How Draymond Green has rediscovered his love for basketball: ‘I want to
be an All-Star again’
'I think Draymond Green is the best defender in the world,' Warriors
coach Steve Kerr said. 'I agree,' Green responded.
>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 21: Golden State Warriors’
Draymond Green (23) reacts to a call during their game against the
Toronto Raptors in the fourth quarter at the Chase Center in San
Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area
News Group)
>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 21: Golden State Warriors’
Draymond Green (23) reacts to a call during their game against the
Toronto Raptors in the fourth quarter at the Chase Center in San
Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area
News Group)
By EVAN WEBECK | ewebeck@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: November 22, 2021 at 8:05 a.m. | UPDATED: November 22, 2021
at 12:38 p.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2021/11/22/so-motivated-so-engaged-draymond-green-has-rediscovered-his-love-for-basketball/

SAN FRANCISCO — Always motivated by his doubters, Draymond Green has
found a new source of fuel this season.

“My son is getting older. My oldest daughter, she’s 7 now. They kind of
get on my ass if we lose,” Green said Sunday after the Warriors’ win
over Toronto, their 15th in 17 games this season, the team’s best start
since Green was last playing this well. “And I think for me, also, I’ve
been (expletive) the last couple years. So my kids don’t really
understand how good I am. …

“When I was playing at the top of my level, they were like 3 and 1. So
that is motivating for me, to play well in front of them so they have an
understanding of what I do.”

A candid Green admitted that he lost his love for the game over the past
couple seasons but that it has been reignited this year, a statement
backed up by his play on the court and the Warriors’ NBA-best record. He
is the anchor of the top-rated defense in the league and the air traffic
controller of the league’s top-scoring offense.

Coach Steve Kerr has seen the change this year.

“He’s so motivated. He’s so engaged every single night. … I think he’s
had just an unbelievable start to the season,” Kerr said, right after he
called Green “the best defender in the world.”

Asked his thoughts on his coach’s assessment, Green was quick to
respond: “I agree.”

He’s making the case so far this season, at least enough to enter the
early conversation for the defensive player of the year award, an honor
he won in 2017, before his kids were old enough to appreciate their
dad’s defensive prowess.

A newcomer to Golden State, Otto Porter Jr. is also becoming enlightened
to everything Green brings to the table. It doesn’t necessarily show up
in a traditional stat line, which shows Green averaging 7.9 rebounds and
7.4 assists per game, near-career highs, but only 7.8 points on his
fewest shot attempts since he became a regular in the starting five.

Porter hadn’t played with Green before, and now that he has, he said he
hasn’t played with any other player like him, either.

“The way he talks on defense, communication. He knows the plays the
other team is going to run,” Porter said. “It helps us out with him in
the back, so we can press up. … With Draymond in the back, it allows us
to get into the ball a lot more, avoid screens, switch screens. He’s
basically the anchor of our defense. So with his energy, we feed off it.”

At 31, with no All-Star nods in three seasons or playoff berths over.
the last two, it was easy to believe Green — and his era of Warriors
basketball with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson — was past his prime. They
had a good run: three championships, the winningest season in NBA
history, a defensive player of the year.

Two years of futility took its toll on the ultra-competitive underdog
from Saginaw, Michigan.

“You kind of go through a lot of (expletive), and the love kind of wanes
a bit,” Green said. “But I’ve just found that love and that joy for the
game, and I’m just enjoying playing basketball and controlling what I
can control. …

“I want to be a defensive player of the year again. I want to be an
All-Star again. That is motivating me,” he continued. “Because a lot of
people had counted me out. Same mistake people made before when I first
came into the league. … A lot of people doubted me, then doubted me
again. That’s fuel to the fire.”

This offseason, he reevaluated his priorities.

“A point of emphasis for myself this year was to simply control what I
can control,” he said. “That means on the court, that means with the
referees, that means off the floor. That’s just a step in my life. I
think it shows on the basketball court.”

One thing in Green’s control was his fitness.

Once known for his escapades, Green says he has mostly cut out alcohol
from his diet and, pardon the cliche, is taking better care of his body
than ever before.

“I used to get after it a bit,” he said, with a knowing chuckle. “I feel
incredible. … When we play on the road and we get off the plane, I can
run down the stairs. And before I used to creep down them stairs, like
knees hurting, feet hurting. … I’m 31 years old now, so I try to do all
the necessary things to make sure my body is in shape and ready to go.”

For a player like Green, sometimes the best metric to measure success is
simply his team’s record in the win-loss column.

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At 15-2, Golden State owns the best record in the NBA. Sure, it’s come
against one of the lightest schedules in the league, but even Green
expressed some surprise that the Warriors have taken care of business as
thoroughly as they have this early in the season.

“Everyone talks about our schedule, and there’s some truth to that. We
haven’t had the toughest schedule in the world,” he said. “But you can
only play who they put out there in front of you. … So I feel good about
it. I know our team feels good about it. We’ve got a lot of confident
guys. We’ve got to continue to get better, though, we’ve got a long ways
to go.”

--
Evan Webeck | Reporter
Evan Webeck covers high-school sports on the field and beyond — and a
little bit of everything else — for the Bay Area News Group. A Pacific
Northwest native and graduate of Arizona State, Evan has previously
worked for The Seattle Times, MLB.com and Sports Illustrated.

Allen wrote:
> How Draymond Green has rediscovered his love for basketball: ‘I want to
> be an All-Star again’
> 'I think Draymond Green is the best defender in the world,' Warriors
> coach Steve Kerr said. 'I agree,' Green responded.
> >SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 21: Golden State Warriors’
> Draymond Green (23) reacts to a call during their game against the
> Toronto Raptors in the fourth quarter at the Chase Center in San
> Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area
> News Group)
> >SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 21: Golden State Warriors’
> Draymond Green (23) reacts to a call during their game against the
> Toronto Raptors in the fourth quarter at the Chase Center in San
> Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area
> News Group)
> By EVAN WEBECK | ewebeck@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
> PUBLISHED: November 22, 2021 at 8:05 a.m. | UPDATED: November 22, 2021
> at 12:38 p.m.
> https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2021/11/22/so-motivated-so-engaged-draymond-green-has-rediscovered-his-love-for-basketball/
>
>
>
> SAN FRANCISCO — Always motivated by his doubters, Draymond Green has
> found a new source of fuel this season.
>
> “My son is getting older. My oldest daughter, she’s 7 now. They kind of
> get on my ass if we lose,” Green said Sunday after the Warriors’ win
> over Toronto, their 15th in 17 games this season, the team’s best start
> since Green was last playing this well. “And I think for me, also, I’ve
> been (expletive) the last couple years. So my kids don’t really
> understand how good I am. …
>
>
> “When I was playing at the top of my level, they were like 3 and 1. So
> that is motivating for me, to play well in front of them so they have an
> understanding of what I do.”
>
> A candid Green admitted that he lost his love for the game over the past
> couple seasons but that it has been reignited this year, a statement
> backed up by his play on the court and the Warriors’ NBA-best record. He
> is the anchor of the top-rated defense in the league and the air traffic
> controller of the league’s top-scoring offense.
>
>
> Coach Steve Kerr has seen the change this year.
>
> “He’s so motivated. He’s so engaged every single night. … I think he’s
> had just an unbelievable start to the season,” Kerr said, right after he
> called Green “the best defender in the world.”
>
> Asked his thoughts on his coach’s assessment, Green was quick to
> respond: “I agree.”
>
> He’s making the case so far this season, at least enough to enter the
> early conversation for the defensive player of the year award, an honor
> he won in 2017, before his kids were old enough to appreciate their
> dad’s defensive prowess.
>
> A newcomer to Golden State, Otto Porter Jr. is also becoming enlightened
> to everything Green brings to the table. It doesn’t necessarily show up
> in a traditional stat line, which shows Green averaging 7.9 rebounds and
> 7.4 assists per game, near-career highs, but only 7.8 points on his
> fewest shot attempts since he became a regular in the starting five.
>
>
> Porter hadn’t played with Green before, and now that he has, he said he
> hasn’t played with any other player like him, either.
>
> “The way he talks on defense, communication. He knows the plays the
> other team is going to run,” Porter said. “It helps us out with him in
> the back, so we can press up. … With Draymond in the back, it allows us
> to get into the ball a lot more, avoid screens, switch screens. He’s
> basically the anchor of our defense. So with his energy, we feed off it.”
>
> At 31, with no All-Star nods in three seasons or playoff berths over.
> the last two, it was easy to believe Green — and his era of Warriors
> basketball with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson — was past his prime. They
> had a good run: three championships, the winningest season in NBA
> history, a defensive player of the year.
>
> Two years of futility took its toll on the ultra-competitive underdog
> from Saginaw, Michigan.
>
> “You kind of go through a lot of (expletive), and the love kind of wanes
> a bit,” Green said. “But I’ve just found that love and that joy for the
> game, and I’m just enjoying playing basketball and controlling what I
> can control. …
>
> “I want to be a defensive player of the year again. I want to be an
> All-Star again. That is motivating me,” he continued. “Because a lot of
> people had counted me out. Same mistake people made before when I first
> came into the league. …  A lot of people doubted me, then doubted me
> again. That’s fuel to the fire.”
>
> This offseason, he reevaluated his priorities.
>
> “A point of emphasis for myself this year was to simply control what I
> can control,” he said. “That means on the court, that means with the
> referees, that means off the floor. That’s just a step in my life. I
> think it shows on the basketball court.”
>
> One thing in Green’s control was his fitness.
>
> Once known for his escapades, Green says he has mostly cut out alcohol
> from his diet and, pardon the cliche, is taking better care of his body
> than ever before.
>
> “I used to get after it a bit,” he said, with a knowing chuckle. “I feel
> incredible. … When we play on the road and we get off the plane, I can
> run down the stairs. And before I used to creep down them stairs, like
> knees hurting, feet hurting.  … I’m 31 years old now, so I try to do all
> the necessary things to make sure my body is in shape and ready to go.”
>
> For a player like Green, sometimes the best metric to measure success is
> simply his team’s record in the win-loss column.
> >
> At 15-2, Golden State owns the best record in the NBA. Sure, it’s come
> against one of the lightest schedules in the league, but even Green
> expressed some surprise that the Warriors have taken care of business as
> thoroughly as they have this early in the season.
>
> “Everyone talks about our schedule, and there’s some truth to that. We
> haven’t had the toughest schedule in the world,” he said. “But you can
> only play who they put out there in front of you. … So I feel good about
> it. I know our team feels good about it. We’ve got a lot of confident
> guys. We’ve got to continue to get better, though, we’ve got a long ways
> to go.”

Green's resurgence this season is as important as any other reason for
the Warriors' dominance to date. He has been a force of nature, and his
offense is coming around a little also.

--Robin