Again, he couldn't do anything on that Celtics team that needed all the help they could get. (Before the big 3 came along) He couldn't do anything on that T-Wolves team, after they traded away KG. He didn't get minutes on this Houston team. Once he got released, no team has signed him. WHY IS THAT? Because he sucks. Rockets fans need to stop fooling themselves with this Gerald Green guy. Big deal that he's from Houston. He sucks. The whole league knows it.
If Gerald Green had any shred of potential that was hyped up behind him, he would not have gottend traded 2 times, and cut once. And still floating out in the FA pool to this day.
You guys ever go to the park and there's a kid who has no interest whatsoever in playing team ball, using fundamentals, or playing defense, but he still dominates just because he's 6'5" and super athletic, and there's nobody at the park to guard him who's over 6 feet? Guys like that get by because nobody else can even begin to match them physically, and the other team's defense isn't sophisticated enough to stop him as a group. Well, Gerald Green is a 6'8" version of that type of guy. He made it on the playground and in high school because he was a freakishly athletic kid with a shot and he was facing teams whose POST players aren't even his height. Throw him in the NBA and suddenly there are people guarding him who are just as tall, almost as athletic, twice as intelligent, and who possess three times the determination. See: "fish out of water" Bring him to camp if you must, but no way I'd spend any money on him solely based on what I've seen to this point.
Oh he's got the athleticism and the skils alright. but does he have it upstairs to figure out what coach wants? Where to run to? When to cut? When to go backdoor? So far, I think this is Green's achilles heel.
The guy is just so slow mentally to get these things. It's a shame because we have a glut of high IQ low athletic guys and along comes this really athletic, low IQ guy.
I remember the Hornets basically gave JR Smith to the Bulls who gave him to the Nuggets for nothing. Now, he's one of the best offensive bench players. At 23, you can get alot smarter, get better at defense and gain alot more skills. You can't get any taller, get much faster, or jump much higher. In that regard he is way ahead of the curve. Despite what most of you guys may think, he has alot of things that a select few have, even in the NBA. The Hornets might still be playing if they had JR.
He may not be playing well enough to warrant to be on a roster, but if he is free, invite him to training camp and maybe the summer league, to see if he has improved.
Not every coach can develop young players. (Remember Van Gundy?) How many of you actually think Van Gundy would've used Scola, Carl or Brooks? Let alone Bonzi again. Van Gundy cannot and will not develop players. It's not his strong suite. It happens to be Rick's. Gerald will surprise a lot of people. And if not, it didn't cost us a first 'round pick. Look at the extra time Houston spent with Yao. It turned out to be time well spent. Each team should/is able to spend extra time with these kids. When a high school coach has a kid who can take off from the free throw line and slam a ball, how much time do you think the coach spends on having him work on his dribble or short game? I hope Gerald makes it just because he's from Houston. No other reason than that.
Shooting the ball?? Or is that not a talent either? Face the facts, athletic 6'8 guys who can shoot the basketball at 38% from downtown don't grow on trees... My suspicion is that this is a 'nudge nudge, wink wink' deal. Green got cut because there was no time to teach him the offense, but on the understanding he'd be picked up again in the off-season to work out with the team! And he's used that time to get himself ready to roll. Didn't Green himself say that he was fairly 'unmotivated' after leaving Boston? We'd be idiots not to give him a go in at least summer league... If we can't help him learn his 'spots' on offense, or how to play D, then nothing lost. But if he can learn even a little.... it'd be fantastic!!
http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2008/03/16/green_talent_hasnt_matured/ It kind of got lost in the Saturday night news cycles. But eight days ago, the Houston Rockets waived Gerald Green. No one has stepped up since to sign the former first-round pick to so much as a 10-day contract. Green had called his move from Minnesota to Houston at the trade deadline "a dream come true" because he was back in his hometown, hopefully to showcase his considerable athletic prowess before the home folks. But Green was able to make only one four-minute cameo for the Rockets before he got his walking papers. Basically, the Rockets needed a bigger body until impressive rookie Carl Landry was able to return from injury (which he may do today), so they signed Mike Harris. "Needed extra big," general manager Daryl Morey succinctly stated via e-mail. Asked if there were any exchanges regarding possible future employment of Green, Morey said, "Just an agreement that we will look at him very closely for our roster next year." No one in the NBA has a better read on Green than Doc Rivers, who coached him for his first two seasons. Rivers said he felt a little bit sad to hear of Green's release, but it also didn't surprise him. Houston had come to the same conclusion that both Minnesota and Boston had: Just because the kid can jump out of the gym and blow out a cupcake candle before dunking does not mean he can play in the NBA. "I think he has a chance to be a very good player in our league, but he has to mature," Rivers said. "Before you can take the next step, you have to understand you need the work and you need to do the work. Gerald does it, just not as consistently as coaches would like him to do. "And as mean as this [release] is, it may end up being the best thing for him. It may let him know that no matter how much raw ability you have, if you don't polish it, it's never going to shine. In his case, that is where he's at." The off-the-charts athleticism defined Green to the point where fans would rise in their seats if he drove to the basket. Some of the dunks were also off the charts, but as the crowd went wild, it would rarely notice that Green was messing up at the other end. Or that on the next possession, he'd have no clue what the Celtics were running. And he's known now as an entertaining dunker, little more than a human pogo stick who, it's safe to say, probably would have benefited from a year or two in college. In retrospect, Rivers said he wished Green had not participated in the Slam Dunk championship in Las Vegas last year because he felt it sent the wrong message. "I was not a big fan of him going, one of the few," Rivers said. "But I was outvoted. We did need something good about the Celtics at that point. But overall, I don't know if it was that good for the kid. "What Gerald did was phenomenal and, at the end of the day, I know that stuff is important to him. But it should be about the game and the winning. It's like we're telling him that the show is important, not the competition. And at the end of the day, it's a competition. "He is talented. He has potential. But he's not ready to play in the NBA. And it's not just him. There are a lot of guys like him. In my first year, I was killed for not playing Marcus Banks and, now, four years later, he's still not playing. But I also believe Marcus can play. But, like Gerald, he has to understand there's work to do and he has to commit to it." So what becomes of Green? His agent, former NBA player Byron Irvin, did not return a message left on his cellphone. Morey seemed to indicate the Rockets might take another look, but who really knows? Wouldn't you think some team would take a flyer on the kid before the end of the season? Clearly, the Timberwolves were disenchanted with Green because they needed one month to decide not to extend him for a fourth year, making him an unrestricted free agent. Wolves coach Randy Wittman and Rivers, backcourt mates with the Hawks in the 1980s, talked about Green more than once. All Rivers would say was, "He frustrated Randy quite a bit. The difference between Randy and me was that Randy didn't feel the need to play him. We played him anyway." Danny Ainge, the man who drafted Green in 2005, said he hopes Green learns from this latest move and commits himself to being a serious player. "Maybe this is something that could catapult Gerald into a better frame of mind and make him more desperate to recognize how fragile his career can be," Ainge said. "I'm hoping that this kind of adversity will push him to be the player he's capable of being. "I think it's there. But is he willing? Is he capable of going to the next level? Over the next year, I guess we'll find out."
We've gotta have a serious look and trial him in the team extensively, and just give him a chance to perform what he's capable of. He's not going to be a starter in the next few years, but who wouldn't want a energy spark off the bench who can play some ball? We should give him a serious try in the summer league and training camp to see if we can use him in some manner. I'll be happy if we can sign him to a small contract, I think it is very logical to do so because we want to offer a package of players for a star or a borderline star right? and that would involve trading away like 4 players, and Green can fill out our roster nicely. The thing is, the teams that Gerald's been in were completely rebuilding teams with all inexperienced developing players, namely the Celtics when they had one of the worst records, and the Timbrewolves who are struggling just as bad. Give him a try in a championship calibre team like the Houston Rockets and he may just have found his match. Those who said that hes not worth it because he's not even signed by any other team after he was cut could be seriously mistaken because I think, that we wanted him to stay in Houston and develop his skills so he can make a serious attempt at the roster next season. I heard the Heat was seriously considering signing him before they went with the D-Leaguers.
