Is Draymond Green's reputation beyond the pale?
After 11-plus seasons, four championships, 147 technical fouls, 18 ejections and multiple suspensions, should the Warriors still be in on Draymond? F.P. Santangelo Sr. doesn't think so.
In his first appearance for 95.7 Santangelo joined Mark Willard and discussed Green. To put it simply, he said, "I think the juice isn't worth the squeeze anymore."
He continued, saying that Green's lack of availability, on-court antics, and the player he is today are not worth the Warriors' time and effort.
"He can't help you win if he's not there," Santangelo said. "So if you if you can't control your temper, or you can't control your passion in the sense that you're getting T'd up twice and you're in the locker room, or you're getting T'd up and you're getting suspended, you're doing me no good as a player.
That's selfish behavior. And this whole thing with him, I think they're gonna be better without him right now. Because the energy vampire that he is in the clubhouse, in the locker room.
Because I'm always having to talk about him. We're always talking about him. It's another thing, it's national news. You turn on ESPN, you click on any website, it's the number one story about him taking a swing, him choking somebody, him punching his teammates, him kicking somebody in the nuts, whatever it is, that gets old as a player.
I don't want that around anymore. I don't care if you play with passion. You're the only guy that plays defense and this and that. That's great then, and would they have won four rings without him? probably not. But that was then and this is now."
At this point, Santangelo said Green's lack of consistency and availability is not worth the legacy of what he once was as a player.
"They need the old Draymond to win, not this one. Because they're not going to win with this guy," Santangelo said. "That Draymond? Yes. This Draymond? No."
Green was suspended indefinitely by the NBA after flailing wildly and
hitting Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic for a flagrant 2 foul. It was the 18th ejection of his career, the most amongst active players.
The 33-year-old forward began counseling earlier in the week and is expected to miss at least another three weeks, per Shams Charania.
In November, he was suspended five games for putting Minnesota Timberwolves forward Rudy Gobert in a headlock and infamously suspended for Game 5 of the NBA Finals after accumulating too many flagrant fouls.
Green's timeframe on a return remains unclear, but it's evident that the league doesn't appear ready to tolerate any further on-court incidents involving him.