San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Drama king Green sticking around
The Golden State Warriors can’t let Draymond Green slip away now. The fun is just beginning.
The four NBA championships and the three missed opportunities, including the loss to the Lakers, were warmups for the Last Dance drama that will unfold next season.
Not only do the Warriors have no chance at a title next season without Green, according to coach Steve Kerr, but worse, they would become boring. Green is the antidote to boring.
In fact, he is the all-time drama king of Bay Area sports. Who else is even close?
Barry Bonds? Where was the drama? He was a one-dimensional villain. He was hated by opposing fans, but mainly because of the steroid buzz. He was disliked by legions, because he was a jerk. Giants’ fans ignored the buzz and the boorishness.
Rickey Henderson? Enormously entertaining, but the only drama Rickey stirred up was Rickey trying to get every dollar Rickey felt Rickey was entitled to.
Jose Canseco? A drama king, absolutely, but mostly silly stuff, like his driving. Not much clubhouse intrigue. Mostly he got along with his teammates.
Reggie Jackson? He might be No. 2 behind Drama Draymond, but those A’s teams were going to fight and bicker even if Reggie weren’t around.
Colin Kaepernick? Just because he took a knee? The drama was all outside the locker room, caused by the haters.
Rick Barry? I’d put him a solid No. 3, behind Green and Jackson, but it seems like he was more an annoyance than a true disturber of the peace.
Worth noting: Of that group, Green is by far the most teamoriented, the most unifying and motivating force, despite the distractions he brings to the party.
Drama-wise, Green is all those guys rolled into one, and more. He’s hated by opposing fans like no other Bay Area athlete. He is reviled by some of his own team’s fans like no other Bay Area athlete.
Many want Green gone, now that he’s near the end of his usefulness. The Dump Draymond camp sees him as an increasing distraction and hindrance.
That camp is out of luck. Kerr’s statement was too powerful to be seen as a throwaway compliment to the beleaguered Green. And Kerr wouldn’t say that if he believed that key Warriors wanted Green gone.
Kerr’s statement is evidence that Stephen Curry wants
Green back, too. If there’s one rule team owner Joe Lacob and Bob Myers (or his successor as general manager) will follow as they retool for next season, it’s this: It’s all about Steph. If Curry feels strongly that the team needs Green, the discussion is closed.
It’s closed internally, that is. Outside the locker room, the discussion is still lively. Didn’t Green just confess in an ESPN interview that his Poole punch killed the Warriors’ hopes of going deep in the playoffs? Doesn’t that mean that his leadership role is compromised going into next season?
It does not. Green’s rift with Poole soon will be irrelevant. The Warriors can’t afford to keep both players, so Poole is likely gone. As far as Green
leading the rest of the team, that was a bigger element earlier in the dynasty. Now, how much Draymond motivating do Curry, Klay Thompson and Kevon Looney need? In taking the blame for this year’s horrible exit, Green may be overestimating his ability to control the team’s emotional wellbeing.
The Warriors still need Green’s fire, but mostly on the court, where he leads the charge with his intensity and intelligence. And in spite of all the talk about his age, this season Green finished fourth in NBA Defensive Player of the Year voting.
His options for a prospective new team will be limited. Green won’t want to go to a team with little chance of winning a title, and he’s not a great fit for every team. The Warriors need Green, and Green needs the Warriors.
So the drama will continue. Every time Green drops a new podcast, Lacob and the fellas will pray for no bombshells. Sparks will fly. Some of the sparks will light beautiful fires, some will threaten to burn down the house.
How do all his technical fouls and his haranguing of the refs really help the Warriors? The case could be made that Green has cost the Warriors two titles — in ’16, when he was suspended during the Finals, and this season. Maybe more, if you think he chased away Kevin Durant.
That’s too simplistic. What chased Durant away, more than Green, was Curry’s aura and popularity. This season, despite what Green said about The Punch costing the Warriors a shot at a trip to the Finals, there were more tangible factors for the team’s collapse.
Still, to some, all the trouble and turmoil Green stirs up outweighs the positives. The counter-argument is in a song, “The Dance,” by country legend Garth Brooks. “I could have missed the pain, but I’d have had to miss the dance.”
The Warriors have at least one dance left in ’em, and they’ll dance it with Draymond.