While we stand on the precipice of yet another NBA season, Draymond Green still can't get over something that happened last year. More specifically, the three-time NBA champ isn't happy that he was named a second-team All-Defensive player in 2017-18, and he's challenging voters to come up with five players more worthy of getting that first-team honor than him.
"I was second-team all-defense. That’s crazy," he said. "I don’t think any voter can tell me five defensive players better than me...I’ll wait.” You can read that exchange here:
Or, better yet, watch it here:
As for who the five players who voters determined were more worthy than Green last season, those would be: Jazz big man Rudy Gobert, Pacers star Victor Oladipo, Sixers forward Robert Covington, and Pelicans teammates Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday.
Instead Green had to settle for the second-team: Sixers' Joel Embiid, Celtics' Al Horford, Minnesota's Jimmy Butler, and the Spurs' Dejounte Murray (who currently has just one ACL intact).
Anyway, if nothing else, Green's displeasure with the voters' picks serves as evidence that he hasn't lost the fire to prove he's the best in the league after they did name him Defensive Player of the Year at the end of the 2016-17 season. Motivate yourself however you can, we guess. The quest for the individual accolade should help provide a semi-interesting plotline around Oracle Arena as the Warriors run roughshod over the West for the fifth straight year.
