Bench Jeff Green (5 million), Bass, and fillers
Can we please end the Jeff Green nonsense already?
Why? Green apparently enjoys the city and is said to be around the team. If Ainge brought back Daniels, with his spinal issues, and West, with his legal problems, why wouldn't he consider bringing back Green for the right price?
Hoopshype
Peter Stringer: Doc says Jeff Green joined the team for breakfast this AM. "The best news is that he's going to be able to play again." Twitter
Where do I start?
First, there is no telling whether he'll be ready for next season. If he's in a condition where "being able to play again" is a good news, I'm skeptical.
Second, there's no telling whether he'll be back with the Celtics. He's an UFA.
Third, even if he is ready for the season and chooses to come back with the Celtics, there's no telling how many minutes he'll be able to play.
So yeah, pegging him as a major piece in the starting lineup or the bench is premature at best, and complete nonsense at worst.
1. I have no idea what you would rather hear. All reports have been promising, and for Doc to make that statement means that Green probably met with the cardiologist(s) for a follow up and that too was positive. And it's not like Green would be breaking a barrier here. Turiaf and Thomas are still in the league.
2. Yes, he's an UFA. So what? So was Marquis and he returned. Ainge probably felt that it's highly doubtful that anyone will give Green too much in free agency, so having his rights probably wouldn't be necessary. So you renounce the qualifying offer, making him happy in the process, and then try to land him to team friendly deal.
3. As for how many minutes he'll be able to log, so what? It's a risk/reward type of thing, but after all the scrutiny that Ainge received over the Perk deal you would be crazy to think he wouldn't bring back Green at the right price, to try to save face.
Fred Hoiberg is the only one of the previous four NBA players to have heart surgery not to play again. Etan Thomas, Robert "Tractor" Traylor and Ronny Turiaf all had the same procedure. Thomas and Turiaf are in the league today. Traylor didn't return to the NBA after his surgery in 2005 but played six more seasons of professional basketball overseas before dying of a heart attack last spring in Puerto Rico. The cause and circumstances of Traylor's death never have been publicized, but at 6-8 and well over 300 pounds, Traylor battled obesity for a good part of his life.
However, Hoiberg encountered "complications", which Green has not:
During the surgery, I lost about half of my blood. It's really an invasive procedure where they put you on circulatory rest, which basically they cool your body down to 60 degrees and for 45 minutes, you know, really clinically you're dead. They shut your system down. They turn your system back on with a heart-lung monitor. It's really a scary situation.
I had some setbacks during the surgery. I talked to the surgeon. He's done 150 of these surgeries. One time his patient had developed a heart block which required a Pacemaker. I was the second person that had to have a Pacemaker. I had developed 100-percent heart block. My heart doesn't beat on my own anymore. It's because of my Pacemaker that my heart beats right now, which is amazing to me that I’m able to be as active as I am and also almost make an attempt to come back and play in the NBA.
The day I left the hospital, I got home and was having an awful day. I felt terrible. I thought it was just because I was getting out and my first day out of the hospital. I went up to get some fresh air after being downstairs and I lost consciousness and I passed out on the floor. I cut my chin open. I was unconscious for about two minutes.
I was rushed back to the emergency room, and I developed fluid in the sack, my pericardium that surrounds the sack -- surrounds the heart, so I had to get that extracted. The blood wasn't getting to my head, and that caused me to pass out. I fell on my right shoulder instead of my left, where I had my newly implanted Pacemaker.
