Ideal Michigan State basketball starting 5 in the Tom Izzo era

Power forward: Draymond Green

This is another selection, like with Mateen, that I don't think anyone can disagree with. Draymond Green should be on anyone's all time Tom Izzo starting five list, in fact I would probably put him on the all time starting five list in the history of Michigan State basketball.

Similarly to Mateen Cleaves, Draymond is another guy who just makes everyone around him better. He also may not be known for being a scorer in the NBA, but he was undoubtedly one early in his career. As a senior, he averaged 16.2 points per game which is more than I even remembered. Pair that with his 10.6 rebounds per game, and you can see why he was one of the best players in all of college basketball his senior season.

Draymond however isn't just a force on offense, he's arguably at his best on defense. He has been named to All-NBA defensive teams eight times in his career, included the defensive player of the year in 2017. He also is able to guard all five positions on the court, something that is extremely valuable and not many other players are able to do.

But the best thing of all about Draymond is that his is a winner. Nobody cares more about winning than Draymond. He would do whatever it takes to win any game. If he has to be the guy to go out and score a lot of points, he'll do it. If he needs to play lock down defense and be a distributor, he'll do it. He'll even do everything that doesn't show up on the boxscore if it means he'll will win a game, and he won't complain about it for one second.

Every successful team needs a guy like Draymond on their team, so that is why he is an easy pick for me at the four.