Lottery Spotlight – Jeff Green

Is Jeff Green the key piece that the Grizzlies were missing?

Ever since being drafted back in 2007, Jeff Green has been one of the most underrated players in the NBA and could make for a great glue player on a contending team. Unfortunately for Green, he’s spent the last several seasons on a Celtics team that has been trading almost all their assets for future picks. Due to this Green’s talents have been wasting away on a team that’s not even making much of an effort to win games.

That was until very recently, when the Celtics sent Green to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Tayshaun Prince, Austin Rivers and picks. Now that Green is a Grizzly, the question becomes if he will start or not. While Green does have the ability to play power forward, he definitely won’t be starting over Zach Randolph. So that leaves Jeff Green, Courtney Lee and Tony Allen with only two starting slots available. Currently, three-point ace Courtney Lee is starting at the two while defensive standout Tony Allen is the starter at the three.

Lee has been the second-best three-point shooter in the NBA this season, and Tony Allen is making a quiet case for Defensive Player of the Year. With the way things are now, I can’t see Jeff Green cracking this starting lineup, even though he may be more of a true small forward than Tony Allen is. That means Green will be a key player coming off the bench.

With the addition of Green, Memphis should have one of the best benches in the NBA. Green will be paired up with the likes of Beno Udrih, Nick Calathes, Vince Carter and Kosta Koufos. With Green’s offensive versatility, this opens up pick-and-roll and pick-and-pop opportunities that Green should be able to cash in on. Green is currently averaging 17.4 points per game (a career high), although that is mainly attributed to the fact that he’s played almost this entire season with the Celtics who have very few scoring options.

Over the length of his career, Green has been considered a decent rebounder; his career defensive rating of 107.78 is 82^nd amongst all active players. Over the years, Green has proven to be a rather decent isolation defender in space who’s great at contesting shots, and he can also fight off screens and recover rather well. Green definitely seems to be most at home when defending on the wing, which does raise an interesting question. In my proposed role for Green, he’ll be playing at the four a lot off the bench, which will leave him in post-up situations in the post. He has the height to get it done, but I’m not sure he’s physical enough to bang with some of the players who will attempt to post him up. So Green’s defensive role could be something interesting to keep an eye on. Either way, the Grizzlies pride themselves on their defensive efforts, so if Green expects a lot of minutes, he’ll need to play well on this end.

At this point in his career, we know what Green is; simply put, he’s a glorified role player that can make things happen on both ends. Green has some versatility, so it will be interesting to see how the Grizzlies use him in their pursuit of a championship.