Draymond Green made his return to the Golden State Warriors rotation on Monday, albeit from the bench. The veteran forward had missed the past 16 games due to suspension and returning to game conditioning.
However, his presence within the rotation failed to galvanize his teammates as the Warriors fell to a short-handed Memphis Grizzlies team.
The loss was Golden State’s 22nd in 40 games. When speaking to the media following the game, Green discussed how every member of the rotation needs to start taking pride in guarding their man and limiting opposing scorers.
“You just gotta have pride in yourself as a man, that I’m not gonna let my guy score,” Green said. “Our closeouts was too soft. Our rotations was too slow. So, there’s just no pride. Until every guy takes pride in themselves and wants to stop the guy in front on them, we’ll suck.”
The Warriors rank 25th in the NBA for defensive rating. They’re allowing 117.7 points per 100 possessions. The hope is that once Green is back up to game speed and takes his place in the starting lineup, he can begin holding teammates accountable and help the overall defensive production improve.
"Until every guy takes pride in themselves, and wants to stop the guy in front of him, we'll suck."
Draymond on the Warriors' lack of defensive intensity pic.twitter.com/uTiJEKyf6r
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) January 16, 2024
Still, Green can’t defend an entire team by himself. He needs teammates to step up and play hard-nosed defense. As such, he will likely look to lead by example. However, if the rest of the roster is unable to follow his lead, it’s going to continue being a long season for Warriors fans.
