Daily Thunder.com

I think the short answer is that he left his roots. When he was in training camp with the Sonics back in the day as an undrafted FA, his dad and him had a chat with then coach Nate McMillan and asked him what would Damien need to do to make the team. The answer from McMillan was essentially to be a scrapper, defensive stopper, hustle, energy guy every second on the court.

Damien did those things enough to make the team and he was an okay backup to Ray and Rashard, along with Flip Murray.

McMillan left to coach the Blazers, and DW got a 5 year contract and from my perspective, he stopped being that guy. He instead was best friends with Ray Allen. He modeled his game after Ray. It is apparent. He uses so many of the same moves as Ray. The problem is that Ray isn't a defensive scrapper, stopper or energy guy. He is a smooth shooting wizard who uses his great basketball IQ and decent atheleticism to get open shots and get to the rim occasionally. DW isn't that guy. But don't tell him that, because he wants to play like Ray, and he's just not in that league.

That's just my impression. He left his roots and tries desperately to play to strengths that he just doesn't have.

He could be a Maurice Evans type of player that changes a game with his good defense and key shooting, but instead he's just another guy who doesn't play defense and jacks up shot after shot. He doesn't look for his teammates at all.

Looking over these stats raises a question that possibly someone here can answer. What exactly is wrong with Wilkins? He's a reasonably good athlete and has perhaps the most impressive pedigree of any player in the history of the NBA. Yet he hasn't improved one iota since his second year. In fact, if there was a "least improved player" award. He'd be a strong candidate. I vaguely recall him having problems back at NC State that forced him to transfer.

We will have to disagree on Green, however, I will change my mind IF Brooks can now assert more authority and get Jeff to play defense . . .

While I agree that a veteran presence is important on a young team, I'll take Malik or Dez (if we could re-sign them to the vet. min of $3.1 million) any day of the week - and twice on Sundays - over Chucky.

I'm not advocating that the Thunder should trade Uncle Jeff, but it does seem that power forward is probably the deepest position in the league. Think about how many starting centers there are that are better suited to playing the 4. So if you ever have to use one of the Big Three as trade bait, Green would be the most logical choice.

I have to say that having both Joe and Royce has made the season that much better. Joe has followed this franchise for years, so I guess he's the veteran presence here. I appreciate that while he has his favorite player rating index, he doesn't ignore the others. And with Royce, I find myself saying, "Yeah, that's what it felt like to me too." They're both the kind of guys that make the people around them better. Well, maybe not Tebow-ish better, but I digress...

I agree Royce. Green brings a lot of positive intangibles to this team. If you notice, during timeouts on the sidelines, Brooks is always talking to him and obviously relays info to the team through Green. Many of the plays on the court go through him as well. He is the consumate team player. You need your superstar to make it to the top level but you will never get there without the real workhorses like Green and Collison.

I can't picture them trading Green - at least not in the next three years. I don't really think he's out of position, he's just a total tweener. He has some good qualities as the three and some good ones at the four. But he has his deficiencies at both too. He's clearly big enough to be a power forward (6-9) but he's just got to get better as a rebounder and help defender.

I don't think that Green will be traded. At the worst, he'll be the sixth man.

with all this enthusiasm , It's just another reason why I think Green gets traded at some point - it's difficult to sign a guy long term that is basically playing out of position . . .

I'm extremely excited about what D.J. can bring. Once he puts a little weight back on and gets stronger on the boards, I think he could be a legit 14-8 bench guy, or maybe even more if he were to start. He's got a great mid-range jumper and solid post moves. Plus a four-year college player so he's got some intangibles and basketball brains.

If DJ looked that good when he was not anywhere close to normal form, I can't wait to see him fully healthy.

I don't see DJ starting next year, but I do see him getting more PT. So It'll be interesting to see how he does against the opposing team's starting 5, at least part of the time.

I do like his shot, and I want to see if he can rebound when he gets back to his playing weight.

52% for a (primarily) jump shooting big man is excellent . . .

I like the way DJ White played - his jumper is excellent for a big man - of course, now other teams have tape, and he is going to have to bring other things to the table (like a low post game) to counter the moves that other teams will make to contest his jumper . . .

great post Daniel . . .

At the risk of stating the obvious, you have to be careful with analysis by stats. Playing and winning basketball is as much an art as a science. Filled with psychology and other immeasurables that never show up in the numbers. Which is why great coaches are great coaches - they understand the intangible aspects of the game along with the stats.

I think the best way to understand a team (or a particular game or player) is to watch them play. Then look over the stats afterwards. Combine what you see - and what you will see is a lot of intangibles - with the analytical side of the brain that digests the stats. The combined view will be much more accurate and detailed.

I think that during the regular season, a lot of the comments about the Thunder from some sports writers consisted of very little viewing of games, just mostly perusing collected stats. I don't know this for a fact, I'm just suspicious. And I think that's a pretty lousy way to assess teams (or players).

I'm not against stats. They're great. They're useful. Most importantly, they're objective. But they miss a lot of true value. They say a camel is a horse designed by a committee. I think a lousy basketball team would be one put together by the numbers geeks.

"Chucky should be released. He has no value whatsoever to this team"

Well... I understand what you're saying. But on a team full of rookies, sophs, third-year guys, etc. ANY veteran presence is of some value. Seriously.