Draymond Green is no stranger to self-inflicted controversy.
Recent incidents continue to spark disagreements on whether he is intentionally kicking opponents or randomly flailing. The NBA insists the constant flailing falls under the unnatural acts category.
Green received a flagrant 1 a few nights ago when he managed to kick Rockets guard James Harden in the face while being fouled. Not only does Green feels he's being singled out by the league, but his agent BJ Armstrong agrees with the notion as well.
Armstrong spoke with USA Today seemingly upset about how the rules are made.
“The fact that everyone is trying to cover their positions or justifying why they did what they did, the (league's perspective) was kind of disappointing from this viewpoint: Since I’ve been a part of this league, I can’t recall when they’ve actually made rules that have actually helped to improve the game of basketball.”
The league itself feels assessing Green flagrant fouls for the kicks they deem to have some intent behind them is for the betterment of the game, but Armstrong continues to disagree.
“Every move has been made with some motive, to make the game look a certain way, to speed the game up, to do all of these things. But what, when the competition committee — whoever those people are — what have they actually done to improve the game of basketball? … Not to put more people in the stands, not to make the game more appealing for people globally. What has been done to improve the game of basketball? That’s it. That’s it. That’s my only question.”
While none of that addresses the actual on-court issue at hand, Armstrong made some great points, but there is one problem with his way of thinking.
“People flail, people do things, and their bodies respond in certain ways. I think it (the play with Harden) is a no-call. … When I played, I would never, ever try to run Reggie Miller off the line because I knew Reggie. If I ran at him, and I was trying to run him off the line, I was going to get kicked. I knew that, and people around the league knew that. And players always adjust.”
Players may adjust if given the opportunity, and he may have had to deal with more physical play in his time, but this is no longer the past years.
The NBA will look at Green's history and make a decision regardless if he feels it is intentional or not.
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