Gerald Green: A 22-year Old Former Dunk Champ Seeks Work

In twelve different games in 2006-07, Green hit at least three 3-pointers—with shooting performances such as 4-4 from three at Atlanta April 10, 4-6 in a win over the Knicks Feb. 28, and 5-5 in another win over Milwaukee Feb. 14.

I know points are not everything, and on a bad team, scoring totals can be very misleading.  But I don’t care if Green took a seat on the baseline instead of playing defense, there is no reason why a 22-year old who can score like he can, should ever not have a job in the league.

May, who appears to be taking some sort of joy from Green being released by the Rockets, along with Rivers’ comments, indicate that it is Green’s problems on defense and a general lack of maturity and understanding of the game that led to his current predicament. 

I never confused Green with Scottie Pippen on the defensive side of the court, and for his height and jumping ability, I always wished he gave more attention to rebounding.  But in all the time I watched Green play for the Celtics, I never saw any mistake he made that could be attributed to not caring. 

Granted it could have been a lack of effort in practice and other situations where I obviously do not have access to, that led to mistakes Green made on the court.  But from everything I saw from Green, he appeared to be a good kid.  Regardless of playing time, he always looked invested in the game, paying attention, on his feet from the bench.  He does not appear to be an arrogant, selfish ballplayer.

Maybe I am missing something.  That he has gone through three teams in less than a year, probably should tell me something.

Green was one of many who made the jump straight to the NBA prior to the league instituting the rule requiring players to attend college for one year (count me as a supporter for the league’s effort to increase the requirement to two years, for the benefit of the league, most of the players, and also college basketball). 

I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to go straight to the NBA, no matter who the player is.  But for the player who struggles at first, the player not only has to continually work hard to improve, but also deal with not being "the man" for probably the first time.  Many probably never had a setback on the basketball court, and were never anything but the best (or among the best) players on the court at any time prior to getting to the NBA.

For someone like Gerald Green, and others who don’t explode on the scene, to go from being the star to riding the bench, cannot be easy.

It is an adjustment, and the player has to not get frustrated and continue to work on his game.  The problem being, the NBA isn’t really here to teach and develop. Sure there is some time for that during the season, but the focus during the season is the next game. 

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