Draymond Green: 5 Reasons He Deserves A Max Contract

Spreading The Floor

That being said, the NBA has a ton of defensive specialists. Tony Allen, Al-Farouq Aminu and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist are all great defenders, but you don’t hear anybody talking about any of them getting max extensions. In the case of Draymond Green, his vastly improved offense is the kicker.

Last season, Green was little more than an underutilized defensive stopper and hustle player. We saw signs of his Swiss Army knife potential in the playoffs, but it was hard to fault Mark Jackson for starting David Lee over him. This season, Steve Kerr wisely made the decision to promote Green and it’s paid off.

Green is only averaging 11.4 points per game on 44 percent shooting, but his ability to spread the floor with a more consistent jump shot makes Golden State’s already dynamic offense that much tougher to guard. Green shoots the three-ball at a 34.3 percent clip, so although he’s no Kyle Korver, his streakiness means defenders have to come out to challenge his shot. This opens lanes for all sorts of dribble drives, off-the-ball cuts and open looks where defenses don’t want to give them up.

Last night against the Los Angeles Clippers, Doc Rivers tried to beat the Dubs by double-teaming Curry every time he got the ball. By doing so, he was daring Golden State’s role players to beat him, which they did. Green led the way with 23 points and six assists on a night that reminded the league how badly he can hurt you.

It wasn’t quite like the career-high 31 points he dropped on the Chicago Bulls earlier in the year, but when Green gets going, this offense becomes impossible to defend.

It doesn’t hurt that Green is also an excellent passer. His 3.7 assists per game don’t jump off the stat sheet, but the NBA also doesn’t keep track of hockey assists. Green has the court vision to make defenses pay when they’re on their heels, he can attack the basket and finish and at the age of 25, he’s still not done improving on that end.

Next: No. 3