Every team that is competing for an NBA title needs one player to bring it all together, a “glue guy”. A player that everyone respects and has the ability to lead without being the best player on the floor. For the Golden State Warriors, that’s Draymond Green.
Green, a second round pick out of Michigan State has turned himself into a commodity and he’s due for a new contract. He’s been inserted into the starting lineup this season and he’s flourished and so have the Warriors. Green has worked hard to put himself in this position and according to Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group, Marreese Speights deserves some credit for his current success:
Green is at the top of his game when he’s engaged in heated battles, when the effort is maxed and the trash talk is epic. And Speights is his normal foe, ready for the verbal sparring. Their battles are as intense as they are relentless.
That’s why Green loves Speights. He can go all out without hard feelings. He knows Speights will dish it right back, which only sharpens Green’s iron.
Green thrives on emotion, you can see it every time he steps out on that court. Steve Kerr called him the heartbeat of this squad and Green is honored to have that title and feels responsible whenever the team does not perform. You can always count on Green talking during the game, but Speights apparently returns the favor during practice.
Here’s what Green said about Speights according to Marcus Thompson:
“I talk crazy to him and he talks crazy back,” Green said. “He feels like he can score at will and I don’t think he can score on me at all. He’s a great scorer and I think I’m a great defender. So I take pride in locking him down.”
Speights has been great this year as well and now we know these two big guys are going at each other in practice as if it were a real game. They bring out the best in each other and the Warriors are thriving because of it. The Dubs are so deep and talented, they’ve figured out numerous ways to beat the opposition and that’s due to the fact that they have so many role players stepping up.
This Green-Speights relationship is working, so good in fact that Speights might want to charge Green a commission when he gets his lucrative contract.