Draymond Green is the Most Important Player in the NBA

The Warriors are title favorites again, and it’s Green who fuels Golden State

We’re almost a quarter of the way through the NBA season and, despite some relative doom-and-gloom predictions, there’s been plenty of entertainment for all. Russell Westbrook is averaging a triple-double, James Harden is threatening to lead the league in points and assists, Anthony Davis is superhuman again, and a flurry of young bigs have revitalized the league.

Yet despite all the wonderful distractions, the league’s twin powers remain the same. The Cleveland Cavaliers are 13–4, and the Golden State Warriors are 16–3. Both teams are comfortably leading their respective conferences, and appear to be on a crash course for June once again.

And that means that, with all due respect to Westbrook and Harden, and with respect to reigning NBA champion LeBron James, this season is still going to be about beating the new-look Warriors. And that means that Draymond Green is the most important man in the NBA this season.

Oh, sure, Draymond is not the “best” player on his team, or even the second- best. Depending on your opinion of Klay Thompson (i.e. an incorrect one), he may not even be third-best. Green’s not going to win the league’s MVP this season; he may not even garner a single vote with Kevin Durant or Steph Curry receiving any votes the Warriors will get.

But the Warriors are still the biggest threat to win the NBA championship; Jeff Sherman, manager for Las Vegas’s Westgate Superbook, tweeted earlier this week that the Warriors are at 10/11 odds (e.g. less than 1/1) to win the title, with the Cavs (relatively) far behind at “just” 2/1 to repeat. And whether he’s the NBA’s MVP or not, Green is the most important Warrior.

He is the centerpiece of the Warriors’ defense

The Warriors have offense for days. They already scored 149 points in regulation in a game this season, and they’ll probably top that some time this year. They have the three best shooters on the planet in Steph, KD, and Klay, a trio averaging over 75 points a game combined right now (all stats thru Wednesday) while still learning how to play together. No one is going to get into a playoff series shootout with the Warriors and live to tell about it.

That makes the Warriors’ defense the key factor that will determine how far Golden State goes this year.

To get Durant, the Warriors had to sacrifice. No, not Harrison Barnes; they had to ditch Andrew Bogut and Festus Ezeli and Mo Speights — basically every traditional big man on the roster other than possibly-still-covertly-playing-for-the-Cavs Anderson Varejao.

They signed Zaza Pachulia, David West, and JaVale McGee and have a couple young bigs, but you’ve watched the Warriors this year and those guys aren’t getting it done. West is decent, but Zaza looks fit to be playing backup minutes at this point, and McGee still barely knows which basket is his.

That leaves Green to soak up a ton of big man minutes, a role that will only increase when the games get more important. By June, he’ll be playing a lot of minutes at center; this for a guy who at 6-foot-7 is the same height as Klay Thompson and backup point guard Shaun Livingston. Depending on the Warriors’ playoff path, Green could take a pounding in the post. He’s going to need to hit the boards hard and play a lot of tough defense.

So far, he continues to be up to the task. Remember how the Warriors’ defense was terrible to start the season? Well, they’re up to eighth in the league in Defensive Rating, and the numbers get even better when you take out garbage time. Golden State leads the NBA in both blocks and steals per game, and guess who leads the team in both of those categories?

And it’s not just the counting stats. Green is a defensive jackknife able to defend all five players on the opponent, and defend them not just capably, but well. Take a look at this clip with back-to-back game-saving defensive plays in the final minute against the Atlanta Hawks from Monday night.

On the first play, Draymond switches onto Atlanta point guard Dennis Schroeder, who had repeatedly roasted Curry down the stretch with his speed and ability to get to the rim. Schroeder attacks the basket and Green stays with him, doesn’t foul, and then blocks the shot off Schroeder and out of bounds — Warriors ball. On the next possession, Green starts out on 6-foot-11 center Dwight Howard and rotates on help defense for another huge block on wing Kent Bazemore. There are very few players in the league that can make either one of those plays, and Draymond did them both on back-to-back plays with the game on the line.

Green is the most versatile defender in the league, and maybe the best one too. He’s on track to win a deserving Defensive Player of the Year award, and he’s the only man on earth capable of transforming this Golden State team from a relatively poor defense into a top-10 one.

But defense isn’t the only area where Draymond’s versatility reigns

Because of Draymond’s suppressed scoring this season, his nightly stat line might not be catch your eye — Green’s current 10.7 points, 9.0 rebounds, 7.0 assists, 2.1 steals, and 1.7 blocks a night don’t look overwhelming.

It’s the combination, though, that makes Draymond so special. Let’s take a look around NBA history for a little perspective (all stats from Basketball Reference).

• Only two players in NBA history have averaged six assists, two steals, and a block over a season: Dwyane Wade (2x) and Scottie Pippen
• Only nine times in history has a player averaged both two steals and 1.75 blocks a game. Hakeem did it four times.
• Two players in history have had a season averaging five rebounds, five assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.5 blocks a game: the immortal Sam Lacey in his one All-Star season for the 1975 Kansas City/Omaha Kings, and some guy named Michael Jordan in one of the greatest individual seasons in NBA history in 1988.

To dominate like Draymond defensively and pass the ball so efficiently and hit the boards so hard… Green is doing something that few in NBA history have ever done. Draymond has increased both his steals and blocks per game from last season, while cutting his turnovers almost in half as he contributes those seven assists a game.

Everyone talked about how the Warriors would have to sacrifice to make everything work this year, but what Draymond is doing is different. He’s not sacrificing as much as he’s just changing his game to give the Warriors exactly what they need. And it’s not the first time he’s done it either.

Last year in the playoffs, unanimous MVP Steph Curry missed some time and played the rest of the playoffs less than 100 percent, and the Warriors needed Draymond to increase his playmaking while taking on more minutes at the small ball center role. He obliged with 15 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists a game, something done in playoff history by guys we only need one name to identify: Wilt (2x), Bird (2x), Magic, LeBron, Russell, Oscar, and Barkley. And he added 1.6 steals and 1.8 blocks a game just for kicks.

There’s another thing Draymond Green does really well that will never show up in a traditional box score: he’s awesome at screening the defender. The Warriors are scoring an absurd 1.24 points per possession coming off screens, and they’re doing it on almost twice as many possessions as any other team. Draymond is the best and most frequent screen-setter on the Warriors. He is the one freeing Steph and KD and Klay for open jumpers in that half-court offense. The Warriors are scoring better in half-court sets than almost every team in NBA history has been able to score in transition!

Oh, and speaking of transition points, Draymond is key to that, too

Remember all those blocks and steals Green is racking up? You might think it’s silly to make such a big to-do about plays that occur just twice a game, but steals and blocks on defense lead to transition offense, and that is pretty much always the easiest way to score in basketball.

Do you have a solution for how to guard the Warriors in transition, with Curry and Durant and Thompson spacing things out on the wings, ready to snipe from every angle? Three or four times a game, Draymond Green makes a play that sends that panic attack into motion, setting up a near-certain Warriors score. That’s three or four times a game Draymond stops a team from scoring on one end and sets up a likely score on the other. That’s huge — the equivalent of seven to ten points every single game.

Draymond is the team’s leading rebounder, too. Every time he gets a defensive rebound as a small ball center, he can immediately leave the opposing big in the dust and, voila, the transition offense is off and running. Maybe that’s why Draymond is the Warriors’ leading assist man as well.

Yes, Draymond Green is leading the best team in the NBA in rebounds and assists and steals and blocks.

At this point, Draymond is basically half-Barkley, half-Pippen, half-Rodman, half-Diaw, half-Artest, half-Karate Kid. And yes, that technically makes him three Draymonds, but Green is the NBA’s Grinch, and he’s here to steal your Christmas and grow his heart three times that day.

Draymond Green is the heart and soul of this Warriors team. He might be the key to the defense and the offense. He is the motor that makes them go and the confidence that keeps Steph Curry ticking. He is the reason the Warriors lost Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals, and he’s the reason they very nearly won Game 7.

He is the reason why they’re the heavy favorite to win a title again this year. Take away Curry or Durant for a handful of games, and the Warriors can probably adjust the offense and find a way to get by. Take away Draymond and they’re completely sunk.

Steve Kerr said so himself in Thursday night’s double overtime loss to the Rockets. He knows just how vital Draymond is to the Warriors success.

Draymond Green is most important player in the NBA this season, and he’s not going anywhere soon, so you might as well get used to it.

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