GAME 59: DAL (35-24) vs. NOP (23-36): 125-118 WIN!

[Halfnir]

What should I be looking at then? What metric? Do we just eyeball him and decide?

How about actually watching the games and judge what he does on the court and how much useful stuff does not end up in the boxscore? I really hate it when people judge players, esp. young, developing ones and defensive/team minded players, just by stats and then even pick the most simple ones like PPG/RPG/APG. Context matters and the boxscore neglects all of this. 

The current state of Josh Green is far from a perfect player, but comparing him to the likes of Sterling Brown, Josh Anderson, eliminating all context (Brown is 6 years older, Anderson was 3 years older when drafted and got quite a bit of freedom on a tanking Mavs team) is not a fair evaluation. Josh had a very difficult start in a troubled NBA franchise with a lot of issues behind the scenes, being mostly ignored by the coach in the first year, with training/development options being hindered by COVID (no G-League, Orlando Bubble, etc.). Regardless, he improved enough to actually earn some playing time this year, playing a low-key role but doing a lot of small things that help the team. 

He's still 21, 1.5 years younger than S.Bey and 2.5 younger than Bane, guys from his rookie class that have outperformed him until now, but it it is still open who will be the better player at age of 24 (Josh has 3 more years to improve). When he plays, i see a lot of BBIQ and energy, good handles and athleticism, good 1-1 defense. I also see a still inconsistent jump shot and a player who knows this and limits his attempts (maybe more than for his own good). He's on a playoff team and can not take the freedom to jack up 15-20 shots a game, which would make him an 15-20 ppg player (if is eFG scales to higher volume). 

His trade value and his on court value should go hand in hand with a premium on his potential. I don't think his potential is highly rated league wise, so giving up on a 21yr old two year player who shows positive development to save some meaningless salary on an over-the-cap team means cashing in on low on an asset that could become a much better one. Same things could have been (rightfully) said about JB after his first 2 years (8 PPG on 18 MPG, meh ... and another guy who was already 23 after his 2nd year), look where he is today.