Celtics Offer Green $5.9 million, Pick Up Option On Bradley

“First of all he’s a good player right now,” Ainge said after the season. “Jeff has proven himself. He’s been a starter on a 50-win team in the NBA and probably the third most important contributor to a team. I think that this year in the playoffs he proved that when he was really needed as more than just a player to give rest — he played behind Ray and Paul and [Kevin Garnett], which is a tough assignment — but when Paul got hurt in Game 2, Jeff comes in, scores 10 points in a six- or seven-minute span, had five huge points for us in the fourth quarter of [Game 5]. I think Jeff played excellent.

“I think that because of his versatility — and maybe the expectations were too high because we were trading Kendrick Perkins for him, or I don’t know what it is, but we knew that he wasn’t going to start, we knew he wasn’t going to play 35 minutes. We needed a veteran player, an experienced player, an athletic player, so we know what Jeff Green is. He’s a highly efficient offensive player that plays good defense, that has great character, that’s 6-foot-9, versatile, athletic, and that’s what we need. And he’s young, and I think he’s just going to get better because of his character and his work ethic.”

Additionally, Ainge picked up the 2012-13 team option on second-year point guard Avery Bradley. He played sparingly last season, but showed some promise in a few late-season appearances.