I'm about as big of a Gerald fan as there is, I followed his career in Europe and managed to catch most of his games in the DLeague this year, but Roy's right, for the most part.
Gerald's a streaky shooter who on good nights can fill it up, and on bad nights doesn't give you much. That said, while his scoring is the only real plus, he doesn't have all the minuses he used to. His handle is still awful but he doesn't force things as often, he's developed a bit of a post up game (surprisingly enough), has put on some muscle, and has all but eliminated the typical Gerald mistakes most of us remember. There's no more lapses in energy defensively, or lackadaisical play.
The defensive sample size is tiny, drawing conclusions based off that is pretty worthless. Not to mention, he's playing on the worst defensive team in the NBA, I'm sure Synergy has most of his teammates quite low as well. Celtics fans should be the first to recognize how much easier a defensive anchor makes life for a perimeter defender, and the Nets are entirely lacking a defensive anchor.
Most importantly for Gerald, he needs to be in an offense where he's working off the ball and spotting up for jumpers, not where he's isolating and trying to create for himself (or others). It seems like everywhere he's been that's been the expectation, and he simply isn't capable of creating shots efficiently. He can shoot the hell out of the ball though, and obviously he has value in transition, in the right role he can be a productive NBA player.
Superstar he isn't, but really he never was going to be, he never had the ball handling ability to do so and that's not something that develops especially quickly. He's developed into a mature and hard working player, as Avery Johnson said in his press conference tonight, he's someone you can't help but root for now. Around these parts that wasn't always the case, and understandably so during his early years, but whether he flames out or goes on to have a successful career, applying the "wasted talent" tag to Green won't be fair any more; he's put in the work and has his head on straight. I personally am excited and happy for him, he's worked hard to get back, and I hope he find the right role/situation for him and he sticks.
