Jeff Green still settling into new starting role

The Orlando Magic moved Jeff Green into the starting lineup four games ago. The move itself received criticism and the results have been less than idea.

No one was more upset with his offensive performance Wednesday night than Jeff Green.

Ever since coach Frank Vogel made the widely unpopular decision to start Green ahead of Aaron Gordon, in the name of veteran stability, Green has struggled. That culminated in a 0-for-9 shooting night in the Orlando Magic’s 89-82 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday.

In the four games since entering the starting lineup, Green is averaging 4.5 points per game and shooting 22.2 percent from the floor. He averaged 9.4 points on 36.5 percent shooting in the eight games before then.

Green has struggled to find his fit with the starting group. Not to say Vogel was wrong — Gordon has played well in his reserve role — but the results and the individual play from Green have not been up to snuff.

“Honestly, I just have to figure out ways to impact the game and where my shots are going to come,” Green said. “It’s a different lineup and a different style of play. I just have to figure it out.”

He, like much of the Magic’s offense during this recent stretch, have been a major work in progress. The team has posted a 92.6 offensive rating as a team in the last four games and an 87.8 offensive rating with Green on the floor.

The defense has certainly improved — and Green said he is taking pride in his defense even if the numbers have not caught up to it yet (-1.6 defensive box plus minus and Green is allowing opponents to shoot 40.7 percent against him so far this year). Green though remains something of the odd man out, the sore thumb as this team begins to settle down into the season’s rhythm.

In the second unit, he was the sixth man, essentially. The Magic relied on him to be aggressive and a driving force. With the starters, he has to fit in more and wait for his shots to come to him.

He said in the second half Wednesday, where he missed all six of his shots, he tried to be more aggressive and force things. That did not work out for him and led to mistakes and even more frustration as the Magic let the Pelicans back into the game. He played less than seven minutes in the second half.

Green is struggling to shoot right now and is struggling to get himself going. But he said when he forced things, that is when he faltered most. It is something he has to figure out.

And something Magic need him to figure out.

“I always want everyone on the floor to be aggressive,” coach Frank Vogel said. “If you don’t have the basketball, you are aggressive with your screening and your cutting and running the floor. And when you do have the basketball, you’re aggressive attacking looking to score and drawing help and looking to make the pass when help comes. His role is really not that different from anyone else on the floor.”

Vogel said he was happy with Green’s aggression and attack during Wednesday’s game. The only difference was he did not make shots.

Certainly it is still a results-based business. Green’s lack of production earns him fan jeers and plenty of internal frustration. He has as high expectations of himself, it seems, as fans do.

Green still engenders some feeling of hope because of his versatility. He said he is the kind of player that has a wide set of skills but has struggled to find the right system to fit into. His career then is seemingly one incomplete fit to another as he has gone from limitless potential to confused veteran.

He is a capable player able to create his own shot on occasions and drive to the basket. That element of his game has not presented itself fully to the Magic early on this season.

And particularly with the starting lineup. In 69 minutes, that starting lineup has a 82.3 offensive rating and an 84.0 defensive rating. There is something there, at least defensively.

While Green works his way through this slump, he is just hoping to impact the game in a positive way.

He acknowledges right now the optics simply look terrible.

“What I try to do is defensively impact the game,” Green said. “Guarding [Russell] Westbrook one night, Paul George, last night just being a help defender. Just finding different ways. I’ve been playing [poorly]. My offense hasn’t been there, my shot hasn’t been there. It is going to come around. When it does and I continue to play the defense that I’ve been playing, then it will all look great. But right now it looks terrible.”

Green has hardly been a model of consistency throughout his career. The narrative on him is that he is supremely talented but has not been able to put all the pieces together. He never truly lived up to his potential.

Getting the contract he got from the Magic — virtually a no-risk one-year, $15 million contract — came with worries he would take minutes from young players like Aaron Gordon. Frustration in his play and overtaking Gordon has continued to feed that narrative.

Green does have something to contribute. He does offer a slightly different skill set than Gordon and perhaps more veteran patience with the starters as a secondary player than Gordon can give right now.

That theory, at least, has not played itself out. But the one thing about veterans is that coaches know what they will get. Confidence remains that he will get comfortable and discover his fit.

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“He will find his way,” D.J. Augustin said. “Jeff is a professional. We have all been in that situation. You have to do what is best for the team. It’s best for us to have him in the starting lineup. Whatever that situation is for him in that starting group, he has to do to help the team win. I think he understands that. It’s not about him or none of us, it’s about the team winning.”