WARRIORS PRACTICE FACILITY, OAKLAND, CA — When you think of sidekicks, or even enforcers, quite simply you know they have your back. This is no different for the Golden State Warriors‘ Draymond Green.
“One thing I’ve always rolled with is blood, sweat, and tears together. We grind together. We win together. We lose together. We do everything together. One thing about being a team is, you got to have each other’s back, that’s on the court, off the court, whatever the situation is. Whatever happened happened,” Green said of his ejection from the recent altercation at Oracle Arena against the Portland Trailblazers, “but I’m always around my teammates.”
Did Andrew Bogut pay his $20,000 fine imposed by the NBA for his actions in the scuffle?
“Mmmm, you know, whatever happens, happens,” Green said with a smirk.
Alas, mum’s the word. The penultimate wing man, Green also happens to be the leader of the bench this year, but he’s humble about it.
“I’m really the only guy who was here last year who came off the bench and played consistent minutes,” Green said, “I have a comfort level in this system down to where I should be able to do a few things that some other guys are still getting their feet wet. Now, it’s starting to take shape. Our bench has been a lot better. Nedo (Nemanja Nedovic) has been playing better. JO (Jermaine O’Neal) has finally rounded — it took a few games to round into form, but he’s founded into form. Mo (Marreese Speights) has rounded into form.”
“You have guys hurt as well,” Green added, “It took Harrison (Barnes) who was gonna be with our unit, and put him into the starting lineup because Dre (Andre Iguodala) was down. We haven’t really gotten our chance to be together yet and grow, but at the same time we’ve been doing a better job and we have to look to continue to get better. That’s gonna be important.”
Over this past summer, the power forward got better. Much better, especially with his three-point shooting.
“I met with coach (Mark Jackson), I met with Bob (Myers, General Manager of the Warriors) at the end of the season and even before I met with them I knew it was something I wanted to improve on,” Green said, “I wasn’t myself. I didn’t look to make plays much. I sometimes didn’t shoot the ball when I was open, didn’t have confidence in my shot, so my main thing coming in this year was be me. Do what got you here. The Warriors didn’t draft me to do what didn’t get me here.”
He said that his coaches at Michigan State told him that it wasn’t that he had a bad shot, it was that he just needed more “reps”, just repetition on shooting so that he could build accuracy and confidence. “Shots, you know, just constant reps, got a lot of reps up in the summer. I think that was the most important thing. I’ve never had a broken release, it’s just about getting reps.”
Best way to get reps? Have a three-point contest against Curry and Thompson.
“If you’re just out shooting, sometimes you’re not focused on every shot. That was one of the things that helped me in the playoffs last year, was shooting against Steph. It made me focus on every shot and I wanna win. As crazy as most people may think that sounds, I actually think I have a shot at winning whenever I’m doing something.”
And yet, he knows his place in the pecking order and he’s not afraid to chuckle about it.
“(NBA teams are) playing me a little tighter now. They’re not sagging as much,” Green said, “There’s even been a few situations where’s it been 2-on-1 me and Steph or me and Klay — I’m not sure why — but they run at me, I’m already looked at to make the extra pass anyways because they’re the better shooters.”
People don’t often associate “enforcers” with “high IQ” and you especially don’t expect them to have a softer, humorous side. Robin could protect Batman‘s blind side, but he wasn’t about to sit down and discuss the finer points of his craft. Even a re-programmed Arnold Schwarzenegger from Terminator 2 wasn’t much good for campfire stories and laughs.
“He puts you in the position to win. He’s just a joy to coach,” Jackson said, “He’s a glue guy. He’s a guy that you can throw in different positions: the 3, the 4, the 5. He can guard 1 through 5. He’s gonna make plays and his attitude, his approach. We appreciate what he does on the floor. He’s another guy, I’ve said it before, when he leaves the game, to me, would not need a second to be an assistant coach. He can go right in to being a coach in this league or certainly in college. He just has it.”
If you don’t believe that, just look at approach to the nuances of the game of basketball.
“Most of the time (my role is) just an entry pass to D.Lee (David Lee) or Steph or something, but at the same time, when you’re playing on this level, sometimes that entry pass is tough,” Green explained, “One thing I pay attention to, especially with Steph, is ball placement. His shot is so quick and the way people try to guard him sometimes, you can just lead him right into a shot off an entry pass. What happened once last night on the elbow one, we’re elbow iso’ed on him against Isaiah Thomas, I try to lead him into a shot because he’s such a great shooter, it also relieves some of the pressure off him. So he doesn’t have to worry to create so much, you can lead him into a shot, it makes life a little bit easier on him.”
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