Erin Kirkland for The New York Times
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Tom Izzo, the men’s basketball coach at Michigan State, was in his office sharing stories about Draymond Green. Stories about the practices when Green would get so angry that he would punt the ball off the ceiling. About the halftime speeches that Izzo never asked Green to deliver. About the clipboards that Izzo smashed and the games that Green helped win and the friendship they built.
“Even as he gets older,” Izzo said, “he’s never forgotten where he came from.”
Just then, as if on cue, Green’s hulking figure appeared in Izzo’s doorway.