Having won four NBA championships, Draymond Green knows what it takes to find success on the biggest stage in basketball.
So when the Warriors forward declared his team would do it again this season after its big trade-deadline acquisition of Jimmy Butler, he had plenty to back his bold prediction.
“When you’ve done something several times, each time feels different,” Green explained to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Kerith Burke and Monte Poole on the latest “Dubs Talk” episode. “This thing needed to turn for us to win this one. That thing needed to turn for us to win that one.
“But amongst all of them, there’s a feeling you have and you know. And you’re like, ‘Oh, this team can do it and here’s why.’ “
It didn’t take long after Butler’s arrival to Golden State for Green to sense that feeling he referenced.
Green made the declaration on Feb. 16 over NBA All-Star Weekend. Butler had played four games with the team by then, in which the Warriors were 3-1.
While it was a small sample size to measure, Green had seen — and felt — enough to speak a fifth championship ring into existence.
“I think when the All-Star break had rolled around, we had played like five games with Jimmy, but I knew the feeling playing in those games,” Green said. “I knew the chemistry. I knew when this thing is going wrong, we got this thing we can go to now. I knew we got Jimmy, that allows us to play small ball, that allows us to go big, that allows us to play different lineups. When you’re trying to win a championship — if you’re going to compete for a championship — you must be able to throw different lineups out there.
“You may remember last year Steph [Curry] and Steve [Kerr] were talking about how we ran out of options. What they were referring to was we could not match any lineup that a team put on the floor. Now, with adding Jimmy, that gives us a much greater chance at matching any lineup that a team could possibly put on the floor. And in the playoffs, that matters.”
The Warriors have gone 16-5 since Butler first suited up on Feb. 8, and they are trying to hold on to the Western Conference’s No. 6 playoff seed in a tight postseason race.
On top of the feeling Green has, he also attributes facts to support his prediction.
“Steph definitely knows how to win a championship,” Green said. “I know how to win a championship. And quite honestly, Jimmy. Jimmy’s gotten to the Finals twice with teams he probably shouldn’t have gotten there with. And to get that far and be on the verge of just one play needing to go your way, he has the know-how. So amongst us three, and don’t add in our maestro who is the guru when it comes to winning championships, he’s got nine of them. We have the know-how — and that’s a big part of it, too.
“Now we have this ability to match lineups, we have this ability to get to the free-throw line, we have this ability to defend. I know what equals. I know how that feels. I also know what the vibe of a championship team feels like — and this team got that. So that’s why I said it. I believe it.”
But there was one final reason Green said what he said on national television during the annual basketball showcase. Despite his proclamation quickly going viral, Green’s message was intended for one specific group.
“And the last reason I said it was because I needed my teammates to understand this is what we’re doing,” Green said. “This is what we’re going after. So more than anybody I was talking to my teammates. I was talking to them.”
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