Golden State Warriors: Green blames Suns for Chriss’ early struggles
Marquese Chriss was an afterthought for NBA teams this offseason and Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green blames the franchise that drafted him.
The Golden State Warriors may’ve found a diamond in the rough with Marquese Chriss. After being put aside by every other NBA team, Chriss signed a training camp deal with the Warriors. Now, players are lobbying for the team to sign him.
The Warriors are in a predicament when it comes to contracts. They have 13 guaranteed on the team and one non-guaranteed That means they’d either have to trade one of the 13 or release Alfonzo McKinnie. They can’t have 15 due to then being over the NBA’s hard cap.
What’s even more important is what Draymond Green went over and why the first part of Chriss’ career will be looked at as a failure.
For background, the former lottery pick spent his first two years in Phoenix, putting up relatively solid numbers before being traded midway through his third season. He was then traded again from Houston to Cleveland prior to signing with Golden State.
Green doesn’t blame Chriss for the lacking start to his career but rather the franchises that have struggled to develop the 22-year-old.
Draymond Green on Marquese Chriss: “No one ever blames the situation, they blame the kid. No one ever blames these shitty franchises...No Phoenix writer is going to bash the Suns, but let’s be frank, when he was there, the organization was terrible.” pic.twitter.com/vw3t4NKxwY
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) October 17, 2019
Chriss has blossomed with the Warriors.
While he’s far from a finished product, Chriss has put together a terrific preseason. Averaging 9.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game, Chriss has been productive and efficient this preseason, shooting 61% from the field.
He also made the rim rattle with the first play of the game for Golden State in their fourth preseason outing.
The Warriors will likely add Chriss, giving him a shot at a renewed NBA career. He’ll go from being forgotten to contributing on one of the most-watched NBA teams on the planet. That’s the type of spin being believed in can have on a career.
With a top-tier developmental staff that helped take Green’s play to the next level, he knows fiirst hand what Golden State can do for a young gun He wants the next player like himself to be found in Chriss, and it’s certainly possible he was one of the players lobbying for Chriss to be signed.
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That said, Green clearly believes in Chriss and wants to see him around long term. Whether he gets his wish or not is still up in the air, but we’ll find out soon if Bob Myers is going to clear the space for him.