Draymond Green simply hasn’t looked the same since returning from the disc issue in his back that left him sidelined for two months.
In his six contests back, Draymond is averaging 4.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists and 2.5 turnovers in about 23 minutes per game while shooting 33.3 percent from the floor. A dip in production was expected after a long layoff, but beyond that, his temper has got him in trouble and his return hasn’t had a huge impact on the team’s porous defense.
Warriors president of basketball operations/general manager Bob Myers joined 95.7 The Game’s “The Morning Roast” Monday for his bi-weekly appearance to discuss Draymond’s impact, the Warriors’ recent struggles and more. You can listen to the full interview above.
Hosts Joe Shasky and Bonta Hill asked Myers if the Warriors have considered pulling back the reins on Green and taking him out of the starting lineup.
“I would bet on him,” Myers said. “I don’t think slowing him down or pulling him back [would help]. I actually think he needs to get more time and more minutes to just get acclimated. He was out a long time. … He still can be that guy. I believe he will before the season’s all said and done, but it’s gonna take a minute to get himself back into that.”
Green obviously isn’t the team’s lone player to deal with an injury this year. The Warriors have gone 1-5 since Curry’s foot ligament sprain against the Boston Celtics on March 16. In that time, James Wiseman has also been ruled out for the season as he deals with swelling in his surgically-repaired right knee.
Myers reiterated that the team didn’t have many tradable assets to match salaries for a possible big-man acquisition and that nothing jumped out to the franchise on the buyout market. But he left the door open to the team acquiring someone before the end of the regular season.
If the player was on an NBA team earlier this season, he would have to have been released by March 1 to be playoff-eligible for the Warriors. Overseas players like Marc Gasol would also be able to play in the postseason if signed in the regular season, which concludes on April 10.
“I’d like to have more size,” Myers said. “We thought that was coming with James. We’re here now. If something came up in the next week or so where a player was playoff-eligible, we’d look at it. That, to me, isn’t the primary issue. We were the No. 1 defensive team in the league for a good chunk of the year without James, without any other bigs. We gotta decide or figure out which team we are. I believe we’re more that team than this team.”
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Myers is thankful the Warriors still have seven games before the postseason and are hovering as the Western Conference’s No. 3 seed.
Green was frank in his postgame address with reporters following Sunday’s 123-115 loss to the Washington Wizards, saying “We gotta play better basketball. It starts with me. I’ve been terrible.”
The Warriors have gone 1-5 in the games he has played, the only win coming on March 14 – the team’s lone contest in three years where Green, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson played a whole game together.
“I’ve never really been on a team that gets worse when I’m on the floor,” Green said. “That’s kinda where we are right now. Some things I can correct, some things will come with time.”
Green – who was ejected on March 20 against the San Antonio Spurs – had a particularly ugly sequence Sunday, when he fouled Kristaps Porzingis three times, with a technical and an and-one whistle, all in the span of 10 seconds on the same possession.
“I don’t think he’s proud of getting technicals and things of that nature, but he runs hot,” Myers said. “He runs hot and he hates not playing well and he hates losing. Sure, I think channeling that in a better way would be better. I think he knows that, I don’t need to tell him that.”
