Jeff Green is walking into one of the toughest locker rooms in the NBA while replacing a beloved and respected figure by the veterans and the best friend of emotional wild-card Rajon Rondo.

The Boston locker room is the binary opposite of the Thunder one Green comes from and is the only one he has experienced.

The Thunder have a pleasant and unintimidating atmosphere and even have chapel before games. Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Nick Collison (I can keep going but will stop there) are some of the most unassuming, normal people in the NBA.

The Celtics have an old school locker room with big personalities that have been shaped by dozens of years of NBA service.

Boston also has the wealthiest team in NBA history based on aggregate of career salary.

Kevin Garnett and Shaquille O'Neal had a huge haul of seasons where they made more than $20 million based on the old CBA that the new generation of LeBron James, Dwight Howard and Derrick Rose can only dream of while they fight against the reduction of BRI from 57%.

Shaq has made nearly $300 million from his player contracts and Garnett is just past the quarter billion mark. Jermaine O'Neal, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce have each comfortably climbed into nine-figure earnings for their respective careers.

No matter if you are Jeff Green, Von Wafer or LeBron, you're the one who will change to fit in with a group of guys with their stature, intensity and demand for excellence.

You can't compare Green replacing Kendrick Perkins to Jason Newsted replacing Cliff Burton in Metallica, but this is the non-death, sports equivalency.

But Green is about as well-equipped to handle the emotional aspect of that transition as any 24-year-old in the NBA. The doubts his new teammates have for Green will solely be on the floor.

If Green doesn't dramatically and instantly improve his defensive play, which has a sketchy track record, postgame looks his way will not be pleasant for him, even if they is no ill-intent behind them. Because Green is savvy enough to understand, he'll probably assume their meaning either way.

The Celtics will play their first game with Green on Saturday against the Clippers and I'll be covering that one front and center.

Green's baptism by inferno with the Celtics over the final few weeks of the regular season into the playoffs will be one of the NBA's most fascinating story-lines to follow.