Not re-signing Draymond Green would be an unmitigated disaster for Golden State Warriors
Draymond Green still holds offensive value despite his limitations
Quickly think: how much of the Warriors’ dynasty was dependent on Green and his abilities? Your answer should be an immediate ‘a lot’. Offensively, his playmaking – in both the half-court and transition – has been key to creating some of the best offenses in NBA history. In addition, he is arguably the best defender of this era, alongside Rudy Gobert.
In the past nine years (regular season and postseason included), the Warriors are a +10.1 with Green on the floor. Without him, they are a -1.0. He is absolutely essential to everything that they do on both sides of the floor. In this 2022-23 season, the Warriors were a +5.8 with Green on the floor and a -4.8 with him off, nearly capturing the same swing as the prior nine years. He isn’t quite the player that he was from a few years back, but his impact is quite similar.
Green doesn’t have the ability to stretch the floor like he did in the 2015-16 campaign, for example. He shot 38.8% from three while being the league’s top defender. His best year aligning with Golden State’s 73-9 year shouldn’t be a surprise. He is coming off of last season shooting 30.5% from three.
Very quietly, however, Green just had the most efficient season of his career with a 59.2 TS%. He shot a career-high on two-pointers (61.2%) and from 3-10 feet (57.0%). His floater has actually been more effective than ever, surprisingly.
Still, he just shot a not-so-great 69% at the rim. He brings no scoring gravity. He is still probably a negative offensive impact because of all of his scoring and spacing limitations, yet, his offense still remains important to this team. He has an important role that helps the offense.
His role as playmaker and hub is really, really hard to replicate. He has a keen understanding of the Warriors’ movement system and chemistry with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson that absolutely nobody can replicate. It’s as if Green shares a neural link with these two, especially Curry.
It’s easy to just go to any game and watch Green and realize that he plays a unique role in this offense. It’s a unique role of facilitator that requires an incredibly high IQ and understanding of what is going on all over the floor. For the Warriors, it would be very difficult to find a Green replacement. In a way, their offense is shaped around him.
Watch some of Green’s assists from Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals. I randomly selected this game out of all of the playoff games because Green is unique in all of them. Any Warriors game will result in Green assists where if you really think about it, you realize that not many players could fit into his role.
Without Green, the Warriors could certainly get into their movement sets, sure. Kevon Looney is a solid playmaker, but he’s no hub like Green. What Green does is why the Warriors have an offensive rating of 118.0 with him on the floor and a 112.8 offensive rating with him off the floor.
Clearly, there are positives and negatives to his offense. The Warriors need Green as a facilitator because their offense system is rather dependent on his play style. Additionally, they need Green defensively because he remains one of the league’s premier defenders despite not being discussed as such.