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.
“I’m writing you up, and I’m 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. “He’s going to come in, he knows how to play, he’s going to play his role, he’s going to play defense [and] he’s 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 don’t want him.’ I said, ‘Why?’ He never gave me a reason,” Hardaway explained. “So every time you came to Miami and y’all 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 — I’m 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 you’re 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 what’s 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.”
READ MORE: The Los Angeles Lakers Trade Rumor Roundup