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Post by Roadrunner on Jan 15, 2006 20:24:12 GMT -5
Great report FL12. Green looked like to have a good game, considering his first "real" (non-summer league game, or professional game) game was tonight. Though, Fayettville wasn't very impressive collectively as a team the second half.
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Post by Celtic17 on Jan 15, 2006 20:38:46 GMT -5
Wow, agin FL12! ! ! Great info Kiddo!
You are so solid Greeniac... Thanks.
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 15, 2006 21:29:23 GMT -5
They just put the recap up: Florida 109, Fayetteville 86 Barron of Boards Leads Flame FAYETTEVILLE, N.C., Jan. 15 – Theron Smith put together his second 29-point performance in the last three games to lead the Florida Flame to a 109-86 victory over the Fayetteville Patriots in the third game of the annual D-League MLK Showcase at the Crown Coliseum on Sunday.
After spotting the Patriots a 12-point advantage in the early going, Florida roared back to lead by as many as 25, outscoring Fayetteville by 30 over the final three periods. The victory allows the Flame to hold on to first place in the league standings at 12-7, one-half game ahead of Albuquerque at 11-7. Fayetteville dipped to 4-12, losing to Florida for the fifth time in six meetings this season.
“We came out sluggish in the first quarter and I’ve been trying all year to stop these guys from doing that,” Florida coach Jeff Malone said. “We talked about stepping up, especially in a situation like this with all these (NBA) personnel people watching. In the second half we did."
“Earl Barron and Theron Smith really stepped it up for us and provided us with the energy we needed over the final three quarters.” Malone said. “When we play the game the right way we are a pretty good team.”
Barron recorded his second straight double-double with 25 points and 13 rebounds in front of over 50 NBA scouts, general managers, assistant general managers and player personnel directors. Andre Barrett contributed 16 points and George Leach had 12. Dwayne Jones had 10 rebounds for the Flame, who shot over 50-percent (38-74, 51.4) from the floor for the fifth consecutive game.
Mike King came off the bench to lead the Patriots in scoring with 17 points. Melvin Sanders followed with 13, while Erik Daniels was the only other Fayetteville starter to score in double figures with 12 points. First-round NBA Draft selection Gerald Green, playing his first game since being assigned to the Patriots from the Boston Celtics, scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds in 24 minutes. “We shot ourselves in the foot. These guys have to be mentally tough enough to fight through the fact that we’re missing shots,” Fayetteville head coach Mike Brown said, “but we let that bother us and it affects our game, then we can’t sustain the other team’s run.”
“Gerald looked good,” Brown said. “He is very athletic and very energetic. And he has a lot to learn, too.”
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 16, 2006 10:32:40 GMT -5
Article from Fayetteville paper: Patriots collapse against Flame in Green’s debut By Sammy Batten Staff writer Staff photo by Marc Hall Fayetteville’s Gerald Green shoots over Florida forward Theron Smith during Sunday’s game at the Crown Coliseum. Green was playing his first game in Fayetteville since being sent down to the D-League by the NBA’s Boston Celtics. Gerald Green was happy and disappointed Sunday. The Boston Celtics’ first-round draft pick was excited to be playing basketball again, even if it was in the NBA Development League with the Fayetteville Patriots. But Green wasn’t happy with his performance or the outcome. The Patriots dropped a 109-86 decision to the Florida Flame on the opening day of the second annual Martin Luther King Jr. Showcase at the Crown Coliseum. The Showcase, which concludes with four games today at the Crown, is an event designed for pro scouts to evaluate all eight D-League teams at one site over two days. More than 50 representatives from all 30 NBA teams were in attendance Sunday. One of those was Boston’s executive director of player operations, Danny Ainge, who was at courtside when Green entered the game at the start of the second quarter. Green’s first shot was a 3-pointer and it missed. He would eventually score his first professional points with 5:50 left in the period on a spectacular dunk from the left baseline. “It felt good, but I didn’t really play as well as I want to, and we took a hard loss,’’ said Green, a 6-foot-8 swingman who hasn’t appeared in an official basketball game since his senior season at Gulf Shores Academy in Houston. Of course, that was just last year before he declared himself eligible for the NBA draft. Taken with the 18th pick overall by the Celtics, Green spent the first three months of the NBA season watching and learning from the bench. Boston decided earlier this week to assign him to the D-League so the 19-year-old could put those lessons to use more often in games. Green scored 10 points on 4 of 11 shooting from the field and had six rebounds in 24 minutes in his professional debut, but that wasn’t enough to help the Patriots overcome the league-leading Flame (12-7). “Even though it was the first game, I still feel like I should have played better,’’ Green said. “I came to the D-League to improve my game, and tonight showed me I’ve got a lot to work on.’’ Fayetteville coach Mike Brown believes better days are ahead for Green. “I thought he was active out there tonight, but he still has a lot to learn,’’ Brown said. “He has a lot of energy and we need to focus that energy. But he is a tremendous athlete.’’ Brown was more concerned with his team, which played well enough in the first half to hold a 54-52 advantage after two periods. But the Patriots (4-12) apparently left their offense in the locker room at halftime, converting just 6 of 19 field goal attempts in the third period, while allowing the Flame to catch fire. Led by quick point guard Andre Barrett, Florida made 13 of 20 field goal tries in the quarter to turn the first half deficit into an 80-68 advantage. “I think we came out a little lackadaisical on defense,’’ Florida coach Jeff Malone said. “We talked about that at halftime and I think we did a much better job on them in the second half. That’s how we have to play to win.’’ Fayetteville was unable to mount any challenge in the final period as Florida’s lead peaked at 25 points on several occasions. “I’m not sure what happened to us,’’ Fayetteville forward Erik Daniels said. “We just came out there and took a couple of bad shots to start the second half, and everything went downhill from there.’’ Mike King came off the bench to lead Fayetteville scorers with 17 points. And this from today's Globe: And this from the Showcase Notebook: 1. The dunk of the day went to newcomer Gerald Green of the Fayetteville Patriots. Green, on assignment from the Boston Celtics, performed a double-clutch dunk from the left baseline with 5:50 left in the second period against Florida.
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 16, 2006 10:51:00 GMT -5
Below is from an email from someone who went to see the game. He only saw the first half but here are his observations for what they are worth.
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 16, 2006 22:31:18 GMT -5
Fayetteville 108 Roanoke 119
Gerald's Minutes Play by Play First Quarter Green was one of 2 players who did not play in the first quarter.
Second Quarter (9:22) [FAY] Ford Substitution replaced by Green (9:06) [FAY 37-24] Green Jump Shot: Made (2 PTS) Assist: Richardson (1 AST) (8:53) [FAY] Green Foul: Shooting (1 PF) (8:37) [FAY 39-26] Green Turnaround Jump: Made (4 PTS) (7:04) [FAY] Green Rebound (Off:0 Def:1) (6:59) [FAY] Green Layup Shot: Missed (6:03) [FAY 46-31] Green Jump Shot: Made (7 PTS) (4:05) [FAY] Green Jump Shot: Missed Block: Matthews (1 BLK) (3:52) [FAY] Green Jump Shot: Missed (2:40) [FAY] Green Rebound (Off:2 Def:0) (2:38) [FAY 54-43] Green Slam Dunk Shot: Made (9 PTS) (2:31) [FAY] Green Foul: Hanging Technical (1 PF) (0:31) [FAY] Green Jump Shot: Missed (0:02) [FAY] Green Jump Shot: Missed End Second Period
Third Period (3:09) [FAY] Daniels Substitution replaced by Green (2:04) [FAY] Green Foul: Shooting (2 PF) (1:54) [FAY 80-85] Green Free Throw 1 of 2 (10 PTS) (1:54) [FAY] Green Free Throw 2 of 2 (1:36) [FAY] Green Turnover: Discontinue Dribble (1 TO) (0:56) [FAY] Green Jump Shot: Missed (0:01) [FAY] Green Jump Shot: Missed End Third Period
Fourth Period (11:16) [FAY 87-93] Green Driving Dunk: Made (13 PTS) (10:55) [ROA] Bynum Turnover: Lost Ball (7 TO) Steal: Green (1 ST) (10:45) [FAY] Green Free Throw Flagrant 1 of 2 missed (9:51) [FAY] Green Turnover: Double Dribble (2 TO) (9:32) [ROA] Bynum Turnover: Lost Ball (8 TO) Steal: Green (2 ST) (8:46) [FAY] Green Rebound (Off:3 Def:0) (8:45) [FAY] Green Jump Shot: Missed (8:28) [FAY] Green Jump Shot: Missed (7:24) [FAY] Green Turnover: Bad Pass (3 TO) (6:56) [FAY] Green Substitution replaced by Richardson (3:05) [FAY] Richardson Substitution replaced by Green (3:05) [FAY] Green Substitution replaced by King (2:51) [FAY] Hawkins Substitution replaced by Green (2:30) [FAY] Green Rebound (Off:4 Def:0) (2:22) [FAY] Green Turnover: Stepped out of Bounds (4 TO) (1:10) [FAY 108-117] Green Slam Dunk Shot: Made (15 PTS) Assist: King (4 AST) (0:12) [FAY] Green Turnover: Bad Pass (5 TO) End of Game
Gerald's Stats Min FG 3PT FT RB AS PF PT Gerald Green 20 6-15 1-1 2-3 4 0 2 15
Gerald is definitely training to play with the Celts. The Patriots get out to a big lead, blow it and then lose.
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Post by Celtic17 on Jan 16, 2006 23:50:48 GMT -5
Funny last line FL12, if it weren't so true...
Cool GG input.
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 17, 2006 10:41:10 GMT -5
From Fayetteville local paper
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 17, 2006 10:44:23 GMT -5
From Patriot's Site:
[/b][/quote]
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 17, 2006 12:17:23 GMT -5
From Celtics.com
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Jan 17, 2006 14:27:39 GMT -5
Wow, is it too late to bring Will Bynum back here?
Good to see that Green's progressing with every game.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 17, 2006 20:58:14 GMT -5
Wow, is it too late to bring Will Bynum back here? Good to see that Green's progressing with every game. Don't be deceived by the amount of pts Bynum is putting up. This isn't NBA type level talent that Bynum is playing against. It's pretty much late 2nd rounders/undrafted players that's playing in this league.
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Post by Roadrunner on Jan 17, 2006 23:05:33 GMT -5
Next game: Thursday, January 19th, 8:30pm @arkansas.
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jan 18, 2006 7:29:44 GMT -5
From this morning's Globe:
A new Green team Celtics rookie needs to get back to basics in D-League By Peter May, Globe Staff | January 18, 2006
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- This is home now for Gerald Green. There's a room at the Hilton Garden Inn, a rental car (no small feat for someone who is still 19), and so many, many new things.
There's a new team, the Fayetteville Patriots, with a new coach, Mike Brown, and 11 new teammates, many of them unknown and all of them aspiring to be what Green is: an NBA player. Most will never know what it's like.
There's this whole new environment, not like anything he experienced the past few months in Boston. There's a new hairdo (cornrows) and there's the nice weather, for sure, but the D-League is still the D-League, which means games in arenas with more empty seats than fannies, long bus trips, lots of practice time, and even more downtime.
So far, Green, sent here by the Celtics to get the playing time he couldn't get in Boston, has played in two games, both losses for the last-place Patriots (4-13). If nothing else, he has made a convincing case that he may have no peers in the National Basketball Development League for outright athleticism and dunking ability. He played 24 minutes Sunday and scored 10 points. He had 15 points (and 15 shots) Monday in 20 minutes while also committing five turnovers, two of them for palming.
''I haven't played too good," he said after Monday night's 119-108 loss to Roanoke. ''But it's still only two games. I'm still trying to get adjusted and I'm just starting to feel comfortable. Hopefully, it'll start getting easier."
The Celtics helped smooth the transition by having Danny Ainge, their executive director of basketball operations, fly down with Green and stick around for the first 10 days. Mike Crotty, Boston's player development director and a Green roommate last fall, arrived Saturday. Ainge helped Green get a room (and had one in the same hotel) and worked some backdoor moves to get Green a car.
''We had to have proof of insurance and signed a lot of papers," Ainge said. ''It wasn't easy."
The two also have been dining companions at night and watched the Celtics-Hawks game eight days ago. Well, one of them did, anyway.
''He fell asleep on my couch in my room in the middle of the second quarter and didn't wake up until the game was over," Ainge said. ''We were watching it on my laptop one minute and, next thing I knew, he was gone."
Ainge will soon head back to Boston and plans to send one of the team's strength-and-conditioning coaches down to work with Green on keeping his new body (20 extra pounds) intact. He doesn't want Green to lose all the strength he has gained since coming to the team. You can also be sure that there will be plenty of talk about nutrition, especially in a place where Waffle Houses and McDonald's are omnipresent, and have already been frequented by the soon-to-be 20-year-old (Jan. 26).
Ainge was the one who drafted Green No. 18 overall last year, then made the decision less than two weeks ago to send Green here for playing time. After a week of practices, Fayetteville played its first games with Green over Martin Luther King Day weekend. The next game is tomorrow night on the road against the Arkansas Rim Rockers. While living here, Green collects his NBA salary as well as per diem ($101) when Fayetteville travels. On the road, he flies first class and gets his own hotel room.
On the floor, however, he's just another D-Leaguer, needing seasoning and instruction. Brown, a 12-year NBA veteran who once played for Ainge in Phoenix, has been entrusted with that chore. So far, he likes what he sees in the 6-foot-7-inch Green, but he hastens to add that the kid will be given no special treatment. Indeed, the Celtics were hoping Green would play 30 minutes a night. Brown kept him out of the first quarter in each of the first two games.
''This is an opportunity to play," Brown said. ''And you play your best ball where you are, and, right now, you are in Fayetteville. That's how you have to look at it. He's a young man, eager to learn, and has a lot to learn, especially on defense. I'm looking forward to helping him as long as I can, whether he is here for two weeks or five months."
The engagement is open-ended and Ainge said he is comfortable leaving Green in Brown's hands.
''I don't see anything bad, it's all positive," he said. ''It's what he needs, instead of being with the team and having limited practice time. Unless things change on our roster, or there are injuries, I'm very comfortable with where he is."
Different world Green was the 14th NBA player to be assigned to a Development League team, an arrangement that was agreed to in the recent collective bargaining agreement. A player with more than two years of NBA experience cannot be sent here. Those with two years or less can be, a maximum of three times. Green was the marquee assignee until the Portland Trail Blazers announced over the weekend that they were sending Martell Webster, their No. 1 pick last June and No. 6 overall, to Fort Worth. Webster, unlike Green, at least has had some NBA game experience.
Green dressed for one Celtics game. He was on the inactive list for all the others. He did play during the exhibition season. But this is a different animal, a league of players with largely unrecognizable names (unless you're Leo Papile or Chris Wallace) who are here for a reason. They vary in age from Green to a player like Vonteego Cummings, once a first-round pick (No. 26 in 1999) and now about to turn 30.
Ainge said he thought Green needed about three days to overcome the understandable anxiety of the relocation process. The first six days were all practices, with extra time for individual instruction from Ainge. The workout sessions sometimes extended beyond three hours, which might explain why Green couldn't make it through the Celtics-Hawks game.
''The guys here give me a challenge every day in practice," Green said. ''They're good. It's no cakewalk. But they're cool and I'm going to stay positive. I have to look at this as a great opportunity for me to get minutes."
The D-League also had some teams out to the nearby military base, Fort Bragg, and Green and others did some simulated weapons firing. According to the Fayetteville Observer, which had a reporter on the scene, Green practiced with an M4 carbine rifle and, well, if there was a D-League for that, he'd be there as well. He missed his first three shots, which prompted his new teammate, Mike King, to quip, ''Gerald, you just need to lay down some cover fire for me, because you ain't going to hit nothing."
Eye on the future Green's shooting in the games has been a little more accurate (10 of 26). Each game featured a dazzling dunk, the first of which was so over-the-top that one of the 54 NBA-accredited spectators turned and said, ''That's why they drafted him."
During games, Ainge and Green's agent, former NBA player Byron Irvin, shouted encouragement, urging him to rebound or elevate on his jump shot. Ainge seemed particularly heartened that Green needed only 15 seconds to take (and make) his first shot in the loss to Roanoke (which got excellent play from Will Bynum, who was in the Celtics' training camp).
Green said he is content to be alone now, but may have his family come for a visit soon. One tends to forget he's still less than one year out of high school and has as much knowledge of Fayetteville as he has of Helsinki. As Ainge said, ''He wasn't too proud to come down and play here. But he was uncertain of what life was going to be like."
He's learning by the day. The D-League is one big revolving door -- Brown had four new players for the games on Sunday and Monday -- and Green knows, eventually, it will swing back to Boston. While much is uncertain about this enterprise, the final destination is not.
''Hopefully," Green said, ''it's not going to be a long time. And hopefully when I get back, I'll be a better player."
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Jan 18, 2006 10:54:40 GMT -5
Good article. Glad to see that Ainge is taking such care with him, spending time with him, and making sure he stays on course by sending down one of our strength trainers to make sure he doesn't lose his newly added strength.
Hope Green blows away the competition shortly and make a return to the NBA before the season is over.
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