My Advice to Gerald Green: Have Your Agent Call Joe Dumars

Gerald Green was cut by the Rockets last week. Of course that prompted a ton of stories about how Green was yet another tragic preps to pros figure that never had the focus to become successful. But I think that individuals that write Green off as such have no clue what the real deal is. First of all, Gerald Green can play. He just hasn’t had a chance to develop. Teams draft these high school guys expecting them to come in and immediately have an impact in the way that Kobe and LeBron both did. However, you must remember that the majority of these guys need time to develop. T-Mac, Jermaine O’neal, Andrew Bynum, Al Harrington, Al Jefferson, Rashard Lewis, etc. all took a few years to develop. Not everyone is going come in and ball right away the way Kobe and Bron-Bron did. You can’t put those kind of expectations on that kid. Next, please recognize that the only reason Green got traded from Boston was because he was part of the package to bring the ticket to Bean Town. The Celtics also traded Al Jefferson too, and we see how good of a player he is turning out to be. In Minnesota, Green really wasn’t against the eight ball from the jump. Kevin McHale had already drafted Corey Brewer, Rashard McCants, and Randy Foye to play Green’s positions. Those were McHale hand picked guys. No matter what, they were always going to get priority over Green. Once he got to Houston, it was simply a numbers game. Yao went down, and the Rockets needed his roster spot to add someone that could fill in their holes right away.

Now that Green is off of an NBA roster, he should make a smart move and have his agent call up Joe Dumars. The Pistons don’t have room for Gerald at the moment (unless they cut someone), but they will have room for him on the summer league roster. If he shows promise, they’ll have room to sign him for next season. The bottom line is that the Pistons have shown that they know how to develop talent. They are one of the few franchises that shows patience with their up and coming young talent. Mostly because they don’t need their young players to perform at a high-level right away. The Pistons are allowing Jason Maxiel, Amir Johnson, Aaron Afflalo, Cheihk Samb, and Rodney Stuckey to develop at their own pace. This would be the perfect place for Gerald to come and develop. He’d be surrounded by a group of veterans that would take him in and show him how to perform on a professional level. He’d also be challenged by the Pistons crop of young players. They are known to be some of the most hardworking in the league. That’s the kind of environment Gerald needs to be in to reach his potential. Joe Dumars is known for taking chances on young talent. Taking a chance on Green could pay off big time for him. At this point, he has nothing to lose.