Green rediscovers love of game
Kerr: Green is ‘the best defender in the world’
SAN FRANCISCO » Always motivated by his doubters, Draymond Green has found a new source of fuel this season.
“My son is getting older. My oldest daughter, she’s 7 now. They kind of get on my ass if we lose,” Green said Sunday after , their 15th in 17 games this season, the team’s best start since Green was last playing this well. “And I think for me, also, I’ve been (expletive) the last couple years. So my kids don’t really understand how good I am . ...
“When I was playing at the top of my level, they were like 3 and 1. So that is motivating for me, to play well in front of them so they have an understanding of what I do.”
A candid Green admitted that he lost his love for the game over the past couple seasons but that it has been reignited this year, a statement backed up by his play on the court and the Warriors’ NBA-best record. He is the anchor of the top-rated defense in the league and the air traffic controller of the league’s top-scoring offense.
Coach Steve Kerr has seen the change this year.
“He’s so motivated. He’s so engaged every single night . ... I think he’s had just an unbelievable start to the season,” Kerr said, right after he called Green “the best defender in the world.”
Asked his thoughts on his coach’s assessment, Green was quick to respond: “I agree.”
He’s making the case so far this season, at least enough to enter the early conversation for his defensive player of the year, an honor he won in 2017, before his kids were old enough to appreciate their dad’s defensive prowess.
A newcomer to Golden State, Otto Porter Jr. is also becoming en
lightened to everything Green brings to the table. It doesn’t necessarily show up in a traditional stat line, which shows Green averaging 7.9 rebounds and 7.4 assists per game, near career-highs, but only 7.8 points on his fewest shot attempts since he became a regular in the starting five.
Porter hadn’t played with Green before, and now that he has, he said he hasn’t played with any other player like him, either.
“The way he talks on defense, communication. He knows the plays the other team is going to run,” Porter said. “It helps us out with him in the back, so we can press up . ... With Draymond in the back, it allows us to get into the ball a lot more, avoid screens, switch screens. He’s basically the anchor of our defense. So with his energy, we feed off it.”
At 31, not earning an all-star nod in three seasons or a playoff berth for the past two, it was easy to believe Green — and his era of Warriors basketball with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson — was past his prime. They had a good run: three championships, the winningest season in NBA history, a defensive player of the year.
Two years of futility took its toll on the ultracompetitive underdog from Saginaw, Mich.
“You kind of go through a lot of (expletive), and the love kind of wanes a bit,” Green said. “But I’ve just found that love and that joy for the game, and I’m just enjoying playing basketball and controlling what I can control . ...
“I want to be a defensive player of the year again. I want to be an allstar again. That is motivating me,” he continued. “Because a lot of people had counted me out. Same mistake people made before when I first came into the league . ... A lot of people doubted me, then doubted me again. That’s fuel to the fire.”
This offseason, he reevaluated his priorities.
“A point of emphasis for myself this year was to simply control what I can control,” he said. “That means on the court, that means with the referees, that means off the floor. That’s just a step in my life. I think it shows on the basketball court.”