Draymond Green believes he has many qualities that separate him from other players that are in the Defensive Player of the Year trophy race.
The 35-year-old made a statement with his stunning 21-point performance against the Toronto Raptors which helped the Golden State Warriors get a 117-114 win.
This came after his defensive masterclass against the Milwaukee Bucks, where he held Giannis Antetokounmpo to zero points on him, which helped the Warriors to a 104-93 win.
Having won the DPOY award in 2017, Green certainly will be looking to claim the award again and he certainly has a case, especially if the Warriors close the season well.
The DPOY race is believed to be wide open since Victor Wembanyama went down due to injury.
Green, who has four championships to his name stated that although there are great defenders in the league, he has qualities that separate him from the others.
Speaking on ‘Draymond Green show with Baron Davis,’ Green said: “Being able to guard positions one through five nightly, no matter who that one is, no matter who that five is.
“Just my IQ and reading the plays, I take a great deal of pride in ______g up your favourite team’s offense.
“As much as I enjoy locking one guy down, I take more pride in locking your entire offense down and making your coach have to figure something else out.”
The four-time All-Star is currently second behind Evan Mobley in the DPOY race according to recent odds released by Bet MGM.
Green boosted his case with his performance against Antetokounmpo, where he rolled back years to contain the Greek Freak, who is second in scoring.
Green revealed he simply tries to disrupt the stars when he goes up against them as it is not easy to contain them just defensively.
“So for me personally, I always look forward to that opportunity and by the way not always do you fair well.
“When you play against stars, they stars for a reason. You don’t always make out well but the opportunity to take on that challenge to make out well is what get me going, said Green.
He stated the matchup against Antetokounmpo is always difficult and all tried to do is make the Bucks star uncomfortable.
“So we coming in on a back-to-back, I got Giannis Antetokounmpo, Greek Freak, he running through everybody, he get downhill ain’t nothing you can do about it,
“So what’s your mindset coming into that game and my mindset coming into that game was I just want to make it tough on him, I just want to try to make him uncomfortable,” added Green.
