Golden State Warriors head coach Mark Jackson thinks very highly of forward Draymond Green. Jackson claims that in the NBA, only Green and LeBron James can legitimately guard all five positions on the floor. Per the Contra Costa Times:
“Those two guys have the size, the strength, the knowledge, the competitive spirit in my opinion to do that,” Jackson said of James and Green, who he said was a “genius basketball-wise.”
“It’s a tremendous luxury.”
So (on Sunday) when starting forward David Lee struggled to guard quicker and rangier Portland players on the pick-and-roll, Jackson benched him in favor of Green. The Warriors went on to rally from an 18-point deficit and win 113-112, with Green neutralizing the Trail Blazers and playing 24 minutes — the same number as Lee — before fouling out.
“We were having a problem getting stops,” said Green, who energized the team with his defense along with five points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals.
“We were bad, and to be down 11 (at halftime) was kind of uplifting,” he said. “We were really bad. Defensively, we were really bad. We missed a lot of shots. We were just bad across the board.”
