The Memphis Grizzlies have won three of their last four games but overall this season has been disappointing so far. Memphis has had plenty of issues and almost had head coach Dave Joerger fired several times but among those issues is forward Jeff Green. Since being acquired Green has been disappointing for the Grizzlies and now he is making some of his teammates angry with his effort, according to Ronald Tillery of The Memphis Commercial Appeal.
The Grizzlies acquired Green from the Boston Celtics almost exactly a year ago because they were struggling for production from their wings and they figured Green would be able to help. Memphis traded away Tayshaun Prince, Quincy Pondexter and a future first round pick for Green so clearly they had some high expectations for him but it hasn't worked out the way they had hoped.
Green was decent for Memphis last season but this year he has not been very good and it all came to a head on Tuesday night when Green had an awful first half against the Houston Rockets and was benched for the entire second half. Green did recover on Thursday night but there are reports that one of his teammates is fed up with him.
Green has been shooting poorly, not giving much effort on defense and he reportedly has not had a great attitude. Tillery reported that there is "a guy who matters" in the Grizzlies locker room that wanted to "wring his neck" on Tuesday night. When pressed further on the issue to see if it was just because of a certain play Tillery said "No. I was told, point blank. I was told, point blank, by a guy in that locker room who matters that Jeff doesn't care."
From the wording in the report it seems like the player in question here is one of either Mike Conley, Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph or Tony Allen as they are the leaders on the team. This is certainly not a ringing endorsement of Green who was supposed to take Memphis to the next level but instead has hurt the team based on these reports.
Green picked up his player option for this season to remain in Memphis worth $9.2 million but is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Green's play alone likely would have decreased his value on the open market but these reports will certainly make the amount of suitors for him decrease and it seems all but certain that he will not be in Memphis next season.
