If the Golden State Warriors are to turn things around this season and have any chance of competing for their fifth title since 2015, they are going to need Draymond Green available and on the court. However, the Warriors are going to need the old Draymond, the one who was a leader on the court with his energy and defensive abilities, instead of the recent version that is constantly facing discipline from the league.

Green, who recently had his indefinite suspension lifted by commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA, returned to Warriors practice for the first time on Tuesday. Wanting to prove that he has changed for the better, Green continues to emphasize that he let his organization and teammates down with his antics.

“It's urgent from a professional standpoint because I wasn't hurt. At least, my body wasn't hurt. My mind was hurt, my feelings was hurt,” Green told reporters on Tuesday. “I've cost my team enough. I've cost this organization enough. So, it's not a time for me to just come back and be like, ‘Alright, I am going to take my time to get back when I can.' It's like, no, you caused this yourself.

“If it was up to me, I would love to come back and play right now. Reality is, it's probably not the best thing for me or the best thing for my organization's standpoint in what that looks like moving forward with the risk of injury and all of those things.”

Green vows to quit ‘antics'

Currently working on his conditioning and making sure he is physically ready before getting back on the court, Green wanted to make sure he was mentally ready to be around the team before his return created a distraction. For the first time in his career, Green has taken a step back from the “bad boy” persona and is actively wanting to change in order to ensure that his presence once again creates opportunity for the Warriors to thrive.

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The reason Green has been named the league's Defensive Player of the Year in the past and selected to the All-Defensive team eight different times in his career is because he is so strong-willed. Green is not afraid to do the dirty work and get in his opponent's heads, leading to his fortified defensive play. However, things have seemed to get out of hand in recent years and Draymond has taken things a little bit too far with his physical play outside the realm of normality in basketball.

If you need any examples of this, look no further than what has transpired over the last year with Green stomping on Domantas Sabonis, putting Rudy Gobert in a headlock, and punching Jusuf Nurkic across the face, the act that directly resulted in his recent suspension. Regarding incidents likes these, Green has realized that this is the area of his game that needs to be forgotten.

“I am very confident I can remove the antics and I'm very confident if I do remove them, nobody is worried about how I play the game of basketball. It's the antics,” Green said, via 95.7 The Game. “Can I accept the fact that my antics have been over the top? Of course. Am I capable of removing those, of course. I think without that, then I don't think there is much of an issue.”

When it comes to crossing the line with the officials, Draymond pointed out that he is going to be more controlled and work on how to handle certain situations with the referees. Regarding his behavior with other players, Green is not going to back off an become a completely different player.

Throughout his entire career, Draymond has been known for being a physical, loud-mouthed player on the court. While most of that may remain the same, Green now has a grasp for the negative impact his absences have caused through the years. When he returns to the court in the coming games, it truly does appear as if we will see a changed Draymond Green.

The Warriors have not said when Green will make his return to the court, although it is expected that he will do so during the team's upcoming four-game road trip that begins on Friday, January 12 and ends the following Wednesday.