Warriors’ Draymond Green cut down to size (6-foot-5) under new NBA procedures
In the long history of big-time competitive sports, program heights and weights have always been relative. In a previous century, Bill Walton insisted his program height be 6-foot-11, because “7 feet is where being a freak starts.”
San Francisco 49ers coach Bill Walsh gave orders to list offensive tackle Bubba Paris at 299 pounds even though it seemed clear that Paris tipped the scales north of 300. (Quick aside: Walsh ultimately replaced Paris with Steve Wallace. When asked why, Walsh said, “Steve finishes his blocks. Bubba finishes his plate.”)
Now here comes the Warriors’ Draymond Green, crying foul over the NBA’s new height-and-weight police.
As long as we’ve known Green, he has been — we assumed — 6-foot-7. Though he signed a max contract during the offseason, it appears he will be getting a min program height of 6-foot-5.
This is according to the New York Times which reported a couple of weeks ago that the NBA is endeavoring to get the real skinny (sorry, Bubba) on their athletes’ height (without shoes), weight, even birthdate. The Times reports that a team physician must vouch for the data. The website lastwordonprobasketball.com says Green is bound for 6-foot-5.
Whatever his size, Green has impacted the NBA. He has made the All-Defensive team five times in his seven NBA seasons (including Defensive Player of the Year). It’s a stretch to believe the Warriors would have won three NBA titles without him.
But you try telling that to a guy who just lost two inches of verticality.
If the NBA would just switch to metric system, no one would care
(: via Draymond’s IG story) pic.twitter.com/ejIo2hjo0v
— Let’s Go Warriors (@LetsGoWarriors) October 9, 2019
Interestingly enough, Warriors coach Steve Kerr matter-of-factly revealed Green’s true height in January 2017 to a handful of reporters.
Steve Kerr says Draymond Green is actually only 6' 5" (he's listed at 6' 7") and said he's a less crazy Dennis Rodman pic.twitter.com/PRf1p3UPjE
— Sam Hustis (@SamHustis) January 13, 2017
“He’s a very unique player,” Kerr said then. “He’s about 6-5, really. I don’t know what we list him at, but I talk to him every day and he’s just barely right here,” Kerr said, putting his hand right above his head. “Somehow he’s guarding 7-footers and dominating games.”
The revelation got little traction back then. It’s a bigger deal now. Assuming Green is seriously aggrieved about his revised height, we might refer him to Walton. If the stories are true, he’s got a couple inches that he’d gladly give away.
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