The sky is blue, the roses are red, the water is wet, Draymond Green does not take tweezers to say what he thinks. We are now used to Dray’s “sporting” outings in front of the press and here is the last episode: Dray clarified things regarding the criticisms of former NBA players of the 80s and 90s on the physical aspect of basketball. today. Those who say “it was better before”, Mister Vert has a message for you.
Cedric Maxwell took it for his rank. Many current NBA players must probably blow quite hard when they see messages passing on the networks criticizing their era by advancing the fact that it is too soft basketball. In fact, it is difficult to prove them wrong on one point: 30 years ago, the League was a place where we did not hesitate to give our opponents a big kick to gain respect, with well-defined penalties. weaker than today. Peak of this “movement”? The Bad Boys of Detroit. Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn in the lead, this team had made face busting a precept in its own right. In their wake, many guys had to beef up their game (hello Jojo) to accept the physical challenge. With a league that has deviated towards the outside and the very big evolution of the NBA on the sanctions applied to the brawlers, the game has become less hard on evil. Something that Cedric Maxwell – former Celtics player in the 80s – “blamed” on Draymond Green. For him, the big mouth of the Warriors is far too clever on the floor (see Game 2) and ” would have had his portrait redone” if he had played earlier in the story. Neither one nor two, Dray answered the microphone of NBC Sports Bay Area with… repartee.
“One thing that bugs me regarding the 80s or 90s is that some of the guys talking weren’t the ones that were hitting people. They play it like, ‘I was kicking guys in the nose during games.’ There were certainly a few players who would put you down, punch and get fired. Bill Laimbeer, Rick Mahorn… But the players who lived through that era act like they were like that too, when they suffered and were beaten like the others. »
– Draymond Green
Come on, boom the punchline to calm those who would be too much cowboys three decades later. At the same time and as explained above, quite logical that these incessant declarations and debates on social networks end up getting the better of the patience of current players. It is therefore enough to be the most intelligent in this little game, also underlines Draymond in the rest of his remarks. Beyond a simple sharp answer, the analysis also deserves attention. Let’s take a step back all together: what will we say regarding the NBA in twenty years? That the shooters of the 2010s will never be equaled and that the league of 2040 no longer knows how to shoot? For Green, there is no question of stooping to this level of criticism.
“You can also say to these guys, ‘to play in the current era, you would have had to be much more skilled than at the time. It’s just different. […] Before, it was the physical and now it’s the shoot. Not everyone can shoot. Imagine me in twenty years in mode ‘if you had played in my time, you had to know how to shoot’. Yes, it was shooting better and a lot more, but that doesn’t mean you were shooting well. »
Boom, the well-sharpened morning statement that gives pleasure. At the same time, complicated to prove Draymond wrong on this one. Rather than debating sterilely around which NBA era is the best of all, it is perhaps more judicious to appreciate them at their fair value in the end.
Source texte : NBC Sports
An absolute masterclass by Draymond Green on players from the 80’s and 90’s talking trash regarding much more physical their eras of the NBA were ???? pic.twitter.com/ReW8etXS71
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) June 7, 2022