Draymond Green
Early Life
Draymond Green was born on March 4, 1990 in Saginaw Michigan where he grew up an attended high school. At Saginaw High he led the Trojans to 2 State Championships averaging 20 points, 13 rebounds, and 2 blocked shot in his high school career. Scout.com ranked Green the 26th best PF in his class while Rivals.com had him ranked 31st at his position and 122nd overall.
Collegiate Career
After initially verbally committing to Kentucky, Green changed his mind after then Kentucky coach Tubby Smith left for Minnesota. Green then decided to stay local and committed to Michigan State where he had local roots.
Green came of the bench during his rookie season at Michigan State and averaged 3.3 points and 3.3 rebounds in only 11.4 minutes per game. During the 2009 NCAA Tournament however, Green saw more action and averaged 8.5 points and 5.3 rebounds including a 7 point 7 rebound game while Michigan State lost to North Carolina in the Finals of the 2009 Tournament.
Green saw him minutes go up in his sophomore campaign as he averaged 25.5 minutes while starting 3 of the 37 games that season. Green upped his averages to 9.9 points and 7.7 rebounds and finished the season with 7 double-doubles while being named the Big Ten 6th Man of the Year.
Again as a junior Green saw his time increase as he started 28 of 34 games and averaged 30.1 minutes with 12.6 points, 8.6 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 1.1 block per game. Green also recorded 2 triple-doubles during the season; one in the regular season and one during the NCAA Tournament. In doing so, he became the 3rd Michigan State player to achieve the feat joining Magic Johnson and Charlie Bell and the 11th player ever to record a triple-double in the history of the NCAA Tournament.
During his senior season at Michigan State Green was named a captain of the Spartans. Green was named Big Ten Player of the Week 4 times during the 2011-2012 season, no other player in Michigan State history had won the award more than 3 times. He was named Big Ten Player of the Year while leading Michigan to the regular season Big Ten Championship and the Big Ten Tournament Championship. In the Second Round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament Green recorded his 3rd career triple-double and became only the 2nd player in history to record to triple-doubles in the NCAA Tournament. During Michigan State’s Sweet-16 loss to Louisville, Green recorded 16 rebounds and became the Michigan State career-leader in the category with 1,096. He was named to the Regional All-Tournament team for his play in the tournament. Green finished his senior season with averages of 16.2 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 1.1 block in 33.2 minutes per game. He finished his career at Michigan State as one of 3 players in school history with over 1,000 points and 1,000 assists.
Professional Career
Draymond Green was selected 35th Overall by the Golden State Warriors on June 28, 2012 and signed a 3-year $2.6 million contract shortly thereafter.
Green scored his first career point in the 6th game of the regular season against the Los Angeles Lakers. After Brandon Rush was injured on November 16th against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Green saw a spike in his minutes where he went from rarely approaching 10 to getting anywhere from 10-25 minutes a night based on matchups.
Before the regular season Warriors Head Coach/Pastor Mark Jackson asked a member of the roster to lead the team in prayer prior to each game, to his surprise it was Draymond Green that stepped up to take on that role. Ironically three days before the biggest moment of Green’s career and one of the biggest wins of the upstart Warriors season, Mark Jackson decided to speak to the San Francisco Chronicle of Green’s role. In regards to the leadership Jackson was quoted as saying, “That’s who he is. He’s a leader, and he doesn’t care about tenure. He stepped in here as a leader, and that’s a leader’s mentality. Guys embrace him, because they realize he doesn’t just do it when he’s playing well and when we’re winning. He does it in the face of adversity. When he wasn’t playing, when he wasn’t getting time, when he wasn’t winning ballgames with stops and rebounds, he was the same Draymond Green.”
Three days after Jackson gushed about Draymond Green’s role as a leader, Green scored the game-winning layup in the final seconds of a 97-95 win on the road against the Miami Heat.
After scoring double-digits only once in the regular season, Green did so on 3 occasions in the Playoffs. He also improved his shot in the Playoffs shooting 42.5% from the field and 39% from 3 on 23 attempts compared to 32.7% from the field and 20.9% from 3 on 67 attempts in the regular season.
Since the Season ended Draymond Green has reportedly dropped 15 pounds due to a new strength and condition program which showed during Summer League as he looked quicker and more agile on his feet which could help him be better at defending faster Small Forwards. Green as also mentioned that he believes there is a mutual disdain between him and the Rockets from when he intentionally fouled Patrick Beverly attempting a 3-pointer during a blowout game in February which could have given the Rockets the single game record. Green also called the Rockets a rival which is a good sign of his commitment for Warriors fans as the Rockets project to be a rival to overcome for the next several years.
Green was ranked 206th in ESPN’s #NBArank entering his sophmore campaign jumping up 128 spots from 334 his rookie season.
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