Green against world? Not always, awards say
Will receiving honors — twice! — at NBA show douse the intense Warrior’s emotional fire?
Should Warriors fans be worried?
Did the NBA just remove the famous Draymond Green shoulder chip?
Maybe everyone should be concerned. Because Green — heartbeat, drum major, gasoline fire of the Warriors — is having all his dreams come true.
He won a second NBA championship two weeks ago. On Monday night, at the first NBA awards, Green had fans vote him the assist of the year (though Stephen Curry got the assist on the stat sheet) for his fullcourt pass to Curry, who no-looked to Kevin Durant. That vote could disrupt Green’s view that the NBA world roots against him.
And then Green caught the fish he’d been trying to hook for a year. Almost seven months ago, Green set out a very specific goal.
“I want to win that Defen-
sive Player of the Year award, bad,” he said in November.
On Monday night he did. Mission accomplished.
Is Green going to keep that chip on his shoulder, the “no one respects me, I can tell you all the players drafted ahead of me” chip?
Let’s bet that he will. Somehow. Probably because Drake made fun of his teal tuxedo coat and black shorts outfit.
New slogan for 2018: Keep Draymond Pissed.
The final pieces of 2016-17 hardware for the Warriors were handed out Monday night at the NBA awards show, a made-for-TV extravaganza.
Bob Myers received the league Executive of the Year award, receiving acknowledgement from voters who shockingly understood that he didn’t just sign the biggest free agent available, but also revamped a record-setting, 73win roster into one that was even better.
The Warriors won a couple of other fan-voting awards. Klay Thompson won for performance of the year with his 60-point, 11-dribble game against Indiana in December. Kevin Durant won the fan award for playoff performance of the year for his dagger three-pointer against Cleveland in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
And then there was Green winning the award he had coveted.
“I’m trying to make it to a point this year where it’ll be hard to deny me that award,” he said in November. “I’m not a selfish guy when it comes to awards or stats, I really could care less. This is one thing I’m really selfish about . ...
“The world says we traded our defense away when we got K.D. … That pissed me off more than anything. I take that personally.”
That was the famous Draymond shoulder chip talking.
This year, the NBA revamped how it doles out awards, which is how we got Monday’s presentation. The league decided it needed a fancy awards show, like the NFL pre-Super Bowl show, or ESPN’s ESPYs. That’s different than the way it’s been done, with the awards trickling out during the postseason.
The NBA regular season ended so long ago that there was a chance that Monday’s event would feel anticlimactic. NBA free agency starts Friday. That’s the news of the moment, not that someone who hasn’t played a game in two full months won the MVP.
But the awards were well done, with Drake as the host and some amusing player bashing. (“Congrats to the Golden State Warriors, a tremendous group of players, who play with Matt Barnes.” “Draymond moved on from kicking people in the groin to something much worse: his own podcast.”)
The TNT crew was funny, as always. And TNT presented the Craig Sager award to Monty Williams, who lost his wife in a car crash when he was an assistant coach in Oklahoma City. That ceremony was emotionally wrenching.
Russell Westbrook, who led the Thunder to the playoffs despite Durant’s departure and who averaged a triple-double for the regular season, won the league’s Most Valuable Player Award. Westbrook gave a moving and emotional speech that offered a different window into his personality.
The hyped-up award show was actually a success. They showed that there’s an entire interesting, intelligent NBA community, one that exists without any sign of LeBron James.
One piece of hardware the Warriors didn’t take home was the Sixth Man Award. Andre Iguodala lost out to Rockets guard Eric Gordon.
Thank goodness. Maybe that snub, at least, can keep the chip on Green’s shoulder. Because everything else for the man and his team has been going pretty well.
“I’m not a selfish guy when it comes to awards or stats, I really could care less. (But) this is one thing I’m really selfish about.”
Draymond Green, targeting the Defensive Player of the Year award in November.