In Kevin Durant, Draymond Green Back-and-Forth About Value of Offense and Defense, Both Are Right
Kevin Durant and Draymond Green are engaged in a back-and-forth about the relative value of offense and defense in the NBA. Spoiler alert: They are both right.
First, Durant said on the Netflix series Starting Five that offense wins championships.
“Playing defense, we can get any of y’all in here to bend your legs, not touch the basketball, slide left and right and contest the shot. That’s easy. But when we’re talking about winning at a high level against the best of the best, you cannot just do that and win a basketball game. You have to make shots. And that’s why I work on my game so much. So if you want to win, you’ve got to make shots.”
The Athletic’s Sam Amick then asked Green about that take, and this exchange ensued:
Green: “Those who don’t believe defense is as valuable as it is, they simply just don’t win. I don’t think anyone’s ever really been hell-bent on caring about the opinion of those that don’t win, because your opinion equals zero.”
Amick: “So I hear you, but Kevin has won.”
Green: “He won here, (and) the defense here was…”
Amick: “It was incredible.”
Green: “Exactly.
Durant then responded on X to this exchange with: “And the offense was????”
To recap, Durant says offense is more valuable than defense. He’s right.
Green then dismisses the notion that defense is easy and lacks much value. He’s right.
I think they both know that a championship team needs to be good at both aspects. They may disagree on the exact value of each, but they are probably more aligned than their comments suggest.
Green can point to the Warriors’ most recent championship run for an example of defense wins championships. Golden State ranked16th in regular-season offensive rating and second in defensive rating. But that average offensive rating had as much to do with injuries as anything, as the offense led by Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole improved its rating in the playoffs.
Durant can point to the 2022-23 Nuggets as an example of offense wins championships. In the regular season, Denver ranked 15th in defense and fifth in offense. But not unlike the Warriors, the Nuggets considerably improved their relative weakness in the playoffs, as Denver finished fourth in playoff defensive rating.
The truth is most championship teams are balanced. Even the two Durant-led championship teams, known for their firepower, finished in the top two in playoff defensive rating.
Neither player provides what the other does for his team, which is why they were so good together. Durant had many clutch shots with those Warriors teams, and Green had many clutch defensive stops as well. I’m sure they value both plenty.
