Getty/Jason Miller Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors speaks during a 2022 NBA All-Star practice at Wolstein Center in Cleveland.
Golden State Warriors Draymond Green knows what it’s like to be passed over for the Defensive Play of the Year award multiple times.
Over the years, Green has been pretty vocal on numerous occasions of getting snubbed for the defensive player awards.
Back in 2015, he earned the most first-place votes for the DPOY award, but still lost out to Kawhi Leonard because of total points. Afterwards, Green had a memorable response to being snubbed that year.
Draymond: “Al Gore won the popular vote and didn’t get elected president so I’m not gonna beat myself up over not winning DPOY”
Now that Green works with Turner Sports and has his own podcast, he gives off his own takes at times that can for sure create tension with his peers around the league.
Green tells Fox Sports’ Melissa Rohlin of the challenge it is to still match up with some players, while also publicly criticizing them with his jobs in the media.
On one occasion, Heat star Bam Abedayo was so angry at Green after listening to his podcast.
“He was like, ‘What the f—, you mean nobody has solidified themselves as Defensive Player of the Year?'” Green recounts. “‘Do you not watch me play?'”
Such are the battles the media has to deal with when it comes to players’ wrath. Now that Green works in media, he understands things from both sides of the spectrum.
Bam Adebayo Missed Out for DPOY Consideration Similar to Green
After the finalists were announced for the DPOY award, Adebayo and Green’s names were noticeably left off the list. On April 18, both Adebayo and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra criticized how the Heat center was left off as a finalist.
Bam Adebayo on not being a DPOY finalist: It’s disrespectful. I feel like I can do anything that two out of the three can do. I can’t teach height. All three play on TV more than me. They get more exposure. No one wants to talk about us.
Green seems to have reversed course, as he went in on the fact that Adebayo and Joel Embiid did not finish in the top 3 and win the MVP respectively.
“Joel Embiid and Bam Adebayo need to sit and figure out what they need to do to win,” Green said recently on his podcast.
Green wants both Embiid and Adebayo to sit down with someone from the league office and figure out why they were not getting the respect and recognition that they deserve. This entire point brings it back to the entire system of how the individual player awards were voted on, and Green did not mince words on that subject.
Draymond Green Thinks the Voting System Is a Sham
On Green’s podcast, he laid into how media members should not be the ones solely responsible for deciding if players win awards or make certain first, second, or third teams.
“I think when you look at voting for All-NBA, when you look at voting for Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player, MVP, ultimately these things are voting on by the media, which I think is absolutely disgusting,” he said at the 4:40 mark. “Because these are human beings that could have personal issues against guys because that does happen.”
The Warriors forward pointed out how there was innate human biases with media members and how they thought about certain players. Additionally, he discussed how decisions made by these media members have financial ramifications off bonuses players could win with specific awards.
While Green may present a solid point, there is no one perfect method for selecting awards for players. Having players vote would present similar bias perspectives. Having fans vote would be a catastrophe. In a way, it can be argued media members are the closest things to objectivity that care enough to vote for these types of awards. After all, the NBPA and NBA did agree to have the media decide these awards in their last collective bargaining agreement.