Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green is obviously not happy with how his season ended.
A day after his team’s 73-9 season ended by watching the Cleveland Cavaliers celebrate an NBA Championship on Golden State’s home court, the star forward spoke candidly about what he learned from the experience.
“I learned a lot about myself as a man,” Green said in a diary on ESPN’s The Undefeated, per Marc J. Spears. “I got to control my emotions. I will always control my emotions now. There is a silver lining in between everything. I’m not a guy that takes moral victories, but I did learn from that. I learned that I can’t put myself in harm’s way and that’s in anything. That’s in basketball. That’s in life. You can’t put yourself in that position.”
Green also talked specifically about his Game 5 suspension, saying “I know that I’ve learned from [the suspension]. I know it will make me better down the line.”
Draymond is right. He’s too good of a player to put himself at risk for suspensions by committing stupid flagrant fouls. The little slap below the belt to LeBron James would not have gotten him suspended had it not been for a multitude of post-season incidents before that, especially with Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams.
Green is not an expendable end of the bench guy who comes in and pesters the opponent for a few minutes. He’s an All-Star and genuine MVP candidate. Very few players in the NBA are capable of impacting a game in anywhere near as many ways as Green does.
Players like that can’t take themselves out of potential NBA Finals clinching games because of stupid infractions. Losing these finals will likely always sting Draymond Green, but they won’t be all bad if he betters himself going forward.