Draymond Green can be classified as a streaky shooter at best over the last decade, and at worst as one who has stalled the Golden State Warriors offense as opposing defenses leave him alone from the perimeter.
Head coach Steve Kerr wants to change that by empowering the veteran forward into shooting more threes this upcoming season, but that idea won’t fool many Warriors fans who aren’t going to buy into the thought of Green becoming a more willing, and more importantly a better 3-point shooter, so deep into his Hall of Fame career.
Warriors fans won’t be fooled by Steve Kerr’s Draymond Green claim
Speaking recently on Tom Tolbert Show, Kerr outlined the multiple reasons as to why he wants Green to become a more willing 3-point shooter within the Golden State offense this season.
"We have to cut back on the turnovers. I want him shooting the three when he's open," Kerr said. "When he shoots a three, he may not be a super high percentage shooter, but possessions are good for us when he shoots because number one, it's worth three. Number two, we get offensive rebounds. Number three, there's a flow to the game that has to happen that if someone is open and they shoot it, the game keeps moving."
This all sounds good in theory, but the reality is likely to remain that opposing defenses will be more than willing to have Green let it fly from beyond the arc based on the very strong data from the past 10 years.
Since he shot a very efficient 38.8% on 3.2 attempts from 3-point range during the 2015-16 season, Green has been at 31.1% on less than three attempts from beyond the arc in the years since. Nothing about that suggests he’s suddenly going to spike into a player who shoots at least league average from 3-point range and become someone who defenses close out to.
Draymond Green could lose minutes to young forwards
What happens when defenses inevitably don’t respect Green from beyond the arc, and when he loses confidence to the point he stops taking them in a way Kerr would fear based on his hope for the 36-year-old this season?
The answer is that Green will lose some of his minutes, or at least he should as the Warriors transition to the next phase with young forwards like Gui Santos and exciting 11th overall pick Yaxel Lendeborg. Both shoot it far better and are more dangerous scoring threats, while Green is no longer as consistently elite defensively as he once was to hold back minutes that should be going to Santos and Lendeborg.
Kerr might be right though. Green needs to be a more willing shooter and hope he can hit them at a far higher percentage, otherwise Kerr will have little choice but to usher Santos and Lendeborg above him in the rotational pecking order.
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