Gerald Green Excelling.

[GreenWarrior]

i'm happy for Gerald. it's nice to see a freakishly talented player who needed his brain to catch up with his talent realize his potential.

[ScoobyDoo]

Really happy for Green. I always wanted the Celtics to keep him, even if that meant an end of the bench guy for cheap.

You could see he had freakish athleticism and he'd occasionally do some good things on the court offensively.

To answer the OP's question though - I don't think it is a fluke. I think he can finally see the game a little bit mentally - and with his athleticism he can exploit the openings now. I think his confidence is probably also where it needs to be.

Better late than never as they say and I think if he's 28 now, he could have a nice little 7-8 year run in the league as an offensive spark plug. 

[incoherent]

Gerald was excelling here in 2006-2007 and had a couple of stretches where he averaged 20+ ppg.

Had he stayed in Boston I Feel he would have gotten to this point much faster then it took him as he journeyed across the league.

Either way this is no fluke. Gerald can play and always could play.  Just needed to be in the right spot.

[Fafnir]

Excelling here in Boston? Hardly, by all reports he was a nice kid who didn't put the work in and also had no concept of team basketball.

Doc even said winning the dunk contest was the worst thing for his career, Pierce said similar things about him when he was traded.

Lots of talent, but I doubt he puts it together without washing out to Europe and realizing just how hard it is to be an NBA player.

Heck he might not even work in less free flowing team that's offensively orientated. Phoenix is just a really good fit for him, he was terrible for the Pacers.

[Donoghus]

I've definitely been a bit hard on "Mr. Potential" on these boards over the years but nice to see him doing well.

Gotta give credit to a guy who could've easily been out of the league and gone for good after 5 seasons but he's managed to battle back and establish himself as a servicable NBA player. 

So many guys would've just dropped out of the league and never been heard from again. To Gerald's credit, he's not one of them.

[KG_ended_Bias]

@Donoghus glad to see you've come around to seeing what I been trying to tell you for awhile now. The kid has a special "offensive" talent with all the skills on that side of the ball to be a top scorer in this league. Ball handling still leaves a lot to be desired but he's adequate enough with it to be successful. And as @inchorent said earlier, he was excellent here in 06-07. He was only 20 yrs old guys! He had 8 or so 20 pt. Games & 2 30pt games with no college experience behind him. Lebron James blurred a lot of people visions of what a arc of a highschool player is supposed to look like by being a child prodigy & dominating day 1. I thought had we developed Gerald which Doc wouldn't & we all know Doc, he would have been a All-Star by 2010 & a 25plus a game player. We destroyed his confidence by trading him but that talent & ability is nothing new, he could always flat out ball & score at will on anybody. We just wanted TOO MUCH TOO FAST & I wasn't one of the people who thought that way. I knew it would take some time & had we not acquired Garnett I believe we would running out 3 perrenial all-stars in a weak East in Rondo,Green & Jefferson.

[moiso]

His PER was way below the league average in 06/07.  In addition he was a negative on defense.  Not sure how that is excelling.

[LarBrd33]

Man.  Wasn't this guy out of the league for 2 years?

41 points tonight in a victory over OKC.  He had 33 points on Sunday.  Averaged 17 points last month.  Shooting 44%/38%/85% for the season...

He's doing it on a playoff team.  Who woulda thunk.  He's 28 years old.  Do you think he's finally a relevant NBA player or is this a fluke season?

Also... how about those Suns?   They've been the biggest surprise of the season for me.

Did you peak at 24?

Guys develop.

NBA players almost always start to show improvement before age 28.  This is a very unique case.  His freakish athleticism kept teams taking chances on him for 10 years.  His physical tools bought him more time than other players.  Most players don't get 10 years of training before there is a payoff.  He got way more training than a player generally gets, and it finally has paid off.

I would say it's pretty unique if he can keep this up.  Gerald showed signs when he was young, but never really got it.  He was out of the league for two years and played himself back in.

Gives hope for a 26 year old like Oden.  Maybe if that guy can stay healthy, he can finally reach his latent potential.

[soap07]

Quite a work ethic he's built up over the years.

[moiso]

Quite a work ethic he's built up over the years.

I dunno.  If an incredibly lazy medical medical student watched surgeries and was allowed to perform surgeries over an 11 year period, the guy might turn out to be decent.

[byennie]

Is that you, Gerald? He was always an above average scorer, although "score at will on anybody" is wildly high praise for a kid who averaged 10 per game, had trouble running plays, and was a below average ball handler.

If he was so excellent at the time, I suspect the next 3 teams that took chances on him right afterwards might have noticed. He had his chance in Boston, and after 110+ games he was still an immature bonehead with one skill (scoring). The same was true in Houston, Minnesota and Dallas.

It's great that he turned things around, but even he has personally admitted that he was immature and not ready for the league back in the day. There are very good reasons the kid ended up playing in Russia. We can be happy for him without rewriting history.

@Donoghus glad to see you've come around to seeing what I been trying to tell you for awhile now. The kid has a special "offensive" talent with all the skills on that side of the ball to be a top scorer in this league. Ball handling still leaves a lot to be desired but he's adequate enough with it to be successful. And as @inchorent said earlier, he was excellent here in 06-07. He was only 20 yrs old guys! He had 8 or so 20 pt. Games & 2 30pt games with no college experience behind him. Lebron James blurred a lot of people visions of what a arc of a highschool player is supposed to look like by being a child prodigy & dominating day 1. I thought had we developed Gerald which Doc wouldn't & we all know Doc, he would have been a All-Star by 2010 & a 25plus a game player. We destroyed his confidence by trading him but that talent & ability is nothing new, he could always flat out ball & score at will on anybody. We just wanted TOO MUCH TOO FAST & I wasn't one of the people who thought that way. I knew it would take some time & had we not acquired Garnett I believe we would running out 3 perrenial all-stars in a weak East in Rondo,Green & Jefferson.

[ManUp]

You guys are late to the party, he was clearly a changed player when he was with the Nets. He plays defense now and rebounds. He plays within his limitations and sticks to his strengths. He was a bad fit with the Pacers last year, but with his athleticism shooting and willingness to defend he will have another 3 or 4 years in the league.

[footey]

I been yelling watch out for Gerald Green & driving the badwagon for years. I kept tabs in Russia,China & then D-League. I wanted desperately for Danny to trust his initial draft instinct & sign him back years ago bit pffttt he didn't! And I'm pretty disappointed he is not a Celtic. But good part about it is I get a first hand look every night with him playing in my hometown of Phoenix. And to all the naysayers who told me he would never be anything & he's garbage, all I can say is I told you so! (He's pretty dang good)

That level of dedication deserves a tommy. Well done.

[Celtics4ever]

That level of dedication deserves a tommy. Well done.

Ridiculous, he is more of a fan on the back of the jersey more than the name on the front.   

You were right 11 years later....  My hat is off to you but you have to excuse my lack of hair, I went bald in this time frame.

[Birdman]

Just oes to show you that these young kids who think they are ready for the NBA are not..got to stay in college at least 3 years. In Green case, he came out of high school