Draymond Green’s Golden State Warriors are 2-2 in the 2022 NBA Finals going into Game 5 against the Boston Celtics. It has been a notably tough series for Green.

On Monday, Colin Cowherd brought on Tom Izzo to talk about Green and other topics. The Michigan State basketball head coach reflected on coaching Green and the former Spartan’s NBA superstardom.

“No, no, no. You know, he’s been a lot better than I thought he would be,” Izzo said when asked if he saw superstardom in Green’s future. “I thought he’d be a very good player. But I think his basketball IQ and maybe the system that he’s in … I think Steve Kerr, Bob Myer (and) those guys have done a great job with Draymond and I think Steph (Curry) and Klay (Thompson), I mean, that group has been together, unlike college now, where we seem to have ‘transfer central.’ If you look at Golden State, they’ve got guys that have been there 7, 8, 9, 10 years including the coach, the general manager, so they’ve been different than most franchises. They’ve kept everybody pretty much together.”

During the conversation, Izzo recalled how officiating could get to Green. Izzo noted that Green puts winning first.

“Yes, he’s emotional, but he’s smarter than people give him credit for,” Izzo said. “Some of it is part of the shtick. It’s part of what he does, but I promise you winning is at the front of his radar. Winning is the most important thing to him and he’s a tough kid. He’s like a hockey guy. Somebody’s got to have a protector.”

More from Izzo on “The Herd” can be seen in the YouTube video below.

Game 5 is set for a 9 p.m. ET tip on ABC.

[H/T 247Sports]