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Sounds of Thunder: Draymond Green should be suspended

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and it is not a close call.

By R.K. Anthony
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You're not at Oracle, Kerr
You're not at Oracle, Kerr

(Update: additional Green video added)

The Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green kicked Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams so hard in the groin in game 3 his unborn children felt it, and I am just a bit "tense" about it. No small talk, no chit chat, I want Draymond Green suspended by the time I wake up tomorrow or I am going to get really....."tense." So let's begin with the rules as stated at NBA.com and go from there.

Flagrant "2" (FFP2) - unnecessary and excessive contact committed by a player against an opponent. The opposing team is awarded two (2) free throws and possession and the player committing the foul is automatically ejected.

I urge you to look at Green's feet and knees when reviewing this. Green first raises a knee but when Adams was too far away for that to be effective, he literally re-positions his feet for a better angle and delivers a vicious kick to Adams groin.

The action was deliberate and easily meets the "excessive and unnecessary" stipulation of the rule.

Green claims he didn't know he kicked Adams.

(see video below)

I guess that is Casper the friendly ghost he is looking DIRECTLY at and that immovable object his foot encountered on the way up was just a figment of his imagination. As far as I am concerned, once a lie has been uncovered, the remainder of Green's comments in regard to his intent are meaningless because he has already flushed his credibility, but we'll get into that a little later.

Interestingly enough, this is the second time Green has blasted Adams' gonads in so many games.

Let's take another look at the knee to groin incident from game 2. After game 3 you begin to realize there was no reason for Green to lift his knee on that play other than to inflict a painful "below the belt" blow and even the taunt afterward looks a little different today.

Green got away with it because he was in the act of making a legitimate basketball play. Well maybe the Thunder will get an opportunity to make a legitimate play of their own sometime in the future, but I digress....

Back to the rule book.

"The League Office will review all flagrant fouls ("1" and "2"), and will have the right, following review, to reclassify a flagrant foul or to classify as flagrant a foul not called flagrant during a game. In addition, the League Office maintains the right to impose a fine and/or suspension upon any player who commits a flagrant foul at any time during the Playoffs (regardless of whether the point levels described above are reached)."

This atrocity will be reviewed and the league has the right, and in my opinion the duty, at any time during the Playoffs to fine and suspend Draymond Green. I didn't write the words, they are right there in the rule book. The NBA's rule book.

Which brings us to the factors the League will consider when they review this "incident."

1. The severity of the contact;

(is there a human male on planet earth whose stomach doesn't come up in their throat when they view that video and see the severity of the contact?)

2. Whether or not the player was making a legitimate basketball play (e.g., whether a player is making a legitimate effort to block a shot; note, however, that a foul committed during a block attempt can still be considered flagrant if other criteria are present such as recklessness and hard contact to the head);

(ahhh, there is the rub. Green was "flailing" to draw attention. Flailing is just a lesser form of "flopping" another NBA rule violation and NOT incidental contact  from a "legitimate" basketball play)

3. Whether, on a foul committed with a player's arm or hand, the fouling player wound up and/or followed through after making contact;

(see the still frame, we are talking about Green's foot and leg, but he clearly follows through.... or would have had Adams groin not been in the way)

(A better angle of Green looking right at Adam's groin as he is punting those jewels to the stratosphere. What do we have here? A liar, liar pant on fire incident, a perv, or just a low-life?)

4. The potential for injury resulting from contact (e.g., a blow to the head and a foul committed while a player is in a vulnerable position);

(Do I really need to elaborate here? One is disqualified for what Green did in full contact karate. Is the NBA going to tell me it is okay on a basketball court.)

5. The severity of any injury suffered by the offended player; and

(if there are any doubters in the room or at the League office, please someone that agrees that Green should be suspended, feel free to demonstrate how severe the injury was on said doubters)

6. The outcome of the contact (e.g., whether it led to an altercation).

(This post for one, I don't have a huge following but you never know. A lady from Texas did a silly video wearing a Chewbacca mask and it has received over 110 million views in less than 48 hours. You just never know what might go viral)

Here is Green's post game interview:

I have a question.

If this was truly an accident, why in this entire interview didn't Green apologize? He himself admits what he did could have resulted in damage so severe as to sterilize Steven Adams and he doesn't have the common decency to apologize? Why? Because it would make him "madder" (his words) if his apology or, again in his words, half-assed "my bad" might not be accepted. I have another reason. Green didn't apologize because he wasn't sorry. Look at this guy smiling. His team just got their heads handed to them, but every time the Adams incident comes up he can barely contain himself. Words are cheap, and in Green's case, getting cheaper by the second.

Another thing the League needs to consider is this. Green had a possible motive outside of the plays we just watched:

Steven Adams is too young to remember that Jimmy the Greek was fired from CBS for a similar comment a few decades ago, not to mention that he is from a completely different continent. I have lived in the country all of my life and I can't keep up with all the no-no's on staying politically correct. Further, contrary to popular misconception, Adams is not white, he is Tongan on his mother's side, but that didn't stop the sad and expected outrage to a comment that Adams intended to be a compliment regarding how difficult it is to defend the Warriors motion offense.

Whatever happened to "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me" ? and whatever happened to our society when "a man" from another part of the world has the class and the guts to accept responsibility for something that was completely innocent and didn't hurt a soul apologizes to the entire world and one of our own doesn't have the sack to ante up and say "my bad" for inflicting a real injury because he will get "madder" if his apology is not accepted? Bull.

It doesn't work that way, if you hurt someone, even unintentionally, and you regret it, you apologize. PERIOD. If you don't regret it, you don't apologize. Green doesn't regret what happened thus no apology (and the smirk), and he doesn't regret what happened why? Both of these guys played in game one, a hard fought battle to the very end and Green knee miraculously never seemed to be a problem. But a Thunder win and an ill-advised comment later and Steven Adams has taken it in the shorts in back to back games.

Now for a little history lesson:

Compared to Green's imitation of Ray Guy (seven time Pro-Bowl punter) this was a love tap. Lebron was left standing, but Harden got a one game vacation.

Hmmm, not cool, but not even close to this:

Yes, it's the same video posted earlier, but it is important to compare and realize that the League suspended Dahntay Jones less than 48 hours ago and there must be no doubt which is the more severe incident here because a clear precedence was set and I wouldn't want the League to put themselves in a position of being accused of bias because Draymond Green should be suspended, and this is NOT a close call.

I rest my case.

(Update: Video added)

No, I don't. Fellow WTLC writer Dustin Howell found this short video and brought it to my attention. Thanks Dustin.

Dray, Dray, Dray, DRAY!!! You're either a naughty, naughty boy or you need to see a chiropractor. The arms fly up and your foot turn into a nut seeking missile? I'm sorry, but where is that in the song? The arm bone is connected to the nut seeking foot bone? No. That was a deliberate and conscious act and so was the cheap shot in game 3.

"Dirty Dray", you're going down.

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