"When it's all over, I might have hidden in the bathroom and cried like a child. I sleep, I eat, I breathe, my body is all Houston. I'm probably the only coach with such a tattoo. ”
Gerald Green, the "nine-fingered man" who once soared above the basket, the "bench bandit" who was the most explosive in the Rockets in 18 years, announced his retirement today.
While bidding farewell to the court, he also officially joined the Rockets coaching team as a player development coach.
"If the Rockets need it, there will always be a 150 percent Gerald Green ready to play."
Although he only played 115 games for Houston, no one doubted his true feelings, as he was the true "son of space city"
Gerald Green was born in Houston in January 1986. Growing up watching Olajuwon, Thorpe, and Maxville defend the glory of space city. "In my heart, big dreams are invincible beings, but I prefer to be Maxwell and gliders, and I like the feeling of flying."
But an accident at the age of 11 almost ended his sports career prematurely. When he and his friends could touch the upper edge of the living room door, he jumped up with a ring, but was stuck by a nail on the door rim. Recalling the scene, Green said: "I couldn't see anything at the time, only white bones. ”
So his right ring finger was only half left, but left the NBA with a "nine-finger dunk king".
Nine fingers did not block his basketball path, and he was selected for the All-American Team with 33 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 blocks in all four games. He scored 24 points at the 2005 McDonald's All-American Star and won the Dunk Contest.
In the 2005–06 season, he entered the draft as a high school student, was selected by the Celtics with the 18th pick, and made a start the following year, and in the All-Star Dunk Contest, he shocked the audience with a "flying box big windmill", defeating "Warcraft" Howard and "Little Potato" Nate Robinson to become the champion.
But just when people were expecting another flying god to make a name for himself, a big deal that shook the alliance changed his life. Danny Angie Stud, who had been dormant for many years, traded half a team to come to the regular season MVP Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce and Ray Allen formed the famous "Green Army Big Three". And Green was one of the seven chips at the time.
In his third year in the NBA, he began his wandering career.
In just two years from 2007 to 09, he switched between the Celtics, Timberwolves and Rocket Mavericks. After three years of his NBA career, his strengths and weaknesses are also obvious.
Although his physical talent is explosive, he lacks the foundation of college basketball, and his skills are very rough, and most of the time he only sees the opponent's basket. It's really impossible to compare with Kobe, Carter, or even Jason Richardson's predecessors who are dunk champions. The only standout performance is the occasional smash dunk in a quick break.
So in 2009, he couldn't even find a job in the NBA, he could only go overseas to pan for gold, and even went to the CBA Guangzhou Dragon Lion for a year.
But his dream is the NBA after all, and this goal inspires him to continue the basketball road even if he only has nine fingers, so that he can't wait to enter the league after graduating from high school, and it also makes him always take the return to the NBA as his motivation to continue to make progress.
The basketball god did not ignore his efforts while giving him unparalleled physical talent. He was in the Development League Los Angeles Defenders in the 11-12 season, averaging 19.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. Finally impressed the Nets by giving him a ten-day contract. Not only did he impress the team with an average of 12.9 points and 39.1 percent three-point shooting per game, but he also extended his contract until the end of the season, but also contributed a fast-attack big windmill of the year.
In the 2012 offseason, the Indiana Pacers offered him a three-year, $10.5 million contract, and he was finally able to play safely in the NBA again.
In the league, there are too many players like him who have a certain scoring ability but can't shoulder the offensive responsibility, and have good talent but technical bottlenecks. In addition to being a member of the rotation lineup, their most important role is to become a chip in the transaction.
So in the days that followed, he played for the Suns, Heat, Bucks, and returned to Boston. Trading, moving, signing, being cut, that's his standard life as an ordinary role player.
Green, who has passed the age, has long lost the self and vigor of his youth, and has become a "mercenary" with a grateful and indifferent heart.
"I'm used to it, offseason training, moving, playing at the beginning of the season, flying, I love that life."
But in fact, he still has a wish, as a Houston native. He played only briefly one game and four minutes in the 2007–08 season.
Just as Leonard gave up his raptors in order to return to Los Angeles, Young Master Wei will be ecstatic when he returns to the Lakers, leBron is still worried about winning a championship for Cleveland even if he becomes the "league number one" in Miami.
The eldest husband is rich and noble and does not return to his hometown, such as the night of the brocade!
So in the 2017-18 season, he signed with the Rockets with a basic salary, and finally put on the shirt of his hometown team.
"It was the most important choice of my life and it was always my dream to play for the Rockets." At that year's press conference, he said emotionally.
And he also caught up with the good times.
Harden worked with D'Antoni for a year to win the assists king, MVP second, and became the league's premier super ball carrier. The Rockets bought Chris Paul with a big "seven-for-one" deal in the offseason, and all they did was take down the Warriors, the super monster of Durant, Curry, Thompson, and Green.
In the regular season, they played the best 65 wins and 17 losses in the history of the team, which was a brilliant record that Dameng had not played when he led the team, and also forced the Warriors to win the first place in the league.
And as Harden and Paul's helpers, teammates with two top offensive masters who continue to deliver cannonballs are happy. In that year,the Rockets, they only had to defend desperately on the defensive end, actively run on the offensive end, and then hit the empty three-pointer steadily.
This simple and crude system is too much for Gerald Green.com. The 32-year-old seems to have found a long-lost happiness, and he and Gordon became the final "bandit" on the bench, averaging 22.7 minutes per game but contributing the fifth-place team with 12.1 points and 2.7 three-pointers (a career high).
He is not only the sharp knife on the outside of the team, but also the most loyal bodyguard around Harden and Paul. Tough, fierce, but precise, fierce, perfect inheritance of the rocket "Texas undead small strong" spirit temperament.
Head coach D'Antoni once praised him this way:
He (Green) sometimes reminds me of Jim Jackson in the sun. They are all old guns of the alliance, but they still maintain a strong enthusiasm here, and he is where our energy lies.
And Green, in order to hide his feelings for the team, he will put the Rockets logo on the head and tattoo "HOUSTON" on his arm. Always proclaiming "this is my turf."
In the Western Conference Finals, they briefly led the seemingly invincible Warriors 3-2. Defensively, they destroyed the opponent's unique pass with almost crazy biting, and hardened, Paul's singles and other guys on the offensive end almost made the Warriors despair.
But Paul was injured in Game Five, followed by a fiasco at Golden State in Game Six, where he missed 27 consecutive three-point shots in Game Seven and finally saved the Warriors.
But no one will deny that this brave Rockets is the toughest opponent the Warriors have ever encountered in the five-year three-time championship journey.
With his 2017-18 performance in the offseason, he had already received a contract offer of 13 million. Rockets boss Fertitta, in order to avoid the luxury tax, is only willing to continue to renew his contract with a basic salary. It's a mathematical problem that's too simple for the average player. But Gerald Green unexpectedly accepted the Rockets' offer to renew his contract and returned to Space City once again.
'It's a home away from home, playing for my hometown team is more important in my opinion than making money, and I'm confident that next season we can win the title.
But this time it was the Rockets that let Green down, the combination of Harden and Paul was no longer magical, they didn't even play the Warriors without Durant in the playoffs, and Paul was sent away at the end of the season. The "bulb combo" is scattered in two shots.
In the 2019-20 season, although he renewed his contract with the Rockets' base salary for one year, he was 33 years old and gradually could not keep up with the strength of the league, which was aggravated by the fracture of his left foot.
He was once again sent to the Denver Nuggets in a four-way deal mid-season as a chip, but did not make a single one.
He returned to the Rockets last season to sign an unsecured contract, but had to cut Clemens mid-season in order to sign him.
Finally, today, Gerald Green, the "king of nine-finger dunks" and a tough and tenacious man, chose to compromise with fate and announced his retirement. He returned to the Houston Rockets and began his brand-new coaching career.
Some players play for love,
Some players play for fame,
Some players play for money,
And Gerald Green, a veteran with only nine complete fingers, finally returned to Space City, where his dream began, after wandering for most of his life.
He was really playing for Houston.
The red guards became a desperate sound, and Hugh City did not see the dunk king.