Draymond Green’s trash talking of future Hall of Famer Paul Pierce was the stuff of legends Thursday night with the Warriors playing the Clippers.
Don’t you just love when players trash talk? It’s such a beautiful thing about the NBA. Honestly players should trash talk more, because the league is considered much softer than the old-school generation. This also explains why there are fewer rivalries in our game today. That epic rivalry between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird was legendary and part of it was because they trash talked.
Even Michael Jordan, who’s considered the greatest player of all time, trash talked. Charles Barkley, Gary Payton. All the legends got mouthy and it’s what made the game so competitive. With that being said, it’s some players that bring that old-school mentality as a Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and my favorite, Draymond Green.
To be honest it’s Draymond’s trash talking and his personality that propels the Warriors to another level. Yeah, we all know Golden State has the most lethal offense in the game (118.2 points per game) but Draymond is the heart of that team, which allows his teammates to drive off his energy. Draymond wants a rivalry. His mentality is a “different breed,” as Kobe Bryant once said.
Kobe says that because only Draymond would do something like this.
Think what you want about him, but you have to admire Green’s old school attitude. Also, remember this is Paul Pierce we’re talking about here — a Hall of Famer. A guy who just passed Larry Bird for second place on Boston’s all-time scoring list. Now that was still disrespectful, but it was hilarious and it’s why he’s respected around the league.
Kobe Bryant had a rivalry with LeBron James for years because their talents compared to Michael Jordan. But it was nothing like Magic or Bird’s rivalry or even Jordan and Isiah Thomas. Kobe would try to talk little smack to James, but he would just smile and laugh it off.
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Like Kobe said when asked on his trash talking with LeBron. “I wish sometimes he would say something back.” This is why Draymond’s respected within the NBA and he’s why the Warriors get in LeBron’s head sometimes.