Draymond Green and the NBA's Soft Culture and Enabling Problems

     I think it behooves me to explain the stance taken in my title before I get into the nitty gritty surrounding Draymond Green's most recent antics on the basketball court.  I want to make it clear that I am not being critical of the culture that Adam Silver and the rest of the NBA's brass have been trying to build since Silver was unanimously chosen to replace David Stern in 2014.  I am not being critical of the NBA's response to Green's recent misconduct which was to suspend him indefinitely, unless indefinitely turns out to be 7 games in which case I will be critical.  In fact I have been pleased with how the league has handled disciplinary matters, most specifically Ja Morant.  

    Now that we have that out of the way, the person involved in the Draymond Green debacle that will now receive the ire of my harsh criticism is none other than Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.  As a life long Chicago Bulls fan Steve Kerr holds a dear and special place in my heart and is my second favorite 3 point shooter of all time behind only Larry Bird.  Steve Kerr deserves my ire and then some because of the way he responded through the media to Draymond's recent reckless incident.  Here is a quote from the head coach in the aftermath of the incident:  

"To me this is about more than basketball, it's about helping Draymond. I think it's an opportunity for Draymond to step away and make a change in his approach, in his life, and that's not an easy thing to do. That's not something you say 'OK, we'll do five games' and then he's gonna be fine. The league did five games after the incident with Rudy [Gobert}. That's not the answer, to pick a number. "  

Now this is the major point of contention I will discuss because, as a high school basketball coach myself, I think that Kerr is completely enabling Green here and giving him excuses to do it again.  Kerr is right about one thing:  The answer is not to pick a number.  The answer is for the man who is responsible for providing leadership and guidance to Draymond to say something to the effect of: "Draymond has had plenty of opportunities to make it right with the way he plays basketball.  We have seen him be a valuable member of the team and an incredibly good teammate.  He is a winner and has accomplished a lot.  As a coach I believe in personal accountability, and I have given Draymond too many chances.  If Draymond wants to continue playing basketball for the Golden State Warriors he needs to find himself the help and resources to make sure this does not happen again.  We are at the last chance and he should feel fortunate to think he is likely going to get another chance because if he comes back and does this again he will no longer be a member of the Golden State Warriors.  Sometimes the effect of actions like this one on the entire team can be devastating and I refuse to let that happen to this team."  This is what I want him to say, rather than something I might say about my 9 year old son!  

I am of the opinion that Draymond has reached Meta World Peace status despite the fact that he didn't enter the stands to fight a fan.  He is doing a disservice to the NBA, is doing more harm than good to his team, and as far as I can tell doesn't really care.  Is there really a justification for keeping Draymond Green in the NBA if he were to have a repeat of his most recent antics?  This writer certainly doesn't think so, and it might be one infraction too late!  

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