andrewww wrote:The same 5s that Lebron gets praised for being able to guard in short spurts...but in today's league there aren't many true 5s. My point is that his versatility is second to none and Draymond was never asked to consistently be the main defender of Lebron in last year's finals..Iggy was for a reason because Draymond's foot speed isn't one of his elite defensive attributes.
While I certainly see the value of having a player who is capable of guarding the opposing best perimeter player, which Kawhi definitely does better than Green, there are also other aspects to consider. By the same token, you could say that Kawhi has never been asked to be the quarterback of his defense and someone who backs up his teammates on many possessions.
Green has 16.4 DFGA/G. This is the second highest number in the entire league, only trailing Cousins. Kawhi, for comparison, has 9.4 DFGA and both have basically the same success in holding their opponents below their averages (-5.7 and -5.6 respectively). Pace and MPG close the gap to some extent but it is still significant.
So yeah, Green is not your traditional lock-down defender but he is involved in more defensive possessions - he's really all over the place in games - and has virtually the same success as Leonard whenever he contest shots. They both are also roughly equal percentile wise (73.94 and 75.84 respectively) at defending the different play types we have tracking data for as I calculated yesterday*. This is, again, with Green being involved in more defensive possessions**.
*see
http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?p=46402939#p46402939** see
http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?p=46411747#p46411747In the single-year RAPM version from mid-february (by J.E.), Green posts a DRAPM 2.61 while Kawhi posts a DRAPM of 2.68. Green has a DRPM of 4.95, Kawhi has a DRPM of 4.64. I don't like box score stats to determine defensive impact but in case you like them, let us look at the results. Green has 4.8 DWS, Kawhi 5.2. Green has a DBPM of 3.9, Kawhi has a DBPM of 2.7. Kawhi has a higher on-court DRTG, but the Warriors' DRTG drops much more when Green is on the bench - so it doesn't tell us much aside from the fact that the Spurs play much better defense as a team.
RE: Guarding all five positions. It is true that Green isn't assigned to perimeter players before the game unlike Leonard because Green - despite his physical presence - is actually a big man on defense and they rightfully treat him as such. But Draymond still does guard PGs, SGs or SFs quite frequently during the game because of how the game has developed over the years. The Warriors also switch a lot on defense which leads to even more occasions when he guards perimeter players. This is what ultimately matters when we speak of defensive versatility, what can a player do during a game in different situations. Green is a big man who is also great at switching onto Guards and Small Forwards, and not a perimeter defender who can defend bigger players. This is a distinction we must draw.
Also, we don't know what kind of success Kawhi would have against Centers or traditional Power Forwards. You say he could guard them with success for extended or crucial minutes and I wouldn't go so far to say it is inconceivable, but we have to understand that we're guessing here. Green, on the other hand, is actually assigned to guard regular Centers and Power Forwards on a nightly basis. The Jordans, Aldridges, Goberts and Gasols of the world and he does a great job of containing them, which makes the small-ball line-up with Green as the Center so effective in the first place. Leonard is definitely versatile but nobody in the leagues guards as many different positions and players on a nightly basis as Draymond Green, I'm positive about that, and this is the reason why I'd claim that he surely is the most versatile defender in the league.
Hence one thing is clear: Draymond and Kawhi have different defensive tasks and consequently defend differently, no surprise there. But there is absolutely no evidence that suggests that Kawhi exerts clearly more defensive impact than Green does, like there also is no evidence which suggests that Green must be ranked ahead of Kawhi in terms of defensive impact. Depending on what you need on your team, one would be preferable to the other but objectively looking at all the data we have - disregarding what we subjectively find more impressive - we can't say with any kind of certainty who the best and most impactful defender in the league currently is. Both players are perfectly fine choices here, just as they are both good - and frankly the only reasonable - choices for the DPOY award.
