By DIAMOND LEUNG
Tribune News Service
TORONTO — Draymond Green caught wind of TNT analyst Charles Barkley’s comments about the Warriors forward being small and not “tough enough” as Golden State lost to Cleveland.
Green fired back Saturday once again after previously having disagreed with Barkley’s characterization of the Warriors as a jump-shooting team that couldn’t be counted on to win the NBA championship.
“I think he was shorter than me. You would think he would support me,” said Green, who at 6-foot-7 noted he used to watch tape of Barkley’s playing days to improve himself. “But hey, maybe he thinks I can’t win one (championship) because he ain’t got one. So if he’s the same size, and he can’t win a championship, we’ll see what happens. I’ve got a lot more years to do it than he’s got, you know?
“A guy who’s not a champion can’t talk too much about championships, can he? I’m not sure how much he won anything in his career team-wise. Been to the finals, but for him to say that — they won’t win because he’s too small — maybe that’s why he didn’t win, because he was too small.”
Barkley, a 6-6 Hall of Fame player, appears to be an outlier when it comes to his observations of Green, who led the defensive charge in the Warriors’ 113-89 win Friday at Toronto. After all, Green’s contributions to Golden State have been celebrated on a level that rises above the national television coverage.
Stephen Curry, after visiting with President Obama on Wednesday in the Oval Office, approached Green to tell his teammate about how the president brought up Green’s days at Michigan State and remarked that every team needs a player like that.
“I know he’s a big basketball fan, but it’s pretty exciting to know that the President of the United States thinks that about you,” said Green, who first met Obama in 2011 when Michigan State played in front of the president on the USS Carl Vinson. “That may not mean a lot to some people, but that means a lot to me.”
Green has shown he can play with the big boys. He threw down a dunk over 7-foot-1 Timofey Mozgov in the Warriors’ 110-99 loss to the Cavaliers on Thursday.
Against Toronto the following night, Green, after getting screened at the 3-point line by Jonas Valanciunas, boxed out the 7-foot, 255-pounder at the foul line and grabbed the rebound.
“It was unreal, that play,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “Very few people can make that play.”
Green while holding his own in the paint has also improved his 3-point percentage to 34.1 percent heading into Sunday’s game at Boston after going 3 for 5 against Toronto.
Kerr said he gave Green the leeway to shoot, and even as the 3-point percentage started dropping down to last season’s 33.3 percent, he spoke to the player about being more selective without being gun-shy.
“I want him to be confident,” Kerr said.