Four-time NBA Champion Draymond Green has been notorious for his over-the-top rough play style and loudmouth antics, but nothing has quite matched this level of ridiculousness. Recently on the show "Uninterrupted", a platform famous for bringing in current and past professional athletes and tackling classic sports debates and behind the scenes stories, the Warriors' forward had some choice words when asked who the G.O.A.T. was.
"Michael Jordan didn't beat the greatest team ever assembled, nor did he run up against the greatest team ever assembled every year"
Draymond Green on "Uninterrupted"
Without knowing the source of the quote, it's natural to expect it to be from either a member of that historic 15-16' Warriors team or Lebron James himself, given the phrasing of "greatest team ever assembled," but this is laughable. Much like many members of that Golden State team, Green clings to a regular season record only one game better than a 95-96' Chicago Bulls team led by Michael Jordan. The catch? The Bulls won the Finals that year, a feat the 15-16' Warriors fell short of in record-breaking fashion in arguably the worst collapse in American professional sports history. Third place in regular season history sits the 96-97' Chicago Bulls, who also won the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy following their stellar regular season record.
Greatest Team Ever Assembled
Dissecting Green's take for validity, it's a struggle to find support past the regular season record. While the Warriors did best the 95-96' Chicago Bulls' regular season record of 72 wins, looking at the records of the two dynasties over time tells the true story. Over the Bulls' six championship seasons, they carried a regular season record of 388-104, good for winning 78.9% of their games. In contrast, the Warriors' four championship seasons totaled 245-83, or a 74.7% winning rate. That doesn't count the historic 73-9 campaign, though, because it did not result in a ring; let's give them a free one. Adding in that season, the Warriors dynasty of the Curry era went an impressive 318-92, still only winning 77.6% of their contests. Green's claims are not looking so great.
While the debate could easily be stopped there, let's keep the ball rolling. There's only been one team in NBA history to fumble a 3-1 NBA Finals lead and lose the series; take one guess. The 2015-16' "Greatest team assembled" Golden State Warriors, and that's not their only Finals loss. With a record of 4-2 in the Finals, imagine how close this debate would be if they'd won both of their lost championship appearances and never gone to a game seven in those matchups. That would be unheard of and probably considered the best team ever assembled; oh wait, it's been done! Enter Michael Jordan and the 1990's Chicago Bulls, who went 6-0 with two three-peats and never were forced to a game seven in the NBA Finals.
Doesn't Get Stiffer Than MVP
Draymond Green didn't stop at the most outstanding team-assembled comedic take but continued to say Lebron James has also had the burden of running into the best of the best annually and that he was the best player for virtually his whole career alluding that Jordan was not. Considering 'The Chosen One' is 4-6 in his 10 NBA Finals appearances, it's a stretch to say he combatted the best year in and year out. Since the greatest team ever assembled is no longer the debate, let's turn to see if he had to get past the MVP of the league in each of his Finals. In five of his six Finals losses, he did not have to play against the regular season MVP, nor did he win the regular season MVP. Best of the best, though? Jordan beat the MVP, or the runner-up MVP in years that he won it himself, in five of his six Finals appearances. No need for clarity in Finals wins or losses because with the greatest of all time, there were only championship victories and no defeats to speak of. The one exception was the 1995-96' season when he won the Most Valuable Player award and faced Gary Payton, the Defensive Player of the Year award winner.
The embarrassment for Green doesn't stop there. Jordan has an NBA Finals games winning percentage of 68.6% and a 6-0 championship round record, while James has a winning rate of 40% in those games, with a 4-6 record to boast in his Finals appearances against clearly weaker opponents. As for the "best player in the league by 05', and still, the best player in 20'" claim by Green, although the MVP award does not directly translate to the best player, it's one of the only measurements to measure the top players in the sport annually. "King James" has won the award four times during that 15-year window and come in second place four times. This marks barely over half of the time being among the top two players of a given season. "His Airness" won the award five times during his career and was runner-up MVP another three times. His window of greatness was widely considered during his 13-year Bulls tenure, putting him at an other-worldly rate of 61.5% being top-two in MVP voting. With the emphatic ex-Michigan State Spartan being a Defensive Player of the Year trophy holder, one would think he would appreciate that side of the ball and not leave it out completely from this debate. James only has five First Team All-Defense selections, without a single D.P.O.Y. award in his illustrious trophy case, while Jordan has almost double the First Team All-Defense selections with nine, with a D.P.O.Y. to his name as well. The scales have tipped quite heavily toward one "GOAT."
The shame is that the four-time all-star Warriors power forward has such a platform to make blasphemous statements and have a young and uninformed audience aimlessly follow his word; case closed.
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