Browns fall to Bengals, 31-17, as Kessler leaves with concussion
October 23, 2016Joe Thomas trade rumors swirl once again
October 24, 2016It was an otherwise innocuous preseason game, the Golden State Warriors topping the Portland Trailblazers to the tune of 107-96, taking their record to 6-1 on the mid-October slate. A host of influencers were court side for the release of Under Armour’s Curry 3. Folks watched Steph Curry’s warm-up routine as if he were sculpting a dabbing David in a block of ice. Curry and Kevin Durant combined for 63 points in just 58 combined minutes.
But the headline that will come out of one of the preseason’s final contests is all due to Draymond Green, the Warriors’ emotional leader whose antics cost him an NBA Finals game, for the versatile forward pulled out his best Rockettes impression en route to the victory.
Here’s Green’s “completely natural basketball move” after being fouled by Portland’s Allen Crabbe with a little more than six minutes remaining in the first half:
Unbelievable. Warriors’ Draymond Green didn’t learn from last year and is STILL out here kicking, this time against the Blazers. pic.twitter.com/u0GM38hkLi
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) October 22, 2016
Naturally, Crabbe was pretty unhappy with the flailing that followed, resulting in a bit of a skirmish where their new enforcer Zaza Pachulia stepped in before anyone could so much as clap back at the Michigan State product. The Blazers, who run a spectacular social media presence, used the opportunity to say exactly what every fan outside of Oakland was thinking.
Thought we talked about this, guys. pic.twitter.com/uN3fKqowW1
— Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) October 22, 2016
We don’t need to remind anyone that it was Green who used a similar follow through to kick Oklahoma City’s Steven Adams in the groin during last season’s Western Conference Finals (pictured above) as it was that very kick that led to the same player being suspended for Game 5 of the NBA Finals after attempting to deliver a Johnny Cage bag tag to LeBron James as 20 million fans looked on a game earlier. And while the blow on Friday night made the front page of a few websites, the league has yet to say much on the topic. Which begs the question: How much increased scrutiny will Green have following his actions in last year’s postseason?
There will be plenty of story lines for the coming season. How much will the Spurs fall without Tim Duncan? Can James win his fifth MVP despite restricted minutes? Can Karl-Anthony Towns become the most dominant big man in basketball? Will James Harden average 40 shots per game? But with all of these (and more), could Draymond Green’s on-court persona be a headwind for a team that lost the NBA Finals despite being up 3-1?
Much like the Cleveland Indians’ use of Chief Wahoo or the Browns being inextricably bad, the subject matter gets discussed at much louder volumes when the national light is shining at its brightest. A Friday night preseason game on the west coast gets little in the way of attention, but if Green’s latest Sweet Chode Music were to occur on opening night or Christmas Day (against the Cavs, mind you), it’s much tougher to ignore. Much like how J.R. Smith’s reputation is taken into account when he delivers a Chun-Li backhand to a Boston Celtic in the first round of the playoffs1, one has to wonder if the dick pic extraordinaire has cranked up the reputation dial to Skid Row levels of loud.
But unlike Smith, Green is an All-Star, an Olympian. He’s a big part of a team that has made the NBA grow in popularity over the last three seasons. Steph Curry may be the unanimous MVP,2 but it’s Green who is the key to the “lineup of death.”
As ESPN.com’s Ethan Sherwood Strauss writes, Green’s late-season meltdown was an entire year in the making, the Warriors enabling a lot of his behavior behind the scenes. Steve Kerr isn’t a fan of Green shooting threes. His bombast gets tiring, even inside the Warriors’ locker room. “We have a very likable group of guys — other than Draymond,” said Kerr. “Draymond’s a good guy, but I think at the end of the day, it hurt the whole chemistry of the year,” said former Warriors big man Marreese Speights. “Draymond and Klay got into it a lot.” And while fans of the Warriors, and even his teammates as the cameras roll, will rally to Green’s defense, if the NBA continues to focus on Green’s “natural moves,” and it begins to cost him—and, by default, the Warriors—in the way of wins, will that leash remain as long?
“There’s the Draymond Green you see out on the floor,” Green explains in a recent story at Bleacher Report. “But that’s not me. I mean, it is, but there’s more. People see the fiery guy, the competitive guy, the trash talk and everything. But they don’t see the love and compassion. They don’t see the person. They don’t see the real me who values his friends and puts people first.”
By all accounts, the Warriors will lead the NBA in wins again this coming season. They took a 73-win team and added one of the five best basketball players in the world to their roster. They will have Kerr at the helm for an entire season. They have two of the best three-point shooters in the league on one roster, and can simultaneously defend every lineup that can be thrown their way. But if any one player can provide a bump in the Warriors road to the The Trilogy, it’s Green.
Will the NBA let that happen? With his track record firmly in place, it’ll be tough for the league to ignore when that size 15 shoe flails through the air.
10 Comments
Not only has the Four Letter has already started their egregious knob-slobbering over Oakland, but they’ve now added insufferable monkey-spanking Cubs coverage.
Yeah, it’s hard to understand why the league has put up with this for so long. His Game 5 suspension was certainly a stiff penalty, but it was a fair one. But it still should have happened earlier when he nailed Adams in the junk TWICE.
Hey, the Indians are just props as “America’s Team” fulfills its glorious destiny. But that’s fine with me.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/619b6490a1df1e96a7a6769e70a71e9db948995581f6d1ba71422e6129427c40.jpg
Poor Chicago…they’ve ONLY had a Super Bowl win, 6 NBA Championships and 3 Stanley Cups, since 1985.
My heart pumps p*ss for them.
Hands and feet are “completely natural and accidental” NAD-seeking missiles that I’m sure coincidentally never hit his own teammates junk.
Regrettably, Green is in the clear on this one, or at least has a compelling excuse this time. If he doesn’t kick and throw his arm forward in addition to his upper torso adjustment he is on the floor at the end of this.
Just thought I’d repost this one… https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/461f0fc140ac353cc03196e823b110b8c7bf456341f54f93e537243db32dfee2.png
*AND* a World Series!!
What are the odds that either Fox or the Mothership has a nice piece on how the Cubs sold their soul for a closer who strangled and beat his girlfriend and recklessly fired his gun out of his garage window?
Especially considering Andrew Miller was still on the market… “Who? Nah, we’ll pass on him. This Chapman guy is exactly who we need!”
Ugh, that one was the worst. That might have been the most unlikeable team I have ever witnessed. That they won? Ugh.