Draymond Green isn't one to filter his words and thoughts, no matter how others may perceive them. It's one of his best traits on the court, part of his competitive mentality that fuels his defensive communication and energy while also getting under opponents' skin.

In the media, though, he has a tendency to say some things that can create some shockwaves, especially on his podcast, The Draymond Green Show. On Wednesday, it was no different, as Green discussed his belief that Steve Kerr "hindered" his career on the offensive end.

This was, of course, met with mixed reactions from all over the Internet, considering the typical amount of respect and admiration the two have for each other and the fact that Green hasn't exactly shown major flashes of offensive dominance throughout his career.

On Thursday, ESPN's First Take show gave its opinion on Green's criticism. In particular, Stephen A. Smith went off on Green and laid out the harsh truth.

"Respectfully to Draymond Green, you are not accepting responsibility for what you didn't do ... Repeatedly throughout the years, there has never been any evidence that he worked to improve his jump shot. Regardless of what was transpiring schematically with Steve Kerr, we cannot count the number of times that defenses have sat back and dared Draymond Green to shoot open jump shots and he did not convert. That is not the coach. That is you. And that's my only disagreement with him. I understand that, schematically, if Steve Kerr could have and maybe had he focused a little more on Draymond Green opportunities, Draymond Green might have been a little bit better. But I am not about to sit here and blame a coach for you as a player having one opportunity after another, spanning years, to improve your jump shooting ability, and it never happened. That is my issue."

"The eye test showed us that on many, many occasions, regardless of what he said, he had ample opportunity to have better numbers offensively if he simply could make open shots from the perimeter. And he didn't do it, repeatedly. That's not the coach. That's you."

It's a stark reality that largely undermines Green's criticism, and realistically, it's mostly true.

Unfortunately for Green, his stats over the years largely support Smith's argument.

Across his 14-year NBA career, Green has only shot above 34% from beyond the arc in two seasons: 2015-16, when he shot 38.8% on 3.2 attempts per game, and 2023-24, when he shot 39.5% on 2.3 attempts per game.

As Smith said, Green has often been left open to take many of these three-point attempts, especially in more recent years when his athleticism and ability to attack the rim continued to decline, so to be a 32.1% three-point shooter in his career is simply not good enough to warrant the confidence that Kerr's play calling is what truly hindered his offensive potential.

This whole thing can be chalked up to discussion just for discussion's sake, as Green's criticism didn't change his view of Kerr anyway, but he may want to rethink his stance on it either way.