Warriors have crystal clear Draymond Green move that can no longer be ignored

Steve Kerr and the Golden State Warriors have continued to toy with small-ball lineups so far this season, but moving Draymond Green back to his customary power forward role is a crystal clear move that must be made following Quinten Post's continued breakout defensively.

Despite Green's absence across the last two games, the Warriors managed to keep the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls to 94 and 91 points respectively in a pair of impressive wins over the weekend.

Warriors can no longer ignore Quinten Post as a legitimate starter

Much of Golden State's impressive defense has stemmed from Post whose impressive leap on that end of the floor has been one of the biggest positives through the early part of the season.

The second-year center kept All-Star big man Evan Mobley to just 4-of-12 shooting when guarding him in Cleveland on Saturday, before outplaying Nikola Vucevic for not the first time as the 2x All-Star shot only 4-of-13 and had nine points in his team's heavy defeat.

The numbers suggest that Post has been one of the best defenders in the entire league this season, including with the fact he has the fifth-best defensive rating (minumum 17 minutes per game) and the second-best (only behind Zach Edey) if you remove three players from the all-conquering Oklahoma City Thunder.

This is enough of a sample size where it's now impossible to ignore, and so too is the fact Golden State's defense looked so good with Green on the sidelines over the past two games. Post averaged 29 minutes against the Cavaliers and Bulls, suggesting he's more than ready for more opportunity compared to the 17.5 he's averaged through the first 25 games.

Just as importantly, the 25-year-old's 3-point shooting has taken a spike in the right direction over recent games. He's shot 10-of-21 (47.6%) from 3-point range across the last four games, including going 5-of-10 against the Bulls for an equal season-high 19 points on Sunday.

If Post is going to return to somewhere near a 40% 3-point shooter, and continue being this level of defender, there is absolutely no need to start Green at center going forward. In fact, there's little reason to play him as a small-ball five for more than a few minutes here and there if a game really calls for it.

Now the Warriors just need to find some rhythm for veteran center Al Horford, with the still very real possibility of having he and Post as an effective center duo that lessens the burden on Green over the remainder of the season.