Draymond Green only has one NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award to his credit, coming in the 2015-16 season. He might have been in the conversation again this season, before a back problem wiped out more than two months of his campaign. Green settled for the All-NBA second team on defense.
Former Warriors reporter and independent media personality Ethan Sherwood Strauss joined 95.7 The Game’s “Damon & Ratto” Friday to discuss Draymond and the Dubs reaching the NBA Finals. Strauss had some very lofty praise for Green and his place in NBA history.
“Some people might scoff, but I think he’s in the conversation for greatest defender of all-time, maybe outside of Bill Russell,” Strauss said. “Because not only was he great, but he was part of what revolutionized the game. A lot of it started with Ron Adams, the sage, old (Warriors) assistant coach. A guy that’s been around so long that he takes old things and then it’s almost like they’re new and everyone forgot about them. He said we should be a good red team, meaning switching everything. That unleashed Draymond and it brought it into vogue in the NBA, that you were trying to switch 1 through 5. He happened to be this guy, this tweener, who could guard everybody. All the sudden, everyone’s in the draft looking for the next Draymond Green.”
