Gerald Green? Maybe Danny was right afterall.

[repole]

If there is anybody that needed a couple of years of college, it's Gerald Green. He would have come into the NBA more mentally ready and would have had the opportunity to succeed early on, rather than hitting rock bottom and working his way back up. You're right, he is only 27 and there is no reason why he can't be a successful rotation player for the next 6-7 years.

I get the controversy with making NBA ready players go to college for a year. Guys like Kobe, KG, etc showed why it isn't necessary for everybody. Unfortunately you have guys like Green who showed all the athletic ability in the world, but were total boneheads. College would have done him well.

  Green's much better off having skipped college. He probably wouldn't have been a 1st round draft pick otherwise.

This. Also likely wouldn't have really changed anything maturity wise, he needed to go through some struggles before he was going to appreciate being in the league.

It's almost February, so I suppose bumping this now is worth it. It's been half a season, and Green's averaging 13.7 a game, is the Suns second leading scorer (total, not per game, but with Bledsoe out he's their second option offensively),has a 110 oRtg, and has been a pretty good defender. He still doesn't really rebound, pass, or create off the dribble, but he makes far fewer mistakes than he used to, and has replaced the dreaded long 2 point shot with more threes, which is the biggest reason for his bump in efficiency.

Indiana was a perfect storm of bad situations for Green, he didn't fit that offense at all, had his minutes yanked around a ton, wasn't trusted by Vogel, and quickly lost his confidence shooting the ball. In Phoenix Hornacek has handled him perfectly, and he's playing a big role on the NBA's biggest surprise team this season, a team with the 9th best offense and the 12th best defense in the league. I don't think there's anyone who could have expected Gerald Green to be the second leading scorer on a top 10 offense.

[D.o.s.]

It's been ten-ish games.

Bump this thread in February and we'll see what the situation is.

But after said amount of games you have to be somewhat impressed with what you see. Completely different makeup about himself & his game.

  Somewhat impressed with the caveat that you know he won't shoot 52% on threes for the season, right?

I tried telling this to OJ Mayo fans last year, didn't take then either.

  I feel your pain.

Well, at the outset of February, he's shooting 37% from deep. That's pretty awesome.


He's also responsible for my favorite in-game Alley oop ever (sorry Vince Carter):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg8OY1Go4xo

[Tr1boy]

It took a while to get it. He would of benefited going to college for 2 years

[Edgar]

so many points could be made here, but let's start with the "we should have kept GG and should have seen this coming from him" undertone.

the career averages for his first 6 years are:
8.3 points/game
2.3 rbds/game
0.9 assists/game
1.2 turnovers/game

and not reflected in the stats are a huge series of poor on court decisions during those 6 years. who wouldnt realistically think GG was a fringe player?

are we to say now that we should have kept him around on the roster for 6 years because in his 7th year he MAYBE finally is playing like a credible nba player? just how far ahead are people supposed to be able to project a player who doesnt perform for years?

and it wasnt just the boston leadership who had doubts about his effectiveness. he was also shown the door by houston, minnesota, dallas, brooklyn, and indiana. and let's toss in all the other teams who did not even give him a try out at all. are they all idiots or blind or amiss in basketball judgement?

honestly, this seem very much like a post hoc analysis reached SIX YEARS after his initial try outs.

finally, what are we to conclude from this? that everyone that is one-dimensional as a rookie and terrible at everything else should be given 6-7 years to mature? heck, the celtics roster would be stuffed with such players were that the case. would they all pan out?

good for GG that he finally is having a good span of games and maybe has finally learned that shooting alone doesnt keep him in the nba. if so, i am happy for him.

but as posted above, this is really a sss and let's see the season play out before making final judgements shall we? doing so might greatly reduce size of the crow-buffet for everyone concerned.

This is as correct as correct

[Fafnir]

It took a while to get it. He would of benefited going to college for 2 years

So he wouldn't be drafted high in the first round?

It took him 6+ years to get it.

He hasn't even really gotten it, he's just on a team that is willing to utilize his two NBA level skills to maximum effect. Shooting (3 point bombing away for 57% of his shots) and athleticism.

[bdm860]

It took a while to get it. He would of benefited going to college for 2 years

So he wouldn't be drafted high in the first round?

It took him 6+ years to get it.

He hasn't even really gotten it, he's just on a team that is willing to utilize his two NBA level skills to maximum effect. Shooting (3 point bombing away for 57% of his shots) and athleticism.

Isn't it a pretty big leap to say he wouldn't be drafted as high? I actually think he would have been drafted even higher (if not about the same), a lot of one-and-done knuckle heads before and after him were (Stromile Swift, Michael Beasely, Dajuan Wagner, Charlie Villanueva, Tyrus Thomas, Royce White, etc.)

I personally see no reason to think he would have completely flopped in college hurting his draft stock.  Plus wasn't the 2006 draft even weaker?

So what's the thought there?

[Fafnir]

It took a while to get it. He would of benefited going to college for 2 years

So he wouldn't be drafted high in the first round?

It took him 6+ years to get it.

He hasn't even really gotten it, he's just on a team that is willing to utilize his two NBA level skills to maximum effect. Shooting (3 point bombing away for 57% of his shots) and athleticism.

Isn't it a pretty big leap to say he wouldn't be drafted as high? I actually think he would have been drafted even higher, a lot of one-and-done knuckle heads before and after him were (Stromile Swift, Michael Beasely, Dajuan Wagner, Charlie Villanueva, Tyrus Thomas, Royce White, etc.)

I personally see no reason to think he would have completely flopped in college hurting his draft stock.  Plus wasn't the 2006 draft even weaker?

So what's the thought there?

His game didn't develop at all, I think he'd have gone lower as he'd be a year older but the same player.

[Moranis]

Edit:  Didn't see the date of the original post.

[scaryjerry]

Amazing athlete, typically a bad basketball player but he and the suns are a good story

[Cman]

A good story, and I didn't and never will fault Danny for the pick. Green was highly touted and it was a surprise that he "fell" as far as he did. I liked Granger a lot, but he was taken ahead of the Cs. I didn't care much for Hakim Warrick, who was taken immediately after the Cs. I remember thinking all the other high school students were equally risky, though some turned out pretty good (Ellis, Williams).

[BASS_THUMPER]

We shoulda kept him
he was immature but very athletic
danny should have gotten
someone on the coaching staff
to mold him

he was known for dunk now he has range
dangerous

[moiso]

Danny was right that he had potential.  That was obvious. He was also right to get rid of him without a second thought.  He had no place of the Celtics once we got KG and Ray and became good.  I still don't think he's a rotation player on a good team.

[celticsclay]

Danny was right that he had potential.  That was obvious.  I still don't think he's a rotation player on a good team.

he was in the rotation at times last year for a very good pacers team (18mpg) and the suns are playing above .500 and holding a position in a really tough western conference. So this is kind of just... not reality

[moiso]

Danny was right that he had potential.  That was obvious.  I still don't think he's a rotation player on a good team.

he was in the rotation at times last year for a very good pacers team (18mpg) and the suns are playing above .500 and holding a position in a really tough western conference. So this is kind of just... not reality

He played 11 min per game in the playoffs, so ok, decent point.  I don't remember him playing that much.

[GreenWarrior]

talent can keep you in this league for a while. it's a matter of what you do with it that depends on weather you stay.

I don't get to see green to judge for myself but he's clearly grown as a player since he's a key contributor on a competitive suns team.

makes me wonder about marshon brooks. I've always understood/heard that brooks was a lot more talented than green as far as being a better overall player where as green was just a freak athlete. so i'm wondering if maybe brooks needs opportunity and the right people in his ear.

I feel brooks is a season or 2 from being out of the league if he doesn't get both soon.