It hasn't been the cleanest season for Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green.
The decline has set in for the 36-year-old future Hall of Famer as the Warriors' season has see-sawed above and below .500, with injuries to Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler derailing their championship aspirations.
You can see it in his diminished effect on the offense– the Warriors are 5.7 points worse per 100 possessions when Green is on the floor, the worst on/off offensive point differential since his rookie season. You can see it in his slip defensively. While the Warriors still allow fewer points when Green's on the floor, 1.2 points less per 100 possessions, it's the second-most they've allowed when he's been on the floor in his career.
The player who made his money being an on/off, plus/minus, advanced statistics demigod just hasn't been that guy this season. He has looked mortal this season. The Warriors know it, Steve Kerr knows it, and to an extent, Green knows it. Green stared his basketball mortality in the face this past trade deadline, during the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes that ultimately never came to pass.
And the challenge this season has been how to make the most of a former DPOY and all-time player on the back end of his career.
Kerr's tried playing Green at the four next to stretch centers Al Horford, Quinten Post, and now Kristaps Porzingis, so as not to burn him out physically at the five. They've done the opposite and gone old-school, rocking with him at small-ball five with a bunch of shooters.
But of all the solutions the Warriors have tried lately, the one that has gotten him reenergized has come on the defensive end – taking on the primary assignment guarding opposing stars on the perimeter.
Guarding the best of the best
Over the last three games, the Warriors have switched defensive philosophies in how they use Green defensively. Instead of using him on the backend of the defense, where he can quarterback the defense, they've committed him to guarding the opposing team's star perimeter player.
That's meant guarding the likes of Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, maybe the craziest gauntlet of offensive talent you can give to a defender. But the results yielded positives. The Warriors, down Curry and a handful of players, fought valiantly in all three games. And Green looked as lively and as energized as he has looked all season.
“I think our coaching staff has figured out I have a lot more energy when I'm given that kind of assignment,” Green said. “To draw those responsibilities at this point in my career is amazing. And it energizes me a lot because, number one, my team needs me… And then also– I'm a very prideful person. I can't just go out there and get murdered.”
Green tends to shine the brightest when the best of the best step onto the court. The same vigor we're seeing now, we saw in those Victor Wembanyama matchups earlier this season.
“I think it excites him when we give him the task of, ‘You guard the best player,'” Kerr said. “He loves it. He's so up for the challenge. He's still one of the great defensive players in the game. The last few games, between Shai and Kevin and Kawhi, he's guarded three of the hardest guys on earth. And done a phenomenal job.”
And that juice has carried over to the offense. Eight assists in the Rockets' win, four 3-pointers in the narrow loss to OKC. Nothing outstanding, but far from the liability he's looked like at times on that end.
How Draymond Green on the perimeter changes the Warriors' defense
Those stars still got to their bag, that's just how it works in the NBA. But the tactic rattled the Clippers, Rockets, and Thunder's offense by keeping the Dubs' defensive shell intact. By stifling the head of the snake of these offenses, the Warriors avoid overhelping and selling out to stop them. Why waste two players and compromise the help when you can use Green to do that and avoid a 4-0n-3 disadvantage on the backend?
“Part of the reason we go to [me on the top opposing scorer] is so we don’t have to help so much,” Green explained. “And I have to take on that responsibility and make sure that we don’t have to help.”
But the other carryover effect of this kind of tactic is the potential for bigger lineups. Kerr closed the OKC game with a huge Green, Horford, Porzingis, Gui Santos, and Brandin Podziemski lineup. A lineup in which Green was essentially playing small forward, something he hasn't done since the Mark Jackson days.
It's not a lineup Kerr anticipates using often, but the process behind that lineup might see more usage. With the size they have in Horford and Porzingis, the Warriors can afford to sic Green onto a star perimeter matchup. That way, they can maintain their goal of not having to overhelp so often.
“I love it,” Green said of potentially rolling with big lineups. “I think when you have more size out there, you're just able to cover up more. You're able to cover up mistakes. And then you're able to close gaps as well when you have more length. So I like it.”
But the question will be whether Green and the Dubs can sustain that juice they've found for him. Will there be enough motivation when it's a game against the star-less Utah Jazz or Sacramento Kings? Consistency's been the struggle for Green this season. They know he can summon it when the lights are brightest, that's what this three-game stretch proved. But can he find the motivation to do it when they aren't so bright?
Regardless, the Draymond Green they have humming right now is the one the Warriors need. Kerr and Green have found the right buttons to push. And the other thing this three-game stretch proved is that late-stage Green still has a lot to give the Warriors.
“Give Draymond the toughest task and have a big guy behind him,” Kerr said. “It’s a good formula.”
