Draymond won't call Warriors ‘We Believe 2.0' for key reason

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Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson and Monta Ellis aren't walking through that door.

That, essentially, was Draymond Green's message when The Ringer's Logan Murdock asked Green if the 2020-21 Warriors are the second iteration of "We Believe," the mantra the 2006-07 squad popularized during an improbable playoff run.

Green believes, all right. He believes there's one key difference between these Warriors and their predecessors.

"The 'We Believe' days are over," Green said in a video conference with reporters Tuesday following the Warriors' win over the Phoenix Suns at Chase Center. "I've won three championships, I'm not part of no 'We Believe' team. And like I said, that's no disrespect to the OGs that came before me, I love those guys and what they started here is incredible. ... No disrespect to them at all, 'cuz what they did is incredible.

"But, nah, we're not no 'We Believe' 2.0. We got f---king Steph Curry on our team."

Green stressed how much respect he had for Davis, Jackson, Barnes, Jason Richardson -- "Saginaw's finest," in Green's estimation -- and the rest of what remains, arguably, the most beloved team in Warriors history. The circumstances surrounding that squad couldn't be more different than this one.

In addition to featuring a two-time NBA MVP at the peak of his powers, these Warriors are rooted in a culture of success. Since Green was drafted in 2012, Golden State has missed the playoffs only once.

The 2006-07 Warriors ended Golden State's 12-year playoff drought. The Warriors then failed to make the postseason in each of the subsequent five seasons.

These Warriors are a glamour franchise. Those Warriors were not.

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Green's Warriors can relate to the "We Believe" squad in one area, at least.

Golden State, if it advances out of the play-in tournament, will enter the first round of the playoffs as true underdogs since Green's first two NBA seasons. That's just where Green said he wants to be.

"For a second there, we were the hunters," Green said. "Then we turned into the hunted for five, six years, whatever it was. And now, we're hunting again. That's always a fun position to be in when you're hunting, going after everybody else."

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