Jeff Green is in a tough spot. He's a restricted free agent and he was supposed to have an entire summer to gauge the interest in his services and find a place to play where felt comfortable and made a good amount of money. Sure, he would have had to wait a week for Danny Ainge to match any offers… which could have screwed him over a little (like Danny did with Glen Davis). But at least he had time.
But time is not on his side now. The NBA season begins in four weeks. Green's biggest problem with Boston has been a lack of comfort level with the system. He came over in that late season trade and was thrust into a position that he never quite got comfortable with. This training camp, assuming he did re-sign with the Celtics, was supposed to be his chance to immerse himself in the Celtics playbook and culture so he'd have the best possible chance at succeeding.
With free agency starting on the SAME DAY as training camp, Green can't possibly do that. Nor can he truly be a free agent. The new CBA will cut the time a GM has to match an offer from 7 days down to 3, which helps players down the road, but screws Jeff Green. All Danny has to do is let it be known he intends to match offers for Green and teams will back off knowing Danny won't do it until the full 3 days is over. Even if a team steps up right away, by the time Green accepts the offer and Danny responds, Green will have lost, literally, almost half of training camp.
So what's Green to do? His best bet is to stay here in Boston, sign a deal right away, and get the most out of training camp. A deal that works for both sides would be something short term, maybe only two years, at a reasonable number (not sure what that is in this CBA… $8 million per?) and then Jeff can be an unrestricted free agent in just a couple of years.
By then, this CBA madness will have sorted itself out, the Celtics will know if they've got the post-Pierce era small forward they need, and Green will have time to get comfortable and prove his worth. All things considered, it's the best win-win scenario I can come up with. For a guy like Jeff Green who got screwed out of being free agent, even a restricted one, this is the best of a bad situation.
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