In Jin Yong's very famous martial arts novel "The Legend of the Archery Hero", there is a master of martial arts Hong Qigong, before Huashan's sword was named "Beiqi", he also had another nickname "Nine Finger Divine Servant" named Zhenjianghu, it is rumored that Hong Qigong was sent out by the master to do things when he was young, but because of greed, in order to remember this lesson, he cut off his index finger to warn, and in the NBA, there is also a player who is used by Chinese fans to use this allusion to give a nickname, he can run and deduct and shoot three points. Fans affectionately called him the "Nine-Fingered Divine Front" - Gerald. Green.
Just today, the Rockets officially announced the beloved player Gerald of Houston fans. Green officially retired, fortunately, after retiring, he did not leave the basketball career he loved, but will join the Rockets coaching staff as a player development coach, he will definitely pour out all the valuable experience accumulated in his 15 years of professional football career.
Gerald Green is not a glamorous star player, but he has written a unique legend with his persistence and hard work.
Gerald Green, born on January 26, 1986 in Houston, Texas, which Chinese fans are very familiar with, this child was competitive at a young age, at the age of 11, he and his friends bet on who could jump higher, so the two jumped together to touch the upper edge of the living room door, Green was wearing his mother's wedding ring, running hard to touch the top edge of the door, but tragedy happened, there was a nail on the edge of the door, coincidentally, Green's ring ring finger on the ring happened to be stuck on that nail, The upper half of the finger on his right hand was completely torn, and Green later recalled: "I was hanging on it for a second and I saw the white finger bones, like Schwarzenegger in the Terminator 2 movie. ”
Then he was sent to the hospital by his father, his father is a professional firefighter, the doctor told him that the soft tissue of green's fingers has been completely torn and infected, can not do the operation of broken finger regeneration, so his father immediately decided to do an index finger resection surgery for him, after the operation, Green found that his index finger was missing and heartbroken, which caused great trauma to Green's young mind, he was often ridiculed by his classmates, and therefore he was overly sensitive to the lack of fingers, and often fought with people for this It wasn't until 2011, when he grew up and realized that he could inspire others with his own experiences, that he became willing to talk about it in public.
Gerald Green did not start to play basketball until his sophomore year of high school, he joined the J. Frank Dobie high school and low age group basketball team, but due to delays in school soon quit, and then he transferred to a school that can take care of academics and basketball, Gulf Coast College in Houston, Gerald Green at Gulf Coast College, basketball talent began to show vividly, in his junior year of high school he averaged 33 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 blocks of all-around data, With his outstanding performance, he was selected for the most famous "McDonald's High School Basketball Game" in american high school basketball, which gathered many basketball talented students in the United States, and Green scored 24 points in that game, and defeated Duke University's bright star Josh McCroberts in the dunk contest to win the dunk contest.
A series of impressive results led him to decide to abandon the college league invitation and participate directly as a high school player, and with the implementation of Stern's policy of banning high school players from participating in the draft, Gerald Green became the last player to participate in the draft as a high school student so far, and his outstanding basketball talent combined with visible potential allowed him to be selected by the traditional Boston Celtics with the 18th pick in the first round.
The rookie rookie who first entered the league obviously needs time to adapt to the intensity of the NBA game, and he is a stinking high school student, and in the first season of the Celtics, Green did not get many opportunities, and only played 32 games in the first season. Averaged 11.7 minutes per game, during which he was sent to the Development League team twice to exercise, and in the second season, Gerald Green finally got the chance, playing 81 games, including 23 starts, playing time to an average of 22 minutes per game, averaging 10.4 points per game, and he also achieved a very important honor, in the 06-07 All-Star Dunk Contest, Gerald Green beat Howard, Terrence Thomas, The last defending champion Nate Robinson won the final championship, and his amazing athleticism impressed everyone, and the judges of that dunk contest were two-time dunk king Jordan, the pioneer of free throw line dunks "Dr. J" Irving, the two-time dunk king "Human Cinema Essence" Wilkins, the 2000 dunk king Carter, and the 1997 dunk king Kobe Bryant, Green in the final stage with a jump close to the free throw line over the obstacle and then the big windmill dunk conquered 5 judges. Undisputedly, he scored the only perfect 50 points in the game, and the honor of the dunk king gained him a lot of popularity, but now in retrospect, this honor also changed his fate and set the stage for his next departure.
On July 31, 2007, there was a very famous trade in the league, the Boston Celtics used Gerald Green, Gomez, Al Jefferson, Theo ratliff, Sebastian. Telferga's 2009 first-round draft picks were traded from the Timberwolves to Wolves Garnett, who also formed a shocking Green Army Triumvirate with Pierce and Ray Allen, Gerald Green relied on the popularity of the Dunk King, and the outstanding performance of the second season was obviously an important rookie rebuilding force, but he joined the Timberwolves and immediately encountered the rookie wall, despite his athleticism, but he was not strong enough to withstand NBA-level confrontation, all kinds of singles, Shortcomings and drawbacks such as no tactical discipline began to appear, and at the same time, the young and vigorous Green began to show an immature side, a little fluttering after winning the dunk queen, feeling that he would become a star in the league, and Randy Wittman, then the coach of the Timberwolves, once commented that he said: "Although Green is very athletic, as a high school student he is not ready to become a professional player, he thinks that his talent can easily gain a foothold in the league, his idea is too naïve." ”
In the Timberwolves played half a season depressed Green began to make a fuss about the transfer, and then he was traded to the hometown team Houston Rockets, if you were once a hardcore fan of Yao Ming and Maddy, then you will be very happy about this news that year, the CCTV news headline is that the dunk king joined the Rockets, the overall champion of the Rockets is stable, there is such an interesting thing in the sports news interview of the year, the CCTV reporter asked Green who just joined the Rockets to participate in the dunk contest, Green said that he had a very good idea, Because the Rockets player Battil's nickname is Robin, and he is ready to wear Batman's costume to take Battil to participate in the dunk contest, this costume against Superman's Howard will be very exciting, but did not wait for his wish to come true, just a dozen days later, the Rockets cut him.
Then Green began a turbulent career, arrogant he to which team seems to be out of place, and later even the NBA job opportunities are gone, can only go to the Russian league to play, in the middle of 2010 he chose to participate in the summer league with the Lakers, want to use this as a springboard to return to the NBA, but unfortunately the performance is still no improvement, legendary coach Phil Jackson commented on him: "Gerald Green is very talented, can shoot, can dunk, can jump, But the problem is that the kid doesn't know how to play, doesn't know his role, doesn't know what he should do to help the team. "After the Trip to Russia, he moved to our CBA League gold rush, and was cut in only 4 games in foshan Dragon and Lions, and an NBA dunk king couldn't even play CBA games.
Time smoothed Green's sharpness, but also let him recognize the reality, he began to change his playing attitude, 2011-2012 season, has been in the middle of the net for many years because of the lack of small forwards, gave Green a chance, he seized this opportunity, averaging 12.9 points per game, his offensive means are more abundant, the playing attitude is more engaged, he found his own player positioning, do not fantasize about what to do superstar, play his strengths to become a microwave-style substitute scorer.
Relying on the advantage of scoring in the bench time period, he regained the job offer, the role is to sign the base salary of each team to work short-term, in September 2017 Green signed with the Bucks less than a month after being cut again, at this time he was 32 years old, no team paid attention to him, he returned to his hometown of Houston and even prepared to retire, Green later recalled: "I made a decision, if there is still no team to contact me when January 1, 2018, I will tell the announcement on social media: I am retired, Thank you all for your support."
The 2017 Christmas agent told Gerald Green Rockets that they wanted to try him out, and although the Rockets had hurt him once, he had a special affection for his hometown team, and immediately signed a short 10-day contract after the two sides met, and after signing five games, Green averaged 24.2 minutes per game, got 16.8 points, 3 rebounds, and 1 steal, and the outstanding performance made the Rockets immediately sign a guaranteed contract with Green that lasted until the end of the season.
No one expected that the Rockets just wanted to sign a temporary firefighter, but finally became the team's thigh, his daring style of shooting was in the water under D'Antoni's offensive system, he won the respect of all his teammates with his fiery performance and dedicated attitude, he became the most trusted pitcher around Paul and Harden, the Rockets' offensive arsenal of scoring weapons, and for a time Gerald Green's jersey was sold out in Houston.
Compared with his previous ten years of bumpy career, if the Rockets in the 18-19 years can finally win, then Gerald Green's career will end with a very perfect ending, but unfortunately the fly in the ointment is that they both fell in front of the Warriors, with the disintegration of harden paul combination, Harden left, a Harden-marked Rocket era declared over, gerald Green finally chose to end his career in the Rockets, looking back on his entire career, there are honors, There are setbacks, surprises, regrets, as a former Rockets fan, only thanks to the touch and happiness he has brought, I wish him all the best in his future life