Genuinely curious about this. We go through a bazillion trade, FA, cap hold, scenarios here but very rarely does anyone talk about giving Gerald a career deal.
His defense is quite acceptable these days.
He's been doing this in stretches all season long - no idea why people haven't noticed it, or why his minutes and role were not increased long ago. How many times has he come off the bench and scored 16 points in 18 minutes? And as you said, his defence hasn't been too bad, either.
This is why I continue to criticise Brad Steven's coaching. When Green has been given the opportunities, he's typically played well enough to earn a bigger role. But Steven's seems to be fixated of giving minutes to his longer tenured players, whether they deserve them or not.
I like Amir, but his health issues are obviously having a major impact on him, because he's production has been really poor this year. Comparatively, Kelly Olynyk has had possibly his most consistent and efficient season of his career (in a year where Boston desperately lacks size) and yet at no part this year has Stevens ever given Olynyk a legit window to prove himself as a starter alongside Horford.
Green has had so many good games while Smart has been out having back-to-back 2 for 12 shooting nights, and at no point has Stevens taken a chance at increasing Green's minutes and taking a few minutes from Smart, just to see what happens during stretches where we were struggling.
I just don't grasp his mentality personally, but I'm sure others will disagree and back him with their lives.