With lots of work, Josh Green just finished a career year

Going into this season, Josh Green had an inkling his minutes would increase and he would be counted on to be a much more productive player. So, he prepared himself accordingly.

Instead of playing on the Dallas Mavericks’ summer league team in Las Vegas last summer, Green was in Sin City working out with his personal trainer. That workout paid off handsomely as Green just finished having the best season of his three-year career.

“In the offseason last season I was working out a lot, so I feel like I was in great shape,” Green said. “I was doing a lot of stuff on my body, recovery-wise and treatment-wise, and I continued that on throughout the year.

“I eat well and I do everything I can try to do to make sure that I’m not too tired on the court, and through all the treatment. It’s definitely challenging, but I think I did the right steps to make sure that it’s easier.”

Green averaged 9.1 points, three rebounds and 1.7 assists in 25.7 minutes, and shot a robust 53.7 percent from the field, a healthy 40.2 percent from three-point range and 72.3 percent from the charity stripe. All of those numbers were career highs for the 6-5, 200-pound shooting guard from the University of Arizona and had the Mavs giddy when they envision the next level of Green’s development.

“There are quite a few guys who — on the development side — had big jumps,” coach Jason Kidd said. “Josh is one of them.

“Josh had a great season. Now we’re going to ask a little bit more from him, and I thought during the season when we started to give him the ball to make decisions, I thought he responded in a positive way.”

Now, the plan is to put some more responsibilities on Green’s plate.

“So now, can he run the offense?” Kidd rhetorically asked. “Can he get guys in position? And the value of that will be great if he can develop that.

“That’s just going to make him that much better. That’ll be the next step — besides being consistent.”

Being consistent is also one of the intangibles Green was searching for entering this season.

“I just think overall confidence and just knowing what I can do and going back to what I know I can do,” he said. “So, I’ll just say overall confidence, being more comfortable with the ball in my hands, shooting the ball at a more consistent rate, and I think I was able to do that.”

Mavs general manager Nico Harrison marveled at what Green was able to accomplish during the 2022-23 season. He saw Green play in 60 games this past season – he started 21 of them – and improved by leaps and bounds.

“Josh definitely completely developed, and our staff deserves a lot of credit for his development,” Harrison said. “I know the guy he works with in the summer – he’s great.

“But our staff definitely deserves a lot of credit for that, just as well as with Jaden’s development.”

The No. 18 overall pick of the 2020 NBA Draft, Green had to adjust to playing alongside two generational superstars after the Mavs completed the Feb. 6 trade with Brooklyn that put Kyrie Irving in the same backcourt with Luka Doncic.

“There’s no reason to complain about who you’re playing with,” Green said. “It’s just making sure that it can work. It’s definitely challenging, but it’s nothing to do with them.

“It’s for me to figure out what I need to do and still be the same and have the same aggressiveness. And I feel like over the last couple of games I was able to start figuring out what I needed to do.”

What Green knew he needed to do was to attack the basket, generate rebounds, push the ball up the floor, be himself and just play with confidence.

As far as the biggest adjustment he wants to make next season, Green said winning trumps everything. Sitting at home and watching other teams battle it out in the playoffs hasn’t been any fun.

“I think going into next season it’s all about winning,” Green said. “My goal is I want to win. I feel like I’m a very competitive person, and I’ll always be like that. Every game I’m going 100 percent, so I’m ready. I’m already ready to go into next season.

“I’m ready to go to work this offseason and just continue to get into work. I’ll take a week or so —probably a week off — and I’ll go straight to Vegas and go right back into work and have a big offseason again and be ready to go (next season).”

Twitter: @DwainPrice