When it comes to guarding players taller than them, few have fared better than Draymond Green. Standing at just 6’6″, Green has routinely, over the years, guarded centers as part of the “Death Lineup” for the Golden State Warriors and has done a fabulous job.
Next season though, he’ll be facing Victor Wembanyama, who is almost 7’4″, in what would be a challenge unlike any other and Green explained how he would guard the French phenom.
“You got to press up to him,” Green said during an appearance on Podcast P. “You can’t let him get comfortable. If you let him get comfortable you lose because you’re not blocking his shot. He may not even see your contest, like he’s 7’5″, he shoot the ball up here. So with a guy like that you gotta do your work early. I‘m crowding him from the time he starts running up and down the court. When they get the rebound and they start coming I’m crowding because I can’t let him get to a space where he’s comfortable.”
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Green also previously stated that he isn’t going to let Wembanyama just dribble through him, and he’ll make life difficult for the Frenchman. You can also expect Draymond to be very physical with Wembanyama because, as he said, the rookie isn’t even going to see Green contesting the shot. He has to do his work before that and this matchup will be quite interesting.
Draymond Green Thinks Victor Wembanyama Is Being Set Up For Failure
While Green spoke glowingly of Wembanyama, he is a bit concerned for the Frenchman. During this episode, Draymond stated he thinks Wembanyama is being set up for failure.
“I think people are setting him up for failure like, ‘Oh, he’s gonna be an All-Star next year.’ Man, it’s hard to become an All-Star in this league,” Green said. “Now if he do, God be with him, more power to you. But to say like he’s gonna be an All-Star next year as if he don’t have to figure this game out, I don’t really buy that.”
Becoming an All-Star as a rookie is not something that happens very often and having that kind of expectation from Wembabyama might be a bit much. The last rookie to be an All-Star was Blake Griffin and he had actually missed his first season due to injury. He was technically a rookie but had been with the Los Angeles Clippers for a year already.
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