Originally Posted by
ElNono
He may be missing his chance, agreed. But, The Spurs are very patient with projects. Green is shooting worse than ever. The question is, is that the new normal? Or, would you expect him to at the least revert back to the mean? Any player, at his age, I would expect them to revert back to the mean. It would be bizarre to think their shooting ability regresses this much in their "prime" and stays there. Danny Green 18 missed in a row from the arc. Belli started off 0/11 from the arc in the preseason. Still isn't shooting well. Was 0/2 last night. Kyle is 0/5. Kawhi is shooting .229 from 3. Team 3% is ticking up. It was down 8% from last year, but is now down only 4%. Much better, but still indicative of how pervasive the problem has been. It's not just Green.
Also, I wonder if Chip's tutelage has anything to do with getting in the their heads, if their working on form more aggressively in the beginning of the season, have they also been tweaking Green's form, or he's just wilting under the pressure of trying to earn a spot? Whatever the case, it has manifested in some real ugliness. I also wonder to what extent Pop has given him the green light to press shots, or shoot himself out of it, etc. I would like to be a fly on the wall to the psychology, there. I do seem to see the team passing more to him, as his slump continues. He may be lighting it up in practice for all we know. They still seem to believe he can knock it down. Even though he isn't.
It has been painful to watch his early shooting, to be sure. And, the team's in general. I wish he would pass on some of his ill-chosen 2-point attempts, as well. However, I doubt The Spurs are going to get rid of him this year. He has still played under 250 minutes of game-time as a Spur. I still don't feel like this is as much time as others seem to pretend it is. I think The Spurs will continue to give him opportunities and coach him up, and see what they've got at the end of the year. If he has made no improvement by March or April, then it will not be a surprise if Bertans gets his spot, or LJC, or any other project, next season. I just don't see The Spurs being as critical of their investment this early in the renovation.
Exstatic is right that he is in a precarious position, but his position has always been precarious since the day he arrived. I believe some even thought he would be waived after the De Colo trade, before the end of the regular season. Many believed that he would surely not have his $750,000 option for this year picked up by The Spurs. They were all wrong. Then there are the ones that floated multiple scenarios where The Spurs would cut him, eat whatever portion of his contract they must and open a roster spot for their veteran that wouldn't come here or their prospect de jour. That didn't happen either. Now, after a shooting start well below his average, the same group of people is saying that Green's days are numbered and he is playing himself out of the league, etc. He might be. But he's already done enough to make all of those other predictions wrong, thus far, and unless someone spectacular comes available, or we have serious injury issues, Green will continue to get an opportunity throughout the rest of the season.
He probably misunderstood where he was supposed to be positioned with Tony on one play. That turnover may have been on him, mostly, not Tony. The pass into the corner he fumbled was just a bad pass. Those things are fixed over time. No biggie. Most of these guys have played together for years and years. Even our "young" Danny Green has been in the system for 4-5 freakin' years now, I believe. Some familiarity and calm comes with that kind of tenure.
Green got burned a few times on defense last night. One time on a switch he ended up guarding Williams out at the top of the key. Green should not be guarding Williams near the top of the key. I don't expect him to do really well in those situations. Guarding a guard is not a dream scenario for him. He was in a bad situation and didn't survive it. We've seen Tony torch plenty of bigs like that. I don't hold that so much against Green. Perimeter defense was going to always be his weakness. This is not surprising. There are not a lot of 6'11" perimeter defenders. Much less million dollar ones. His interior defense has been much better than everyone originally suggested. Everyone harped on his weight.
If you take note of all of the criticisms of him this season, thus far, very few issues are being made of his weight. He is holding his own in the paint pretty well. Not great, but acceptable, and already much better than detractors said he would be able to.
Also, some of his other contributions have been adequate (I did not say great, or even good, just good enough) enough that if his shooting had been up to par or better, some of his short-comings would be mitigated. His inability to shoot the ball has put a magnifying glass on his every other flaw, and has even caused observers to dismiss his contributions.
One cannot make fun of his foot speed and getting burned by a smaller, quicker player, and at the same time dismiss his blocks, steals, altered shots, and rebounds as just a function of him being a "tall" small forward. Those strengths and weaknesses go hand in hand. It would be like making fun of Tony for being quick, because, you know, 6' guards are supposed to be quick.
The good news is, he can almost immediately start being a net positive by simply knocking down his jumper. And, as a shooter, that could as easily begin in the next game as it could not.
