The Golden State Warriors’ dream season speeds forward into the Western Conference Finals, and Draymond Green continues to be the team’s driving force – no matter if he’s out on the floor or on the bench.
Averaging a hair over 37 minutes per game throughout this postseason, the versatile forward is rarely out of the game. Even with big numbers – 14 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two steals per contest – his impact on the outcome is at least as forceful in his role as head cheerleader. Just watch a game. While team-mates sit and rest, the 25-year-old is often the only player standing at the edge of the baseline, towel draped over the shoulders of his bench tee, incessantly rooting and rumbling over the on-court action. And he’s at least as animated and energetic after the game’s final seconds have ticked off the clock as well.
Earlier in the season, the third-year pro out of Michigan State explained that he sees his job as providing anything the team might need at any given moment. “I’m always defending obviously,” he told the Guardian. “But also being a vocal leader as well. I think that’s one of my main roles on this team.” Specifically though, his duties range from being assigned to guard an All-Star center, as he was at times tasked with versus Marc Gasol by coach Steve Kerr, to being the Warriors’ motor in or out of the game. He’s also the comic relief.
During Stephen Curry’s regular-season MVP award ceremony? Green was front and center, ready to razz the superstar guard about the type of gift he’d be buying in gratitude for his deserving team-mates. Just the same, after Curry hit his unthinkable 62-foot heave against the Grizzlies in Game 6 of the previous series? Green was, of course, the first to greet the sharpshooter with a chest bump. After the series-clinching victory over Memphis? Green made sure to both ask and answer his own question during the postgame press conference to ensure the media recognized the crucial contributions of reserve center Festus Ezeli.
But in his first season of impact minutes and as a starter, Green has proven he’s as much substance as he is style. Much like Dennis Rodman in his heyday, Green is regularly asked to play the role of the heel – or goon, depending on your perspective – in order to lend toughness and a necessary edge to what is thought of as more a finesse, jump shooting unit – and has fully embraced the post. To the extent of just being beaten out by the San Antonio Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard for Defensive Player of the Year accolades. Still, his trash-talk game has been at an elite level for years.
“He reminds me a little bit of Reggie Miller,” says Kerr. “Reggie would not shut up. Some players need to talk to get themselves going, to motivate themselves, and that’s the case with Draymond.” The first-year coach points out that whether it’s with an opponent, a broadcaster, a team-mate — even his own coach — it’s just constant with Green. “It makes us all laugh, and I don’t think anybody’s really that offended by it.”
At 6ft 7in and 230 pounds, Green remains traditionally undersized for his position, despite thick arms that seem to go on for days. He is regarded highly for his versatility on both ends of the court, his ability to hit three-pointers almost as well as he defends the post and rebounds. He can also dribble the length of the court and make the right decision with a pass. All of his abilities in this breakout season have garnered high praise. Hall of Famer and fellow Spartan alum Magic Johnson has called Green “one of the top-five all-around players in the league.”
On the other hand, the off-the-court antics have also brought a fair amount of criticism to this lightning rod. First it was Charles Barkley questioning Green’s size and grit. Green retorted that at 6ft 6in Barkley is actually shorter than him. And following a hard-fought regular-season win over the rival Los Angeles Clippers – who the Warriors nearly faced in the next round – Clippers reserve Dahntay Jones infamously bumped Green from behind during a postgame TV interview. That set off a days-long brouhaha that included LA’s coach Doc Rivers reiterating doubts of Green’s toughness. “Cool story, Glenn,” Green responded in a radio interview, using Rivers’ given, but seldom referred to, first name. Green also got the last laugh when Jones was fined $10,000.
“Yeah, I get after it a little bit,” Green simply said of his reputation as a junk flinger. It’s a skill ingrained in him from an early age coming up on the playgrounds during a sometimes harsh upbringing in Saginaw, Michigan. “I grew up playing against older guys, so if you can’t talk trash you can’t survive out there,” he added. “Some of the trash talk that goes on today, it’s really minor compared to what I grew up hearing.”
Away from the blacktop, Saginaw is a former manufacturing town where unemployment and crime has risen as the population has declined. “There were some tough times,” he admitted, but added it’s not something you just go around talking about. “Basketball was really a way out,” he said when pressed, “so I used that as a resource.” But in 2012 on a visit to his former high school while still at Michigan State, Green explained to students that he has friends serving lengthy prison sentences and that to help change the culture of Saginaw kids first need to get it done in the classroom.
The Warriors star isn’t just a pitchman, but walks the walk. Instead of opting early for the NBA Draft as is so common today, Green hung around as a Spartan in pursuit of what was ultimately an NCAA title that eluded him. But with no regrets, he graduated with honors while exhausting his eligibility after four years. “I love Michigan State,” he said. “As opposed to some guys trying to run away from their college, I feel like my experience went too quick.”
Green is a rare breed among pro athletes, and says from his background in Saginaw and time in East Lansing he learned to manage his money and avoid living extravagantly. In lieu of a swanky residence in posh downtown San Francisco or the spendier parts of Oakland, he chose an unassuming apartment in the East Bay suburb Emeryville where he still lives today. “When you grow up with nothing, you never want to feel that feeling again,” he said.
Even though Green can almost certainly expect a huge contract this offseason, it’s been the Warriors who are the biggest benefactors of his sustained development since selecting him in the second round of the 2012 Draft. Through the playoffs, he’s kept his foot on the pedal. “Draymond Green is the glue that holds the whole thing together for Golden State,” said longtime ESPN basketball analyst and 10-year veteran of the NBA Tim Legler. “What a find for the Warriors. He’s just critical, indispensable for what they’ve done this year.”
Next up, the Houston Rockets – who the Warriors beat four times in four chances during the regular season – will have to try and find a way to shift Green into neutral. But with the Warriors’ improving position for its first championship since 1975, the franchise is hopeful Green can drive them forward once again – this time to the title.
