Draymond Green feels for his teammate. DeMarcus Cousins endured a tedious year of rehab prior to making his return to the court. Once he got there, Cousins found himself confined by a restriction of playing time imposed by coaches and trainers, and not yet chosen to close games.
“At this point, it is probably starting to piss him off,” Green said, of Cousins’ playing time in the interview published in The Athletic.
Green won’t campaign the coaches and trainers to get Cousins on the floor sooner, though, despite loving his new teammate’s competitiveness, passion and desire to close.
“[T]hat is what I appreciate about him,” Green said.
Empathy aside, Green knows that in situations pertaining to player injuries, the coaching and training staffs do know best. After all, Green learned this lesson the hard way in the not-too-distant past — returning from a toe injury too soon, aggravating the injury and missing significantly more time.
“Sometimes I think they have to protect us from ourselves,” Green said.
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