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Draymond Green has made no secret of his desire to reclaim the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award this season. With barely more than a left to play before the playoffs, though, the Golden State Warriors star is apparently resigned to the fact that his team's relative labors will keep him from winning his desired hardware.
“With where our defense is playing as a team, it’s impossible,” Green told The Athletic's Anthony Slater of his chances to be named Defensive Player of the Year for a second time. “That falls on me as the leader of that side of the ball.”
Green, who won the award in 2017 and finished runner up each of the two previous seasons, didn't stop there. Golden State, losers of five of their last eight games, has struggled to integrate DeMarcus Cousins defensively of late, leading to a new strategy of switching the lumbering big man onto opposing ball handlers rather than having him play traditional pick-and-roll defense, one that reared its ugly head in an ugly 128-95 loss to the Boston Celtics on Wednesday. As Green insists, though, the Warriors' play on that side of the ball has been subpar for the greater part of the season.
“So many people are looking at the starting lineup and saying ‘Oh, DeMarcus in there, the defense is worse,” he said. “But our defense has been horses*** not matter who is in there.”
Golden State's 109.5 defensive rating for the season as a whole ranks 16th league-wide, a far cry from its norm under Steve Kerr. The two-time defending champions have actually fared better defensively since Cousins debuted in mid January, notching a 13th-ranked 109.4 defensive rating.
