Los Angeles Clippers: How Jeff Green Fits With The Clippers

The Los Angeles Clippers traded for Jeff Green, but how will he fit next to Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan?

Doc Rivers and the Los Angeles Clippers front office acquired Jeff Green with the hopes of strengthening the bench and finding a small-ball power forward compatible with DeAndre Jordan’s style of play.

Over the last several seasons, Green has bounced around from team to team. He played his rookie season with the late Seattle Supersonics and has since had stints with the Thunder, Celtics, and most recently, the Grizzlies. Originally seen as a borderline All-Star, Green’s potential fizzled out as a result of erratic play and consistency issues.

In Memphis, he had the appearance of a complementary player and didn’t really move the needle in terms of title contention. With this in mind, Rivers’ trade deadline acquisition seems more like an improvement at the margins rather than a massive talent upgrade.

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But make no mistake; Green is a nice player. In an era of fast-paced, positionless basketball, the former Grizzly makes for a solid addition to any playoff team. He’s skilled, athletic, and can toggle between either forward spot. Players with a body and skill set stuck between small and power forward, also called “Tweeners”, were once seen as undesirable. This also applied to combo guards. But in today’s NBA, versatility is a great asset.

The Los Angeles Clippers have found success without Blake Griffin by surrounding the Chris Paul-DeAndre Jordan pick and roll with shooting. Green is a talented offensive player, and his career 34 percent mark from 3 will complement Jordan’s rim-rattling dives to the rim perfectly. He’s also skilled as a playmaker in the open court, possessing the athleticism to get to the rim on hard close outs. And once he’s there, watch out.

He’s also passable on the other end; anyone with a body like his has to try pretty hard to be completely awful at defense. The Clippers should be confident that he will work well in their system, especially with Jordan on the back line ready to erase Green’s mistakes.

The situation gets more interesting when Griffin returns. Blake wasn’t traded at the deadline, which means that he should be ready for his usual starry role come playoff time. This either moves Green to the bench or slots him at small forward next to the other starters. The Clips have scoured the NBA searching for that fifth player to close games with Chris Paul, J.J. Reddick, Blake, and Jordan. Green just might be that player.

He’s definitely an upgrade over both Luc Mbah a Moute and the now-departed Lance Stephenson. CP3 and Blake draw most of the attention from opposing defenses, so Green should feast on the opportunities they’ll open up for him. He could also be the X-factor as a sixth-man extraordinaire off the bench.

The fate of the Clips second unit’s offense is currently characterized by the volatile, dangerous adventures that are Jamal Crawford hot-cold streaks. In the playoffs, he could stabilize bench units when the stars rest. Rivers almost played the starters to exhaustion last postseason and compromised their effectiveness down the stretch.

If Green does well in LA for the rest of the season, the front office could also decide that they have enough insurance to move Griffin. Barring an increasingly unlikely title run, Doc is ready to break up this core, which means Green could inherit Blake’s starting power forward spot. On paper, he is already a better fit alongside Jordan than Blake will ever be.

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The Los Angeles Clippers are completely committed to winning now as evidenced by Doc’s willingness to give up draft picks (he traded a 2019 first round pick to get Green). But this is not a sound strategy, as these picks could slide to the lottery if Blake leaves and Paul’s play continues to decline with age. Rivers sacrificed some of the future to take a shot at the title this season.

We’ll see if it pays off in May.