Agent Says Jeff Green is Back to ‘100 Percent,’ Ready to Make Return


After being traded from Oklahoma City to Boston in exchange for Kendrick Perkins, many believed Jeff Green could be a difference-maker on the Celtics during the ’11-12 season. Instead, he suffered from an aortic aneurysm that kept him sidelined for the entire year. But Green is healthy now, and according to his agent David Falk, will be ready for next season, SI.com reports: “Green’s life, let alone his profession, was on the line when his heart condition was discovered during a team physical last December. He had successful surgery to repair the aneurysm on Jan. 12 and has since returned to ‘100 percent,’ according to Falk. Now, he’s ready to return to the livelihood that he loves. Because Green became an unrestricted free agent in December after Boston withdrew its $9 million qualifying offer, teams are already calling Falk’s office to discuss his possible exodus from Beantown. Free agency negotiations won’t officially begin until July 1, but Falk said he has already had exploratory discussions with ’12 to 14 teams.’ While there is a strong mutual interest in Green returning to the Celtics, Falk said it’s far from certain that it will turn out that way. Boston has nine unrestricted free agents in all, most notably Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. And judging by his view of the free agent market on the whole, Falk — who is best known as the longtime agent of Michael Jordan and an influential advocate of the league’s stars for the last 30 years — will be driving a hard bargain as always. ‘With the possible exception of (Brooklyn point guard) Deron Williams, I think that Jeff will probably be the No. 1 unrestricted free agent on the market,’ Falk said. ‘It’s not like we have LeBron (James) and (Dwyane) Wade and all these guys floating around.'”