Draymond Green is the heart of Golden State Warriors

draymond-green
Copyrights: News.com.au

Draymond Green is the type of player that you want in your team. He hustles he gives his everything he has in order to give his team a better chance of winning the game, and most importantly he offers the Golden State what they need the most, a reliable defender that can guard 5 positions with great success. He has won three NBA titles with the Warriors and has been an all-star three times, while in 2017 he managed to win the Defensive Player of the Year award. He was the original part of the trio of the Curry-Thompson-Green that won an NBA title in the 2014-15 season and managed to have an incredible regular season with 73 wins and only 9 losses. If it weren’t for the miraculous comeback from the Cleveland Cavaliers, they would have won another title. In my opinion, they would have managed to win the next two titles with this team, without any additions. However, Kevin Durant chose the easy way out and joined the Warriors to win a title, something that he couldn’t do with Thunder many years now.
It turns out that Kevin Durant made a good choice for himself and managed to win the title for two years in a row. Kevin Durant will surely be among the best players to have ever played this game and you can put Stephen Curry on that list as well, but this wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible contributions of Draymond Green on both ends of the floor. Defensively he will be able to guard the 7 footers and the point guards and he has impeccable positioning defensively while getting steals left and right. In the 2016-17 season, he was averaging 2 steals per game. When we get back to his offensive contributions, he gives the reigning champs exactly what they need, a player who knows where he has to be and what to do. His point per game average isn’t that high, he has a career average of 9.3 points per game, but he knows how to space the floor and find the open guy that can shoot an easy three. In his past 3 seasons, he averaged more than 7 assists per game, and we can’t forget also his rebounding, he has been averaging 8.3 rebounds per game in the past 4 seasons, in other words, he makes everything easier for Curry, Durant, and Thompson. While he may not be a direct threat to score he will make sure that the right man has the ball at the right time.
This brings us to a very important point, the altercation that happened between him and Kevin Durant. It started when Draymond Green got the rebound with only 5 seconds left on the clock and the score was tied 106 – 106, instead of giving the ball to Kevin Durant he dribbled the ball and had it stolen on the last second of the regulation time. Warriors ended up losing the game and apparently, Kevin Durang was heated and the infamous altercation happened where Draymond Green has apparently told Kevin Durant that they don’t need him and that they have won even before he joined the team. This has caused a lot of headaches to the franchise and they suspended Green for one game and this has raised many questions since things got even worse for the Dubs, they were losing many games that they would normally not lose.
Winning has the effect of squashing beef among players, if Warriors win another NBA title this year, the Dubs dynasty will continue to reign over the rest of the league. However, if they lose this year, many changes can be expected to happen. Kevin Durant is on the last year of his contract and he has stated before that he won’t be taking any pay cuts in order to keep the team together and if you add that to the fact that Draymond Green has another year on his contract, things can get very messy for the Warriors.
Kevin Durant may force the organization to choose between him and Green, meaning that he would sign a new contract with the Warriors only if they trade Draymond Green, or it could be vice versa, Draymond Green would force the front office to choose between him and Durant. While this may not be the end of the Warriors dynasty even if one of them leaves the squad, they would definitely lose a very important piece of their team.

Copyrights: sportskeeda.com
When it comes to the million-dollar question of choosing between Kevin Durant and Draymond Green, I know that many people would choose Kevin Durant without even thinking for longer than a fraction of a second. However, I wouldn’t choose him over Draymond Green, this may sound crazy to so many people, but what Green offers, no one else in the squad can offer, but what Kevin Durant offers, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson can offer. After all, Draymond Green was right, they won without Durant and they still can win without him, with a solid bench and some good role players, they don’t need him.
This may never come to happen since Warriors are back to their winning ways, at the moment they stand 1st on the Western Conference with 18 wins and 9 losses and are on a three-game winning streak. As I said earlier, winning tends to eliminate the inner problems of a team, but we may have to watch from up close to see how this drama will unfold.

The unpredictability of Western Conference

nba-western-conferenceIf you would have told someone before the beginning of the season the 1st ranked and the 14tha ranked on the Western Conference have a difference of 6 games, they would have laughed right at you. But here we are, with seeing teams that were not even in playoff contention last season, play like champion and teams that were close to winning it all last year, now trying their hardest just to qualify for playoffs. The Western Conference hasn’t been this interesting in quite a long time, with every team having the opportunity to qualify or risk not getting into playoffs. The best part is that you have some dark horse teams that have no superstars in their squads and yet they are playing like a contender.
We can start by talking about the Los Angeles Clippers, they have been a joy to watch this season. With great performances from Tobias Harris, Montrezl Harrell, Lou Williams etc. you can’t just rule them out from any game. It’s quite amazing when you think that in a very short period they lost DeAndre Jordan, Blake Griffin, and Chris Paul and yet they are playing like a team that has 3 all-stars. At the moment they sit 4th on the Western Conference, with a losing streak of two games, but they have one of the best records when playing at home, with 9 wins and 2 losses. The way things are going right now, we can definitely expect them to get into playoffs and do some real damage to the contenders.
Memphis Grizzlies have also been surprising people with their game. When you see them playing now, you are reminded of the grit & grind playstyle that has worked well for them in the past. It’s great to see a team doing what they do best instead of trying to imitate everyone, they are sticking with their own game and so far, I got to say that it has been working quite well for them. They are 6th with 15 wins and 10 losses. Simply put, they don’t have the identity to play run and gun while shooting threes every opportunity they get. Good defense is what separates them from the rest of the teams and through that, they are causing a lot of headache for many teams.

Copyrighted by: The Big Lead
If you haven’t been watching Luka Doncic this year, then I am afraid you are missing out on a kid that has been playing like a seasoned vet since the beginning of the season. I am sure that Atlanta Hawks are regretting their decision of drafting Trae Young instead of Doncic when they had the chance. His performance has had a huge impact on the way the Mavericks are playing. They are sitting 8th at the moment, but with these performances, I would definitely not rule them out of the playoff race.
Now it’s time to talk about the negative surprises. Let’s start with the Western Conference finalists of last year, the Houston Rockets. You can’t blame Carmelo Anthony for the Texan teams’ woes, he played in only 10 games and what happened after that is hard to believe. James Harden is nowhere near his MVP form, Chris Paul is playing like an average point guard and Eric Gordon stated that at the moment he is not enjoying the game due to the tough times that the team is going through.
San Antonio Spurs are in complete disarray, and not because of the Kawhi Leonard – DeMar DeRozan trade, it’s just that they can’t adapt to how the game is being played at the moment. The legendary coach, Greg Popovich has publicly stated that he doesn’t like how everything is based on 3pt shooting. However, this isn’t the only problem that Spurs are facing, the injuries are making things a lot harder for them. While they are sitting 12th ar the moment with 13 wins and 14 losses, they still have great chances to get into playoffs, since the season is still young.
New Orleans Pelicans have been a tough team to figure out this season, with 14 wins and 14 losses. At home, they have 10 wins and 4 losses while playing away they have 4 wins and 10 losses. Besides Anthony Davis playing like a machine, Julius Randle seems to have been a great signing for them. He is putting some solid numbers lately and I am sure that if they get into playoffs they will cause some serious damage to whoever they face.
With only a third of the games being played so far, only Phoenix Suns don’t have any realistic chances of getting into playoffs, while the other teams have every opportunity to qualify or fall from grace. Earlier on this season, we saw that even giants like the Golden State Warriors have their weaknesses and that LeBron James is a man that can lead a Western Conference squad into performing like a contender at times. While it is still not clear, who will qualify for the playoffs, one thing is for sure, the rest of the season will be fun to watch.