San Antonio Spurs: Struggling From 3-Point Range, Danny Green Needs To Focus On His Defense

In the middle of a shooting slump, San Antonio Spurs 3-and-D wing Danny Green needs to focus on his defense while he waits for his offense to return.

There was a tentative Danny Green sighting when the San Antonio Spurs methodically dispatched the Atlanta Hawks Saturday night, going 4-of-8 from the field and 2-of-3 from 3-point range, after struggling with his shot so far this season.

It is worth remembering during this, the naturally streaky Green’s latest–but by no means last–shooting slump, that it is still a slump. He has not forgotten how to shoot. It’s much more likely that this 29 percent season from three is the outlier, and not the last four (42 percent, 42 percent, 43 percent and 44 percent) seasons.

Such is the standard we have come to expect from the man that holds the record for most 3-point field goals made in an NBA Finals series (27).

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Such is the power of a Danny Green streak, it probably would have fueled a fourth- or fifth-offensive option to a Finals MVP over three Spurs Hall of Famers had it not been for a certain Ray Allen and perhaps the most famous 3-pointer ever. That streak came to an end, as will this slump.

This is not to say his current poor form isn’t influenced by the changes to the Spurs offense this season in integrating LaMarcus Aldridge and Kawhi Leonard into an more isolation-heavy system. While he is attempting close to five 3-pointers per game, a volume close to his averages the last few years, the manner of these attempts has changed.

Whereas with the motion-heavy Spurs offenses of recent years he would spot up and wait for the ball to come to him off of multiple penetrations, and then shoot or penetrate himself on the catch, now he is having to relocate his spot up according to where Leonard or Aldridge are isolating and relocate in sync with how that possession plays out.

Whether the isolation draws a double-team or an extra rotation, and from where that extra defender comes from.

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He’s still getting open looks, but the rhythm is slightly altered, and shooters are notoriously perceptive about such changes. His quarterly 3-point shooting splits are interesting in that sense, at 18percent and 29 percent for the first and third quarters, compared to 35 percent and 38 percent in the second and fourth quarters, per Basketball-Reference.com.

This might be indicative of, firstly, the teams offensive rhythm as a whole in the first and third frames when they are warming up and adjusting to how the defense is playing them.

And secondly that his second and fourth quarter minutes are often more with the second unit and the style that he is used to, because Manu Ginobili often finishes games with the starters – especially when Green is playing poorly.

Green’s well-publicized slump hit a low point against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday after he was benched late in the second quarter and berated by Coach Gregg Popovich on his way to the pine. After a poor first half generally where he shot 1-of-3 from deep, Green was replaced by Jonathan Simmons to start the second half.

The substitution demonstrates that it was not Danny’s shooting that Pop was incensed by–1-of-3 is good by Green’s standards this season and Simmons is not a great shooter; it was his defense that was the issue. Pop made his point by giving Green’s minutes to Simmons, whose calling cards are effort, energy, and defense.

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These are all qualities Green has, and importantly, ones that he can control whether his shot is falling or not.

He is an excellent team defender familiar with San Antonio’s defensive principles, a very good on-ball defender and great in transition, uncanny at coming up with a block or deflection when faced with a one-on-one situation in the open floor.

Besides Leonard, he is San Antonio’s best wing defender, and the duo are crucial to the Spurs suffocating half court defense this season. Players are run off the 3-point line, funnelled towards disciplined, disruptive and long rim protectors Tim Duncan and Aldridge, and left stranded in the mid-range for an inefficient contested shot.

This is where Danny Green can help the Spurs win, slump or no slump. His transition defense especially will be crucial as teams look to run more and more against an imposing Spurs half-court gauntlet.

Offensively as well, even when he misses, he has value in his presence. Defenders won’t leave him to sink into the paint very often, and this extra space is crucial in a crowded mid-range area where Duncan, Aldridge and Leonard operate.

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The longer this slump goes on for, the more likely the regression to the norm will come as San Antonio enter the playoffs, something the Spurs and Popovich are more than fine with. What they are not fine with is Danny Green letting his shooting affect other, often overlooked, areas of his game.