Missile Restart Player Previews: Jeff Green

The NBA is likely to restart in late July. There are “In The Bubble” players as we speak, eating the equivalent, apparently, of Happy Meals, or perhaps a good airline, or dormitory, food.

Also called Bubble Food (from the photos I saw) it seemed caloric, and in fact, not enough sustenance for a large, fit person who played a lot of basketball.

“In no way Bron is eating this, LOL” was also heard by Isaiah Thomas. Marc Stein also informs us that the NBA’s meals will be MUCH better when the bubble really starts, or rather, when the big boys show up.

Anyway, why not refresh your memory of the Houston Rockets with the most constant puzzle of the NBA, the NBA equivalent of The Bubble Meal, Jeff Green?

History: Jeff Green has been in the NBA for about forty years. (Fact check: it was number 5 in the 2007 NBA draft.) As far as I can tell, he is one of the 8 players left in the NBA since the first round of his draft class. He has played basketball for: Seattle, OKC, Boston, Memphis, LA Clippers, Orlando, Cleveland, Washington and now Houston.

perspective: Jeff Green is the beating heart of the NBA, his definitive mockery. He was drafted in issue 5, in the draft that included Kevin Durant at issue no. 2 (and Greg Oden at No. 1). It has all the attributes that NBA fans love. He’s big, he’s still pretty fast at almost 34. He can shoot a little, defend a little, block a shot, manage the ball a little. When he plays well, the 6’8 “, 235lb Green looks like an All NBA player. Then he only has a sort of … ghosts … your team. He is his meter. Nobody, not even Joe Barry Carroll has done better.

Green has played for eight teams since the 2007-8 season. Each of those teams had probably worked out, perhaps icky, Jeff Green’s fantasies before joining them. Everyone (so far!) Have seen those fantasies remain just that. Again, when he is playing well, there is hardly anyone better. When it is not, it is almost invisible. Invisible has made up about 85% of his career.

Jeff Green has probably occupied more words, more business, more anguish and hope, for less effective production than almost all players in NBA history. There were older NBA guys who had similar paths, but the NBA fan base was smaller, there was no sequel to the game worldwide, there was no internet and Boston Celtics fans usually didn’t they were involved. All of this reduces the verbosity output exponentially. Particularly removing Boston from consideration.

What if? What if, and now listen to me, and if Jeff Green could really find his game, in his own way, only a few times?

It is not too old to be very useful in small doses. I just saw a 36-year-old Manu Giniobili get off the bench and break the collective will of The Heatles in the 2014 finals, in about 12 minutes. Maybe Jeff Green could play a similar role for the Rockets? (No, it’s not Manu. Clearly.)

The good Jeff Green COULD actually do it. Even now, at the “Center” for the Pocket Rockets, he could swing or seal a series of playoffs with 12 fantastic minutes.

The nice thing is that, unlike broken plans, the broken dreams of various coaches, GMs and franchises since 2007, nobody really counts on Jeff Green to do anything.

If it’s fantastic, let him play. If it isn’t, well, the Rockets also have Brazilian Kevin Durant.