Warriors' Draymond Green Shades Magic Ex: 'Not to Throw Salt...'
It's been 11 years since Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green was drafted in the NBA, but he's still got reason to talk about it.
Green joined Los Angles Clippers Paul George's podcast to discuss a multitude of things.
When players go on these podcasts, there's a blend of genuine storytelling, and then there's the content questions for the media companies to push the content on social media to drive engagements.
Among the questions George asked was about players drafted ahead of Green in his draft. This is a general thing some players track as they use it as motivation early in their careers.
"Who that got drafted ahead of you was the most ridiculous one to you?" George asked Green.
Green was drafted in the second round of the 2012 NBA Draft, having been selected with pick No. 35.
"Not to throw salt at anybody, but, like, Andrew Nicholson was drafted over me at 19," Green said. "When it comes to winning, half the battle is looking like a basketball player."
As Green mentioned, Nicholson was drafted by the Orlando Magic with pick No. 19 in the 2012 draft. The 6-9 power forward played five years in the NBA. He played a total of 247 games with 36 starts in four seasons with the Magic, averaging 6.5 points per game across that span.
"If you look at the other side of the floor and you see guys that don't look like basketball players, you automatically lose respect, and when you lose respect for those guys, you do things to them in the game that you otherwise wouldn't have done if you respected that guy," Green said on the podcast.
Over his career, Nicholson never averaged more than 16.1 minutes per game, which he averaged in his rookie season with the Magic. He also averaged a career-high 7.8 points per game in that season.
"He didn't fit the bill," George said.
As an undersized power forward at the time, Nicholson was left behind in the game of basketball as players that don't have adequate size at his position have to be able to shoot from beyond the arc, and he didn't do that.
Nicholson's last season was the 2016-17 NBA season, where he spent time with the Washington Wizards and Brooklyn Nets.
You can follow Kade Kimble on Twitter @KadeKimble.
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