Draymond Green criticizes Rudy Gobert over emotional response to 2019 All-Star snub: ‘You can’t cry’

Charles Barkley confidently predicted Warriors forward Draymond Green — joining the reserve-announcement show in his new role as a TNT analyst — would make the All-Star game.

But Barkley acknowledged the allure of Green getting snubbed: “That’ll be good TV.”

Alas, Green – deservedly – got selected (though won’t play due to injury). Later in the show, Kenny Smith asked Green a very leading question about who had taken not getting picked as an All-Star the hardest.

In 2019, Jazz center Rudy Gobert cried during his press conference after getting snubbed for the All-Star game. Green mocked him then elaborated, saying – though he’s OK with men crying – he didn’t approve of crying over something as trivial as an All-Star berth and noting Gobert lost intimidation as a rim protector with his public display of vulnerability.

Green yesterday:

One thing I can assure you: If I didn’t make it this year, I wasn’t going to cry. I can 100 percent assure you that.

It has to be Rudy. I mean, the man cried on national television when he didn’t make the All-Star team. Thank god he’s made the next three.

I mean, you can’t cry, Chuck! I said it then. I’m going to say it now. I got killed on Twitter then. I’ll probably get killed today. But you can’t cry.

Cry in the car.

Green is being a jerk. He knows he’s being a jerk.

And that’s sort of the point.

Green doesn’t want to extend unlimited graciousness to Gobert, an opponent. Part of sports is gaining a mental edge. Green delights in getting under Gobert’s skin. Green also fortifies his own image as an unflappable competitor (even if Green actually too often becomes undone in the heat of competition).

Plus, there’s entertainment value in playing (being?) the heel. Green is a TV personality, after all.

You can praise Green’s comments as refreshingly old-school. You can acknowledge them as antiquated. You can criticize them as toxic.

But he’s going to make them.

It’s on Gobert to overcome them. Like it or not. Gobert can’t control what happens to him. He can control how he responds.

To Green, it’s just about overcoming adversity. There’s no sense crying. That just gets in the way.

The error in his thinking: Someone can cry and overcome adversity. It’s possible to show emotion then still work hard and possess strong mental fortitude.

After all, there’s a reason Gobert got named an All-Star yesterday, too.