Look. If you really are that upset with Jeff, just go kill him.
Give him a chance already. On every game I've watched since Jeff returned, he's gotten
nothing but admiration from the commentators. I don't see why you guys just keep on disrespecting. Would you rather he just sit on the bench, or in a hospital for the next year and a half? This is a young player who needs time to develop. There's a reason we didn't sign him to a one-year deal, but a
four-year deal. There's obviously something that he has, which we want. He came back from freaking open-heart surgery, which is tens of hundreds of times worse than an ACL injury.
You guys just don't seem to understand that Jeff is a human too. He's not a robot who just had a "glitch in his system" that can be fixed seamlessly (no pun intended). He needs time, just like any other person in the world to ever live, to work his way back. We didn't expect LeBron and we didn't expect Sasha Pavlovic. We were hoping he was a 9-million dollar player, an All-Star. And in the first few months, he was far from it. He showed bursts of excellence, but bursts don't mean much to you guys.
He's been averaging the same stats his whole career, and this year's per36 stats aren't any different. What's different are his experiences. I'm willing to bet my life, that there isn't a day that passes in which he doesn't realize how lucky he is to be alive. He has the freakish athleticism and size that we all expected (maybe unfairly) from him. But think of the countless things he hasn't done wrong. He's a good teammate. He doesn't blurt to the media. I don't remember him getting into any fights with any teammates. He doesn't complain about losing. KG, Doc, Pierce would probably all agree this guy is one of the toughest guys on this team.
His upside is huge, and it's not outrageous to think he can have a 50-point game every so often. He has the post moves. He has the three-point shot. He has the hook shots. He has the jumper. He has the dunk. His game is as varied as anybody in the league. "Stronger than the 3, faster than the 4." If played right, he poses the most mismatches we could ever find. The number of players in the league who can defend him well probably is in the single-digits. If he's not playing behind Kevin Durant (one of the best SFs ever) or Paul Pierce (one of the best SFs ever), he sure does have a good chance at success.
And though he might not be consistent from game-to-game, he sure is consistent throughout his years. You're all upset that he hasn't played better than his OKC days, but he hasn't played much worse either. In the very worst case scenario, he keeps these "meh" stats going, and we still didn't overpay him like crazy. At his current stats, he would still get paid $4 million or so. Except he has three more years to change all of our minds, and I think that's gonna happen.
Of course I'm just being hopeful, but given an opportunity to thrive, I am still convinced he can be a top 5 SF in this league (even though this post probably makes you think that I think he's the greatest human to ever live). Apart from KD/LBJ/Melo, there isn't
that much competition at the SF position. Best case scenario, he outplays Batum, George, etc. and nears where Carmelo played at Denver. Worst case, he plays the same way he always has, and we overpaid him. But no matter what, he's worth the chance. If we didn't pay him, someone would have (albeit not as much), but it's irrational to call him a bust when he hasn't been given a chance to shine.
Let Green play!