It looks like Green is trying to blow out a candle on the rim. But nobody can do that...

Reading Jessica Camerato’s piece about Gerald Green, it seems like Gerald — who is playing for the Los Angeles Lakers during the NBA Summer League – is a changed man. He seems to accept the error of his past actions, sounding like a man determined to change his ways in order to finally succeed in a sport that, physically, he was built for. (WEEI)

“I don’t regret any of the decisions I made prior to being in the league,” he said of skipping college. “I think that I regret my decisions after I got drafted.” [...]

“I would have to say those years (ed. note: his years with the Celtics), I was taking everything for granted. I was just thinking, ‘It’s just going to happen’ instead of making it happen and applying myself to make it happen,” he said. “I would’ve been more of a student of the game instead of just trying to use my scoring ability. I had a great coach in Doc (Rivers) that I should have listened to him more. I was listening, but it just wasn’t clicking. I regret those things and I think that comes with being immature, not applying myself.” [...]

“I think I want to be a better all-around player, fundamentally, ball-handling, skills, passing,” he said. “I think those are the things I want to improve on because, for instance, if things went well and I do stay with LA or anybody, I want to be able to be a good passer because I think sometimes my scoring ability may be to get other people open. But I have to be able to make other players better. I think I do have the ability to do that, I think I just have to work on it.”

He added, “I’m just trying to get back in the swing of things. I’m trying to be in the league next year, so I’m just trying to do everything possible to do the right things and stick somewhere.”

But there’s another side of the story. Regardless of what great sentiment comes out of Green’s mouth, his game hasn’t produced in Las Vegas. Listen to ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz describe it:

“Gerald Green had one stretch where he made a smart swing pass, hit an open 3 and swished a tough pull-up jumper,” Arnovitz wrote. “For a second, everyone in the arena wondered why somebody that talented didn’t make it in the NBA. Then Green got picked clean in transition and got stripped going to the basket on consecutive possessions.”

Yup, that sounds like Green. Talented as all hell, but he does just enough stupid things to keep himself on the bench or, like last season, out of the NBA. Green is averaging 2.7 turnovers in only 12.7 minutes per game so far during the Summer League.

While Green tries to work his way onto an NBA roster, Patrick O’Bryant is trying to stay on one. According to Arnovitz, O’Bryant is doing a good job of it.

“Patrick O’Bryant has bounced around the league since he was a top-1o pick, but he looked like a serviceable pro on Monday,” wrote Arnovitz. “He’s still a legit 7-footer, showed some nice touch around the basket, made a nice low-post seal and bucket at one point, and was telling his teammates where to be on defense. He’ll never live up to his top-10 billing, but there could be a spot for him on the end of somebody’s bench.”

Sorry but I have to end this post right now, due to a fit of outrageous laughter. If O’Bryant is telling his teammates where to be on defense, those poor teammates are all destined to be in the wrong spots.