Draymond Green is underrated

[RoteSchroder]

This particular analysis just indicates that he’s a really good illegal screener on a team that sorely lacks big man play.

I don’t think every player would take advantage of being allowed to cheat, so Draymond’s a really good option in this aspect.

With cheating he’s likely a top 20 defender of all time, without cheating maybe he’s like top 50, which is still pretty good.

On offense he’s maybe top 200..hard to say, maybe top 300. I would say random players like Donyell Marshall could be more valuable on O just by spreading the floor better. Practically in most star-based teams (Shaq/Kobe, MJ/Pippen, LBJ/Wade, etc.) you’d take Donyell’s offense over Draymond.

[iggymcfrack]

This particular analysis just indicates that he’s a really good illegal screener on a team that sorely lacks big man play.

I don’t think every player would take advantage of being allowed to cheat, so Draymond’s a really good option in this aspect.

With cheating he’s likely a top 20 defender of all time, without cheating maybe he’s like top 50, which is still pretty good.

On offense he’s maybe top 200..hard to say, maybe top 300. I would say random players like Donyell Marshall could be more valuable on O just by spreading the floor better. Practically in most star-based teams (Shaq/Kobe, MJ/Pippen, LBJ/Wade, etc.) you’d take Donyell’s offense over Draymond.

This is so beyond absurd. Draymond's an easy top 10 player of all-time defensively. No one's been close to him since KG and every elite player exploits the rules to the best of their ability. It's like saying Harden would only be a top 50 offensive player "without cheating". On offense, Draymond's as close to Jason Kidd as he is to Donyell Marshall. He's an elite passer and the primary playmaker for a dynasty. Donyell Marshall got to shoot more since he was on better teams, but he was less efficient and not in Draymond's universe as a passer and playmaker.

[NZB2323]

If he was a teams best player, that team would have gone absolutely nowhere

Do you consider him a top 100 player of all time?

He might be top 50 tbh

I think he’s every bit as good as someone like Scottie Pippen (even better defensively), but he doesn’t get the love due to his antics.

I have Green above Rodman but below Pippen. We saw what Pippen did in 94 and we saw what Green did in 20.

[RoteSchroder]

This particular analysis just indicates that he’s a really good illegal screener on a team that sorely lacks big man play.

I don’t think every player would take advantage of being allowed to cheat, so Draymond’s a really good option in this aspect.

With cheating he’s likely a top 20 defender of all time, without cheating maybe he’s like top 50, which is still pretty good.

On offense he’s maybe top 200..hard to say, maybe top 300. I would say random players like Donyell Marshall could be more valuable on O just by spreading the floor better. Practically in most star-based teams (Shaq/Kobe, MJ/Pippen, LBJ/Wade, etc.) you’d take Donyell’s offense over Draymond.

This is so beyond absurd. Draymond's an easy top 10 player of all-time defensively. No one's been close to him since KG and every elite player exploits the rules to the best of their ability. It's like saying Harden would only be a top 50 offensive player "without cheating". On offense, Draymond's as close to Jason Kidd as he is to Donyell Marshall. He's an elite passer and the primary playmaker for a dynasty. Donyell Marshall got to shoot more since he was on better teams, but he was less efficient and not in Draymond's universe as a passer and playmaker.

Where are Draymond anchored teams generally on the all-time list? I know they were pretty good when Bogut was there to anchor the team. Do any of the teams make top 20?

He’s definitely not Jason Kidd on O, lmao. You’re comparing a tier 1 passer, transition demon who runs the offense to someone whose most valuable asset on O is setting screens.

Tier 3 passing with weak scoring is not that valuable, even better offensive players like Josh Giddey and Ricky Rubio aren’t highly valued on that end.

Draymond as the best player on his team would be in the lotto every year. No chance he takes the Bosh’s Raptor teams to the playoffs for example.

[whatisacenter]

I just wanted to shed some appreciation to Draymond Green

Spoiler:

. Alot of casuals throw shade on the guy calling him the king of triple singles, how he landed in a perfect environment, and he wouldn't be a hall of famer without Curry. While Draymond 100% benefits playing with Curry + The Warriors, they benefit immensely from him as well. Amazing at setting screens, a top tier playmaker, and the best defender in his generation.

Ive compiled the following to show just how impactful Draymond was and still is. His impact truly does go beyond the stats. This is in no way putting down Curry (This could be applied to anyone who played with Draymond), in my eyes hes the best point guard of all time, this is moreso shedding light onto how great Draymond is for those fans who think hes a byproduct of Curry, and The Warriors. Ive broken down Curry's stats into a PER36 format with his efficiency. It was crazy to me that there was only one season where Curry was more efficient with Draymond off. Its even crazier when you look at Draymond's impact in the playoffs.

14/15
Draymond On
25.9/4.7/8.9
63.9% True Shooting

Draymond Off
27.1/4.6/7.0
62.1% True Shooting

15/16
Draymond On
31.5/5.7/7.0
67.6% True Shooting

Draymond Off
33.7/4.1/7.1
59.0% True Shooting

16/17
Draymond On
27.2/4.7/7.0
63.6% True Shooting

Draymond Off
27.7/5.1/7.6
58.7% True Shooting

17/18
Draymond On
28.7/5.3/7.1
67.9% True Shooting

Draymond Off
31.9/6.7/6.3
65.8% True Shooting

18/19
Draymond On
28.4/5.5/5.5
66.0% True Shooting

Draymond Off
30.4/6.1/5.7
58.4% True Shooting

19/20
Curry injured, he only played 5 games. Lets use DLO as an example as he was their leading scorer.

Draymond On
25.9/4.4/6.2
54.5% True Shooting

Draymond Off
27.3/3.8/7.8
56.8% True Shooting

20/21
Draymond On
34.1/5.9/6.0
68.3% True Shooting

Draymond Off
32.1/5.4/6.3
56.8% True Shooting

21/22
Draymond On
27.4/5.9/6.1
58.6% True Shooting

Draymond Off
26.1/5.2/6.9
61.1% True Shooting

22/23
Draymond On
29.8/6.3/6.6
67.3% True Shooting

Draymond Off
32.5/6.4/6.4
61.9% True Shooting

23/24
Draymond On
31.1/5.1/5.5
64.5% True Shooting

Draymond Off
26.8/4.7/5.7
58.0% True Shooting

24/25
Draymond On
28.3/5.4/6.4
65.3% True Shooting

Draymond Off
26.1/4.2/7.2
56.1% True Shooting

Curry from 2015 to 2025 Total - Regular Season

Draymond On
29.3/5.4/6.8
65.6% True Shooting

Draymond Off
28.2/5.3/6.6
59.3% True Shooting

Curry 2015 to 2025 Total - Playoffs

Draymond On
26.7/5.6/5.8
62.0% True Shooting

Draymond Off
27.0/5.1/5.6
58.2% True Shooting

Want him?

You can have him.

[70sFan]

Like every defensive superstar (other than Bill Russell), it is nothing new. People call Gobert a scrub, don't value Mutombo at all in all-time lists, don't mention Nate Thurmond among greats.

It's quite telling that even highly regarded defensive superstar like Hakeem Olajuwon is only valued that highly because of aesthetically pleasing offensive game. When you talk about Hakeem, most fans rave about his scoring, footwork, postseason scoring explosions but almost nobody realize that he's significantly more valuable on defense than on offense and they only add "he's also a great defender!".

Green has been included in Ben Taylor's top 25 peaks of the 21st century and most people would put someone like Melo over him for such list, which is just insane.

[michaelm]

Heavy backpack for 30 and a violent sociopath who should have been banned from the league years ago. Adam Silver is permanently tarnished due to his enabling of Green.

I don’t approve of his antics, but if he is a complete sociopath it must be sheer blind luck that he has never seriously injured anyone.

[bonita_the_frog]

If anything, someone like KD is more of a "role player" since the only skill he's really elite at is scoring. If Draymond had got drafted by the Clippers or the Rockets instead of the Warriors, there's a good chance that CP3 or Harden would be multi-time champions and Steph would be known as a ringless choker who couldn't get it done in the playoffs.

Draymond Green has similar stats to Kevin Durant, outside of PPG-
Durant 1.0 steals, 1.1 blocks, 7.0 rebounds, 4.4 assists but 5.3 assists since 2018 (his last 420 games).
Green 1.3 steals, 1.0 blocks, 6.9 rebounds, 5.6 assists.

[HMFFL]

No. Green is vastly overrated, mainly by folks who are data nerds and love advanced stats. Green deserves lots of credit for his pivotal role on G State's championship teams, but people have gone too far with the praise for role players.

Apparently, the Warriors, live or die by Draymond, and Lebron won the Cavs a title, with the help of Draymond being suspended in a game in the finals. I fail to see how he is just a role player. Sadly, the Warriors have no replacement for Dray, the "role player".

[NoStatsGuy]

draymond green has high bball iq and can defend. this player can be found every draft probably multiple times. draymond green is nothing special. the only thing, that is special about him is his mentality and willingness to take techs for his team (or knock them out cold). If he was drafted into charlotte he'd be a nobody, and out of the league for a long time. fortunately for him, he was on the right roster at the right time. A coach, that enables his (sometimes) unacceptable behavior and the greatest shooting duo of all time, that convert his lousy passes at an incredible rate.

[Dominator83]

If he was a teams best player, that team would have gone absolutely nowhere

Do you consider him a top 100 player of all time?

Possibly. But the NBA has been going on for almost 80 years. That list has quite a few bubble top 100s by now.

But he would be less regarded if he spent his career trying to be a #1

[bonita_the_frog]

Which is greater Draymond or Rodman?

[Bergmaniac]

The Thinking Basketball podcast's latest episode (21 Century Peaks Ep. 3) has a great breakdown of why Draymond is an elite player and in the Top 20 for best peaks of the 21 century. Of course it won't convince people who can't see past PPGs but for anyone who is a bit more open minded it's highly recommended.

[cupcakesnake]

No. Green is vastly overrated, mainly by folks who are data nerds and love advanced stats. Green deserves lots of credit for his pivotal role on G State's championship teams, but people have gone too far with the praise for role players.

At least your consistent with how you undervalue defense.

I'm fine with calling Green's offense "role player", but this is the best defensive player of the era. He's one of the best defenders ever, probably the best defender under 6'7" of all-time.

[remiga007]

Tricky to rate him. He was invaluable to those GS teams because he fit their specific needs perfectly, however, I can guarantee that nobody would be including him into discussions about any top peaks had he been playing on mediocre ordinary teams.
Somebody ITT put him between Rodman and Pippen.
Well, Pippen without MJ finished third in MVP voting.
Dray with bad team without Steph/Klay in 2020 was just difficult to watch. Probably not top 100 player that year. You could say he was unmotivated on a bad team, alas, that would have projected over his full career had he been not on a an almost perennial contender.

[SA37]

No. Green is vastly overrated, mainly by folks who are data nerds and love advanced stats. Green deserves lots of credit for his pivotal role on G State's championship teams, but people have gone too far with the praise for role players.

Apparently, the Warriors, live or die by Draymond, and Lebron won the Cavs a title, with the help of Draymond being suspended in a game in the finals. I fail to see how he is just a role player. Sadly, the Warriors have no replacement for Dray, the "role player".

I really hoped he would leave Golden St and get exposed, but unfortunately it's not going to happen. The closest we'll come is when D Green played a season without Curry, Thompson or Wiggins (2019-2020) and Green averaged 8-6-6 on 39-28-76. He's basically Rasheed Wallace and Dennis Rodman's child.

D Green is nothing without the stars around him, much like Rodman. Role players depend on star players for relevance. Star players put up great numbers regardless of where they play, but need role players to have team success. D Green is the former, not the latter.

[SA37]

Like every defensive superstar (other than Bill Russell), it is nothing new. People call Gobert a scrub, don't value Mutombo at all in all-time lists, don't mention Nate Thurmond among greats.

It's quite telling that even highly regarded defensive superstar like Hakeem Olajuwon is only valued that highly because of aesthetically pleasing offensive game. When you talk about Hakeem, most fans rave about his scoring, footwork, postseason scoring explosions but almost nobody realize that he's significantly more valuable on defense than on offense and they only add "he's also a great defender!".

Green has been included in Ben Taylor's top 25 peaks of the 21st century and most people would put someone like Melo over him for such list, which is just insane.

Carmelo Anthony had a great NBA career and is probably Team USA's best player of all-time.

[SA37]

No. Green is vastly overrated, mainly by folks who are data nerds and love advanced stats. Green deserves lots of credit for his pivotal role on G State's championship teams, but people have gone too far with the praise for role players.

At least your consistent with how you undervalue defense.

I'm fine with calling Green's offense "role player", but this is the best defensive player of the era. He's one of the best defenders ever, probably the best defender under 6'7" of all-time.

Overall, Green is a role player and that is how he's been paid. Golden State has never given D Green star money because he's a role player. Golden St traded for J Butler because Green is just too limited to be a top-3 guy on a championship team.

I see a lot of parallels with Marcus Smart. Boston has been fine without Marcus Smart and found better versions of Marcus Smart (J Holiday, D White).I think the same would have been true of G State, but that's speculation I can't prove.

[zero rings]

If he was a teams best player, that team would have gone absolutely nowhere

Do you consider him a top 100 player of all time?

Possibly. But the NBA has been going on for almost 80 years. That list has quite a few bubble top 100s by now.

But he would be less regarded if he spent his career trying to be a #1

Being a #1 option is so incredibly overrated by fans. What matters is the value you can provide to a winning team, not how many points you can score on a bad team.

Bradley Beal averaged 30+ for multiple seasons (on solid efficiency), and it barely moved the needle for the lowly Wizards. He then goes to the Suns, a team with other good scorers, and he has absolutely zero impact. Swap him out for Draymond and they probably win 50 games last year.

A player’s value is determined by how replaceable they are. There are tons of good scorers in the league today. There aren’t tons of 6’7 wings who can defend every position at an elite level, and even fewer who are great passers. Draymond’s skillset is incredibly rare, and thus incredibly valuable.

[zero rings]

Like every defensive superstar (other than Bill Russell), it is nothing new. People call Gobert a scrub, don't value Mutombo at all in all-time lists, don't mention Nate Thurmond among greats.

It's quite telling that even highly regarded defensive superstar like Hakeem Olajuwon is only valued that highly because of aesthetically pleasing offensive game. When you talk about Hakeem, most fans rave about his scoring, footwork, postseason scoring explosions but almost nobody realize that he's significantly more valuable on defense than on offense and they only add "he's also a great defender!".

Green has been included in Ben Taylor's top 25 peaks of the 21st century and most people would put someone like Melo over him for such list, which is just insane.

Carmelo Anthony had a great NBA career and is probably Team USA's best player of all-time.

Swap Draymond for Carmelo and the Warriors probably don’t have a single championship