Jeff Green Is Len Bias Reincarnated.

[KG Living Legend]

 Crazy huh. Would have thought he had more PPG's.

 But I know he started slow.

 But Green is clearly a better passer. And I'm suprised he Avg more boards as well.

[xmuscularghandix]

It's unbelievable how much Boston fans are underrating Jeff Green.

"Len Bias was a game changer, Jeff Green is backing up Paul Pierce!"

Guess what, Len Bias wasn't going to be a real game changer until Larry Bird retired. Lenny was going to be eased into the system as a bench guy, then take over more as the Big 3 diminished.


Len Bias had his big numbers as a senior, that's when he was truly dominant and raised his numbers. Jeff left college after his junior year and was on a much better team that was less based on ONE superstar type guy.

Reggie Lewis was an exceptional basketball player, but the casual basketball fan wouldn't have known that until around his 3rd season. It's hard to thrive as an All-Star Talent when fighting for minutes with actual All-Stars.

[Silas]

 Crazy huh. Would have thought he had more PPG's.

 But I know he started slow.

 But Green is clearly a better passer. And I'm suprised he Avg more boards as well.

Bias took a few years to get it together and didn't start for Maryland at first. I remember as a freshman he was considered a pure jump shooter and not much more. Check out his stats as he gained experience....

       MIN   FG%   FT%   RPG  APG  TPG  BPG  SPG   PPG
82-83  22.0  47.8  63.6  4.2  0.7  1.1  0.5  0.3   7.2
83-84  34.5  56.7  76.7  4.5  1.5  1.5  0.8  0.4  15.3
84-85  36.5  52.8  77.7  6.8  1.8  3.1  0.9  0.9  18.9
85-86  37.0  54.4  86.4  7.0  1.0  2.8  0.4  0.8  23.2
------------------------------------------------------------
TOTALS 32.8  53.6  79.5  5.7  1.3  2.2  0.7  0.6  16.4

[OsirusCeltics]

I don't think in the future Jeff Green would not be a "glue" guy. He is going to be a great great player in my opinion.

Jeff is 6'9" though. And there is also symmetry with Len and Jeff coming at a time the current Celtics were aging. Jeff would be a key piece moving forward with Rondo and anyone else they decide to keep

[Roy H.]

I understand the parallel, and it's interesting that the two went to the same high school and are about the same height.  It's one of those cool coincidental things.

I'm shocked, though, that some members actually think Green compares favorably to Bias.  Obviously, every player has bust potential, but Bias was as sure a thing as Kevin Durant.  This kid had the athleticism of Jordan with more size.  Athletically and size wise, he would have been a man among boys, a lot in the same way that Lebron is now.  I can't see him being anything other than great.

Jeff Green is a nice player.  He has above-average athleticism compared to his peers, but he's not transcendent.  He's got a good all-around compare, but he rarely dominates, and hasn't shown the ability to be an alpha-dog yet.  He's maybe got all-star potential, but it's borderline all-star, rather than league MVP. 

Bias had the chance to be an all-time great.  Green has the chance to be very good.

[Celtics4ever]

I don't think his collegiate career in terms on dominating Jordan compares with Green.  This is wishful thinking at best.

[OsirusCeltics]

I don't like everyone talking as if Bias can walk on water and untouchable. It shouldn't be that sad when a person puts his own life in danger with drugs. I feel more saddened for Reggie Lewis' passing then Bias

Who knows what type of player he would have been? Sure he played very well in Maryland, but so did Christian Leatner in Duke. And we see how his career turned out. I'm seeing Jeff Green in the NBA right now, and I see he has alot of potential. But I don't like comparisons with a person who never played in the NBA

You guys were high on Bias, too bad Bias was high on something else...

[Roy H.]

I don't like everyone talking as if Bias can walk on water and untouchable. It shouldn't be that sad when a person puts his own life in danger with drugs. I feel more saddened for Reggie Lewis' passing then Bias

Who knows what type of player he would have been? Sure he played very well in Maryland, but so did Christian Leatner in Duke. And we see how his career turned out. I'm seeing Jeff Green in the NBA right now, and I see he has alot of potential. But I don't like comparisons with a person who never played in the NBA

You guys were high on Bias, too bad Bias was high on something else...

Just because a young kid makes a mistake doesn't mean that you can't feel sadness about it.  Bias isn't the only player who has ever used drugs.  His death was tragic, self-induced or not.  "It shouldn't be sad" when somebody puts their own life at risk?  There are millions of grieving parents and loved ones of teenagers and young adults who died too soon that would disagree with you. 

It just seems very judgmental and holier-than-thou to me.  I think a lot of us have done stupid things in our youth, and I'd like to think that we can be forgiven for those mistakes.  Unfortunately, Bias' mistake took his life, and I think it's fair for people to feel sadness about that.

[elcotte]

I don't like everyone talking as if Bias can walk on water and untouchable. It shouldn't be that sad when a person puts his own life in danger with drugs. I feel more saddened for Reggie Lewis' passing then Bias

Who knows what type of player he would have been? Sure he played very well in Maryland, but so did Christian Leatner in Duke. And we see how his career turned out. I'm seeing Jeff Green in the NBA right now, and I see he has alot of potential. But I don't like comparisons with a person who never played in the NBA

You guys were high on Bias, too bad Bias was high on something else...

sometimes kids make mistakes. some mistakes are very costly. no reason to blame or belittle.
Len Bias was an absolute beast on the basketball court. As much as I like Green, I don't think that he comes close to what Bias could do.
And by the way, they're both better than Leatner. No comparison.

[greenhead85]

Honestly, Jeff Green has a better build, talent and skills set than past/present All-Star players like Danny Granger and Rudy Gay and starters like Deng and Beasley. Best of all, his talents will be better utilized under our system and would benefit much from Rondo's playmaking.

[rondohondo]

there is no way of telling how good Len Bias would have been in the NBA. The guy clearly had a drug problem and was partying with cocaine on more than one occasion. Look at Shawn Kemp, he was an all NBA type player but then got into coke and fell off the face of the earth .

With the NBA lifestyle going from city to city with all the groupies and hangers-on you can imagine all the temptations that Bias would have had to overcome .

So to say he would have automatically been a HOF player is a bit strange to me. Did he have the potential to? Hell yes , but that's it, it was unrealized potential.

[Surferdad]

... And there is also symmetry with Len and Jeff coming at a time the current Celtics were aging. Jeff would be a key piece moving forward with Rondo and anyone else they decide to keep

This is why I like the Reggie Lewis comparison.  When Reggie arrived, the 80's Big 3 were aging, but he actually played with them , unlike Bias.

[OsirusCeltics]

I don't like everyone talking as if Bias can walk on water and untouchable. It shouldn't be that sad when a person puts his own life in danger with drugs. I feel more saddened for Reggie Lewis' passing then Bias

Who knows what type of player he would have been? Sure he played very well in Maryland, but so did Christian Leatner in Duke. And we see how his career turned out. I'm seeing Jeff Green in the NBA right now, and I see he has alot of potential. But I don't like comparisons with a person who never played in the NBA

You guys were high on Bias, too bad Bias was high on something else...

Just because a young kid makes a mistake doesn't mean that you can't feel sadness about it.  Bias isn't the only player who has ever used drugs.  His death was tragic, self-induced or not.  "It shouldn't be sad" when somebody puts their own life at risk?  There are millions of grieving parents and loved ones of teenagers and young adults who died too soon that would disagree with you. 

It just seems very judgmental and holier-than-thou to me.  I think a lot of us have done stupid things in our youth, and I'd like to think that we can be forgiven for those mistakes.  Unfortunately, Bias' mistake took his life, and I think it's fair for people to feel sadness about that.

Yeah, you're right. Sorry for the outburst. I just didn't like many on the forum saying "Jeff Green wouldn't be able to hold Bias' jockstrap" without ever seeing him play on the NBA. Not to mention Green is still young and has not reached his ceiling

[KG Living Legend]

 Bumped, this is when I still had hope for Jeff Green lol.

[LarBrd33]

 Bumped, this is when I still had hope for Jeff Green lol.

I saw Jeff Green for what he was all the way back in his Seattle days.  There's quotes from me back in his Sonics/Thunder days where I said he was capable of being a fringe star on a losing team and peaking out around 17-19 points per game.  They were playing him out of position at PF next to Durant.  It was clear the kid had talent.  I knew he'd inevitably be traded.  At one point I even suggested a hypothetical trade for Perkins based on the idea that at some point the THunder would get serious about competing and would need a legitimate center on the team.   

Green peaked out right about where I expected... 17 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists at peak age 27.  Never a star... but a pretty solid player. 

Where things got silly were when Green was at his peak and fans thought he was going to take a "leap".  His per minute numbers were always basically the same... it made no sense that a 27 year old would suddenly make a leap.  He was averaging career highs, because his role was heightened and his minutes were increased.  It didn't make sense to expect more than that.