Tim Hardaway played for the Warriors in the 90s, however by the time 2012 rolled around, he was working for the Heat and had Draymond Green on his radar.
Hardaway was scouting for Miami when he came across Green in college and urged Pat Riley to draft him.
Im writing you up, and Im like, This is Miami Heat culture right here. Draymond Green is Miami Heat culture. We need to draft him, Hardaway said to Green on his podcast. Hes going to come in, he knows how to play, hes going to play his role, hes going to play defense [and] hes going to give everybody confidence. This dude can play the game of basketball.
The Heat went with Arnett Moultrie as their No.27 instead, while Green was drafted by the Warriors as the No.35th overall pick.
Pat was like, I dont want him. I said, Why? He never gave me a reason, Hardaway explained. So every time you came to Miami and yall beat us there, he looked at me and said, You better not say it. I was like, I told you so.
If we would have had [Green] and just his presence in the game and knowing the game Im not saying it would have been like this we could have won three in a row with LeBron [James], Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. I felt comfortable with you being on that team, coming in and doing what youre supposed to do, because you were the type of Heat player that they needed.
Green responds was to agree that he would have fit in well with the Miami system.
I appreciate that, Green said. You know whats crazy is Miami was one of the teams that I thought would be really high on me during the draft.
He continued, I would watch those teams, those Miami teams with Bron, D-Wade and Bosh, and I could have fit right in there.
I could have brought exactly what that team needed, [and] a low salary cos I was low pick in the first round. I felt that way.
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