Prior to the trade deadline, the crunch time rotation for the Boston Celtics had been Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Glen 'Big Baby' Davis. Davis was on the court at that time mainly because the starting center, Kendrick Perkins, is an offensive liability. While a solid defender, Perkins is painful to watch on the offensive end.
Then came the trade of Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Nenad Krstic and Jeff Green. Green was thought to be the centerpiece of this trade, as he is capable of playing small forward and power forward, thus providing a legitimate scorer off the bench that could help to keep Pierce and Garnett fresh for the playoffs. Also, Green's offensive capabilities (he was averaging approximately 15 points per game at the time of the trade), would theoretically provide them with another scorer in games where they were down by two or three points late.
However, this has not proven to be the case. Doc Rivers has continued to use the same rotation as he has in close and late situations as he had previously. Wednesday night, down by three to the Memphis Grizzlies, Glen Davis is on the court while Green is on the bench. To make matters worse, Davis launched a three pointer that, predictably, missed. While Green may not have made that shot, he would have been a better option. Yes, Green did finally get on the floor at the end of that game - albeit with four seconds left. Sort of pointless at that juncture.
Last night, against the Charlotte Bobcats, the same situation appears to be coming. The game is close, there is under three minutes remaining, and the typical grouping is on the floor. Then, with roughly 2:30 left in the game, Davis fouled out. This would seemingly provide Rivers with the perfect opportunity to put in Jeff Green for his scoring ability. Yet, Nenad Krstic enters the game instead. Green did finally get into the game, with thirty seconds left to go. While not a great time to bring him in, it was a marked improvement over the four second mark from the previous game.
While Krstic is not a bad player, his entering the game at that point, and the continual usage of Davis in these situations, makes the trade that much more curious. The Celtics, as they had been constructed, were the clear cut favorites in the Eastern Conference. They were playing with swagger. They were confident, to the point of being thoroughly bored with the regular season. Yes, there were injury concerns at the center position with Kendrick's knee, Shaq being old, and Jermaine O'Neil being fat and useless, so getting Krstic was not a bad move. The part that makes it look worse was the secondary trade of Luke Harangody and Semih Erden to the Cavaliers for a 2013 second round draft choice. Both of those players, while very raw and not great defensively, provided viable backups at center. Their roster spots were then filled by Carlos Arroyo, a decent point guard, and Troy Murphy, who has done the best impersonation of a corpse this side of Weekend at Bernie's.
So what was the point of acquiring Jeff Green? Is he that far behind in the playbook and knowing the defensive rotations where he is chained to the bench while Glen Davis plays late in games? In the limited time Green has played, he has managed 10.8 points for the Celtics in roughly 20 minutes per game, so he hasn't been terrible. Is Doc Rivers just playing around, knowing that the regular season just doesn't matter in the NBA, especially for his team?
Jeff Green is a much better option on the court than Glen Davis is when the Celtics are down by a basket in a late game situation. Now they just need Doc Rivers to realize that.
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