Draymond Green has defied his odds coming into the NBA, drafted as the No. 35 overall pick by the Golden State Warriors, and notably able to memorize every player selected before him in that 2012 NBA Draft.
But his trajectory into the upper echelon of a star-studded league has come from more than just a never-ending motor and a relentless chip-on-the-shoulder attitude throughout his first five years in the league.
Green went from being the No. 334 prospect the year he was drafted to reaching No. 10 on ESPN's most-recent rankings — leapfrogging his way from having a job in the NBA to superstardom.
“I can't say that when I stepped into the league I thought that,” Green told ESPN's Chris Haynes, reacting to his ranking. “I think coming into the league, you just want to figure it out after being a second-round pick. My whole mindset is just to prove everyone wrong. I just wanted to show that I belonged and tried to have a good career. I can't say that I foresaw this, but it's a special thing with all the hard work.”
Green recalls when he first started seeing his own potential and how he was encouraged to tap into it, eventually coming into the limelight and performing accordingly to his star-high expectations.
“I can remember as my years went on, people close to me let me see that I could really be good in this league,” said Green. “I used to say to my Nike rep Adrian Stelly, I said, ‘Stells, man, I think I can be an All-Star in this league.' He was like, ‘Man, do it. I think you can, too,' and I became an All-Star.”
“But it was a progression. It wasn't like coming to the league and I'm like, ‘Yeah, I'm going to be an All-Star' or yes, ‘Someday people are going to view me as a top-10 player in this league.' You just want to be good and let the rest kind of handle itself.”
Green's innate ability to fill up the stat sheet in different ways and become a factor in wins for his team is an uncanny, yet supremely important skill that has propelled him into this position — ranging from having key stops at the defensive end to being that third, and sometimes even second scoring option on the court to fuel one of the Warriors' signature ongoing runs.
“My goal was to show you don't have to put up those numbers to be considered a great player, and I think I've helped carve out that lane,” Green concluded. “So, I think it's really being true to who you are and then creating value around whatever that is.”
“For me, it's doing all the little things. Being one of the best passing forwards in the game, defending like crazy, knocking down open shots when they are there. But really, understanding that at the end of the day, the most important thing is winning, so what are you going to do to help your team win? And I think when I looked at the entire situation, that's just what it was for me.”
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