Philadelphia 76ers: Danny Green has finally caught fire

Welp, it only took 80 games – okay, 79 – but the Danny Green of yore has finally made his triumphant return to the Philadelphia 76ers at the best possible time.

Call it a benefit of extended playing time or the results of a 34-year-old finally recovered from a series of injuries over the course of the regular season, but over the past two games, Green has averaged 16.5 points per game on 58.8 shooting from 3 and has helped to give life – and floor spacing – to a team looking for an injection of energy.

Considering Matisse Thybulle‘s vaccination status and the high probability of a first-round series featuring as many as three games in Toronto, getting back 2020-21 Green would be an absolute boon.

So, with the playoffs roughly a week away, how would a white, or should I say emerald hot Danny Green help the Philadelphia 76ers’ rotation moving forward? I’ll give you a hint; it’s a lot.

The Philadelphia 76ers could really use another strong run from Danny Green.

The Philadelphia 76ers are not a team loaded with 3-and-D performers. They have a few shooters, like Georges Niang and Isaiah Joe, defensive disruptors, like Matisse Thybulle and Paul Reed, and dynamic scorers who can do some additional playmaking to boot, think Shake Milton and Furkan Korkmaz, but across the full 17 man roster, the team only has *one consistent two-way contributor, Joel Embiid, who is beyond dominant at both ends of the court.

Why, you may ask, is there an asterisk on the word one? Well, because Danny Green also has the potential to fall into that category, but only when he’s healthy, frisky on defense, and hitting his shots.

Measuring in at 6-foot-6, 215 pounds, Green spent the better part of the past two seasons as one of the smaller starting small forwards in the NBA but was largely able to compensate for it with his range-y defense, ability to switch across positions, and, most importantly of all, his ability to take a lot of 3s and make them at an above-average clip. While it may have been ideal to play a taller, Robert Covington-type player at small forward in 2021-22, as swapping out Ben Simmons for Tyrese Maxey gave the Sixers one of the smallest starting fives in the NBA, the team really didn’t have a more dynamic option on the roster, not even Thybulle, who needs a bunch of firepower around him to hide his limited offensive package.

When James Harden came to town, the Sixers made the decision to move Green to the bench and were rewarded for the decision with one of the best high-usage lineups in the NBA; a lineup that has been outscoring foes by an average of 20.4 points per 100 possessions.

Had Green been able to effortlessly transition to the bench and remained just as impactful as his early-season production, that decision would have looked even better, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Green missed two of James Harden‘s first 10 games – including the game versus Brooklyn on March 10th – and struggled once he returned to the court, averaging just 4.1 points per game on a 3 point shooting percentage of 34.0.

Was DG done? Had he played his last meaningful basketball and looked destined to have his contract aggregated this summer to procure a better-fitting option? While that could still happen, as the roster is in need of a pretty serious supporting cast overhaul, now, in the interim, having a hot Green could prove incredibly valuable for the Sixers, especially in their closing lineup, where neither Thybulle nor Niang are ideal fits.

That’s right, while some will argue over who should serve as the Sixers’ fifth starter, Thybulle or Green, the real benefit of having DG back to his Toronto form comes at the end of any given game, and is that his combination of offense and defense will force opposing teams to play Philly honest at both ends of the court. When Thybulle is closing out games, opposing defenders completely ignore him and beg the Washington product to shoot 3s, which he can do but isn’t exactly good at. Conversely, Niang’s offense proves valuable at the end of games, as it gives more space for Embiid and Harden to operate but produces some truly horrible looks defensively that opposing clubs can exploit with an average scorer, let alone an elite option like Jayson Tatum or Giannis Antetokounmpo. While Green isn’t as uniquely talented on defense as Thybulle and has slowly lost Niang’s whip trigger, his combination of the two makes him an ideal glue guy in the fifth starter spot when the fourth-quarter clock is winding down.

If the Sixers can shore up their end-of-game woes, we might avoid witnessing at least some of the brutal upset losses that have plagued Doc Rivers over the past few years.

Thursday, March 7th, was a very important day in the third act of Danny Green’s career. He received his championship ring from the Toronto Raptors, returned to the starting lineup for the first time since February 15th, and hit six 3s for the first time since March 25th, 2021. Did that ring magically empower Green like Prince Adam’s sword? Or did the reminder of how sweet champagne tastes after winning the NBA Finals reinvigorate the 34-year-old winger like Popeye’s spinach? Either way, getting Green going would be a fantastic development for the Philadelphia 76ers this spring, as it could prove to be the missing piece – alongside playing BBall Paul Reed – needed to elevate the team’s postseason ceiling.