<\/p>\n
Warriors forward Draymond Green, driving past Sacramento Kings forward Jonathan\u00a0Mogbo in a preseason game at Chase Center on Oct.\u00a010, has a new role in Steve Kerr\u2019s revamped offense.<\/p>\n
Yalonda M. James\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
LAS VEGAS\u00a0\u2014 Half an hour after shoot-around wrapped in Las Vegas on Tuesday,\u00a0Draymond Green<\/a> remained, working out in a mostly empty T-Mobile Arena. He slid vertically and horizontally around the floor, firing up shots at several spots around the wing and corners in a designed workout.<\/p>\n A security guard\u00a0wandered over to Green\u2019s workout and was met by Warriors<\/a> assistant coach Jacob Rubin.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to go,\u201d Rubin told the security guard, \u201cuntil they kick us off the court.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Green would get the night off in the Warriors\u2019 preseason tilt against the Lakers. So they worked out instead. There must be changes in Green\u2019s 15th year in the NBA, adopting head coach Steve Kerr<\/a>\u2019s new offensive ideas for Golden State. He will be trailing plays less, and directing traffic from the top of the key less, and getting up the floor to corners and out on the wings more.<\/p>\n It is not an easy adjustment.<\/p>\n \u201cI think for me, it\u2019s different because \u2014 you\u2019ve always been in position to make the play,\u201d Green told the Chronicle hours later, after a night off in Golden State\u2019s win Tuesday over the Lakers in Vegas. \u201cAnd now you\u2019re in the position to at times to make the play, or for somebody to make the play for you, or for you to make the cut to allow someone to make the next play.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the most part, I think what it boils down to is, ultimately, trust,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Green\u2019s processing, his superpower, remains sharp. But his assist-to-turnover ratio dipped to its lowest mark last season (2.1) since he was a 23-year-old backup in 2013-14, his second NBA season, and\u00a0Kerr has set a mission to avoid as many giveaways as possible to maximize the Warriors\u2019 shrinking room for error. Internally, Golden State feels Green can improve his efficiency by not trying to force a difficult pass as often while surveying the floor.<\/p>\n That means different positioning at times, and having the ball in his hands less often. Green didn\u2019t exactly appear thrilled after Golden State\u2019s preseason opener against the Clippers on Oct. 4, when he spent the majority of 14 minutes floating away from the play like a forgotten soul.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether I like it or not,\u201d Green told reporters then, asked about the shift in role, \u201cit\u2019s going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n A week later in Vegas, his tone was entirely different.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s face it. This is real life. You don\u2019t trust today \u2026 you trust later. So, ultimately, what you\u2019re betting on is\u00a0\u2014 my trust in Steve Kerr, is, like, (here),\u201d Green told the Chronicle, raising his hand at the top of an invisible meter.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Green has thus far been \u201call in\u201d on Kerr\u2019s new vision, as the head coach said Thursday. He has found a variety of cutters of all shapes and sizes\u00a0\u2014 Stephen Curry<\/a>, Brandin Podziemski<\/a>, Yaxel Lendeborg<\/a>, Georges Niang<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 with surgical precision while conducting from the wings. His reads off the short roll, when Golden State turns back to its Curry-Green bread-and-butter pick-and-roll, have rarely found error. Green has averaged 7.7 assists per game across his last three preseason outings, against 2.0 turnovers.<\/p>\n \u201cHe understands that we need to make some changes,\u201d Kerr said Friday night, after Green finished with 10 assists in 24 minutes in Golden State\u2019s win over Portland<\/a>. \u201cAnd the whole key, for Draymond, is finding that sweet spot between being aggressive and impactful like he was tonight, but avoiding some of the more risky plays that our whole team made last year.\u201d<\/p>\n As the days tick down to the Warriors\u2019 season opener on Wednesday, the weight on Green\u2019s shoulders only grows. He needs to acclimate, offensively. And he needs to grind, defensively. In a perfect world, the Warriors would prefer to pair most of Green\u2019s minutes with a true center. Their current roster has made that less of an option.<\/p>\n There remains no update on any kind of timeline for Kristaps Porzingis<\/a>, the Warriors\u2019 ostensible starting center. Forty-year-old Al Horford<\/a> will likely hover at around 20 minutes a night, coming off the bench. Golden State loves 25-year-old Charles Bassey, but he has rarely played next to Green.<\/p>\n Kerr said postgame that he was \u201cvery comfortable\u201d opening the season with Green at center. He may have no choice.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, right now, we have to pivot a little bit,\u201d Horford said. \u201cThe way that you look at it is\u00a0\u2014 Draymond\u2019s going to have to probably play some 5. I\u2019ll play some 5. We have Bassey, he\u2019ll have to play as well. And we just have to play in a different way, obviously, missing KP.\u201d<\/p>\n Green\u2019s entire season, at the moment, is shaping up as a 36-year-old, four-time All-Star who has to play in a different way. There is more offensive change, at least, on Green\u2019s plate than at any point since Kevin Durant arrived in the Bay Area in 2016. And that was an easier sell then.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t need (Kerr) to have trust,\u201d Green recalled, back in Vegas. \u201cI got eyes. So, like, I don\u2019t need you to actually tell me anything. It\u2019s actually when it\u2019s unclear, how do you trust? Because with Kevin Durant, my f\u2014 grandmother would trust.\u201d<\/p>\n His trust in Kerr, now, will define much of his future in Golden State, as Green is playing on an expiring one-year, $27.7 million deal. There is equity built up, for now.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cIf he thinks this is best, like, I\u2019ma trust it,\u201d a lively Green told the Chronicle. \u201cAnd I think if you taught me this younger in my career, I wouldn\u2019t have trusted it.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut like, at this point in my career? Our journey, with him? If he says something, I trust it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Warriors forward Draymond Green, driving past Sacramento Kings forward Jonathan\u00a0Mogbo in a preseason game at Chase Center on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":931752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,7901,590,85,58049,3198],"class_list":["post-931751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-draymond-green","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-steve-kerr","tag-warriors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=931751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/931751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/931752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=931751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=931751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=931751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>
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