After a little delay, Green is ready to go
Danny Green’s first gameday as a Philadelphia 76er started later than he would’ve expected, thanks to delays in the team’s misnomer of a rapid COVID-19 testing process.
But once he’d waited 90 minutes in his car outside the Wells Fargo Center for Tuesday morning’s shootaround and been tested twice, the first one returning inconclusive, the veteran guard was ready to go.
“Once we got out there, it was cool,” Green said Tuesday morning via Zoom, ahead of the exhibition season opener against the Boston Celtics. “We got a chance to communicate, feel each other out, get in a good flow, get through some script, get some shots up and feel good about tonight. All the work that these guys have put in … they get a chance to let the results show tonight and have some fun.”
Green was one of two new starters for the Sixers in the opener, in the lineup along with Seth Curry. The 33-yearold guard is a key offseason acquisition, fresh off consecutive NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers and Toronto Raptors. He arrived in Philly in a seven-player deal that sent Al Horford to Oklahoma City, new President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey erasing one of last year’s ill-fated signings with a need-filling veteran.
Green and Curry are seen as remedies to the major shortcoming of the 2019-20 Sixers, whose season ended in a first-round sweep by these Celtics: A lack of floor spacing and outside shooting. The duo is a catch-and-shoot complement to the driving acumen of Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid’s lane-filling prowess.
The first preseason game won’t feature pristine execution of that new vision. But Green enters it knowing what new coach Doc Rivers is looking for and hoping to lay down an early indication that those principles are being heard.
“Those guys will open up the floor for a lot of us shooters,” Green said. “When you have guys that attract so much attention like Jo does in the post down low, and Ben does with his speed attacking the rim, you’ve got to show them a crowd. It opens up the floor for our shooters, and vice versa. So teams are going to have to pick their poison, whether they’re going to leave them 1-on-1 or leave the shooters and let us get open shots. That’s why they brought in guys around them that can shoot the ball.”
Rivers’ pregame expectations for the opener were modest, more a chance to assess players’ confidence and conditioning. Many, Green and rookie Tyrese Maxey included, only have two practice sessions under their belt in Philadelphia. The Sixers have only two preseason tune-ups, traveling to Indiana to take on the Pacers Friday ahead of the Dec. 23 opener at home against the Washington Wizards.
The higher-order functions of a basketball season aren’t yet installed, certainly not for a team in its first game under a new coach. So Green, who’s been through this season-opening dance 11 times before, is keeping his expectations modest.
“That’s a start, having fun with each other and jelling together,” Green said. “The offense and execution of plays doesn’t really matter because it’s so early in the season, but as long as we play hard, play together and play with each other, that’s a start of a good foundational standpoint for a group with so much talent and depth.”