Team USA started practice this week and it didn't take long for head coach Gregg Popovich to acknowledge what Draymond Green does on the defensive end of the floor.
"The first thing is a natural affinity and desire to be a great defender," Popovich said.
"When you say what’s a natural affinity? Understanding spatial arrangements, being able to do work early, understanding angles and distances, having the desire to want to stop an opponent, but at the same time understand how that’s done with wisdom," Popovich said. "It’s not with reaching or blazing speed, it's about position and some people understand their body position better than others."
The 2017 NBA Defensive Player of the Year was then asked about Popovich's comments and what motivated him to become a great defender.
"I'm very grateful for those comments from coach Pop. Obviously, one of the Godfather's when it comes to NBA basketball, for sure," Green said.
"When I came into the league, I fell in the draft because their No. 1 question was what position would I guard," Green said. "That stuck with me. And I wanted to make everyone eat those words. Every team that passed me, every reporter, everybody that is anybody who has said anything about my defense at that point. I wanted them to eat them words."
"To see what playing great defense, how it can completely snatch the confidence of your opponent, that was enough for me," Green said. "When you're playing the game of basketball, when you can take the mind, everything else will follow. If you can take their mind, you can take their confidence. If you can get in their head, everything else follows. Just understanding the success I've been able to contribute to teams by giving all that I have on that side of the ball, that's where it started."