The reigning Defensive Player of the Year is making a bit of a stunning admission about his play on that end of the floor this season.
In an interview with Connor Letourneau of the San Francisco Chronicle that was published on Saturday, Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green admitted that he has not been as good defensively in 2017-18.
“I think I kind of caused a little more confusion on the defensive end last season than I have this year for other teams,” said the two-time All-Star. “I’ve been OK, but I don’t think I’ve been great.”
Letorneau also notes that Green has said publicly that he had “so many things going on” in his personal life earlier in the season that he found it difficult to consistently play with his usual levels of intensity.
Indeed, Green’s defensive metrics have slipped noticeably from his DPOY campaign last season — he has gone from 2.0 steals a game to 1.4 this season, from 5.0 to 2.8 in defensive box score plus-minus (per Basketball Reference), and from 99.3 to 101.3 in overall defensive rating (per NBA.com). He has also missed seven games now with various minor knee, foot, and shoulder injuries.
Even with Kevin Durant doing more for them defensively this year, the Dubs have dropped to the sixth-ranked defense in the league from second-ranked last season. That glimmer of mortality has even emboldened some rivals to take swipes at them over their play on that end. Nevertheless, for a team with little reason to care much about the regular season, Green and the Warriors still seem like a safe bet to flip the proverbial switch on D come playoff time.
