“You see, you wouldn’t ask why the rose that grew from concrete had damaged petals.”
I don’t like beginning pieces with quotes, but this one’s different. You might recognize that quote; it’s a lyric from “Mama’s Just a Little girl” by Tupac Shakur. It’s about hardship and internal scars, while also speaking to ambition and one’s inner will. For most, we can see ourselves in those words -the lyric resonates. This is akin to Draymond Green’s relationship with Warriors fans. We see ourselves in him.
-== Top 7 Warriors’ Moves In The Joe Lacob Era ==-
While Steph and HB are 1st Team All Mature Interviewees and Klay doesn’t say much in the first place, Draymond publicizes what Warriors fans are thinking. He called Dahntay Jones someone who “don’t play”. He sold “Cool Story, Glenn” shirts and when he was told that Doc (Glenn) Rivers’ son called him “lame” Draymond responded by declaring, “his (Rivers’) son didn’t play…so he can’t talk. He never beat me”.
That’s how fans talk. It isn’t how future max salary NBA basketball players are supposed to talk! But that’s the thing. Draymond Green isn’t a “supposed to” player. He’s a rose that grew from the concrete, and sure he’s got a few damaged petals but that’s what makes him unique -that’s why we love him. To honor his uniqueness I’ll simply go on to the next verse in Tupac’s song; a verse that, surprise, is also reminiscent of this power forward from Saginaw, Michigan that we love like a brother.
“You see, you wouldn’t ask why the rose that grew from concrete had damaged petals. On the contrary, we would all celebrate it’s tenacity.”
Instead of closely examining Draymond’s past, Warriors fans revere what that past forged: a tenacity to improve day-by-day. Draymond’s the antithesis to the glamour one and done prospect who attends a semester of college and is shortly reaping the benefits of the millions his draft slot guaranteed him.
Our man began his college career adverse to lifting weights, yet graduated with a gym workout routine described as “prodigious”. He played his rookie NBA season overweight and then came to training camp the next season 20 pounds lighter. His recorded height (without shoes) at the NBA Draft Combine was 6’ 5.75”; that’s the same as Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala, and shorter than Shaun Livingston and Harrison Barnes. Yet, while those guys play on the wings, Draymond plays power forward and when Steve Kerr’s going for the kill, center.
Draymond’s proven himself too tenacious to be confined by conventional roadblocks.
“You see, you wouldn’t ask why the rose that grew from concrete had damaged petals. On the contrary, we would all celebrate it’s tenacity. We would all love its will to reach the sun.”
Yet, Draymond’s will is about more than defeating weight and height obstacles. It’s about never being content -or as Tupac calls it, “a desire to reach the sun”. A couple examples…
At Michigan State Draymond attempted one three-pointer his freshman year -he missed it. His sophomore year he made two. His rookie season in the NBA he shot an abominable 21% from three -that’s lower than Josh Smith’s and Andre Roberson’s career averages! Now, he’s shooting the third most threes (4.2 per game) on the offense that leads the NBA in three-point percentage and is defined by the word “splash”.
During his rookie season (2012-13) Draymond averaged 7.7 points and 1.8 assists per 36 minutes (using per 36 minutes allows us to level for playing time). During that season’s playoffs he averaged 11.3 points and 3.1 assists per 36. A similar increase occurred during his second season (2013-14) when he averaged 10.2 points and 8.2 rebounds per 36 during the regular season and jumped to 13.1 points and 9.2 rebounds per 36 during the playoffs.
Three-pointers and playoff performance are only a couple examples of Draymond’s will to prove himself as one always wanting more.
“You see, you wouldn’t ask why the rose that grew from concrete had damaged petals. On the contrary, we would all celebrate it’s tenacity. We would all love its will to reach the sun. Well. We are the roses.”
We, the fans, see ourselves in the rose that is Draymond -his struggle is relatable. Sure, his struggle may be about buckets and ours may be about family or work, but it’s not the type of struggle that matters. What matters is that there was a struggle in the first place.
Warriors fans don’t worry about Draymond getting paid huge this off-season (by the Warriors!) and coming back next season out of shape. He’ll always be a smack talking, hard fouling beast who gets buckets down low and splashes threes whenever teams (notably the Clippers) double Steph in high pick-and-rolls. In that sense he represents the NBA’s past (rugged and physical) and future (a stretch 4 capable of guarding multiple positions).
Here’s a guy who’ll wear chains in his postgame interview and then retreat to his modest home in Emeryville -not San Francisco where most of his teammates live- because, “I’ve been broke my entire life…I’m going to keep those same principles”.
Here’s a guy who doesn’t shoot a specified number of shots per day in the offseason like other NBA cyborgs. Instead, he shoots until it “feels good”.
Here’s a guy who threw grapes at people going after the Curry family. And it wasn’t regular people he hurled them at, it was Seattle Seahawks fans! Heck, he even stuck his tongue out at Blake Griffin earlier this season!
Unlike the Steph, Klay, or sometimes HB, Draymond doesn’t make basketball look easy. He doesn’t live beyond his means or shoot a chartered number of shots per session. He even chucks grapes in defense of the Curry’s. He’s like us. We are the roses.
“You see, you wouldn’t ask why the rose that grew from concrete had damaged petals. On the contrary, we would all celebrate it’s tenacity. We would all love its will to reach the sun. Well. We are the roses. This is the concrete. These are my damaged petals. Don’t ask me why. Ask me how.”
The “how” behind Draymond is special. Much like Iguodala defers to Steph on an open three-pointer, I’ll defer to Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group on this one. He’s got a special story that tells all you need to know about Money Green:
The Warriors have a tradition of pairing rookies with a veteran. Jeremy Tyler, also a first-round hopeful who fell to the second round the year before, wound up as Green’s vet.
With his lifestyle, you would’ve never guessed Tyler was on a cheap salary and barely clinging to a roster spot. He introduced Green and the other youngsters to the lavishness of being an NBA player.Then came summer league. Not even a month removed from the draft, Green and Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli highlighted some all-out practices in Las Vegas. In the midst of a heated session, Tyler called what Green thought was a weak foul.
Green went off.
He told Tyler it wasn’t a foul. He told Tyler he was soft. He told Tyler he’d never get respect in this league. And then he denounced him.
“He dropped him as his vet,” Barnes said, still smiling at the years-old incident. “He said Jeremy couldn’t be his vet anymore.
Draymond dares to be great. That’s why every Warriors fan loves Draymond.