Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green channeling aggression into five-season high

Draymond Green’s reputation, and his future with the Golden State Warriors, was put on the back foot after his punch on teammate Jordan Poole during training camp. That sort of aggression was clearly misguided and unwarranted, but now nearly two months removed from the incident, Green’s channeling aggression towards the rim amid increased scoring output.

Draymond Green’s offensive efficiency is proving an added element to the Golden State Warriors’ potent starting lineup so far this season.

Green’s offense has been on the decline over recent seasons, having reached a tipping point in game four of the NBA Finals. In a must-win game to tie the series at 2-2, Steve Kerr sat his All-Star at stages in the final minutes. While the Warriors would go onto claim another championship, it was largely predicated on their suffocating defense, led by Green, and the individual brilliance of Stephen Curry.

With a resurgent scoring mindset and aided by the ever-maintaining presence of Curry, Green is now enjoying his highest scoring season since 2017-18. He’s not breaking any records that’s for sure, but 8.2 points per game is a nice foil to Golden State’s renowned scorers in Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Poole.

It’s not necessarily the number of points, but rather the efficiency in which he’s doing so — 58.5% is easily a career-high, while 35% from three is his first time above 30% in five seasons. These numbers have to be a correlation with increased confidence and conviction when attacking the rim or taking the odd three-point attempt.

The Curry-Green pick-and-roll is as effective as ever — teams are forced to double Curry or face the wrath of his absurd shooting, leaving Green in the 4v3 scenario he’s so used to pulling apart. There does seem to be an intent to score from Green now though, rather than simply drawing defenders and hitting open teammates.

This is keeping defenses honest and makes for a far more threatening Golden State offense — they currently rank tenth in the league on that end, however that should improve with greater consistency from Thompson and Poole. Speaking of the latter, he’s now been joined by Green in the non-Curry minutes as Kerr seeks to restore success in the second unit.

Surprisingly, it’s the defensive end where there’s issues for Green and the Warriors to address. However, there has to be greater optimism that he can that around, than there would be if his offense was continuing to grow in liability.