The Miami Heat signed Gerald Green on July 9 to provide depth at shooting guard and small forward. Green is unique as he has a partially amputated finger on his right hand. Talking about the injury is something he really doesn't like to discuss, although his feelings have changed a bit as he gets older. From Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

"For years, it was a subject too personal, too hurtful for the athletic 6-foot-8 swingman to discuss, of how, when attempting to dunk as a sixth-grader while wearing his mother's class ring, he caught the ring finger of his right hand on a nail in a makeshift rim in a doorway. He would later describe the injury as something out of 'Terminator 2,' noting, 'It was nothing but white bone.' Tendons? Gone. Ligaments? Gone. And, soon, most of the finger gone, as well, amputation the solution. Green said for years he would attempt to hide the finger, classmates at those ages looking for moments to tease. And then, when selected in the first round of the 2005 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics, came a moment of truth. 'If you go back and look at the David Stern tape,' he said during a private moment Thursday about meeting the NBA commissioner, 'when I go shake his hand I have my right hand in my pocket. He tells me, 'Take your hand out of your pocket.' I always have been a little shy about that. But I think it's getting better once I get older. I just want to be able to inspire people with that.' Although unable to palm the ball in his right hand, Green has stood for a decade as one of the NBA's premier dunkers, wnining the dunking contest during All-Star Weekend in 2007 and finishing as runner-up in 2008."