The Golden State Warriors’ season was doomed from the very beginning. Draymond Green’s punch on Jordan Poole was an omen of a disastrous end to the campaign, and the prophecy was fulfilled.
Every team needs an outspoken veteran leader, and the Warriors have always had Green for that purpose. However, he held himself back for the better part of the season because he knew his reputation in the locker room had taken a big hit — no pun intended.
And looking back, Green still believes that they’re not playing for another NBA championship right now because of that very same punch, as he stayed quiet when he should’ve tried to get his team back on track throughout the season.
Draymond Green Takes The Blame For The Warriors’ Failure
“We’re not playing right now because when you speak about the foul and all the slippage we had on the road as a team, not being able to come together,” Green told Stephen A. Smith.
“None of those things happen if that (punching Poole) doesn’t happen because of the voice and departments I lead this team in, there was a ton of slippage due to me sitting back, not saying anything, me allowing that situation to play itself out and giving it time to heal,“ Green continued.
“Why are you giving it time to heal? I would say by February I started to feel like myself again but guess what, there were five months of the season where slippage kept occurring. By February, if the slippage has been going on for that long, you are who you are. You built those habits, so try to correct them then. You may get a little better, we ended up in the second round of the playoffs, but not at a championship level,“ he concluded.
Props to Green for taking ownership and being held accountable for what he did. Even so, he’s not to blame for Poole’s attitude toward his veterans in the playoffs, and they might not be able to come back from that.