Philadelphia 76ers: Danny Green should moonlight at shooting guard

Who is the Philadelphia 76ers‘ new starting shooting guard? Will the team roll with James Harden at the two, the position he played for Daryl Morey for much of the last decade, or will “The Beard” instead stick at point guard and force Tyrese Maxey, a second-year converted point guard who has played 99 percent of his minutes at the position, to move off the ball once more?

Personally, I don’t particularly care.

As the Ben Simmons years taught us, position names don’t particularly matter and are more for the sake of opening game graphics than any tangible dictation of the role of any given player. Once you’ve seen J.J. Redick listed as a frontcourt player to list Markelle Fultz as a shooting guard, the conception of positional integrity, at least in naming convictions, sort of flies out of the window.

With that being said, did you know Danny Green, a career shooting guard up until 2019-20, has only played five percent of his minutes in 2021-22 – or three percent of his total minutes in red, white, and blue – at said position? Well, with Seth Curry gone and a wealth of new lineups possible with the additions of Harden/Paul Millsap, something tells me that’s going to change moving forward.

Danny Green’s role might grow with the Philadelphia 76ers.

From 2010-19, Danny Green played 63 percent of his minutes at shooting guard.

It made sense, right? Green measures in at 6-foot-6, 215 pounds, and played eight of those 10 seasons alongside Kawhi Leonard, who is only one inch taller but noticeably longer. While Green could switch across multiple positions one-through-four depending on the opponent, his ability to close down the better guard on an opposing team helped to establish him as one of the association’s premier 3-and-D wings, with his talents seemingly always in demand from really good teams.

But when he traded in snowy Toronto for the bright lights and sandy beaches of Los Angeles, that all changed. Whether due to losing a step with age, the presence of Alex Caruso/Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, or a simple desire to shake things up with LeBron James running the point, Green began playing 65 percent of his minutes at the small forward position, marking only the second time in his career that he didn’t play the majority of his snaps in the backcourt.

That trend followed Green from Los Angeles to the City of Brotherly Love, where he has played 84 percent of his minutes at the three, with the 34-year-old actually logging more minutes at power forward (14 percent) than shooting guard (two percent).

With Seth Curry now a member of the Brooklyn Nets, I would expect that percentage to tick up a bit.

Assuming James Harden and Tyrese Maxey split all 48 of the team’s point guard minutes, with each logging roughly 14 minutes on their own and 20 together, that leaves just Green, Shake Milton, Isaiah Joe, Charlie Brown Jr., and Furkan Korkmaz to fill out the final 28 shooting guard minutes in any given game. Of the five, Green has the most minutes played so far this season but has spent the fewest minutes at shooting guard, followed by CBJ, Korkmaz, Milton, and Joe, who surprisingly has the most minutes at the position despite having the 11th most minutes played of any player on the roster.

Could Green still continue to play most of his minutes at small forward? Yes, Green is a solid performer at the three and has only seen his minutes decrease due to injury, not on-court performance, but with Paul Millsap now inbound, there are a few intriguing new looks that could open up with “The Green Ranger” at his original NBA position, especially if the team can secure a big wing performer like, well, TBD off of the buyout market.

Imagine, if you will, a lineup with Maxey at the point, Green at shooting guard, Matisse Thybulle at the three, Paul Milsap at the four, and Joel Embiid in the paint. That unit has very few defensive deficiencies and could be incredibly valuable at the end of a game with a lead. Or how about taking the same lineup but with Harden at point guard, Korkmaz at small forward, and Georges Niang at power forward. That lineup has really good size but better shooting and enough rebounding to keep the time of possession game in Philly’s favor.

With Curry gone and no obvious replacement for his floor spacing on the roster, giving DG14 more run at the two presents some shooting upside without taking a hit at the defensive side of the court.

When the Philadelphia 76ers traded for Danny Green, they played him at shooting guard out of semantic necessity. With Ben Simmons dead set on being called a point guard and Seth Curry 6-foot-2, Green was played at small forward despite retaining the vast majority of a shooting guard in order to appease the NBA’s position naming conventions. But now, with BS gone and Matisse Thybulle expected to start at small forward, the opportunity has opened up for Green to play a few more minutes per game at his old position, a move that would give the team some more size and the versatility to try new looks without sacrificing shooting or defense.