Special thanks to a person whose name rhymes with Great Wiggum for sending me this article from our buddies over at SI- nobody has picked up Gerald Green, proving that crappy teams in the NBA couldn't build a respectable franchise if you literally HANDED lottery pick talent to them. Here is what Gerald Green can do better than most in the league- shoot, play basketball with fewer than 10 fingers, dunk the hell out of the ball, and live with his mom. Fans of franchises in the lottery this year should sue their teams for negligence and gross misconduct for not snapping Gerald up right away.
Drafted by one of the league's most storied franchises, Green opened the eyes of scouts and coaches alike with a mesmerizing display of athleticism in the NBA's post-draft summer league for the Celtics in 2005. The following year, Green announced his presence on the national stage by winning the dunk contest during All-Star weekend. He also had some productive games for Boston, making him an intriguing acquisition for Minnesota in last summer's Kevin Garnett trade.
But now, less than a month after a second-place finish in another dunk contest, Green is sitting at home in Houston without a contract, his career at a crossroads at age 22.
I am not concerned at all for Gerald's wellbeing. He can go over and play in any country in Europe or the Middle East and make a fine living. He won't starve. What I am concerned about is how blindingly stupid the dregs of the NBA are for not picking him up. Do people realize that Brian Cardinal is still in the NBA? That Casey Jacobson, career average of 5ppg on less than 40% shooting, is still collecting a paycheck as a long-range shooting SPECIALIST!? Do you realize that he is shooting TWENTY-THREE PERCENT FROM THREE POINT RANGE THIS SEASON!? The Grizzlies front office obviously has about fifty different cognitive disabilities between them, but is there anyone in the world that would look down the Grizzlies bench and say- "These guys are building for the future, they have Brian Cardinal AND Casey Jacobson. They also have Kwame Brown. These guys know what they're doing." OF COURSE NOT.
Now, granted Gerald plays in the most overstocked position in the league, shooting guard. I also know that Gerald is not prized for his defense. Here's what I say about that- who gives a crap. Gerald can score, and he can score fast. He can shoot from anywhere and he's exciting to watch. He does not have a bad attitude that I ever witnessed in Boston- although this article makes him sound like a pissant in Minnesota, I'd be more worried about him if he loved it there. Sure, every player loves not playing, not getting a contract extension, playing for a terrible team with a dumbass coach and a Frankenstein monster GM in a city where the most fun you can have is sit around and hope Prince happens to walk by. Gerald was treated like crap in Minnesota and ask KG if being a Timberwolf is an enjoyable experience. Sprewell would rather get his yacht impounded by the IRS than play for the Timberwolves for $20 million. If given the choice between playing for the Wolves or getting your toenails ripped out in a Turkish dungeon, 99% of players said they would prefer the dungeon. In fact, the only person who said that he wanted to play in Minnesota was Mark Madsen.
In Houston Gerald got hosed when the team got squeezed in the big man department... so it's not like Gerald has been run out of the league on a rail. My point is that someone should have picked him up the moment he hit the market. Here are Gerald's numbers from his last year with the Celtics- 10.4ppg, 42% FGs, 37% threes, 80% from the line. And that was playing with a paranoid schizophrenic as a coach. Here's the best part- even in a year (this year) when he got no minutes, no respect, and was playing in an offense that was incoherent, Gerald got better at rebounding the ball, passing the ball, attacking the basket (more FT's per 36 minutes), and defense. THOSE ARE THE AREAS EVERYONE WANTS HIM TO IMPROVE!!! The fact that a 22-year-old shooter with a 45 inch vertical that has already averaged 10ppg IN THE NBA is unemployed while teams in the lottery are salivating over 20-year-old undersized 2 guards like Eric Gordon would be mind-boggling if it weren't for the fact that the same teams are in the lottery every year and we have come to expect incompetence out of them.
So, keep your chin up, Gerald, but I wouldn't start looking at real estate in a lottery team's area, I'd make a hard sell in Phoenix. Methinks you are a tad better than Eric Piatkowski, DJ Strawberry, Arlando Tucker, and Gordon Giricek, and the Suns are a team that may actually be smart enough to give you a chance.Source URL: https://ledger-heath.blogspot.com/2008/03/gerald-green-should-be-playing-in-nba.html
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