What about Leon Powe? Yes, he serious fucked up his knee. We don’t know if he’ll ever be the same again. At the same time, he’s just coming off his rookie contract. He’s cheap, he doesn’t have a job, and he looks like a pretty inexpensive gamble that could pay big dividends. Powe had his surgery on May 5th, putting his return (in the ideal recovery timeline) around Dec-Feb.

Let’s say the Thunder offer him a $500,000 contract with a $250,000 bonus if he plays in 15 games or $500,000 if he plays in 25 (or something to that effect) to provide an incentive for quick recovery. Then we also tack on a 1 or 2 year team option, so we can lock him down if his recovery is successful.

Take a look at Powe’s stats (If the linking doesn’t work, I’ll re-post)… his regular season WP48 last year was .212, only .007 lower than Rondo’s and significantly higher than Ray Allen’s. Also his career TRB% is 17.2%… he hasn’t played enough to be ranked among active players, but you can see he’d fit on that list right below Shaq and just above KG. Of course these are two stats among many, but I thought they were interesting nonetheless.

So, would he fit into the system, would he get enough minutes to make a meaningful difference, will he make a full recovery and continue to grow as a player/person?

Well, I don’t know the answers to these questions, but the Thunder could use a man of his talents…

Please, tell me… Is this the crazy talking?

Crow :According to 82 games Milsap got blocked 10% of the time on inside shots. Green 10%. Collison 9%. It happens to almost everybody. These are acceptable levels, relatively.

Point still stands RE: Millsap’s efficiency vs. Jeff Green’s.

Jeff Green is a SF. His standing reach is 8’7″ which is barely passable for a PF in the NBA. Most PF’s who are successful with that kind of standing reach are huge, strong players that can use their mass to offset that weakness. Carl Landry, for example.

OKC strength is perimeter scorers and defenders. Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, (hopefully) James Harden, and Nenad Krstic are all good perimeter scorers. Thabo Sefolosha, Jeff Weaver, Russell Westbrook, and Jeff Green are all good perimeter defenders. They lack interior, high percentage scoring, and defense. Paul Millsap will not solve the center problem, but then again who will this offseason or next? The Thunder can draft a center or trade their two picks for one next year to plug that hole, which is a better strategy anyway since a rookie scale center is a great thing to have.

Hopefully Presti realizes that Paul Millsap is an upgrade at PF over Jeff Green. Remember that Jeff Green was not drafted as a PF. The plan was Kevin Durant at SG and Jeff Green at SF. He does not have the strength or length that Millsap has to allow himself to overcome his lack of height (Millsap is an inch shorter but his standing reach is two inches longer than Jeff Green’s). Jeff Green’s been a perimeter oriented player the last two years and this team will not win with four perimeter players and a center unless that center is Dwight Howard.

Paul Millsap would instantly lock down the starting PF spot; Jeff Green would be an excellent sixth man grabbing minutes at SF (his natural position) and PF. OKC has two likely lottery picks in next year’s draft to address the center position.