Draymond Green’s latest rant at the Knicks missed the point entirely

Draymond Green talks about the New York Knicks on his podcast so often at this point that he owes the organization a portion of his advertising revenue. Not surprisingly, he’s at it again, this time taking aim at the team’s unhappiness with how Mike Brown handled Green’s flagrant foul on Karl-Anthony Towns.

And not surprisingly once more, he’s missing the mark with his analysis, response, musings, diatribe, whatever you want to call it. 

You can see the full monologue below, but the jist of his point is that neither the Knicks nor their fans should be mad that Brown hugged him after the game, because he and Mikey B have a preexisting relationship that’s meaningful enough for Brown to break the dress code at Draymond’s wedding. Please have your warm wash cloths at the ready before scrolling below, just in case your ears start to bleed:

Much like Draymond’s dark horse trade candidate he thinks the Knicks should target at the deadline, this soliloquy was better left unsaid. At the very least, it needs to be recontextualized.

As ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reports, members of New York’s locker room and front office weren’t thrilled with how Brown reacted to Green flagrantly fouling KAT during the team’s January 15 loss to Golden State. Their postgame hug is the most cited point of contention, because, well, physical affection apparently makes select people uncomfortable.

Frankly, the interaction on the court was a big nothing-burger. But this isn’t the only thing that angered and unsettled fans and members of the organization. Brown’s real misstep was proceeding to defend Green during his postgame presser, while also throwing Towns, his own player, under the bus:

This part is inexcusable, inexplicable, behavior worthy of the ire from fans, the whole nine. 

Brown and KAT clearly aren’t on the best of terms. Towns’ play and body language for much of this season deserves part of the blame. But Brown doesn’t get off scot-free just because KAT is the more expensive, and thus convenient, target. Towns’ seeming lack of engagement are on him, too.

Yet, no matter how shaky the dynamic is, regardless of who ferries a lion’s share of the blame, Brown is coaching the Knicks. This team and its players are his responsibility, every single one of them. 

That doesn’t mean Brown had to bare-knuckle box Draymond in the middle of the court, but he should've spoken out on behalf of his player. At the very least, he didn’t have to actively take Green’s side. 

It doesn’t matter whether the support would have been performative, or purely obligatory. In fact, that’s the entire point. Say something, anything, that proves you give a damn about the players you’re coaching. 

Draymond actually almost made a good point!

To Draymond’s credit, he did make one salient observation. The rest of the Knicks didn’t take much issue with his foul in real-time. Granted, he is wrong about Towns doing nothing to stick up for himself, as the above clip shows, and OG Anunoby did kind of, sort of intervene. 

Green is also wrong, again, that the foul in question wasn’t a hard one. You tripped KAT, and got called for a flagrant, dude. Save the alternative-facts posting for the carcass of Twitter. 

But yes, Green has one pretty important point: Regardless of what’s going on in the locker room, Towns wears a Knicks jersey, and therefore deserves the same show of solidarity and force they’ve shown Mitchell Robinson in the past.

Back to Brown and Green, though. Believe it or not, you can remain tight with Draymond, even hug him after a loss, and stand up for the guys you're paid to coach. They don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

For whatever reason, Brown made them disparate responsibilities. Above all else, that is why members of the locker room, front office, and fanbase are ticked. The hug would be immaterial if Brown had done his job. He didn’t. The reaction is what it is—entirely fair, and hopefully something from which he and the rest of the team can learn.