Has there ever been a better 5th best player on a team than Draymond?

[Ainosterhaspie]

Green is better than Cousins and has been better than Thompson since 2015. He rivals Curry for impact and may well have been FMVP in 2016 if they had managed to pull that one out. People are severely under rating him in this thread. This may be a down year for him, but he's still one of their most important pieces. Cousins has a lot to prove to pass Green.

Green is easily their best defender, but his offense shouldn't be so casually dismissed as it is here. When you have two elite scorers and a third at least intermittently great scorer and now a fourth high quality scorer, there is no need for a not her great scorer. Green as a facilitator and guy who is happy to do the offensive dirty work with no need to get a bunch of scoring opportunities to be happy is a great piece for this team and offense. He has a role and executes it well.

[ImKobe]

Green is better than Cousins and has been better than Thompson since 2015. He rivals Curry for impact and may well have been FMVP in 2016 if they had managed to pull that one out. People are severely under rating him in this thread. This may be a down year for him, but he's still one of their most important pieces. Cousins has a lot to prove to pass Green.

Green is easily their best defender, but his offense shouldn't be so casually dismissed as it is here. When you have two elite scorers and a third at least intermittently great scorer and now a fourth high quality scorer, there is no need for a not her great scorer. Green as a facilitator and guy who is happy to do the offensive dirty work with no need to get a bunch of scoring opportunities to be happy is a great piece for this team and offense. He has a role and executes it well.

Cousins is much better than Green as an overall player, are you serious?

First two games back from a serious achilles injury with both on the road and they have two blowout wins with him putting up 11/7/4 in 18 mpg while being a combined +45 in 36 minutes.

I wouldn't be surprised if they ditched Green & signed Cousins on the cheap in the off-season.

[Ainosterhaspie]

Green has been a key piece to an historically great team, Cousins has been a key piece to making the lottery every year. His offensive toolkit doesn't translate to success at all and Green is a much much better defender.

Cousins looks like a first option, but he isn't. He has no leadership and doesn't do the little things that lead to winning. He's a support piece at best, but doesn't realize it. Green is also a support piece and plays that role to perfection. The right support guy, a guy who could never be the main guy, can still be the better player than a guy who is a fraud main guy like Cousins.

The Warriors are favorites to win and are back to back champions without Cousi s so if they win this year with him that doesn't really change anything about who he's shown himself to be the last several years. Maybe he'll show himself to be a new guy, but for now Green has proven himself to be a better, more impactful player.

[ImKobe]

Cousins and Green are more similar than you think. Both are crybabies and known for piling up technicals and acting all emotional in games, both play dirty as well.

Tell me one thing that Draymond does that Cousins can't do?

Cousins is a better scorer (inside, mid-range, 3s, free throws) and rebounder.

We'll also find out how good he is at sharing the ball with a team as stacked as this, he was a good playmaker for a big man in Sacramento.

Pelicans were 27 - 21 with Cousins before his injury last year. Guess where they are right now? 22 - 25 with Randle in his place.

[Dray n Klay]

Cousins and Green are more similar than you think. Both are crybabies and known for piling up technicals and acting all emotional in games, both play dirty as well.

Tell me one thing that Draymond does that Cousins can't do?

Cousins is a better scorer (inside, mid-range, 3s, free throws) and rebounder.

We'll also find out how good he is at sharing the ball with a team as stacked as this, he was a good playmaker for a big man in Sacramento.

Pelicans were 27 - 21 with Cousins before his injury last year. Guess where they are right now? 22 - 25 with Randle in his place.

Kobe missed the playoffs with a player better than peak Cousins (2012 Dwight)

[superduper]

I agree that Draymond is overrated because his strengths are incredibly highlighted since he has the privilege of playing with all time great scorers but there are a lot of things Draymond can do that Cousins can't. And they aren't remotely similar when it comes to their play on the court

Cousins could not anchor an entire defense if his life depended on it.

Draymond was also their mental ROCK in terms of instilling the mindset of "we can win each and every single game and have zero excuses not to" into each and every one of his teammates. The championship mindset all came from Draymond, he kept them mentally strong. Cousins is literally the exact opposite of this.

Draymond is also a lot more about the TEAM. Cousins is all about himself.

[superduper]

Kobe missed the playoffs with a player better than peak Cousins (2012 Dwight)

Your life is pathetic and you know it.

[ImKobe]

We've never seen Cousins anchor a defense on a team like the Warriors though. Certainly he isn't a better hustle player than Draymond, but this is the first time he's playing in a reduced role on a team stacked with elite perimeter shooting, so he can now use the energy he would to score 25-30 points on the defensive end. We don't know yet, but I got a feeling that he'll be good on the defensive side if healthy.

Kobe missed the playoffs with a player better than peak Cousins (2012 Dwight)

2012-13 Dwight averaged 17/12/1

peak Cousins averaged 27/11/5

try again, loser

And Lakers made the Playoffs.

[Dray n Klay]

We've never seen Cousins anchor a defense on a team like the Warriors though. Certainly he isn't a better hustle player than Draymond, but this is the first time he's playing in a reduced role on a team stacked with elite perimeter shooting, so he can now use the energy he would to score 25-30 points on the defensive end. We don't know yet, but I got a feeling that he'll be good on the defensive side.




2012-13 Dwight averaged 17/12/1

peak Cousins averaged 27/11/5

try again, loser

And Lakers made the Playoffs.

Defense?

[ImKobe]

Defense?

Cousins' offense outweighs the slight advantage Dwight had on defense in 2013.

[SouBeachTalents]

I agree that Draymond is overrated because his strengths are incredibly highlighted since he has the privilege of playing with all time great scorers but there are a lot of things Draymond can do that Cousins can't. And they aren't remotely similar when it comes to their play on the court

Cousins could not anchor an entire defense if his life depended on it.

Draymond was also their mental ROCK in terms of instilling the mindset of "we can win each and every single game and have zero excuses not to" into each and every one of his teammates. The championship mindset all came from Draymond, he kept them mentally strong. Cousins is literally the exact opposite of this.

Draymond is also a lot more about the TEAM. Cousins is all about himself.

They really couldn't be more different as players. Cousins to me kinda falls into no mans land, you can't win with him as the first option, and I don't know if he has the intangibles to win with him (on a normal contender, not these Warriors) as a supporting player. Even paired up with AD the Pelicans were far from world beaters. In a supporting role, I'd easily take '15-'18 Dray over Cousins

[Dray n Klay]

Cousins' offense outweighs the slight advantage Dwight had on defense in 2013.

Dwight was an all star starter in 2013

At worst he was equal to cousins

[greymatter]

It's disingenuous to say he's 5th best on his team given that he's easily the 3rd most valuable in terms of his impact.

I have no problem saying that any team with him as its best player would be a lottery team and 1st/2nd round playoff fodder on teams where he's 2nd best. The only exception where he could be 2nd best on a legit contender is if that #1 is Lebron.