After Team USA Wins Gold, Draymond Green Starts To Settle Some Scores

One of the enduring memories of the great 1990-91 UNLV run was the motto the Runnin’ Rebels used: It ain’t the winning, it’s the collecting.

It was borrowed from the thugs and mobsters who enforced collections for the mob and the basic idea is pretty obvious.

Draymond Green leaned into that a bit after the US defeated France for gold Friday night, calling out media critics of Team USA and ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins in particular.

Green said this:

“You turn on American sports talk TV, and you got guys like Kendrick Perkins, you know, doubting us. Somebody needs to teach these people some loyalty. How about you cheer for your country? But then when guys don’t play, ‘Oh, you need to go represent the country.’ And then you lose, hit a little bump in the road. And everybody’s, ‘Oh, everybody’s caught America.’ You are an American, too. Act like it.”

He continued: “Do your job. You know, I do some media stuff. I understand doing your job. But, when you talk about a special group, you better be sure you’re right. And a lot of people got it wrong. And trust me, I’ll be posting those guys. I’ll be posting everybody I found who said something. No one holds people accountable anymore, but I will.”

Well it’s hard to argue. He did the winning and if he wants to do some collecting afterwards, he’s earned the right.