Kerr thinks Green is a Hall of Fame player
There isn’t much precedent for players like him to earn that honor
During his years as a broadcaster, Steve Kerr was on the Veterans Committee partly responsible for selecting members of the basketball Hall of Fame, and he took that responsibility seriously.
“It was actually a lot of work,” Kerr, now the coach of the Warriors, said Saturday. “You had to really do your homework.”
But Kerr doesn’t need to do much homework when it comes to the Hall of Fame case for Draymond Green, whose career statistics may not seem Hallof-Fame worthy at first blush: He averages 8.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game over nine seasons.
However, Green’s body of work includes three NBA championships, an NBA Defensive Player of the Year award in 2017 and two All-NBA honors and an Olympic gold medal. Because of this, Kerr believes Green should be a shoo-in.
“I think Draymond is a Hall of Famer. I’m maybe not as mainstream as some people in terms of looking at stats,” Kerr, who worked as an analyst for TNT from 2010-2014, said. “But I think the best way to measure Draymond is not with his stats, it’s just how much he impacts winning.”
Green’s resume is similar to that of Ben Wallace. Like Green, Wallace did not tally gaudy counting stats, but had an accomplished career. The four-time Defensive Player of the Year and five-time All-NBA honoree anchored a defense that helped the Detroit Pistons win the championship in 2004. Wallace is among this year’s finalists to be selected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall ofFame.
“I think Ben became one of the great defensive players the league’s ever seen,” Kerr said. “Well, that matters. That leads to wins.”
According to basketball-reference.com’s Hall of Fame odds, Wallace has a 45% chance of being inducted. Green, meanwhile, has only a 30% chance of making the Hall of Fame.
In 2018, ESPN broke down Green’s Hall of Fame case, concluding that he still has work to do but is “on the Hall of Fame path.”
“There aren’t a lot of players like Green in the Hall of Fame,” Kevin Pelton wrote. “If we look at players who were elected on the strength of their NBA career and retired after 1960, just two others averaged fewer points per game in their highest-scoring seasons than Green’s 14.0 points per game in 201516: K.C. Jones (9.2 PPG) and Dennis Rodman (11.6 PPG). Everyone else meeting those criteria averaged a minimum of 15 PPG at least once.”
The induction of Wallace, who never averaged more than 10 points per game in a season over his 16-year career, would create a helpful precedent for Green. Though Green’s best statistical seasons are likely behind him, longevity could put him over the top.
“I still have to keep building, I’m not done yet, so I got some years left to try and do some more things and hopefully add on to that resume,” Green said Friday. “But I really want to make the Hall of Fame, that’s for sure.”