Draymond Green ‘f–ks’ up TNT’s ‘Inside the NBA’: Ryen Russillo

NBA

By Ryan Glasspiegel

Ryen Russillo sees Draymond Green as an interloper on TNT’s popular “Inside the NBA” studio show.

Russillo and Bill Simmons were talking about the NBA playoffs earlier this week on Simmons’ Ringer podcast, when Simmons discussed how much glee other professional basketball players seem to take when Timberwolves big man Rudy Gobert struggles.

“It’s weird to see somebody treated with this much disdain by so many of his peers, [someone] who has won the Defensive Player of the Year four times, and who’s been a really successful regular-season guy, and he’s been in a lot of playoff games,” Simmons said.

“And yet, Draymond, they almost have to hose him down on the TNT set that it’s going this badly for Gobert. Luka [Doncic] can’t hide his disdain. You go through, and it seems like a lot of people just don’t want this guy to succeed.”

The podcast partners then discussed the future of “Inside the NBA,” which has been a hot topic among fans and in the media, before getting back to their problem with Green.

Russillo said that he has a hard time believing the current “Inside the NBA” team of Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith will go away if TNT loses their NBA rights, and that another league partner would presumably come up with the money to keep them together on TV.

Simmons called it the “dumbest discussion of all-time” that everyone is eulogizing “Inside the NBA” and said, “The guys are going to be fine. NBC’s going to hire them, and if not, Amazon’s going to hire them. We’re fine.”

Russillo analogized Green swooping into “Inside the NBA” to like when his former employer ESPN had Todd McShay and Mel Kiper Jr. studying NFL Draft content all year and then a former athlete would parachute in and join them as the draft got closer.

“Back to the original point: I can’t believe they’re putting Draymond on the broadcast during this time,” Russillo said.

“He f–ks it up. He doesn’t understand the difference between being funny and critical and just being f–king mean.”

Eventually, Simmons referenced a tweet from comedian Amir Blumenfeld about how Green on “Inside the NBA” feels like Cousin Oliver, a character who was dropped into the final season of the “Brady Bunch.”