Why Draymond Green Is Quickly Becoming One of NBA's Most Prized Possessions
LOS ANGELES — If you look closely at Draymond Green for long enough, you can make out much of what's come to define basketball in the state of Michigan for the better part of the last four decades.
He's loquacious, equal parts affable like fellow Michigan State Spartan Magic Johnson and brash like the Detroit Pistons of old (i.e. the Bad Boys) and not quite as old (i.e. the mid-2000s vintage). That willingness to exercise his vocal cords has long made the 25-year-old Green a natural leader, even on a team as loaded with veteran voices as this year's Golden State Warriors.
"I think he understands how important communicating is," Warriors wing Andre Iguodala, an All-Defensive performer in his own right, told Bleacher Report. "He’s big on just communicating and being vocal on the defensive end. That helps out all the time."
Green's a versatile, hybrid forward, the latest in a long line—from Steve Smith to Jalen Rose to Shane Battier—to follow Magic's example in Michigan. Green can do a little bit of everything offensively, from initiating the offense and setting solid screens to finding his teammates in the nick of time and knocking down perimeter jumpers.
But his all-around talents truly show through on the defensive end, where bruisers like Dennis Rodman, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year for the Pistons, and Ben Wallace, a four-time winner of that same honor, made their bones in the Motor City.
"He reminds me a little bit of Dennis Rodman because he’s so strong," said Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who played with Rodman during the Chicago Bulls' second three-peat of the Michael Jordan era. "He can guard low-post men and perimeter guys. That’s what makes him unique."
| PNR Ball-Handler | 0.65 | 34.3% | 82nd |
| Post-Up | 0.75 | 42.2% | 74th |
| Isolation | 0.57 | 24.4% | 92nd |
| Spot-Up | 0.77 | 31.5% | 91st |
He's tough, playing with a blue-collar attitude that speaks to his roots in Saginaw. Like so many cities and towns that dot the Midwest's Rust Belt, Saginaw was once a proud industrial town that fell into disrepair amid rising crime and declining population as manufacturing jobs moved overseas during the latter portions of the last century.
But Saginaw is rebounding, slowly but surely, with clean energy as the latest industrial focus of Green's old stomping grounds. He, too, has infused the Warriors with an energy the franchise has rarely seen throughout its sporadically successful history.
Above all, he's a winner. If they could talk like Green, his two state titles at Saginaw High, two Final Fours at Michigan State and now three trips to the playoffs with Golden State would say as much.
This season, Green has put it all together, and then some. Once a Swiss army knife off the bench under Mark Jackson, Green is now the invaluable glue that holds Golden State's superb starting five together.
All those qualities that make him a model Michigander on and off the court have put him in position to be named the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year—the shortest one since Metta World Peace won it as Ron Artest in 2004 (both are 6'7")—and propel the Warriors to heights they haven't enjoyed in at least 40 years, if ever.
Statistically speaking, Green's DPOY candidacy is well-deserved. According to NBA.com, he's depressed his opponents' shooting accuracy by an average of 7.4 percentage points overall, with similar impressive marks from every spot on the floor. He ranks among the league leaders in a number of all-encompassing metrics on that end, including defensive real plus-minus (third) and defensive win shares (first).
All told, Green is (arguably) the best and most impactful defender on a team that's led the league in defensive efficiency for the vast majority of 2014-15. Per NBA.com, the Warriors defense is stingier by 7.1 points per 100 possessions when Green is on the court than when he's not—the largest such disparity on the roster.
Beyond the numbers, though, what sets Green apart from his peers—not just the NBA's top defenders or his own teammates, but just about everyone in the Association—is his ability to check every position, from quick point guards to hulking centers.
"He’s as versatile a defender as I think there is in the entire league right now," said Kerr. "And it’s a time in the league where you have to guard multiple spots, so that’s why he’s so important to us."
Green's ability to do so has afforded his teammates the freedom to switch assignments with relative ease and, in turn, made Golden State's defense not only the NBA's best, but perhaps a new model to be emulated going forward.
Guarding players of all shapes, sizes and skill sets may be the order of the day in the NBA, but that doesn't make doing it—and, in Green's case, doing it well—any easier. There's a lot that goes into it.
"You’ve got to have the mental aspect of it," said Iguodala. "You’ve got to have the confidence in yourself to say to yourself, 'You’ve got to work hard on every part of your game.' You know you put that work in, getting your foot speed right, getting your strength right and your legs right, having your stamina right and your conditioning right."
At first glance, Green wouldn't appear to be the sort who has all those ducks in a row. At 6'7" and 230 pounds, he's not exactly svelte like a young Rodman. Nor is his frame maxed out with musculature, like Wallace's was in his prime.
By Green's own admission, he hasn't always been in the best of shape. His portliness contributed to the doubts that so many had about him and his NBA ambitions during his high school days.
"I’ll be real about it: I was fat. I was out of shape," Green told Triangle Offense's Aggrey Sam last May. "I had some skill, but it was like, ‘Man, this dude is undersized. He’s too big.’ Obviously you didn’t know I could move like I move now with all the weight on me, so it was like, 'He’s too slow.’ I mean, I understand."
It wasn't until his freshman year at Michigan State that Green, who went from scantly used during the regular season to a key contributor in the 2009 NCAA tournament, found the on-court courage that seems to come so naturally to him today. As he recounted in The Players' Tribune:
"My moment — when I realized the pressure was never too great and I could keep up with the best in the game — came in that Elite Eight win over Louisville. Everything I’ve done since comes from the confidence I built during that run. We may have lost in the end, but that’s when I knew I had it in me to be great.
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Still, even three years later, there were serious doubts among scouts and front-office types about Green's defensive ability, wrote ESPN's Ethan Sherwood Strauss:
"Draftniks and teams didn't quite know what to make of a guy standing 6-foot-5.75 in socks, with regular-person body fat, who rarely created his own shot. He was a classic "tweener," stuck somewhere between a big man and a guard -- except he's somehow learned enough to transition from in-between to a one-size-fits-all. It's a rare player who can swipe Chris Paul and swat Dirk Nowitzki.
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Back then, those concerns left Green, the Big Ten Player of the Year as a senior, available in the second round of the 2012 NBA draft. The Warriors, though, snatched him up with the 35th pick.
"Draymond, look at his resume," Bob Myers, then the Warriors' newly promoted general manager, said upon introducing Green after the draft (via MLive's Graham Couch). "He went to one of the top colleges in the country and all he did was produce and win."
Green didn't have to wait too long to show off his ability to win in the pros. Just like his freshman year in East Lansing, Green barely played as a rookie during the regular season before chipping in 5.8 points and 4.3 rebounds in 18.6 minutes during Golden State's second-round playoff run.
"He’s a very high IQ basketball player," said Iguodala, who was a member of the Denver Nuggets squad that lost to Golden State in the first round of the 2013 playoffs. "I think he came from a really good program at Michigan State, and it kind of laid his foundation of what type of player he was, being a winner. He’s done a great job of transferring that to the NBA."
Nowadays, Green's in good enough shape to be great for much longer stretches. He can cover ground against smaller speedsters and bang down low with big bruisers without heaving and hanging onto his shorts, much less collapsing in fits of exhaustion. According to NBA.com, Green's racked up 150 miles on his basketball odometer this season—a top-50 mark among his peers.
Whatever Green may (or may not) lack in physical prowess, he more than makes up for with the one attribute that, in Iguodala's mind, underlies all the others: "Just having the heart."
That, in truth, is the tie that binds all great players together, regardless of their physical profiles or geographic origins. It's what connects past DPOYs together and what may soon make Green a member of that distinguished lineage.
This, despite the fact that Green doesn't rank anywhere near the top 10 among his peers in any of the key defensive counting stats (i.e rebounds, steals and blocks).
Of course, there's much more to defense than cleaning the glass, picking off passes and swatting away shots, most of which (i.e. diving for loose balls, knowing when to double and where to rotate, calling out directions to teammates) doesn't show up in the box score.
"He does just a great job of making effort plays and has proven to be very consistent with that," said David Lee, whose early-season hamstring injury opened the door for Green to emerge as a full-time starter. "He’s done an unbelievable job and has been one of the reasons why we’re doing so well. I think that he should be really proud of what he’s accomplished."
Or, rather, what he might accomplish. His Warriors have already set a franchise record for regular-season wins. By the tail end of spring, Green could be hoisting his own piece of hardware, along with Golden State's first championship trophy in 40 years.
Come July, Green will have the chance to cash in on all of that. He'll be a restricted free agent this summer, one who many believe will be drawing an eight-figure salary for the foreseeable future.
"He's getting ready to get paid a lot of money," Magic Johnson said during a recent appearance in Green's hometown (via MLive's Cory Butzin). "I would say between probably 10 and $12 million a year. He's earned it. He deserves it."
Johnson should think so, and not just because of their shared Midwestern roots. The Los Angeles Lakers legend also listed Green as "one of the Top 5 all-around players in the league," along with the likes of LeBron James, Russell Westbrook and Golden State teammate Klay Thompson.
"Draymond’s a pretty good offensive player, too," said Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers, who's had his own non-feud with Green of late. "He probably doesn’t get enough credit in that area, what he does for them offensively. He brings the ball up the floor a lot. He stretches the floor."
"He's just fantastic," Johnson said, via Butzin. "He can do it all. He can rebound, shoot, dribble, pass, defend. His basketball IQ is off the charts. He's recognized Saginaw so well, Michigan State so well, himself, his family, and he's the same guy [with] a big smile on his face."
That congeniality comes through whether Green's playing or not. On Tuesday, Green spent the evening in street clothes, resting a sore shin that, were it playoff time, he almost certainly would've played on.
But Green didn't let that keep him from making a positive impact. Green spent much of the game on his feet, barking encouragement at his teammates and jawing at the Clippers, with whom he's struck up a genuine rivalry.
Granted, Green's words weren't enough to stop Blake Griffin. The All-Star forward, who's struggled mightily when checked by Green in the past, took advantage of Draymond's case of "Blake-itis"—and David Lee's defense in his stead—to the tune of 40 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.
The Warriors, though, battled back from an early 17-point deficit to beat the Clippers, 110-106. Golden State held the NBA's most efficient offense to just 18 points in the fourth quarter, perhaps spurred on by Green's spirit behind the bench.
"Anybody can do it," Iguodala said after the game, addressing what it takes to play strong, multipositional defense. "But the great teams do it and that’s why they’re always there at the end for a championship."
Just as the Warriors figure to be in June. Their impressive point differential puts them in rarefied air shared only by Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen's Chicago Bulls, Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain's streaking Los Angeles Lakers, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson's Milwaukee Bucks and Larry Bird's Boston Celtics.
Golden State will have all the requisite ingredients to match the championship achievements of those historic squads: home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, a team-first approach from top to bottom, superstars who can score in a pinch and, of course, a suffocating defense.
But only these Warriors would be able to boast such a strong helping hand blown in from the Great Lakes, with Green bringing all the best of his roots to bear.
Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.
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