Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green put a muzzle on fans comparing the NBA game to the NFL during an interview with Jamal Crawford on his eponymous podcast.
Fans have always debated whether NBA or NFL players would have an easier time transitioning to the other sport, and players have gotten involved in the discussion as well.
Draymond Green got to talking about the NFL with Crawford on Tuesday and had to let it be known just how in awe he is of football players’ ability to react so quickly to everything happening on the gridiron.
While fans are certainly passionate about the debate, Green felt that their dismissal of football players’ skill needed to be addressed.
Green says fans can’t dissect football like basketball
Green stated his belief that the NFL game is much more difficult than the NBA. He slammed so-called experts among the fans for not being knowledgeable enough to speak on either sport, yet alone put one over the other.
Green unapologetically propped up the skills needed to excel in the NFL over the NBA, saying “I always tell football players, ‘I’m envious of you’ because they [fans] can only really watch and see, ‘Man, such and such ran for X amount of yards. He threw for this amount of yards. … How many passes did he complete?’
“There’s so much going on the football field that people actually shut the f**k up,” Green boldly exclaimed. “They’re not going to talk and analyze the game of football how they try to do the game of basketball. Everybody and they mama think they know the game of basketball.”
Whether it’s the NFL field being nearly four times longer than the NBA court or the 12 extra players in action at a time, Green took all factors into consideration when making his declaration.
NFL stars play a much more physical game, sometimes in adverse weather conditions as opposed to enclosed NBA arenas. This all comes before the many reads that need to be made while going at 100 percent capacity every play.
Green blasted fans because he knows firsthand just how nuanced football is from a strategic standpoint.
He once took the field for two plays during the Michigan State University Green-White spring football game in 2011. After the game, he said that the experience was “not easy” and that though he thought he knew what he was doing, things changed once play began, per mlive.com’s Hugh Bernreuter.
Green felt compelled to put supporters of both sports in their place. It wasn’t the first time and it likely won’t be the last.
The Draymond Green Show - YouTube
