But the issue isn't whether he's still a good player to have on the floor, it's whether he makes Golden State that much better than everyone else. Against the last two teams Golden State has faced, they're currently 7-6 in these matchups. So the question is fairly being asked...how much of an advantage do they really have?
He's a good player either way, but he's being mitigated right now. I already showed you the dip in offensive numbers, but even defensively, this past game, the Cavs shot 75 percent in the paint this past game. That was something we were told wouldn't happen with Green back in the lineup. It still did.
The answer has been that, no, Golden State has not been that much better than everyone else. The Oklahoma City series could have gone either way, and some would argue they outright stole it due to a historic performance by Thompson in game six. Up to this point, Cleveland has played them even. I still think Golden State is better, but not much has occurred in this series to conclusively prove that they're overwhelmingly better.
Though I've conceded that Green did not play well in game six, that 75% figure surprises me. That is a fairy damning number, albeit in a one game sample that I think will prove to be an anomaly.
Still: I think the most dangerous thing we can do as analysts is react too strongly to a small sample of games. That's not to say they shouldn't be criticized, just that a few games - however pivotal they are - should not override an aggregate of work that has established their value. Kyrie got crushed after games one and two - since, he's playing at a level that will make it almost impossible to underrate him going forward. When Green had his way defensively in game four - and then watched as his team was eviscerated without him in game five - the conversation cast him in a light reserved for only a handful of players. Tristan Thompson, for much of the season, has been viewed as an immensely overpaid one-way player who allows defenses to send extra help at LeBron and Kyrie. Now he's a transformative player for Cleveland in a series that allows him to leverage his perimeter quickness with his offensive rebounding wizardry.
These things change quickly, and regardless of the outcome in game seven, I'm not going to think about any of the key players in an entirely new way, Draymond included. We knew there were guys who could cause him problems - unsurprisingly, the current league landscaping appears to be naturally selecting mobile big men who can operate in space and sustain spacing either as a rim-runner or spot-up shooter. I don't view the past 13 games as a referendum on Draymond's worth so much as I do a tribute to Ibaka, Adams, and Thompson. Those guys are very good players that you can win a championship with - put enough of them together, and you're going to get a long, competitive series with some give and take.
