Tag: Draymond Green

Draymond Green ruled out for second straight game with sore heel

The Golden State Warriors will be without another All-Star against Utah, as Draymond Green will miss his second straight game with a sore heel injury.

As their win column continues to shrink, the Golden State Warriors injury report continues to grow. Through 16 games of the NBA season, the Warriors have had 10 different players miss multiple games due to injury, with Draymond Green being the latest.

Anthony Slater of The Athletic reported, the three-time All-Star has been ruled out against the Utah Jazz with a sore heel for the second-straight game, leaving Golden State with only eight healthy players in the final game of a four-game road trip. This will be Green’s seventh missed game of the season, as he missed five games earlier with a finger injury.

The Warriors lead the NBA in games missed due to injury by a hefty amount, but Steve Kerr kept a relatively positive approach to Green’s injury on Friday during the team’s shootaround session in Utah.

Kerr is hopeful the former Defensive Player of the Year will return to the Golden State’s thin lineup on Monday against Oklahoma City.

“The expectation is he will be able to play,” Kerr told reporters in Utah. “To have two days off— the next two days is really important. Rather than chase our tail with this one, we’d rather just take tonight off— that will have given him five straight days by the time we play.”

The injury comes with bad timing with Green coming off one of his strongest games of the 2019 campaign; the Michigan State product had a near triple-double with eight points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds in the Warriors 114-95 win in Memphis. Green told reporters after the game that the team was starting to jell.

Kerr will hopefully get not only Green back soon, but maybe Kevon Looney, who’s been practicing with the team’s G League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors. Kerr said he’s scheduled to speak with team doctors soon to get an update on Looney, Jacob Evans, and Damion Lee.

The Dubs squared off against Luka Doncic, and the Dallas Mavericks, with only eight healthy players, and it resulted in the franchise’s worst loss since 1973. The Warriors will now try to pace Donovan Mitchell and the 9-5 Utah Jazz with rookies Ky Bowman and Eric Paschall leading the way.

Draymond Green ruled out against Luka Doncic and the Mavericks

Draymond Green is the latest Warriors to hit the injury report in 2019.

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The injury bug can’t stay away from the Golden State Warriors, with the latest bite coming for Draymond Green.

After a 35-minute, near triple-double performance for the former Defensive Player of the Year, Green is out for the second step of the Warriors road back-to-back in Dallas.

According to Connor Letourneau of the San Francisco Chronicle, Golden State will be without their three-time All-Star against Slovenian phenom, Luka Doncic, and the Dallas Mavericks.

Green slammed his elbow against the Memphis floor late in the third quarter of the Warriors 114-95 win, but that’s not the reason why he’ll miss the Dallas game. Letourneau is reporting Green will be out with right heel soreness.

Green didn’t initially pop up on the Warriors injury report in Dallas. However, Kerr told reporters the 29-year old is banged up overall, and the Warriors would look to give him an off day soon, even if he was able to go against the Mavs.

Luckily for Golden State, Tim MacMahon of ESPN says the injury isn’t severe, and the forward is still doing his regular pregame shooting routine before things tip-off in Dallas.

Even if the news on Green’s injury being positive, the Warriors can’t shake the injury report as they lead the NBA in games missed due to injury and will now have only eight healthy players against Dallas.

Draymond Green thinks Lonzo Ball should have kept championship comments to himself

Draymond Green doesn’t get why Lonzo Ball said the Lakers could have won a championship last season when L.A. didn’t even make the playoffs.

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In an interview with Big Boy on Real 92.3 LA this past summer, Lonzo Ball said he thought the Los Angeles Lakers had as good of a shot as anybody to win the NBA championship before injuries and trade rumors derailed their season.

“I thought we had a good chance, honestly,” Ball said in September. “Looking back on it, we were moving in the right direction and then ‘Bron went down, Rondo went down, I went down, B.I. went down, so it was just like … there was a point we were looking at the stands for people because we ain’t got no bodies.”

Draymond Green, who made the NBA Finals with the Golden State Warriors last season (and the four seasons before that) thinks Ball should have stayed in his lane, to borrow a phrase from LaVar Ball. In a recent interview with ESPN, Green said he thought it was funny that Lonzo was talking about the possibility of winning a championship when the Lakers didn’t even make the playoffs.

“Recently, Lonzo came out and said, like, ‘Yeah, the Lakers: we could have won a championship.’ That’s just something where it’s like, yeah, you’ve got LeBron James — of course you could have won a championship. But you didn’t make the playoffs. You can’t just come out and say that. Like, there’s some things you just got to keep to yourself,” Green said.

To be fair to Lonzo, the Lakers were two games back of the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference before James got hurt against Green’s Golden State Warriors on Christmas Day (and for the record, the Lakers won that game).

That being said, Green is probably right. Not only did the Lakers not make the playoffs, but Lonzo doesn’t even play for Los Angeles anymore. Sure, the Lakers could have made the playoffs, but the only team’s playoff hopes he should be concerned with now are the New Orleans Pelicans’.

The way things are going right now, though, both Green and Ball will be at the NBA Draft Lottery next season.

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Draymond Green says the ‘jelling’ Warriors are figuring out how to win

Despite being just 3-12 on the regular season, Draymond Green isn’t short on confidence. He says the Warriors are figuring things out.

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The Golden State Warriors entered play on Nov. 19 having lost seven games in a row. Collectively, the troops decided that the streak would not reach eight.

By virtue of some impactful performances from Alec Burks, Glenn Robinson III and Marquese Chriss, Golden State was able to put one in the win column for the first time since the club scored a monumental upset over Damian Lillard and the Trail Blazers back on Nov. 4.

After the contest, Draymond Green — who arguably had his best performance of the season with eight points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists — spoke with Kerith Burke on NBC Sports Bay Area about the team’s attitude heading into Tuesday night’s contest.

“We came in fighting,” Green said after the Warriors’ 114-95 victory, adding:

We’ve been talking about improving our defense each and every chance we get to step on this floor and, tonight, we really showed that. We got stops to start the game and we were able to get out and push the tempo and we kept the game at our pace.

For the contest, the Warriors managed to hold the Grizzlies to just 40.9% shooting from the field — quite the accomplishment considering that Golden State entered the contest last in the league in defensive efficiency and 28th in points allowed per game.

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As for Green himself, he was looking to rebound from his relatively poor effort against the Pelicans on Sunday.

“I knew I needed to respond coming off the game I had,” Green said. “I played pretty bad and we still had a pretty good shot at winning, so I don’t want to let my guys down. Come out, try to lead the ship and help guys get in their position to do what they do.

Although the win makes the Warriors just 3-12 on the season, a few of the team’s games have been close, and considering the injuries, it’s understandable for members of the club to be somewhat upbeat.

Green sure was, stating:

We’re really jelling. We’re working together, we’re playing for each other and if we continue to do that, we’ll get more and more wins.

That theory will be tested on Wednesday night when the Warriors will be in Dallas to do battle with Luka Doncic and the Mavericks.

Draymond Green has honest and constructive criticism for Eric Paschall

Eric Paschall has turned into the go-to player for the Warriors, but veteran Draymond Green thinks he can be better.

In a season where your record shows the results being two wins in 13 games, you have to look for any opportunity to find a bright spot. For the Golden State Warriors, that bright spot is rookie, Eric Paschall. Of late, the New York native has gleamed.

After carrying them through the start of the season, Paschall has blown away any expectation Golden State had for the 41st overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.

The Villanova product is averaging 16.7 points per game while shooting 51.9 percent from the field. Through 13 games, the rookie has led the team in scoring four times with his most recent being Sunday night versus the Pelicans.

The rookie dropped a game-high 30 points in a road loss in New Orleans and even after he put up a high scoring number, one veteran thinks he can be better.

“Right now, he’s just scoring off raw talent. He really don’t know how to play the NBA game.” Draymond Green told reporters after the 108-100 loss to the Pels. “As he figures out more and more the NBA game, how to get fouled, he’ll get better and better.”

Green knows what it’s like to be in Paschall’s shoes, as he was a second-round pick as well. Green went from the 35th overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, to three-time NBA All-Star, signing a $100-million contract. He also has three championship rings on his resume. Green’s laid a solid blueprint for the 23-year old rookie to follow, meaning when Green speaks, Paschall should listen.

“Sometimes, he can get a little lost out there, not knowing where to go,” Green said. “Just trying to help him find his spacing.”

After playing with some of the best shooters in his career, Green knows how important small things like spacing can be to the flow of a team. The fact a player of Green’s clout is taking interest in the Paschall’s game should inspire the 23-year old.

Even if this is just a way to motivate the rookie, it’s still high praise from the former Defensive Player of the Year.

With an injury-riddled roster and the 2019-20 season quickly turning into a development year, Green and Paschall have a lot of time to figure out how to improve the rookie’s game.

Draymond Green to take over point guard with D’Angelo Russell out

Something that makes Draymond Green special is his ability to play all over the court. His latest test will be to see if he can take over as the Warriors’ primary point guard.

It’s something that’s hard to fathom, but six of the Warriors’ eight guards are injured, with only rookies Jordan Poole and Ky Bowman currently available in the backcourt. Steve Kerr will have to be creative with who handles the ball during their injury-riddled road trip—enter Draymond Green.

Luckily for the Warriors, the former center of the “death lineup” can handle the rock nicely. Saturday night in New Orleans, Coach Kerr said “Draymond is really good in a facilitating role, so Draymond will handle the ball quite a bit,”

Anthony Slater of The Athletic reported the Warriors will start Draymond Green at point guard versus the New Orleans Pelicans. During the former Michigan State Spartan’s career, he’s started at center, power forward and now at point guard.

Earlier this season, Kerr said he needs to find ways to feature Green more on offense and this is the perfect opportunity.

Green’s always had an eye for passing over his career, averaging 4.9 assists. Green had a career-high 16 assists back in 2017, but the confidence in Green to take over point guard responsibilities doesn’t just come from his passing skillset.

Green is a floor general even if he’s not playing true point guard. He’s always been able to push the ball up the floor in his career, but even in half court sets, he can control the Warriors offense.

The biggest difference for Green will be the players surrounding him. He won’t have players like Kevin Durant, Curry and Thompson to dish the rock too, so the offense will have to go through him alone.

When Green makes his debut at the point, the Warriors will have started five different players at point guard through only 14 games this season. Green’s switch will mark the Dubs’ 10th different starting lineup this season according to Connor Letourneau of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Green leading the way at the point will give the Warriors their biggest lineup of the season with him surrounded by Willie Cauley-Stein, Eric Paschall, Alec Burks, and Glenn Robinson III. No player in the starting lineup will be listed under 6-foot-6.

The big lineup should give the Warriors league-worst defense a boost versus the Pelicans, who are also dealing with an array of injuries.

The Warriors lead NBA in games missed with injury by a staggering clip

Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry were just the start of the Warriors injury concerns. After 13 games, the Warriors lead the NBA with games missed due to injuries and the next team isn’t even close.

When Klay Thompson left Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals with a knee injury, the Golden State Warriors immediately had to start thinking of ways to replace their three-time All-Star for 2020. Then the offseason came and Kevin Durant departed for the Brooklyn Nets, leaving Golden State in uncharted territory. Replacing two All-Stars is hard enough, but that was just the tip of the iceberg for the Warriors’ 2019-20 season.

The Dubs started the season thin, then two-time MVP Stephen Curry suffered a broken hand after only four games, followed by a tirade of injuries through the rest of the team. Core players like Draymond Green and D’Angelo Russell have missed time, with role players like Jacob Evans and Alec Burks also out. The injury bug has torn through the Warriors roster from top to bottom.

  • Klay Thompson: 13 (ACL)
  • Alen Smailigic: 13 (Ankle)
  • Kevon Looney: 12 (Hamstring & Neuropathic)
  • Jacob Evans: 10 (Groin)
  • Stephen Curry: 9 (Hand)
  • Draymond Green: 5 (Finger)
  • D’Angelo Russell: 3 (Ankle & Thumb)
  • Alec Burks: 3 (Ankle)
  • Willie Cauley-Stein: 3 (Foot)
  • Damion Lee 2: (Hand)
  • Omari Spellman: 1 (Ankle)

Count that 74-total games missed with injuries according to Sportrac.com, with the next closest team being the Indiana Pacers at 46.

Glenn Robinson III, Jordan Poole, and Ky Bowman are the only players with Golden State to suit up for every game this season. Marquese Chriss and Eric Paschall have each missed a game due to coach’s decision, but have played in 12 of the team’s 13 other games. This number will continue to grow as players like Curry, Thompson, Russell, and Lee aren’t expected back soon.

The good news is they might have reinforcements on the way. The team announced Looney, Evans, and Smailigic will get reevaluated by team doctors on Wednesday. There should be new timetables set for their return post evaluation and the news can’t come sooner for the depleted Dubs.

The Warriors will kick off the first of a four-game road trip versus the similarly injury-laden New Orleans Pelicans. The Pels are one of the Dub’s two wins on the season, but each team will carry thin rotations this time around.

How Steve Kerr will craft a lineup with only nine healthy will be his newest challenge in a year full of tests for the championship coach.

Steve Kerr reveals who he’ll lean on in D’Angelo Russell’s absence

The Warriors are already thin due to injuries, but now with D’Angelo Russell out, they’ll have to dig deep to replace his production.

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Add D’Angelo Russell to the latest injury report that’s already full of All-Star talent.

Russell left Friday night’s game versus the Boston Celtics with a hand injury, and the next day, the Warriors announced the Kentucky native will miss at least the next two weeks with a sprained right thumb.

The injury couldn’t come at a worse time, as Russell was on a scoring heater the team needed. Before the Warriors squared off against the league-best Boston Celtics, Russell scored 20 or more points in five-straight games. In that span, he averaged 33.2 points per game with three 30-plus point games, including his first-ever 50-point effort.

Not only was Russell the Dub’s offensive initiator, but the primary ball handler with Stephen Curry out. How the Warriors replace Russell’s production over the next two weeks will be Steve Kerr’s latest challenge.

On Saturday night in New Orleans, Kerr told reporters he’d turn to Draymond Green for help with ball-handling responsibilities.

“Draymond is really good in a facilitating role, so Draymond will handle the ball quite a bit,” said the coach of the Warriors.

Over the former Defensive Player of the Year’s career, he’s been able to bring the ball up the court with success, but this time he won’t have a bevy of All-Star’s surrounding him. It’s safe to believe opponents will try to test Green when he’s tasked with being the primary ball-handler.

Green’s skillset is built for the defensive end of the floor, but an injury-riddled season is putting pressure on Green to pick it up on offense.
Kerr said the Saginaw, Michigan product won’t be the only player listed as a ball-handler.

“Draymond will play a lot of point and Ky will have the ball in his hands quite a bit,” said Kerr.

If Warriors fans are looking to take away a positive from early in the season, it’s the Boston College product, Ky Bowman. The two-way guard will now be entrusted to take over point guard responsibilities with Russell out.

The undrafted rookie has been a pleasant surprise since training camp and he will now get the opportunity to play big minutes due to the Warriors’ lack of guards.

Bowman isn’t letting the probable increase in playing time phase him, though.

“I just go out there and play my role,” Bowman said to reporters Saturday. “If that’s scoring, if that’s defense, just play my role. At the end of the day, it’s whatever they need.”

The Warriors can try to band-aid their need for a ball-handler, but there’s still the massive hole in scoring production with Russell out.

Alec Burks is a player highlighted to step up in Russell’s absence. He led the Warriors in points versus Boston, before that he’s posted scoring clips of 28, 23 and 18 on the season. Burks has been a steady slashing forward over his career, but the Warriors now need to depend on Burks to fill the stat sheet up.

The wildcard scoring option is struggling rookie Jordan Poole, who has a pretty shot but hasn’t seen it go in much this season. If the rookie is going to figure out the pro game, now would be a good time to start. Poole will need to mimic his college form where he recorded several 20-plus point performances as a Michigan Wolverine. Through the first 13 games of his NBA career, the struggling rookie is connecting on just 27.3 percent of his shots.

No matter what lineup Kerr and company can craft, it’ll be hard to replace the production of a former All-Star like Russell.

While they try, it’ll be a good opportunity to see what the Warriors have in players like Burks, Bowman, and Poole.

Steve Kerr raves about new ‘excellent’ defensive-minded starting unit

The Warriors nearly scored a major upset over the NBA-leading Boston Celtics thanks in part to a new starting lineup on Friday night.

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While it wasn’t a win the Golden State Warriors, Steve Kerr likes what he saw from the team in Friday night’s 105-100 loss to the Boston Celtics.

In particular, the level of effort from a team riddled with injuries to critical players—now including All-Star guard D’Angelo Russell, who exited the game in the third quarter with a sprained thumb after logging 12 points and seven assists—was promising.

The home crowd was engaged as a result, with the game within a possession or two for much of the contest.

“Warriors fans have always appreciated high-energy, hustle, toughness and competition,” said Kerr (via Let’sGoWarriors). “You could feel it in the building tonight. Our fans really enjoyed watching our guys compete and that’s important.”

“We want people to come into this building and be excited about our team and it’s been a rough start, but I think if we can compete that way and play that way we are going to win some games and our fans will enjoy what we are doing,” the coach offered, alluding to the difficulty of putting posteriors in the seats of the team’s new arena with so many marquee players riding pine while recuperating.

Kerr tinkered with the lineup in the hopes of finding some traction after dropping the previous five games, going with a more defensively-oriented approach. Rookie standout, Eric Paschall entered the lineup to play next to Draymond Green.

“We just wanted to take a different look,” explained the coach. Struggling rookie, Jordan Poole, who started the previous eight games was sent to the bench as a result.

“We had lost five games in a row and we wanted just to see Eric [Paschall] and Draymond [Green] play together. We like the physicality that brought to our defense and so we had a more physical front line with both Eric and Draymond and Willie [Cauley-Stein].”

“We give up a little something in spacing, but we pick up something defensively and we get a look at,” he continued, noting a shift away from the offensive onslaught the team has depended on so long in the absence of effective shooters.

A move to rely more on defense to keep the team close against superior scoring teams (Golden State currently is in 17th place for points scored per game in the league) nearly paid off against the league-leading Celtics, and should provide dividends against lesser opponents.

“I thought the defense was excellent, we didn’t turn the ball over for the first nine minutes or so and we executed offensively”, noted Kerr. “The game is so connected, when we were taking care of the ball our defense was great.”

“As soon as we started turning it over the defense struggled and it’s no coincidence,” he explained, referring to the Dubs issues finding their defensive footing when reacting to the team’s many second-half turnovers, including a few key late ones.

“It’s hard to guard a fast-break when you’re just not in position, so the turnovers shifted the tide of the game but I was really proud of the way the guys fought back and took the lead, and the hung in there and we had a chance.”

“We just couldn’t get it done,” he added.

On to the next one.

3 things to watch in the Warriors’ game against the Pelicans

The Golden State Warriors are 2-11 through their first 13 games of the 2019-20 NBA season.

The Golden State Warriors are in the midst of a temporary rebuild this season and have two wins through 13 games.

Despite injuries to Steph Curry, D’Angelo Russell and Draymond Green affecting their rocky start, the Warriors have made strides.

The Warriors lost 105-100 against the Boston Celtics on Friday night, allowing their second-fewest number of points. The fewest points they’ve allowed was 93 in a loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Nov. 2.

As the Warriors continue to grow, they’ll play the New Orleans Pelicans on the road Sunday. The Pelicans are one of two teams Golden State has defeated this season, with the other being the Portland Trail Blazers.

Will the Warriors continue good defense in New Orleans?

After the Warriors’ loss to the Celtics, coach Steve Kerr praised his team’s quality defensive performance.

The Warriors allowed their lowest field goal percentage of the season, as the Celtics shot 40.7% from the field.

“We played our best defensive game of the year…It was the first night, all year, I thought we looked like we knew what were doing defensively,” Kerr said, per The Athletic’s Anthony Slater. 

This season, the Warriors rank 29th in opponent field goal percentage and last in opponent 3-point field goal percentage.

When they defeated the Pelicans on Oct. 28, the Pelicans shot 46.6% from the field and 31.9% from the 3-point line.

Rebounding Growth

The Warriors grabbed 55 rebounds against the Celtics, tying their second-highest number of rebounds for the season.

This season Golden State ranks 20th in rebounds per game (44.4), a decrease from last season when they ranked 11th. Willie Cauley-Stein is Golden State’s top rebounder this season, averaging 6.3 rebounds a game.

The Pelicans rank 12th in rebounds per game, with Derrick Favors and Brandon Ingram being the team’s top two rebounders. Along with Favors and Ingram, Jrue Holiday, Kenrich Williams and Josh Hart each average at least five rebounds a game.

Alec Burks’ quality play off the bench

In nine games coming off the bench, Alec Burks has been the Warriors’ best reserve.

Burks has averaged 13.2 points a game off the bench this season, ranking 18th among bench players in the league, according to NBA.com. 

On Friday night against the Celtics, Burks had a team-high 20 points on 4-of-11 shooting. He also had three rebounds and an assist. With Burks starting the season well, it’ll be important for him to consistently bring a spark off the bench.

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