Season-In-Review: Gerald Green

Gerald, we hope the Pacers and their fans like your dunking ability, because us Nets fans certainly miss it

This post, along with the other posts I will do in the Season-In-Review series, will take a deeper look at how all the Nets did last season on the court and possibly off of it. We continue with the upstart Gerald Green. I covered Gerald Wallace last.

Gerald Green was rescued from the NBA D-League's Los Angeles D-Fenders by the Nets on February 27th, 2012, and the swing-man never looked back. Originally, the Nets, an injury-depleted mess of a team, were just looking for any small forward who could go into games and simply not be terrible. With a low-risk, 10-day contract, the Nets signed Green to fill that role and oh boy did the Nets get some return for their investment.

After his first 10-day contract with the team, Gerald signed another 10-day and then eventually signed on with New Jersey for the rest of the season after showing the coaching staff that he was one of, if not the best, healthy Nets players on the court at some points in the condensed 2011-12 campaign.Green is most notable around the NBA for winning the 2007 Slum Dunk Contest while a member of the Celtics, in his first go-around of the NBA.

Gerald has absurd athleticism and hops, which is what the Nets were assuredly lacking of last year and is what he brought to the team last season, capped off by a crazy, alley-hoop windmill jam he threw down against the Rockets in March. However, the former 1st-round pick of Boston brought much more to New Jersey after the All-Star break than just his dunking ability, he displayed an incredibly well-rounded repertoire in his game that simply wasn't present in the five seasons he was in the NBA before heading overseas and to the D-League.

Springfield Armor Eliminated from D-League Playoffs by Canton Charge

Former Hofstra star Antoine Agudio led the 7th-seeded Canton Charge with 24 points in a stunning win in Springfield.

The Nets' D-League affiliate Springfield Armor, the regular season Eastern Conference champion of the NBDL, fell to the Canton Charge, the affiliate of the Cleveland Cavaliers, at the MassMutual Center in Western Massachusetts last night. The crucial third game of the best-of 3 series, in which the Charge and Armor split the first two games in respectively, was won by Canton by a score of 115-106. Recent Net call-up Dennis Horner scored 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Armor while perennial D-League All-Star JamesOn Curry scored 24.

The quick playoff exit was extremely disappointing for a Springfield team that has its best ever regular season in the D-League this past year and seemed poised to win an Eastern Conference that they owned during the season. However, the season was a major success for the franchise and only bodes for more success in the future, and hopefully more effective players for the big-league Nets to call up.

Nets Sign Armon Johnson to 10-Day Contract

To provide some depth at point guard after Jordan Farmar's season-ending groin injury, the Nets announced that they have signed former Trail Blazer point guard Armon Johnson to a 10-day contract. Johnson spent some with Portland last season and early this season after being called up from the Idaho Stampede of the D-League. In 38 games with the Trail Blazers last year, Johnson, a 23-year old who went to Nevada, scored 2.9 points per game on 40 percent shooting.

Nets Sign Dennis Horner to 10-Day Contract

In order to fill up the available roster spot left on the team after not renewing Jerry Smith's 10-day deal, the Nets have called up forward Dennis Horner, who started the season in New Jersey, to another 10-day contract. Horner didn't show much in the five games he played for the Nets towards the beginning of the season but without many other options left for healthy bodies, Horner got the call.

The signing comes on the news that Shelden Williams will probably be out until April 5th because of the eye injury he suffered on Wednesday against Indiana. Jordan Williams' concussion symptoms leave him day-to-day while Anthony Morrow is listed as probable. Jordan Farmar is also out until at least April 6th and might even miss the rest of the season with his groin injury. The Nets keep dropping like flies but they keep trying to patch up the holes of their roster with replacement-level guys. Who knows, maybe Horner, a rookie from NC State, turns into a stud like Gerald Green. The Nets could use the healthy bodies and talent.

Nets Sign Gerald Green For the Rest of the Season

Green, a crazy high-flyer, won the NBA Dunk Contest in 2007

The Nets have officially signed small forward Gerald Green for the rest of the 2011-12 season. This was basically a foregone conclusion as Green has been a revelation for the Nets at small forward since the team called him up from the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the D-League a few weeks ago. There was some talk that Gerald would be signed for next season as well but I guess the Nets are going to delay on that decision to keep as much cap space for the offseason as possible.

Nets Call Up Jerry Smith From D-League

To fill up the empty roster spot that they have from today's earlier trade, the Nets have called up Springfield Armor and former Louisville Cardinal shooting guard Jerry Smith, according to Smith's Twitter account. Smith is the Nets' 5th D-league call-up of the season and is leading the Armors in points (19.1) and steals (1.91) per game this season.

Nets to Sign Andre Emmett from D-League; Waive Keith Bogans

Emmett in action for his former D-League team, the Reno Bighorns

In order to bring in another healthy body into the roster mix for the injury-depleted team, the Nets have called up small forward Andre Emmett from the D-League according to ESPNNewYork.com. In order to make room on the team's roster for the 29-year old swingman, the Nets have waived injured shooting guard Keith Bogans, who is currently injured for the rest of this NBA season due to a fractured ankle and torn deltoid muscle in his leg. It is expected that Bogans will be ready for training camp in 2012 to start next season.

I don't know much about Emmett as a player but Scott Schroeder of the D-League blog Ridiculous Upside does. According to Schroeder, Emmett is an all-around solid player who can score (23.7 PPG this season and 53% FG), shoot long jumpers (46% 3PT), rebound (6 RPG), and even pass the ball a little bit (3.4 APG). I like the move because the Nets badly need a breath of fresh air and if Emmett can provide any sort of spark for the Nets, then that would be a major plus for a skidding, offensively-challenged team like they are right now.