Mavs EXCLUSIVE: Josh Green Seeks 'Bigger Defensive Presence' in Year 4
DALLAS — Josh Green is coming off a career-year with the Dallas Mavericks, averaging 9.1 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 60 games. Entering his fourth NBA season, he faces a major opportunity to step into a larger role as he remains contract extension eligible until Oct. 24.
Green had a productive offseason, often training with the Australian national team before the 2023 FIBA World Cup. The Boomers were stifled from advancing to the quarterfinals at the hands of Luka Doncic's Slovenia squad in Okinawa, Japan, but regardless, Green filled an important role as a starting wing and top on-ball defender.
Throughout the World Cup preparation process, Green trained with an Australian national team roster that featured many NBA talents. Between Josh Giddey, Patty Mills, Joe Ingles, and plenty of other key players, Green took a lot of pride in representing his country and appreciated the value of doing so for his own continued development.
"I think it's so underrated just being able to play on your national team," Green told DallasBasketball.com during the World Cup in Okinawa. "First of all, pride wise, but also just being able to get reps against these guys. We have 10 NBA players and other really high-level players who kind of play in the NBA. Being able to be around an atmosphere like that, it's awesome."
Green dealt with numerous injuries during the training process with Australia, forcing him to come off the bench in the first few games. He ended up averaging 8.2 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 19.5 minutes per game in five performances.
Green sees a major opportunity for him to take on a greater role in the Mavs' defense during the upcoming season, and he's made it a personal goal of his to do just that. He views his time spent with Australia as a helpful tool to prepare for that jump.
"I want to be able to be a bigger defensive presence next year for the Mavs," Green said. "I think this is a perfect time to try. I think I'll be in pretty good shape from picking up full court every game."
Josh Green guards LeBron James 1-on-1 in the Dallas Mavericks' game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 26.
Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
While many players spend the offseason working on specific parts of their game, Green had an overall elevating experience by helping his team win games in high stakes situations, as it required him to do all the little things, not just one thing.
"Realistically, I'm here to win, so I'm not going to be working on my personal game," Green said. "Whatever I have to do to be able to win the game is what I'm going to do. It's a little bit different of a game than the NBA, but at the same time, if I'm just out there trying to win, I feel like I'll improve my game just like that."
The results of the work Green put in with the Mavs throughout his career to improve his shooting and general offensive game impressed Australia coach Brian Goorjian. The player that Goorjian saw in the World Cup preparation process was a much better one than what he saw during the Tokyo Olympic Games, compelling him to name Green the starting wing.
"I saw when we came back from camp, the guy that I met for the first time a year ago and the player that came into camp the first couple of days, I told him, I said, 'I was so proud of the development,'" Goorjian said. "Full credit to the Dallas Mavericks and what they're doing with their youth because he came in just a much better basketball player than was in Tokyo the last time. ... You're just seeing a glimmer of what's coming."
Former Mavs shooting coach Peter Patton, who had worked with the organization during each of Green's three full seasons with the team, shared insight with DallasBasketball.com into the process of Green's shooting development. It all began by rebuilding Green's shooting base and continuing to build reps.
"Josh is a very, very good athlete that really needed to understand his body and his biomechanics," Patton said. "The first thing we tried to work on was just really how his stance was. We started from the ground up. We wanted to make sure that his knees weren't collapsing."
After addressing the base of Green's shot, the Mavs emphasized hand placement to help maximize consistency. He entered the NBA with a need to improve as a catch-and-shoot threat and shot just 4-25 (16.0 percent) from deep in limited minutes as a rookie. He showed improvement in his second season, shooting 28-78 (35.9 percent) on 3s in over 1,000 total regular season minutes, but the success failed to sustain in the playoffs, resulting in him falling out of favor in the rotation.
"Then we worked on his hand placement on the basketball and just really teaching him his own shot," Patton said. "A lot of guys know how to shoot, but lot of guys don't know their shots. Josh became a student of his own shot."
A pivotal part of Green's development occurred during the Mavs' run to the Western Conference Finals in 2022. In the first round, the Utah Jazz opted to strategically "disrespect" Green as a floor spacer by having Rudy Gobert often pre-rotate to the paint, leaving Green unguarded on the perimeter. He shot 5-22 (22.7 percent) on 3s in that playoff run and logged a total of 121 minutes over the span of 16 games. He returned the following season to shoot a career-best 40.2 percent on 169 attempts in 2022-23.
"Well, I think anybody that has Rudy Gobert put on [them] realizes they've got stuff to work on, and I think Josh was diligent in his work," Patton said. "I think he was diligent with who he worked with. He had Joe Abunassar back in Vegas, myself, and Sean Sweeney — guys put a lot of time into him.
"Josh became obsessed with becoming a better shooter," Patton explained. "I think that's how you come back from something like that. I don't think anybody wants to be thought of as not being an option when you have Rudy Gobert coming in."
Some of Green's veteran teammates from the Australian national team have admired the development he's achieved in recent years. Green always brought energy defensively and on the boards, while also being an impactful cutter, closeout attacker, and secondary playmaker, but lately, he's managed to tie his effective attributes together more with shooting development.
"Greeney, I think in the NBA has kind of worked himself into that," Ingles said of Green. "He started a bunch of games this year as well, a few games this year. ... Greeney's pressure on the ball, his shooting continues to get better and better, his slashing. — he has a pretty bright future."
Mills shared a lot of the same sentiments as Ingles regarding how Green makes an impact as he's continued to develop, describing his play as being essential doing the little things on offense and defense. The Australian national team as a whole is proud of the development Green has achieved.
"Yeah, he's been massive," Mills said of Green. "His development at both ends of the floor has been huge. He's gone leaps and bounds from Tokyo. You've seen it in his play in Dallas and now coming back here. He's another one of those guys that does all the little things right... So being able to crawl into you defensively and speed you up and then down the other end being able to knock down open shots, cut, slash, constant movement without the ball.
"[Green is] another guy that we're extremely proud of with their continued development, always wanting to learn, always wanting to get better," Mills continued.
With the Mavs needing as much complementary impact on both ends of the court as possible around Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, Green faces a major opportunity to produce yet another career-best year.
