Draymond Green and the evolution of NBA defense

NBA conversation, both in the media and among fans, is driven by offense. It is far more common to hear people talk about the player who dropped 40 points, or buried 10 threes than it is to hear them talk about the player who played out of their mind on defense. Great offense provides so much of our entertainment, it controls the league more than ever, it’s (wrongfully) far more important in defining stardom than defense, and it’s what everyone likes talking about. The future of the NBA is being transformed before our very eyes. Each time we see a Stephen Curry explosion or Anthony Davis take a bunch of threes, it’s impossible to deny the game is becoming more and more three-point oriented. And as we get swept up in the madness, it’s easy to overlook a player like Draymond Green, who is just as vital in shaping the future of the league as anyone else.

It’s not surprising Green’s name doesn’t come up when we talk about the changing dynamic of the game. At last, he’s being recognized as a star — if you fully appreciate his exceptional defensive versatility and overall importance to the Golden State Warriors, he might even be considered a superstar — but unlike most other stars in the NBA, he didn’t make a name for himself with his offensive impact. Before Green was shooting 38 percent from three and averaging 7.4 assists per game, as he has this season, he was little more than a gritty defensive specialist.

Green had to evolve offensively — to help take the Dubs’ ball movement and scoring to even more ridiculous levels — before he was acknowledged as the tough backbone of this Warriors team. If he hadn’t expanded his offensive repertoire, there’s no way he would have become an All-Star for the first time this season.

The value we place on offense won’t change, especially as success in the league becomes more and more reliant on effective floor spacing. Players need to be able shoot. If they can’t, opponents will simply sag off them, nullifying their threat, and preventing the team from function effectively as a five-man offensive unit. And if that happens, an offense can quickly shut down, to a point where no amount of defensive authority will be able to compensate.

However, there is more than one way to combat the three-point craze. As elite offenses continue to increase their firepower, whether it’s the historical Warriors or the star-studded Oklahoma City Thunder, versatile defensive threats are now more valuable than ever.

Over the last 20 years, only two perimeter players have been crowned Defensive Player of the Year. Gary Payton, the only point guard to win the award, claimed the honor in 1996, while Ron Artest (now Metta World Peace) did so in 2004. Last year, the most dominant wing defender in the world, Kawhi Leonard, became the first non-big man to win the award since Artest. Players like Leonard and Green are a welcome sight in the new era of the NBA. When it comes to controlling today’s offenses, perimeter defenders are just as important as centers who can control the paint. The exciting thing about Green is that he can do both.

Dominant low-post centers are scarce in today’s NBA, but even centers as dominant as DeMarcus Cousins, Al Horford and Anthony Davis are trying to develop three-point shots. It’s just the direction the sport is headed. Fifteen years ago, three-point shooting and floor spacing was far less prominent. The average total of three-point attempts for a team over the 2000-01 season was 1,124, while the average per game was 17. In 2014-15, those numbers had soared to 1,838 and 26.8, respectively, and they continue to rise.

This is why it doesn’t make sense that we talk so little about the future of defense. To combat the evolution of scoring, defenses will also need to adjust. A key reason why the Warriors’ “death lineup,” featuring Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green has achieved a +48.4 net rating this season is because Green can defend so well at center. It’s easy to focus on their small-ball success, which is based on the fact that everyone can shoot and pass so effortlessly, yet there’s far more to it than that. It’s so easy to see the barrage of shots and overlook how good they are at the other end of the floor. They are boasting a +3.8 total rebounding differential and a +3.5 blocks differential despite lacking size.

The best part of Green’s defensive versatility is that he excels protecting the post, while also possessing the quickness and determination to cover wings on the perimeter. He isn’t just some scrappy, undersized player who can masquerade as a center in small bursts. He’s genuinely a great center. The ability to run fast breaks, drive and kick the ball, facilitate from the top of the key and shoot just shy of 40 percent from three are assets that make him a deadly playmaker on offense, one capable of anchoring the best lineup in the NBA this season.

But Green really sets himself apart in the post. He plants his feet, grits his teeth, shifts in every direction with instinctive lateral quickness and swarms over any big man towering above him, using his physicality, drive and IQ to come out on top. According to NBA.com, he ranks 7th in the league in post-ups defended this season, totaling 138 such plays. That is impressive in itself, but the fact he also holds opponents to 31.7 percent shooting in these post-up situations is truly remarkable. Of the six players who have defended more post-ups, Brook Lopez is the only one to have surrendered a percentage below 40, and his mark of 39.2 percent isn’t even close to Green’s.

As for other highly regarded defenders such as Hassan Whiteside (46.5), Anthony Davis (42.7), Rudy Gobert (44.3) and DeAndre Jordan (36.4), none match Green. This is only one statistic, but it still speaks volumes about the presence Green has — in comparison to inferior small-ball centers and legitimate top-tier centers alike. Add to that the fact Green also forces opponents to shoot 6.7 percent lower than normal from three-point range, and the kind of energizing impact he has all over the floor is undeniable.

Green’s emergence as a dominant defensive threat has implications beyond the Warriors’ current dominance. He’s the perfect prototype forward of the future — a player who can operate as a small-ball center and survive in all aspects of the three-point craze. He can cover the perimeter against plenty of wings, smother any stretch big men who venture outside and smother them even more in the post, no matter what their size. Adding a career-high 9.6 rebounds per game isn’t bad either. This is now the requirement to be the best. If a team wants to truly go small and come out on top at both ends of the floor, players like Green will be just as important as shooters like Steph Curry.

As Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said after a narrow 115-112 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on February 20, Green is the key. It doesn’t matter that he needs shoes to stand at 6’7″, he’s still the core of this elite defense.

“In many ways, he’s kind of the key to everything we do,” Kerr said, via Ethan Strauss of ESPN. “Draymond is the guy who’s at the center of our defense all the time. He’s at the center of our pick-and-roll stuff with Steph [Curry] where we trap him, and he’s the guy making the next play. He does everything for us. He’s a remarkable player, especially because he’s only an inch taller than me.”

Teams can’t live and die by the three, no matter how enticing small-ball rotations and floor spacing is. The reason the Warriors succeed with their deathly small-ball lineup is that, on top of their otherworldly shooting, they can defend any type of lineup their opponents throw at them. And that is because Draymond Green ticks every box you could ask for defensively.

While players like Green are rare, and no one is quite as defensively versatile as he is right now, he will have just as big an impact on the future of the game as those players leading its evolution at the other end of the floor. Spacing the floor effectively while maintaining a strong defensive presence is a priceless combination, one that requires a player like Green, not a lumbering 7-footer who can’t be stretched away from the basket at both ends.

Green’s versatility is deadly. Deadly enough to make him a worthy Defensive Player of the Year this season and deadly enough to make him more sought after than the best shot blocker in the league. Maybe we’ll see teams target players with similar physical and defensive traits to Green in the NBA draft, who then go on to develop that highly desired three-point shot as their career progresses, just as the young Warriors star has done so effectively.

Regardless of how teams build their defense, there’s no doubt that other franchises will (and should) want their own Draymond Green. Like his teammate, soon-to-be reigning MVP Stephen Curry, Green represents the future. He just represents the game’s evolution on defense.