
As the Golden State Warriors and Steve Kerr continue to slowly make their way towards a decision on Kerr's future as head coach, there has been an outpouring of support from players amid all the uncertainty.
Steph Curry and Draymond Green, in particular, have gone on record putting their faith in Kerr and supporting what he's done for them and the franchise, as well as whatever decision he may make. That's been reflected in Kerr's words, where he's been just as complimentary of the two franchise legends, and other reports, as it is supposedly Curry and Green that are the main reasons he would potentially return.
However, even with all this support, there are still apparently a couple of bones to pick, at least from Green's side.
Draymond Green Shares How Kerr 'Hindered' His Career
In a relatively shocking quote from his podcast, The Draymond Green Show, on Wednesday, Green talked about Kerr's impact on his career, pointing out one of the perceived negatives, rather than the positives that Green has talked about at length previously.
"As much as he's done for me in basketball, a part of me think he's hindered me in my career and what I could have become. But what he's also helped me become. Like you got to take the good with the bad, man. When I think of who I was offensively as a player and who I became, I think a part of that is due to him. I don't hold that against him. I'm forever grateful that he still put me in a position to be successful and that I could become Draymond Green despite my offensive role on our team."
Green still acknowledged that this doesn't change his opinion of Kerr as a whole, of course, but elaborated on what he believed was a lack of offensive focus that perhaps halted his offensive prowess.
"I don't sit and be like, ‘Oh man, like I f--king hate Steve because of that. No, it's one of my gripes. But if you're going to take one gripe and not be able to move past it for all the other things, then you're shallow as a person. when [Kevin Durant] came from 2016 on, I have not had a play in our playbook. Not a single play that we run for me in our playbook since 2016. You think that would hinder someone as an offensive player? Of course. So at times, I go home and I think about my career and I'm happy as hell of what I've been able to build. But at times, sometimes I sit there and think, 'What could I really have been if I stayed true to my game and what I really was?'"
Could Green Really Have Been An Offensive Star?
When looking at the numbers, Green's argument stalls a little bit. His numbers under Kerr since Durant arrived in Golden State in 2016 are indeed worse offensively compared to the two years in 2014-15 and 2015-16, but not by much.
There's probably a bigger reason that Green hadn't had a play run for him besides the notion that Kerr didn't want to focus on Green as an offensive player: there were simply so many better options to be the offensive focal point.
When Green was playing with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Durant, he was the fourth option, at best. Durant is one of the best scorers of all time, plain and simple. Curry is a combination of the best shooter of all time and one of the best scorers ever, and Thompson isn't far behind Curry in terms of shooting ability, especially in a catch-and-shoot.
It only makes sense for plays to have been drawn up for those three guys that were more than capable of scoring 30+ on any given night, rather than Green, who's never averaged more than 14 points in a season and has only scored 30 points in a regular season game one single time.
Green was a solid offensive threat in college, to be sure, but it's a different level in the NBA. To think that Kerr hindered his potential on the offensive side of the ball, especially considering the 2019-20 season, where Green still couldn't average more than 8 points per game on a heavily depleted bottom-feeding team, might be a bit too far, even for Green's typically hot takes.


