Draymond Green is tired of all the criticism Kevin Durant has received since becoming his teammate and fired back yesterday at those who have been talking too much. You already know how it goes. Everyone from sports media to barbershops to just your circle of friends has mentioned back in the day star players would never join forces like that, or people questioning KD’s competitive drive in general for joining a team that just beat him in the playoffs. Paul Pierce has been one of those people talking since the decision was announced and earlier this week he talked about it again during an appearance on SiriusXM NBA radio, where it was clear he must have forgotten he won his only title thanks to a superteam.
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First, let’s take a look at Pierce’s comments.
“I’m an old-school guy. I’m a competitor. … When you want to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best,” Pierce, who is embarking on his 19th season, told SiriusXM NBA Radio. “That’s always been something that’s driven me. Today’s day and age, a lot of these guys are friends. That’s like if [Larry] Bird decided to go play with Magic [Johnson] or something. These guys, I think the competition makes the game what it is.
“And Oklahoma, I felt like, was a contending team. They had Golden State on the ropes. I understand when you have great players on losing teams who are tired of losing, struggling in the playoffs every year. You’re the lone star. I’ve been in that position. I could have left Boston years ago, but I stuck it out [and won a championship in 2008].”
That was all Draymond needed to fire back at him and defend his guy.
“I just wonder at what point do they get bored talking about the same thing. You got all these guys talking. Like [Paul] Pierce today, like, dude nobody care what you did or who you did it for. Just give it a break. Everybody got something to say and want to take everything he say and twist it. Like, he play with the Warriors. OKC has their team, we have our team. He left there. Nobody complain when somebody leave Apple and go to Google. Aren’t they in competition with each other? Nobody talk junk about the CEO who leaves Apple and goes to Google. As a basketball player, you are the CEO of a business. You are a business. Kevin Durant is a big business. He is the CEO of that business. So him going to play basketball for a different team, the CEO decided to leave where he was at and go somewhere else.”
“But there’s so many guys in this league that are so stupid they don’t think like that. They don’t think business wise. It happens every day in the world. But in basketball it’s a problem. Aren’t you competitive in your day job if you work for Apple? Don’t you want to outdo Google? What’s the difference on the basketball court. It’s your day job. You want to do what’s better for you. If it’s better for your family life, better for your happiness. Ain’t no one criticizing them. I don’t understand it. I’ll never understand it. So that’s just me. And I’d be willing to bet my salary ain’t many guys in this league more competitive than me.”
Pierce is really not in the position to question the way any other player does things. Sure, he never left Boston when he was in his prime and eventually won a championship but only after two other star players, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen came to join him. You surely didn’t hear Pierce talking about he doesn’t want them as teammates at the time because he wanted to do it alone.
As for Draymond’s response, it’s good to see him rip someone who is coming for his teammate but he also has to understand his comparison of tech executives switching jobs just won’t fly when it comes to sports fan, even if he is 100% correct about it.
At this point we just need the season to start so there will be less talking and more action.
