Jeff Green was our 4th best player before the Rondo injury... 3rd best player now. And yet he's coming off the bench backing up Paul Pierce, because Paul Pierce is still our 2nd best player behind KG and Paul Pierce is our best offensive weapon.
Pierce in the last 11 games (where we have gone 8-3) has averaged 17 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists. He's shooting poorly, but he's still clearly the man for this team on offense.
Since Rondo got injured, Jeff Green has averaged 16 off the bench on extremely efficient shooting. He's averaging a somewhat limited 30 minutes. The guy is clearly talented. He's been playing very effective defense, imo.
Two thoughts...
#1 - I never liked Jeff Green at PF in Seattle. He's a SF, but he was stuck playing with Durant... so they stuck him at PF. He's not a great rebounder. I don't like seeing him play anything other than SF.
#2 - That said, Bass is crap and is probably best suited as a backup big. Fwiw, Jeff Green (at 6'9 235) is actually bigger than Josh Smith (only 6'9 225). Take a look at a team like Miami and they are actually playing Battier more minutes than Haslem... they have Bosh at Center... so basically LeBron is the default "PF" in that "small ball" approach. I don't see how a starting lineup of PG - Bradly, SG - Lee, SF - Pierce, PF - Green, C - KG would be all that different. What's the purpose of starting Bass? he can't create his offense... he fits well with Rondo spotting up for open jumpers, but without him he's kind of dreadful. Is Bass a better defender??
So should we just start Jeff out of position at PF?? Do you think it would be beneficial? Would it hurt us? Why shouldn't Jeff be getting 37+ minutes a night? Start him at PF next to Pierce. When Pierce gets winded, switch Jeff to SF and bring in one of of the backup bigs. I'd like to at least see it attempted. He hasn't started a single game all year.