LeBron's departure could mean more minutes for North Babylon's Green

Luke Noone and Greg Carrick didn't have much of a reaction to LeBron James' "Decision" on July 8. The varsity basketball duo from North Babylon High School watched together as James departed the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat, and they weren't all that surprised.

Then it sunk in. It hit them that the ramifications of the move would strike closer to home. With James' departure from the Cavaliers, playing time would open up for a certain 6-6 guard-forward on the Cavs' roster. That player: Danny Green, their fellow North Babylon basketball product.

Said Noone: "All of a sudden, we were like, 'Oh, Danny will probably get some more minutes now.' "

Green is putting on the first "Team Green Basketball Camp" at Robert Moses Middle School in North Babylon this week. Three weeks after James' decision, Noone, Carrick and 80 other campers finally got to grill their hometown NBA player on just what the ramifications of James' decision meant for Green.

Campers from all over Long Island and New York City repeatedly asked the former McDonald's All-American from St. Mary's in Manhasset about an array of topics, including winning a national championship at North Carolina and Green's trials and tribulations as a rookie.

But one question trumps them all.

"Everyone wants to know about LeBron. Everybody asks me, 'Are you going to play?' " said Green, who got into 20 games as a rookie, averaging 2.0 points in 5.8 minutes per game, and averaged 12.8 points in four games for the Cavaliers in the Las Vegas Summer League from July 13-18.

Green does expect to vie for more playing time now that James - who Green said is one of his best friends - is out of the equation.

But for one week for Green, it was back to the past. Steamy summer camp gyms, carpooling and even being kicked out of his own house by campers. Green was banished to sleep in his grandmother's house.

"It's kind of like back when I was a kid, AAU days," Green said. "There is not enough room. There are too many kids in there."