Why Warriors’ Draymond Green should – or shouldn’t – win the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award

HOUSTON Draymond Green s strength is obvious to anyone who watches him play It is hard to miss the -year-old flying around the court like a man years younger blowing up plays from the -point line to the rim while guarding all five positions The future Hall of Famer has been the band s full-time center this season showing off his elite strength while battling with post players five or six inches taller than himself And yet longtime assistant coach Ron Adams pointed to Green s intelligence as perhaps his greatest strength and the biggest reason he along with Cleveland s Evan Mobley and Atlanta s Dyson Daniels is a finalist for the Defensive Athlete of the Year award Draymond has inevitably had the gift of seeing plays develop early Adams informed the Bay Area News Group on Tuesday As I like to say the pictures of the meeting come hastily to him That allows him to not just react to a play but act early The winner will be revealed on Thursday afternoon at PT The bar for Defensive Sportsman of the Year was set so high that Houston s Amen Thompson the breakout San Leandro native who Green and the Warriors are facing in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs was not a finalist Green will face stiff competition for the award which he previously won in - He Mobley and Daniels all have strong arguments for taking home the prestigious honor Dyson Daniels Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham left drives to the basket against Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels during the second half of an NBA basketball encounter Monday Feb in Detroit AP Photo Duane Burleson Bio Atlanta years old shooting guard small forward third year Stats steals per championship blocks per competition deflections per meeting Making the event The Australian Daniels known as the Great Barrier Thief is a rangy defensive wing who emerged from the anonymity of being a role athlete on New Orleans to an everyday starter in Atlanta as the crown jewel of the Hawks bargain that sent Dejounte Murray to the Pelicans The -foot- wing led the league in both steals and deflections while playing minutes per championship While the Hawks were bounced in the play-in and were a middling th in defensive rating it cannot be pinned on Daniels It is not his fault that he plays with the human traffic cone known as Trae Young Evan Mobley Golden State Warriors Trayce Jackson-Davis grabs a rebound in front of Cleveland Cavaliers Evan Mobley in the first quarter of their NBA battle at Chase Center in San Francisco Calif on Monday Dec Jose Carlos Fajardo Bay Area News Group Bio Cleveland years old power forward center fourth year Stats bpg spg contested shots per match Making the circumstance Mobley anchored a top- defense in the NBA according to defensive rating and was arguably the preponderance valuable player on the top seed in the Eastern Conference The SoCal native averaged a healthy blocks per tournament but that undersold how developing he was as a deterrent He contested shots per encounter third in the league and helped hold teams to just shooting on -point shots the second-lowest mark in the NBA He was also not afraid of defending the perimeter despite standing at -foot- Mobley contested -pointers per championship and was named an All-Star for the first time Draymond Green Golden State Warriors Draymond Green gestures after getting the basket and the foul in the second quarter of their NBA championship at Chase Center in San Francisco Calif on Friday April Jose Carlos Fajardo Bay Area News Group Related Articles Warriors looking to pick up the pace against old-school Rockets in Meeting Jimmy Butler fits right into this Warriors-Rockets series straight out of the s How to watch Warriors vs Rockets Contest Nonprofit ex-director charged with pocketing donation from Steph and Ayesha Curry to plead guilty How the Warriors can fix their biggest Challenge flaw against the oversized Rockets Bio Golden State power forward center th year Stats spg bpg contests per contest Making the episode Green has made a late push from afterthought to viable frontrunner since the Warriors midseason turnaround following the Jimmy Butler transaction Golden State has led the league in defensive rating since the deal but it is clear that the league credits a rejuvenated Green for that uptick He was named the league s Defensive Participant of the Month for March after the Warriors went - Green put up solid counting stats in both steals and blocks but as Adams mentioned much of his impact is intangible Green is still the greater part versatile defender in the NBA capable of guarding all five positions for long stretches