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Golden State Warriors Draymond Green was not having it.
On the April 12 episode of the Bill Simmons podcast, The Ringer founder Bill Simmons emphatically stated “f— Jalen Green” during a segment on his podcast that discussed the Rookie of the Year voting.
“I put (Herb Jones) first team All-Rookie. I put him over Jalen Green, f–k Jalen Green,” Simmons said. “I don’t care if you scored 40 points and your team’s 19-60. Congratulations, Herb Jones is guarding dudes in real games.”
Draymond Green recently responded to that remark by Simmons and as always, he didn’t mince words in going after the media personality.
“How is it that this guy [Simmons] has a voice in deciding if Jalen Green will qualify for a super max deal?” Green captioned on one of his Instagram Stories. “He clearly says F Him, which sounds very personal btw. But he has a say in what someone else earns? What work has he done in his life that qualifies him to have a say in an NBA players salary?”
Jalen Green finished his rookie campaign averaging 17.3 points (second most for rookies), 3.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists. Simmons was arguing that these were empty stats, because of how bad the Houston Rockets were this past year.
“I’m sorry,” Simmons reasons. “I like winning players, I’m sorry. Jalen Green will get there, it’s just that team was 21-61 this year or whatever.”
Bill Simmons Argues He’s Being Taken Out of Context
Soon after Simmons comment, there were a lot of backlash towards what he said about the Houston rookie. Even Jalen Green responded with a tweet that said, “It is what it is.”
Simmons immediately tweeted out that he was being taken out of context, and all the aggregators were using him to drive up their own traffic.
It does seem that the majority of that segment, everyone speaking seemed to be joking for the most part. He presents a valid argument how a lot of articles used the ‘F Jalen Green’ quote in a wrong context for clicks.
Draymond Green Has Been on a Crusade Going Against the Voting System
After Warriors Jordan Poole was not listed as a finalist for the Most Improved Award, teammate Draymond Green went after the entire process of allowing people from the media cast votes for individual player awards, that could affect players’ salaries.
Since then, he has been vocal during his press conferences and even his podcast talking about how the voting system needed to be reformed and changed. The problem with this is that the NBPA and owners have agreed to let the media decide these owners, because the media was seen as the least bias amongst fans and having players vote.
Obviously, Bill Simmons is not a great example to use as an impartial voice in media. Much of what he covers and roots for is very New England centric, and he is probably most known for the pioneer in creating this form of covering sports while still having particular rooting interests.
With the prominence of social media, players of this generation have been more antagonizing with today’s media. They do not like how the media drives their own narratives. Players today like to control their own brands and messaging to their liking, something the traditional media is not akin to.
It will be interesting to see if the voting process changes during the next CBA negotiations.
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