Draymond Green Brushes Aside Barkley Comparison
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- Former NBA star Charles Barkley was famous for once proclaiming "I'm no role model."
And that's just fine with Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green.
When asked Monday by reporters whether or not he favored comparisons to Barkley's brash, outspoken style, Green unleashed an expletive-laced answer.
"Hell no," he said. "I'm the modern-day Draymond Green. F–k no."
While he admitted to watching some videos of Barkley's play, Green said when he was growing up in Saginaw, Mi., he wasn't a fan of the Hall Of Famer. In fact, Green said, his mother didn't allow him to have sports heroes.
"I wasn't a Charles Barkley fan growing up," he told reporters. "No disrespect to Charles. He was a great player. As I got older I watched his game because I knew he was undersized...I could try to add some of that stuff to my game, but he didn't influence me at all...He's wasn't my role model."
Green said his style comes from the streets and hard courts of Saginaw.
"I grew up in Saginaw, Michigan" he said. "That's what you do, you talk. You talk junk during basketball. That's how I was raised. I was raised in a family like that, so I didn't need a Charles Barkley to influence me."
"My mom didn't let us look up to people anyway," he continued. "My mom didn't believe in you need to like look to this guy for it. My mom didn't believe in that."