Basketball Prospectus ranks Draymond Green the 14th best returning player in the country
by patrick_hayes on Jul 27, 2011 8:00 AM CDT
in Michigan State Spartans Basketball
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Basketball Prospectus has been releasing its rankings of the top 100 returning players in Division I college basketball over the last few weeks and Draymond Green comes in at No. 14:
14. Draymond Green, Michigan State (Sr., PF)
Green was a solid scoring option for Michigan State against the best schedule in the country. Despite being 6-6, he was an excellent rebounder, especially on the defensive end, and a he created his share of chaos on defense. He's in the top 10 among returning Big Ten players in both block percentage and steal percentage. And -- and this shocked me -- his assist rate was 31 percent. That's higher than Tu Holloway's. And Jordan Taylor's. And Nolan Smith's, Mickey McConnell's, Aaron Craft's, and Kalin Lucas's. It was almost double the assist rate of any other Big Ten player his height or above in 2011. Green may have brought more to the table last year, scoring notwithstanding, than any returning player.
Now, that analysis isn't particularly shocking to any MSU fans — we're quite fond of Green and well aware of his attributes. But it is nice to see him get that recognition on a nationally respected site like BP. It's also nice to see Green out-rank some pretty big names — Tyler Zeller, Perry Jones and Jeremy Lamb are among the stars who are a bit lower in the top 20 than Green.
Unfortunately, though, no other MSU players made the BP top 100 (although Brandon Wood is predicted to make the All-Big Ten Third Team). The list is compiled solely based on stats, and other than Green, we all know that some MSU underclassmen struggled with inconsistency last year.
On the bright side? Part of those struggles can be attributed to the fact that because of injuries and attrition, Tom Izzo wasn't able to use everyone in roles he had originally slotted them. This season, with experience and (so far ... knock on wood) a much more stable offseason, it's a good bet that one or two talented sophomores and maybe even freshman Branden Dawson could make that top 100 list after this season.
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Good for Green
I think it’s good to receive accolades that are earned instead of the unwarranted praise heaped on last year’s team.
It was easy to see that he expanded his game from his soph to junior season.
Hopefully he continues improving and makes the world championship team.
Speaking of, since that would mean he’ll be playing elsewhere does that kill any hope of an August trip to Canada or did that plan die a long time ago?
"the game is out there, and it's play or get played. That simple" - Omar
Not for nothing...
… I don’t want to be petty but I’m not sure how you can call the praise that last year’s team received “unwarranted”. There were several returning players, including Draymond Green, from back-to-back Big 10 Championships and Final Four runs. If you can’t praise a team that’s done that, who can you praise? As well we have one the best coaches in the game right now.
Perhaps this is beating a dead horse but I’d say the praise that u of m has gotten, and will get at the beginning of the season, is unwarranted. Their most notable accomplishment was beating us twice (And u of m constantly dismisses the notion of MSU as a rival, which lessens the degree of accomplishment, doesn’t it?). Beilein, while a good coach, does not have a resume that puts him up there with the big dogs of college bball. I suppose it doesn’t matter much though. Izzo and the boys will restore order shortly.
Well, maybe a little something
I DO think it is too easy to apply March results to September expectations. We all know The Big Dance is different than the regular season, and MSU’s status is different from many Final Four perennials because it’s based on Izzo’s genius for the tourney, rather than overwhelming talent. That’s reality, and keeping it in perspective is the surest way for both players and fans to keep enjoying what has been an amazing run.
Well no, not exactly
In reality we’ve had some rather talented players and we have an incredible coach.
-The 1999 and 2000 teams were talented as hell, everyone knows that.
-So was the 2001 team even without Cleaves and Mo Pete
-The 2005 team was talented as hell too. Inconsistent, but talented.
-Even the 2003 team was up there, the elite 8 is nothing to hang your head over.
-The 2009 team was more talented than people think, but UNC was ridiculous that year. Seriously, they were that good.
-2010 was an unconventional team, no doubt. There was no center on that team. It was probably the least talented team that Izzo went on a run with.
Overwhelming talent isn’t a fair barometer, in my opinion. UNC in 09 is the last team I can think of that can be labeled as such. There are teams every single year with loads of talent, yet stilled flawed.
There was also
the loss of the defensive lynchpin – Morgan
and perimeter depth – Allen and Byrd
and the preseason MVP was returning from a serious leg injury
and the FF run was a complete shock
Not saying a team returning with the players they had didn’t deserve to be highly ranked but to ignore the above and blindly anoint them B10 champs and national runner up was unwarranted.
"the game is out there, and it's play or get played. That simple" - Omar
A complete shock?
Really? I know everyone, including myself, was devastated when Lucas went down. But I seriously, no BS, felt confident they’d beat Norther Iowa. Just because they beat Kansas the previous week did not guarantee them a win over MSU. To me that had way more to do with Kansas than it did N. Iowa and I was confident Izzo wouldn’t allow the team to overlook them. And I was confident the other guys didn’t want to pack up and go home just because Lucas was out.
I was wary of Tenn, I was. They were much bigger and I though they’d pressure the hell out of Lucious into making too many mistakes. But I’ll take Izzo over Pearl every single time so I didn’t think the odds of us winning were all that bad.
You nailed it on Morgan. His defense was spectacular. He should have won DPOY that year, but it was already given to Kramer way before. Kramer was a good defender, but he did not guard 4 different positions like Raymar did.
I'm with you there
I was actually more concerned about UNI than Tenn.
I knew we had that one, but that’s the key.
If UNI doesn’t knock off KU and Tenn upset OSU could that really have happened?
Maybe OSU would’ve been worn out but what would’ve happened against Kansas?
Obviously this is all revisionist, I mean I thought the team had a real shot too, but I’m a Green Kool-Aid drinking fan.
My underlying point was that the “experts” that get paid to cover the sport were irresponsibly hyping the team as 2nd to one.
Green has earned and deserves his accolades.
"the game is out there, and it's play or get played. That simple" - Omar
Green certainly has
But so has Izzo and as a a result his program gets hyped because more often than not he comes through. In a way there is justification for it because Izzo has been very good consistently. Why should anyone think they won’t be good when they usually are good?
Please don’t take this the wrong way, I’m not trying to pester you. I just think it’s ok for us State fans to not be sheepish in anyway. I think there’s a difference between confidence and arrogance. If KU or OSU lolly-gag in the tournament, that’s their problem. We’ve beaten the big boys as well over the years (Cuse, UK, KU, UCONN, Lou, Duke)
Drink that kool-aid up, my green & white brother. I’m chugging ’em down as well. We have much to drink to and much to look forward to.
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