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Draymond Green has some of the best assist numbers in the NBA so far this season, but has his declining shooting percentage been an issue for the Warriors’ offense?
Longtime Warrior and Hall of Famer Rick Barry believes so and told 95.7 The Game on Thursday morning why he thinks Draymond hurt the Warriors on that side of the pitch.
“The problem is, Draymond isn’t playing well right now,” Barry said on “The Morning Roast”. “It’s not a good thing, I mean if you look at his stats from two seasons ago, he’s going down in all categories, his minutes are obviously down, his shooting percentage is down from 2, his shooting percentage is down from 3, his shooting percentage is down from the free throw line, so he just needs to start playing again at the level he was playing before.
“I mean they really need him right now he’s become a handicap even in this game I mean nobody keeps him they force him at the 3 point line and they go and he shoots 20 percent from 3., I mean why would you keep it there, and that lowers its efficiency, it has to be able to reverse some of those 3, if you look back there is a number of seasons, it was running 40% of the 3 a lot of times.
“So right now he’s a little funk and I hope he can get back to where he was a few seasons ago, but at the moment he’s not helping it.”
Green has never been a 40% 3-point shooter in his NBA career, at least not for a full season, but Barry is making a fair point on Draymond’s shooting numbers.
The future 31-year-old is shooting 37.2% from the field this season, the lowest score of his career since his first season in the NBA, when he had only made 32.7% of his attempts. Downtown Green’s 22.2% rating is also the lowest since his rookie year.
Green’s 71.1% mark on the free throw line almost exactly matches his career percentage at the entry line this season (71.0).
RELATED: Draymond Gives In-Game Used Shoes To Young Pacers Fan On The Road
While he’s become much less of a scoring threat in 2020-2021 than we’ve seen in recent years, Green is racking up assists from top distributors in the NBA. Green ranks sixth in the NBA with an average of 8.4 assists per game.
Klay Thompson’s absence from the field for the past two seasons has amplified Green’s goal scoring as he hasn’t recorded double digits in a season since 2017-18.
Steph Curry’s numbers this season haven’t led to much progress in the win column for the Warriors, which has also led some, including Barry, apparently, to point fingers at Draymond.
Other issues, including the inconsistency of the rest of the supporting cast and the questionable adjustments (or lack thereof) by trainer Steve Kerr, played a role in the Warriors’ inability to climb further. of a game or two above 0.500.
Kerr spoke after Wednesday night’s win over the Indiana Pacers that he didn’t need Draymond to score “in general,” but that adding a few buckets didn’t hurt on a night the Warriors didn’t. are connected only on five points to 3 points.
There is some criticism to be made, and Draymond would probably be the first to tell you that he hasn’t been as productive as he would have hoped he has been this season, but his defensive intensity gets the Warriors playing. best defense in the league in the last 15 games.
Being a more consistent shooter among three might help the Warriors’ offense, but there’s not much Draymond can do about this midseason other than just make a higher percentage. He never inspired much fear in his opponents with his outside shots, even in his most successful downtown seasons.
“Responsibility” may be a bit of a stretch when it comes to Green, but Barry is a Hall of Famer and six-time All-NBA draft, so his basketball acumen certainly qualifies him to analyze the game better than anyone.
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