Golden State Warriors: 3 Players having career-best years

Draymond Green is catching a second wind

I do not want to jump the gun by calling this the best season of Draymond Green’s career. After all, we are talking about a former Defensive Player of the Year and All-NAB caliber player here. It remains unseen if he can collect those accolades once again but there is no doubt in my mind that Green is catching a second wind as he enters the back half of his career.

I’ll admit, the last few seasons were concerning for Green. His jump shot evaporated and it seemed certain his productivity would vanish as well once he lost his athletics. Instead, we have seen a youthful resurgence in Green’s attack and his IQ has never been higher.

Through 14 games, Green is shooting the best field goal percentage of his career by a wide margin at 56.0 percent. His next best? 49.0 percent in the 2015-16 season. Green is also shooting above 40 percent from the 3-point line for the first time in his career.

While his shot attempts have nearly been cut in half since then, this is the most effective Green has been as a scorer in years. He is aggressive, shooting when the time calls for it and recording a couple of highlight dunks recently as he rejects handoffs to Stephen Curry and instead drives to the bucket.

It feels obvious to say the Warriors would not have the best defense in the NBA right now without Green and their offense is ultimately benefitting from his calculated scoring approach. Oh, and he is 10th in the league for assists per game at 7.1.

All in all, Green is playing some of the best basketball of his life in a time where many doubters felt he had long surpassed his peak.