(10-17-2022, 11:04 AM)lex24 Wrote: Kerr called this the Warriors biggest crisis since he’s been HC. So, it’s certainly not a “tempest in a teapot”. We saw the punch. What we don’t know is the full backstory. I doubt this was a “one-time” event. I suspect there was a lot of stuff leading up to it. I’m not so sure that Poole is going to be magnanimous about it.
I’d be stunned if the Warriors repeat. Their Championship last year was a nice surprise. But one more year of wear and tear on Curry, Klay and Draymond…
Agreed. Steven Jackson, one of the more miserable NBA players (he went into the stands to fight fans in Detroit with Ron Artest) was asked if he ever punched a teammate and he replied in the negative. If that guy thinks punching teammates is bad...it's pretty darned bad. Of course, Jordan punched Steve Kerr in practice, but that was in the Stone Age when we were all young... Kerr said he'd seen probably 20 fights in his 32 years in the NBA. My guess is that they were largely in his first decade.
Based on his perceptive decline, I think Draymond is done as a player. Let him go back to his hometown of Detroit (East Lansing -- pretty close) or to hang with LeBron in Los Angeles. I wouldn't extend Klay, either.
(10-17-2022, 04:51 PM)Leftcoast Wrote: Draymond's punch was a big deal - How big depends a lot on how the season goes from here.
So far the happy-path scenario is playing out. Poole signed his extension, the Dub administration has stayed transparent, Draymond apologized in a genuine and self-aware press conference, and Poole has not fanned the flames. With the season getting underway there is hope the Warriors can get off to a fast start. Winning is a great deoderant and I happen to think the Warriors are going to do a lot of that out the gate.
If you want to take the other side you might point to the following:
1) This punch didn't come from nowhere. Clearly Green and Poole aren't singing Kumbaya together and their beef points to ill will between the old guard and the rising stars. Not surprising when contracts, playing time, and media attention are all pulling at that same seam.
2) Yes, dust-ups happen all the time in the NBA but this one was different. It wasn't just two players jawing off publicaly with the altercation preceded by squaring up, taking a couple swings, and pushing while their teammates pull them apart. Draymond flew across the room and went for the head with a hay-maker. Not normal.
3) The video leak amplifies everything - there's now dramatic images out there that everyone has seen, including family, friends, hangers-on, and alumni at Michigan and Michigan St basketball. The pressure on Poole to respond and react must be immense in the macho world of professional sports. So far Poole has played this well but let's see what happens next time tempers flare, perhaps during a losing streak when Draymond thinks Kevin Dur ... uh Poole ... should have passed the ball.
As I said earlier so far everyone is playing this well but I find the last few days of with talking-heads saying t"here's nothing to see here" to be misleading. It is worth noting that the last time a dust-up like this went public the Warriors lost a perennial all-star and presumed member of the NBA's All-Time top 10. To say there's no risk this time is to ignore that it could still go both ways.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nb...180691002/
Supposedly, Poole was taunting Draymond that Poole would get paid and Green would not...which, in all likelihood, is going to happen. And Green knows it. Hit a little bit close to home.
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