Denver Nuggets: 3 things Jeff Green brings to this team.

The Denver Nuggets were active to start free agency, bringing back Will Barton and JaMychal Green, but the signing of Jeff Green is most intriguing.

Jeff Green was one of the Brooklyn Nets’ standout performers through the regular season and during their playoff escapades last season. Unfortunately, the basketball gods weren’t kind to Green, as a foot injury caused him to miss the opening three games of Brooklyn’s 2nd round playoff series against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Green posted a respectable stat-line of 11 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game with a 62.4 true shooting percentage throughout last season. Despite missing half of Brooklyn’s playoff games, Green continued to contribute as he posted 8.2 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.7 assists while shooting 55.6 percent from three on 3 attempts per game.

Adding the 13-year veteran to the roster gives the Nuggets bench additional versatility on both ends of the floor, most notably as a legitimate small-ball option. In recent years, the Denver Nuggets have utilized traditional centers as a backup for Nikola Jokic, which has allowed them to keep specific structure and cohesiveness but can also limit their effectiveness when teams opt to go smaller.

We all saw that game where Grant Williams of the Boston Celtics changed the game’s flow against the Nuggets.

Hence, Jeff Green’s addition will ensure that if/when teams decided to try a smaller, more technically gifted line-up, Mike Malone has the ability to counter with one of the league’s better small-ball five options.

Yet, pigeonholing Green as nothing more than a situational role player is doing him a disservice; as such, here are three things the veteran will bring to the team.

3 things Jeff Green brings to this team: Three-level scoring / offensive versatility

Average role players are single-skill specialists. Good role players are two-skill specialists; think 3-and-D wings. But great role players? Well, they bring a multitude of skills to a team, either from the bench or as a supplementary starter behind a team’s stars.

Jeff Green, despite his age, is a great role player, especially on offense.

Throughout the 2020-21 NBA season, the league average for true shooting was 57.2 percent per StatMuse. Green ended the regular season with a true shooting percentage of 62.4 percent while taking 7.8 attempts per game, and as you can see from the above shot chart, his offensive game was incredibly diversified.

According to Instat’s tracking data, catch-and-shoot opportunities accounted for 29.5 percent of Green’s offensive workload, with him averaging 1.32 points per possession. After his catch-and-shoot attempts, Green’s next most prominent offensive output came in the form of transition (14.1 percent of total offensive load).

The 13-year veteran also spent time operating as both a roll man and pop man in pick-and-roll scenarios. A player capable of manipulating defenses in so many ways while providing reliable offense can only elevate the Nuggets bench in the coming season.

While JaVale McGee was a solid backup big, and his departure will still surely need addressing, Jeff Green’s multi-positional ability (he spent 57 percent of last season at the 4 and 44 percent at the 5) bodes well for the Denver Nugget’s regular and post-season aspirations.

3 things Jeff Green brings to this team: Defensive versatility

Similar to his offensive approach, Green also brings defensive versatility to the Denver Nuggets. According to BBall Index’s tracking data Green spent significant amounts of time guarding every position on the court.

Not every team in the NBA runs a “switch everything” system, but having players capable of guarding up and down from their position is vital to a robust defense. Of course, guarding a player and doing so successfully are two very different things.

Defense is the hardest part of basketball to quantify in statistical terms. An amazing defensive possession can still end in a basket, while a terrible one can end in a stop. It’s also a fool’s errand to try and pinpoint a single player’s impact on the defensive end, as so much is reliant on a full team effort.

However, we can guesstimate a player’s impact using a metric called Estimated Plus-Minus or EPM for short. According to Dunks and Three’s tracking data, Jeff Green ended last season with a -1 EPM on defense, which is respectable, to say the least, when factoring in Brooklyn’s limited defensive options.

Adding Jeff Green to the rotation means the Denver Nuggets will be more versatile, robust, and unpredictable on defense, something that Mike Malone will likely relish throughout the season.

3 things Jeff Green brings to this team: Floor spacing

Any team that possesses an elite passing big man like Nikola Jokic will favor a five-out offense (where all five players line up outside of the three-point line). To make such a well-spaced offense work, a team needs three key ingredients: Multiple high-level passers, a plethora of sharpshooters, and excellent cutters.

However, a five-out offense also needs multi-faceted role players, guys who can offer a little bit of everything, and that’s where Jeff Green fits in.

Green’s ability to score off the catch, the rip-through, or as a pick-and-roll weapon will allow the Nuggets to run with their primary offensive scheme when Jokic takes a breather on the bench. Operating as either a 3-and-D, stretch four, or small-ball 5, Green’s presence will ensure that Denver’s offensive isn’t forced into a “Plan B” every time the 2021 MVP isn’t bossing the floor.

Regardless of if he’s posted in the corner or attacking teams off 45 cuts, Green’s presence will ensure the likes of Austin Rivers and Zeke Naji (if he absorbs some of McGee’s minutes) will have enough spacing to get their work done on the interior.

Luckily,  when healthy, the Nuggets have two high-level three-point shooters in Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic. Still, the second unit has been screaming out for additional spacing in recent seasons, and the acquisition of Jeff Green goes some way to filling that void.

The Nuggets now boast another multi-positional player who can fit straight into their primary offensive scheme and provide reliable minutes as either a starter or bench piece.

At just $10 million over two years, Green could prove to be a low-cost, high-value addition to a Denver team with serious championship aspirations.