Houston Rockets: Gerald Green has sadly been a waste of talent

While Houston Rockets guard Gerald Green is often celebrated for his dunks and streaky 3-point shooting, he is a defensive sieve and a waste of talent

Last month, Gerald Green reappeared, seemingly out of nowhere to give the Houston Rockets a much needed spark, and in so doing received praise usually reserved for inspirational players. He did the same thing when he broke into the Boston Celtics’ rotation midway through last season.

But Gerald Green is not an inspiration. He is a huge waste of talent and athleticism.

Green is blessed with rare physical gifts, and has a J.R. Smith or Jamal Crawford-esq ability to hit tough shots. Like Smith, he often appears to pass up easy shots for tough ones. But he has never stayed with a single team more than two years, and each stop tends to follow a predictable arc: he wows fans with his athleticism and shot making ability, but doesn’t contribute to winning, and rarely plays meaningful postseason minutes.

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Green’s 2017 postseason minus 2.5 Defensive Box Plus/Minus (DBPM) was the worst of any Celtic who played than 40 postseason minutes. The previous year, his postseason minus 2.4 DBPM was the worst of any Miami Heat player. (Since I mentioned Smith and Crawford earlier, it is important to note that neither of them ever produced postseason defensive stats nearly this bad).

Green’s other playoff experiences, which yielded shorter minutes, were even more atrocious.

Perhaps Green should or can be forgiven for his putrid defense – after all, lots of superb athletes just never prove it on that side of the floor. Even then, his offense would be damning enough. In every year of Green’s career, with the exception of 2012-13 and 2008-09 he has shot more and far worse in team losses than wins. (In the aforementioned years, he shot far more attempts, but at slightly higher rates, in losses than in wins).

In 2007-08, he shot 5.2 shots per game at a 42.3 percent clip in wins, and 5.0 shots per game at a 32.8 percent clip in losses.

Green has amazing physical gifts, and a good shooting touch. Why then has he never stayed with a single team more than two years? Why does he have more career turnovers than assists, and barely more made free throws than turnovers? Excluding his eight plus games with Houston, why has he never posted a respectable Player Efficiency Rating (PER) on a playoff-bound team?

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Because he doesn’t really care. He wants to play well enough to make money and be on highlight reels, but not well enough to help his teams win. Turning 32 this month, his all around game is unlikely to ever improve. And unless he suddenly discovers a lasting toughness (or grit and grind/team-first identify) and heart, his days in the NBA are numbered.

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