WRAL Sports Fan

North Carolina

'Danny being Danny' now a good thing for UNC

By Sam Rosenthal

Jan 30, 2009

Chapel Hill, N.C. — “Danny being Danny.”

Those words made for the best conversation topic during Friday’s men’s basketball press conference in UNC’s Smith Center, where Roy Williams, Tyler Hansbrough and Danny Green spoke to members of the media.

The phrase, uttered by Williams about Green, brought to mind “Manny being Manny” – the phrase Red Sox fans used for years to explain Manny Ramirez.

It meant, in short, you really can’t explain him. Sometimes, Manny just does what he does. And what goes for Manny, goes for Danny, at least from the way Williams told it.

The coach talked about times when Green makes plays that flummox Williams on the sidelines. But he said Green makes much fewer of those plays now than he once did.

“He’s made great decisions – or much better decisions,” Williams said. I took him out one of the last two games and said, ‘How can you try that?’ So I’m not gonna’ change … But Wake Forest, the other night against Florida State, there have been some games where Danny has been our offense.”

More than just UNC’s offense, Green has looked like the best Tar Heel on the court numerous times this season, making plays on defense and offense. Against Florida State, Ty Lawson hit the game-winner at the buzzer, but Green’s steal, lay-up, and foul shot for an old-fashioned three-point play tied the score in the final minutes, when UNC was in dire trouble. But Williams pointed out that Green also made six turnovers in the game.

“Clark Kellogg coined this phrase several years ago – ‘stat-sheet stuffer,’” Williams said. “I mean, Danny’s the original … He’s always got some number up there – good column, bad column, he’s always got something up there.”

And it's true - Green leads the Tar Heels in three-pointers and three-point percentage (11-of-22; 50 percent) as well as steals (17 - the next closest Tar Heel has six), ranks fourth on the team in points per game (14.4), second in blocks (8), second in assists (13), and first in personal fouls and turnovers (16 each).

This year, though, Williams said Green’s been better about filling the good columns on the stat sheet more often than the bad ones. Williams said Green has cut down on the silly turnovers and bad shots that plagued him in the past, even though he still regresses sometimes.

“With Danny, what you look at is, he’s been a lot more consistent than he’s been in the past, but he was consistently inconsistent in the past,” Williams said. “But a couple of games … he’s carried us.”

Hansbrough said Green’s more confident, more relaxed when he takes the court this season, and that his defense makes a major difference (a boost the team needs with Marcus Ginyard sidelined). When asked if it was, as one reporter put it, Green’s “no fear” attitude that makes the difference, Williams said, “I don’t know that that attitude always helps you. You know, sometimes it does, but sometimes it doesn’t. I prefer to say that Danny’s making better decisions, because he’s not doing some of the wacko things he’s done in the past … I do think he’s aggressive, but he’s doing it with much more intelligence this year.”

And both Green and Williams discussed how their relationship changed over the course of Green’s UNC career. Green said Williams yelled a lot to motivate him during Green’s freshman and sophomore years, and that it was “more of a love-hate situation.”

Now, they talk calmly to each other on the sidelines.

“I don’t really know how to explain it, we’re just a lot more comfortable with each other now, we understand each other a lot better now. I know what he’s looking for, I know what he wants, and he knows I’m a senior this year, and I have to be one of those leaders on the floor,” Green said.

Williams agreed.

“I think there’s more of an understanding on his part, and even – I don’t mind saying this – maybe a little more understanding on my part,” he said, “understanding Danny being Danny.”

Williams said the team jokes about Green’s Manny-like ways. The coach told an anecdote about Green air-balling a shot at the end of practice recently:

“(Green) says, ‘God that ball was slick.’ And I said, ‘That’s right, Danny, it wasn’t your fault. It was that ball’s fault. That ball rolled over there and rolled through that puddle so it could come up to get to your hands.”

But overall, Williams said Green plays much more within UNC’s system this year, doing “what’s good for our team and what we want,” he said. “And I think he’s really, really been good.”

Still, Green makes those “bad shots and silly turnovers” from time to time – something he said is “just habitual.” Change doesn’t come easy for Green, or for Williams, but they both seem to understand that each is making an effort, and making progress.

Most importantly, though, what does “Danny being Danny” mean – to Danny?

"Just playing basketball, having fun," he said. "You guys see me out there, just smiling, hitting shots, finding my teammates, blocking shots, getting some rebounds, just trying to do a little of everything.”

In short, it means being a stat-sheet stuffer … and eliciting the occasional “How can you try that?” from his coach.