Brooklyn Nets Player Profiles: Donte Greene
By Jonah Mars
2011-2012 stats (with Sacramento): 53 gms, 15 mpg, 41% FG, 24% 3-pt FG, 2.5 rpg, 0.6 apg, 0.5 bpg, 0.6 to, 5.4 ppg.
Donte Greene has spent his entire 4-year career in Sacramento, with mostly negative results on very bad teams. In his best season, 2009-10, he averaged 8.5 ppg but still only 3.1 rpg which is puzzling for a guy who is 6’11. Greene typically plays small forward, so he should have a big size advantage, but usually does not use this in his favor. Instead of posting up, Greene often chooses to take 3’s, where he has only shot above 30% once in his career (and under 24% last season while shooting about two 3’s per game). Shot selection has been one of the biggest problems for the former Syracuse first round pick and he will need to improve upon that this season if he wants to remain in the NBA. On a positive note, Greene has always been a fan and media favorite in Sacramento and is very active on twitter. This should add some entertainment and fun to the season and perhaps take some pressure off his Nets teammates for being the first pro sports team in Brooklyn in over 50 years.
Offseason report: Signed non-guaranteed contract with Brooklyn.
There has not been much news from Greene this offseason. He signed a non-guaranteed deal with the Nets last week, which means that he has still not made the opening night roster. The Nets will have 3 options with Greene before November 1st when they host the Knicks. He will either fill one of the last roster spots, be sent to the Springfield Armor of the D-League (like Jordan Williams and Dennis Horner were last season), or be cut. As of now, my gut tells me that Donte will make the team, but we will see how he performs during training camp. This signing goes along with most of the Nets other moves this offseason. Billy King clearly has been looking for players who play multiple positions, and Greene is another one of those players. Even though his true position is small forward, he is tall enough to play power forward or even center and we may see him play these positions a little bit during the season. This was also a very low-risk signing.
Predictions for 2012-13: Greene may spend a small amount of time in the D-League, but he will make the Nets roster. He will play very sparingly, but will be a good locker room presence.
Greene was a bench player for a terrible team last season, and now he will be on a team which should at least make the playoffs, if not be a contender for an NBA championship. This means very little playing time for Donte and when he does play it will only be in garbage time. Also, he has big shoes to fill in replacing a certain Green that was on the Nets last season. However, this may be Greene’s last shot at the NBA. If he gets cut by the Nets in the preseason, who knows if another team will give him a shot? Hopefully Greene will come into training camp in shape and ready to compete with the likes of Gerald Wallace and Kris Humphries in practice. If not, he could be out of the NBA.
Projections for 2012-13: 25 gms, 8 mpg, 3 ppg, 2 rpg, 43% FG, 30% 3-pt FG.