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Draymond Green took a bit of a jab at Charles Barkley in Inside the NBA that some consider a cheap shot or a low blow - but was he in the wrong, or was it just a bad joke gone flat?
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00:00We're talking Draymond Green and Charles Barkley.
00:03Last night's interaction was odd.
00:05It was tense.
00:06That show is known for, frankly, really fun banter and friends chopping it up in the barbershop or around a
00:15lunch table or whatever.
00:16You get after each other.
00:18It's so authentic.
00:18It's so good.
00:20It's kind of like what we were talking about with the Junkies celebrating 30 years.
00:22There's not really TV and certainly studio shows like that where there's enough comfort where you can kind of go
00:27after someone and Joan a little bit.
00:29So you're used to that, right?
00:31I got an Instagram message, Grant H. Paulson on Instagram from Pat, and he said,
00:37That was no slander last night.
00:39That's no different than the way Barkley and Shaq talked to each other about the Celtics and their Cavs years,
00:44essentially.
00:45Is he right?
00:46I mean, it's true that if Shaquille O'Neal said that to Charles Barkley last night, not one person would
00:52have batted an eye.
00:53It's the kind of stuff we hear all the time.
00:55But would Shaq have said that?
00:57Was that a lower blow, so to speak?
01:00Was it so inaccurate that it was a problem?
01:02Normally, Shaq picks the normal stuff that everyone knows.
01:06It's the no championships or they talk about each other's weight, those types of things.
01:11Shaq is going to get made fun of for his free throw percentage.
01:14It's the very obvious low-hanging fruit.
01:16I don't know.
01:16Did Draymond go too far?
01:18I mean, they do have a budding relationship.
01:20They have worked together a bunch now.
01:23What does Charles Barkley think?
01:24I think the reaction you've seen nationally is based on the fact that he got very quiet, and it seemed
01:29like he took it poorly.
01:30That's certainly my perception.
01:32But maybe he didn't.
01:33Maybe he was completely okay with it, and there was nothing to see there.
01:36Yeah, that's why I viewed it as a Draymond's, I'm here, I'm comfortable.
01:40I'll do what Shaq would have done and made a joke about it.
01:42Because I could absolutely see Shaq and them going back and forth like, you were the third option of Houston,
01:48Chuck.
01:48You were the third option.
01:49You were on coattails.
01:51You carried Akeem's bag around.
01:53Something like that.
01:54I could see that.
01:55Right?
01:55And then he'd go back and forth like, just like Dwayne Wade did for you.
01:58And then they'd have a great old show, and it'd be fun.
02:01And Kenny would rock back in his chair, and Ernie would try to rein it in.
02:04And, you know, it's a Thursday night.
02:06So, I don't know, man.
02:08It just, again, I'm not saying I approved of it, but I think it comes from a place where I
02:14think Shaq knows how good Chuck was.
02:16I don't know that Draymond Green does.
02:18That's kind of my viewpoint.
02:19And I think he tried to make a joke, and it fell flat, and it was awkward.
02:24And he had an opportunity then to kind of go, to clarify it a little bit, go, I'm just joking
02:28around, and make it okay.
02:30But, you know, because he tells it like it is, and now he's got to stand on business, as the
02:34kids say.
02:34I think it made it worse and awkward.
02:36To me, the fault isn't the joke that fell flat.
02:38I've had plenty of those, believe me.
02:40It's the second part where Kenny goes, well, what does that mean?
02:43And he's going, you saw it.
02:45You mean I saw 16.5 and 12.5, you know, when teams were scoring 90 a game?
02:51I saw that.
02:52I think you're right about maybe Draymond Green just not knowing the history enough.
02:58That's definitely my perception is, like, Shaq knows what Charles Barkley was in Houston.
03:03Does Draymond.
03:04When you say that, it would make me think you don't.
03:07The other problem Green is combating here, and this is, I do have some empathy for this,
03:12because some of it's earned and some of it isn't.
03:13But what is his likability factor?
03:16I mean, he has become, I think, somewhat on purpose, but certainly earned one way or the other.
03:23One of the least likable, kind of most vilified and disliked players in all of sports.
03:32I mean, is that fair to say?
03:33Yeah, he's an antagonist.
03:34He's a bad guy in the NBA.
03:36But if you were to make a list right now of the villains in sports, you get five names.
03:41Everyone's going to name Draymond Green.
03:42So I wonder how much of that follows you now into the broadcast booth, follows you to wherever you go,
03:47where if you say something, and I say something, but you like Danny and you don't like me,
03:53you hear the exact same quote from Danny and you're like, oh, I like that.
03:57That's funny.
03:57That's funny.
03:57And I say it, and you're like, God, this guy's a jerk.
03:59What a despicable idiot.
04:01And I think that's part of what Draymond Green is dealing with there, maybe.
04:03Yeah, I think it's part of it.
04:05And, again, this is the dude that cost the Warriors a championship because he got a little too frisky with
04:09the nether regions,
04:11you know, in a fracas with LeBron and company.
04:13This is the dude that has all the technicals, that always is the flopping, whining, irritating presence,
04:19who then gives thoughtful responses afterwards, you know, whether I agree with him or not.
04:24It's just like, enough of this dude.
04:26Like, if Dylan Brooks makes a good point, I'm not really that excited to acknowledge it
04:30because of how annoying he is on the basketball court.
04:31Do you know the meme, or is it a gif?
04:33I guess it would be a gif because it's moving image video.
04:36But it's like four people carrying a bed up steps or something.
04:40And there's three people that are really lifting the bed.
04:44Like, they're on either side, and then one's on the other side, and they're doing all of the work.
04:48And then there's the fourth person who's, like, standing next to it with their finger on it,
04:52clearly not involved in any way in moving it, but they're part of the process.
04:55Yeah, I've seen that.
04:56To me, that's Draymond a little bit.
04:59Like, act like you understand and you're aware that you're a little bit lucky to be here, too.
05:04He had a comment a week ago where he basically – I'm going to paraphrase for a second.
05:08But he said something to the effect of,
05:11Steve Kerr and being a warrior, like, held me back,
05:14and no one will ever know what I was capable of offensively or whatever
05:18because I had this certain role where Steve Kerr didn't let me max out what I could have been.
05:22And I just think that's viewing the world in a really flawed way.
05:26Draymond, if he's drafted by 15 teams, I think was out of the league a few years ago.
05:31Yeah, you were a self-check on offense, right?
05:33They would go, I dare you to shoot a three, and that's a win for the other team.
05:38No, sorry about that.
05:39Again, a really good player for his role, dominated his role.
05:42But if he was drafted by the Nets, no one would care.
05:45Here it is.
05:46He says he hindered his career, Steve Kerr.
05:48That's a hell of a comment.
05:50Hindered his career.
05:52And people crushed him for it.
05:54They're like, dude, really?
05:54What are you talking about?
05:56He went on to say, he doubled down.
05:58He said they're going to have a gripe about their coach, some gripe.
06:01All things could be great.
06:02They're going to say one thing negative about their coach, not negative,
06:05but just something that they felt could be better for them.
06:09That's every player in the world.
06:10Go ask LeBron.
06:11But he goes on to basically say that, yeah,
06:15he was hindered by Steve Kerr and how he was used.
06:18I think you're a little bit unaware of how far along toward home plate you were born as a player.
06:25You got really lucky here.
06:26And just that general tone, maybe that's rubbed people the wrong way.
06:30This is all within the last two weeks, by the way.
06:32And again, I understand the perspective that he's underappreciated.
06:36There have been plenty of those players.
06:37Again, the best comp for him is Rodman.
06:39I know they're slightly different, but the ultimate dirty work player never quite got the appreciation
06:44for how instrumental he was for multiple championship teams.
06:47The ultimate dirty work guy, the hustle guy, the guard your other team's best player guy,
06:52the doing the thing that nobody else really wanted to do, the rebound guy,
06:55never seeking the attention.
06:56At Spotlight, you get overlooked enough times where everyone's going,
06:58Steph and Klay and Steph and Klay and Steph and Klay.
07:00Oh, it's Steve Kerr.
07:00Steph, Klay, Steph, Klay.
07:01It might rub on you a little bit.
07:03It might wear on you.
07:03Totally fine to feel that way.
07:05But to then come out and go, this guy hindered my career.
07:08Really?
07:09Dude, that if you'd gone somewhere else, you'd average 10 a game instead of 8?
07:12I mean, enough of that.
07:13Yeah, and both things can be true.
07:16I do think he's underappreciated, all the different things that he's had to do.
07:20Yeah, because the skills, the things that he provides are not the things that are below.
07:24Right, the Swiss Army Knife player that he's been, where he's basically 6'6 or 6'7,
07:28and he's guarding centers in smaller lineups.
07:30You don't win the championship without him doing some of that stuff
07:33when they'd roll their lineup of death out there to close out games.
07:36They kind of were the, I don't want to say the originators,
07:38but the perfectors of all things small ball.
07:40Hugely important for that.
07:41A really, really good player and an instrumental player.
07:44Probably a Hall of Fame player, if I'm being honest.
07:46The numbers won't support that, but for people, the real ones know who watched him do what he did.
07:50He needs to take a rocket ship, land in a place that also has a rocket ship,
07:55then get on that rocket ship to approach anything in the stratosphere of Charles Barkley and his career.
08:02Sorry about it.
08:02I understand the championship differential.
08:04No, no, no, no, no.
08:05That is a different story altogether.
08:07Nick is in Vienna on Grant, and Danny wants to hop in.
08:11What's up, Nick?
08:11How are you?
08:13Hey, guys.
08:14How you doing?
08:14Good, buddy.
08:15Long-time listener, first-time caller.
08:17We appreciate that.
08:18Appreciate you, dude.
08:20Yeah, so I just think he's been a clown on the court his whole career.
08:26He's a clown off of the court.
08:28I think he thinks he's on the same level as Charles Barkley as a player when he's talking like that.
08:36That's my read, too.
08:38No, Bruce.
08:41No.
08:41Uh-uh, Bruce.
08:42Uh-uh.
08:43Not up in here, Bruce.
08:45You had your chance.
08:47That's Jim Zorn.
08:49I'm saying Bruce, but really it's Jim Zorn.
08:52You're just mad at Bruce still, residual.
08:54I'm very upset.
08:54No, but here's the point.
08:55I actually tend to agree with the sentiment.
08:57It's that I'm on the same level.
08:59I can make the joke as perhaps the greatest center of all time,
09:02or certainly one of the most dominant players ever,
09:05with a multi-year friendship with Charles Barkley.
09:08By the way, if that's what it is, I mean, that's not a crime,
09:10and that's normal.
09:11No, that's not a crime at all.
09:12It would be the equivalent of, like, you and I getting an opportunity.
09:15So we're now doing post-game on the Nats with Charlie and Dave or whatever,
09:18and we're going back and forth with them.
09:20And if you hear that they have something that they do back and forth
09:23and we kind of jump in on it, and they're like, no, no, no,
09:26you don't get to do that.
09:26Not you guys, yeah.
09:27We've been broadcasting together for 20 years,
09:29just kind of an earned members-only jacket that you don't have yet.
09:34It wouldn't be crazy if he's been watching inside the NBA his whole adult life.
09:38He's now on the set.
09:39He's got a big personality too, and he's like, oh,
09:41I can do this Throwing Stones game.
09:43And then everyone goes, it's like you do the exact same thing you've seen
09:46for 15 years, and everyone's like, what a mean thing.
09:49What a terrible thing you just said.
09:49Yeah, like if Toby fills out all the junks tomorrow
09:51and is telling all four guys how nubs they are.
09:54You know what I mean?
09:54It's like, I don't know if he's going to do exactly that
09:57because that's what they do to each other.
09:58Critique their golf swings or something.
10:00Could you imagine that?
10:00You would never do anything like that.
10:01But Ron's in Great Falls.
10:03Hello, Ron.
10:04How are you?
10:05Hey, thanks for taking the call.
10:06I appreciate it.
10:07Got it, buddy.
10:08Draymond's a clown.
10:09You guys are 100% right about this.
10:11But the whole story reminds me of, I grew up in the Dallas area.
10:15This is like 1983.
10:17I called in to a radio show with Randy Galloway,
10:21who was the Grant Paulson of Dallas in the 80s.
10:24And I said that the Mavericks should draft this kid coming out of Auburn
10:29called the Round Mound of Rebounds.
10:31And on the air, Randy Galloway said to me,
10:34that kid will never make it in the NBA.
10:40Who got the last laugh on that one?
10:42Never forget.
10:43But not everybody saw it coming.
10:45But you're 100% right.
10:46You know, Draymond is a – Draymond, he can't hold a candle to –
10:51he just doesn't know how good Barkley was.
10:55Well, that's the other thing.
10:56I appreciate the call.
10:57I mean, that's the other thing.
10:58I love that.
10:59Neither did Galloway.
10:59Yeah, neither did Galloway.
11:01It's a good thing.
11:04Does he really not know?
11:06I mean, does he think – if you were to ask him, like, after that segment,
11:09what do you think Charles Barkley was in Houston?
11:11He might just say he – maybe his point is he was close to a guy,
11:16and as a Hall of Famer, he had fallen off so much,
11:18the goal is to never fall off that much.
11:20But I still think you're just disrespectful of how good he still was.
11:24There were a few years, if you look at Houston,
11:26where it's like 15 points or whatever.
11:28But, I mean, that's the Charles Barkley I remember, by the way.
11:30That's the only one I knew from real time watching the thing
11:34without having to go back and read and get videos and highlights and all that.
11:38Basically, Houston, I'm the same age as Draymond.
11:40I look at that Charles Barkley and I'm like, damn, that's a good player.
11:43Maybe because he's an NBA star who's won championships,
11:47maybe he has a different feel.
11:48But I hope he knows.
11:50I mean, we're talking about an 11-time All-Star who was an All-Star Game MVP
11:55and was five-time All-NBA first team and, you know,
11:59was one of the great players in the history of any sport that doesn't have a championship.
12:03I would like to think that Draymond Green knows enough about the history of the sport
12:07to know that Charles Barkley was one of the greats.
12:09So this is the other thing I would add, and I don't know if this is true or not.
12:13I have no clue.
12:14I haven't, like, spoken directly to Draymond Green about it.
12:16But my window to this is with our buddy Leno Willingham, right,
12:20who I like a lot and I think is really smart, knows sports really well
12:23and, you know, works with us from time to time.
12:25He's coming up on overtime, by the way, when we're done.
12:27Yes, he may even be hearing this.
12:29He has an innate disrespect for anybody that he didn't see.
12:34And my dad used to get on me about this when I would talk about how good, you know,
12:38Jordan was before Jordan was full Jordan, you know,
12:41when he scored 63 points on the road in the Boston Garden.
12:43And I'm going, this guy's next.
12:44He's the next great superstar.
12:45He's like, yeah, he's not as good as, you know, I don't know,
12:48Lenny Wilkins or Bob Cousy or, I don't know, George the Iceman Gervin.
12:53He'd go up and down the list.
12:55And, you know, you live through enough, you see it or whatever.
12:57And so when Linnell's telling me that Kyrie Irving is the best point guard, blah, blah, blah,
13:02I forget how he quantified it.
13:03I'm going, he's not a better player than Isaiah Thomas or John Stockton or Jason Kidd or blah, blah, blah.
13:08He's going, no, he's more skilled than those guys.
13:09I was like, yeah, the game has evolved.
13:11Certainly that guy's more skilled than, you know, Pete Maravich.
13:14But it's like the contemporary at the time, you've got to kind of look at what you're dealing with.
13:18I think there's a disdain that's maybe a little bit more, what's the word I'm looking for?
13:24It's more vociferous than it has been in the past.
13:28Because you always kind of disrespect guys you never saw, right?
13:30Like, for you, like some dude, you know, White Stockings Johnson, as far as you're concerned,
13:34threw 74 miles an hour when they used to call him a real fireballer.
13:38And now it's like, come on, dude, I'll take the guy that's 103 mile an hour cutter over that clown.
13:42And I think two things can be true.
13:43This is a different conversation.
13:44But I say all the time, I stand by this.
13:46Like, Babe Ruth couldn't hit in the big leagues right now.
13:48He just couldn't.
13:49Babe Ruth would be hitting 114 in the A-ball right now.
13:52But that's very different than talking about, is he the greatest player ever?
13:55Still in the conversation.
13:56Right.
13:56From the standpoint of what he did at a time with what he had was breathtaking and amazing.
14:02And the numbers are the numbers.
14:03And that's awesome.
14:04Different conversation than not acknowledging how great someone was for their time.
14:11And that's kind of my point.
14:13Is that there's a, there's a, and I have no idea if this is the pathology of Draymond Green.
14:16But there is kind of this innate disrespect from guys that different era.
14:19Well, I do think this is a young person thing.
14:21I'll be honest with you.
14:22Like, I am not as much this way as a lot of my peers in my generation, like millennials.
14:29But I actually think Gen Z or what's below us.
14:32Like, Toby, what are you?
14:34I think you're Gen Z.
14:35I think he's the back end of Gen Z.
14:37So whatever's below me, look that up.
14:40That's Gen Z.
14:41Actually.
14:41Gen Z.
14:42Yeah.
14:42I think they're way more this way than we are, which is, if it's before my time.
14:47Like, think about how many guys we've had working on our show that have never seen a movie from the
14:5090s.
14:50Right.
14:51Refused to watch really high-level, like, television shows from back in the day.
14:56I jokingly am this way a little bit with certain things where I'm like, the graphics are terrible.
14:59I can't get into it.
15:01I got a little bit of this in me.
15:02But I think if you're younger than me, it's a real thing.
15:04And I think you see it in sports all the time.
15:06But people that, whether it's LeBron versus Jordan or whoever they're going to, you know, cape for, whoever they're standing
15:13or whatever right now,
15:14these young people that are like, oh, that guy?
15:16You're kidding me.
15:17As we get older, we see it more and more.
15:19It's definitely a thing.
15:20And Draymond's about my age.
15:21He's 35, 36 years old.
15:23So it would not be crazy if he's just one of these people that does not give respect to the
15:28old guard.
15:29That's a real deal.
15:30That's something that happens.
15:32So that's, again, that's a hypothesis as to how we get to this place where he feels very comfortable knocking
15:38Barkley in that way.
15:39Again, but I ultimately.
15:41But let me say this, too.
15:42I think if Steph Curry, well, I actually just caught myself about to say something wrong.
15:47I was going to say if Steph Curry said that last night, it would not be this big of a
15:51story.
15:53Drayrod is, Drayrod, Draymond is a lightning rod.
15:56Was that an A-Rod?
15:57Yeah.
15:59Drayrod's a lightning rod.
16:00Drayrod is.
16:00And anything he says is kind of.
16:04That's fair.
16:05No, that's fair.
16:05It's blown up more.
16:06It's going to be just so provocative.
16:08It's going to be so much bigger.
16:10That's the thing.
16:11And if Steph said it, we would have been like, that was weird.
16:14And it would not have been a national story.
16:16But why I stopped myself was, Steph Curry would have never said that.
16:19Well, he would have said it with a smile on his face.
16:23And it would have been.
16:23Kind of a wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
16:24And it would have been taken better.
16:25That comes back to how do you view someone?
16:27What is the likability?
16:28Can you get away with the same zings and barbs?
16:30He would have said it with a smirk.
16:32But he wouldn't have said it that way either.
16:34He might have said something like, well, the goal is not to be as out of shape as you were
16:37at the end of your career.
16:38Ha, ha, ha, ha.
16:39And everybody laughs.
16:40Yeah.
16:40And maybe that's what Draymond was getting at.
16:42Like, take it seriously until the end and be in the best shape possible or whatever.
16:46To me, the one that's the kicker, whatever you want to call it, it makes it way worse.
16:50Kenny goes, well, what's that like?
16:52And he goes, pfft.
16:54Yeah, what do you think Kenny was actually asking?
16:56Like, I didn't see a smile afterwards.
16:58I didn't see any joking around.
17:00What are you talking about?
17:01What are you actually saying here about this unbelievable basketball player?
17:05You took that as Kenny being like, wait, wait, you know he was really good in Houston.
17:08Yeah, do you need – look at these basketball reference pages.
17:12Look at that real quick.
17:13I can't find it right now.
17:14Somebody tweeted last night a comp of windchairs.
17:17And it was the windchairs of Barkley and Houston where he was the closest thing we saw
17:22to, like, you know, watered down, jaggy, whatever, versus Draymond at his peak.
17:26And it's still dead even, basically.
17:29And that was, like, Barkley at his worst, Draymond at his best.
17:31And the windchairs were, like, pretty much even.
17:36So Draymond might want to slow his roll.
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