DALLAS -- The Warriors brought Draymond Green to Dallas, hoping the rehabbing forward's presence could give them a jolt after back-to-back disappointing losses to the Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves.
While Green won't be on the floor Thursday night when the Warriors take on the Mavericks again, he is progressing positively toward a return. Green practiced in full with the Warriors on Wednesday, including some three-on-three work post-practice with James Wiseman. Head coach Steve Kerr told reporters that Green is "making strides" toward a return.
Green offered his own update on the latest episode of his podcast "The Draymond Green Show" on Wednesday.
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"I am feeling great," Green said, noting that he did practice in full with the Warriors on Saturday. "That is a step in the right direction that I am thankful for and happy about. Now it's just continuing to ramp up, continuing to get my conditioning back, continuing to get my feel back, and most importantly, continuing to get regain all of my explosiveness which I am very pleased with where it is today."
Green has been out since Jan. 9 with calf weakness caused by a disc issue in his lower back.
It can't be understated how big of an impact his absence has left on a Warriors team that cruised through the early part of the season with him playing at an All-Star level.
The Warriors are 28-6 this season with Green on the court and just 15-13 without him. Green's absence causes a multitude of issues for the Warriors. Their offensive pace has slowed, there is no pick-and-roll with Green and Steph Curry, gaps in their defense get picked apart easily, and the Warriors haven't been able to run traditional bigs off the floor by going small with Green at the five.
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Furthermore, with Green and Wiseman out, the Warriors' lack of depth at center has been exposed. Star big men like Nikola Jokic and Karl-Anthony Towns have had their way with the Warriors on the interior especially when Kevon Looney is off the floor.
There's also what Green brings from an energy, attitude, and accountability standpoint. Everyone in the Warriors organization respects him and knows the value he brings.
The value was on display Wednesday when Green re-joined the team.
"Yes, I mean, you feel Draymond's presence the minute he walks into the room," Kerr told reporters Wednesday after practice. "Frankly, we need it. This team needs it. Every team that Draymond is on needs him. To me, he impacts winning as dramatically as any player I've ever been around. It's hard to quantify. It's really easy to quantify with Steph and Klay and Michael Jordan and Tim Duncan. It's easy to quantify their impact on winning.
"With Draymond, he's such a unique individual. It goes beyond how smart he is, his defensive prowess, his passing. It's his presence, his dominance in the room. His energy, his competitiveness. All that stuff is needed and missed. Just getting him back in the building, even without him playing in the game tomorrow night, is really helpful."
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Without Green, much more has been put on Curry's plate. That workload has increased the past two games with Klay Thompson out due to an illness. However, Thompson vowed to return Thursday to face the Mavericks.
Still, Green's absence has loomed large for a Warriors team that is 14-12 in its last 26 games.
“It’s huge," Curry said Tuesday of the impact not having Green around has on the team. "Like I said, we’re all built, in terms of that trust and chemistry and knowing each other and having a guy like him who is very vocal, high IQ, has a certain approach of leadership, all that stuff, it matters. So that’s why just trying to stay patient in terms of where we are in the season and where we want to be in a month-and-a-half.”
For almost two months, talk around the Warriors has centered on what they can be when fully healthy. How dangerous a fully-actualized version will be when Curry, Thompson and Green finally are back on the floor together for more than a handful of seconds.
But for the first time Tuesday night, Curry admitted that the Warriors might not see their ceiling. And they definitely won't if Green doesn't return or isn't the peak version of himself.
“Myself, Draymond, Andre, Klay, Loon, we have all been around playoff series, championship runs, so we all know the level you have to be at every night," Curry said Tuesday about the impact of Green's absence. "So you have another guy who can share that perspective, I’ll say. But it’s also like what [Green] brings on the court is another level of confidence. It’s also, Klay has been in and out of the lineup, Andre has been out of the lineup, and we have had just a lot of shuffling going on.
"It’s not an excuse because of how we are playing, but it’s also the balance of developing our young guys and understanding the opportunity that they have to see that night-in and night-out, it worked in the first half of the season, and it hasn’t been there as consistently with our guys out. Again, not an excuse for how we are playing, but we are built as a full team. Until we get that, I don’t know if we will see our full ceiling, but we have to do the little things in the meantime to keep building and keep building confidence. Right now, we’re not doing that.”
The good news is that Green is trending in the right direction. Optimistic reports suggest he could return sometime toward the middle or end of March. The bad news is the Warriors are struggling to find their footing and connectivity without a consistent rotation, and they only have 20 games remaining to stabilize themselves before the playoffs begin.
The Warriors likely will only have a few games with Green back to find their groove before the regular season ends and "winning time" begins. Will that be enough? It has to be. The Warriors have no other choice.