Recently, Damian Lillard went on a protracted diatribe about his championship credentials—or rather, lack thereof—with the Portland Trail Blazers.
He pretty much criticized the ring culture in the NBA where in players are supposedly judged by the number of titles they’ve won. Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green, who himself has no less than four championships to his name, has caught wind of Lillard’s comments, and the former Defensive Player of the Year has decided to clap back.
Green acknowledged all of Lillard’s achievements with the Blazers and how he’s pretty much single-handedly made this team relevant in the past decade or so:
“Dame made some comments of late that I want to touch on,” Green said on a recent episode of his podcast. “Players are judged by if they win a championship or not. Very true. People definitely devalue what you’ve done if you don’t win a championship. Quite frankly, I think in most cases it’s warranted. Ultimately, we play to win. I don’t think that is the only thing, but that is a big part of it. At times, it does suck because I can appreciate Dame for everything that he’s done. I can appreciate Dame for who he is as a player, how incredible he is, and know that.”
Green then turned his attention to the Blazers. The Warriors vet seems to have implied that it’s on Portland as to why Dame hasn’t won anything with the franchise:
“At the end of the day, quite frankly, Dame has not played on a championship team,” Draymond continued. “And it’s no knock to Dame or CJ (McCollum) — those guys were really doing it. But the rest of their roster, that was not a Western Conference Finals roster.”
Green made it abundantly clear, however, that he believes Lillard will be able to firmly establish himself as one of the greatest to ever do it if he actually goes out and wins a title with the Blazers:
“I agree with Dame,” he said. “You go win that championship, it 1,000% stamps everything he’s done.”
Despite his show of support, you can be sure that Draymond Green and the Warriors will be doing everything they can to ensure that Lillard does NOT end up getting that chip — not as long as the Dubs are still alive and kicking.
Source: https://clutchpoints.com
