#23 | Power Forward
Going Green, Seeing Red
The list of things most NBA experts believe could deny the Warriors a second championship in three years is short.
A major injury. Overconfidence that leads to sloppy play. A fluky offensive cold streak.
Then there’s that nagging notion lingering from last postseason: That their defensive dynamo and all-around emotional engine could blow a gasket at any time.
Whether Draymond Green likes it or not, it’s a real concern for many Warriors fans. It’s a talking point in the national media, and even more so on social media.
Can Draymond play on the edge without going over it?
Intuitive person that he is, Green’s protective shields go up at the mere hint of the topic. Asked point-blank if he feels he’s harnessed his emotions much better this year, he answered, “Yeah, I think so, but…”
But?
“But we act like it’s been a problem the whole time,” he said. “We won a championship and lost in a Game 7. So it couldn’t have been too bad. That’s the ‘but.’ ”
But … it won’t stop people’s vivid recollections of Game 4 of last year’s NBA Finals, and Green’s subsequent Game 5 suspension that helped the Cleveland Cavaliers get back into the series and eventually win it.
Green’s college coach at Michigan State, Tom Izzo, reflected on the Game 4 LeBron James step-over move that resulted in the suspension and said it was an incident that his former player and the Warriors needed to learn from the hard way. Whether Green was baited into retaliation or not, Izzo believes a steep price was paid.
“I’m not saying (James) did it on purpose, because nobody should step over anybody at any level,” Izzo said. “I thought it was kind of a weak technical call myself. But do I think it had an impact on the game? I definitely do. Draymond is involved in so many winning plays both offensively and defensively, it’s harder to lose him than any player on that team. That doesn’t mean he’s the best player, but he might be the best winner.
“He’s so valuable to the team that some of that stuff as far as technicals, he’s got to figure out a way not to let it happen. I still feel that way.”
Green had another fabulous All-Star season. He led the league in steals. He’s a good bet to win NBA Defensive Player of the Year. He was second in assists behind James among forwards. Nobody his size had remotely as many blocked shots. And his team finished the regular season 67-15.
Detractors, however, point to his 15 technical fouls, tied for second-most in the league behind DeMarcus Cousins and one short of the automatic suspension limit, and two flagrant fouls. They bring up his on-court scolding of Kevin Durant and a couple of notable sideline clashes with coach Steve Kerr.
Draymond Green celebrates his 3-point basket in the first quarter of the Warriors’ blowout victory in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals (Nhat V. Meyer/Staff)
For his part, however, Kerr maintained Green has exhibited tremendous emotional growth this season in spite of those occasional boil-over moments in the heat of battle.
“He picks his spots now, when to talk and when to back off, which makes his words more effective,” Kerr said. “I just think he’s gotten wiser. Maybe fatherhood helped a little bit, too, and the experiences of what he’s gone through in his young career.”
To be sure, Green has no shortage of people looking out for his best interests with support and advice. Izzo, who still talks or texts with him multiple times a week, loves him like a son. There’s Luke Walton, the former Warriors assistant coach and confidant, who still talks to him regularly. There’s Kerr, of course. And no one should forget one of his toughest critics — his mother, Mary Babers-Green — who always has her son’s ear.
But Green picked up an important new ally and unofficial guardian angel this season with the Warriors’ signing of 14-year veteran big man David West. Green acknowledges West has been a sage voice for him in a lot of areas, including how to best apply his emotional effervescence.
“He’s helped me a lot, talked to me a lot about channeling that,” Green said. “Knowing when to use that, knowing how not to let it work against me. He’s helped me with everything — emotionally, leadership-wise, seeing different things with the game. He’s extremely smart.”
Despite being fouled by LeBron James, Draymond Green scores two of his 12 points in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Staff)
Added Kerr regarding West, “David has provided so much leadership, and particularly for Draymond. He’s just a voice of reason. There have been times when Draymond has gotten pretty emotional and David has pulled him aside and calmed him down by saying something much more valuable than anything I could say or any of the coaches could say.”
West fully understands Green must play with a high emotional intensity to get the most out of his skill set.
“I don’t think he’s as effective if he’s not pushing that line,” West said. “I just talk to him about letting his mind get him through it. Sometimes when you get emotional, your thoughts become scattered and you’re all over the place. You just have to know time and place. You don’t want to take that emotion away, though, because it’s what makes him unique.
“It’s just about him having that control, knowing when to rev it up, pull it back. I’ve tried to help him snap out of it a few times. I think sometimes he gets so gone, you have to be able to pull him back.”
Another veteran player who is no stranger to driving himself with emotional play, the Lakers’ Metta World Peace, watches and admires Green from afar and hopes he learned from last year’s suspension and warned that other players will do whatever is necessary — even bait a high-emotion player — to get under their skin.
Did LeBron?
“No, that was all (Green’s) fault. He made a mistake, but everybody makes mistakes,” World Peace said. “He has to learn from it and I think he did. He knows he can’t win a title sitting in the locker room on a suspension. He has been the type of player you could bait, but I think he’s smart enough now not to take the bait. He’s very intelligent.”
World Peace doesn’t worry about Green’s technical count.
“He gets technical fouls, but you’re allowed one tech before you get ejected,” he said. “Sometimes you can take a tech that’ll change the game. Sometimes his techs look very calculated, and he’s doing it for the right reasons. They get his team into it.”
They still drive Izzo nuts, though. The coach said he was watching a game last week on TV where Green was jawing at a ref and he started yelling, “Don’t do it! Don’t do it!” He promptly sent him admonishing texts that he’d read after the game.
Izzo added that he has talked with Kerr and Warriors general manager Bob Myers many times about Green. He thought it was a great thing that Myers sat with Draymond in an A’s suite during Game 5 last year to support him during the suspension. In short, he knows the Warriors realize the rewards of his play far outweigh the risks of his temper.
“You have to understand Draymond to deal with it,” Izzo said. “He did that here (at Michigan State) where he would get angry and upset. Does he once in a while get carried away? Sure. But people who do that, wear their emotions on their sleeve, let me tell you, I’ve made mistakes myself. But at least when people come to a game, they know it matters to me. I always know it matters to Draymond. Is that worth a little B.S. once in a while? Damn right it is.”