let's keep our young talent and build on them with future draft picks. if we trade anyone, it needs to be Jeff Green. he is plenty talented and should provide a good return. he is a great guy, but too undependable, especially in a tough playoff series.
Crap, now I have to spew my Jeff Green "apologist" schpeel/spiel.
Rondo & Green are our team's most talented players. They each should net us a good return.
For Jeff Green, past historical Celtic Playoff statistical data suggests Jeff Green to be
highly DEPENDABLE when called upon to fullfill a specific role.
Let's take a look at his 1st ever playoff series for the Celtics, against the NYK in 2010-2011 season.
Jeff was off the bench for these 4 playoff 1st Round games. He AVG - 16.8 MPG, 6 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 0 APG all on 33.33% FG shooting (9 -27).
Pretty lackluster performance for the new Celtic in his 1st playoff series for the C's.
Jeff averaged
less MPG [16.8] than J'O'Neal (22.9 MPG - Starter) & Jeff averaged less MPG than Glen BBaby Davis (24.8 MPG - Reserve). This series, was not a series for Doc and his staff to "showcase" Jeff Green's talents. Doc & the staff played to
his team's strengths with the MO of winning the series.
Jeff's playoff performance did not matter much since the C's swept the Knicks 4-0 with an average margin of victory of
+8.5 (99.3 PPG C's to 90.8 PPG NYK)
Why did the C's sweep the Knicks? Because of Celts stars.
The combined production of the "Big 4" (PP, RA, KG, RR) - AVG -
19.7 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 5.1 APG.
So essentially these 4 stars averaged a superb
20/7/5 for the 4 games,
each of them.
They accomplished this production on a
ridiculously effcient 49.6 FG% shooting (120/242),
56.3 PT3FG% (27/48), 77.4 FT% (48 / 62).
Rondo took the
2nd most FGAs on the C's on a robust 50% FG shooting (better than KG's 45.5% (25/55).He was also the worst FT shooter at a 54% FT clip (14/26).
But RR FT shooting doesn't stink as bad when the other 3 of the "Big 4", each shoot
90% or better from the FT line. (34/36)
94%The 3PT shooting was from PP (
50% - 10/20) & RA (
65% -
17/26).
Despite Ray's hot shooting & despite Ray + PP intense scoring (each 22 ppg), despite all that,
Rajon Rondo was the STAR of the series. RR - 19 PPG, 12 APG, 7.3 RPG (2nd best rebounder behind KG's 11.3 rpg).
Your stars are largely the reasons why you win games. If you are relying on your young guys to be your stars & depending on them to win you ball games, you're in for a long season.
Fast forward to the next round, against the Heat.
This is the series where
Rondo was
mugged by Wade in Game 3. We won that game regardless of the injury. But we lost the series 1-4.
So how did Jeff Green fair in this series against the Heat, a much more difficult opponent than the NYK?
Jeff's line
wasn't astounding. It was, however,
better than his 1st Round series.
8.4 PPG on 54% FG shooting, 60% 3PT shooting, 73% FT shooting. Jeff's
MPG was increased to 21.1 MPG from 1st Round's 16.8MPG and
the increased is rightfully justified based on the statistical data.
Could the higher caliber opponent Miami Heat & their two premier wing stars, warrant more playing time for Jeff Green? Most likely yes.Could Rondo's injury forced Doc to continue to ride Jeff in the series? I could also see that too. But I largely see that it was Jeff's
increased efficient performance that
justified Jeff's increased playing time. I think
Jeff stepped up his game in this 2nd round,
against a more difficult opponent.
What about Jeff's next time in the playoffs? Oh this would be 2 years later, since he mised 1 year, recovering from heart surgery.
What did Jeff Green do in his 2nd playoff stint with the Celtics?
This would be the 1st Round of 2012-2013 playoffs, against, you guessed it, the New York Knicker boxers. (Remember we had swept them the playoffs before in '11 playoffs)
But that sweep was largely in part
because of the Big 4.
THIS time,
there was no Big 4. THIS time,
there wasn't even a Rajon Rondo, who didn't play a lick of playoff ball in the '13 playoff season. (Rondo's torn ACL, knee surgery, done for the year so no Playoffs).
What did Jeff do, this go around against the NYK?
This time,
with no Big 4, no starting PG Rajon Rondo AND Jeff was back from his own heart surgery playing in his 1st playoff series,
how did Jeff do?
Jeff
stepped up AGAIN. On
43 MPG & 14 FGA/G - 3.7 3PTA -
7.5 FTA/G , Jeff AVG -
20/5/2 on FG% 43.5, 3PT% 45.5, FT% 84.4
Jeff performed this way,
with odds stacked against him and his team.
No Rondo, 1st Playoffs since his heart surgery.
Why did we lose?
Biggest reason was,
no Rondo. We lost the turnover battle (-4/g) 16/g - C's & 12/g - Knicks. We lost the rebounding game (-3/g) 42/g NYK - 39/g C's. We lost the SPG (-5/g) - NYK: 10.3 SPG, C's: 5.5 SPG.
So we were
weakened in game areas involving turnovers, rebounding, & steals. All
3 things, Rajon Rondo could have helped us with...no question.
Is it fair to ask Jeff Green to be Rajon Rondo? No way Jose.
Is it fair to ask Jeff Green to step his game up compared to his first playoff experience as a Celtic? Yes it is fair. Did Jeff step up? Yes he did.
Can we depend on Jeff in pressure a playoff series? Based on the historical statistical data.
The answer is "Yes".
The assessment that
Jeff Green is "
too undependable, especially in a tough playoff series", this
assessment does not hold water, any water, none.