Gatorade or water may make more sense, considering he will be playing in an NBA game that tips off in less than two hours, but it is tough to argue with the 10-year veteran's beverage choice on this Friday evening. After a decade in the league, if Green has determined that something works, then it probably works.
The cup of coffee is also a fitting metaphor for the amount of time Green was originally expected to spend in the NBA. Green is the player few kids dream of becoming but who every NBA team seems to have room for on its roster. He is the veteran guard who has witnessed it all, even if much of his experience came watching from the bench, and his knowledge and professionalism bring an invaluable element to the locker room.
Green broke into the league with Philadelphia in 2003, backing up Allen Iverson as a second-round draft pick out of the University of Detroit Mercy before spending a year with Chris Paul in New Orleans. He now backs up another promising guard, Jeff Teague, whose growth this season has both exceeded and increased expectations of the third-year player out of Wake Forest.
"That guy has a tremendous next gear that I haven't seen in a lot of young guys," Green says as he stirs his coffee with a skinny straw. "It's almost like a car going zero to 60 in a few seconds. Jeff, he's a special talent."
Teague is not present as Green says this. Teague is out on the Garden floor, putting up extra jump shots in preparation for that night's game, the third in the Hawks' best-of-seven first-round series against the Celtics. When he is announced with the Hawks' starters later, the Boston fans will boo him, but if they knew how much he puts into his craft, they would not.
Teague started only 10 games in his two seasons prior to this one before starting all 66 this year. His production jumped to 12.6 points and 4.9 assists per game from barely five points and two assists per game last season.
When Teague finally returns to the locker room, he sits down in his locker stall and almost immediately slides aside to make room for assistant coach Nick Van Exel. The ball-handling artist formerly known as "Nick the Quick" unfolds a MacBook and begins talking quietly to Teague, occasionally pointing at the computer's screen, which is not visible.
The Celtics are getting plenty of exposure to Teague's talents — probably more than they would like. Teague increased his scoring total in each of the first two games of the series, leading to a 23-point explosion in Game 3 later on in this night. Yet in a similar manner to Boston's Avery Bradley, who earned his initial playing time with a workmanlike defensive approach, Teague had to show off his ball-stopping skills in order to show off his ball-scoring skills.
"I just do what the coaches ask me to do, and that's be aggressive, first, at the defensive end," Teague says, looking away from the laptop for a moment. "You've got to find some way to get on the floor, and defense is the way. A lot of people don't want to play defense. Avery Bradley obviously picks up the ball full court and puts a lot of pressure on you, but I understand why he does it. He wants to be on the floor, and it's effective."
Van Exel nudges Teague, says something softly and appears to draw a series of lines with his finger across the screen. Teague nods, replies in a low tone, and turns his eyes back to his questioner.
In this way, Teague is also like Bradley. Both players do extensive homework on opponents, and both are disarmingly polite. The first trait is obviously a boon to a player trying to establish himself as a pro, but the second trait may be a factor as well. Neither Teague nor Bradley is a point guard in the traditional sense, but both have carved a niche with their own styles by being humble and receptive to the advice of their teammates and coaches.
"You don't ever want to be the guy that's preaching to a young player, because they're not all receptive to that, but I'll say things here and there," Green says. "Jeff picks it up. I think he's understanding how to be more of a professional and how to go about his business. That's what the NBA's about. It's about learning on the fly, and Jeff has proven that he's a winner."
Celtics coach Doc Rivers may prefer it if Teague were not so willing to learn and adapt. Teague, like many developing players, complicates the opponent's game plan. Rivers is amply aware of what Hawks stars Joe Johnson and Josh Smith can do, for instance, but Teague is more of a mystery. He may show one set of skills and tendencies in film, then a week later flash a new element to his game that he has never shown before. That uncertainty is what Green believes makes a player like Teague "scary" to prepare for.
"Teague's tough," Rivers said earlier in the week at a Celtics practice. "He's shown us a lot. He has his little spin move that he hadn't scouted as well. We didn't know it was as lethal as it is, so it's just tough."
Teague shifts into his extra gear several times in that night's game, finishing off steals by Kirk Hinrich, Johnson and Jannero Pargo with thunderous fast break dunks in the second, third and fourth quarters, respectively. He helped hassle the Celtics' Rajon Rondo into five first-half turnovers, making only two turnovers of his own, and played all 12 minutes in a bruising third quarter, leading the Hawks with nine points.
It does not lead to a victory — the Hawks lost in overtime and trail in the series 2-1 heading into Sunday's Game 4 — but for stretches, the budding star outplayed Rondo, who finished with a triple-double. Teague continues to be one of the few guards who can consistently shake Bradley's hounding defense, bursting to the hoop before even Kevin Garnett can react to help.
He is still a listener in timeouts, rather than the player his teammates look to for guidance when they hit a rough patch in the game. His days as a role player may be nearing an end, though. Teague has become the straw that stirs the drink in Atlanta.
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