Gerald Green can still get his entire head above the rim
With the start of NBA training camps just around the corner, many veteran players are starting to ramp up the intensity of their workouts, making sure all their equipment’s in top working order as they prepare for the grueling season ahead. When you’re a high-flyer like Gerald Green, who signed a one-year deal to join the Miami Heat back in July, that means double-checking to make sure you’ve still got your money-making springs.
Good news, Heat fans: Your man’s still cleared for takeoff.
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Yep, that’s Green — now entering his 11th pro season, which makes a certain segment of us who remember his fresh-outta-high-school drafting feel even more rickety than usual — proving that he can not only still jump, but that he can get his entire head above the rim after just a couple of approach steps. Yeah, I’d say those legs still seem pretty fresh, even after a decade spent bouncing from Boston to Minnesota to Houston to Dallas to Russia to New Jersey to Indianapolis to Phoenix and, now, to South Florida.
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These clips of Green call to mind Dave Chappelle’s bit about everything looking cooler in slow motion, with the helpful update that everything’s even cooler-looking when filmed in slow motion and soundtracked by anticipation-building snippets of T.I. and Future. (Also, may I never grow weary of seeing off-the-gym-wall self-alley-oops. One should never become jaded about things so simply enjoyable.)
Such displays of aerial artistry make us once again lament Green’s decision to retire from Slam Dunk Contest participation after three appearances, including one win and one frosting-flavored bit of American history, though you can understand why he’d prefer to focus on the other areas of his game enough to lock in significant playing time. After a messy ending to a stint in Phoenix that saw him earn Most Improved Player consideration for his shooting and scoring prowess on a surprisingly good Suns team that came within one win of a playoff berth two seasons back, Green once again finds himself on a prove-it deal, needing to show he can contribute more than the occasional highlight dunk to a team that’s actually playing for something; doing that, and securing another multi-year deal in the process, seems more important than returning to territory you’ve traveled (or, really, flown over) many times before.
Whether Green can rediscover that first-year-in-Phoenix spark now that he’s reunited with former Suns triggerman Goran Dragic, and can prove capable of showing us some new wrinkles even as he approaches age 30, remains to be seen. If nothing else, though, it appears that we don’t have to worry too much about the athleticism-dependent portions of his game deteriorating just yet, which gives Gerald a pretty strong jumping-off point (in a manner of speaking) as he looks to reach new professional heights.
Hat-tip to Bleacher Report.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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