Before the rings, defensive accolades and league wide notoriety, Draymond Green was an unproven second round pick fighting for his spot in the NBA.
Even while averaging a paltry 13 minutes a game, the Michigan State product had no back down facing the likes of Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant. In a revealing interview with ESPN’s Sam Alipour, Draymond explained how smack talking Kobe got him benched and why he couldn’t get far by going after the Big Fundamental.
“The guy I’d never waste my breath on? Tim Duncan,” Green told Alipour. “As a rookie, I tried talking junk to Tim, and he was like a tree staring back at me. [Laughs] No expression. I said, ‘All right. It’s over.’ Never talked junk to him again. After that, anytime he fell, I’d be the first person to help him up, like I was his teammate. [Laughs] I also tried talking junk to Kobe [Bryant], maybe my second year. On a potential game winner, Mark Jackson put me in to guard him, and I got the stop. I said, ‘Yeah, I’m locking that s— up!’ He looked at me like I was crazy and said, ‘That miss ain’t got nothing to do with you. Sit down.’ I said, ‘Oh, s—! All right, I’m out.’”
A quick visit to Basketball Reference reveals Kobe produced the following point totals in his match-ups with the 2012-13 Warriors: 36, 34, 27, 34.
While going after the Black Mamba has never been a sound career choice, the tenacity and intensity Draymond plays the game with has been a staple in his effective play.