Getty Josh Green, Mavericks
A month ago, Mavericks second-year wing Josh Green was little-used NBA afterthought, a guy with 53 career games to his credit and not much of an impression made. But going back to December 12, Green began to get more and more playing time and increasingly, he is making an impression around the league.
And it may be happening at the right time—with the NBA’s trade deadline looming next month.
Josh Green hammers home the alley-oop flush 🔥
Going back to last month, with a four-game interruption because of a spell in the league’s health and safety protocols, Green has had an impressive stretch, averaging 7.5 points and 3.4 rebounds, while shooting 59.3% from the field and 38.5% from the 3-point line in 11 games. He has been getting 19.7 minutes per game in that stretch, by far the most paying time of his short career.
“Staying prepared,” he said after logging 18 points in the Mavs’ win over the Bulls this week. “I think my whole mentality is when my name is called this year, making sure I am ready to go and be able to bring to the team what they need. I feel like I was able to find a groove and be able to build off that, continue off that. Watch my mistakes from last game and continue to grow as a player.”
What Will Mavs Do With Josh Green?
Of course, there is some question about what the Mavs’ intentions with Green might be going forward. He was a draft pick of the Donnie Nelson regime, after all, and holds no special place with Nico Harrison, the team’s new general manager.
With Dallas surging in a volatile Western Conference, the Mavs could look to upgrade the roster with more veteran help and use the 21-year-od Green as a trade chip. The way he has played lately certainly has made opposing teams rethink his value.
For Green, it is about time. Chosen with the 18th pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, he has mostly been shrugged off as a potential contributor and seen as a flop because of the success of Saddiq Bey, who was chosen 19th by Detroit, as well as other later picks like Tyrese Maxey (21st), Immanuel Quickley (25th) and Desmond Bane (30th).
Green shrugged off the criticism, which included Bane calling out the Mavs by saying, “Josh Green was drafted before me, I don’t even know if he played tonight.”
“It happens,” he said. “It is part of the game of basketball. I don’t really pay no mind to it. I am working the same way I worked on Day One when I got drafted to now. For me, all that other stuff is, you know, whatever. People come up with what they want to say or not. For me, it’s just, staying in who I am, what I do, go out on the basketball court and I play for the Dallas Mavericks. That’s all I can control.”
Green Has Been Attacking the Basket
While Green has shot the ball well, he has done the most of his damage around the rim. He shot 45.3 of his attempts from within three feet of the basket, according to Basketball-Reference.com, and has made an incredible 82.4% of those shots. He spoke about that after the Chicago win:
When you get inside the paint, good things happen. Be able to dish it out or you get a layup. For me, any time I can get one or two steps into the paint, usually, for anybody, it leads to something good. So I think just watching film on that, we’ve been trying to work on my direct drives instead of trying to make different turns and whatnot. I think it has been a major emphasis, like, what I’ve been working on.