Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports / Reuters
Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert has plenty of reasons to smile.
After all, his team has made it to two straight NBA Finals and his company, Quicken Loans, is valued at over $5 billion. And yet, Gilbert remains haunted by a decision (not the comic sans letter) that he made in 2012.
Namely, the decision to pass up on Draymond Green has become something of a waking nightmare, as Green now plays for the Golden State Warriors.
"I still wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat that we didn't take him," Gilbert recalled in an interview with ESPN's Ramona Shelburne. "I didn't listen to my gut."
Not only did Gilbert ignore his gut, he also brushed aside the urges of Tom Izzo who coached Green at Michigan State.
The Cavaliers held the No. 4 pick that year, but picking a chubby senior that high would have been too much of a gamble. Instead, they rolled the dice on Dion Waiters, who the team later traded to Oklahoma City.
Nevertheless, Cleveland still had three more chances to grab Green. The Cavaliers had the 24th, 33rd, and 34th selections that all could have been used to select Green. Instead, Gilbert's team packaged all three picks for Tyler Zeller, who also no longer plays for the Cavaliers.
That paved the way for the Warriors to scoop up Green with the 35th pick, and the rest is history.
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