Jerry West calls Draymond Green a top-10 player in the league
Golden State Warriors consultant Jerry West would know a thing or two about basketball talent. And it is "The "Logo's" contention that after Stephen Curry, the Dubs' other top-10 NBA player right now is Draymond Green.
"I think honestly we have two of the top 10 players in the league - Draymond Green is the second one," West told San Francisco radio station KNBR. "He's the most underrated player in the NBA, period. There are very few players, I think, anyone in our organization would trade for him. ... Watch him handle the ball, watch him make passes, defensively he's everywhere. If he's not a top 10 player in this league, I don't know who is."
There's really nothing too hyperbolic about West's statement. If anything, the perception of Green being underrated should have ended last season, when he emerged as a crucial ingredient to a 67-win NBA champion that led the league in defensive rating, and was only 0.1 points per 100 possessions off leading it in offensive efficiency as well.
Green's ability to play an effectively position-less version of power forward stands as a current NBA prototype, and it's seriously debatable that the Warriors would have enjoyed the same success they've had without him. Green's slow start in the NBA Finals last June mirrored that of the Warriors, and their fortunes in that series turned together.
Statistically speaking, the 25-year-old is playing better than last year, a season in which he was runner-up for both Most Improved Player, and Defensive Player of the Year.
While he doesn't rank in the top five of any traditional or advanced statistical category this year, the Michigan native is averaging 12.8 points, 7.9 rebounds, 6.8 assists, and 1.4 blocks, on a 62 percent true shooting percentage, and a player efficiency rating of 19.1.
- With h/t to SI.com