Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors is a power forward in a small forward's body and he's had a good career, all five seasons of it, making the most of that apparent disadvantage.
He's also an inveterate trash-talker on the court and has gained a reputation for being outspoken off of it. Maybe it's easy to be outspoken when your team wins all the time, but Green has settled comfortably into the role.
That combination _ undersize at his position, over-the-top verbally _ has led to obvious comparisons with Charles Barkley, who was a Hall of Famer at both of those. Green doesn't care much for being labeled the new Barkley, however. As the Warriors approach their Tuesday opener in the Western Conference semifinals against Utah, Green told ESPN that he is "the modern-day Draymond Green."
Well, that's fine. Because he damn sure isn't Charles Barkley.
Let's just start with the basketball, which is what gives a player license to talk. Green is a fine player, very versatile, and perhaps the best second-round pick of recent vintage, a short list that also includes Manu Ginobli and Marc Gasol. Nice player, but Barkley was way beyond that.
We'll leave aside the scoring aspect of their games for a moment and go right to rebounding. Comparing anyone's ability off the glass to Barkley's is unfair, because no one compares at his size, but if you want comparisons, here we go.
Green is 6-foot-7. Barkley is a generous 6-5. For his career thus far, Green has a total rebounding percentage _ all the balls up for grabs _ of 13.5 percent. He collects 5.2 percent of the offensive rebounds available and 21.5 percent of the defensive rebounds. That's not bad. It's particularly not bad for a man his size, who is also asked to guard the three position at times, which is what Barkley did as well.
Barkley, over 16 seasons, had a total rebounding percentage of 18.2 percent, getting 12.5 percent of offensive boards and 23.7 percent of defensive boards. At roughly Green's age, in his third season, Barkley got 16.7 of offensive boards, which is ridiculous, and had a total rebounding number of 20.8 percent. Ten guys on the court. He got one rebound out of every five. (That would stand as his career high until, at age 34, he got 20.9 percent for the 1997-98 Rockets.)
Again, you can't compare scoring numbers, but that's a two-edged sword as well. Barkley finished with a 22.1-point average. Green averaged 10.2 this season for the Warriors after averaging 14.0 a year ago. Of course, a year ago Golden State didn't have Kevin Durant, and even before this season, Green was a third scoring option behind Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
Still, how easy do you think it was for Barkley to put up the numbers he did when he was almost the only name on the opposing team's chalk board? Check out his 1990-91 season when he was 27, the same age as Green (27.6 ppg., 10.1 rpg., 57.0 field goal percentage). That was a good team, but, trust me, it didn't have Durant to occupy the other side. Barkley's career shooting percentage was 54 percent, by the way. Green's is 43.5 percent.
All right, all right. Defense. And, yeah, you got me there. Green plays it. Barkley had heard about it.
"I wasn't a Charles Barkley fan growing up," Green said. "No disrespect to Chuck. He's a great player. ... I watched his game because I knew he was undersized and the things that he could do, I tried to add some of that stuff to my game. But, nah, he didn't influence me."
As for the vocal influence, Green said he got his growing up in Saginaw, Mich., which apparently is the trash-talking mecca of the United States, according to him. In that regard, he's strong, but he's no Barkley there, either. Anybody can talk when he plays on a team that has gone 207-39 in the last three regular seasons and won an NBA championship. Good Lord, that would have turned Armon Gilliam into a trash-talker.
Barkley still owned the message when he played on average teams. Not everyone liked the message, which was exactly his intention, of course, but the message still got through. Barkley created his own spotlight and didn't need a 65-win team to create one around him. Plus, he leavened his dialogue with humor _ something that has served him well in his second career as a full-time wiseass _ and that's a gift that hasn't come to Green yet.
So, Draymond, you've got it right. You aren't the next Charles Barkley. You are merely the first Draymond Green and while an interesting player and person, it's not likely that 20 years from now anyone will bother to compare some chatty upstart to you.
