Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green thinks the NBA is targeting him by labeling his leg kicks as "unnatural acts." Two days after his costly flagrant foul in the Warriors' third loss of the season, a 132-127 double-overtime shootout against the Houston Rockets, Green made it clear that he doesn't like the league's crackdown on flailing limbs.

His comments, via the San Jose Mercury News' Anthony Slater:

"I just laugh at it," Green said. "It's funny how you can tell me how I get hit and how my body is supposed to react. I didn't know the league office was that smart when it came to body movements. I'm not sure if they took kinesiology for their positions to tell you how your body is going to react when you get hit in a certain position. Or you go up and you have guys who jump to the ceiling. A lot of these guys that make the rules can't touch the rim, yet they tell you how you're way up there in the air which way you're body (is supposed to go). I don't understand that. That's like me going in there and saying, 'Hey, you did something on your paperwork wrong.' I don't know what your paperwork looks like. But it is what it is. They made the rule. Make your rule. I don't care. But if you're going to say it's an unnatural thing, an unnatural act, no offense to James Harden, but I've never seen nobody up until James started doing it that shoots a layup like this under your arm (sweeps arms in a demonstration). That's really not a natural act either. That's not a natural basketball play either. But, hey, if you're going to make a rule, make a rule. But if you're going to take unnatural acts out the game, then let's lock in on all these unnatural acts and take them out the game. I don't know. Let them keep telling people how their body react I guess. They need to go take a few more kinesiology classes though. Maybe they can take a taping class or functional movement classes. Let me know how the body works because clearly mine don't work the right way."

The full video:

A couple of thoughts:

  • Green has a point. Deciding what movements are "natural" and "unnatural" on the court is an inexact science, and if you slow down the film on each individual play, it's easy to assign intent where there was none.
  • The league has a mandate to protect its players, and Joe Borgia, the senior vice president of referee operations, said in September that officials would be looking out for legs "coming out in different directions at weird times." No player wants to get kicked in the groin or the head, so it's understandable that this has become a point of emphasis. Even though Green's gripe is fair -- if referees are paying more attention to his leg kicks, then they should be better at punishing jump shooters who kick their legs out to draw contract, right? -- this is ultimately a player safety issue. Kicking people, intentionally or not, should be discouraged.