Draymond Green’s shooting could be key to Warriors success next season

One of the most bizarre storylines of the past few seasons for the Golden State Warriors has been the absolute disappearance of Draymond Green‘s jump shot. Green was a competent three-point shooter at one time in his career and just isn’t at that level anymore.

Still in his prime, Green’s other numbers and overall impact on the game remain steady while his shooting, more specifically from deep, has dwindled each of the last few seasons for an unknown reason.

If the Golden State Warriors are going to be championship contenders next season, they’re going to need Draymond Green to be a better shooter.

At his peak, when the Warriors won 73 games, Green averaged 14 points per game. In that season, he managed to shoot 38.8 percent from deep. Since then, the Warriors have won multiple titles, but his shooting has taken a hit.

Crazy enough, since the end of the 2015-2016 season, Green’s deep-ball shooting has declined each season.

This season, it has hopefully hit rock bottom. Green shot just 27 percent from downtown. The Warriors need Green to be a smart playmaker, but along those lines, if he can shoot better, the team would be better off as well.

That said, Green’s impact hasn’t declined. He averaged a career-high 8.9 assists per game this season.

He’s turned into more a playmaking option, typically after he fakes a handoff to Curry. Green delivers beautiful passes to sharpshooters, but when plays break down, he needs to be more of a threat, and it must be something he works on this offseason.

Green has had some success when shooting corner threes, hitting 37.5 percent from the corner. However, given his role on the roster, he’s typically shooting from straight on or the wing. Under 13 percent of his attempts come from the corner.

With Klay Thompson returning next season, the Dubs should be able to space the floor even more and return Green to being more of a scoring threat. Nonetheless, he needs to knock them down before being respected from that range.

This will be a storyline that won’t be obvious until we see the fruits of his work next season, but it’s one I’m sure everyone in the front office knows about. If it corrects itself with his hard work, then the Warriors could be a much more lethal team next year.