Editor's Note: Over the next week, NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports Chicago will try to settle the debate about who is the best NBA team of all time: the 2016-17 Warriors or the 1995-96 Bulls. Check out NBCSportsChicago.com for the Bulls perspective.
Draymond Green typically doesn’t take the floor for tipoff until dapping up Warriors reserves, coaches and then trainer Drew Yoder, who hands him a stick of gum. Draymond unwraps the gum, puts it in his mouth and heads to the scorer’s table.
After a brief acknowledgment there, he plants his feet and spins toward the floor to join the other nine players. If it’s a road game, Draymond wants all the noise fans can muster.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Draymond is intensely loyal to those on his side and wants no approval from the other. If it were to come his way, he’d throw it back. He thrives in having enemy status on the road. It’s a form of validation.
Warriors fans recognize that loyalty and intensity, and it explains their appreciation for the man whose blue-collar mentality is the spine of one of the greatest teams to grace the NBA.
They don’t always love Draymond. His beefing with officials can get tired. But they always ride with him because they know he’ll be there when needed.
Draymond’s contributions to the great Warriors teams were not always as obvious as those of Steph Curry, or Klay Thompson or Kevin Durant. While that trio did a tremendous job of providing the light and color for the team’s frequent displays of offensive fireworks, Green was the backstage technician. He’s the guy who, with his prep work and attention to detail, enables the show’s brilliance.
Golden State Warriors
Find the latest Golden State Warriors news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Bay Area and California.
Longtime Warriors fans, accustomed to mediocrity or worse, often gravitated toward those players whose effort was transparent. Pluck was admired. It could be a one-dimensional laborer, like rebounding ace Larry Smith (1980-89). Could be a role player, like Brian Cardinal (2003-04). Could be a team pillar, like Stephen Jackson of the “We Believe” crew.
And now it’s Green, who happens to be the best of the bunch. Among Green’s decorations are three championship rings, three All-Star games and a Defensive Player of the Year award. He’s a star who ignores his numbers while dripping honest sweat and spilling his blood.
If you’re watching your favorite NBA team and are able to see and feel how much it means to one of its members -- he defends four different opponents in a 20-second span, for example -- how do you not ride with him?
Listen and subscribe to the Runnin' Plays Podcast:
The schematically savvy fan sees Draymond through another prism. They see how he reads the floor on defense, demolishing the offensive sets of his opponent. They see how he reads the floor on offense, always looking to feed hot teammate or the one who deserves to be rewarded for his hustle or the one who needs an easy bucket to nourish his confidence.
The more one knows about mental and physical aspects of basketball, the more one comprehends the value of Draymond, who might be better at getting inside the heads of an opponent as he is getting inside their jerseys.
To this day, the overwhelming majority of citizens within Dub Nation believe Draymond’s absence is why the Warriors lost the 2016 NBA Finals.
That belief is completely justifiable.
It was the 2016 postseason that stamped Draymond with the “villain” label. There was the kick to the groin of Oklahoma City center Steven Adams in Game 3 the Western Conference Finals, followed by Green’s brief physical exchange with LeBron James in Game 4 of The Finals in Cleveland. That resulted in Draymond being suspended for Game 5, which the Warriors lost, as they did Games 6 and 7.
Without Green, the Warriors lacked the defensive tenacity and offensive execution to finish the job. They averaged 103 points in Games 1 through 4, 95.7 points in Games 5, 6 and 7. The Cavs shot 53 percent in Game 5, 52 percent in Game 6.
Golden State was a different team, mentally and physically, without its lightning rod.
Draymond doesn’t play for opposing fans, does not care about them or their team. When he takes the floor, he invites their hatred. Bring it. Please. He volunteers to be the object of scorn because it keeps enemy crowds off his teammates.
[RELATED: Four reasons '17 Warriors would beat Jordan, '96 Bulls]
NBA teams of significance – well, except for those splendid Spurs squads – tend to have a player or two they and their fans love but opponents and their fans detest. The Bad Boys-era Detroit Pistons Pistons had several, including Bill Laimbeer, Dennis Rodman and Isiah Thomas. The KD-Russell-Westbrook-led Oklahoma City Thunder had Russ. Any team with Rasheed Wallace or Kevin Garnett had ‘Sheed or KG. The Los Angles Clippers have Patrick Beverley.
The Warriors have Draymond, who during their best years was the glue beneath the glitter.