Fresh off winning a championship in 2021, Draymond Green and the Golden State Warriors had high ambitions for this NBA season. Unfortunately, things haven’t panned out as they hoped so far.
At just 9-10 on the season, the Dubs have really struggled to win games at the rate they are accustomed to and a large part of that has been because of their bench, which ranks near the bottom of the league.
After letting go of some key veterans over the summer, Golden State’s second unit is made up of mostly young guys who are struggling to keep their team in games. This week, ahead of Thanksgiving break, Draymond sent a message to those guys as he candidly explained some of the biggest problems.
“It’s not so much the point total that’s been lost, it’s the energy. And then you try to come back from that and it’s impossible to overcome. So I think that is the importance of it. Just making sure that we’re able to sustain the level of energy needed to win at a high level… As a second unit, your job isn’t to go out there and build a lead. Your job is to maintain the lead. If the first unit fails to build a lead, then your job is to slow down and settle the game in. That’s just kind of been my focus.”
Draymond Green: “As a second unit, your job isn’t to go out there and build a lead. Your job is to maintain the lead. If the first unit fails to build a lead, then your job is to slow down and settle the game in. That’s just kind of been my focus." pic.twitter.com/Y0nQgh3Ag8
— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) November 24, 2022
Draymond Green Isn’t Taking Warriors’ Early Skid Lightly
While some fans and experts have taken a light stance on the Warriors’ current slide, Green isn’t letting himself forget it. As Dray explained in a recent press conference, he thinks the struggles are real but also believes his team can overcome them.
“I think the struggles are real,” Dray said. “Like, I don’t think our struggles are just like something we can ignore. They’re real struggles. They’re very fixable struggles. I don’t want to say they can be easily fixed, because to say something is easy in this profession is a lie in itself. But they are very fixable. The question is, ‘How long does it take to fix them?’ It’s not something I’m overly worried about. You’d rather have them sooner rather than later. But in saying that, to build what we’re trying to build, we do understand that it takes time. Now, how do you (do that) while winning? We’ve been in this position before, where we’ve had struggles and things that we needed to work on and that we had to fix. But we were able to learn while winning, and so it’s not as glaring or noticeable. Right now we’ve been losing, and so those struggles are more evident.”
Given what we’ve seen from this team over the past eight years, it’s hard not to give them the benefit of the doubt. Even now, with how bad their bench unit looks, it’s impossible to count them out considering who they have on the floor when healthy.
Hopefully, starting tomorrow, the Warriors can get back to playing the brand of basketball they pride themselves on. Ultimately, only time will tell how this season turns out for the Warriors.
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