Draymond Green has never been a player short of confidence, but it’s fair to say he caught everyone off guard when he claimed during All-Star Weekend that the Golden State Warriors would win the NBA championship this season.
The Warriors are 3-1 since Jimmy Butler’s arrival from the Miami Heat but still sit 10th in the Western Conference with a 28-27 record, 3 1/2 games behind the LA Clippers for the sixth seed.
On the latest episode of “NBA Daily,” Zena Keita was joined by Marcus Thompson II to discuss whether Green’s comments hold any substance.
A partial transcript has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available on YouTube below or in the “NBA Daily” podcast feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Zena: In speaking to people around the organization and also just speaking to people who are consistently watching the Warriors, they still think that they need size. Some sort of a move, maybe on the buyout market just to get some size inside because we know that the whole (Nikola) Vučević situation did not pan out. But just Jimmy Butler alone and his ability to come in and change the dynamic of the Warriors offense has got them believing that they’re going to win every single game. When you think about the West, how valid do you think Draymond’s claim is? That they could come in against a Denver without size against (Nikola) Jokić… And against Dallas — yes they’ve lost their size but were still able to pull out a win against them. How feasible is this in the West right now?
Marcus: I think the West makes it unfeasible. I understand what Draymond is saying. You’ve got Steph Curry. You’ve got Draymond. You’ve got Jimmy Butler. So they can win any series, they can do it. But that is not how you win a championship. You’ve got to win four of them things. So to me, that’s the part that’s tough. They’re just like every other team; they need things to fall right, and they need a first round that is amenable to them. If they’ve got to go through Jokić and Anthony Davis, that’s tough. But I do feel like if you just looked up and they make it to the Western Conference finals, I see it. I see it at that point.
We’ve seen Jimmy Butler do it with less. We’ve seen Steph Curry do it with less, with a compromised Klay Thompson and the best of Andrew Wiggins. We’ve seen Jimmy Butler get to the finals with Gabe Vincent as the point guard, a good player but not that kind. But that was in the Eastern Conference, too, where you’ve basically got to win one big series. The problem with the West is you probably have to at least get through two really good teams. I don’t think it’s a matter of ability or talent; it’s really about retention and survival. That’s the question I have.
Their top end will be pretty good. If the games are close, they have dudes who can close. They’ve got two of them. But just the course of a playoff run is so grueling. The reason they’ve won four championships is because they can do that. But I don’t know if they can do that anymore because it’s going to take a lot of other dudes to play well. I get the sentiment though. They’ve got Jimmy, they’ve got Steph, it just makes you feel good. The dopamine is high right now in Golden State; it’s feeling good.
Zena: But this is a team at the end of the day that’s one game over .500 now at 28-27. They’ve only got another 20 or so games…
Marcus: And that 3-1 (record since Jimmy Butler came in), it was a fight for it. It wasn’t like they were cooking teams…
Zena: Exactly it wasn’t like they were rolling through them…
Marcus: Yeah, they were hanging on for dear life.
Zena: Especially that last Houston Rockets game too … but I agree with you. For the Warriors, it’s a factor of positioning. It’s where they find themselves in the Western Conference when the playoffs arrive. Are they in that Play-In position? If they are, will they be in the top or bottom Play-In positions, where you have to win two games versus just the one to be able to go in? The Warriors need to play to find themselves that amenable first-round choice.
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