By now, it’s no secret to Celtics fans that Jeff Green has been a different player this year. He’s put together a great first 19 games on the offensive end and has played especially well as of late. So what are the reasons behind Green’s success thus far?
Jeff Green has his deficiencies, which I have been hard on him for, but at the end of the day this guy is extremely skilled on the offensive end and is really a special talent. The Celtics would be fools to not use his variety of skills properly.
So the question is, have the Celtics been fools in dealing with Green until now? Green is putting up the best scoring numbers of his career and by a significant margin. He’s done so while shooting only 31% from 3 point range, a number that I expect to improve a few percentage points moving forward.
What is the cause of Green’s success this year? Certainly Rajon Rondo has something to do with it. Rondo makes the game easier for all his teammates, especially a guy like Green who loves to get out and run. Rondo definitely deserves his share of credit for the years Green, Zeller and other Celtics are having on the offensively.
Green himself deserves a ton of credit. He has come into his own on the offensive end, and has been aggressive scoring the basketball just about every night he takes the floor. He’s playing with a high level of confidence and has been attacking using his strengths. For the first time in his career, Jeff Green is a guy the Celtics can count on night in and night out.
A lot of Green’s success, however, has to be credited to Head Coach Brad Stevens.
Stevens has figured out how to use Jeff Green and has done a phenomenal job this year putting Jeff in positions where he can be successful and help his team. A lot of Boston’s sets are based around getting Green the ball, whether it’s a clever clear-out so that Green can drive to his right hand or posting him on the block against a smaller defender. Stevens has found specific ways to utilize Green’s variety of skills on the offensive end, and it has led to success for both Green and the Celtics.
Jeff Green’s Strengths
It’s well documented that Jeff Green struggles to create his own shot off the dribble. In fact, I could probably count on one hand the number of times Green has made a change of direction dribble move. This is an important skill to have for a team’s number 1 option, and is the primary reason why Jeff Green isn’t a Paul Pierce type of guy.
But while he may struggle creating off the dribble for himself and his teammates, Green excels in just about every other area on the offensively, making him very versatile and difficult to guard. First off, Green’s size, speed, power, strength and athleticism when heading to the basket are special. Few players in the league have the athletic abilities he has at his size, and Green utilizes these traits well.
So Brad Stevens is faced with a problem that Green’s previous coaches have been unable to solve: How do you use Jeff Green’s strengths to help him become a consistent scorer?
It is true that Green’s previous coaches have had better offensive options, and were content to have Green on the floor as a complementary player who can play a big small forward or space the floor at the 4 spot. But this Celtics team needs more from Green, and now they are getting it.
How Stevens Uses Green
None of the things Brad Stevens does with Jeff Green are groundbreaking, but, at the same time, they are clever and unique in putting Green in the right spot in a way that we haven’t seen since Green has been a Celtic.
Jeff Green is difficult to guard because of his versatility. At 6’9, he now has the ability to use a ball screen, down screen, and dribble hand off like a guard, while also being effective posting up or setting a screen. This means that Jeff Green’s defensive matchup could theoretically have to defend just about any basketball screen imaginable, both with Green using and setting the screen, while also being responsible for playing solid post defense on an athletic, 6’9 wing.
That’s hard to do. Green is a matchup nightmare. Few players in the NBA can effectively defend against everything he does. Here are a few examples from Sunday’s game at home vs Washington. Keep in mind that all of these plays take place in the third quarter. This is a snapshot of what a defender has to go through while guarding Green, even for a short period of time.
Jeff Green is not a master of the ball screen by any stretch, but when he keeps it simple, he uses it effectively. In the first clip you see the defender go under the pick and Green makes the correct read, knocking down the 3.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtKDddyM5q8
Here’s Green using a down screen in one of the Celtics favorite sets. The defender trails and Green uses the pick for an easy foul line jumper.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ0BOYjrDZw
After having to defend Green using multiple screens, his defender now has to be capable of hedging and recovering when he sets a screen. For a guard, that’s easier said than done, as you can see in the third clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtCpWFONBfU
Here, Green starts by setting a down screen for Kelly Olynyk, and then uses the dribble hand off to go hard to the basket and draw the foul.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBRc_Se0jUQ
These are the various ways the Celtics use Green in the span of a single quarter. The examples didn’t even include a post-up, which has been a big part of Green’s success this year. Earlier in the game, Green was one on one in the post with Paul Pierce and hit a turnaround lefty jump hook, making it look easy.
If you use Green as just a spot up shooter or wing player coming off screens, the way he has been used quite a bit in the past, any guard can defend him without a problem. Once you force that guard to also be able to defend Green as a screener and in the post, you create a problem for opposing defenses.
In the past, Green has been limited. He was the fourth option in Oklahoma City, and it was never a priority to explore everything he could do on the offensive end. He was a complimentary player who played off what Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook did. The same can be said for his first two seasons in Boston.
Now that Brad Stevens has had a year to see Green play, he has identified his strengths and weaknesses, and like any good coach has highlighted what Jeff does well and minimized the areas he struggles with. Using Green in a variety of ways within a short period of time has been effective for both Green and the Celtics, and I expect it to continue moving forward.
I’m not calling Brad Stevens some type of basketball genius for figuring this out, but this is effective coaching. Finding simple, yet nuanced ways to feature the strengths of a player is key in unlocking each player’s full potential, and it’s clear that Brad Stevens excels in what is an important aspect of coaching.
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