Green’s GOAT take 'stinks': Delly deserves respect!

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Golden State Warriors player Draymond Green has made a classless, lame and cruel attempt to rewrite NBA history by proclaiming LeBron James the greatest of all time because Australian Boomers legend Matthew Dellavedova "stinks".

"(Michael Jordan) wasn’t winning with Matthew Dellavedova," Green claimed on a live stream with Tylil and Kai Cenat.

"Delly stinks. He won two games in the NBA Finals with Delly ...stinks.

"I got a lot of respect for Delly ... stinks. I respect his game ... completely stinks.

"Like, to win with guys like that it's so hard ... it’s so hard to win in this league, bro. To win with guys like that.

"I mean unless they thought that of Steve Kerr. But he wasn’t winning with Matthew. Steve Kerr is probably one of Jordan’s worst teammates that contributed to a championship. Steve Kerr was a damn good NBA player to play 14, 15 years in the NBA. If you look at Steve — even Steve joining the league — for someone that contributed to a championship on the Bulls, yes.

"His path was probably the worst of anyone. Like that’s just facts. The cut from a team. Had to figure his path. Of guys that contributed to the Bulls championship, his path was worse than anyone.

"But I’m saying that’s — that’s all a part of him going to make it happen. Steve’s path was dog shit. He just had to figure it out. Like last cut on the team. Jordan ain’t had them type of teammates. Jordan had made teammates.

"Matthew Dellavedova, bro. Come on man."

Steve Kerr is Draymond Green's coach.

Green, a future NBA Hall of Famer and four-time NBA champion, made his case for James being the greatest of all-time because he won with inferior teammates, when six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan had Hall of Famers Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman — ironically — Luc Longley, Toni Kukoč, Ron Harper, and now disparaged Kerr among others.

Regardless of whether James or Jordan is the GOAT — it's actually Wilt Chamberlain — for Green to disrespect Dellavedova's role in Cleveland's 2016 NBA Championship and 2015 Finals loss against the Warriors ... stinks.

Green's argument is also nonsense. Lebron won his four titles with Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh (Miami), Australian-American Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love (Cleveland), Anthony Davis, Rajon Rondo and freshly minted Hall of Famer Dwight Howard (Los Angeles Lakers). Wade and Bosh are in the Hall of Fame, Irving and Davis will be in the Hall of Fame and Love is a chance, not a first ballot but a chance.

Miami, Cleveland and LA all had role players, too. Cleveland lost to the Warriors in 2015 when Dellavedova had to play massive minutes because Irving was injured in Game 1 and Love was out after injuring his shoulder in the first round. The Cavs lost 4-2 — the two games Green was referring to.

Dellavedova, Olympic Games bronze medallist, came off the bench in 2016 because Irving was healthy, Love played and the Cavs came back from 3-1 down to win 4-3 ... Irving hitting one of the biggest shots in Finals history in Game 7.

It's also a little rich of Green given his four championships are in a VERY LARGE part courtesy of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant not to mention how Lebron feels about the now Sydney Kings point guard in the NBL.

"If there was a bear right here and there was Delly right here and I shot the ball and I was wondering who would get to the ball first, Delly would tear that damn bear up," James told Cleveland fans at the 2016 Championship parade.

"You all saw for the last two years Delly gave us everything.

"He damn near gave his life last year in the Finals when he went to the hospital.

"That's a guy who is dedicated, who never cared about guys saying that 'Delly is not fast enough', 'Delly is not strong enough', 'Delly can't shoot it well enough', 'Delly is not an NBA player'.

"Well guess what? Delly is a champion.

"Thank you Delly."

Perhaps Draymond should tune into what his GOAT thinks about his NBA championship teammate before catching him the crossfire of his justification for LeBron's status as the greatest of all time.

The notion that Dellavedova "stinks" is dumb and ridiculous. He's played in three Olympic Games, nine seasons in the NBA, and was awarded the MVP in the 2025 NBL Grand Final Series despite Melbourne United losing 3-2 to the Illawarra Hawks. Let's not forget Delly gave his MVP award to William "Davo" Hickey while in the throes of despair.

Dellavedova Regular Season Career Statistics

• Games Played (GP): 479
• Minutes per Game (MPG): ~19.4
• Points per Game (PPG): ~5.2
• Rebounds per Game (RPG): ~1.7
• Assists per Game (APG): ~3.5
• Field Goal Percentage (FG%): ~38.5%
• Three-Point Percentage (3P%): ~36.3%
• Free Throw Percentage (FT%): ~83.5%

Perhaps Green should take a leaf out Delly's book instead of, you know, punching then teammate Jordan Poole at practice, paying about USD $2.23 million in fines for more than 170 technical fouls, 19 ejections, and four suspensions.

As the first comment under the video on X states: "Dellavedova didn't deserve to catch a stray here. He was a solid role player that did his job defensively and wasn't a liability to the team. This sound personal."

Dellavedova's place in Australian basketball history is earned, assured and deserved. Green's criticism is not and far from it.

About the Author

Peter Brown is the head coach of the Sydney Comets Women’s Youth League team in the Waratah Basketball League in NSW. He is also the assistant coach for the Comets NBL1 women’s team in the NBL East Conference. Peter is a 30-year journalist, starting as a sports reporter at the NT News in the early 1990s. He played junior basketball for the Northern Territory at national championships from U16 to U20 and for the Territory’s senior men’s team at numerous international tournaments. Peter has been a basketball fan since the early 80s, especially the NBA. Basketball is his passion — and his opinions his own. Email peter.brown@basketball.com.au with feedback. Any email feedback on articles sent to Peter can be published on basketball.com.au for others to read.