The Rise of Josh Green Couldn’t Come at Better Time for Mavs

It took Josh Green a few years to get his feet under him, but the 21-year-old wing is confident and growing before our eyes for the Dallas Mavericks this season. It couldn’t have happened at a better time.

In a season where Luka Doncic is putting up unbelievable numbers and shouldering a massive load on a nightly basis, the rise of third-year man Josh Green couldn’t have come at a better time.

Doncic is going to do his thing regardless, but the more serviceable 3-and-D players you surround him with, the better off your team will be … and that’s on full display for the Mavs right now, as they’ve won four consecutive games as Green’s minutes have gradually grown.

Despite not averaging huge numbers, Green has proven to be a valuable rotation piece for Dallas through nine games after having the most productive offseason training of his career.

Green is averaging just 6.6 points and 2.8 rebounds per game, but he’s shooting 76 percent from the field, including a league-leading 66.7 percent from deep. He’s only shooting 1.7 3-pointers per game, but when he does shoot them, he’s making them at an insanely high clip.

“One word is confidence. You see his confidence is high,” said coach Jason Kidd after the Mavs’ 96-94 win over the Nets on Monday night where Green posted a season-high 16 points on 5-5 shooting.

“His teammates believe in him. The coaching staff believes in him. He played a lot of minutes tonight. He deserves those minutes. It’s a positive to give Reggie [Bullock] or Doe [Finney-Smith] a 10-minute break. We’ve asked Reggie and Doe to do a lot, but it just shows that – you’ve got to give him a compliment that he worked extremely hard to put himself in this position.”

Green’s offense has been a pleasant surprise, but on defense, he’s been the same player he’s always been — bringing high energy from start to finish and getting steals/deflections. His two-way game is something he gave us a taste of during the Mavs’ first-round playoff series win over the Utah Jazz last season, and now, it’s looking like it has more staying power.

“There’s 82 games in a season so there are going to be times where I’m shooting well, there’s going to be time where sometimes you’re going to miss, but for me it’s just keeping the same mindset. If I’m open, shoot it,” said Green.

“We have a team full of shooters. We have a great coaching staff who knows how to help me. I worked a lot on that in the offseason so for me, it’s just like – I shot too many times in the offseason and I put myself into too many situations now where I shouldn’t be passing up open 3’s. I feel comfortable shooting them, and it’s not so much counting the makes. Obviously, yeah, you want to make them every time but it’s more of making sure that I’m taking the right shots.”

Green is taking all the right shots and making them too, and his growing role could continue to grow with Tim Hardaway Jr. suffering a hip strain on Monday night. Whatever comes Green’s way, though, he’ll be prepared for it.

“I think just getting in the right spots, you know? Obviously, Luka [Dončić] has had an amazing season and like any other team, they’re going to put all the attention on him. So for me, it’s just putting myself into positions where it’s easy for him to get the ball out of his hand and potentially either get it back or try and make a play for the team,” said Green.

“I think this season, in general, I feel a lot more confident on the offensive end. … I feel like I put in so much work this offseason that it’s just like, what have you got to lose? You need to just go out there and play basketball. At the end of the day, I’ve been doing it since I was two years old [or] three years old. … It’s a game that everyone wants to play so my whole thing is just, have fun. Play basketball.”

There is no doubt Green is having fun out there, and as a byproduct the Mavs are having fun winning games and we’re having fun watching all of it unfold.

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