Indiana Pacers forward Gerald Green used to define upside.

Mad skills and athletic ability with no idea how to utilize those gifts on the NBA stage. After several NBA teams were frustrated after betting on Green's upside, the dynamic forward's career was in jeopardy, left to rehab in various foreign leagues where private planes and five star hotels are simply a dream that never comes true.

Fortunately for Green, he figured out the formula for tapping into his intriguing skill set to stick in the NBA. Sure it is easy to humbly reflect on past failures after signing a 3-year, $10 million contract, but Green remains humbled and appreciative of his current situation with the Pacers. As he mentioned in an interview on Query & Schultz, Green take the blame for the struggles early in his career. At the same time, he has a renewed appreciation for his opportunity to play in the NBA, while fully understanding nothing is guaranteed regardless of what the ink reveals on any contract.

Here's what Green had to say on Query & Schultz about his failed attempt to stick in the league out of high school:

"You know I was fresh out of high school, I was young and dumb and I didn't know any better, you know. I didn't know how to be a professional. I didn't know how to separate having fun and not having fun and being serious and not being serious. I was young and didn't know any better. I don't think I was ever a troublemaker but sometimes my attitude, somebody will tell me something and I'm having a bad day and if I'm mad, you can tell I'm mad. I learned to kind of hold those things back. I learned that when you come to practice everyday you gotta treat that like a job. Sometimes I thought I was still in high school at the time and you know, it's different, it's just a different environment for me. People say if I'd gone to college they would've taught me those responsibilities of you know, you go here, go there, they'll teach you this is more than that. But, you know, I lived and I learned and I learned from those mistakes. You know, I always tell people if I had to make the same decision again, I'd make the same one. It's just about, I would just change things. I think I was always at the right place, I just didn't have the right attitude. I just tried to change the way I think and the way I approach things and it's worked out for me for the best."