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The NBA's lead decision-makers, shocker, believe Stephen Curry is the best pure shooter in basketball. General managers across the league also voted the Golden State Warriors superstar as the best player at moving without the ball, best leader and the player they'd most want taking a shot with the game on the line.
Just as unsurprising as that peerless league-wide confidence in the attributes that have long made Curry truly one of one? The same annual survey of the NBA's general managers projecting new-look Golden State to finish eighth in an absolutely loaded Western Conference—not good enough to swing a win-now trade and make real noise in the playoffs, but not bad enough to initiate a real rebuild around Curry while hoping for lottery luck in the twilight of his career.
Relatedly, no one else on the Warriors' roster was voted top-five of any individual category in this year's GM survey. Even Jonathan Kuminga missed out on that distinction for most athletic player, merely receiving votes behind a group led by Anthony Edwards that also featured Giannis Antetokounmpo, Ja Morant and twins Amen and Ausar Thompson.
Take issue with Kuminga's standing there all you want. At just 22, his extremely rare blend of vertical pop, sudden burst and functional strength is unimpeachable.
Just as ironclad for years and years running was Draymond Green's case as arguably the best defender in the NBA. Golden State's competitors agreed. Coming off his first season as a starter in the mid-2010s to just this time last year, only once—ahead of 2020-21, after lazing his way through the Dubs' injury-ravaged prior campaign—had Green not received enough votes in the annual GM survey to rank top-five in best defensive player.
Make it twice. The future Hall-of-Famer was conspicuously absent altogether from that category in this year's exercise, not even among the group of 10 players who received a single vote.
Is there a legitimate chance Green is the league's top defender in 2024-25? Probably not with Victor Wembanyama around, and younger aces like Bam Adebayo and Herb Jones are better suited to play with the tireless motor it takes to wreak defensive havoc every other trip down the floor anyway. The 34-year-old's days of competing for Defensive Player of the Year, basically, are likely over.
But can Golden State really reach the heights it must on that end this season if Green isn't healthy, available and playing at an All-Defense level?
Evidence of Draymond Green's defensive decline
Surely some of the front office honchos who didn't vote Green as basketball's top defensive player would nevertheless choose him as the defender you'd most want with the game on the line and one possession remaining.
Nobody processes the game faster than Green, and his hands remain cat quick and gorilla strong. The all-court versatility that helped build the Dubs' dynasty, propel him to stardom and change how basketball is played forever hasn't vanished entirely. Entering his 13th season, Green is still fully capable of blowing up big possessions pretty much all by himself.
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What lags behind now compared to his prime is Green's ability to make that impact on defense some 50-plus times per game, a reality reflected in on-off numbers from his 55 appearances a year ago. While the Warriors sported a solid 112.9 defensive rating when Green was on the floor last season, that number rose less than a point to 113.7 as he got a breather, according to pbpstats.com.
Opponent shooting luck is one reason why Golden State's defensive rating barely dropped off in games Green played. Far more damning ones as it relates to his future? Green's lack of consistently sharp teeth even as a switch defender, but especially a rim-protector.
That he's no longer airtight while guarding the likes of Devin Booker or Jaylen Brown—let alone faster point guards—on switches accounts for just a small part of Green's defensive decline. It was magnified further last season coupled with him allowing 60.3% shooting at the rim, per NBA.com/stats, a whopping 9.2 percentage points worse than his elite number from 2022-23.
The eye test tells the same story as the numbers. Green still has the barrel chest and endless arms he's always used to be a game-changing deterrent at the rim, but no longer possesses the leaping ability needed to meet challengers at the mountain top. That obvious decrease in explosiveness is only more apparent on the rare occasions Green is a half step slow in rotation on the back line, too.
Warriors must manage elite defense to compete in West
Golden State's path to surpassing expectations this season and easily avoiding the play-in tournament is clear. Few teams in the league boast the Dubs' depth of quality talent, especially defensively. But after missing out on Lauri Markkanen and Paul George this summer, their need to compensate on the other side of the ball for that nonexistent No. 2 behind Curry and an overall lack of offensive firepower is more dire than ever.
Surrounding an all-time defender like Green with enough versatile talent used to be a reliable recipe for a top-five defense. If he really isn't worth a passing mention as the NBA's best defensive player, though, do the Warriors even have the main ingredient needed to be among the league's stingiest teams in 2024-25?
That such a question begs asking points to just how flimsy Golden State's hopes of even making the play-in could be this season—unless, of course, Green proves his many doubters across NBA front offices wrong.
