In my full time job, it is often my responsibility to hire applicants for positions within our company. When hiring, there are many different aspects of an applicant that must be considered and needless to say, making decisions between one applicant and another can often be tough. However, there are also some decisions made when hiring an applicant that are simply too easy. For the Cleveland Cavaliers, drafting in the 2009 NBA draft with the 46th overall pick seeing Daniel Green (UNC) still on the board, this must have been one of those moments. I often say that I’d much rather hire the right personality, and teach them how to do the job I need done than the right skill set, and adapt to the personality of that candidate. I’ve always believed that while you can’t teach personality to someone talented enough to do the job you need done, you can easily teach someone with the right personality the skills needed to do that job and be much better off for it. This is the easiest way I can describe the way I see the drafting of Danny Green-hiring the right personality and then showing him what you need done.
Throughout Green’s lengthy career (145 games played in baby blue-a Tar Heel record) at UNC he showed everyone watching that he was the consummate role player, the ultimate wing man if you will. Finally, in his senior season he played the role of an essential-albeit quietly working cog in a championship machine, and one that can perform under pressure on a national stage. Over the course of those four years on Chapel Hill Green worked in the shadows of the bigger “stars” surrounding him, watching Ty Lawson, Tyler Hansbrough, and Wayne Ellington among others garner more national attention despite his own steady, consistent production and improvement.
When bringing a player into a locker room already containing the likes of Shaquille O’Neal and Lebron James, bringing in the right personality is an absolute necessity. In bringing in Green, a player groomed to play the backup role, one who has shown a lack of interest in the limelight, yet a motivation to succeed and produce on the court the Cavaliers have found that perfect personality match. Provided that the bigger personalities in the lineup don’t clash, this addition may mark one of the best picks in this off season’s draft-one that became known for it’s point guards, not it’s role player swingmen.
Beyond what appears to be a perfect personality match, if given the chance the Cavaliers may also find that Green is able to contribute immediately on the floor. No stranger to pressure, Green has been the definition of consistency over his career. While he’s never been a superstar, you know what you get from Danny-about 10-15 points, a few rebounds, and a block and a steal-every game. During his senior season Green averaged 13.1 points, contributing double digits in points 75% of his games during his final year, and making 38 consecutive starts. Green has shown he not only has the poise and focus to pull up and knock down the big shots, but has the tenacity on defense to be a legitimate perimeter defender, a threat to both steal the ball, or swat a potential game breaking shot. With decent size for a 2 guard in the league (6-6 215 lbs.) Green should give the Cavaliers a bigger defensive presence when needed-such as when they were faced with the high scoring and physically large combo of Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu in last season’s Eastern Conference Championship. All in all, while I don’t look for Green to become an instant star in the league, that’s not what Cavalier management had in mind when they whisked him away to Cleveland with the 46th draft pick and a 2 year contract reportedly worth $1.2 million that he inked on August 26th, making what could be one of the most reliable (although perhaps not the most glamorous) additions in the off season for the Cavaliers.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, September 27th, 2009 at 11:09 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.