Draymond Green After Warriors' 1st Win: 'Still Not a Very Good Team'
Draymond Green didn't get carried away by the Golden State Warriors' first win of the 2019-20 NBA season Monday night.
"We're still not a very good team," Green told reporters following the Warriors' 134-123 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans. "We have a lot of room for improvement. Just because we won one game doesn't mean we don't suck right now. We still have a lot of improvement to do."
Green notched his first triple-double of the young campaign against the 0-4 Pelicans with 16 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists.
The 29-year-old All-Star forward's impressive performance came after he told reporters Sunday that the Warriors "f--king suck right now" following the team's 120-92 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Green clarified his commentary from Sunday after Monday's win:
The three-time NBA champion also took responsibility for leading the Warriors' young players "the wrong way" through the season's first two games.
Green's assessment of Golden State's new reality meshes with what head coach Steve Kerr said after the reigning Western Conference champions dropped their regular-season opener 141-122 to the Los Angeles Clippers.
"This is not a one-off," Kerr told the media. "This is the reality. There are going to be nights like this, this year."
Green and two-time league MVP Stephen Curry are expected to take on even more of a leadership role this season after Kevin Durant departed for the Brooklyn Nets in free agency and Klay Thompson was lost for the majority of this campaign when he tore his ACL during last year's NBA Finals.
To Green's point, the Warriors didn't absolve all their challenges by beating a banged-up Pelicans squad.
But at the very least, 1-2 looks better than 0-3. More than that, moments like Monday night are what will bind this new roster, as shown by Curry and D'Angelo Russell's celebration:
Golden State next plays the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night.
Former Chicago Tribune writer turned NBC Sports Chicago insider, K.C. Johnson, joins “The Full 48 with Howard Beck” to discuss the Chicago Bulls play-off picture, Coby White, Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, and Michael Jordan.
