Before the first round of the 2016 NBA Playoffs started, I wrote that Danny Green needed to get his shit together if the Spurs were going to take home their sixth Larry O’Brien trophy. I stand by that statement, but I still think I might owe him an apology for mis-analyzing his offensive role on the team.

I mean it. Let me explain.

I feel bad for comparing his point totals in 2014-15 to his point totals in 2015-16 because I completely overlooked the fact that, well, OH SAN ANTONIO SIGNED LAMARCUS ALDRIDGE LAST OFFSEASON. In retrospect, it seems really silly of me to neglect the fact that Green is playing a lesser role on offense by design. To go a step further, I sat here and praised Danny Green for being a more prolific scorer on a team that won 12 fewer games than this year’s iteration. Yes, watching him sink three after three was cool, but to say that’s what this Spurs team needs to win it all is a stretch.

That’s like saying that the 2001 San Francisco Giants were better than the 2002 squad because Barry Bonds broke the single-season home run record in 2001. Sure, the 2002 team nearly won the World Series, but man, those home runs in 2001 were pretty cool – never mind that they complete missed the playoffs.

So, I apologize to Danny Green for criticizing his point total this season. However, I will not apologize for arguing that he must be more efficient from beyond the arc for San Antonio to win a championship.

Green was 21.4% less accurate from three this season – and maybe adjusting to a new starting lineup played a role in that, but at some point, he needed to find his shot. Numbers aside, if you looked at Green this season, he didn’t look like the Green we remember. He looked out of sorts, like he lacked confidence.

We didn’t want to see Green shoot 10 three pointers a night, we just wanted to see him look right when he did shoot them. And of course, making 40% of them is also big. That’s his offensive role this year. Let Aldridge and Kawhi Leonard do the heavy scoring, but Danny, be ready to drain an uncontested three from the wing when the defense collapses and you find yourself alone behind the arc.

Actually, it’s exactly what Green’s offensive role was when the Spurs won the Finals in 2014, albeit with a different roster. Let’s compare his shooting in 2014 against this season:

The number of shot attempts aren’t so far apart, it’s just that Green is missing more of them. If he can replicate his 2014 season averages in the 2016 playoffs, you won’t hear a single person complain about him. Not even me!

Lucky for us, I just so happen to have some stats here that tell you just how well Green shot the three ball against the Spurs’ first round playoff opponent, the Memphis Zombies. Now, before you get all worked up over it, please remember that it was a four-game mercy killing and everything should be taken with a grain (or in this case, an entire silo) of salt.

Seriously, there were a lot of really smart people who covered that series and instead of actually analyzing the games, said stuff like “Wake me when it’s over,” and “Why are they televising live executions on TNT?”

Danny Green went 6-13 (46%) from three in the Memphis series. Pretty neat, huh? Yes. But again, that was four games against a bad team that had no business being in the playoffs. It’s also only 13 shots, so there’s only so much you can try to glean from his performance. I’m of the opinion that this can be an optimistic thing to see, but it also doesn’t matter a great deal.

To me, it makes more sense to pay close attention to the upcoming series against Oklahoma City if the goal is to reveal how on – or off – San Antonio’s starting shooting guard really is. Was Green taking a page from his coaches’ book and merely “resting” his shot for the postseason? It’s time to find out.