The Spurs sign Danny Green

by

The San Antonio Spurs have added Danny Green to their roster. Green spent his rookie season as a young, developing g/f for the Cavaliers-back when Danny Ferry was still at the helm. His numbers are underwhelming-2.0 points in just 5.8 minutes a game-but Ferry is, perhaps, the most informed man alive regarding Danny Green’s potential. Given the current availability of proven vets such as Jarvis Hayes and Ime Udoka, it’s striking that the Spurs are high enough on Green to pass over more accomplished players.

Green, for what it’s worth, was a fascination of mine at the 2009 predraft camp. His most attractive attribute then and, I suspect, now is his body. Coming into the league, there were hopes that Green could become a lockdown defender due to his athleticism and long arms.

What I find most intriguing about this move is the Spurs’ continued pursuit of youth. There was a time when Jarvis Hayes or Ime Udoka would have been the free agent signing of choice for the Spurs. But these days the front office is committed to identifying young talent. And Green has been tapped as the next let’s-see-what-the-kids-got roster experiment.

With James Anderson out, and no other small forward beside Richard Jefferson on roster, Danny Green should receive some playing time in the coming games-unless Popovich decides to run 20 minutes of small-ball each night, which, as we know, may be too tempting for him to pass up.

  • Hobson13

    Danny Green is probably a solid pickup. I guarantee you Ferry had a big say in this considering Green played for the Cavs last season. Green doesn’t appear to be a great shooter nor does he have great size for a SF at 6’6″ 210lbs. Even though he didn’t play that well in the NBA last year, he averaged 25.5 points in 2 D-league games for the Cavs. Perhaps we can turn him into an NBA player.

    The worst case scenario is that we give him an opportunity to shine for the next 6-8 weeks and then cut him lose when Anderson is back. Best case scenario is that he is a legit NBA player that can slide to the backup SF spot and allow Anderson to step into the SG position. I’m betting the former happens, but who knows. Maybe he could be this year’s version of Garrett Temple. I will say that I like the idea of giving a young prospect a shot as opposed to getting an older veteran. This gives us an outside shot at picking up another young talent.

    BTW, we really need to win tonight against the Bulls. They are playing the second night of a back to back and they just played a tight game in Houston last night. Starting off the season 9-1 will easily exceed all expectations that we expressed a few months ago on this board. Winning tonight might also allow us to take top spot in the division since Dallas and NO square off again.

    Lets go Spurs!!!

  • J2

    Anderson’s return won’t lead to Green being released unless the Spurs sign another player. By league rules, the Spurs need to have 13 players on the roster with 12 active for any game. Without the signing of Green, the Spurs would have only had 11 players active for tonight’s game against the Bulls.

    Barring an additional signing, the main question is who gets de-activated when Anderson returns, Quinn or Green? Too early to answer. And if Green doesn’t deliver, he’ll get the boot and someone else will be brought in.

    Given Green’s low statistical output, I’m guessing he plays aggressive defense and that Ferry is knowledgeable of his work ethic and scrappiness.

    J2

  • J2

    Clarification- if a team lacks 13 players on roster, they have 2 weeks to sign new player(s). if they have 13+ players on roster, they can have fewer than 12 active for a game if there are not 12 healthy players available.

    The Spurs strategy seems to be to keep the minimum, so that they are not holding the rights to players beyond the 13 required. They were stretching to 14 to give Temple and Gee a change to show they can belong, but to no available.

    The knock on Temple is that, while his ball handling skills enable him to play the point, he doesn’t make good decisions when he has the ball-holding it too long and getting trapped being especially a problem. He doesn’t quite have enough bulk to defend the bigger players at the 3, and the Spurs have other options at the 2.

    Gee seems to be able to fly all over the court, but has trouble getting the ball to go into the basket.

    J2

  • Flavor

    Yea, I wish we could find all those posts Hobson. Especially the ones where people were ridiculed for saying spurs would start 9 and 1 for the season… lol

  • Nick (Italy)

    I was actually hoping for a Paul Harris (Syracuse) signing…

  • syd

    It’s unfortunate that we had to make an actual roster transaction based on a preventable tabloid situation. Not that Alonzo Gee was going to be a difference maker, but if Tony didn’t go around uber-tweeting the guy’s wife and precipitating a media frenzy, we wouldn’t have had to waive the guy and find a replacement at small forward who is new to the team. We really didn’t need this. Not ideal for locker room harmony. I wish Danny Green the best and hope he can make a contribution but we put a lot of time and effort into Gee’s development. What a waste. And a mess.

  • rangerjohn

    my guess is the kid didnt have good numbers partially because he plays the same position as someone named lebron james? if he practiced against james then maybe he learned a little?

    not sure he is going to see the floor much but you never know.

  • DieHardSpur

    SYD - how do you know it was Gee’s wife that he was fooling around with?

    Everywhere I have seen it says “undisclosed”…

  • http://fundamentally-sound.blogspot.com Jaceman

    Am I crazy to think we could take a chance with Ricky Davis?

  • VP of Common Sense

    Yes, Jaceman.

    You are crazy.

  • GitErDun

    Seems an awful lot of concern to place on the player filling the 13th spot on the roster. Anderson’s arrival and playing well (even after he was hurt for so long and then still playing well) brought the development of Gee, Gist, Temple into perspective.

  • Pingback: Tweets that mention San Antonio Spurs Sign Danny Green | 48 Minutes of Hell -- Topsy.com()

  • syd

    DiehardSpur-

    I can’t reveal the source of my knowledge but I suspect that it will be “disclosed” soon enough.

    And I’m sure Pop LOVES having to deal with all this when the team is finally hitting its stride. Regardless, my hope is that everyone will remain professional in the locker room and the drama will fade. I don’t expect that though. Look for TMZ and the rest to invade the hill country. I’d imagine that there will be a whole new group of “journalists” at tonight’s game vs. the Bulls. I’ll be curious to see how Tony plays with the kleig lights on him. This is a different kind of pressure than he’s used to.

  • Espoon

    The biggest question is will he get playing time? He may be there to fill a roster spot. At this point I have no expectations for him; that is I am not going to wonder if he will play, when he will play, or why he didn’t play. I will be surprised if he plays; hopefully he plays so well in practice and in blowouts that Pop is forced to play him and see what he can do. But as far as I am concerned until I see him play consitently he’s on the team but not apart of the team (like Ratliff was, and other 13/14 men).

  • VP of Common Sense

    Not to be a gossip queen or anything, BUT…

    Rumor has it, the Spur’s player who’s wife was having an affair with Parker is none other than Brent Barry.

    Sorry Bones, you deserve better than that.

    (Unconfirmed of course, but I will say that I use to bartend at a certain hotel in SA and served Mrs. Barry and let me just say, i’m not shocked.)

  • VP of Common Sense

    I’m not very happy that Tony went John Terry on us either…

    not good for the team.

  • Greyberger

    Oh sweet mary could I un-learn this? Quick, somebody flood the channel with disinformation so that I only know things related to basketball.

  • Flavor

    brent barry will be giving the spurs bad reviews now….

  • Jim Henderson

    syd
    November 17th, 2010 at 12:25 pm

    I don’t know what you’re talking about with Parker tweeting Gee’s wife, but I do know that Alonzo is not ready to contribute on the Spurs roster. He plays recklessly on the offensive end, does not have a dependable jumper, and is very inconsistent defensively. Though he does have some talent, it was the right move to waive him.

    As far as Green, here’s a couple of excerpts from Draft Express last year:

    “While his shortcomings are pretty obvious, he still brings quite a bit to the table in terms of his role-player potential, being able to make open shots and play lock-down defense, which is what he’s most known for……..

    …..Defensively, Green is still excellent, one of the best perimeter defenders the NCAA has to offer, showing superb fundamentals and instincts, making great use of his size and length to consistently body up on the perimeter. Green uses his length incredibly well to alter shots, with many of his 1.6 blocks coming in isolation situations on the perimeter, which isn’t all too common at any level of basketball. Laterally, Green doesn’t particularly stand out, but his quickness is more than adequate when coupled with everything else he brings to the table, particularly his 6-10 wingspan.”

    I’d prefer a veteran, but overall this looks like a pretty good pick-up. Green appears to have the tools and attitude to be that defender that comes in to spell RJ for about 10 mpg. Pop likes wing defenders that are “long”, and Green’s wingspan is even longer than Anderson’s by 1.5″‘s. Green’s lateral quickness appears to be comparable to Anderson’s as well, as Draft Express lists his lane agility score as a bit better than Anderson’s (11.30 vs. 11.86). They also appear to be about the same size at about 6’6′ 215 lb., but Anderson has a couple inch edge in vertical.

  • bduran

    I like the Green pick up as well. His WP48 was .075, which is solid for a rookie or a role player. He was a good producer in college. His last two years he also shot well from 3 and was an excellent defender. He seems like a great guy to take a chance on.

  • Hobson13

    J2
    November 17th, 2010 at 11:37 am

    “Anderson’s return won’t lead to Green being released unless the Spurs sign another player.”

    That’s exactly what I think might happen. Once Anderson is back and at full speed, why would we need 3 SF’s on the team? Anderson is the future and his most likely spot (considering we have Manu, Neal, and in some cases Hill at the SG) is the SF position. With Anderson healthy, we could use another 7 foot shot blocker as opposed to a wing player. In these cases, why keep Green if he proves to be expendable?

    “By league rules, the Spurs need to have 13 players on the roster with 12 active for any game. Without the signing of Green, the Spurs would have only had 11 players active for tonight’s game against the Bulls.”

    Yes, I understand that. Our biggest need as of now is a backup SF. Once Anderson is back, I submit that our biggest need will no longer be a backup SF but will be an additional big. Hence we let Green go (unless he proves indispensible) in favor of a veteran 4 or 5.

    “And if Green doesn’t deliver, he’ll get the boot and someone else will be brought in.”

    I’m not so sure. If Anderson is indeed out only 6-8 weeks, I can’t see this team bringing in multiple SF’s to replace Anderson and then Green. There’s no need to make the backup SF position a carousel unless Green is simply not NBA material. Besides, by the time we discover if Green can cut it or not, there may not be enough time for another SF to learn the system before Anderson comes back. In the end, I suspect that Green is just a band aid that can get us through the pain of missing Anderson. If Green is only a decent defender, we can get by for that amount of time until Anderson returns.

  • http://www.48minutesofhell.com Len

    My initial instinct is that I like this pickup. I like the youth movement in SA.

    However, I don’t know how much burn this young man will even get. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more small lineups or Manu at the 3 than Green on the court.

    Bonner at the 3? One word answer. “Yikes”

  • Bert

    To VP of common sense

    I didn’t think anyone would make a John Terry reference. But Chelsea FC did end up winning a cup double. So hopefully we can still get a trophy like they did.

    I wonder if Green’s gonna get any playing today.

  • Zach

    You all are forgetting one valuable thing about Danny Green, he is the only player in the NBA capable of challenging John Wall for the dancing king title. Green’s got swagger and does all the little things right.

  • junierizzle

    SYD,

    Leave that tweeting stuff to Access Hollywood.

  • rob

    Somewhere in the past I remember hearing Danny Green being mentioned prior to this signing.

    From what I remember hearing, this kid was supposed to be a role talent at the nba level to have on any team. A blue collar type of player that could be counted on to provide superior defense and knock down occasional open jumpers. Very raw…but very effective regarding the talents he naturally possesses.

    If anything…that’s Spurs material. However, I’m sure it will be a while before we see anything promising from him being he’ll have to be learning a system and getting acclimated to a different team.

  • Gomezd

    Why not ime udoka? someone who is already familiar with the spurs system, and while he is not a very good player he did have his moments, besides I doubt he will get many minutes

  • Big D in SD

    My guess is that Udoka’s veteran’s minimum is more than Green’s minimum, and the Spurs are trying to stay out of luxury tax hell.

    I disagree with junierizzle- I want more details about TP and Erin Barry. Or just details about Erin Barry. We don’t need to venture off to Access Hollywood- we can be a one-stop sh0p right here.

  • jang

    What other NBA player woke up in Tony Parker’s Underwear?

    http://hoopstopia.com/whose-wife-will-tony-parker-sleep-with-next/

  • andy

    VP of Common Sense
    November 17th, 2010 at 12:36 pm

    +1

    i like green. friend of mine was at unc with him, and says he’s a nice guy. seems to be a good fit for a spurs role player, and if he has the work ethic, i’d like to see him develop into a bowen role (one can always dream, right?). maybe he gets cut after anderson comes back, but i still think anderson should play at the 2, even if he’s shown promise as a 3.

    what the hell is up with parker. eva’s a hottie.

  • MrNiko

    Where was tiago tonight?

  • rob

    Where was Blair?

    Both he and Tiago as much were non factors. The good thing…Spurs managed to win without either playing none or minimal time on the court.

    The bad thing…at least one of them should be good enough to log some sort of significant minutes.

  • jang

    What other NBA superstars will wake up wearing Tony Parker’s underwear?

    http://hoopstopia.com/whose-wife-will-tony-parker-sleep-with-next/

  • rob
  • grego

    Why Green over someone like Ime?

    Athleticism + defense + shooting. Spurs are likely going to go small ball and surround the players with shooters. Now Pop gets another 3-point shooter who has size. If Neal is too short to match up, he can go with a combo of RJ/Green/Manu or RJ/Anderson/Manu or TP/Manu/RJ, etc.

    It gives them another guy who can chase around the Kobe/Durant’s because he has the wing span and athleticism.

  • andy

    MATT BONNER +/- DOMINATOR

    seriously, he was shooting 80% on 3s and he just improved on it. let him eat sandwiches!

    speaks to how deep our team is that we got the win and still didn’t play any of our starters more than 35 mins (except 36 for parker).

    count me among those who forecast a rosy start, but 9-1 is beyond my expectations. i’d like to see us continue winning while still developing our bench and youngsters. sacrifice a few wins here or there if necessary, and pound the rock.

  • grego

    Bonner = +29!!!

  • Mike

    Is Green really a lockdown perimeter defender? If so, it would definitely help the Spurs when they face Kobe/Lakers. Then they don’t have to double team Kobe much and not leave the Lakers shooters wide open for 3s.

  • Pingback: To be young again()