Draymond's return comes under brightest spotlight of his career

Even with the many championships and individual honors and misdeeds that have blemished his stellar career, Draymond Green has never faced anything like the challenge that awaits his return to the Warriors.

After a 16-game absence, the first 12 due to an NBA suspension, Green will be greeted by the brightest spotlight of his career and maybe his life. The glare begins Monday in Memphis, where the Warriors face the Grizzlies in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day matinee.

Green is a man who says he is embracing the process of personal reform. He seems to realize this could be his last chance with the Warriors and, perhaps, the NBA. The world and its many skeptics will be watching.

He’s also a basketball player whose skills will be a massive factor in dictating the direction of Golden State’s agitative season – and perhaps his career. Much of the world, with a growing number of skeptics, will be watching.

With the Feb. 8 NBA trade deadline 24 days away, Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy and his lieutenants are aggressively pursuing options in hopes of pulling the team into playoff contention. With Klay Thompson’s 34th birthday coming on deadline day, followed five weeks later by Stephen Curry’s 36th, the desperation is palpable.

And here comes Draymond, who turns 34 in March, tackling a mission that feels, well, improbable.

Will his return to the lineup be enough to appreciably upgrade the worst defense in the NBA? Can he do enough to influence any moves the front office might consider making?

As the Warriors sit in 12th place in the Western Conference with an 18-21 record, their 127.4 defensive rating over the last 10 games, encompassing three weeks is the worst in the NBA. Opponents’ field-goal percentage (52.7) and effective field-goal percentage (60.5) are the highest in the league. Golden State, which allowed an average of 104 points in its first five games this season to generate early optimism, has allowed an average of 125.4 over its last 10 games and 128.6 in its last five.

Coaches have tried an endless array of different rotations in hopes of getting away from consistently bad patterns. To correct such basic details as placement, closeouts and screen navigation, as well as awareness of opposing personnel and the floor itself.

Team leaders, including Chris Paul and Curry and Green – before his suspension and after it was lifted – have preached the gospel, according to rookie guard Brandin Podziemski. And nothing has worked.

“But you can only say so much,” Podziemski told reporters in Milwaukee on Saturday, after a 129-118 loss to the Bucks. “At the end of the day, it’s the people that are on the floor to go out and do it. If you don’t have the energy and want and desire to do it, your team is going to suffer.”

So, now the Warriors will look to Draymond, the undisputed defensive catalyst during their glory years. He has observed the team’s slide, is eager to get back on the court and undoubtedly will be out to make a point.

That he still can have a huge impact on the team’s defense.

Draymond might be the foremost defensive specialist in the NBA. Aptitude off the charts. Can guard all five positions. Positions teammates. His voice can be heard frequently, loudly and often effectively.

Thompson, teammates with Green since 2012, praised his “ability to communicate, get us into defensive sets, guard multiple positions. And just be one of the greatest defenders that’s ever played.”

Draymond concedes to a bit of guilt for his absence. He wasn’t injured; he was sent away strictly because of his own repeated violations of league policy. He says he wants to be there for his team because he knows the Warriors are better when he is on the court.

Green’s “indefinite” suspension provided time for a personal reset. He says he used those three weeks to better himself, paying only occasional attention to basketball. It was the right approach for him and for the Warriors.

“My focus was my path, my growth, the things that I want to do, my family,” he said last week. “And making sure that whenever that day came, if it did come, that I would return to this team, that I was in a better space and able to provide for them what I need to provide.”

That day has come. It begins at 3 o’clock Monday afternoon in an arena with a history of taunting Draymond. What better place to be tested as he begins what the Warriors hope will be the greatest comeback of his career?

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