I don't get why people are saying Jeff Green is earning too much, and that we should trade him.
Jeff Green in the final 22 gammes of the season (including the Playoffs) was arguably our best player. He was certainly our best offensive player, putting up better scoring numbers than Pierce over that stretch...and doing it far more efficiently.
What many people fail to see is that Pierce's offensive ablility is clearly dropping off. Sure he still aroud 18 PPG, but his shooting percentages have been dropping off consistently for years now. It's clear that he no longer has the durability to be able to carry the team on a consistent basis. His shot has been looking flat for the last few years now, like he just has no legs left.
Yes he's been dishing out assists like they are going out of fashion in Rondo's absense...but he's also been making tons of poor decisions and turning the ball over countless times in those scenarios. His decision making / turnovers killed us in the playoffs...absolutely killed us.
That brings me to the next point - his shot selection. Pierce seems like he can't shoot the way he used to, but he still BELIEVES he can...so he still has far too many moments where he tries to force things 1-on-1 rather than looking to create for others. It usually doesn't end well because he just isn't as dominant 1-on-1 as he used to be.
Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Pierce and I would be beyond heartbroken to see him go, but if you take emotion out of it and look at the situation for what it is this is the reality of it...
Jeff Green is young, he's athletic, he's just entering his prime and he's playing like it. He carried the team offensively for the final 22 games of the season (including playoffs), he hit multiple big clutch shots, and he proved he can take over games (two 30-point games, one 40 point game). He's also becoming an elite one-on-one stopper/defender against opposing SFs, and that happens to be the position most of the leagues elite players are at right now (Paul George, Lebron James, Carmello Anthony, Kevin Durant, etc).
Pierce is owed 16 million if we keep him - Green is owed $9 million...almost half.
If we trade out Pierce we can bring in $16M back in contracts...that's the potential to get us a Josh Smith or an Al Jefferson and give us another chance to compete for a title. Green's $9M could't really bring us that much.
Pierce will retire some time in the next two years. Green could be our next franchise player for years to come...but his development is (IMO) limited as long as Pierce is here.
I love seeing these guys here, but the way I see it the Big 3 era ended when Ray left. A little Piece of the celtics went away at that time, and it left me realising that the end is inevitable...this can't last. Rather than lose Piece and/or KG for nothing upon retirement, why not try to get something for at least one of them?
Pierce's contract situation gives him an unusual amount of trade value for a player of his age. Now is the time to take advantage of that and make the deal, because next year his value goes back to zero on the open market.
i don't agree with all of this but definitely much of this
last season, we shoulda played like jeff green is our best player and we didnt -- we played like PP and KG were.
this season, if Rondo comes back anywhere close his normal self, we need to play like he and Jeff are our best players.
Statistics and being sentamental aside, Jeff isn't on PPs level, but Paul is also a vet thats been the #1 guy since he got here. Jeff has shown MORE than glimpses in my opinion and many of the things he needs to work on are minor. Jeff and Rondo could be a REALLY troublesome duo -- more than any I've seen here (maybe with the exception of Shaq lol). And I'd love to see that, rather than Paul Pierce who SEEMS to be slowing and KG who SEEMS not to want to be in the post alot
Topic: Rumor: The Big Ticket is coming back for one more year! (Read 8179 times)