One of the most polarizing players in the NBA today is Golden State Warriors All-Star, Draymond Green. Many fans have complained about his on-court antics, all while others praise his contribution to the Warriors throughout their handful of championships even though you might not always notice his contributions in the stat sheet.
Another polarizing figure in the NBA, Dwight Howard was recently asked about Draymond Green by Shams Charania/Stadium. Howard seemed to express the same disdain that some NBA fans have for Green, before expressing the mental 180 he’s done in the way he feels about Green, saying this:
I hated Draymond…I was like “This dude is a**”. But, I sat back this year and really watched everything he did and I was really impressed. You know what I’m saying, with just, they say “He might not be the best shooter”, that’s fine, he’s going to shoot with confidence when he gets that shot. He might have a shot, but instead of him shooting it he’s going to find the best shooter on the team at the right time to make the right play, and I was like “Man, I really like that”. And if he knows the game is getting out of hand he’ll go and take three or four charges, you know. He’ll go and try and get all the rebounds, just all of the little things he did that might not show up on the stat sheet.
“I hated Draymond. I’m like, ‘This dude is a**.’ But I sat back this year and really watched everything he did. I was really impressed.”
NBA Insider @ShamsCharania’s sit-down with new Lakers center Dwight Howard: Using Draymond Green as inspiration. More video to come. pic.twitter.com/mtrogU6oZc
— Stadium (@Stadium) September 25, 2019
Some NBA fans will express doubt on Draymond Green’s overall talent level, and it sounds like Dwight Howard was in that camp as well, saying he once though Green was “a**”. If you’re not familiar with that slang, that means Howard though Green was bad at basketball.
Intelligent NBA fans should never question Green’s on-court contribution to the Warriors. Although his play is extremely unique and sometimes awkward, it’s obvious how important he is to the team. You only need to look at his absence from Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals (when he was suspended after kicking LeBron James in the you-know-what) when the Warriors lost 112-97 to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The loss eventually started the infamous 3-1 comeback.
Other than that, it’s nice to hear Howard make more basketball proclamations that make it seem like he will understand his role with the Los Angeles Lakers. The team won’t need him to shoot much when on the court, but instead, they’ll need him to make hustle plays, rebound, and defend, which are all things that Green does well.
With all of that said, I personally cannot wait to hear what Green thinks about Howard once believing he was “a**”.
