The Golden State Warriors haven’t quite been themselves this season. While the defending champions are among the favorites to make the NBA Finals out of the Western Conference, the team sits at 22-22 and are much closer to falling out of the postseason altogether than they are pushing the Denver Nuggets or the Memphis Grizzlies for the No. 1 seed.
As is oftentimes the case, there’s no one reason why Golden State hasn’t been at its high-flying best. But during a conversation with Jamal Crawford on his podcast, Draymond Green identified himself as the source of “a lot of our shortcomings this year.”
“I think a lot of our shortcomings this year are my fault”
—@Money23Green tells @JCrossover what has been the problem in Golden State this season pic.twitter.com/GMnafG2QHT
— The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) January 19, 2023
Green and Crawford both believe that the Warriors have a switch they can flip, but Green made it a point to say that he doesn’t believe that’s why the team has had such a stop-and-start campaign.
“I think a lot of our shortcomings this year are my fault,” Green said. “Why is it my fault? Because I have not been the leader that I am and that I need to be for this team. And the reason I have not been that leader is also my fault.”
Green, unsurprisingly, alluded to his incident in a practice before the season where he punched Jordan Poole before saying he’s needed to “kind of walk a fine line of not really being Draymond, and when I’m not really being myself, that’s not the best thing for this team.” As a result, he says, there has been an issue with accountability on both ends of the floor.
“You know the accountability that it takes to have a winning team, and that’s my role on this team, and I fell short in that area,” Green said.