J.A. AdandeESPN Senior Writer There's a false belief that the Golden State Warriors are a strictly harmonious group, a bunch of merry men romping their way through the NBA. That notion neglects the need for a bit of turbulence on any team -- that little dose of discord that stops short of true dysfunction. Draymond Green is the one who provides the choppy air beneath the Warriors' wings, the guy who requires everyone to straighten their seat backs, fasten their seat belts and fold up their tray tables. Lowe: Steph Curry on the evolution of the Warriors The NBA's reigning MVP talks about gunning for 73 wins, his team's learning curve, maximizing his moves and more. Is Steph Curry already a Hall of Famer? Steph Curry overrated by #NBArank? How about Blake Griffin, James Harden and Russell Westbrook? Kevin Pelton breaks down the most underrated and overrated superstars in today's game. Warriors Watch: The chase for 73 wins Are 73 wins within reach for Golden State? We're tracking the Warriors' pursuit of history as they chase the 1995-96 Bulls. Take the timeout during an early-season game against the Los Angeles Clippers. Center Marreese Speights had failed to make a defensive switch, generating the malleable forward's disapproval. "Soft," Green said from his seat on the bench, before deciding that wasn't enough. "Soft as f---." Speights disagreed with that assessment. And to demonstrate, he suggested that they take the conversation to the back of Oracle Arena and settle things there, nonverbally. It never advanced past that empty threat. It didn't require teammates holding them apart. When the coaches finished their mini-conference on the court and joined the huddle, they weren't even aware of what had taken place before they arrived. It wasn't the first or last time Green and Speights had butted heads without, you know, actually butting heads. "We've had a lot of arguments," Speights said. "It's all competitive. The guy loves to play and loves to compete. I love to play and love to compete. So sometimes we have misunderstandings. It happens in the league. We get right over it, about 20 minutes later. Headed to his first All-Star Game, Draymond Green leads the NBA with nine triple-doubles. Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images "We're cool. We're cool. Good guy. I've been playing with him for three years. Certain guys, you've got to understand what they're doing. He knows that he can talk trash to me and I won't really take it to heart like that. Certain guys you can't talk that to. He knows he can talk it to me and I can talk it back. It might get a little chippy, but it's part of the game." It's also a part of winning. Before the Warriors pulled off the championship last year, there was some concern within the organization that the players were too nice, that they lacked the edge and even nastiness it requires to take the title. They proved that to be wrong, but when Steve Kerr relinquished his head-coaching duties at the start of the season to focus on regaining his health after offseason back surgeries, even the players worried that the remaining staff members didn't have anyone who would yell at them when they messed up. They liked and respected interim coach Luke Walton, but as Kerr said upon his return in January, Walton is "the picture of low-key." That left it up to Green. Stephen Curry is the face of the franchise, yet Curry called Green "the main voice of the team." "I try to lead in a certain style, by example, and by bringing my effort every single night," Curry said in a conference call with international media in November. "I'll talk a little bit, but Draymond is kind of the spirit of the team, and we kind of feed off his energy. So, he's a huge asset for us." Some people connected with the team say Green set the tone for their record-setting start at an early training camp session, when he called out Klay Thompson for effort unbecoming of a team trying to win another championship. "With us, we have a lot of guys that are more on the quiet side. If nobody was willing to step up and take that role, we'd just be a bunch of church mice." Draymond Green The only thing is, that moment doesn't seem to stand out to Thompson. "He gets on me every day," Thompson said. Consider it the bad cop making his rounds, walking the beat. "You've always got to have that guy on the team," Green said. "With us, we have a lot of guys that are more on the quiet side. If nobody was willing to step up and take that role, we'd just be a bunch of church mice. "It's my nature, but it also was a void that needed to be filled as well. There's times we're on a win streak, and it's like, 'Listen, we're getting wins doing what we're doing, but we're not continuing to get better.' "Or there's times when you might have to go at a guy in particular. It's out of love. It ain't out of disrespect. But at the end of the day, we all have one common goal. And if you've got that one common goal, we can't just be buddy-buddy all the time. We have to go at each other sometimes to get the best out of each other. It's not necessarily to call you out, it's to get the best out of you. And I expect you to do that to me and get the best out of me." And he's not above calling himself out for mistakes. Green copped to chasing a triple-double on Saturday during a second-half collapse that almost cost the Warriors a victory against the seven-win Philadelphia 76ers. Draymond Green, with fellow All-Stars Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, gives the Warriors some needed edge. Glenn James/Getty Images "We definitely should have lost, and it was all my fault," Green said Saturday. "I was selfishly unselfish, if you know what [that] means. And so we started turning the ball over, due to my self[ish] unselfishness, and it was all downhill from there." Green doesn't mind being the bad guy, but he does care what his teammates think of him. That's why he always tries to end on good terms. "You've got to circle back," Green said. "You can't just go at a guy. You've got to circle back and say: 'All right, I've got you. Let's go. Once we get back on the court, let's get it. I'm coming to you next play. Get a bucket.' "Sometimes you have to tear down and build right back up. You can't let it linger. You rip them down but build them right back up to where you ripped them down from." He didn't immediately patch things up with Speights after their little beef on the bench during the Clippers game. But they are on good enough terms that Speights doesn't offer a gruff "no comment" and walk away when Green's name is mentioned. "All teams need guys like that to lead the team," Speights said. "They have everybody else on their toes, like, 'Oh, I've got to do everything right, because Draymond might say something to me.' When I was with Memphis, it was Tony Allen. Here, it's Draymond." That's Green's most important role on the Warriors, even more valuable than his nine triple-doubles.
Draymond Green now the first player in NBA history to get 1000 points, 500 boards, 500 assists, 100 steals, and 100 blocks in one season. What an odd stat. Also can't believe someone like LeBron never got this.
Basketball is interesting in this aspect. Every Skill after your first gets you exponentially more money until you hit the Max Cap.
Draymond Green is Anthony Mason with a mediocre 3pt shot. It's certainly not a once in a lifetime thing, and his success has at least a little to do with the way the league has changed. He wouldn't be this good if we were in the big man era of basketball IMO. That doesn't make him any less of an amazing player right now though.
Not really, in fact this very thread started out as questioning if Draymond Green is even worth the max despite his varied skillset, in the NBA the more specialized you are the you get paid because people pay for what they see. So for example a guy who grabs 16 rebs a night but only scores 4 pts would get paid way more than a player who gives you 12/8 at the same time. If you want more examples, Parsons who is extremely good at offense got the max while Ariza who is actually more balanced (skills at both offense and D) got half that amount. In the case of Draymond, a lot of his key skills are intangible and don't lead to the box score (defense, leadership, 3 pt spacing, passing) so its not surprising some people thought GSW actually overpaid when they gave him his contract. Just look at his stats last year, 11.7 pts/8 rebs/3.5 assists on the surface majority of people are gonna say he's not worth 15M PER if they don't consider his intangibles at all.
Its tit for tat though, how successful would these big men be in today's era where guys rely on speed and the rules prevent you from being physical? In fact, rules pretty much mean everything Tim Duncan went to play for US in the Olympics and he sucked ass because he wasn't used to Euro rules.
Yeah, he'd definitely get, and deserve, the max from all 30 teams if they wanted him. However...I still don't think he can't be your best player, and he certainly can't be your #1 option offensively, and that's fine. Great player, just uniquely great.
Rockets don't have a guy like this. Howard laughing in the background and James dancing on the stripper pole. JB enabling, Terry flying around the court at 0 knots and TJ kicking people while there down.
well we don't have a guy like that because it isn't as simple as plug and play. those roles are earned and something that happens naturally within a real team. you get the respect and ears of your teammates if you're in a position to do so. People will pay more attention as the wins continue. there isn't much of that going on these days here.
Disagree. IMO, his stats are inflated greatly because he's playing alongside Curry/Thompson. For instance, look how he's earning the majority of his assists. He's holding the ball at the top of the key and waiting for Curry/Thompson, two of the best catch & shoot guys in the league, to get open from screens. And although he has a great 3pt%, look how open he is on his attempts. That's because the defense has to overplay Curry/Thompson.
great ball handler and passer for a pf. great defensive player and one of the top in the league. no idea why you feel the need to hate on a hard working player but he'll just continue to keep proving people like you wrong.
