Draymond Green is well-known as a good defender, and most people would consider him one of the favorites for the DPOY award currently. While he is currently not known for his scoring, there was once a time where he could score relatively well for his role. He averaged 14.0 PPG during the 2015-16 season with the Golden State Warriors.
However, it seems as though things are about to change. When speaking to Steve Aschburner of NBA.com, Draymond Green revealed that he decided to “sacrifice his shots” after Kevin Durant joined the Warriors, but that he has spent “the last couple of years” turning his scoring mindset back on.
Eh, honestly, the reality is this: When Kevin [Durant] came here, I had to make a decision. 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 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 reality is, scoring is a mindset. It’s a mentality. 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.
I am working to make sure that mindset is more constant. I’m working to make sure that’s a nightly mentality. But it doesn’t just happen overnight. It’s a total mindset you have to change. And like with anything else in life, that takes a while. So I think I’m getting there. I’m getting back comfortable with doing it. But it’s a process.
The Golden State Warriors have looked much better than they did last season, and part of the reason is that Draymond Green has looked to score more on the offensive end. Hopefully Green continues to be aggressive going forward.
There are many people who believe that the Golden State Warriors could win the 2021-22 championship. Their record certainly suggests that they have the ability to do so, and we’ll see if that ends up happening.
