326 Comments

Next year, at this time, all we’ll be talking about is our upcoming threepeat. Dreys a warrior. They’re all warriors. They’ll swallow their pride and put up a “W” like. they. always. do.

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Hopefully, the punch has not poisoned the championship well.

Whatever led to Dray to respond to a push with a punch is not supposed to be enough for an OG/leader to respond the way he did to a "kid" who is under his mentorship.

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wow Dray's "apology" is such a cop out, the amount of respect I just lost for him is hard to put into words.

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Part of this is the Draymond compensation problem. When they let Harrison Barnes sign somewhere else they alluded to the problem if he was making more than others who were more senior than Barnes. Now Poole is going to make more than Draymond. He hasn't contributed as much towards the past championships. Dray is frustrated at the inevitable unfairness of the situation. Poole knows this and when he triggers Dray verbally what to do? Every organization has this problem. It is easy to look from the outside and say an aging Dray should be happy with his 25M+/year but that doesn't take into account the historical complexity of the money vs performance situation. Dray is a hall of famer, Poole is not. Every good organization figures out solutions to these problems as Steph says...

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I get what you're saying, but I don't have much sympathy for Green in that case. He makes more money than anyone could reasonably spend and has another $53M coming in this season and next. Even if he never gets another contract, is set for life and has had an amazing NBA career, for which he should end up in the Hall of Fame. After that, he's sure to have a lucrative career in the media, where he has been (up to this point) well-regarded. If he needs more NBA money to validate him, he has to get over it.

It's not 'unfair' that Poole makes more than him. That's the market for a 23 year old rising star vs. a 32 year old with a dodgy back and declining shooting skills. Green himself made more than guys from previous NBA generations who won championships (though obviously on different teams) and are also Hall of Famers. That's just how this goes.

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Give Draymond his ring on opening night. Let the booing ensue. Make him apologize to the crowd on the mic. Suspend him indefinitely. Done.

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I hate to see the guy get booed while receiving his ring. But suspended? Absolutely.

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If A-lister Hollywood Superstar Will Smith can get Cancelled for a slap, what does that mean for a guy like Draymond?

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Nothing. Hollywood is a completely different animal.

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And this is a way different situation. Smith slapped Chris Rock -- embarrassing but not life- or career-threatening. Dray flew at Poole and hit him in the head -- very dangerous. Rock and Smith were supposed friends but had independent careers. Poole and Green are /teammates/ playing on the same side trying to win championships together; they're supposed to have each other's back, not attack when the other guy isn't expecting it and isn't defending himself.

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The guy who leaked the video to TMZ:

https://twitter.com/iamtzamac/status/1578488419550130177

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Is that confirmed? And who the heck is this guy?

Not that it matters much. It's done.

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Lol that’s the “fake Klay” who’s been banned from Chase Center already

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lol Didn't recognize him.

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Missed that completely. 😅

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That punch was so sudden I gasped like I saw Freddy Krueger. I love the Warriors since the Rick Barry days and this team has saddened me may be a few times (not counting injuries to players). I guess the Spreewell choking Carlismo incidence; Green/Durant spat and now this...

I watched Durant in Texas more than a few times and he was so cool, smiled often then. I was ecstatic when he joined the Ws.

And JP, the kid with the most lovable and silly meme. He got send down to G league, worked hard to improve his craft, never heard him complaint. His joy and cheers seem genuine, his 'little brother' hug to Klay was so sweet and humble. I really doubt anyone can have an attitude/personality change that fast.

As for the criticism of Green, I'll hold my tongue and leave it to you folks with a sharper pen...

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I second this about JP. Love the kid, his swagger, his confidence. And to add, as an animal person, the fact that he adopted two cats when he moved to the Bay Area was just fantastic. That whole thing with him and Wiggs at the hedgehog cafe in Tokyo, and the video of him with a meerkat, priceless. In another life, Jordan Poole would have been a veterinarian.

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Obviously Andre coming back was already huge for the team as far as mentoring goes but I couldn't imagine what it'd be like right now if he retired and went off to do his own thing

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F*ck Draymond, that's it that's all, go play for lebron

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I just sucker-punched my 21 year old son hoping he might get a 130mil contract out of it.

Damn, do they give out 130mil contracts for guys who play Dungeons and Dragons? Working on public apology now.

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I hear a lot of people saying “this happens all the time”. I really have no idea if it does or does not. I all my years playing sports I never saw a sucker punch thrown at practice, but maybe I’m just soft. Is there anybody who has really come out and said, in the last 5 years of playing NBA basketball, I saw 8 punches thrown at practice and 2 were sucker punches or something of the sort. I know it’s not the only time it has ever happened, but it seems like the number of cited instances is less than 10 over the last 30 years for 30 teams, so like 1% of NBA seasons have a punch thrown at practice, which is not exactly “all the time”. I’m not trying to support or refute that it happens a lot of not a lot, just curious if there is anyone knowledgeable and unbiased that can shed real light on the subject.

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It was fucked up but I'm not sure it's a sucker punch given the big shove from Poole that preceded it. It was seemingly a justifiable escalation from Poole, but still an escalation.

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I’d say for every one we hear about there’s probably twenty we don’t. Or more. Pinches as hard and clean and out of the blue as Draymond’s I would say are pretty rare. But let’s be real. On a team of twelve to fifteen guys there’s going to be at least one if not three or four cases where two teammates can’t stand each other and that friction boils over.

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I don't know how common this is or isn't in general and it probably doesn't matter much but there was a fight every week on the courts at the park near my house. I grew up in East Oakland so I'm sure others' experiences may vary.

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Yup, I'm not condoning it either but I'm curious if it's the same in Saginaw.

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I got the audio working on the punch, it's hard to hear every word....

Poole: Have you been reading DNHQ?

Green: Every night.

Poole: You see where SleepyFreud rated you for most important non-curry warriors next 3 years?

Green: Those blogs know what's up, they always rank me #2 behind Steph.

Poole: Sleepy put me #2, Wiggins #3, Klay #4 and... (Punch)

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So basically Sleepy’s fault. I knew it.

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Lmao

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I think they should make Draymond buy Poole a boat, and then take away their phones, and anchor them out in the bay together for a week.

This is not good. I've always felt Draymond was the 2nd most important Warrior. This is worse than the 100mph on the freeway video, punching the Michigan State player, sending out his dick pic, kneeing Adams in the nuts, calling Durant a b*... it seemed like these incidents were behind him :(

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They could borrow Klay's.

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Only if Klay captains it. I doubt Draymond or JP knows how.

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I like the boat idea. It's funny and would make for great television though maybe they shouldn't be recorded together for a while until they've patches things up.

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Patch Up Island with Jeff Probst as the Host. Coming in 2023.

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Draymond is still my favorite player but I can't defend this. He made a big mistake and he apologized. Hopefully this can strengthen the team. What he does on the court is irreplaceable so him leaving is unthinkable to me but this sort of thing just cannot happen. I'm relieved that Jordan wasn't hurt. Dray has given his blood sweat and tears to this team for over a decade so he has quite a bit of equity with me but it is being tested with this. Hopefully he retires a Warrior. I am sad. That is all.

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Kerr's statement is bullshit. Being punched by a teammate is never going to make one a better player over the span of their career. He whitewashed it as the Warriors organization got embarrassed big time. It's a distraction for them, but the Warriors have refused to deal with Green's psychological problems for years.

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