Kayte Christensen: Dear Draymond, Let's Get A Few Things Straight…
Draymond Green has always been known as a physical player but he took that physicality to another level in the 2015-16 playoffs by junk punching opponents.
He did it to the Oklahoma City Thunder's Steven Adams in the Western Conference Finals… repeatedly.
Then, he did it to LeBron James in the Finals earning himself a suspension in Game 5. You may recall the Warriors lost that game, then the one after, oh, and the one after that too.
You also may recall Golden State lost in the Finals after jumping out to a 3-1 lead over the Cavaliers. Call it karma for all those whose manhood was assaulted, or call it folding like a wet tissue paper.
Fact is, the Warriors were too good, too experienced, too well coached to just fold. So maybe karma does exist after all.
I'll let you be the judge of that, but in the meantime here's a lovely compilation of Green's work below the belt of his opponents.
After all that – the suspension, the fines, blowing your team's shot at another title – Draymond Green is back at it and showing how little comprehension and ability to change he has. He's blind to the fact his erratic, nonsensical behavior affects his team.
But in all fairness, this time it wasn't the battering of another man's berries that he's guilty of. He's graduated to taking people's heads off - with his feet. Yes, I said people because he did it twice in two games.
But wait for it… just when I thought things couldn't get worse with this guy, he and his agent have begun to spew complete and utter garage trying to defend someone who has lost all control of himself. His ego has inflated to a size that's only rivaled by the Goodyear Blimp.
Let me break this down for you.
Green's agent B.J. Armstrong (you may remember him from his time with the Bulls where he won three NBA titles) is now taking shots at the NBA and their Competition Committee because his client is being unfairly targeted.
Armstrong, when talking to USA Today says the Competition Committee is ruining the game of basketball, saying, "Since I've been a part of this league, I can't recall when they've actually made rules that have actually helped to improve the game of basketball."
It's all about the money if you ask Armstrong, who went on to say:
"Every move has been made with some motive, to make the game look a certain way, to speed the game up, to do all these things. But what, when the competition committee – whoever those people are – what have they actually done to improve the game of basketball? … Not to put more people in the stands, not to make the game more appealing for people globally. What has been done to improve the game of basketball? That's it. That's my only question."
Then, of course, there was the GET OFF MY LAWN moment - you knew it was coming!
Armstrong went on to recount his days playing against the "Bad Boy" Detroit Pistons when officials used to warn him about driving the lane for fear of what might happen if he went too far. These silly rules changes are a clear sign that the NBA prioritizes business over basketball.
I'm glad he pointed that out, because I was confused. I thought player safety, a watchable product and avoiding all out bench-clearing brawls was about basketball, not business.
Oh my. My head hurts! Where shall I start? I guess the only thing to do is to attack this one item at a time.
Let's see here…the Competition Committee is made up of league executives, owners, general managers, coaches, player and official representatives and several longtime former NBA players.
I guess that proves Draymond's remark that "A lot of these guys [on the competition committee] that make the rules can't touch the rim, yet they tell you how you're way up there in the air which way your body [should go]."
Quit talking Draymond, now you're starting to make yourself look silly.
Do not, for one moment, get it twisted that someone who can't touch the rim doesn't know of things like physics – you know that field of science involving the study of matter and its motion and behavior through space and time related to things like energy and force.
I'll take it a step further and admit I am by no means a wiz at the ol' physics but I did play (and yes, I could touch the rim). I can admit I may have been the most erratically physical player, with absolutely zero control over her own body, to ever touch the floor. But when it comes to crotch punching, head kicking and any other "unnatural" act I am completely 0-for. It never happened.
Moving on to how this business we call basketball is doing.
More people watch, play, follow this game globally now more than ever before. The athletes are better than any other to step on the floor before them (that includes Mr. Armstrong) because of advancements in sports medicine and science.
The players themselves are making more money in a single contract now than many of the players of a couple decades ago made in their entire career.
So yes, this is a business and it's a wildly successful one. And the product on the court isn't just watchable - it's beautiful.
There is less hand checking, arm barring, shirt grabbing to allow for freedom of movement. It allows us to watch amazing athletes do amazing things.
It's not longer 10 guys at a time on a court for 48 minutes competing to see who could out-tough the other team. This isn't the NFL on a hardwood floor anymore. It's basketball.
Players like Draymond Green - who make mistakes, try to play outside the boundaries all along never admitting fault - do not need "YES" men representing them.
Quit it with the paranoia. Nobody is out to get you. People like me actually love your game (when you're not kicking and punching people) and would like to see you actually play it without treating it like it's WWE.
So just play and zip it!
