Getty Draymond Green #23 of the Golden State Warriors reacts during the first half against the Memphis Grizzlies in his return from indefinite suspension.
The returning Draymond Green offered a simple solution to fix the Golden State Warriors after another embarrassing loss, this time, against a skeleton Memphis Grizzlies team 116-107 on Monday, January 16, that sank them four games under .500.
“If we got guys that’ll take pride in themselves and play defense — one through 17 or however many guys we got — then it is solvable,” a disappointed Green told reporters after the loss. “If guys won’t take pride in defense, then it’s not.
It’s very simple. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out.
You got to take pride in your one-on-one matchup. I think every guy they had down there beat their season average and so you got to take pride. It starts with one-on-one defense and if you take pride in one-on-one defense then the team defense will automatically get better right? A shell or trap, the box-and-one, that stuff, will not matter until we take that pride. It’ll be the same old story.”
G League players Vince Williams Jr. and GG Jackson both scored career highs 24 and 23 points, respectively against the Warriors’ porous defense to pace the Grizzlies missing four starters, including their franchise star Ja Morant.
Memphis hit 20 3s and made 32 of 40 free throws to beat Golden State, who got beat one-on-one and resorted to a fouling spree. The Warriors’ 19 turnovers worsened their problems.
“You just gotta have pride in yourself as a man that I’m not gonna let my guy score,” Green said. “Our closeouts [were] too soft. Our rotations were too slow. So there’s just no pride. Until every guy takes pride in themselves, and wants to stop the guy in front of him, we’ll suck.”
“We can’t guard nobody. So until we guard we’ll lose.”
Draymond Green ‘Plays Well’ in Return
Green’s solid play off the bench — seven points, seven rebounds and four assists — in his first game since his indefinite suspension for striking Phoenix center Jusurf Nurkic in the face on December 12 went for naught.
“Draymond played well,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after the loss. “He played hard. It’s good to have him back. Obviously, as a team, we didn’t play well but Draymond competed and [it’s] good to get him back in the fold.”
Green did not single out anyone in their lackadaisical defensive effort. But everyone except him (plus-1), Andrew Wiggins (plus-9) and Lester Quiñones (plus-1) had a negative net rating. Klay Thompson, who also struggled offensively (9 points on 4 of 10 shooting) was a game-worst minus-22.
“It starts with the person on the ball and everybody else behind,” Green said. “It’s everybody. It’s not just one person. Individuals make up a team and individually our defense s*cks so in turn, our team defense s*cks.”
Andrew Wiggins’ Trade Value
Despite Green’s return, Wiggins remained in the starting lineup and delivered 16 points on 7 of 13 shooting with five rebounds, two blocks and one steal.
If this is the start of Wiggins’ return to form then it will help the Warriors as the former All-Star had zero trade value around the league coming into this game.
“Wiggins is seen by some observers as the most likely Warrior to be traded in the wake of Golden State’s 18-21 start. He’s in the first season of a four-year, $109 million deal — which is generally regarded as a quite reasonable contract in today’s NBA marketplace – but the challenge for the Warriors has been creating a market for him after Wiggins’ downturn in production over the past season and a half. Wiggins has started three games this month after moving to a reserve role for 11 games but is shooting a career-worst 29.5% from 3-point range,” NBA insider Marc Stein wrote in his substack newsletter on January 14.