Golden State Warriors veteran Draymond Green is one of the most important players for Steve Kerr's squad, but not exactly for his scoring. He's their best defender, a tremendous playmaker, and most of all, the ultimate leader.
However, Draymond has seen his scoring output improve slightly this season for the Warriors. He recently spilled the tea on why he focused on other areas of the game over the past few years before starting to find his offensive rhythm again in 2021/22:
“When Kevin [Durant] came here, I had to make a decision,” Green told NBA.com's Steve Aschburner. “And the decision for me was, I can continue to shoot the same shots I’ve been shooting, at the same rate I’ve been shooting ‘em, and it will take us a lot longer to figure this thing out. Or I can sacrifice my shots to get everybody else on this Warriors roster involved and do all the other things that need to be done to make sure this team can be successful. I made the decision right away that I would be the one to sacrifice shots – I didn’t want Klay Thompson doing that, I didn’t want Steph Curry doing that and I didn’t want Kevin coming in, having to figure out how to play any other way than what he was comfortable playing. So that went on for three years.”
The Warriors forward continued:
“The reality is, scoring is a mindset. It’s a mentality,” Green said. “When you’ve totally shut that off for three years, it’s not as simple as people may think to just turn it back on. So I have spent the last couple years turning that mindset back on. I’ll have these games where it’s clicking right away and I’m in attack mode, and then I’ll have games where I kind of get lost in the shuffle and I’m just doing everything else to make sure we’re successful.”
Green made it known that he's trying his absolute best to be a more consistent scorer for the Warriors. While he's averaging just 8.4 points per night, Draymond is shooting 55% from the field and a career-high 61.6% on 2-pointers.
His role on Golden State isn't exactly to be a scoring machine, but the more output he can offer to the Warriors, the better. As he said, it's a mentality. Green is certainly more focused on being a defensive cog and vocal figure. But, it's good to know he can always get a bucket when needed.
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