Warriors' Draymond Green Says Disrespecting Charles Barkley Wasn't His Intent

On Saturday, Draymond Green explained on his podcast that his comments about Charles Barkely this week were not meant to be disrespectful.

"The reason that I would even say that is what Chuck makes fun about in his career is actually the last two years in Houston," Green said.

He later added: "The disrespect ain’t the intent, so if that’s the way it’s viewed as public disrespect, I can gladly publicly apologize. Disrespect wasn’t my intent."

On Wednesday's episode of Inside the NBA, Green responded to Barkley telling him that the Warriors' run is over by saying "I think the goal is just to not look like you in the Houston Rockets uniform."

Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith didn't laugh at the barb, leading some to believe they thought it was disrespectful.

Green added that Smith told him in a phone call that the comment was hilarious and that he had heard it wrong on air.

Barkley averaged 16.5 points and 12.2 rebounds in his four-year Rockets career. Both would be career highs for Green.

My Takeaway from Reaction to Dray's Comments

Many people responded to Green's quip by saying Barkley's worst was better than Green's best.

Though that's not true, the implication that Barkley had an embarrassing tenure in Houston is wrong.

Aside from the counting stats listed above, Barkley helped lead the Rockets to the conference finals in 1997. He led the team in win shares in 1996-97, 1997-98 and 1998-98 despite sharing the court with Hakeem Olajuwon.

But my big takeaway from this beef is that Peak Draymond is massively underrated.

You can read a fleshed-out argument here, but the gist is people forgot how efficient he was offensively and they never have given him enough credit for his defense.

Generally speaking, it's common for elite defensive players to not be put into top-10-player discussions unless they are also elite offensively.

But in 2015-16, Green was an amazing combination of DPOY-level defense and way-above-average offense that made him a clear top-10 player.

That's why he finished seventh in NBA MVP voting and set a record for the single-season plus/minus in NBA history.

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