Earlier this month, a San Jose Mercury-News profile of Draymond Green reported that the Warriors’ forward could name all 34 players picked before him the 2012 NBA Draft. This did not seem at all out of character for the guy with perhaps the biggest chip on his shoulder in the whole NBA but still, seeing is believing, and it was hard not to wish there was some video evidence of the feat.
Well ESPN came through, getting Green to list everyone ahead of him, on camera.
Green did mess up slightly — the Celtics actually took Jared Sullinger before Fab Melo and not vice versa — but we can forgive that slip-up since they both went to the same team.
Green stumbles a few times, almost forgetting Austin Rivers’ name, blanking on Evan Fournier for a second and taking a while to come up with Jared Cunningham. Really, it’s pretty insulting to those guys that they’re so forgettable Green can’t come up with their names. Dray doesn’t even hesitate on Tomas Satoransky, who never even played in the NBA.
Of those 34 guys picked ahead of Green, how many have turned out to be better so far? Zero. How many would you rather build a team around? Probably only one, Anthony Davis. There are certainly some teams that wouldn’t mind having their picks back and taking another crack at Green.
