Today, we take a look at five selections over the years we’d love to have back and five we are proud of.

The high school industry has changed plenty over the years. In the 1970s and 1980s, getting your name in the local paper was the IT thing. In the 1980s, USA Today helped mainstream national team rankings and All-American teams, but the national daily newspaper cut its high school editorial department in Dec. 2019. In the 1990s and 2000s, national magazines were all the rage. Getting on a national cover was hot and something many athletes aspired for such as the cover story of Student Sports Magazine. LeBron James and De La Salle (Calif.) football helped high school sports become something worthy of regular national telecasts, but All-American teams have been constant throughout going back to the 1950s.

Most of the ones produced in recent decades have been recruiting-oriented and many we’ve seen even had players on them that barely played half of their team’s game that season. We’re proud of the fact we take some time to research the players and what they actually accomplished and take some local consensus into consideration. We’re not perfect by any means, and today we decided to take a look back at the five best choices we made with our All-American Elite teams we’ve produced over the years, starting in Student Sports Magazine for the 1994-95 season. Those teams have also been published under the title sponsor of EA SPORTS and under the umbrella of ESPN and Ballislife as well.

Here’s a look at 10 defining moments of choosing our annual All-American Elite Teams.

5 All-American Choices We’d Love To Take Back

1. Mike Bibby Over Kobe Bryant For ’96 Mr. Basketball USA
There is no doubt Mike Bibby is the best high school player from Arizona (in terms of his career) and is probably still the state’s only "rock star" player, but he wasn’t a better talent that Kobe Bryant. Mike Bibby was a Student Sports Magazine cover subject and we had a compelling story to go along with the selection. Still, Bryant had a monster senior season after a terrific summer in 1995, when a plan was hatched to send him straight to the NBA. Sometimes, you have to just pick the best player. It should be noted that the Mr. Basketball USA Tracker began for the 2007-08 season and the voting results may have been different had a 10-man panel voted on it, instead of a group of journalists choosing.

2. Kawhi Leonard On ’09 Third Five
Now we’re cheating a bit here because having Kawhi Leonard on any All-American team in 2009 was a good call. It’s a somewhat famous snub that he didn’t play in the 2009 McDonald’s All-American Game. However, taking a deeper look at that team, Leonard should have been somewhere on the second five. The fact he was behind sophomore Michael Gilchrist of St. Patrick (Elizabeth, N.J.) or seniors John Henson of Sickles (Tampa, Fla.) is not awful, but is certainly not great, either. The 2009 Cal-Hi Sports Mr. Basketball out of King (Riverside, Calif.) averaged 22.6 points, 13.1 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game and led King to its second consecutive CIF Div. I SoCal regional final.

3. Blake Griffin On '07 Third Five
The class of 2007 was star-studded and one of the best of all-time. It certainly wasn’t easy to make All-American that season, but looking back Griffin should have been on second five. He was excellent in the McDonald’s All-American practices and game and it was easy to see he was more explosive and a better player than a few guys with more national notoriety or higher in national player rankings. Was Griffin a better high school player than either second five pick Corey Stokes of St. Benedict's (Newark, N. J.) or Gani Lawal of Norcross (Ga.)? Probably so.

4. Kemba Walker On ’08 Second Five
Willie Warren of North Crowley (Fort Worth, Texas) was a clutch player and state champion in Texas, but it was a close call to put him on first five. Now, we wish we would have went with the two point guard offense on first five with Walker and player of the year Brandon Jennings. At the McDonald's All-American game, Walker didn't take a backseat to any guard, finishing with 13 points, six rebounds and three assists. He didn’t begin playing basketball until 12, but Walker developed into one of the many decorated floor generals to attend now defunct Rice (New York) and went on to an excellent college and NBA career.

5. Jalen Suggs On ’20 Second Five
He moved up from second team All-American (30 players) to the second of four fives (our first team has had a 20-player format since 2004-05). After a career that rivaled any Minnesota player ever, Suggs probably would have been the better first five choice than sophomore Emoni Bates, who had tons of hype that season and was even named Gatorade National Player of the Year. We didn’t think that highly of Bates, but he did have a terrific season, but Suggs was probably better and we should have employed a three guard offense with Mr. Basketball USA Cade Cunningham of Montverde Academy (Fla.) and Jalen Green of Prolific Prep (Napa, Calif.). At the time, Suggs was the highest-rated recruit ever to commit to Gonzaga and was also the nation’s top Grid-Hoop Player who was named the 2019 Minnesota Mr. Football as a signal-caller on the gridiron.

5 All-American Choices We’re Most Proud Of

1. Onyeka Okongwu On Fourth Five As A Junior In ‘18
The Chino Hills (Calif.) big man was terrific as a junior and we’re glad to honor him as a two-time All-American. He really deserved it and it’s still incredible to think he was a major omission from the 2019 McDonald’s All-American Game. He showed how good he was in high school when one year later the two-time California Mr. Basketball was the No. 6 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.

2. Jalen Brunson On Second Five As A Senior In ’15
There is this narrative the Stevenson (Lincolnshire, Ill.) was overlooked in the NBA Draft or that he’s been “slept on” until joining the New York Knicks, but that narrative is from from the truth. This pick actually can fall in both categories, as we wish we placed him on first five. Brunson was that good for his high school team and on the grassroots circuit. Some just don’t know what they are looking at when evaluating if players don’t have the typical quickness or athleticism that stands out.

3. Draymond Green On Fourth Five As A Senior In ’08
This Saginaw (Mich.) big man wasn’t rated anywhere near the Top 20 on the 2008 class. In fact, he was rated No. 122 in the country by Rivals.com, but we could see he was a talented player and more importantly, a winner. Green led the Trojans to a second straight state Class A championship while posting a 27-1 record. He was named Michigan’s Mr. Basketball for his all-around play.

4. Anthony Davis On First Five As A Senior In ‘11
Well, it wasn’t a big evaluation coupe to have A.D. on first five. After all, he was probably the most talented player in the country after being a virtual unknown as a junior. He completely blew up on the travel ball circuit, but the problem was he didn’t have any momentum from previous seasons, Perspectives Charter (Chicago) was a small school playing against relatively meager competition and the team finished 6-18. The Mr. Basketball USA Tracker knew his talent was too much to ignore, as he appeared on eight of 10 ballots, including three second-place votes. His future Kentucky teammate Michael Gilchrist was the Mr. Basketball USA that season.

5. Jalen Duren On First Five As A Junior In ‘21
Montverde Academy (Fla.) lost four starters off its terrific 2020 team, but was still able to repeat as FAB 50 champs mainly behind the play of the nation’s most physically dominant interior player. He opened up the season as the eighth highest vote-getter in the preseason Mr. Basketball USA Tracker, but ended up third behind Chet Holmgren and Jabari Smith in the final analysis. After being named national junior of the year, he re-classed up a year and left to Memphis.

Ronnie Flores is the national Grassroots editor of www.ebooksnet.com. He can be reached at?[email protected]. Don't forget to follow him on Twitter:?@RonMFlores

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Josh and Kwab recap the Kings defeating the Knicks in primetime, the Draymond Green vs Dillon Brooks beef as the Grizzlies make easy work of the Warriors, and what Kevin Durant's injury means for the Suns going forward.

00:00 Start
01:46 Kings vs Knicks
11:05 Are the Sixers contenders?
20:32 Who is the 6th man of the year?
25:55 Grizzlies beat the Warriors; Brooks vs Draymond
36:50 What does KD injury mean for the Suns?

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Apparently, Tristan Thompson didn't appreciate Draymond Green (wearing a t-shirt that trolled LeBron) giving him a shout out during the Warriors championship parade.

"A lot of guys in this league is soft...I told one of them dudes from the Cavs after the game, he tried to shake my hand, I said, 'Tristan, we ain't cut the same.'"

According to Bossip.com, LeBron James and Kevin Durant had to break up a fight between the two at a post-ESPYs party in Los Angeles on July 18th. Here's with some info on the rumored altercation.

Draymond wasn’t lying! He really didn’t shake Tristan’s hand.

(Via @warriorsworld) https://t.co/OtDxImnFZh

— www.ebooksnet.com (@Ballislife) June 12, 2018

I'm not sure I'm buying this story. And here's a tweet from CountOnVic (a must-follow on Twitter) explaining why.

https://twitter.com/CountOnVic/status/1024356695718473729

https://twitter.com/CountOnVic/status/1024363198328262656

As we wait for more details on this developing story or some actual evidence/footage or a response from Draymond (can't wait!), let's revisit some actual footage of the two getting into it during the NBA Finals.

UPDATE (8.1.18)

According to Marcus Thompson of The Athletic, the altercation did happen at the Delilah restaurant in West Hollywood and Thompson "sucker-punched" Draymond!

Phones and cameras were prohibited, which means no footage and we are just going to have to use your imagination. I'm going to imagine Thompson looked like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (that's funny in so many ways) and Draymond was Kent Benson.

“It was a sucker punch,” said one source who attended the party. “But, to be honest, it wasn’t really a punch. It was more like a shove.'”

A shove? Tristan Thompson sucker-shoved Draymond Green?

UPDATE (8.2.18)

Thanks to Momma Green, Draymond finally posted a response (on Instagram) and Cavs fans aren't going to like it.

BONUS VIDEOS

The post Tristan Thompson Reportedly Punched Draymond Green At ESPYs After Party appeared first on www.ebooksnet.com.

If you just look at the boxscore from Game 4 between the Warriors and Rockets, you might think Draymond Green had a decent night: 11 points (shot 50%), team-high 14 rebounds, game-high 8 assists, 2 steals and a block. If you look closer, you will see he turned the ball over a game-high 5 times in the 95-92 loss that saw the Warriors get outscored 25-12 in the fourth quarter. A fourth quarter that saw Draymond blow some easy opportunities.

Before we get to those opportunities, let's go back to the second quarter, when James Harden delivered such a nasty facial on Green it caused Chris Webber to have an on-air orgasm while watching the replays in slow motion. The dunk was two of Harden's 24 first half points and one of his top 3 facials ever (other nominees include Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors, Aron Baynes, and Khloe Kardashian).

The dunk was so nasty, Draymond's awesome mom (a must follow on Twitter) even admitted it.

That was probably his first poster in the NBA where it was that nasty! I don’t recall many at all! However, when you are a defender ISH happens!

— Mary B (@BabersGreen) May 23, 2018

She also said the dunk provided some "late dinner humor."

Back to the fourth with the Warriors up by four with about eight minutes left in regulation, Green tried to throw down a one-hand dunk (over nobody) and missed it! All I could think of while watching replays of the ball getting stuck on the rim was Bill Walton yelling, "Throw it down with two hands big man!" and all my Asian gambling addicts/friends yelling, "He's shaving points!"

Green failed to make a field goal during the Warriors' fourth quarter collapse but did get an opportunity to pull his team within a single point by knocking down two freebies with 37.7 seconds left. He made the first. He missed the second. My drunk Asian gambling friends screamed "He's shaving points!" again.

The Warriors did have a final shot in the final seconds, which ended with Kevin Durant giving up the ball to Klay Thompson, who ended up taking a horrible shot. The internet was screaming, "Why didn't they take a time-out?" And if you look closely at Draymond during the play, he was trying to call one. The refs ignored him because he didn't have the ball in his hands and isn't named Steve Kerr.

After the game, Draymond was pretty calm and didn't sound too concerned about the Rockets tying up the series.

"It was a very fun game to play." Draymond said. "We know we made a lot of mistakes down the stretch of the fourth quarter but we'll be fine."

He also didn't care that his technical in Game 3 was not going to be rescinded.

Speaking of Draymond, the refs and shaving points, here's another great tweet from Draymond's Mom during the game.

Man I swear the REFS have their own agenda! #theymustbetonthegame

— Mary B (@BabersGreen) May 23, 2018

The post Every Angle Of Every Lowlight Of Draymond Green's Rough Night In GM4 appeared first on www.ebooksnet.com.

Me vs all the oversensitive people on Twitter pic.twitter.com/ax36wyBXch

— David Astramskas (@redapples) October 6, 2017

This is my pinned tweet on my personal account. It's a clip from the hilarious and sometimes controversial TV show Family Guy. In it, two of the characters reenact the awesome church shootout scene from the first Kingsman movie after they are confronted by the "sensitivity mob" about an "insensitive tweet (in a post joke world)" their dog made. My caption is "Me vs all the oversensitive people on Twitter."

Obviously, I don't really want to shove a piece of glass in the face of trolls hiding their face behind a screen and a keyboard. It's just me saying, in general, people on social media are way too sensitive and extreme. Joking or not, if you do or say something that someone else disagrees with, you will probably get a ton of replies from people calling you a "hater" or hoping you die and burn in hell. Sometimes those people mean it and other times they are just trying to get a reaction. Either way, it's ridiculous.

With that said, sometimes a "joke" can go too far.

On Sunday, a comedian named Andew Polk took Charles Barkley's "I hope someone punches Draymond Green in the face" comment to a new level by tweeting, "I hope Draymond Green gets shot in the face as soon as he leaves the arena, which looking at the city-wide stats, is like 37%."

After the game, Green was asked about the knucklehead's tweet.

"If he feels the need to do something like that about basketball, then I feel bad for him," Green said. "It's kind of sad that someone would take this that serious. When you're talking, at the end of the day, what's a game. Making death threats, talking about life. I just pray that he gets the help that he needs."

"I personally, No. 1, don't worry about it. No. 2, don't care that much about it, and I care a lot about basketball. ... Being that we're in it every day, we're literally blood, sweat and tears in this every day and it don't matter that much to me, it shouldn't matter that much to him either."

Before having his account deactivated, Polk tweeted this apology: "Draymond, I tweeted a very dumb thing meant to be an edgy joke. As a frustrated basketball fan, I go through ups and downs, and as a comedian, I don't always express those in a digestible way. I wish no harm to anyone over a simple game, and I apologize sincerely."

Green replied to the apology by saying, "and you could've saved your wasted time on that apology."

Teammate David West replied to the apology with a couple of words we all wanted to say to Polk: "MAN FUCK U."

BONUS VIDEO

If you want to hear a funny comedian joke about Draymond Green, here's a clip from Equanimity by Dave Chappelle, who said in the same special: “It’s too hard to entertain a country whose ears are so brittle. Motherfuckers are so sensitive; the whole country has turned to bitch ass niggas.”

Source: NY Daily News

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Draymond Green in Game 2 vs the Pelicans reminded everyone why they love and/or hate him so much.

His fans will point out how he flirted with another triple-double (20 points, 12 assists and 9 rebounds) and is averaging 13.3 points, 11.4 rebounds and 9.0 assists in the playoffs. They will also point out the energy he brought to the game and how it pumps up his teammates and gets under the skin of opponents.

His critics will point out his trash-talking, stare-downs and ability to get into situations that had Charles Barkley saying, "I just want somebody to punch him in the face" during halftime of the game. One of those situations was a modern day NBA "altercation" with him and Rajon Rondo yapping in each other's faces. The other was him and Anthony Davis recreating Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone's wrestling incident from Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals.

After the win, Green was asked (of course he was) about Barkley's comments.

"A lot of guys talk on TV," Green said. "Stand behind the microphone on the TV screen. Fact of the matter is, if you feel that strongly about something, he's even seen me a million times, then punch me in my face when you see me. If you're not going to punch me in my face when you see me, then shut up. It's no different than somebody sitting behind a computer screen, tweeting, 'I'll knock you out,' and you never see him in life.

"He's seen me a bunch of times. Punch me in the face when you see me, or if not, no one cares what you would have done. You're old and it is what it is. You ain't going to punch me when you see me, then stop talking about it, period."

He continued to talk about Barkley with Tim Kawakami of The Athletic.

Via ESPN

"I think it's pretty sad," Green said. "It's probably something that needs to ... when you look at the president of TNT, David Levy, which I know well, it's kind of embarrassing on their behalf ... I'm an employee of the NBA, he's an employee of TNT. And you have your biggest sponsor, one of the faces of that company, saying that on national television. That's embarrassing for them. So that's something -- a problem that they have."

Green's Mom even took to twitter to throw in her two cents.

Charles Barkley, I wish you would...you think Shaq had you RUNNING! #MANGONE

I'm sure we will be getting a response from Charles Barkley during the next TNT game and wouldn't be surprised to hear a few words from Kevin Durant, who isn't a big fan of Barkley's criticism of current players.

Via The Bill Simmons Podcast

"This is a fraternity, man. We're brothers. We're in a minority of the world as far as NBA players. We're supposed to take care of each other. You can't throw your brothers under the bus on TV like that. Your generation is the reason why we picked up a basketball.

"I understand the criticism, but at the same time, you got to know what we're going through and how that makes us feel because everyone's doing that. And to hear it from an ex player, and then like Barkley, he's not just a player. He's elite. He's the top of the top. For him to say that, that's a big deal."

UPDATE: As expected, Barkley was asked about the comments made by Draymond and his Mom. Not expected, Barkley apologized.

Via USA Today

“I’m going to apologize to Draymond tonight,” said Barkley, who made the comments during the halftime show of Game 2 between the Warriors and New Orleans in the Western Conference semifinals. “You know listen, I like Draymond. I like Draymond a lot, actually, but I shouldn’t have said that. He’s annoying, but I shouldn’t have said that. So I’m going to apologize to Draymond tonight.

“I’m going to apologize to Draymond and his Mom, because his Mom (Mary Babers-Green) said some stuff on Twitter today I heard about,” Barkley said. “She said, ‘Oh Barkley, I dare you…’

“Listen, I don’t get offended by anything. My job is not to become part of the story, and I did, and I was wrong for that.”

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The word "heated" gets thrown around way too much in basketball games. But Saturday night's game between the Warriors and Thunder was as heated as a game could get without featuring a fight -- a very rare sight in today's NBA. We had Westbrook pushing Nick Young after a celebration. We had Zaza living up to his dirty rep by falling on Westbrook's legs. And we had a couple of Melo not being so melo moments.

The first of these melo moments came in the second quarter, when he and Kevin Durant got in each others faces and exchanged some sweet nothings after the two got tangled up. Each was hit with a technical foul, which gives Durant his 12th of the season. The only player in the NBA with more techs than KD is his teammate Draymond Green (15).

Speaking of Draymond,?Melo lost his cool in the third quarter after getting fouled and slapped in the head by the league leader in techs. Melo threw his headband to the floor and tried to have some words with Draymond, who gave him that look he gave Fergie at All-Star weekend and then clapped his hands in the air after Melo missed his first free throw attempt.

Melo finished the game with just 14 points on 6-of-17 shooting as the Thunder lost by 32.

After the game, KD said he hopes his latest tech is rescinded.

"It's unfortunate because I'm sure everybody is going to say I'm trying to act tough when he pushed me and they gave me a tech."

As for Draymond, he could not care less about the techs.

"I got kids. I'm worried about how they going to grow up. I'm not going to worry about a technical foul."

BONUS: WESTBROOK PUSHES NICK YOUNG

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You've heard the saying, "never say never." Near the end of the third quarter of Monday's beatdown on the Mavs, Defensive Player of the Year Draymond Green fouled high-flying rookie Dennis Smith Jr on a dunk attempt and told him he will "NEVER" end up on one of Smith's posters. The moment reminded me of the first time Dikembe Mutombo blocked a young Shaq and gave him the finger wag. I'm not sure if there's an official count on how many times Deke ended up getting dunked on by the Diesel throughout his career but I know the four-time Defensive Player of the Year took more facials than Allie Haze.

After the game, a smiling Green was asked about the dunk attempt and said, "That shit ain't happening. This ain't summer league bro. Not just gonna dunk on nobody. Better luck next time" before reiterating it's NEVER going to happen (because we have only seen Green end up on a bunch of poster made by a bunch of guys -- like Steven Adams -- with much smaller verts than Smith).

When told of Green's comments, the 48-inch vert possessor had the following to say:

Via Tim Cato

Smith on Draymond talking shit after a foul

"I don't know what he was talking about. You can't say nothing if you foul me.

Did you talk shit back to show you wouldn't back down?

Yeah, but i'm not doing it just to let people know that I'm not backing down. I just don't back down for nobody. That's just how I am. All that extra stuff, I don't really dabble in that. I do what I have to do. I handle my business. That's about it. I just myself accordingly.

Do you feel like he was trying to test you?

Like I said, I don't know what he was trying to do. I was laughing. It was funny. That's probably a question for him. I don't know what he was aiming for.

Do you think guys are targeting you because you have a reputation as dunker?

Nah. I mean, ain't nobody really meeting me atthe rim and blocking me. They'll probably meet me under the rim trying to shoot a quick layup or something, but other than that, ain't nobody meeting me at the rim yet. I'm sure it'll happen soon. That's just the nature of the game. But so far ain't nobody been making that a priority.

That's the Smith we love and have been recording since his "wood-slinging" high school days.

Obviously I can't say Green will ever end up getting dunked on by Smith but I'm willing to bet my Draymond Green autograph (and almost any other card I own) if the two meet in the air again, and Green doesn't end up fouling, Green's going to end up on a poster I'm going to ask Smith to sign.

BONUS VIDEOS

The post Dennis Smith Jr Responds To Draymond Green's "That $hit (Dunking On Me) Ain't Happening" Message appeared first on www.ebooksnet.com.

Draymond Green went a couple of rounds with Conor McGregor this past weekend and took an L. Lucky for Green, those rounds were on social media and the exchanged jabs were just verbal ones.

It all started last week when a video showing McGregor wearing a #23 Warriors jersey was released.  I thought it was a Jason Richardson throwback and Draymond Green thought it was his jersey. And since Draymond is on Team Floyd Mayweather, he posted a pic of McGregor wearing the jersey along with a not-so-nice message telling him to take it off.

The following graphic shows the message along with McGregor and Green's replies to each other.

If you don't know why he's rocking a CJ Watson jersey, it's because back in 2012, Mayweather was sentenced to 90 days in jail for physically assaulting the mother of his three children, Josie Harris, when he suspected she was sleeping with the former Warriors guard.

I'm assuming Green will stay silent after the last reply and avoid a TKO. But if Mayweather wins, I'm sure you will see Green trying to kick (no pun intended) McGregor while he's down.

Speaking of Watson and fights, this is a good time for me to bring up the time he and Nate Robinson got into it and the time LeBron almost knocked him out with a screen.

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Like any host of any award show, Drake had some jokes that hit and some that flopped. One of them that got laughs from the audience of the first annual NBA Awards show was when he said, "Draymond Green stopped kicking people in the groin and moved on to something much worse, his own podcast. It's a tough listen. It's a tough listen."

If you aren't aware of the podcast, it's called "Dray Day" and features Green and Bay Area news group columnist Marcus Thompson II.

After a shot of Green shaking his head and a long pause, Drake took a shot at LeBron with a joke about him going bald.

“LeBron James recently went bald and social media went...Oh sorry, this is a joke from 2007.”

Green looked much happier (and pretty ridiculous in a suit with shorts) when he later accepted the award for Defensive Player Of The Year.

Speaking of pants and getting roasted, here's a video from earlier in the season of Green roasting Drake for wearing "small pants."

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Before we get into all of the tweets and trash talking from a liquored-up sounding Draymond Green during the Warriors championship parade and a hyped-up, bald LeBron in the gym, I have to remind people the two are friends. Green also has appeared on a few projects for LeBron's Uninterrupted network including a must-see 30-minute video called "The Shop" and his "Dray Day" podcast is under the Uninterrupted umbrella.

The post Recap Of Draymond & LeBron's Petty & Hilarious Day of Trash-Talking appeared first on www.ebooksnet.com.

On Monday night, Draymond Green played 44 minutes in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. Later that night and into the early hours of Tuesday morning, Draymond was playing the role of Too Short's hype man and poppin' bottles at a NBA Finals after-party. Most players probably would have spent the following day laying in bed, sleeping or laying in bed for other reasons. By noon, Draymond was back in the gym and working out -- with the championship trophy in sight.

If that doesn't motivate you, then maybe the story of an overweight college player who was drafted late in the second round becoming a two-time All-Star and NBA champion would.

This was Draymond in College...

As a fairly unknown rookie with the Warriors, Draymond's weight peaked around 248 pounds. After cleaning up his diet (no more tacos) and incorporating more cardio (riding a bikes in a sauna) into his workout, he was able to shed 20 pounds going into his second season. In an article by ESPN, Draymond claims the weight loss has alleviated chronic knee pain, improved his stamina and enabled him to cut down on mental errors.

Not satisfied with his leaner body and a resume that now included All-NBA Second Team, All-Defensive First Team and NBA Champion, Draymond hired a chef and nutritionist before this season

“This year was the first time that I hired an actual nutritionist, it’s been amazing,” Green says?during an Uniterrupted video about his healthy lifestyle. “I hired a chef, and he’s been incredible. I feel like that’s completely taken me to a different level.

“All that stuff makes a difference. Until having them this year, I didn’t notice how bad I felt years prior to this. Body starts to change, starts to feel better. It’s like, man I never knew I was feeling that shitty. I tend to think, ‘Ah man, if I do everything right on game day I’ll be fine.’ But the day before, we’re playing basketball, we’re running up and down a basketball court. Performance is important. Some jobs you can completely bullshit the day before and you’ll be just fine when yo go to work tomorrow. It ain’t always the case with what our job is.”

In honor of Draymond losing weight, not getting suspended in the NBA Finals and not losing to the Cavs again, here's a couple of videos of my pick for 2017 NBA Defensive Player of the Year during his early NBA days, including a video of then teammate and current Cleveland Cavalier Richard Jefferson messing with him, as a rookie, about "longevity in the NBA."

If RJ only knew.

The post Draymond Green Hits The Gym A Day After Winning A Championship | Draymond's Body Transformation appeared first on www.ebooksnet.com.

It's been over 24 hours since Game 4 of the NBA Finals and we still can't get over some of the unbelievable plays by the players and unbelievably awful calls by the refs.

The officiating was so questionable, Draymond Green's mom accused the league of being rigged on Twitter and his coach just replied, "Nice try" when asked about it. Speaking of Draymond and Steve Kerr, they were at the center of the most chaotic and controversial moment of the game, when the refs gave a second tech to Draymond, realized they messed up and didn't want to eject him, then tried to say the first tech given to him was really for Steve Kerr. Drake's favorite sideline reporter, Doris Burke, called the refs on that BS.

Besides failing to eject Draymond, they failed to eject Zaza Pachulia for a low blow to Iman Shumpert but did successfully eject a fan/friend of LeBron for "talking crazy" to Zaza Pachulia.

As we wait another 24 hours until Game 5, let's look back at all of the worst calls against BOTH teams from one of the most frustrating and entertaining NBA Finals games of all-time.

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During All-Star weekend in New Orleans, ESPN brought LeBron James, Draymond Green, 2 Chainz, Charles Oakley, Steve Stout, Maverick Carter and a few other special guests together at Aidan Gill For Men barbershop for a fresh cut and to talk hoops, football, music, the Olympics and more.

One of the highlights comes early on when LeBron explains why you never want to tell yourself you are tired in a game and Draymond pretends he doesn't remember when he almost got posterized by LeBron at the end of Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals.

I'm not going to say much else because this is a must-see video that's more than worth 30 minutes of your time.

LEBRON'S DUNK ATTEMPT ON DRAYMOND (1:49 MARK)

But he did throw this down earlier this season.

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After blowing most of their 24-point second half lead against the Grizzlies, the Warriors had a chance with 37 seconds left in regulation to push their lead back to four or five. Curry, who finished with a game-high 40 points, gave up the ball to a ball-calling Kevin Durant, which caused Draymond Green to visibly flip out. After a 3-point miss by Durant, Green shook his head on his way to the bench, then yelled at Durant for a few seconds before exchanging a high-five. Mike Conley then forced OT with a 17-foot jumper and the Grizzlies outscored the Warriors 17-8 in the extra session.

"I'm actually happy we lost today because there are some things that we need to correct, in order to win a championship. That's our goal, so winning every regular season game really don't matter. " Said Green after the game. "I'm kind of thrilled that we lost."

Green went on to talk about how atrocious the Warriors' offense has been in the fourth quarter of a lot of recent games and how people only talk about the ones that end in losses.

Kevin Durant also talked about the final play in the fourth and said Green was upset because he thought the Warriors should have stuck with the pick and roll and did not single out the 3-point miss.

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After DeMarcus Cousins roasted Draymond Green over his "hacked d**k shot," Cousins had some fun mocking Green's jump shot. But not before Paul George had some fun telling Boogie how he "hates" the way Cousins shoots the ball.

Klay Thompson also joined the fun as the three USA players made fun of each other's shooting form and then played a game of Bank aka Graduation aka Jackpot aka Stacks aka 7 Up.

Say what you want about Boogie's shooting form but he can shoot and I'm not just saying for centers.

Shout out to Baller Visions for capturing the roast and I'm sorry a bunch of copycats on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube are going to download your videos today, re-upload them and not give you any credit. Welcome to the club!

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"Draymond does this remind you of anything?"?

When a celebrity says their social media account has been "hacked," there's a 99.9% chance they are lying and only posted the excuse out of panic and/or to buy some time. So when Draymond Green tweeted "Hacked...Can't win right now" early Sunday morning, in response to him accidentally publishing a penis pic to his Snaphchat story, we all just shook our head and laughed because we knew the active Snaphchat expert was lying.

Hours later, Green, who continues to have his summer dominated by penis stories, told the truth to reporters at the Team USA practice and gave one impressive sounding apology.

VIA ESPN

"There's so many things going on in my world for me to sit and complain [that] I can't catch a break," Green said.

"For me to sit here [and say] I can't catch a break [for getting] suspended for a game in the Finals or I can't catch a break for this situation, I'm living my dreams, I'm playing in the Olympics.

"To say I can't catch a break, I think that's disrespectful for everybody. How many people get to live their dreams? I'm not going to sit here and throw myself a pity party and say I can't catch a break. I'm fine. I get to joke around with these guys all day and get to do what I love for my country. I'm fine. I'm fine."

"I didn't get a call [about the Snapchat post]. I figured it out pretty quick," he said. "In this world, quick ain't quick enough. Once it's out, it's out. I thought I reacted pretty quick. I saw those screen shots and quick ain't quick enough in this world."

"This is what I asked for, though," Green said. "I asked to be in this position; I worked to be in this position, and it comes with the territory.

"I truly believe we all go through points in our life that help propel us to the next level. I'm at the stage right now where all this stuff will help propel me to the next level as a basketball player, but more importantly as a man. I don't live my life with regrets. I apologize for the situation. It's clearly not what I was trying to do. At the end of the day you have certain situations in your life that just help push you forward, and you have to use them the right way."

You couldn't ask for a better apology than that. Green admitted his mistake, how lucky he is to be in the position he's in, understands the attention that comes with having that position and hopes to do and be better from his mistakes.

And you couldn't ask for a better response from the USA Basketball twitter account either...

Clean! #USABMNT pic.twitter.com/XyQNrAcpRw

— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) July 31, 2016

Or a funnier video than this one by B/R...

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Former NBA league official Tim Donaghy has 13 years of experience of officiating NBA games. A total of 772 regular season games and 20 playoff games before being let go due to his involvement in a gambling scheme back in '07 which required the league to take action & force him out of his position.

With that type of experience & years of officiating games, I'd take Donaghy's word that the NBA works indirectly with teams to better their chances when trailing in a best of 7 series. Why, you may ask? Because he actually worked with the NBA as an official referee & I didn't... nor will I ever, simple as that. In the video above, Donaghy makes a valid point that when the Warriors were trailing the Thunder in the WCF, the league did not suspend Green for his unintentional tae kwon shit kick to Adams' boys below the belt.  Was the decision not to suspend Draymond made to increase the Warriors' chances at making a comeback in the series?  And to add another remarkable chapter to their already historic season?  Maybe.  And when Draymond "swung" at LeBron's sweet gems after LeBron attempted to step over Dray (which was a punk move by LeBron, you're not Iverson) they decided to suspend Green for game 5 which of course resulted in a Warriors loss.  That right there definitely increased the Cavs' chance at winning the title & prolonged the series. Regardless this will result with either the Warriors taking home the trophy on the Cavs' home court (again) or my absolute favorite thing in sports... Game 7.

What're your thoughts? Do you think the NBA is working indirectly with teams to prolong series' to "assist" teams that are trailing in a post season matchup? Or is the league just doing the best they can at making the right call? Sound off in the comment section below.

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You can add Draymond Green to the Don't Touch My Head Club which was founded by Chris Paul. Green joined the club on Friday night after a post-game altercation with the Bucks OJ Mayo.

It all started when Mayo confronted Green about some comments he made about Michael Carter-Williams to the media earlier in the week.

"I told [Green] he's a heck of a player, but at the end of the day, that's my teammate," Mayo said. "Just respect my teammate as well as we respect you guys, and some things you shouldn't say in the media. Show your class, you know."

"You talk about one guy's class, and then you go the same route. Not a class act."

When Mayo put his hand on Green's head, Green pushed his arm away which led to Kris Middleton pushing Green in the back. The players were quickly separated to make sure the post-game drama didn't escalate.

"I'm not really into talking about what guys say. What you think he said he may not have said or he may have said," said Green, who flirted with a triple double of  21/9/8. "Just, ain't no man going to touch my head. I'm a grown man. That's all I've got for you."

"Once again, I'm not going to go into what he said, what you think he may have said, he may have said or may not have said, but no man is going to touch my head. Point blank."

Green also let the media know why he wasn't satisfied with revenge on the Bucks.

"I'm not satisfied because I thought we should have been better," Green said. "We're a long way past trying to beat the Milwaukee Bucks in December. We're trying to compete for a championship."

Source: ESPN 

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Steph Curry is so good he doesn't even need a teammate to throw the ball to him on an inbounds play; all he needs is a body standing out of bounds.

During the Warriors win over Wilt Drummond and the Pistons on Monday night, Curry tossed the ball off of an oblivious Draymond Green, who was complaining to a ref, who?seemed?as confused as I was?after the inbound play. ?Curry even seemed confused and while waiting to see if the ref was going to make a call since the ball hit the line, he also ended up getting away with a travel or palming violation. Of course, a whistle wasn't blown because the ref was too busy trying to figure out what just happened or just doing his best to ignore everything since Green was yapping at him.

Oh well, Warriors wins despite only 6 points from Green and "only" 22 points from the Chef.

Source: Deadspin?| Photos:?(AP Photo/Ben Margot)

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