If you spend roughly two and a half hours making quick, spur-of-the-moment comments about events that are unfolding in front of you at breakneck speed, it’s unlikely that your every utterance is going to be a pearl of wisdom.
Some of what you say is likely to be insightful, some of it amusing, some of it clichéd and some of it, inevitably, sort of dumb. The key to being a good television commentator is making sure that your words land far more often in the first two categories than the last two.
There’s a decent debate to be had about whether TNT analyst Chris Webber accomplishes that on a regular basis, but one thing is certain: There are lots of people who think Webber’s assessment of Draymond Green during the Warriors-Spurs telecast Tuesday night fell directly into the dumb file.
To recap: Webber suggested that Green, a former Defensive Player of the Year, a three-time All-Star and the owner of two championship rings, might not be more than a backup on some teams in the league.
“This is the impact Draymond Green has,” he said during a replay of Green driving and dishing to Kevon Looney for a layup. “Yes, if he was on some other teams and expected to score, he may not be in the starting lineup on some teams. But on this team, he’s one of their most valuable players because he keeps the system going, he’s unselfish, he locks down on defense, and he’ll get you an easy bucket.”
It should be noted that the only basketball teams that have kept Green on the bench are the All-Star team and the U.S. Olympic team, and let’s be clear, there’s no other lineup he couldn’t crack. Because of his ability to play center and either forward position, he would be a fit for any NBA team, unless there’s one out there with no use for a player who can defend equally well in the post and on the perimeter, be a rebounding force at both ends and pass as deftly as some point guards.
Who are these teams that Webber thinks couldn’t find a spot for Green as a starter, anyway? Eliminate all the lottery teams immediately. If they had front lines talented enough to keep Green on the bench, they wouldn’t be lottery teams.
Even the league’s elite would make room for Green. Do you think Cleveland couldn’t use him next to Kevin Love to anchor its defense? That he wouldn’t supplant P.J. Tucker in Houston or Carmelo Anthony in Oklahoma City? The Celtics started Semi Ojeleye at power forward in a playoff game the other night. It’s a safe bet that Boston coach Brad Stevens might have switched him out for Green if he could have.
It’s not surprising then, that Green showed some irritation when he was asked about Webber’s comments after the Spurs game.
“I don’t care,” he said. “I don’t think he could find many GMs or coaches that would say I wouldn’t start on their team. I’m fine without scoring the ball. I think I have created a new lane for guys in this league to where you don’t have to score 20 points to be an All-Star or to be a star in this league.”
Then, referring to his pair of championship rings, he finished with a drop-the-mic line: “My jewelry fits well.”
Webber clearly doesn’t want to start a feud. Not surprisingly, he tried to make amends less than 24 hours later with a message to Green via Twitter:
@Money23Green Dont fall for the pump fake lil bro… you know we cut from the same cloth pic.twitter.com/aNoruqYXZ1
— Chris Webber (@realchriswebber) April 25, 2018
And they are, to a remarkable extent, similar as big men who could run the floor, rebound and pass extraordinarily well for players their size. In terms of win shares, the second most similar player to Green at the same stage of their careers? Webber.
Webber’s no villain here. He’s just another analyst who tried a little bit too hard to fill air time and overreached. In the end, the only real significance of the whole affair is how it provides another example of two familiar phenomenons.
One is the inevitable process of flame-roasting public figures over the internet fire for even the most mildly controversial comments. The Twitterverse was quickly filled with fans ripping Webber for his description, many of them dragging out his infamous calling of a timeout with Michigan in the NCAA championship game to use as a club for his bashing.
Immediate and outsized social media outrage long ago grew tiresome, especially because it’s likely that Webber didn’t mean it as a jab, he just framed what was supposed to be a compliment in the worst way possible. Subtract that one clause about the starting lineup and you have a glowing description of Green’s value.
The other thing we’ve seen before is the difficulty of capturing Green’s unique combination of gifts and contributions. Like a precious stone, part of his value is in his rarity — it’s hard to find a perfect comparison for him. Warriors fans have been through all the discussions and debates.
Is he more essential to the Warriors’ success than his high-scoring teammates, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson? Would his passing skills be less evident if he wasn’t surrounded by All-Stars and future Hall of Famers? Or would he score more on a team that made him more than the fourth option offensively, as he is with the Warriors?
Those are unanswerable questions at this point in his career, because Green’s individual accomplishments and the Warriors’ team success are so inextricably tied to each other. The player and the team each make the other better.
Thinking about what Green might or might not do for other teams is far less interesting than appreciating all the things he does for the Warriors. Webber would have been on much firmer ground if he had done that.
(Top photo: Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)
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