Green begins awards campaign early
In most games last season, when he went to guard a pickand-roll, Warriors forward Draymond Green saw an opposing player wave him off. It was a repeated reminder that teams still considered him one of the league’s top few defenders.
However, the media didn’t necessarily agree. After finishing in the top two of Defensive Player of the Year voting three seasons in a row, Green wasn’t considered a serious candidate for the award, voted on by sportswriters and broadcasters, in 2018. Now, with only a week until Golden State’s season opener against Oklahoma City, he is using that slight as motivation as he chases his second career DPOY award.
“It’s important,” Green, who sat out Monday night’s preseason game against Phoenix after missing Friday’s win over Sacramento with left knee soreness, said of the potential to win the award again. “I was second-team All-Defense (last season). That’s crazy. So, yeah, I’ve got to get that.”
Added head coach Steve Kerr: “I think it’s a good award for him to go after. That’s what he brings to us — that edge, that fire. And if that’s what motivates him, it’s only going to make our team better.”
Green joined Giannis Antetokounmpo, Anthony Davis and Andre Drummond as the only players last season to average at least 1.3 steals and 1.3 blocks per game. However, Green was uncharacteristically inconsistent and failed to provide the game-saving stops that defined his DPOY season.
It didn’t help that Green was hobbled by minor injuries and had a tough time getting motivated for relatively meaningless regular-season games.
After being the centerpiece of a top-five defense for four straight seasons, Green was part of the reason Golden State dropped to 11th last season. The Warriors’ defensive rating with Green on the court last season was 103.7 — a far cry from the 98.4, 96.0, 97.5 and 99.3 they posted the four previous seasons.
Asked Monday if his placement on the All-Defensive second team last spring was a matter of voter negligence or his performance, Green conceded that it was “probably a little bit on me” before saying, “I don’t think any voter can tell me (there are) five defensive players better than me.”
Green then paused, looking at the reporters surrounding him.
“I’ll wait.”