Why Warriors’ Draymond Green should – or shouldn’t – win the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award
HOUSTON – Draymond Green’s energy is obvious to anyone who watches him play.
It is hard to miss the 35-year-old flying around the court like a man 10 years younger, blowing up plays from the 3-point line to the rim while guarding all five positions.
The future Hall of Famer has been the team’s full-time center this season, showing off his elite strength while battling with post players five or six inches taller than himself.
And yet, longtime assistant coach Ron Adams pointed to Green’s intelligence as perhaps his greatest strength and the biggest reason he – along with Cleveland’s Evan Mobley and Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels – is a finalist for the Defensive Player of the Year award.
“Draymond has always had the gift of seeing plays develop early,” Adams told the Bay Area News Group on Tuesday. “As I like to say, the pictures of the game come quickly to him. That allows him to not just react to a play, but act early.”
The winner will be announced on Thursday afternoon at 3:30 PT.
The bar for Defensive Player of the Year was set so high that Houston’s Amen Thompson, the breakout San Leandro native who Green and the Warriors are facing in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, was not a finalist.
Green will face stiff competition for the award, which he previously won in 2016-17. He, Mobley and Daniels all have strong arguments for taking home the prestigious honor.
Dyson Daniels
Bio: Atlanta, 22 years old, shooting guard/small forward, third year
Stats: 3.0 steals per game, 0.7 blocks per game, 5.8 deflections per game
Making the case: The Australian Daniels – known as the Great Barrier Thief – is a rangy defensive wing who emerged from the anonymity of being a role player on New Orleans to an everyday starter in Atlanta as the crown jewel of the Hawks’ trade that sent Dejounte Murray to the Pelicans. The 6-foot-7 wing led the league in both steals and deflections while playing 33.8 minutes per game. While the Hawks were bounced in the play-in and were a middling 18th in defensive rating (114.8), it cannot be pinned on Daniels. It is not his fault that he plays with the human traffic cone known as Trae Young.
Evan Mobley
Bio: Cleveland, 23 years old, power forward/center, fourth year
Stats: 1.6 bpg, 0.9 spg, 10.4 contested shots per game
Making the case: Mobley anchored a top-10 defense in the NBA according to defensive rating (111.8) and was arguably the most valuable player on the top seed in the Eastern Conference. The SoCal native averaged a healthy 1.6 blocks per game, but that undersold how active he was as a deterrent. He contested 10.4 shots per game, third in the league, and helped hold teams to just 52% shooting on 2-point shots, the second-lowest mark in the NBA. He was also not afraid of defending the perimeter despite standing at 6-foot-10. Mobley contested 3.2 3-pointers per game and was named an All-Star for the first time.
Draymond Green
Bio: Golden State, 35, power forward/center, 13th year
Stats: 1.5 spg, 1.0 bpg, 9.1 contests per game
Making the case: Green has made a late push from afterthought to possible frontrunner since the Warriors’ midseason turnaround following the Jimmy Butler trade. Golden State has led the league in defensive rating (109.0) since the trade, but it is clear that the league credits a rejuvenated Green for that uptick. He was named the league’s Defensive Player of the Month for March after the Warriors went 11-4. Green put up solid counting stats in both steals and blocks, but as Adams said, much of his impact is intangible. Green is still the most versatile defender in the NBA, capable of guarding all five positions for long stretches.