OAKLAND, Calif. _ Draymond Green opened his post-practice media session Wednesday by offering condolences to ESPN broadcasting pioneer Chris Berman, but ended it by lambasting the network for turning everything he says into a "controversial reality TV show."
The sports network made much of Green's comments last week that the Cleveland Cavaliers weren't getting much of a fight from opponents in the Eastern Conference playoffs, but the Warriors forward believes the network twisted his words and made it sound like he was denigrating the Cavaliers' competition.
"I didn't say I was disappointed with their competition," Green said. "First off, people always want to take a piece of a statement and then say, 'Oh, man, Draymond said the Cavs aren't playing anybody.' They never say, 'Draymond said Cleveland's playing great basketball.'
"Everybody's always chasing a headline and a controversy," Green continued. "Watching ESPN now is like watching a controversial reality TV show. It's pretty pathetic that that's what the headline everybody wants: Draymond's disappointed with who Cleveland plays. Think I care how Cleveland plays or how the other team plays? But I am a basketball fan and I know what I want to watch as a basketball fan, so I don't understand how these things are always made so controversial, not that it alters my daily life. I still go home and have fun with my kids. But it's just ridiculous that everybody's always searching for a controversy."
Green then challenged the media to report what he originally thought he had said.
"There's y'all's headline of the day: Draymond says Cleveland's playing great basketball," he said "Let's see if that one makes it."
Green had far more sympathetic words for Berman, whose wife of 33 years was killed in an auto accident on Tuesday.
"As a football fan, I want to send our condolences to Chris Berman and his family," he said. "I saw the news, that's tragic. I can only imagine how tough that is to go through, so I definitely send our condolences to him and his family during this tough time."
