It was the dunk that rocked a summer.
Only the month before his professional debut in the Vegas Summer League, 6'8" Gerald Green had finished high school at Houston's Gulf Shores Academy and was selected in the first round of the 2005 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics. Now he was drawing the attention of fans, players, and coaches in this, his first game, becoming a headline act in the wake of one spectacular play.
Collecting a bounce pass from Celtics teammate Will Bynum on the left side of the key, Green spun off his defender and drove to the basket. Mark Bortz, the Los Angeles Clippers' 6'11" forward, slid over to seal his lane, but arrived just in time to land a supporting role in the summer league's highlights video. Green towered over Bortz for a tomahawk dunk that brought the crowd at Cox Pavilion to its feet.
Boston Celtics Executive Director of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge later categorized Green's dunk as "one of the best" he'd ever seen. More to the point, it injected some much-needed reaffirmation into the youth movement instituted by Ainge since joining the Celtics front office in the spring of 2003.
Gerald Green had been projected to go no lower than sixth in the draft, but was passed over at that slot by the Portland Trailblazers after declining their invitation to a workout. Ainge figured on Green sliding a bit, but the high school standout was only a fleeting fantasy to Boston, which selected 18th. Yet, with each successive pick, he remained available. Indiana, selecting just ahead of the Celtics, opted for the more seasoned Danny Granger and Green became a lasting reality to the Celtics.
The 2005 draft was Ainge's third at the Celtics' helm. It also marked the third consecutive draft in which Boston expended a first-round pick in acquiring a high school prospect. After swapping first-round picks with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2003, The Green came away with Kendrick Perkins, an 18-year-old center from Clifton J. Ozen High School in Beaumont, Texas. In 2004, Boston made 19-year-old Al Jefferson from Prentiss High School in Mississippi its first selection. Now, the 2005 draft brought in the 19-year-old Green.
But all is not rosy in Boston. Ainge's paradigm of displacing veterans by drafting youth has not sat well with many fans who wonder what was broken that now requires such fixing,
Three years before, the Celtics made it to the Eastern Conference finals after winning 49 games — their highest in a decade. That success was achieved by augmenting a core of internally developed players with some veteran leadership acquired via trades and free agency.
The next season — their last before Ainge's arrival — Boston won 44 games and got as far as the Eastern Conference semifinals despite the losses of veterans Kenny Anderson, Rodney Rogers, and Vitaly Potapenko. It marked their first back-to-back winning seasons since Robert Parrish and Kevin McHale wore green.
Ainge was hired after that 2002-03 season and inherited a squad that appeared to have the ingredients for a perennial run at an NBA title, a quest that had already eluded them for longer than any period in their franchise history.
For the next two years, Boston again made the playoffs under Ainge's watch, culminating with their first Atlantic Division crown since 1992 last season. However, first round eliminations in both years kept Ainge at work over his simmering pot.
Boston had opened the 2002-03 season with the league's 11th youngest roster at 26.7 years. Today, some three years later, the average age of The Green has now decreased two full years to 24.7. Of its 15 roster positions, nine are occupied by selections from Ainge's three drafts to date.
With youth comes frustration. Nonetheless, Ainge appears willing to suffer a few growing pains, despite fan intolerance. Following the 2003-04 season, he brought in Doc Rivers, the former Orlando Magic coach widely reputed for his strength in player development, to help manage that pain.
Now in his second year, Rivers' Celtics display the intra-game inconsistencies that are, in his mind, the most telltale symptom of youth. The most agonizing of these occur on the defensive end where the young Celtics' failure to maintain a 48-minute intensity has cost them big leads and last-second losses. Currently, Boston's 14-23 record is a mere game removed from the cellar of the Atlantic Division.
The 2002-03 squad that Ainge assumed was 12th in team defense, surrendering 93.1 points per game. By contrast, the 2005-06 Celtics allow opponents 101.5 points per game, a slide to 27th among the 30 franchises. In 37 games to date, they've allowed 100 or more points 22 times, compiling a 3-19 record in the process. They've lost leads on opponents' final shots four times, three coming in the bizarre week just concluded.
That recent stretch of generosity started in a Saturday night game in Washington when Gilbert Arenas hit two free throws in the final seconds to earn a one-point victory for the Wizards. Two days later in Boston, Jerry Stackhouse of the Dallas Mavericks hit a tie-breaking bucket at the buzzer. The following Friday, Kyle Korver's three-pointer at the buzzer provided Philadelphia a third overtime period in which the 76ers ultimately prevailed.
"This was by far the worst, the toughest," Rivers told the Boston Herald after the Philadelphia game. "I'll second-guess every decision I made, and everything we did."
He's not alone in a region where second-guessing is a second nature. The grumbling that began as early as Ainge's first year when he traded the popular Antoine Walker for the first time has gained volume and diction in recent weeks. Fans are increasingly disgruntled with Ainge's direction and Rivers' inability to mesh youth and success.
As for Gerald Green, he may well be in the toughest period of his professional career, as well. The future of the Boston Celtics was assigned to the Fayetteville Patriots of the NBA's Developmental League earlier this month. The move, which was timed to coincide with an upcoming road schedule that promises limited practice and no play time for Green, was billed as an opportunity rather than a demotion.
"He's progressing just as we expected," Ainge commented over Green's assignment. "We think this is a step in the right direction. This allows Gerald more of an opportunity to continue developing his game."
And, for the foreseeable future, less of an opportunity for both the Executive Director of Basketball Operations and head coach to improve their club.
Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers have demonstrated the patience to wait out Green and his peers. Unfortunately for each, Celtics fans have begun demonstrating to the contrary.
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