Draymond Green on suspension: 'I don't live my life with regrets'
Draymond Green's five-game suspension for putting Rudy Gobert in a chokehold is up, he returns to the Warriors lineup on Tuesday night against the Kings.
Just don't expect a penitent, chastened Green to take the floor Tuesday. Speaking with reporters on Sunday and addressing the suspension for the first time, Green sounded like his vintage self — no regrets, saying it was about defending a teammate, but acknowledging he can't do this again. And he's not sorry. Here are the quotes, via Ali Thanawalla of NBC Sports Bay Area.
"I don't live my life with regrets," Green said. "Like I said before, I'll come to a teammate's defense anytime that I'm in a position to come to a teammate's defense. That's what a team is. You stick together through the good and the bad and I take that to heart. I take pride in being a good teammate. That's when I step in here every single day. That's No. 1 on my list, to be a good teammate....
"I think the consensus amongst all of us is I'm going to be me no matter what and that's not going to change. But in saying that there's always a better way that something can be done and so figuring out a better way I think is the consensus amongst all of us...
"I want to play basketball the way I play basketball, the way I play basketball has gotten me here. The way I play basketball has brought me a tremendous amount of success, individually and from a team standpoint. So I'm going to always be myself and not changing that. But like I said, I do understand and know that there's room for growth, there are different ways to handle things and I need to be better in those moments, in different situations."
Green also went off on a tangent, complaining that his history is considered when the league hands down punishments — "I paid for those. I got suspended for Game 5 of the [2016] Finals" — which came off as a man not accepting the reality he built. It's pretty standard to have a second offense of anything — from a crime to disciplining children — be worse than the first (and the third be worse than the second) because the lesson was not learned. Green wants to play on the edge, he has to know this is coming when he crosses that line — and he is smart enough to know when he's crossed it. Putting another player in a chokehold crosses the line. Stepping on a player’s chest crosses the line. Punching a teammate crosses the line. You get the idea, and all of that is just from the last 14 months.
Green brings valuable skills — he remains an elite defender and the anchor of the Warriors on that end of the court, plus his passing as a secondary playmaker when teams double Curry keeps the offense flowing. The Warriors need Green. Golden State went 2-3 while Green was out and is a game below .500 now. Green makes this team better, but coach Steve Kerr suggested that there can be no more incidents like this — the Warriors need Green on the court, not being a distraction.
The Warriors need a better version of Green if they are going to get back into the mix at the top of the West.
