Much of the discussion in the aftermath of Game 2 of the 2022 NBA Finals has revolved around Draymond Green and whether or not he should have gotten ejected for a second technical foul. While the play in question was being reviewed, ESPN’s Steve Javie more or less said that Green was going to get away with a situation where a technical could be assessed because of how a decision that gigantic would impact the game.
Those comments and the general decision have come under criticism, which included Grant Williams expressing his desire that the standard Green got held to is applied to every player. There’s also been some big picture conversation comparing this era of the NBA to that of the 1980s and 1990s, because it is a thing that happened in the league and people, for some reason, cannot stop going back to this well at every opportunity.
Anyway, on Wednesday’s episode of Get Up!, Stephen A. Smith and Mike Greenberg spoke at length about “the softening of the game,” with the pair talking about how low the bar is for officials to assess technical fouls. The whole conversation bothered Redick — particularly the fact that we’re on day three of discussing the Green this — who especially did not like Greenberg bringing up how “the softening of the game, a lot of it comes from the constant complaining to the officials, the constant whining, the constant selling of calls.”
“This nostalgia that you have for the ’80s and ’90s, like, great era of basketball, it’s awesome,” Redick said. “But it’s at the [expense] of our generation of players, and it has been for the last 15 years, and it’s annoying.”
Smith called it “an absolutely joke,” while Greenberg said “those guys didn’t complain on literally every single play when they did or didn’t get a call.” Redick wasn’t buying this, and continued to excoriate them for how they venerate the past.
“The standard that you guys have set, this nostalgia standard that you guys have set for players in the ’80s and ’90s, and then comparing us to it all the time, like we are a substandard to that, it gets annoying,” Redick said. “And a lot of your arguments, like complaining to the officials, that’s the same thing that players did back then. And if you wanna watch Finals games that are 75-72, by all means, have your nostalgic era, please.”
