Over the last seven or so seasons, Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors transformed himself into one of the best defensive players in the NBA. Now he is working on cementing himself as one of the best of all time. Neither the tallest, quickest, or strongest, he’s had to forge a path to elite defense different than most. He gets his fair share of blocks and lockdowns, but where Draymond has made his biggest impact is through smarts and anticipation. He is an expert at snuffing out offensive actions and stopping them in their tracks.
Draymond Green on Manningcast
On Monday night, Green joined Peyton and Eli Manning on their Monday Night Football Broadcast between the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers. With Peyton discussing some of the superstar defenders the Rams employ, he asked Draymond about his own defense and what teams do to scheme Green out of the play.
As Green points out, many teams run multiple offensive actions designed to put him in a spot where he cannot affect the main play. This might result in him on the strongside corner or lifted up high on the wing while the action is taking place away from him. From these positions, Draymond can help and risk an easy pass to his man, or help too far and leave his man wide open. As Green notes, he gets got over helping sometimes, no doubt the offense’s plan.
But, more often than not, he uses his smarts to find the perfect balance between freelancing help and sticking to the scheme. Sometimes this means jumping an action at the quick turn of the head by an offensive player, seemingly arriving out of nowhere. Other times, this means navigating the attempts to take him out of the play so he is still guarding the screener in the pick and roll. When neither is an option, Draymond will resort to telling his players exactly what is going to happen and hope for the best.
The Matchup vs Kevin Durant
Every now and then, Draymond is called upon to become a more traditional stopper, going toe to toe with some of the best scorers. This is, typically, not a game-long endeavor, but the change in schematics to put him on these lethal scorers will become evident. As Green tipped off during the Manningcast, he was sensing this to be the case in his matchup the following night against the Brooklyn Nets.
“Kevin Durant is my matchup that I’m really not looking forward too”
— Cody Mallory (@RealCodyMallory) November 16, 2021
-Draymond Green on the Manning Cast
The problems Kevin Durant poses to a defense, a silky jumper and an exquisite handle, have been on 10 this season. This matchup of old teammates promised to put Draymond in his most compromising defensive situation, having to stop an elite perimeter scorer one on one. A task he can excel at in spots but has struggled, relative to his other defensive production, over longer periods.
In the third, the Warriors blew the game open, and Green’s on and off-ball brilliance was on full display. With Stephen Curry on the bench for seven minutes in the quarter, Draymond spearheaded an attack to shut down Durant. KD finished the quarter 0-8 from the field for 3 points. While a team effort, Draymond was all over Durant from various angles. He took the one-on-one task, utilizing his strong base and long arms to harass KD off of his spots. Then, he used his off-the-ball smarts to surprise Durant on drives on rotations at the rim.
I would be really curious if KD was surprised that Draymond appeared out of no where. Then a nice job on the rebound and run out pic.twitter.com/kCWnhpQma4
— Mo Dakhil (@MoDakhil_NBA) November 17, 2021
Draymond Moving Forward
As the Warriors have made an unexpected push to the top of the Western Conference in the early part of the season, they are once again fueled by their league-best defense. Just as the team rose to dynastic levels in 2015, first on the back of a league-best defense, the team is once again clamping down on that end. Draymond has been as good as ever, executing his and others’ assignments with aplomb and chasing a second Defensive Player of the Year award. Paying attention to how he navigates his off-ball tasks will only add to the joy of watching him play.
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