His arrival was swift, and his goal was simple: media accountability. From the moment Minnesota Timberwolves point guard, Pat Beverley entered the ESPN studio set in New York City, he donned a visage of the athlete tired of listening to the soapbox jockeys telling him and his ilk about how bad or even how good they are doing.
Beverley challenged every statement made by ESPN flagship analyst Stephen A. Smith. He decided that he alone would take on the crusade of facing the squawkers on their home court, and it was as polarizing as it was entertaining.
Although Beverley took the chance to infuse his negative personal opinions of Chris Paul, he was co-signed by Golden State Warriors defensive dynamo Draymond Green, who added him to the new catchall movement labeled “The New Media.”
Pat Bev went on TV and got off to a bad start with the Cp stuff. I’ve watched him a lot since. He’s extremely knowledgeable and well spoken. Also now speaking like THE NEW MEDIA!!
— Draymond Green (@Money23Green) May 27, 2022
The Patrick Beverley Show
“Pat Bev went on TV and got off to a bad start with the Cp stuff. I’ve watched him a lot since. He’s extremely knowledgeable and well spoken. Also now speaking like THE NEW MEDIA!!”
Beverley reacted to Green’s approval, relishing it live on ESPN. That set off Smith, whom Green seemed to place in a faceoff position.
SAS Defense
“I appreciate Draymond, that’s my brother, I love him dearly he’s as real as it gets, I root for him but when you talk about new media yall need to watch yourselves,” Smith said to Beverley on “First Take.”
“Because let me tell you something, ain’t nobody usurping this brother, not from a basketball standpoint, not from an athletic standpoint; I don’t give a damn what player is out there. There’s skills that come from doing this too.”
Green quickly took to his “The Draymond Green Show” podcast to clarify and open up the ranks for SAS to have a home within his new brigade of commentary.
We Give flowers. The old heads call it soft…
YOURS TRULY,
The New Media— Draymond Green (@Money23Green) May 27, 2022
Draymond Green Offense
“Let me make this clear, Stephen A has a way and who he is that I think is absolutely special in media, I think is incredible. I think Stephen A is an original, I think Stephen A created a lane that not many people can go into, and you have to track carefully going into that lane, because if you don’t succeed in going into that lane, it doesn’t look good.
“When I speak on ‘new media,’ Stephen A, you got some new media in you too now. You not totally like those older guys that don’t know how to give flowers and show love. Stephen A, that’s not you. So when I speak on ‘new media’, you got some new media in you too, my friend, whether you know it or not, you’re halfway us and halfway over there, we accept you Stephen A, we love you, my brother.”
“Shut Up And Play!”
Green internet chin-checked “First Take” contributor Chris “Mad Dog” Russo during the Warriors vs. Grizzlies Playoff series, positioning him as his quintessential example of the old media. Russo went off on Green for flipping fans the bird for their chiding him en route to the locker room after being injured.
“Shut up and play, will you please,” Russo said vehemently during a “First Take” episode. “America’s tired of Draymond Green, and I deal with them constantly. The fans, San Francisco fans, are a different story. Be quiet and play, and we all know he’s got a great skill set for that team, but he’s so polarizing I can’t root for him.”
They don’t understand that he’s speaking of Lebron to show the magnitude that Steph should be mentioned. Not that he’s bigger or better than LeBron. It’s simply saying he’s one of the goats. They can only make one greater than the other. They don’t like them being GOATs!
— Draymond Green (@Money23Green) May 27, 2022
The NBA Clapback Brotherhood
However, Green was not having it.
“He [Russo] goes on TV and he says ‘America is tired of Draymond Green.’ He then proceeds to say ‘shut up and play,'” Green said on his podcast. “I’m not one to really pull a race card very often because I think we all know the role that race plays in a world that we live in, but that definitely had a racist connotation.”
It was then that former NBA shooting guard JJ Redick showed his new media affinity.
“The same sort of connotations that the ‘shut up and dribble’ crowd has towards athletes, and I have a real problem with that,” Redick said. “And specifically with Draymond, the idea that America is tired of him, you do realize that the guy has a very, very popular podcast that he hosts where he talks himself for the majority of the episode, and people listen to that.
“You can’t take away what makes a player great, so there’s no shut up and play.”
The New Media
The advent of technology has unleashed the unfiltered voices of athletes, and whether known as the new media or just the newly unmuzzled, there is a significant shift in the way the narrative is formed.
Newsmakers are now becoming the news narrators, and that is a genie that will never be put back in the bottle.
Draymond Green’s Opus
“Stephen A, the ‘new media’ is here, and the new media is here to stay, my friend, now. When you say going from a player to the number one, I don’t do this sometimes, Stephen. You need to check out ‘The Draymond Green Show,’ it drops twice a week,” Green said on his podcast.
“I don’t just do this sometimes baby, this is real this is here to stay, this is going nowhere, so this is not a sometime thing,” Green added. “I put a lot into this, and I hope you understand that, and if you don’t that’s OK, because you’ll just continue to notice me, baby, you’ll continue to notice me, Stephen A.”
