Dahntay Jones fined, Draymond Green insufferable

If Draymond Green isn't already among the most disliked players among the 29 NBA fan bases outside of the bay area then he will be soon. Or I suppose it's possible that he's not quite as intolerable when playing against other teams and not the Los Angeles Clippers. Come to think of it though, I've seen plenty of other Warriors games, and he's pretty insufferable in all of them.

But let's start by pointing out that Dahntay Jones pulled a pretty bush league stunt Sunday afternoon when he bumped Green during a postgame interview. Jones maintains it was an accident, but the cameras and lights are pretty noticeable, and if your goal is to get to the visitors' locker room, veering close enough to the courtside interview to "accidentally" bump into someone is not very likely. Let's put it this way -- in countless courtside interviews, I've never seen an opposing player in the frame, let alone making contact. Jones knew what he was doing, and the NBA knows he knows, which is why they handed down a $10K fine today.

But Green's reaction was equally bush league.

Why react at all? Why talk to reporters about it? Was it really that big a deal, that he's got to tell everyone how Dahntay Jones doesn't play (as if that's news)?

The irony here is that Green's implication -- that Jones was somehow trying to get Green to react so that both players would be suspended resulting in a disproportionate punishment as Green is so much more valuable -- is (a) completely illogical, since this was the POSTgame interview, and it's pretty difficult to get thrown out of a game in the postgame and (b) EXACTLY what Green himself did, in the role of the scrub, last season against the Clippers.

It was Christmas Night 2013 when Green hit Blake Griffin with a cheap shot off the ball, resulting in technicals for both players when Griffin reacted (very mildly in fact, and the NBA later admitted that he should not have gotten a technical foul). When Andrew Bogut also hit Griffin away from the ball a minute later, Griffin's reaction earned him a second technical foul and an ejection. So when Green talks about the strategic use of a scrub to try to get a star out of a game, I guess he knows what he's talking about, since he has direct experience.

My favorite Green quote on the subject had to be this one: "The postgame interview is the highlight of that segment and you bump somebody." I'm sorry, what? What segment are you talking about? Because the segment would seem to be the postgame interview, and if you're saying that the postgame interview is the highlight of the postgame interview, well, sure, I suppose it is, but I didn't need that explained to me. Or are you saying that the postgame interview is the highlight of the Sunday NBA Showcase, because now I think you're getting a little full of yourself.

Draymond Green has been an incredible find for the Warriors. He's a tremendous defender, a game-changer on that end, and he has the ability to make plays on offense. But his constant preening, chest-pounding and (sometimes literal) tongue-wagging is going to make him plenty of enemies.

Warriors fans naturally love the guy. Clippers fans have plenty of reason to dislike him. Those without a vested interest in Golden State will soon find themselves feeling the same way, if indeed they don't already.