Draymond Green got off to a late start building his case for the Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) award, mainly due to injury. But since rejoining the lineup and working his way into a zone, Green has been making up for lost time.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr not only thinks Green has done enough to be in the DPOY conversation, he believes Green does enough consistently to always be considered for the award.
“He’s always in that conversation,” said Kerr. “There’s only a handful of guys that will be in that conversation every year. Draymond is one of them.”
To stay motivated, Green only needs to think about last year: He lost the DPOY trophy to Rudy Gobert and was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team (rather than First). Having won the award in 2015-16, Green is reportedly peeved to have lost it.
But Green is playing well, and knows it, saying after a recent game against the Utah Jazz:
I was really good defensively. I was able to put it together on that side of the ball. Whether it was on the ball or off the ball, I was making plays on that side of the floor.
Surely Green is hoping to ride his improvements through the rest of the season and give Gobert something else to cry about by taking the DPOY award right back.
