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Fo sho totally agree

I just don't see 4 bigs that would go higher than Ibaka.

Back to the Serge in the Rookie game... Who would you guys put in front of Serge?

this is another jared here, good name though!..
there is NO comparison between jeff green and odom
has anyone who said that or agreed with it ever watched either of them play?

when they drafted green it was mentioned that he had playmaking ability and would be a good wingman, but he's nothing like odom.

odom, if starting at PF, is a lock to average 10+ rebs a game

odom can play all 5 positions, pretty much the
only guy left who can do that (now that garnett is wrecked)

odom is a brilliant passer and playmaker, green is incapable of making a play for even himself, he's had more turnovers than assists every yr except this one when he is 1.7 to 1.8.

really, there is no comparison.

I would like to see us go big, Kristic, Ibaka/Collison, Green, Durant, Westbrook at somepoint, never as a starting 5, but maybe to close out the third or first

@Jared

yeah green will never play SG, it was theoretical

we dont really let green handle the ball, im not so sure he is bad at it, just that he doesnt do it, not that he should play SG, but he doesnt have a lower TOV% then harden does.

Harden will never be the main scoring option in a 3 guard lineup, he is either SF with westbrook being the 1st option at SG or he is SG with durant at SF.

westbrook has been playing well at SG, so he should be the 1st option then and has a per of 28.1 at SG.

Really all im arguing is the versatility thing, i am not saying which one should start or come off the bench.

Green can play center in small lineups where he has done the best with a per of 32.4

Also the number of minutes harden has at SF is small only 3% of the teams mins have him at SF and usually thats with thabo, which really isnt a 3 guard lineup,I cant find any time brooks has played maynor,westbrook and harden were all on the floor at once. harden plays 11X the minutes at SG then he does at SF. Green only plays 6X the mins at PF then at SF and plays 3X more mins at SF then harden

Think about his improvements from his 1st year to 2nd year. He had to make the transition from Sf to pf becuase durant lacked the ability at the time to play the 2 guard position. Green focused on that and got more beefed up and really made some amazing strides toward being a better big man. I think if his position or role was changed so that he would have to play everything from pf to shooting guard. He would take the time to get better in the particular facets of the game that he would need to. The big reason why I love Green is the he seems to have an amazing work ethic and would do everything he could to be what Scotty Brooks needs him to be on the court. I dont think trading him is the best way out with him. Unfortunetely I see the advantages of trading him. With having Harden and Sefolasha on the team it makes it really hard to see him playing the smaller guard position. O and Westbrook plays the 2 guard pretty well too. I dont know we will see what magic presti will do in the next couple of years with the krstic and green situation.

@f5alcon

Jeff Green's not a good ball handler and would get killed on defense as a SG.

He's simply a liability whenever he's in most lineups we put out there.

I'm saying James Harden is more versatile for this team than Jeff Green is due to the position he plays. Jeff Green's unable to play his best position on the court for most of the game, and he's ineffective at power forward in most lineups. James Harden can get plenty of minutes at SG, and can get minutes at SF in three guard lineups that have been somewhat successful.

On other teams where they don't have a star SF yes, Jeff Green would probably be a more versatile player.

last year green even shot a better 3 pt % then harden is this year, so he can play on the perimeter just as well and could probably be a huge SG if we wanted him to be

oops i meant green in a 3 guard lineup at PF, with harden

harden plays SG or SF usually

green plays SF and PF usually both can play 3 guard lineups at SF, harden is not more versatile then green, they both primarily play 2 positions

@f5alcon

James Harden can play SG and he can play in three guard lineups, guarding the opposing SF. We've had success with both types of lineups.

What makes Harden more valuable is that there are minutes available to him off the bench.

@justin

harden only plays 2 positions, yes he can play PG, but he didnt do well there, green has more mins at Center then harden has at PG

@Royce

Yeah I guess I was wrong.. I'm surprised Odom isn't better than that from 3pt range I figured he would be.

@justin
So you're saying he's not better at everything?

;)

@Royce

Odom vs. Green career numbers

TS% .535 vs. .518
TRB% 13.9 vs. 9.8
AST% 19.5 vs. 9.6
BLK% 2.1 vs. 1.3

Green is a better 3pt shooter and FT shooter but Odom is a more efficient scorer and blows Jeff Green out of the water on the boards and especially as a playmaker, which is what makes Lamar Odom good int he first place.

I've liked the Odom comparison for a while. It kind of fits.

@justin
Everything? Odom's career numbers: 14.8 ppg, 8.9 rpg. 31 percent 3-point shooter.

Odom is a better rebounder (but he did have seasons of six a game), but I'd say Green is a better shooter. Odom has never shot better than 36 percent from 3 in in a season and that was his rookie year.

Lamar Odom is better than Jeff Green at everything. He's having a poor year, though..

The problem with Jeff Green as your sixth man is that he's not going to get many minutes behind Kevin Durant at SF, where he would have the best shot at succeeding. We'd still have a problem when he comes into the game at PF. It just moves the problem to the bench.

He has more value to the team as a trade asset than a sixth man, IMO.. James Harden is a better fit at sixth man since he's more versatile. Jeff can only play two positions, and one of them is only open eight minutes a game.

Green is a lot like Odom. He can look great one game, and totally disappear the next.

If the thunder stays patient they will be able pick up some players that will fit better with durant and westbrook as the starters. I am pretty sure that green and krstic in the future will or can be some of the best backups in the league. I think whenever we build our team Green should start taking the same role as what Lamar Odom does for LA. Think about how amazingly lethal and versatile Odom can be against teams. His shooting, size, speed, and athleticism kills the 2nd teamers that play against him. Also whenever it comes to crunch time he is a good fit because he can shoot free throws and can still be fairly good big man presence. Green and Odom are both tweeners and play very much similar. I think for the sack of the team it could be huge huge mistake to trade him away whenever his potential role on the team can win us so many games next year or in two years. Thats what championship teams (L.A.) do they stock up on their talent!

I've never heard how the rooks/Sophs get picked. From memory it seems that David Stern and Stu Jackson pick them. Same with the slam dunkers. However,they did do a vote for the final spot last year and Rudy Fernandez edged out RW.

f5alcon :

Boots :
Why not just have the fans vote to see who should win games?
Actually playing them is such a waste of time

the NBA already chooses who wins

/donaghy'd

Boots :
Why not just have the fans vote to see who should win games?
Actually playing them is such a waste of time

the NBA already chooses who wins

Why not just have the fans vote to see who should win games?

Actually playing them is such a waste of time

AD :
Fan voting made (some) sense before the internet. Now its just to easy for anyone to vote. Iverson/McGrady prove that.
The playoffs are jacked up too. They ought to take the top 16 teams of both the East and the West and seed them 1-16. That’s probably a topic for later though.

I was thinking about the playoffs as well. I'd be fine with the weaker conference loosing two of the playoff spots, but a 1-16 seed makes more sense.

http://blog.newsok.com/ou/2010/01/07/blake-griffin...

I don't think Blake can play a few weeks and make the squad, but I could be wrong.

@Royce
I think Ibaka has a good chance for the rookie squad. What other rookie big men would you put in before Ibaka? Blake hasn't played. How about Taj Gibson, Blair, Thabeet, Hansbrough? I see Ibaka comparing well against those guys. Also Ibaka can play center, and I'd imagine there would be two centers selected.

@Scott H
the only HOF he will get into is the rock and roll one, i mean the hair and the tats have to count for something

@f5alcon You forgot to include Robby Swift.

@Scott H
mcgardy wont be in the HOF, current players that will probably get in, shaq, tim duncan, dirk, nash, lebron, wade, kobe, thats it, other players have a chance, melo, iverson, billups, paul, bosh,roy, durant, amare, beyond that the rest of the players i doubt will make it.

@Dustin
Actually it we would be the 12th seed playing the Suns in the first round.

Still 5 eastern teams (Boston, Cleveland, Orlando, Atlanta, and Miami) and 11 Western teams (LA, Dallas, Phoenix, SA, Denver, Portland, Houston, OKC, Utah, NO, Memphis).

@Dustin

it would be more fair the east sucks, their 8th seed has the same number of wins as the 13th best team in the west.

westbrook+rose vs jennings+evans will be interesting guard match up in rooks vs sophs

McGrady shouldn't be allowed to sniff the Hall of Fame. That's all I'm saying.

I'm referring to the use of the number of All-Star appearances in HOF comparisons.

@AD
If that was the format OKC would be the 11th seed playing the Atlanta Hawks in the first round.

Also if that was the format there would be 5 eastern teams and 11 western teams.

how many HOF level players were not all stars? I mean at this point i wouldnt even say KD is a lock for the HOF

I hate that All-Star appearances factor into the Hall of Fame process. Either drop the fan voting or disregard a player's appearance when in consideration for the HOF.

@Steve H
The only thing about that starting lineup that scares me is the youth. But personally, I thought the Thunder's best fourth quarter basketball was played with exactly that lineup, before Brooks put Thabo and Kirstic back in.

Personally, I would just like to see a scrimmage between:

Westbrook, Harden, Durant, Ibaka, Kirstic

and

Maynor, Thabo, Green, Collison, Thomas.

You can even switch Thomas and Kirstic to give the second team more scoring punch.

But KD is just 21, and one of the fastest 6'10" guys in the league+ we need some offense with that line-up. That line-up, man for man, should be more athletic than whoever the other team has on the floor. I also think we should REDUCE his over all minutes per game with this scheme. The Bulls used to do this with both MJ and Pippen, and they still looked pretty crisp at the end of games.

@Steve H
Bill Simmons posted a while back that he was surprised full court press doesn't show up more in the NBA, especially when you're team is the less talented one on the floor (like when you're using backups, or you're the Nets playing against LA, etc.)

He also wondered if it would be feasible/workable to have a second squad that would come on the floor and press the hell out of the other team as a their first team rested. Durant may not be the right one for that scenario simply because it takes a lot of juice to press like that, and we don't want him getting gassed. But I would love to see some press in that vein, if for no other reason than curiosity.

Doesn't fit the topic, but I'm posting it anyway. Here is the rotation I would like to see at season's end.
Starting Unit:
PG: Westbrook
SG: Harden
SF: Durant
PF: Ibaka
C: Hayokabiedrambyortat
Second Unit:
PG: Maynor
SG: Sefalosha
SF: Green
PF: Collison
C: Krstic
+ for five minutes of each half, I'd like to see a line-up of Westbrook,Sefalosha, Durant, Green and Ibaka playing full court press, run and gun b-ball like my beloved Bulls of old used to do twice a game. Depth and young legs is one of our greatest strengths. This would give Green more floor time, we could dial back KD's minutes to 33-35 per, dial Russell back to 30, give Maynor a bit more burn, all with the understanding that for 10 minutes a night we will be running the other team into the ground. Hope you are reading this Presti- make it so.

As a side note, I read the somewhat heated exchange between "The Don" and Dylan today at work, and saw where someone posting as "Steven H" got involved in their discussion. Just wanted to note that that wasn't me- I was acutally at the game.

Fan voting made (some) sense before the internet. Now its just to easy for anyone to vote. Iverson/McGrady prove that.

The playoffs are jacked up too. They ought to take the top 16 teams of both the East and the West and seed them 1-16. That's probably a topic for later though.

@Boots
Yeah Westbrook is a no-doubter.

I'd imagine Harden would make it, but he may not. I would doubt Maynor and Ibaka would make it.

How is the Rookie/Soph game rosters determined? Let's lobby for Harden, Ibaka and Maynor!

And is Westbrook a shoe-in?

Yeah voting in the starters doesnt always work out right, they should flip it and fans vote 5 reserves in regardless of position but starters and 3 reserves are selected