Being traded = being denied! Past coach talks about Jaylen Green s talent and fighting spirit & partnering with Booker

(Original article published on June 30, author Doug Haller, the Suns' record of The Athletic website, does not represent the translator's opinion)

As the Suns begin to reorganize their lineup and add to their height, wingspan and resilience, their success next season is likely to depend on a key question: How will players like Devin Booker and Jaylen Green coexist in the backcourt?

28-year-old Booker is the cornerstone of the team and is eligible for a two-year $150 million contract extension this summer, which will allow him to play until the 2030-31 season. He is the Suns' scoring champion in history and is a top 15 player in the league. The problem is that Booker has not been in the best form this season. Despite his impressive statistics, his shooting percentage has reached a career trough, and the All-Star guard needs to regain his strength.

23-year-old Jaylen Green is the core bargaining chip that recently involved superstar Durant being traded to the Rockets. The 1.93-meter-tall sports guard was once one of the top high school rookies in the United States. After skipping college and playing for the Development League Ignition team for one season, he was selected by the Rockets as the second place in the 2021 draft. Jaylen Green played for four seasons with the Rockets, averaging 20.1 points and 3.4 assists per game.

To deeply analyze the feasibility of this backcourt combination, The Athletic interviewed four coaches who worked with Jaylen Green at the professional league level, as well as a retired player who served as a Rockets broadcast commentator and had a 10-year NBA career. Their experience with Jaylen Green reveals the young player’s growth trajectory and may give us a glimpse into his future.

Rashid Hazard served as assistant coach of the Ignition Team. Hazard lived in an apartment complex with Jaylen Green while playing for the Development League team in Walnut Creek, California. Hazard remembers that Green lives on the left side of his home, while the Warriors' striker Kumingga, who was selected as the 7th pick in the first round of 2021, lives diagonally opposite the right. The coach often prepares breakfast for two future NBA players—scrambled eggs with olive oil with avocado and crushed red peppers.

Hazard was the first to marvel at Jaylen Green's athletic talent. The defender's dunk during training often made the coaches shake their heads and admire them. Secondly, what impressed him was Green's competitive consciousness: in an early training session, the coaching staff arranged for Green to fight with the veteran, but he directly broke through from the bottom line and completed the dunk and declared his attitude with his actions. Throughout the season, Hazard doesn't even remember Green losing any intra-squad sprint training.

Although shooting skills are still to be polished, Jaylen Green's enterprising spirit is unquestionable. "If he goes to college, he can systematically practice the shooting training formulated by the college coach and get enough repetitive training opportunities." Hazard admitted, "That book will be of great benefit to him. Due to environmental limitations, we have not been able to adjust the technical details as we would ideally, and we can only correct the movements as much as possible within his existing framework."

Will Weaver and John Lucas were assistant coaches for the Rockets. Shortly after the 2021 draft, Weaver coached Jaylen Green in the NBA Summer League. In their second game against the Pistons (which has the same No. 1 pick Cningham), Weaver was keenly aware of the spark of competition between Green and Cningham.

"The first tactic was designed for Jaylen Green," Weaver recalled. "The opponent gave him a pick-and-roll and double-team, and he instinctively gave him a perfect pocket pass to the inside. This mature, selfless, veteran-level way of handling the ball is very rare, not to mention that this is just his second summer league game, and facing an opponent who wants to prove himself. Even if Jaylen Green chose to force a breakthrough and dunk, he had this ability, but this round deeply revealed his essence."

Senior coach Lucas, who has 14 years of NBA player career, admitted that at first he only regarded Jaylen Green as a talented AAU (Amateur Sports League) player. But this rookie showed amazing learning ability. Jaylen Green strictly enforced it regardless of the additional training requirements at 6 a.m. or the special training of jump shots and defense. "Defense is still a step to be improved," Lucas commented. "This is the last skill of NBA players awakening, because everyone is obsessed with scoring. They will not understand how important it is until they taste victory."

Stephen Silas witnessed Jaylen Green's first two seasons of his career as the Rockets head coach. This period of team reconstruction was extremely difficult. Jaylen Green won only 20 wins in the rookie season and 22 wins the following year. Green, who has been the starter in his first season, had to grow under high pressure. "Our goal of building a team is not to win, but to cultivate young people." Silas said, "Jeren Green understands the overall situation, but this has not relieved the pain of growth. He learned to deal with adversity and take on the heavy responsibility of the team's scoring champion. As a young player, he was really exploring and moving forward at that time."

Rockets fired Silas after the 2022-23 season, hired coach Uduka to coach, and obtained defensive expert Dillon Brooks (now part of the Durant deal) and signed veteran point guard Van Vreet to supplement his experience. As the Rockets rose to become a Western Conference powerhouse in the next two seasons, Coach Silas noticed Jaylen Green's transformation: "He is playing victorious basketball now and understands that both offense and defense must be done. Although not every move should be ended by him, he has grown into an excellent decision-maker. The demonstration role of the veterans around him makes him play more efficiently and know more clearly what to do."

Ten-year NBA veteran and Rockets broadcast commentator Ryan Hollins witnessed Jaylen Green's struggle in his first playoffs this year. In the series where the Rockets lost to the Warriors in seven games, the scoring champion in the regular season team averaged only 8 points in four defeats, with a shooting percentage of 31%, becoming the focus of public criticism.

But Hollins believes that criticism is unfair. He observed that after Jaylen Green scored 38 points in G2, the Warriors quickly adjusted their strategy: double-teaming in advance, strengthen physical confrontation, and even acquiesced to the defender pulling. "He needs to strengthen his strength, and the scale of the playoffs is completely different," Hollins analyzed. "As a player who relies on space, it is difficult for him to get rid of when stronger opponents impose physical pressure. He also has to learn the skills of creating fouls and relieving pressure, but the opponent's focus on the defense itself can also illustrate the problem."

Hollins pointed out that even if Jaylen Green does not make any progress in the future, he can at least become the top sixth man; if he can continue to improve his way to win and stimulate competitive instinct, he is expected to break the upper limit. "He has the potential to be a superstar," the senior analyst asserted. The Suns currently have an excess of defenders and wingers, including three-time All-Star Bradley Bill. Although the Suns are expected to keep Jaylen Green, there will inevitably be other lineup adjustments in the future. The coaches who have coached Jaylen Green and Booker are optimistic about the possible backcourt combination.

"First of all, they are both very good players," Silas commented on Jaylen Green and Booker. "Both are selfless and eager to win. They have experienced ups and downs, have a deep understanding of team basketball, and understand how to push the limits to win games. Although the effect remains to be seen, based on the basic qualities of these two players, this combination is likely to succeed."

Weaver pointed out that it is 2025, and the traditional concept of fixing players in a specific position has become obsolete. He took the Pacers' NBA Finals as an example, and no one was worried about the overlapping functions of Nemhard, Halliburton and McConaughey. Weaver believes that this will be the case for the Suns, and he is full of respect for new head coach Jordan Ott.

"People may be surprised by the new look that the Suns will show next season," Weaver predicted.

Hollins believes that Jaylen Green will learn from Booker how to improve efficiency, deal with provocations, and polish dribble emergency stop jump shot technology. "If he can get close to Booker's level in these aspects, his game level will jump to a whole new level," Hollins emphasized.

Hazard expressed dissatisfaction with the preset of this issue, believing that this not only underestimates Booker's ability to adapt to different teammates such as Paul, Durant, and Bill in his career, but also ignores Jaylen Green's progress in the Rockets and his fighting spirit after moving to Phoenix. "The deal is equivalent to putting a burden on Jaylen Green's shoulders," Hazard said bluntly. "It is equivalent to declaring 'We think you are not qualified to take us to the top'. I fully believe how he will respond. Some words are inconvenient to say clearly, but you can imagine my subtext, this is Jaylen Green the Sun is about to get."

Original text: Doug Haller

Translated by: Li Taibai