Draymond Green, a key element of the success of the Warriors since the beginning of their dynasty. For The Athletic, the Golden State player opened up about his career and the Hall of Fame. For him, his name will enter the pantheon of the greatest players in the history of basketball, but not having followed the same path as most of the current members.
Over the past decade, Draymond Green has repeatedly proven the impact he can have on the game. With the Warriors, the strong winger has often exceeded his role as a player to become a real psychological poison among opponents. A practice that has allowed the Warriors to win important matches during all of their Playoff campaigns… but also to lose some on a few occasions.
However, the image that we retain today of Draymond Green is that of the guy who will catch the opposing players to harass them until they crack and start to stammer their basketball. All this does not enter the statistics, but makes Dray a candidate for the Hall of Fame, according to himself.
“I think…and I hope I’ll be in the Hall of Fame. But my road will not have been the one that others took to get there. You’re not going to look at my stats and say ‘This guy will definitely be a Hall of Famer’. But if you know basketball, if you watch basketball, then I think I have the record. That’s how I see it. No, my path to the Hall of Fame will not be the one that people take the traditional way. I still have work to do to keep filling it up, but I think I can have a strong case” – Draymond Green
Well, it’s hard to blame his friend Draymond. On paper, the man’s stats are clearly not those of a Hall of Fame contender, but all his contribution to the game makes him a candidate. Solid ? Perhaps not enough, but the handyman of Golden State has the merit of recognizing that he still has to improve his work to become indisputable. This season, the man turns to 7.9 points, 7 rebounds and 6.7 assists for 50.2% shooting success.
So how do you improve your record? A fifth title would be the perfect condition, but the Warriors of this fiscal year 2022-23 are not ideally launched to achieve it. eighths of the West with very poorly managed trips, Steve Kerr’s men must show a much more solid rigor than that which they currently offer to hope – even before imagining a long campaign in the Playoffs – a qualification for the spring games of the NBA. More defense above all, because like the match against the Wizards, the spaces left vacant in the game are just too big to hope to win matches.
These Warriors are capable of it, they have already proven time and time again that they have the resources to get out of difficult situations. However, we will have to get started quickly, because the gaps with the western summit are already significant and will quickly become insurmountable if no effort in the game is made on the Bay side.
Source : ESPN, The Athletic