Warriors' Draymond Green reveals his main focus for regular season

Share

It's going to be very difficult for Draymond Green to win Defensive Player of the Year this season.

Obviously, he still is on the short list for best defenders in the NBA. But the reality is that the Warriors probably are not going to be a very good defensive team in 2019-20, and that will impact Draymond's candidacy.

But capturing the trophy for the second time isn't on the 2017 DPOY's mind.

“There’s no doubt I will have a great year,” Draymond recently told Mark Medina of USA Today Sports. “But my focus every day coming into the season can’t be on Defensive Player of the Year. It can’t be this or that.

"It has to be bringing this team together and making this work. Then if I bring this team together and make this work, all of those things will take care of themselves.”

Although Draymond believes the Dubs will come together and get back to the NBA Finals for the sixth straight year, they are not the favorites in the Western Conference.

In fact, many people in the basketball world believe they will struggle just to make the playoffs. Klay Thompson is out until late February at the earliest, and the team isn't nearly as deep as it was in years past.

There just isn't as much individual defensive talent on the roster, and there most likely will be many occasions this season in which Draymond gets visibly frustrated at a poor defensive rotation or missed assignment.

"I'll definitely have to step it up," the three-time All-Star said Monday at Media Day. "We don't have as good as defenders as we had. I don't think that's any surprise. We just gotta find our identity.

"Once we figure that out, we'll be fine."

[RELATED'Playoff diet' Draymond to abstain from two things all year]

And if Golden State doesn't find a true identity on the defensive end of the floor, don't be surprised if Draymond adapts and has his best offensive season yet.

In 2015-16, he averaged career highs in points (14.0), assists (7.4), field goal percentage (49.0) and 3-point shooting (38.8). If the Warriors get that version of the two-time All-NBA selection, they almost assuredly will be playing in late April.

Follow @DrewShiller on Twitter and Instagram

Contact Us