OAKLAND, Calif. -- Draymond Green made a convert of

basketball coach Tom Izzo years ago. In less than a full season in the NBA, he is doing the same with the Golden State Warriors and head coach Mark Jackson.

Not many head coaches speak effusively about a second-round draft pick in the way Jackson does of Green.

“A genius as far as basketball is concerned," Jackson said. "A coach in the future, a winner, competes and is a no-nonsense guy that was a leader the day he walked into our locker room.”

Green, who didn't finish

after suffering a third-quarter ankle sprain, said Jackson told him immediately upon greeting him as a new Warriors forward that his leadership was something his new team needed.

Even if he is a rookie.

"When I walked through that door," Green said, "Coach Jackson told me, 'I know who you are, I know what you've done, you don't have to come in here and be quiet, you don't have to take a back seat to anyone. If you see something that needs to be said, you say it. You've led teams.' ... To hear that as a rookie is great."

As much as the Saginaw native appreciated those words, and has heeded them, he said sponging knowledge from the veterans on his team was equally important.

"There's guys in this locker room with 10 years, nine years, 12 years," in the NBA, Green said. "I want to pick up some of that knowledge from them as well. Like I said, if I see something or I feel something needs to be said, of course, I'm going to say it. But I'm not just talking every day, or talking about everything, or getting involved in every situation, because I want to learn some things.

"There are some guys in this locker room who I can learn from and I try to take advantage of those things and learn from each and every guy."

The Warriors (37-29) have been in the playoffs once in the last 17 years. They are deep into the process of changing those fates for the better and their head coach said Green, who averages 3.2 points and 3.5 rebounds in 14 minutes per game, undeniably has been a part of it.

"When you talk about him, the best thing to do is not mention his numbers -- and I don’t care if he were averaging 20," Jackson said. "What he does for this basketball team, he’s allowed us to change the culture, a young man that’s a man and came in a tremendous student of the game."

Green still keeps a close eye on his Spartans, of course. He said they "definitely have figured it out" and have taken a committee approach to replacing one of college basketball's most renowned natural leaders during his time at MSU.

"I said the entire time, there's not going to be one guy -- not giving myself any praise or anything like that -- but there's just not going to be one guy who's going to, right now, be able to do what I did, because there's not a guy with the same personality as me," Green said. "But you have a lot of guys on that team who can collectively do what I did.

"You have a Keith (Appling), who's going to run and control the game. You have a guy, in B.J. (Branden Dawson), who has the toughness and is physical and is not afraid to say nothing to nobody. You just have all those different guys. You have (Derrick) Nix, with the experience, not afraid to say nothing to nobody. All those guys put it together and I knew they'd be OK."

The Spartans have reached the time of year for which the program is known, the culmination of a season-long effort to build toward the postseason.

Green said he would not be surprised to see Michigan State in the Final Four.

"I don't see no team out there that we can't match up with and go out and beat," he said. "I don't think there's one team out there. We've played Indiana twice, who everyone seems to think is the best, and matched up very well with them two times and should have won the second game, gave it away. So I don't think there's anybody out there that we can't beat."

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