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The 2015 NBA Finals are a wrap, and where many thought Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson would be the ones who slammed the door shut on the Cleveland Cavaliers, it was actually the unlikely tandem of Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green who didn’t allow the Cavs a chance at Game 7. While Iguodala took home the Finals MVP trophy, it was Green who Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said was the heart and soul of the newly-crowned champs.
Green is a flammable combustion of swagger, strength and above all else self-belief. These three S’s make him an ideal player to have on any NBA roster. The 25-year-old saved his grittiest performance for the biggest stage as he finished last night’s close-out game with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, a stat line that propelled the Warriors to their first championship in 40 years.
The most amazing part of Green’s ascendance into Finals folklore is the fact that he could have easily fizzled out of the league in previous years. The No. 35 overall pick in 2012 started for four years at Michigan State, but upon being drafted he saw that his skill set was simply not at the level of most of his counterparts. He would have to dig to deeper place within himself if he wanted to make it in the league.
Now, as his third season ends in a champagne bath, all is right in Green’s world, but the question remains: Who is the next Draymond Green?
The cyclical nature of professional sports is never more apparent than in the NBA. It seems that players are often carbon copies of their predecessors, and Green’s case is no different. Meet Rakeem Christmas.
Christmas is a 6-foot-9, 250-pound prospect from Syracuse where, like Green, he bucked the trend and stayed in school for all four years instead of taking part in the now-customary early exit from campus. Similar to Green, Christmas saw his production increase each year at school He raised his point total from 2.8 points per game as freshman to 17.5 as a senior. Also, a la Green, Christmas is a prolific rebounder who has a hemi-powered motor that allowed him to grab 9.1 rebounds per game in his senior season.
But the closest resemblance to Green is Christmas’ attitude on and off the floor. Christmas is a scrapper and someone who takes pride in locking down the opposing team’s best player and then making sure everyone knows it. He is unafraid of the big stage and has that kind of spark that you just find in certain players. Christmas has inevitably heard that he will never be more than fringe player, something that sparked Green to work that much harder and could easily do the same for Christmas.
The most intriguing part of the comparison is the fact that Christmas is projected on many draft boards to go with the No. 35 pick, the same spot where the Warriors landed Green three years ago.
The draft is as unpredictable an event as there is in professional sports, but with similar measurables, skill sets and intangibles, whatever team lands Christmas just may be getting a vital component of the championship team equation.
Douglas Ammon is an NBA Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com. Who covers all things about the Association, follow him on Twitter @DA76er
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