How's Jeff Green fitting in with Memphis?

http://www.si.com/nba/2015/03/12/memphis-grizzlies-jeff-green-tony-allen-starters-defense

Apparently not that well.

Amazingly, during the broadcast of the Indiana/Boston game, at one point Quinn Buckner said, "Boston's been playing well since trading their two best players, Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green."

So, according to Buckner, Green is better than Sullinger (!) and everyone else on the Celtics not named Rondo? At the time of the trade eight Celtics had a better PER than Green, not that that is the be-all end-all stat. But it IS a reflection on how well-rounded your game is and how much you contribute (or not) to your team's success.

He's a great guy and I wish him well. But I'm happy he's not our disappointment anymore.

steve,

I also thought that Green was a good guy, but he never did what he needed to for the Celtics. Basically, he was a very athletic and skilled player who could not handle the mental part to be the consistent player he needed to be.

It seems that he is doing the same thing in Memphis, but they have enough other talent to kind of cover over his weaknesses, but I am sure that they probably thought that they were getting more than they got just like the Cs did when they got him from Oklahoma. Could be all he can do, but the Cs are doing well without him.

One secret of the recent Celtics success is one word—aggression (at both ends).  Jeff had many attributes but, without aggression, the results were spotty.  Unfortunately, Rondo lost his natural aggression somewhere along the say.

Sam

Memphis went 15-3 immediately after Green arrived, so things didn't seem so bad then, but now that they gone 5-6 in their last 11 games, some people are looking for a scapegoat. Putting the blame for that at Jeff Green's doorstep may be convenient, but it's wrong.

As the article points out, there are others to share the blame:

Gasol is again too content to roll through the offense as a mere participant rather than a high-volume weapon. Conley, who looked worn down even before tweaking his ankle on Wednesday, hasn't been able to exert the same level of creative influence he did earlier in the season. Lee's long-range shooting has cooled from month to month—from 52.8 percent in November all the way to a frigid 25 percent in March thus far—leaving the lineup without its chief long-range counterpoint.

Memphis could make do with all of that if its starters were playing up to par defensively. That just hasn't been feasible without Allen, whose specific work in lockdown situations transcends his matchup... The most significant, recurring issues arise in defensive exchange. Allen has the benefit of having worked through thousands of screens and recoveries with Gasol and Randolph. Green doesn't have that familiarity nor the resulting shorthand. That might not seem like a serious issue, but it botches the choreography of everyday defensive possessions.

So two things are happening to cause the Grizzlies poor play -- the offense is down significantly, and the defense isn't as stout as it had been. While you can "fault" Green for the defensive side of that because he's not familiar enough with his teammates yet, the offensive doldrums aren't his fault in the least.

You could just as easily take the point the author makes -- "Memphis could make do with all of that if its starters were playing up to par defensively" -- and turn it around: "Memphis could make do with the expected decrease in defensive efficiency after Green's arrival if Gasol, Conley, and Lee's production hadn't dropped off dramatically."

The blame for the Grizzlies' recent slump is due to a variety of reasons. Conley averaged 20.6 points per game in December but only 13.8 in February. Gasol averaged 21.8 points in December but only 16.2 in February. Why not assign more than passing blame to them? Why is it all Jeff Green's fault?

There's another month to go before the playoffs. I expect that Memphis will be playing better by then, Green will be more comfortably integrated into both the offense and defense, and they will be a serious contender in the West.