HoopsHype.com Rumors

Peter Vecsey: One more Nets item before I return to my dogs... Gerald Green met with Pacers and will meet with Bulls. On Nets calendar for Sunday Twitter

Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, Brooklyn Nets, Free Agency, Gerald Green 

Mike Wells: Free agent guard Gerald Green and center Ian Mahinmi are expected to meet with the Pacers at some point in the coming days. Twitter

Indiana Pacers, Free Agency, Ian Mahinmi, Gerald Green 

David Aldridge: Current construction of deal would also keep MarShon Brooks, Gerald Green in Brooklyn. Nets want to keep both. Twitter

Atlanta Hawks, Brooklyn Nets, Trade, Jordan Farmar, Joe Johnson, Anthony Morrow, Johan Petro, Gerald Green, DeShawn Stevenson, Jordan Williams, Marshon Brooks 

If the Nets can convince the Hawks to take on Green or perhaps Kris Humphries in a sign-and-trade, it would allow them to stay over the salary cap and keep their mid-level exception to sign an additional free agent. Sources say that the Nets have serious interest in Bosnian free-agent forward Mirza Teletovic to add additional frontcourt depth. ESPN.com

Atlanta Hawks, Free Agency, Trade, Joe Johnson, Kris Humphries, Gerald Green, Mirza Teletovic 

With the New Jersey Nets in talks of a potential trade with the Atlanta Hawks for Joe Johnson, the domino effect might make its way all the way to Causeway Street. The addition of Johnson could make the Nets less likely to re-sign Gerald Green, which might then open the door for a potential return to Boston for the former Celtic. CSNNE.com

Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, Free Agency, Trade, Joe Johnson, Gerald Green 

Stefan Bondy: Cleaning out my notebook: Billy King said today he tried to sign Gerald Green to a multi-year deal but could only offer vet minimum. Twitter

Brooklyn Nets, Gerald Green 

Stefan Bondy: Green's agent felt he command more as a free agent. I suspect he was right. Twitter

Brooklyn Nets, Free Agency, Gerald Green 

Green was in the sixth grade when a freak accident left him with half of his ring finger. Wearing his mother's class ring, the 2007 NBA Slam Dunk champion tried to jam on a makeshift hoop attached to a doorway. The ring caught on a nail and his finger was ripped to the bone. Amputation was the only option. "All you saw was nothing but white bone, like a skeleton," Green said. "They said my tendons, all my ligaments were ripped out." New York Daily News

Brooklyn Nets, Gerald Green 

The shortened finger on his shooting hand made it impossible to palm a ball, though, and hindered a phase of his game that would eventually bring him fame: dunking. Green, who measures a four-foot vertical, said it's still an issue (although he won the '07 title and finished runner-up in 2008). "If I could palm a ball I probably could have more dunks than I have in my career, but I still can get the job done," Green said. New York Daily News

Brooklyn Nets, Gerald Green 

He's also more comfortable with himself and his finger, a product of growing up. When Deron Williams - the locker-room king of busting chops - made a crack about Green's finger, it was embraced with a response much different from his youth. "It moves like a Rottweiler tail," Green said while shaking his finger. "It's something that you do regret in my life that happened to me," he later said. "At the same time I can't sit there and dwell on that and keep pushing forward and move on. I think that's the story of me period. When things just get bad you can't quit, you just have to keep fighting." New York Daily News

Brooklyn Nets, Gerald Green 

His story is littered with the typical warning signs that plague a basketball prodigy who was awarded way too much way too soon. He is now straying away from that usual narrative into the sustainable career he once dreamed about. The Nets will fail to make the playoffs for a fifth straight season. The organization is already steered to the summer, to moving to Brooklyn, to its attempt at retaining Deron Williams. These last few games are also the most important of Green's life because they will help determine where he goes next year. "I never would think that I would be back here in the NBA," Green said. "I just would have never thought. I knew I was never going to stop trying. I just thought I blew my chance. A lot of times you get a good opportunity and it never comes again. And I got a second chance." Green looked down at his socks. They bore the silhouette of Jerry West, the NBA's logo. "I can't even tell you, man, how good it is just to be wearing these socks right now," he said. Grantland

Brooklyn Nets, Gerald Green 

Billy King (Nets general manager): "You never know why [Green was out the league for so long]. Sometimes, it's the player. They change. But a lot of times it's just the situation they're put in and the environment, whether it's Jeremy Lin getting to New York and Mike [D'Antoni] just finally putting him into the game. Same thing with Gerald." Grantland

Brooklyn Nets, Gerald Green 

Still, the Celtics traded Green after two seasons with a package that included Al Jefferson and Sebastian Telfair — two other prep-to-pro players — for Kevin Garnett. Green conceded that the trade from Boston shook his confidence. "But at the time, we wasn't winning," he said. "Paul [Pierce] and a lot of players — not to a point a finger — but a lot of players were just going through the motions, just trying to get through this game and get to the next game. When you're winning, you worry about every day, every day just trying to get better. When you're losing, it's 'OK, Let's just hurry up and get through this and get out of here.' When you're winning, it's a whole different atmosphere. I didn't understand a winning atmosphere until I got to Dallas. When I got to Dallas, that's when I understood, 'Wow. We've got to really take things seriously. These people don't play.' Because it's going to build up until you get to around this time and playoffs hit and you've got to be right. You've got to be ready. You can't be asking the same questions in April that you asked in November." Grantland

Brooklyn Nets, Gerald Green 

The Nets offered Green a second 10-day contract and guaranteed him for the season on March 18. He guarded Steve Blake, Kobe Bryant, and Metta World Peace in a game against the Lakers. "He's a much better defender than he was when Doc had him," Johnson said. Green has scored 20 points or more in seven games and dropped 32 points in an overtime game against Cleveland. He did this against the Rockets. The play is familiar to those that know him even if it came as largely a surprise to the NBA. "He still jumps out the gym," Nelson said. "He still shoots the hell out of the basketball. So what is he doing now that he didn't do before? His confidence is up. He's got confidence now. You've got to understand, when you go to the D-league and when you go overseas, at that stage of the game, you have nothing else to lose besides being sent home." Grantland

Brooklyn Nets, Gerald Green 

Green will again be without a team this summer. But it should not take long before he lands another job and his NBA future is finally secure. "Everybody wants to be a superstar," Green said. "I understand that probably won't be me. I just want to be a productive player in this league. When I retire, I want people to look at me and say, 'Gerald Green, he was a winner. He brung it every night. He didn't give up. And that's what I want to be about. I want people to remember me not just as a dunker." Grantland

Brooklyn Nets, Gerald Green 

He has said it before but Wednesday Gerald Green said it again. Just a little more emphatically. Green wants to be with the Nets next season and would even offer a hometown discount. “Here, definitely with the Nets,” Green said when asked for his preference. “I have a strong feeling I’m going to be with the Nets. I don’t feel like I’m going to be anywhere else. I know I’m not getting any feedback now from anybody. I can’t. Can’t talk to anybody. So I have a strong feeling about here. They want me here I want to be here. It’s not like I have to weigh my options. I really don’t have any options.” New York Post

Brooklyn Nets, Gerald Green 

Now if someone blew him away with a ridiculous offer, he’d have to accept. But in a comparable market the Nets would be his first choice. He would even take less money he said, to stay. “Most definitely I would,” Green said without pause. “I’m about loyalty and this team was the first team to pick me up for the year. They gave me an opportunity. They gave me a shot. Look what they’re doing. Our record doesn’t speak for itself. We’re a lot better team than our record says. "I strongly feel that and everybody on this team does too. So I think this season was a season where we can kind of see where we’re at and I would love to be a part of what’s going on in the future.” New York Post

Brooklyn Nets, Gerald Green 

"I'm trying to play with my head and not my athleticism," Green said. "This league has a lot of athletes. I know I need to be more than that. I'm a lot smarter. Defensively, I've learned rotations better. I had to develop somewhere. My high school is closed down. I couldn't get tips from my college coaches because I didn't go to one. I've been trying to learn as much as I can but I have always been on the move, learning from four or five different teams." SI.com

Brooklyn Nets, Gerald Green 

Kupchak did not rule out the Lakers revisiting Green when he becomes a free agent this offseason. “I’m happy for the kid,” Kupchak said. “I hope he plays well for the rest of the year and based on how things play out, we’ll take it from there.” ESPN.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Brooklyn Nets, Gerald Green 

Still, Green was grateful for his time with the D-Fenders and especially thankful for the influence head coach Eric Musselman who had prior experience coaching in the NBA. “He always rode me,” Green said. “He always told me if I was going to get back I needed to always stay focused, be consistent, be ready, play at both ends of the floor. He always kept teaching me and kept motivating me.” ESPN.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Brooklyn Nets, Gerald Green