Draymond Green: A Modern Day Dennis Rodman?

After defeating the Milwaukee Bucks earlier this week, Steve Kerr compared the team he’s currently coaching to the team he formerly played for.

Kerr speaks from experience when he talks about the possible impact of playing small. Via the San Jose Mercury News:

"“When I played in Chicago, that was an excellent defensive team and we put [Dennis] Rodman at the five sometimes.”"

He added:

"“And we’d have like, [Ron] Harper, [Michael] Jordan, [Scottie] Pippen, and Rodman and maybe Toni Kukoc or another wing guy. And that team was phenomenal defensively. I think Draymond [Green] has a lot of Dennis Rodman in him.”"

So this brings up the question, how does Draymond Green compare to Dennis Rodman and how do their roles on the Warriors and Bulls differ?

Let’s first consider the major differences; the biggest is that Green can shoot threes at a respectable level.

Green shot a dreadful 20 percent from behind the arc in his rookie season, but since then has become a viable option from deep. His additional three-point shooting prowess has made opposing teams send defenders at Green when he’s camped behind the three-point line and not give him acres of space.

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Rodman is a career 23 percent shooter from three. But even that number gives him too much credit. Rodman shot below 20 percent from three seven times in his 14-year career, a feat that Green will never come close to.

In the passing department, Green has shown flashes that Rodman never showed during his Hall-of-Fame career. Green has upped his assist total to 3.7 assists per game. By contrast, Rodman only averaged 2.5 assists per game twice. All of this is to say that Rodman was not actually that bad of a passer, but because of the Warriors system, Green has more opportunities to create for his teammates. It’s safe to say most of Rodman’s assists came from passing to Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen in Chicago or Joe Dumars and Isaiah Thomas in Detroit.

In the history of the NBA, no one might have been a better rebounder that Rodman. In a six season span from the 1991-92 season to the 1997-98 season, Rodman averaged 18.7, 18.3, 17.3, 16.8, 14.9, 16.1, and 15.0 rebounds per game. Not surprisingly, those totals led the NBA each season.

Those rebounding totals are unearthly, and while Green is a good rebounder, especially for being undersized, Green’s totals are nothing compared to Rodman.

But where Kerr is really comparing his former Bulls teammate to his current power forward is on the defensive end of the floor.

Defensively, both Rodman and Green play similar roles. Rodman initially guarded small forwards and power forwards in Detroit before also guarding centers in San Antonio and Chicago.

Green mostly guards power forwards, but has proven to be capable of guarding both small forwards and centers as well. This flexibility is what Kerr was referring to.

In the Warriors win against Milwaukee, Green primarily played center as the Warriors went small against the Bucks. Andrew Bogut played a mere 19 minutes and Festus Ezeli, the Warriors backup center, played only 5 minutes.

That in turn resulted in the Warriors playing 24 minutes without a true center on the floor. Marreese Speights did not play and Kerr only played David Lee seven minutes. As a result the Warriors primarily played Green at the center position, surrounding him with four shooters at all times.

Watch how the Warriors have unbelievable floor spacing in this clip above. With all five players as viable three-point shooting threats, the Bucks have to respect every player on offense. Ersan Ilyasova traps the initial screen by Green. That initial screen gets the whole play moving. As Curry passes to Green, Jared Dudley has to rotate over, but that makes Kris Middleton move toward the paint to help and off of Livingston who seemingly was hanging outside the three-point line. As Middleton moves below the three-point line, Livingston cuts to the rim, Green delivers a perfect pass and Livingston throws it down with authority.

This whole sequence is only possibly because the Warriors played Green at the center position and is a direct result of the extra spacing created by said decision.