Draymond Green has gone down as one of the greatest draft steals of all time, with the Golden State Warriors selecting him with the No. 35 pick in the 2012 NBA Draft. Green should have gone much higher than he did, and put himself at No. 3 when he re-drafted the lottery picks of the 2012 draft on the latest episode of The Draymond Green Show.
“No. 1, I still think you have to go with Anthony Davis,” Green said. “I don’t think you can move Anthony Davis out that No. 1 slot. AD is on the Top 75 player list. AD has a championship. AD has, I think, nine All-Stars. He’s definitely lived up to the No. 1 pick. Hasn’t had an MVP, but AD No. 1, hands down.
“Damian Lillard will be No. 2,” Green stated. “Nine-time All-Star, seven-time All-NBA performer. Been incredible throughout his entire career. Dame got to be No. 2. And by the way, on my re-draft, I’m re-drafting off body of work. That’s individual accolades, that’s team accolades, and the whole thing mixed together… At No. 3 will be yours truly, myself, Draymond Green in the re-draft.
“That is nine-time All-Defensive Team, Defensive Player of the Year one time, four-time NBA champion, two-time Olympic gold medal, although that don’t matter on here,” Green continued. “Two-time All-NBA, one-time second team, one-time third team. Yeah, make no mistake about it, that is No. 3.
“No. 4 would be Bradley Beal,” Green added. “I think Bradley Beal, three-time All-Star, one-time All-NBA, belongs right at No. 4. At No. 5, we got Khris Middleton, another fellow second-rounder. This was a tough one. You had Andre Drummond lurking around right there, but ultimately Khris Middleton is a champion, and he was one of the dudes to help them really win that championship. Three-time All-Star, originally drafted with the 39th pick.”
This top five was followed by Andre Drummond at No. 6, Harrison Barnes at No. 7, Jae Crowder at No.8, Dion Waiters at No. 9, Evan Fournier at No. 10, Will Barton at No. 11, Maurice Harkless at No. 12, Austin Rivers at No. 13, and Festus Ezeli at No. 14. So, here is what Green’s final order looks like.
1. Anthony Davis
2. Damian Lillard
3. Draymond Green
4. Bradley Beal
5. Khris Middleton
6. Andre Drummond
7. Harrison Barnes
8. Jae Crowder
9. Dion Waiters
10. Evan Fournier
11. Will Barton
12. Maurice Harkless
13. Austin Rivers
14. Festus Ezeli
Now, Green was definitely being a bit biased by including Ezeli, his former Warriors teammate. As for the rest, Waiters might be too high, but there is no one else you could point to as completely out of place. This was quite a fair re-draft, for the most part.
You’d imagine a player would rank themselves too high, but No. 3 is about right for Green. The argument, of course, would be that Bradley Beal should be above him, but he doesn’t really have the accolades.
Beal has made three All-Star teams and one All-NBA Third Team. He did average over 30 points a game in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons for the Washington Wizards, but had little to no team success. The Wizards missed the playoffs that first year and were knocked out in the first round the next.
As for Green, he is a four-time NBA champion who has made four All-Star, two All-NBA, and nine All-Defensive teams. The 36-year-old also won DPOY in 2017 and is going to end up in the Hall of Fame.
While Green has a pretty good resume, even he knows there is no argument for him to be above Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard. Davis and Lillard both making the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team might have been a bit controversial, but they have had excellent careers and are the unquestioned top two for 2012.
