Draymond Green may not have packed a stats sheet, but he has a lasting legacy as a winner. Dwyane Wade revealed his thoughts on who doesn’t think Green is in the Hall of Fame.
Dwyane Wade can boast one of the best careers in NBA history, but is often covered in larger superstars. After all, he won three titles alongside LeBron James and Shaquille O’Neill, but that doesn’t discount his bid as one of the best shooting guards ever.
Draymond Greene, like Wade, often shared courtrooms with better players. Stephen Curry, and to a lesser extent, Kevin Durant led the Golden State Warriors to four titles, but Green played a key role in all of these teams.
Despite averaging just 8.7 points in his career, Green was a solid First Balot Hall of Fame, and Wade made a compelling claim for him.
Green is not a stranger to controversy or negative attention. His “dirty” plays, feuds with the judges, and frequent fouls made him a significant portion of his opponents. Most of them quote his love of arguing and talking about garbage as a reason to dislike him.
But while Greene begins the fight, Wade believes his detractor is someone who “want to hear his voice.”
“If someone wants to discuss individual rankings of Draymonds, they just want to discuss,” Wade said. “It’s someone who wants to hear their voice and argue.”
Green’s offensive numbers aren’t flashy, but his defense and willingness to do dirty work speaks for itself. Green fits similar cultural archetypes to Ben Wallace, Bruce Bowen, Dennis Rodman and KC Jones, but he may be the best defender and enforcer the league has ever seen.
The Warriors’ success with his career is what it claims.
“Draymond Green’s career should not be spoken of as an individual player,” Wade added.
“I’ll talk about him all this as a winner, as a team player, as a leader. If you’re a Draymond fan, you can’t care what Draymond is ranked as an individual player because Draymond doesn’t go out into his individual mentality.”
Wade played James as a second fiddle in part of five seasons, but he was his own superstar, especially on the offensive side of the ball. Green’s success is thanks to his fortunate circumstances. Playing with Curry, Durant and Klay Thompson certainly helps, but there are cases where the Warriors’ success was minimal without the “first” guys like Greene putting it all together.
“He’s the best defender I’ve ever seen in my life and he’s on that opportunity,” coach Steve Kerr said last season. “In addition to being a great defender, he’s an incredible competitor. I’ve seen it for 11 years.
Carr played alongside Michael Jordan, Scotty Pippen, David Robinson, Tim Duncan and Rodman, so it’s very important to see a fair share of the elite defenders and give Green the “best” title.
Green’s basketball reference page may not show that he leads the league in many statistics, but his trophy case at home tells a different story, and that’s what he should be judging.