Taurean Green

Green led the charge for Denver today, spearheading their balanced offensive attack. He showed great range on his jump shot, knocking down a handful of catch and shoot jumpers from the outside. If Green can stay consistent from three point range, it’ll help his cause immensely, as that’s something that all teams are looking for in a third point guard. His ability to run the show is good but not great. He’s not an elite playmaking guy, but today, he made good decisions and didn’t force the issue. Green did a great job getting to the line during this game, showing good quickness and solid body control when around the rim. He’s not a finisher, but is smart enough to know how to make his drives worthwhile. Though he didn’t have a huge impact defensively, Green gave the savvy performance that his team needed from his to run away with this game.

Although his assist numbers might not have been quite as impressive as his teammate Jared Jordan, Taurean Green did a much better job showing NBA GMs that he has the tools and versatile skill-set to play a role in the NBA.

Immediately as the camp kicked off it became evident that Taurean Green has played on much bigger stages than this. His college team won back to back national championships, and Green didn’t lose a game in this setting either. He looked poised and confident in his abilities as a point guard, not being ashamed in the least bit to pull up off the dribble for a long 3-pointer or take the ball strong all the way to the basket in traffic despite his limited size. They say that believing in yourself is half the battle, and Green clearly has that part down pat.

Besides Demetris Nichols, no other player in Orlando will have an easier transition to the NBA 3-point line than Taurean Green. His shooting mechanics aren’t picture perfect, but his release is extremely quick and consistent, and you certainly can’t argue with the results. To back that up, he hit the second most NBA 3-pointers at the camp, and did so at a 57% clip. He can hit shots with his feet set or in motion pulling up off the dribble, which is an added bonus.

As a point guard, Green does a solid job at running an offense and finding the open man, particularly in transition—even if he is naturally more of a scorer than a distributor. With the direction the NBA is headed these days, though, that doesn’t seem to be such a bad thing. Green is a smart player who knows how to facilitate He can create his own shot and has multiple gears he can go to to keep his man off balance and get into the lane. And while he isn’t the biggest guy in the world, he has plenty of toughness and ample upper body strength, which helps him tremendously in terms of getting to the free throw line and finishing around the hoop. If there is just too much traffic around the paint, he can either finish with a beautiful floater or pull-up from 12-15 feet for a mid-range jumper.

The biggest drawback standing in the way of Green’s chances of NBA success is his very related combination of average size and defensive ability. NBA coaches are biased against smaller guards and Green doesn’t do them many favors with the awareness he shows on this end of the floor. He could also still improve his ball-handling skills and the overall way he “values” the ball, as evidenced by a few unforced turnovers he had here

With that said, there is no reason why Green can’t develop into a solid backup point guard at the very least. He has a great combination of shooting, slashing and playmaking ability, combined with more high-level experience playing winning basketball than any other guard in this draft.

This was Green's worst game of the camp, until the final moments. Dominic James actually bothered Green a bit with his athleticism, and Green's outside shot wasn't falling. Green continues to be a bit sloppy with the ball as well. Nonetheless, the champion's mentality showed up at exactly the right time. Green carried his team down the stretch, scoring on a drive to the basket, and creating on a drive and kick for the winning score. While Green hasn't done anything earth-shattering in this camp, his play has been solid throughout the week. Despite the high turnover totals, he put on an impressive showing and probably solidified his stock on the whole. The clutch heroics were just the cherry on top of an impressive overall camp.

This was another excellent showing in what is turning out to be a terrific pre-draft camp for Taurean Green so far, particularly with the work he did getting his team well ahead in the box-score in the first half. Green showed the things that make him an intriguing prospect in terms of his combination of shooting, slashing and playmaking ability, making some excellent passes off the dribble on the drive and dish and putting outstanding pressure on the defense (going left or right) getting into the paint all game long, displaying nice toughness in the process. He also pulled up off the dribble from well beyond the NBA 3-point line on one occasion, swishing the shot and sending his three compadres from Florida who made a cameo—Joakim Noah, Al Horford and Corey Brewer—cheering visibly on the sidelines. More than possibly any other guard in this camp, Green has shown the quickest adaptation to the NBA 3-point line, at least from what we’ve seen in the games and drills so far.

More than anything, though, what this pre-draft camp has shown us is the incredible confidence that Green has in himself. He’s playing here without a care in the world, as if he’s been on some much bigger stages already in his career and doesn’t have much left to prove.

Taurean Green didn’t have a great game, but he didn’t hurt his stock much either, as most of the point guards here aren’t really shining for their respective teams, especially in the statlines. Green started off the game slowly, matched up with Mustafa Shakur and not doing a good job keeping him out of the lane, while making some turnovers passing the ball and missing on his first three-point attempt. He got more comfortable as the game went on, and did a better job on his second half matchup, Zabian Dowdell, fighting harder through screens and staying in front of his man for the most part.

As the game went on, Green hit three three-pointers, one on a spot-up shot, one on a pull-up in open space, and another on a pull-up coming around a screen. Green didn’t do much driving the ball, settling to stay on the perimeter most of the time, though he made a few nice passes in pick-and-roll and transition situations, netting all his assists in this manner. Green would do himself well to show some more consistent creation abilities on the offensive end in his remaining games here, as points guard like Dashaun Wood, also competing here, are closing in on him with more versatile performances.

There is a definite case to be made for Taurean Green to be considered the top point guard here in day one (along with DaShaun Wood) from the action seen here early on. Green showed none of the nerves that plagued many of the other players here, looking as if he’s played on some much bigger stages in his career before. He had a couple of very nice pull-up jumpers, included one under duress right as the figurative “shot clock” was about to expire. He also put plenty of pressure on the defense with his dribble-drives, getting into the paint and drawing quite a bit of contact going up and finishing at the rim. Even when his shots weren’t falling for him, Green continued to show the utmost confidence in himself, which is essentially half the battle at a camp like this.

It was pretty interesting to take in the difference between watching Taurean Green participate in the drills in day one compared with his effort in the 5 on 5 game.

If a team brings him in for a workout not knowing his background (starting point guard for the back-to-back national champion Florida Gators), they might be disappointed by watching him run through cones and shoot three pointers off the dribble all by himself. He sure didn’t impress us doing that, particularly trying to stay in front of Aaron Brooks on the defense end.

But once the ball went up on the five on five pick-up game, his stripes as a floor general really started to show. Green controlled the tempo of the game for his team, running pick and roll plays to perfection and making outstanding decisions. He showed a variety of passing skills, including lobs, bounce passes, drive and dish plays, and simple post-entry passes. When the lane was too clogged he settled gladly for the pull-up jumper, showing slightly unorthodox mechanics but a super quick release that is consistent from shot to shot and goes in at a very high rate. If the lane was open he finished nicely with a beautiful floater, scoring a good amount of points in this fashion, and aided greatly by his excellent upper body strength.

While other players dogged it in the conditioning drills, Green pushed on. He seems to put pride in everything he does and doesn’t take no for an answer as we saw in the five on five games, showing great maturity and leadership skills.

Green will also be participating at the Orlando pre-draft camp and will be a fascinating case to follow. Scouts should know his game up and down after all the experience he’s garnered, but it seems he will have to once again prove his value alongside considerably less talented players than he played with in college, or will play with in the NBA for that matter…

The maestro of Florida’s emphatic victory over Ohio State, whether he was noticed or not, was their point guard Taurean Green. He quietly and efficiently did everything his team needed him to do in order to secure the win, and surely had his best performance of the NCAA tournament at the most opportune time possible.

Green showed tremendous poise controlling the tempo of the game and running Billy Donovan’s half-court offense. He did an absolutely phenomenal job running the pick and roll in particular, playing at his own speed and finding the open man unselfishly time after time just like the play-book called for. His chemistry with Al Horford was particularly impressive, utilizing the terrific screens his big man set for him and making excellent split-second decisions both in his passing and scoring.

Green played with just the right amount of aggressiveness needed looking for his shot, while still running the half-court offense like a true playmaker. For some bizarre reason Ohio State decided not to switch or hedge onto him on pick and rolls, so Green punished them by pulling up instantaneously and knocking down two NBA-range 3-pointers, both of which were huge momentum shifts for the Gators. When the angle was available, he also showed a nice burst of speed turning the corner with Conley defending him and getting to the basket for an easy finish.

Defensively, he did a good job on both Mike Conley Jr and Jamar Butler, especially in the first 30 minutes of the game.

Florida’s biggest Achilles heel all season long has been the fact that they don’t have any true ball-handlers besides Green, meaning that an off game from their point guard (such as in their three losses in 10 days to Vanderbilt, LSU and Tennessee) could often spell disaster for them. Everything begins and ends as far as they are concerned with their point guard, meaning a quiet game such as the one he played in the National Championship is exactly what they needed.

As far as his draft stock is concerned, Green now has a very tough decision ahead of him. His three roommates and fellow juniors will be leaving Florida, meaning that next year will almost certainly be a transition season. He’s not a player that you can say has unlimited upside that will make him into a much better player should he decide to return next season, as he basically is what he is right now. After leading his team to consecutive championships, it’s hard to imagine his stock getting any higher than it is right now. We’ll have to wait and see how this plays out, but it probably wouldn’t surprise anyone if Green at least tested the waters to see where he stands.

With a strong win over UCLA for the second straight year in the Final Four, the Florida Gators find themselves in a second straight National Championship. Green did what he had to do in the defeat of the Bruins, play solid defense and manage the offense. Strong performances from Corey Brewer and Chris Richard made things easy on Green who could defer much of the scoring to his teammates.

This wasn’t the strongest game for Green offensively, struggling with his shot hitting on just 2 of 9 field goal attempts. In particular he had problems from beyond the arc. After going 9-16 in his last two games from the outside, Green was just 1-7 on three point attempts. Despite his shooting problems, Green still managed to get to the line a couple of times thanks to his strong drives to the basket. He also had a few nice assists, particularly in transition.

In a tough defensive match up against UCLA’s speedy Darren Collison, Green performed particularly well, holding Collison to just 9 points. Green played another steady game at the helm for the Gators, in a game where he wasn’t needed to provide scoring he still managed to give a solid performance. He didn’t wow offensively, but he didn’t make costly mistakes either, and he stepped up defensively in helping his team advance to the title game.

The good news for Florida is that Taurean Green has gotten better and better with each NCAA tournament game that they’ve played in, despite again getting off to a shaky start. The Gators committed 9 turnovers in 10 minutes to start off the game, and seemed to lack any real offensive rhythm in their half-court sets. Eventually Green settled in, and him and Lee Humphrey put on a shooting clinic to score 24 of Florida’s 40 first half points.

Green showed off his entire package as a perimeter shooter, whether it was coming off screens, spotting up off the dribble, creating his own shot, or just spotting up on the wing from a pass from one of his terrific big men. He got to the basket a few times as well utilizing his quickness, pushed the tempo in transition when the opportunity presented itself, and generally seemed to do a solid job running Florida’s offense outside of the first 10 minutes or so.

Defensively he did an outstanding job, mostly on Tajuan Porter, but also in stretches on Aaron Brooks. Green still took a couple of head-scratching shots from time to time, but it’s pretty definite that Billy Donovan would not mind him replicating the game he had versus Oregon against UCLA.

Taurean Green played his best game of the tournament this evening, doing exactly his team needed him to do to help them advance to the next round.

Green got off to another shaky start, his third straight in the NCAA’s so far, but unlike in the other games, it didn’t take him that long to settle in and get back on track. Green and Florida understood what they needed to do in order to win this game, and he kept going back to it time after time until the final horn sounded. With Butler not having anywhere near the size needed to compete with Florida’s frontline, they quickly realized that pounding it inside was going to give them the best chance to win.

Green got his team into their sets very well, and got the ball to Al Horford primarily to let him go to work. Horford’s method of backing his man down slowly and methodically to draw fouls or get as close as he possibly could to the basket was never going to reap many assists for his point guard, so some context is needed on why Green’s assist numbers came out so low. Driving and dishing was not something that Butler was going to allow to happen tonight, so Green didn’t try to force the issue like his teammate Corey Brewer did, and therefore didn’t turn the ball over even once.

He just followed Billy Donovan’s game-plan to perfection, and knocked down his 3-pointers when the shot-clock was running down or the ball was swung to him in the rhythm of the offense. He’s shooting 39% on the season, so it’s no secret that the guy can shoot, in a variety of ways too. The biggest one he hit came off the dribble while the first half came to an end, putting Florida up by 6 and giving them great momentum going into the lockerroom. The Gators will need more steady performances like this from their point guard if they are to advance to the Final Four on Sunday.

The Florida Gators managed to advance to the next round of the NCAA tournament despite the play of their all-important starting point guard Taurean Green, certainly not because of it. Purdue made a conceited effort to bother Florida’s only legitimate ball-handler all game long, and they succeeded in completely disrupting their opponent’s offense and not allowing them to get into any real rhythm until deep into the 2nd half.

Green didn’t help matters much with his awful shot selection. He helped keep Jackson State close in the first round by heaving up some terrible attempts from behind the arc early in the shot-clock on Friday, and again seemed to make that his mission on Sunday as well. He also struggled with Purdue’s full-court press (as he did against JSU in the first half), turning the ball over five times and never really settling into the pass-first organizer that Florida so desperately needed him to be. The Gator big men starved for touches for the first 25-30 minutes of the game, and Green didn’t show enough poise in running his half-court sets to help them take advantage of the huge size differential Florida enjoyed in this game.

Over the last 12 ½ minutes, though, Green seemed to recover and played a major role in getting his team over the hump. He knocked down back to back 3-pointers in a 35 second sequence from 13:10 to 12:35 left to go in the 2nd half, and from that point on, did a much better job as the distributor that we’ve all come to know over the past two years. He got the ball inside the Al Horford and Joakim Noah in particular, and the Gators eventually managed to keep Purdue at bay. The mission of advancing another round was accomplished eventually, and that at the end of the day is really all that matters. Florida will now play Butler in Sweet 16, and they will need Green at his best to avoid another nerve-wracking game.

Possibly the best player on the floor yesterday for either team when taking both halves into consideration, there is no way Florida would have been even remotely close to sending this game into overtime without their under-hyped point guard Taurean Green.

Green did everything you could ask a point guard to do for his team in this game. Whether it was hitting pull-up and spot-up 3-pointers from NBA range, using his quickness to get into the lane and finish with terrific composure and either hand, grabbing huge rebounds, getting everyone involved on the drive and dish, or playing excellent defense, Green was rock solid all night long. Being the only player on Florida’s team who can consistently create offense for himself off the dribble—a huge weakness for the returning National Champions—he was forced to take some very tough shots when his team lost its imagination in the half-court. He kept the Gators in the game in the first half when Florida’s future lottery picks were on the bench in foul trouble, and then continued to carry them in the 2nd half with his scoring or playmaking. Unfortunately for him, he did not come up big for his team at all down the stretch, committing two terrible turnovers-- one with 24 seconds to go in regulation and then another with 40 seconds in overtime--that really hurt his team. All in all, though, when taking the whole game into consideration, and especially the quality of defenders he was matched up with, Green played extremely well.

The least attractive member of Florida’s outstanding sophomore class as far as draft prospects go, Green is nevertheless the most important player to the Gators’ hopes of advancing past the first weekend for the first time in 6 years.

As a college player, Green does everything a team could hope it’s point guard to do well; whether its scoring, passing, shooting, handling the ball, playing great defense, slashing to the basket and finishing at the rim, hitting clutch free throws, showing leadership skills and most importantly making everyone better. He rarely leaves the floor and is more than willing to take his team on his back when the offense bogs down. He plays the game with an arrogance and confident demeanor that all the great lead guards have, but doesn’t let that affect the way he runs his team and keeps his ego in check the way most cocky point guards can’t.

As far as his NBA potential goes, that is really anyone’s guess. Generously listed at 6 feet, he doesn’t have the excellent physical attributes that most of this excellent class of sophomore point guards do, not being incredibly tall, long, strong or explosive, although he is a fine athlete. Players in his mold-- Jameer Nelson is probably his best NBA comparison—usually have to do a bit more to carve themselves a spot in the league. Winning games the way he has so far and being the best player on his extremely talented team is always going to be the best way to accomplish that. Taking his team deep in the tournament will go a long ways in quelling his many. Little guys always have it a little bit tougher to prove themselves, but Green is clearly on the right track and only seems to be improving week by week after being just a marginal contributor on a decent team in his freshman year. The Gators will only hope that Green’s improvement will continue throughout the tournament, as his ability to handle intense pressure as Florida’s only legit ball-handler has made many Gator fans nervous in big games down the stretch.

If Noah was a longshot to be mentioned in a column like this before the season started, it was almost unfathomable to think of Taurean Green being written about in the same sentence as the NBA draft.

Being the catalyst and most important player on a team that’s won 20 of its first 22 games will do that to you, though, and that is exactly what Green is for this Florida team.

On Saturday Green continued to show why he is one of the most complete point guards in college basketball. He slashed, shot and passed his way to the tune of 29 points and 9 assists on excellent percentages, controlling the tempo to Florida’s liking and leaving the much more highly regarded Rajon Rondo on his backside after a ferocious pick more than often he let him stay in front of him.

Green used the high ball screens his team set him time after time to create offense for himself and his teammates off the dribble almost whenever he pleased, doing a terrific job mixing up his scoring with his passing and giving Rondo fits with his arsenal of offensive moves that left him clueless as to how to defend him. One time he would blow by him and take the ball strong all the way to the basket, the next he would pull up off the dribble from mid-range using a lightning quick release, and when his man got tired of being burned and gave him space he would instead just knock down a three pointer from well behind the NCAA line. He did a great job defensively as well and eventually fouled out the extremely frustrated Rondo; outscoring him by 7 points in the final tally, dishing out 9 more assists, shooting a much better percentage and turning the ball over less. Most importantly, his team delivered a demoralizing defeat to their archrivals, a win that will keep the Gators close to returning to the top 5 ranked teams in the country and within striking distance of the top of the SEC East.

The 6-foot sophomore leads the SEC in both points and assists, but his contribution to his team goes well beyond the boxscore. Green simply does everything you would hope your college point guard to do well; whether its scoring, passing, shooting, handling the ball, playing great defense, slashing to the basket and finishing at the rim, hitting clutch free throws, showing leadership skills and most importantly making everyone better. He rarely leaves the floor and is more than willing to take his team on his back when the offense bogs down. He plays the game with an arrogance and confident demeanor that all the great lead guards have, but doesn’t let that affect the way he runs his team and keeps his ego in check the way most cocky point guards can’t.

As far as his NBA potential goes, that is really anyone’s guess. Generously listed at 6 feet, he doesn’t have the excellent physical attributes that most of this excellent class of sophomore point guards do, not being incredibly tall, long, strong or explosive, although he is a fine athlete. Players in his mold-- Jameer Nelson is probably his best NBA comparison—usually have to do a bit more to carve themselves a spot in the league. Winning games the way he has so far and being the best player on his extremely talented team is always going to be the best way to accomplish that. Taking his team deep in the tournament will go a long ways in quelling his many doubters (of which we were firmly a part of until Saturday). Little guys always have it a little bit tougher to prove themselves, but Green is clearly on the right track and only seems to be improving week by week after being just a marginal contributor on a decent team in his freshman year.