I hope you’re all hungry for new episodes of The Draymond Green Show podcast.
Because the star of the show is going to be spending some time away from his regular job.
Green’s chokehold of Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert in the Warriors’ loss Tuesday night was, as Green so often says on the show, “absolutely incredible.” His textbook form and his dragging of the 7-foot-1 center down the court would make a UFC grappler envious.
That chokehold is also well beyond the scope of the sport of basketball, so the NBA suspended Green for five games on Wednesday. Green will now miss matchups with the Thunder, Rockets, Suns, and Spurs. He can return to the Warriors’ lineup on Nov. 28, pending an appeal.
It’s impossible for you, me, or NBA commissioner Adam Silver to be objective regarding Green. Not after 12 seasons in the league. Not after that many direct shots to opponents’ groins.
Green’s reputation as someone who crosses the line doesn’t just proceed him; it flies in a day ahead of him. To list all of his transgressions against fair play would make this column read like an Excel spreadsheet.
Suffice it to say Green doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt on subjective matters like this.
Green might be receiving unfair treatment by the league for being banned for five games. He might be getting off easy with only five games.
It’s all arbitrary, especially when it comes to Green. And no one will be happy with the number.
USA Today called for a seven-game ban. ESPN’s Jay Williams thought it should be 10. Twitter was ripe with bloodthirst — no amount of games was too many for those jackals.
Here’s what I know about the situation: there was a fight on the court, and while Green didn’t start it, he did end it.
What else do you expect from an enforcer?
Gobert had his hands around Thompson’s shoulders and neck. In the eyes of the game officials, this was considered “peacemaking.” Green protected his teammate by pulling Gobert away.
After all, American policy is to provide peace through strength.
Was Green supposed to ask nicely? Should he have tapped Gobert on the shoulder and said, “Excuse me, sir, would you please unhand my teammate?”
All the discussion about Green knowing “exactly what he was doing” is only correct in the sense that Green knew how to remove Gobert from Thompson.
Any suggestion beyond that is over-the-top psychoanalysis — a byproduct of time to think about something nobody on the court had time to consider.
Nothing was more preposterous than Gobert’s postgame comment.
“Before the game, I was telling myself that Steph (Curry) is not playing, so I know Draymond is going to try and get ejected,” Gobert said. “Because every time Steph doesn’t play, he doesn’t want to play – it’s his guy Steph. He’ll do anything he can to get ejected… Clown behavior.”
What about Tuesday’s situation struck you as premeditated?
We’ve all seen Green get himself tossed from games before. He knows all the right words to say to a referee.
But Green usually waits until there’s no reason for him to be in the game to get tossed. The man’s basketball genius is also beyond question. No thinking was involved Tuesday night — what happened was visceral.
It was a fight-or-flight moment.
Green chose to fight.
Of course he did.
Would you have preferred him to stand around and let Thompson fend for himself, as Towns did for his teammate, Gobert?
Ducking a skirmish is not in Green’s DNA.
It’s OK to have it out for Green. He has made a lot of enemies in his day. His antics are, on the whole, indefensible. Last season alone, he punched a teammate and also was suspended for a critical playoff game for stomping on an opponent.
No one is arguing that Green is “misunderstood” here.
But his role on the Warriors is undisputed. Green brings force to the Dubs. He protects the guys whose shots rip the net. (So long as they are not Jordan Poole.)
There used to be so many players like him across sports — the guys you hated to play but wanted on your team.
Gobert can tell himself whatever he wants after being rag-dolled by someone half a foot shorter than him. Rudy claimed he was the “bigger man” after the game, but he sure didn’t look it in the moment.
In fairness, Green did seem to sincerely enjoy putting Gobert in a headlock. Perhaps that’s where the objection lies.
But if Green’s actions qualified as gross misconduct — an assault on society and the sport — coach Steve Kerr or his Warriors teammates would have said so. They’ve made that claim many times before.
I’m yet to hear any objection.
But even if Green’s actions were justifiable to his teammates, they’re suspension-worthy to the league.
The NBA spun the wheel of justice and came up with an arbitrary number of games for Green to sit out. The suspension would have been a game or two for another player. I’ve seen players get away suspension-free after similar chokeholds.. But Green isn’t any other player. There’s not much point in him appealing the ban.
And while I’m sure it will be frustrating for the Warriors to be without their best defender, there might also be some positives to Green being restricted to the podcast studio — we won’t have to watch the Warriors play a two-non-shooter lineup with Green and Looney for a while. (That combination is a minus-1 in net rating in 130 minutes this season.)
We’ll wait and see – a luxury Green didn’t have Tuesday night when one of his teammates was outnumbered in a fight.
