Danny Ainge said the expectations were too high. Doc Rivers talked about losing continuity. Rajon Rondo referenced it a few weeks ago and now Jeff Green has confirmed it.

The Celtics, and specifically Green, didn’t have enough time to get comfortable with each other after the trade deadline deal that sent Kendrick Perkins to Oklahoma City and brought Green to Boston. On the revelations scale this fall somewhere between “no kidding” and “obviously,” but points all around for honesty.

In an interview with Yahoo’s Marc Spears, Green acknowledged, “They’ve been together for a number of years. They’ve already won a championship, they’ve already have a system, they already have their chemistry and that bond on that team. It was tough to go into that situation.”

With that out of the way, the question becomes: What are they going to do about it?

A good start would be figuring out who Green is as a player and also who he is not. Green referenced Perkins, which is interesting in that no one would ask him to replace Perkins on the court, and even a cursory observation reveals that they are completely different personalities. Green is as yet an undefined entity with the Celtics and that was a big part of the problem last season.

There are two distinct ways to look at Green. The first is as an athletic, 6-foot-9 player with still untapped potential. The second is as a player who has produced less than the sum of his parts.

Green averaged about 15 points a game in Oklahoma City but that was playing heavy minutes and came with a low shooting percentage, especially from behind the 3-point arc where a player like Green needs to thrive in the modern game. Beyond that, there’s really nothing on his four-year resume that suggests that he’s a star player in the making.

He’s a decent, but not a great rebounder or playmaker, which may be a function of playing out of position so much in Oklahoma City. But then, he doesn’t seem to have a natural position. Is he a big three, an undersized four? That's the other the issue for the Celtics, and also for Green.

At no point last season with the Celtics was anyone able to say with certainty that Green had found his role or that one had been created for him. Green played less than 24 minutes a night – down from his customary 36 – and he got less than 20 during the playoffs.

He was Paul Pierce’s backup, which worked well enough, but that was good for only about 12 minutes a game. As a backup four he was fine when he was paired with Kevin Garnett, but there were defensive problems when he didn’t have a strong compliment on the backline.

That doesn’t mean that Green is a lost cause, however. He shot over 48 percent with the Celtics in his brief time and he’s still young and durable and the Celtics happen to be in need of that very kind of player. But, again, how will they use him?

The team has hinted at various scenarios where Green can have a bigger role. Among them: Moving him into the starting lineup, which feels like a mighty big reach. The other, and as yet undefined, situation is that the Celtics don’t want to play Pierce and Ray Allen every night for 36 minutes and they certainly don’t want to over-extend Garnett during the regular season.

Whether it’s forced rest or conveniently-timed breaks, the Celtics want to take some of the regular season burden off the big three. If a lockout-shortened season with multiple games on top of each other is the outcome of the labor-management staredown, then that would seem like a natural decision as well.

Green needs the Celtics to help him get meaningful, consistent minutes, but they need him to make to develop, as well. While allowing that a 25-year-old player still has room to improve, Green’s shortcomings seem to be the classic case of being good at many things but not great at any one or two. Players across the league either make that transition or fall by the wayside. Green is talented, but this seems like the point in his career where he needs to define his game and carve out his niche.

One way or another, the Celtics need to give him a legitimate chance at making an impact while they try to maneuver from one era to the next. Complicating matters is the reality of his contract. Green is a restricted free agent, which means the Celtics have the right to match any offer he receives.

While we’re nowhere near knowing what a new collective bargaining agreement would look like, the best-case scenario for a team whose stated goal is to have their salary cap in order in 2012, would be a one-year, make-good contract. The other solution is a longer-term deal that doesn’t cut too much into their anticipated buying power. 

That decision may not be in sight now, but it’s one of the most important ones Ainge will have to make if there is a season. No, the Jeff Green Experiment didn’t work in 2011, but in many ways it’s just beginning.