Draymond Green knows the Minnesota Timberwolves have already smuggled Game 1 out of San Antonio. He also knows that, on paper, this Western Conference semi-final still belongs to the Spurs. So on his Tuesday podcast he laid out the Wolves' blueprint for nicking another one — and the chess piece he wants to move first is Rudy Gobert.
Not onto Victor Wembanyama. Onto Stephon Castle.
"I may put Rudy Gobert on Stefon Castle," Green said. "Hey Rudy, you're going to guard him when he has the ball at the free throw line and below it. We're going to guard him how the San Antonio Spurs guarded LeBron James in the NBA Finals in 2007. We're going under every ball screen. You're not picking him up above the three-point line."
The reference is to the Spurs' celebrated coverage of a young LeBron James in his first Finals — letting him take pull-up jumpers all night long rather than allowing him to live downhill, where San Antonio's defence was at its weakest. Green's argument is that Castle, the Spurs' rookie of the year, is a confident mid-range shooter but has not yet earned the respect of an above-the-arc closeout.
"If he come out and he have one game where he hit five threes, tap him on the ass, say, we'll see you tomorrow," Green said. "You got to beat us like that again. Because ultimately as great as Wemby is, I'm telling you all the key to that team is Stefon Castle. How can we stifle Stefon Castle? Rudy, you're below the free throw line. They set a ball screen on you. You're going to get underneath that rim."
Green wants to take away Castle's preferred path to the free throw line, denying San Antonio the opportunity to drag Gobert into space and set the daunting half-court defence the Spurs prefer.
The other half of the gambit is leaving Wembanyama to Jaden McDaniels, the Wolves wing who already has built a reputation this postseason for fearless wing defence and unfiltered press conferences. Green wants McDaniels turning Wemby on every dribble.
"I'm putting Jada McDaniels on him," Green said. "If he decides he's going to dribble the ball up full court, you pick him up full court every time. You turn him. You don't go reaching for the ball so that you get beat. You turn him. You force him to put the ball in front of your face."
That call is bolder than it looks. Most coaches would lean on Gobert as the natural Wembanyama matchup, but Green argued that the moment Gobert is dragged out of the paint, Minnesota's entire defensive identity falls apart. He said the better path is to keep Gobert as the rim eraser and live with whatever Wemby cooks up against a wing closeout.
The coverage Green sketched also hinges on whether Anthony Edwards can sustain his Game 1 return. Edwards played 25 minutes on Sunday after a nine-day knee scare, and Green warned that Minnesota's swing players — Terrence Shannon Jr, Bones Hyland and Naz Reid — will need to deliver at least one game apiece if Edwards is in and out of the rotation.
"When we're talking swing players, I need you to swing one game in the series," Green said. "Your job is to swing one game."
For all the chess, Green still picked the Spurs in six. He cited Edwards's health and Donte DiVincenzo's Achilles as the issues he could not get past, and conceded that with full rosters he might have flipped the call. But the long answer was the more interesting one. He believes Minnesota has a real path if it commits to weird matchups, refuses to let Castle live in the paint, and dares the Spurs to beat them with anything other than a healthy Wembanyama.
The blueprint is unconventional, the historical reference is twenty years old, and the personnel call is counter-intuitive. But Green has four rings to back the philosophy. If Chris Finch borrows even half of it, San Antonio's quick start could turn into a long evening.
