Jeff Green will not start

[action781]

I for one would love to see us start small with him at the 4 and KG at the 5. Of course, with match-up considerations.

I've always thought our best starting line-up (at least early minutes of the game) was when we had Scalabrine starting with the rest of our main starters while Perk was out with injuries.

Great energy, great floor spacing and we really took advantage of opponents early on.

I'd really like this plan if you took out Jeff Green and replaced him with Andrei Kirilenko.

Agreed.  I've been lusting after this line-up for awhile.  

Yeah.  Too bad he's not a free agent...  Wait, what?

[GreenEnvy]

For the last few years the starters have consistently performed well while the bench has consistently blown leads. Being one of the few guys on the team who can create his own offense, I think PP could transform the bench from a disaster into a solid unit. Bass/Green/Dooling aren't enough. Plus, he'd still get around 30 minutes/game and get to finish them. You guys should be more receptive to this seeing that the Celtics thrived with guys like McHale/Walton as bench players.

Moving Pierce to the bench definitely strengthens it's offensive capabilities.

Taking Pierce out of the starting lineup unquestionably makes life much more difficult for the remaining starters.

Considering the starting unit has enough trouble scoring as it is, I wouldn't want to see the C's down 10 after 10 minutes against the good teams and needing Pierce to go off to get them back into it.

[2short]

For the last few years the starters have consistently performed well while the bench has consistently blown leads. Being one of the few guys on the team who can create his own offense, I think PP could transform the bench from a disaster into a solid unit. Bass/Green/Dooling aren't enough. Plus, he'd still get around 30 minutes/game and get to finish them. You guys should be more receptive to this seeing that the Celtics thrived with guys like McHale/Walton as bench players.

agreed
I feel if green starts over pierce it will make the team better.  Pierce would still play good minutes and obviously finish a game and no way is green better than pierce.
Paul can make his own offense and gives a second unit a serious offensive threat, defensive leader and of course he's our captain.  Green gives the starters our BEST low post threat, kg and jermaine can shoot jumpers where they are more comfortable and green can have rondo hitting him on breaks.  Paul can come in for green (who could slide to pf for some time) and kill opposing teams.  Pierce to me would average just about the same but not play as much and not have to guard opposing guys like carmelo/lebron etc  (til it matters)

[chambers]

Well I also mentioned trading Kendrick Perkins, not just the $$.

Other than last year after being traded, Jeff Green has never come off the bench in his life and didn't look like he liked it last year. It's highly questionable that he can be an effective bench player.

Do a Google search, Ray Allen has been asked about coming off the bench over the summer and said he would be willing and I'm pretty sure Doc was asked about the issue of PP or Ray coming off the bench as well.

I am not crazy, it's essentially news to hear Green say he's coming off the bench. Especially after we heard KG will play a lot at Center. If KG starts at Center, you're starting Brandon Bass not Jeff Green at 4?

Jeff Green has always had about a 20% chance at most of starting this season.
Who would he start for?
He doesn't have the size (muscle) to play power forward regularly in the NBA.
He was signed to be a spark off the bench and provide scoring.
He ain't coming in for Paul Pierce who is still a top 25 player in the NBA.
No one is saying you're stupid, it's a very acceptable idea to have him starting- there were even discussions about it here last year. It's just that it was never a realistic option to bench either Ray, Garnet or Pierce when they are still all top 15-25 players in the league (and All Stars).
Starting five will either be:
Rondo
Ray
Pierce
KG
Wilcox/JO

and sometimes replace JO/Wilcox with Brandon Bass depending on the match ups.
Heck, Green may even start against some teams depending how KG is feeling, but I very much doubt it. He is there to back up Paul Pierce and maybe run the floor with Rondo instead of KG sometimes.

Again, the fact is he was NEVER a realistic candidate for starting this year, bringing Wilcox in for the full 3 million was to run the ball with Rondo and help KG with his athleticism- Like a poor mans Serge Ibaka.

[ktw7]

"He was signed to be a spark off the bench and provide scoring."

I just don't think that's who Jeff Green is. He is a skilled player but needs time to find the flow of the game.

Why didn't we sign Jamal Crawford if we wanted a scoring spark off the bench? Could've had him for the same contract for sure.

I think this only makes sense if as others were saying, Green does start a bunch of games, because Danny determined with the shortened season and crazy back to backs that you will need to sit out PP, Ray or KG for whole games, and you'll need Jeff Green to start those games.

Weird that we don't know his position or how he fits into the rotation at all and he's a $9 m player.

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

I'm not arguing whether he SHOULD start or not... just that it seems like a forgone conclusion that he wouldn't this season, given the position he plays and who he would be knocking off the starting unit... it's nice to think that people would be receptive to coming off the bench (Ray has a different mentality it seems) but which one of the vets (who are still one of the best at their positions) would he start over? I know that JO would come off behind Shaq but behind Jeff? I'm sure he'd take it as an insult, these guys have HUGE egos! I'm into to the idea of going small b/c that's what we usually do to end games anyway but who else besides us outsiders (Ray) think it's good for chemistry? It's not like green can start for Ray... that would be weird. If JO is okay with it then it sounds good to me but he thought he would be starting last season, then they get Shaq... bet he was thinking that he had that locked until Perk got back... it was like they didn't believe in him (wasn't he pretty much promised the start before they got Shaq?), now they're gonna give unproven JG his spot? Chemistry is important!

[chambers]

"He was signed to be a spark off the bench and provide scoring."

I just don't think that's who Jeff Green is. He is a skilled player but needs time to find the flow of the game.

Why didn't we sign Jamal Crawford if we wanted a scoring spark off the bench? Could've had him for the same contract for sure.

I think this only makes sense if as others were saying, Green does start a bunch of games, because Danny determined with the shortened season and crazy back to backs that you will need to sit out PP, Ray or KG for whole games, and you'll need Jeff Green to start those games.

Weird that we don't know his position or how he fits into the rotation at all and he's a $9 m player.

He's a $9 million player because he could probably start for 15 different teams in the NBA, but we need him on our bench. He is also being paid this much because Danny sees potential in letting him start next year, or at some point in the future for our club.
He gets 9 million because he is extremely versatile. You can't start him at power forward consistently, but you can have him releive Pierce, Allen and Garnett, and get 25-30 minutes out of him per game. The plan this year is to make sure our starts play way less minutes. So essentially, he'll get (almost) starter minutes, but won't start because we have 4 All Stars and he's just not quite big enough to play center.
Why should we get Jamal Crawford when we can get a younger, bigger, more athletic player who can guard the 4,3 and 2 spots and also play each of these position quite well?

Why didn't we sign Jamal Crawford ? Because he can't defend Lebron James and Carmelo Anthony in the playoffs like Green can. He can't play the post like Green can.
We have more options with Green.
Just because started in OKC doesn't mean he can't come off the bench. Lamar Odom is 6 feet 10 and better than Jeff Green, and he comes off the bench (well did for the Lakers). Similar situation where they have a very good starting line up and it helps them more to bring him in as an all rounder who can keep the scoring up while we rest our starters who have played as a starting 5 for all these years.