During the early 2010s, the Golden State Warriors started acquiring pieces in order to build a championship contender for years to come. In 2015, that work finally paid off as they won the NBA championship. The team would go on to play in five straight NBA Finals and have won three championships. One of the most important players in that run was none other than Draymond Green who has been seen as a defensive specialist over the years. In a recent interview with ESPN, Assistant GM Kirk Lacob spoke about Green and how the player once admitted that he sucked when he first came to the team as a rookie.
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“I had a conversation with Draymond about this right after our season. He said, ‘I would not be the player I was today if I had come onto this Warriors team three years ago,'” Lacob said. “He’s like ‘When I got here, we were a completely different team. I was given a chance, and I failed a lot.’ And he’s like, ‘I sucked my first year. My second year I was OK. My third year I got an opportunity. That’s hard for young guys who aren’t being given that opportunity because we got guys who have been here a long time and have established roles. There’s just no opportunity for growth.'”
Green will be up for a contract extension at the end of next season so it will be interesting to see what the Warriors do with him and whether or not he'll still be wearing the blue and gold in 2020-2021.
