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Golden State Warriors All-Star Draymond Green has established himself as one of the best power forwards in today's NBA. There was a time, however, when he didn't play the 4 much at all. In fact, when he first came into the league from Michigan State, then-head coach Mark Jackson was utilizing him as a backup 3 (small forward).
Green played both the 3 and 4 positions in college, but it was unclear what sort of role he should serve in an NBA setting. He played the 3 for a while, but he says it almost had him “out of the league:”
“Yeah, (playing) the 3 almost had me out of the league. Especially in our offense then, the 3 was just spotting up,” Green told Tim Kawakami of The Athletic. “When you get it, shoot. And I’m not a spot-up shooter. And then I was dealing will all type of knee tendinitis. So my shot was brutal. But I could defend. And that’s what kind of got me on the floor and that’s what kept me around.
“But the 3 spot almost had me out of the league,” Green added. “The next year I played more 4, which I felt like obviously was my natural position. It was a lot better for me.”
Switching to the power forward position has paid off in a big way for Green, and it's clear that he is more comfortable in that role.
In 66 appearances with the Warriors during their 2018-19 regular season campaign (all starts), Green racked up averages of 7.4 points on 44.5 percent shooting from the field, 7.3 rebounds, 6.9 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.1 blocks in 31.3 minutes per outing.
Many experts view Green as the heart of the Warriors, despite the fact that there are other superstar names on their roster. In many ways, they're right.
