Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year & Assist of the Year Award winner, Draymond Green, poses in the press room at the 2017 NBA Awards at Basketball City at Pier 36 on Monday, June 26, 2017, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
By Joe Hawkes-Beamon
Sports Radio Service Writer
The Golden State Warriors continue its string of good fortune, picking up a pair of season-ending awards with forward Draymond Green taking home the 2016-17 NBA Defensive Player of the Year award and general manger Bob Myers named Executive of the Year for the second time in three seasons at the NBA awards show Monday night in New York.
Two days after the Warriors wrapped up its second NBA championship in three seasons, Green mentioned that he didn’t cared if he won the Defensive Player of the Year award.
Green won the award anyway, edging out two-time winner Kawhi Leonard (Spurs) and Rudy Gobert (Jazz). Green finished second in balloting to Leonard in back-to-back seasons.
The unquestioned heartbeat of the Warriors, Green received 73 of the 100 first-place votes, totaling 434 points. Gobert received 269 points, including 16 first-place votes. Leonard received 182 votes, 11 for first place.
The three finalists accounted for all 100 first-place votes.
Green led the NBA in steals (2.03 per game) and blocks (1.39 per game), with Golden State leading the league in both categories per game as a team.
With a hard-hat and lunch pail mentality, the 6-foot-7 forward finished third in the league in defensive rating and second in defensive win shares. Even though he’s the Warriors’ starting power forward, Green plays the majority of games at center while also playing point forward on offense.
Green averaged 10.2 points and 7.9 rebounds per game, while leading Golden State with 7.0 assists per game.
During his acceptance speech, a smiling Green acknowledge teammates Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant for their commitment to the defensive end of the floor this season.
“This isn’t an individual award,” Green said. “There are five guys out there on the floor at a time. I can’t do this all by myself, so I appreciate them. With KD and Klay not making the All-Defensive team, I appreciated everything they do.”
Earlier on Monday, Green was named to the NBA’s All-Defensive team. Green received 198 of a possible 200 points and voted to the first-team on 99 of a 100 ballots, but was shockingly left off one ballot.
At the Warriors’ championship parade, Green shouted into a microphone: “Can somebody give Bob some fu**ing credit?!”
Well, I guess the NBA heard Green loud and clear when Myers was named the NBA’s Executive of the Year for 2016-17, announced Monday night.
Last June, Myers and the Warriors bought the 38th pick and selected Pat McCaw. McCaw turned out to be a key reserve for Golden State this season.
Then in July, Myers upgraded at small forward allowing Harrison Barnes to leave the Warriors and take a four-year, $94 million maximum deal with the Dallas Mavericks, and signed superstar forward Kevin Durant away from the Oklahoma City Thunder to a two-year, $54.3 million contract.
How that turn out for Golden State? Pretty successful.
Myers also added big-men in Zaza Pachulia, David West and JaVale McGee. All three guys provided the much needed toughness and height the team lost with the departures of Andrew Bogut and Mareese Speights.
Myers also won the award after the 2014-15 season.
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