Remember Gerald Green?
After a side sojourn to China, the 2005 first-round pick of the Boston Celtics is now toiling in the D-League, where he is trying to resuscitate his career by proving he can do more than dunk. And he’s getting there.
Green was named D-League Performer of the Week on Monday after leading the Los Angeles D-Fenders to a 4-0 week with a pair of 30-point games. He averaged 27.3 points and 6.5 rebounds, shooting 54 percent from the field.
Among qualified players, Green is fifth in the D-League in scoring at 19.6 points and third in 3-point percentage at .477. He also is averaging 4.8 rebounds and shooting 49 percent from the field.
Green just turned 26 last month. The former Slam Dunk champion was cut in training camp by the Lakers, who have Ron Artest (when he starts really playing, I will call him by his real name), Matt Barnes, Jason Kapono and Devin Ebanks as small forwards.
Aside from Barnes, they have all been remarkably underwhelming this season. Given that the Lakers often look older than the Great Pyramid of Giza and could use an infusion of athleticism, would re-signing Green be such a bad decision?
Jah the Lakers def should call up diss Gerald Green Jah Man.
The funny thing is, one of the residual side effects of Jeremy Lin may be teams giving guys a look that they wouldn’t have in the past. According to Lin, although he wasn’t really happy to go to the D-League, it did give him a chance to play serious minutes even if for just a few games & he says it helped him learn the D’Antoni system. The fact that the Lakers are so obviously not as athletic as some of the better teams out West you would think they’d take a flyer on Green & bring him in. Of the guys that were mentioned as being ahead of him on the depth chart on the Lakers, 2 of them barely get any light. Green can play some backup SG also. The only thing I’d look at as a possible reason for them not yet bringing him up would be his defense. I can’t think of any time in his brief NBA career where he was considered even a marginal defensive player so given that Mike Brown is a big defensive guy, I can only assume that may be a reason. Having said that though the Lakers need for athleticism is alarming so they may want to seriously consider calling him up soon.
Interesting question. If he could defend 3s or play the point he’d obviously add more value but even so, the Lakers don’t have great athletes, so he offers help there and may be able to add some scoring punch. No question he has talent and given what he has been through I would assume he has matured. Also if he didn’t love the game or was a big idiot, he would have likely quit the game by now.
Yes! I’ve been watching NBA TV’s D League coverage and in the process became a big fan of these games. They often include prospects, should-be NBA players and ex players so the level of play is usually very high and definitely better than college. If you start consistently following the D-League you’ll know that the Lakers could use at least 3-4 guys off the D-Fenders. Why cut Character? because you already have the exact same (and much more developed/mature) player in Brandon Costner so why waste money on a duplicate. Pg help anyone? They could use Courtney Fortson (whom the Clippers called up to help with CP3’s injury) who is a lightning quick, undersized, lefty pg (does anyone else see Damon Stoudemire when you watch him?) who can get to the rim just as much as Jeremy Lin. Where can we find scoring off the bench and/or an athletic starting 3? There are two players who are on the D-Fenders who could fill this void and this becomes the dilemma. Which to choose Elijah Milsap (Jazz Forward Paul’s little brother) or Gerald Green? I believe Green is the answer for five reasons. While stats wise Elijah has been more consistent (it’s partially because he starts and saw more consistent minutes early on) Gerald is 1) more explosive on both ends yet has shown he can maintain his consistency (unlike his first years in the NBA) 2) a better Defender and rebounder with the capability of being a shutdown defender 3) he’d be one of the top 10 athletes in the NBA and a nightmare on the fastbreak (envision kobe on the left wing, green on the right and blake picking which way to lob it) 4) he’s a better 3 point shooter 5) I’ll take an NBA vet/overseas player any day over a rookie because he’ll almost always be way more consistent. He AND Arenas would provide scoring without disturbing the defense or the team chemistry.