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On Monday, The Athletic released a 15-question survey, polling 127 NBA players around the league on various superlatives and hot topics. The Warriors were unsurprisingly featured. Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant both earned votes regarding whom players would build a team around. Curry was voted as the second-best ball-handler in the league.
But it wasn’t all glowing. The only question with a negative connotation was ‘most overrated,’ and that title belongs to Draymond Green and Russell Westbrook. Each player received 17 percent of votes in the category.
It’s interesting that Green and Westbrook — two of the league’s most polarizing characters — got named as the most overrated. Both players fill up the stat sheet across the board, so perhaps the players polled feel those numbers don’t accurate summarize their talent or impact.
Green has tailored his game to the rest of the Warriors’ personnel, which typically means less shots and more of the defensive, energy things that don’t always show up on the stat sheet. For example, Green scored a season-high 20 points last Friday. He’d likely be scoring in the 20s on any other team much more frequently. So, perhaps the rest of the NBA discounts Green’s ability to score, when in reality he just doesn’t prioritize it.
Green may have also been named overrated due to his reputation. He was voted as the biggest trash-talker in the league. He also tied for eighth in the ‘who don’t you want to fight’ category.
If there was a ‘most popular’ poll, it’s safe to say Green probably would not be near the top.
In other Warriors-related news, 63.3 percent of players voted Durant will join the New York Knicks after the current season, and 20.2 percent voted he would stay with the Warriors. Durant is expected to opt out of the final year of his deal and enter free agency this upcoming offseason.