BOSTON — It never seemed to make much sense, how Jeff Green could be so sullen, so convinced the world was against him, when so much of the world was rooting for him.
Green was back here Wednesday, facing the Celtics for the first time since the January trade that sent him to the Memphis Grizzlies. His team is outstanding, his numbers solid, his teammates supportive. Yet still he is guarded.
Whereas other former Celtics making their returns have often greeted Boston reporters with at least a sardonic greeting, Green stayed wary in the visitor’s locker room at TD Garden prior to tipoff. Even Courtney Lee, who went to Memphis in a midseason deal last season and whose tenure in green was far from flawless, chirped, “Sup, fellas,” when a small group of media gathered around him.
The questions were harmless. Lee’s answers got some laughs. Five minutes later, the crowd turned to Green in the next stall over.
Sitting down after a brief workout, Green pulled a pair of black headphones halfway over his ears. He warily responded to a few questions about his impressions of the Grizzlies, then warmed up slightly when asked to reflect on his time in Boston.
“I don’t know, I thought it was great,” Green said. “I matured. My growth as a person, a player, all happened here. Playing under Doc (Rivers), he instilled so much in me as far as being aggressive, especially playing alongside (Kevin Garnett), Paul (Pierce), (Rajon) Rondo. I learned so much.
“Like I said, I grew a lot. What happened here, Boston will always hold a special place in my heart as far as going through heart surgery, my growth. The years I had here were special.”
It was such an authentic-sounding remark, for a minute Green sounded like a real person and not a robot pre-programmed with suspicious cliches. It was the sort of comment that would endear any athlete to the Boston faithful, while reminding everyone of the life-altering experience he went through in his heroic comeback from an aortic aneurysm in 2011. It was simple while speaking volumes.
And then, that Jeff Green was gone.
Two questions later, the interview ended, with Green giving the impression it had gone on two questions too long. The handful of reporters dispersed and Green waited for them to go, sitting and staring blankly as they left.
No one can ever pretend to understand another human being, but it seemed as though Green was never as misunderstood as he thought he was. Whatever perceived slights he felt from the media where far outweighed by the writers who made an honest effort to portray him fairly. It wasn’t on him to help us understand him, but as hard as a lot of us tried, it was puzzling how he became so defensive. If anyone was out to get him, it wasn’t the people who were in the locker room or at practice regularly.
I can say confidently Green is a good person. You can’t watch him interact with kids, particularly those facing incredible adversity, and believe otherwise. He’s interested in the world around him, filling his Twitter stream not just with his thoughts about the latest music but also, for instance, a series of tweets on Barack Obama’s second inauguration in 2013. John Thompson III, who spent four seasons on the Princeton bench before coaching Green at Georgetown, calls Green the smartest player he’d ever coached.
He was not without reproach as an athlete, though, and sometimes that required noting things that were not so great: his slow fades into the background in close games; his ability to play smaller, physically, than his listed 6-foot-9, 235-pound frame. Nobody bats 1.000, to use a baseball analogy, yet Green bristled at the suggestion he’d ever made even a line-drive out.
In the end, Wednesday’s visit was a microcosm of Green’s entire career in Boston. He received polite, if not raucous, applause from the crowd when he was introduced with the Grizzlies starters. There was no video tribute, as he had predicted. In a 95-92 upset loss for Memphis, he shot 4-for-13 from the floor, although he did score Memphis’ last basket, a layup with 29 seconds left to pull the Griz within a point.
His wasn’t a return for the ages, nor was he the reason Memphis lost. Mike Conley was the only Grizzlies starter who hit more than half his shots, after all.
Anyone wondering how Green felt about his performance or his reception from the fans would be disappointed, however, as Green left the locker room without speaking to the media after the game. His thoughts on the night, like most things in relation to him, would have to remain a mystery.
That’s a shame, though it’s his prerogative. As Green slipped down the hallway and out of a place his once called home, it was striking how his first game back in Boston could be summed up the same way as his departure:
There goes Jeff Green. It would have been nice to get to know him.
Thumbnail photo via Elise Amendola/USA TODAY Sports Images
