How Warriors' Draymond Green is adjusting to Steve Kerr's new vision for him: ‘If he says something, I trust it'

LAS VEGAS – Half an hour after shootaround wrapped in Las Vegas Tuesday, Draymond Green remained, working out in a mostly empty T-Mobile Arena. He slid vertically and horizontally around the floor, firing up shots at several spots around the wing and corners in a designed workout.

A security guard at T-Mobile wandered over to Green’s workout, and was met by Warriors assistant coach Jacob Rubin.

“We’re going to go,” Rubin told the security guard, “until they kick us off the court.”

Green would get the night off in the Warriors’ preseason tilt against the Lakers. So they worked out instead. There must be changes in Green’s 15th year in the NBA, adopting head coach Steve Kerr‘s new offensive ideas for Golden State. He will be trailing plays less, and directing traffic from the top of the key less, and getting up the floor to corners and out on the wings more.

It is not an easy adjustment.

“I think for me, it’s different because – you’ve always been in position to make the play,” Green told the Chronicle hours later, after a night off in Golden State’s win Tuesday over the Lakers in Vegas. “And now you’re in the position to at times to make the play, or for somebody to make the play for you, or for you to make the cut to allow someone to make the next play.

“For the most part, I think what it boils down to is, ultimately, trust,” he continued.

Green’s processing, his superpower, remains sharp. But his assist-to-turnover ratio dipped to its lowest mark last season (2.1) since he was a 23-year-old backup in 2013-14, and Kerr has set a mission to avoid as many giveaways as possible to maximize the Warriors’ shrinking room for error. Internally, Golden State feels Green can improve his efficiency by not trying to force a difficult pass as often while surveying the floor.

That means different positioning at times, and having the ball in his hands less often. Green didn’t exactly appear thrilled after Golden State’s preseason opener against the Clippers Oct. 4, when he spent the majority of 14 minutes floating away from the play like a forgotten soul.

“Whether I like it or not,” Green told reporters then, asked if he liked the shift in role, “it’s going to happen.”

A week later in Vegas, his tone was entirely different.

“Let’s face it. This is real life. You don’t trust today … you trust later. So, ultimately, what you’re betting on is – my trust in Steve Kerr, is, like, (here),” Green told the Chronicle, raising his hand at the top of an invisible meter.

Green has thus far been “all in” on Kerr’s new vision, as the head coach said Thursday. He has found a variety of cutters of all shapes and sizes – Stephen Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Yaxel Lendeborg, Georges Niang – with surgical precision while conducting from the wings. His reads off the short roll, when Golden State turns back to its Curry-Green bread-and-butter pick-and-roll, have rarely found error. Green has averaged 7.7 assists per game across his last three preseason outings, against 2.0 turnovers.

“He understands that we need to make some changes,” Kerr said Friday night, after Green finished with 10 assists in 24 minutes in Golden State’s win over Portland. “And the whole key, for Draymond, is finding that sweet spot between being aggressive and impactful like he was tonight, but avoiding some of the more risky plays that our whole team made last year.”

As the days tick down to the Warriors’ season opener Oct. 21, the weight on Green’s shoulders only grows. He needs to acclimate, offensively. And he needs to grind, defensively. In a perfect world, the Warriors would prefer to pair most of Green’s minutes with a true center. Their current roster has made that less of an option.

There remains no update on any kind of timeline for Kristaps Porzingis, the Warriors’ ostensible starting center. Forty-year-old Al Horford will likely hover at around 20 minutes a night, coming off the bench. Golden State loves 25-year-old Charles Bassey, but he has rarely played next to Green.

Kerr said postgame that he was “very comfortable” opening the season with Green at center. He may have no choice.

“I mean, right now, we have to pivot a little bit,” Horford said. “The way that you look at it is – Draymond’s going to have to probably play some 5. I’ll play some 5. We have Bassey, he’ll have to play as well. And we just have to play in a different way, obviously, missing KP.”

Green’s entire season, at the moment, is shaping up as a 36-year-old, four-time All-Star who has to play in a different way. There is more offensive change, at least, on Green’s plate than at any point since Kevin Durant arrived in the Bay Area in 2016. And that was an easier sell, then.

“I didn’t need (Kerr) to have trust,” Green recalled, back in Vegas. “I got eyes. So, like, I don’t need you to actually tell me anything. It’s actually when it’s unclear, how do you trust? Because with Kevin Durant, my f- grandmother would trust.”

His trust in Kerr, now, will define much of his future in Golden State, as Green is playing on an expiring one-year, $27.7 million deal. There is equity built up, for now.

“If he thinks this is best, like, I’mma trust it,” Green tells the Chronicle, lively. “And I think if you taught me this younger in my career, I wouldn’t have trusted it. 

“But like, at this point in my career? Our journey, with him? If he says something, I trust it.”

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This article originally published at How Warriors’ Draymond Green is adjusting to Steve Kerr’s new vision for him: ‘If he says something, I trust it’.