Fans who enjoy analysis beyond the typical sports-talk gibberish should check out from venerable poster timvp on just why the Spurs need to bring back free agent swingman Danny Green.
First things first: With only 38 career starts under his belt, it’s still way, way too early to make any definitive conclusions about what Green is — or to be fair, isn’t. It’s also extremely easy to get carried away with per-36 minute projections, especially as they pertain to role players, like young Green, who don’t get major minutes.
That said, there are some pretty interesting discoveries:
* Even after his slump in the Western Conference Finals, Green shot 44.4 percent on 3-pointers over his final 53 games.
* Green averaged 17.4 points per 36 after the Richard Jefferson trade, 17th among SGs with at least 500 minutes.
* Green averaged 1.1 blocks and 1.4 steals per 36, numbers only three SGs have surpassed over the last 20 years.
* Green’s total rebound percentage of 8.6 was sixth-best among SGs.
Mix in the fact that Green makes the Spurs a better defensive and rebounding team when he’s on the court, and it’s clear that he has the potential to develop into a quality all-around player. Again — per-36 numbers should be used cautiously. But it would appear that the Spurs, who can match any offer to Green, owe it to themselves to see if he can build on his breakout year after digging him off the NBA scrap heap.