3 Reasons to be excited about the Houston Rockets adding Jeff Green

2. Ability to Hit the Open Three

Jeff Green has established a reputation as being a streaky shooter throughout his tenure in the league but has knocked down some big three-balls in his career. Over his 11-plus years in the NBA, Green has hit 33.3 percent of his shots from beyond the arc and shot 32.7 percent for the Jazz this season in limited minutes before he was waived by the team.

In the 2012-13 season in which he showed up in 81 games for the Boston Celtics, the Maryland native hit 38.5 percent from deep, which led the team over the likes of former NBA Finals MVP Paul Pierce. Green has hovered in the lower-to-mid 30s in 3-point percentage since then, but there’s reason to believe that might increase with the Rockets.

With Westbrook and Harden leading the way, Houston is feasting on getting open looks from the outside, and Green has proven he can knock down shots at a higher rate when relatively open. Last season, Green made 43.3 of his attempts when a defender was between four and six feet away from him. That number went down to 33.5 percent when completely wide open, so maybe having defenders closing out could actually help the veteran make his treys?

Looking at his limited time with the Jazz this season, again he shot a very respectable 36.4 percent when relatively open and 29.6 when wide open. Going back, he has had seasons where he’s shot over 34 percent from deep when left completely wide open, which speaks to how he has the ability to make the open shot but just can be streaky at times.

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