Jeff Green agrees to deal (4 years, $36 million)

[Lightskinsmurf]

What in the world is danny thinking?! I want jeff green back as much as the next guy but what did he do to deserve this massive contract !! He deserves no more than 6million a year after coming off heart surgery and doing practically nothing since being here!

[eugen]

What in the world is danny thinking?! I want jeff green back as much as the next guy but what did he do to deserve this massive contract !! He deserves no more than 6million a year after coming off heart surgery and doing practically nothing since being here!

For me is not smart move. Jeff is almost broken player.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I don't care one way or the other how much he's making, I'm just glad he's back. You guys get too "bent up" (see what I did there?) over a players worth and what the guy "deserves", and I think it pretty irrelevant.

We're getting a skilled and talented young man to a very manageable contract.

[bfrombleacher]

What in the world is danny thinking?! I want jeff green back as much as the next guy but what did he do to deserve this massive contract !! He deserves no more than 6million a year after coming off heart surgery and doing practically nothing since being here!

For me is not smart move. Jeff is almost broken player.

His heart had problems.......otherwise he's fine.......

[chambers]

Danny is rolling the dice here and banking that Jeff will actually thrive now his condition has been fixed. What if we sign Jeff up for 6-7 million for one year, Pierce gets injured, and Jeff has an amazing season averaging 20 points, 5 assists and 8 rebounds- something that's very possible with him starting with Rondo. Then other teams like Houston or Portland with tonnes of cap space come after him and offer him 12-15 million? If Jeff gradually improves over the next 3 years this is a smart play by Danny. If he doesn't, it's not like we are talking about Rashard Lewis territory here- teams will take a guy like Jeff off our hands for 9 million per year no problem. Teams that need a consistent 15 ppg from a small forward ie Bobcats/Raptors lower grade teams that love those guys to put butts in seats at games.

He's been given the A okay by the best doctors in the world- the idea here is that he'll actually be BETTER after having this surgery because he won't run into cardio problems and lose energy late game.
This guy was a top five pick with this problem- an often crippling cardio condition for many sufferers that severely affects their motor. I'm not saying I know how much it affected Jeff negatively, but it certainly did.
If Jeff comes back and is 10% better than he was he is easily worth 9 million. One way to look at this is he goes from 6 this year to 8 to 10 to 12 as he enters his prime and we get him locked up without running into the pressure of 4 years at 12 million from other teams in a years time.

You don't have to agree with it, I'm just pointing out a possible version of Danny's thinking/strategy here.

[fandrew]

Jeff Green can play. I think that this contract could end up being a steal. But everything depends on how well he acclimates to the way the Celtics play, and actually learning the plays and being involved on the court. When he played before he was in a new system that is more complicated both offensively and defensively than that of OKC, and he was not used to his strengths because Doc didn't have the time in the middle of a playoff run to create plays that would work best with him; they had to use what was already working for them. Maybe this contract ends up being a bad one, but at the worst he becomes trade bait at some point to match contracts or something. Either way, I think that it was the right move because no one else is getting that money, and they have it to spend essentially.

[Smokeeye123]

Im curious to see how is contract is...Maybe it's only 8 million this year, 10 million next, then 9, with a team option the fourth year for 9.

[clover]

What in the world is danny thinking?! I want jeff green back as much as the next guy but what did he do to deserve this massive contract !! He deserves no more than 6million a year after coming off heart surgery and doing practically nothing since being here!

Ideally contracts aren't backward-looking pay for what the player has done previously, but forward-looking compensation to run contemporaneously with their 'deserving' performance.

Past heart surgery really shouldn't be a factor.

[ScottHow]

At first I was against a contract with these type of numbers for Green, but since we signed KG to a three year deal, we are pretty much going to be locked up in our current contracts for a while. So it's not like this is going to hold us back from signing a free agent.

Plus its still not so crazy in my opinion that we couldn't trade him down the road.

[chambers]

You could argue that Boston's biggest downfall over their last few seasons has been their lack of dept - firstly because they have an uncanny tendancy to get hit by injuries, and secondly because they just haven't had ANY consistent scorer on the bench.

If Boston had even one consistent scoring threat off the bench last season I can all but guarantee you they would have been in the NBA Finals, and quite possibly have banner 18.

By adding Jason Terry, Boston finally got themselves that consistent scorer who could potentially put them over the hump.  

Jeff Green has never averaged less than about 15 points per 36 minutes as long as he's been in the NBA, and yes that includes his season with Boston (check the numbers).

Best case scanario nobody gets hurt and Jeff Green gives Boston a second consistent double figure scorer off the bench.  

Worst case scenario Boston gets hit AGAIN with injuries, and Jeff Green gives them:

2. Insurance for Terry in case he gets hurt (as a 6th man)
3. Insurance for Pierce in case he gets hurt (as a SF)
4. Insurance for Bass in case he gets hurt (as a PF)

That is a lot of insurance for a team who (in the past) has so desperately lacked exactly that...and if adding Green turns out the difference between a 2nd round exit and a championship ring, he will have earned every cent.

Add to the that fact that he's only about 25 years old and could well develop into a 20/8 (Antawn Jamison) type guy and the contract makes perfect sense.

It's more then I would have liked, but given how critical he is to Boston's roster at this point in time, it's entirely justified.

This is 100% correct. Tommy point for this guy.
Jeff is a versatile player that is only going to improve now that his medical problems have been fixed at age 25.
Lock him in now and we are set with Rondo, Green, Avery and rookies for a decent young core with three solid veteran leaders in KG, Pierce and Terry.

People are acting like this is Gilbert Arenas 2.0
Puhh-Leeeassee.

[ScottHow]

I don't care one way or the other how much he's making, I'm just glad he's back. You guys get too "bent up" (see what I did there?) over a players worth and what the guy "deserves", and I think it pretty irrelevant.

We're getting a skilled and talented young man to a very manageable contract.

Exactly. It's not like we were going to have crazy cap space anyways and it's not untradable.

[Brendan]

Numbers aren't hugely relevant, I also think DA is loading up on guys that could be traded in a year or two to get better depending on Pierce's and KG's longevity.

The fourth year is... of interest. If that's only partially guaranteed or is a team option, that could be really good news. Especially if the contract is backloaded, this could be more like a 3yr/24m deal. Of course it could also be a 4/36 deal. Have to wait for details.

[ShermansShoes]

Meh.  Would have like to have seen 3 yrs 24m.  I'm up for rolling the dice on the guy.  Not sure I see homerun potential, but if we can get 15pts per then decent signing.  I wonder why his contract goes out 1 more year than everyone else's.  Interesting.

[Brendan]

I agree the deal is low enough that this isn't Gilbert or Lewis territory. But it is probably over paying. Haven't seen if there are any options on 4th year, could go from slightly high to just right that way. No idea what the market was offering, but might have been a case where DA didn't want to find out.

The con of Jeff Green is he doesn't do anything GREAT. Not to go all Bill Simmons here, but he's got no skill that jumps out. So the hope is he goes Bowen masters the corner 3 and becomes a great defender at SF (he has the tools for sure, and we've seen this team's system & coaching turn Ray Allen into a pretty good defender and turn Bass into an excellent defender.) If he can do those things - his size at SF, his versatility, and (hopefully) ability to run on the break with Rondo will make him very valuable.

[BMark3]

15 ppg for a bench player?  That is more than adequate.  Who was the Cs' top bench scorer last year?