and time...and time...and time again. I'm also a fan who's seen/heard Green's supporters make excuses for him time and time...and time...and time again. No matter what he does or how detrimental to the team his actions are, almost to a man Green's teammates and coaches defend him—all but laughing off his inexcusable behavior. "Oh, that's just Draymond. We know he has our back," they'll say.
It's absolutely disgusting!
After Green's meltdown in the final seconds at Charlotte, second-year F Eric Paschall faced the media and stood up for his teammate. Now, do I expect Paschall to go on camera and tell the nation that in that moment, Green was selfish, childish, reckless and an extremely poor example as a veteran player? Of course not. (Though it would be nice.)
Coach Steve Kerr is on record as being "tired of Draymond's s---". He's not the only one.
What I would expect any of Green's teammates to say: "This one hurt. We had a great chance to win a game without our best player on the floor, and we blew it that way? We aren't a good enough team to piss away wins like that. Yelling and cursing at referees has never helped a team."
But no one on the roster, or even in the organization, has the guts to publicly call Green out for anything. Even a couple sports talk radio hosts came to Green's defense, essentially arguing that since Green's play supposedly contributes to so many wins, it's no big deal if Green's temper directly lead to the occasional loss. Evidently, because he's helped the team to three titles and has a little hardware, Draymond Green is absolved of any and all adverse conduct going forward.
What the hell kind of example is this?!
Draymond Green vociferously curses out head coach Steve Kerr in front of the entire team? Slap on the wrist. Draymond Green does the same to star player Kevin Durant, all but directly running him out of town that summer? Slap on the wrist. Draymond Green gets himself suspended by the league for an NBA Finals game? Oopsy-daisy!
Last season, with guards Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson hurt and Durant gone, Green was expected to "lead" the young Warriors, but all he did was rack up more technicals and ejections. And while I'll stop short of accusing him of milking his injury, I'd bet anything he wasn't pleading to go back on the floor, either.
A couple years ago, Green claimed to have watched video of himself acting out, was embarrassed, and promised to change. But unless he was referring to his son's diapers, nothing changed at all. Green's still an overrated, overpaid bully who just this season screamed so harshly at his own teammate that he was assessed his second technical foul of the game and ejected.
I personally am sick of his act, because it's tired. I'm sick of his apologies and his promises because they're meaningless—he'll just act up again. And at this point I'd gladly ship him out of town for a draft pick. Hey, (Warriors General Manager) Bob Myers: maybe you WANT to pay somebody $22M per year to average five points a game, shoot 25% on threes, scream at everybody and cost the team wins it desperately needs, but just know I could easily do all that for $22 per hour.