Tom Izzo: ‘Nobody better at winning and motivating the team’ than
Warriors’ Draymond Green, new Michigan State Hall of Famer
Michigan State men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo shares some of his
favorite Draymond Green stories ahead of the Warriors star’s induction
into the school’s Hall of Fame.
>MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE – MAY 3: Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green (23)
chats with Michigan State University head basketball coach Tom Izzo
before Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round Western Conference
playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies at the FedEx Forum in
Memphis, Tenn., on Tuesday, May 3, 2022. Green played at MSU. (Nhat V.
Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
>MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE – MAY 3: Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green (23)
chats with Michigan State University head basketball coach Tom Izzo
before Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round Western Conference
playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies at the FedEx Forum in
Memphis, Tenn., on Tuesday, May 3, 2022. Green played at MSU. (Nhat V.
Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
By MADELINE KENNEY | mkenney@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: September 9, 2022 at 5:00 a.m. | UPDATED: September 9, 2022
at 6:20 a.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/09/09/tom-izzo-reflects-on-draymond-greens-lasting-impact-at-michigan-state/

Draymond Green wouldn’t shut up.

Usually, Michigan State men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo didn’t mind his
vocal leader speaking his mind to his teammates during timeout huddles
and in the locker room. After all, Green’s insight was almost always
spot on.

But during this particular timeout in a close game, Izzo’s patience was
running thin.

“I listened for a little bit and I finally told him to be quiet,” Izzo
recalled. “Of course, he didn’t.”

Green kept yapping, and Izzo had enough. So much so that he slammed his
clipboard over his knee in an attempt to break it and regain his team’s
attention. But the board didn’t break, much to the amusement of Green.

Even more upset now, Izzo tried to break it again but the board wouldn’t
budge. It was only then that he realized his managers switched the
cardboard clipboard out for a fiberglass one.

“When I did it the second time, Draymond gives me the, ‘Hey coach, you
better hit the weight room,’” Izzo said. “Everybody started laughing,
and it kind of broke the ice, and we went on and won big.”

Before Green went on to win four NBA titles as the heart and soul of the
Warriors, the Saginaw, Michigan, native served that purpose for Michigan
State, where he helped the Spartans to back-to-back Final Four
appearances and a Sweet 16 berth over his four seasons.

Green is headlining a nine-person class that will be enshrined in the
Michigan State Athletics’ Hall of Fame in a ceremony on campus Friday
before being honored at the MSU-Akron football game Saturday at Spartan
Stadium.

Coaching Green was like looking into a mirror for Izzo, one of the few
in sports who can match the Warriors star’s emotional intensity.

“There’s times when Draymond is harder to deal with. Stubborn I guess is
a good word and I was kind of stubborn in what I did,” Izzo said.

There were plenty of crazy moments during timeouts and halftime, like
the one previously mentioned. Izzo also recalled Green rallying his
teammates during halftime of a tight game against St. Louis in the
second round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament.

“That’s what I’ve always appreciated about him. I don’t know many guys
that put winning ahead of the things he does,” Izzo said. “Things like
him taking over a locker room made a difference. And he did it with some
anger. So I just kind of sit back and say, ‘Don’t let me bother you,
man… I might get paid to coach them, but right now, you’re on a roll.’

“I’ve had a couple guys, but there’s been nobody better at winning and
motivating the team” than Draymond.

Izzo and Green had mutual respect for one another since their first
meeting. Izzo told it to Green straight; he wanted him at Michigan State
but couldn’t necessarily guarantee him playing time.

“He was a good player but he wasn’t everybody’s first choice, that’s for
sure,” Izzo said, “which I think speaks volumes on what he’s done
throughout his career. He just constantly got better and better and better.”

Green’s pursuit to reach his full potential was clear from the
beginning. As his first season went on, Izzo found himself putting Green
into games more and more down the stretch.

“In winning time, he was the guy you wanted in the game,” Izzo said.

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Green finished as the school’s all-time leader in rebounds and is second
in career steals and seventh in blocks before the Warriors picked him in
the second round of the 2012 NBA draft. The 2011-12 Big Ten Player of
the Year’s three career triple-doubles are second to only Earvin “Magic”
Johnson.

But Green means so much more to Michigan State than what he accomplished
on the basketball court. As a senior, Green made it a point to go to an
event for all 26 of the school’s sports.

“He was just one of the guys loved by everybody,” Izzo said. If teams —
regardless of the sport — had a recruit coming on campus, they wanted
Green to talk to them.

Since his playing days, Green has continued to give back to his alma
mater. He donated $3.1 million, the largest gift by a student-athlete in
the university’s history, for a new weight room in 2015. Most recently,
he pledged $100,000 to honor his former teammate Adreian Payne, who was
fatally shot in May.

“There’s more and better yet to come,” Izzo said.

Green learned of his Hall of Fame election shortly after capturing his
fourth NBA title. He addressed the honor, which he called “absolutely
insane” on an episode of his podcast in July.

Green thanked Izzo for “pushing me the way he did, for tapping into
something that I didn’t even know could be tapped into about myself and
for teaching me to work hard.

“I can’t thank him enough,” Green continued. “IT’s changed my life. And
to be going into the Hall of Fame, it doesn’t get much better than that.”

Or maybe it does.

Green is only the eighth Spartan to be selected for the Hall of Fame in
his first year of eligibility.

“Essentially, I’m a first-ballot Hall of Famers for you haters out
there,” Green said, “and I’m thrilled about it.”

Izzo has a rule: “You can come back at me anytime you want, you just
better have the goods. Don’t come back at me and you don’t have the goods.”

Izzo can always count on Green having the goods.