Welcome to Loud City: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:


Pro Quality. Fan Perspective.
Login-facebook
Around SBN: SB Nation MMA Rankings for August 2010

End of Season Evaluation: Jeff Green

Sbnpcjeffgreen_medium

Our End of Season Evaluation series continues this week, and first up is the sensational sophomore, "Uncle" Jeff Green. The series will continue all week long with Earl Watson on Tuesday, Robert Swift on Wednesday, Desmond Mason on Thursday, and concludes on Friday with Kevin Durant. Jeff Green's 2008-09 season performance was leaps and bounds improved over what we saw out of him as a rookie, and has shown signs that he may be growing into a potential star player. He might have spent the entire two years of his NBA career playing in Kevin Durants shadow, but if he continues to make strides from one year to the next, as he did this season, he's going to be a highly productive player in this league for many years to come.  But is he the long term answer for this team at the power forward position? Its been argued all over the internet as to whether he's capable of being the long term solution at the 4. We'll discuss that throughout this evaluation.

Below the fold, you'll see Jeff Greens 2007-08 statline from his rookie season in Seattle, and his statline from the Oklahoma City Thunder inaugural season. He improved his game in nearly every single statistical category, and the ones he saw a dropoff were not only rare, but extremely minimal. His turnovers per game got worse by .2 per game, but when you factor in that he was playing 8 more minutes per game, that's actually an improvement as well. The only other major stats that weren't as good this year as last were blocks (.2 less than last year), and personal fouls (.1 more than last year). So again, factoring in the extra playing time, the only real stat that was worse this year than last was blocks per game. Every other major statistical category saw improvement, and in some cases major improvements.

Star-divide


Jeff Green

#22 / Forward / Oklahoma City Thunder

6-9

235

Aug 28, 1986

Georgetown





FG 3PT FT Rebounds Misc

G M M A Pct M A Pct M A Pct Off Def Tot Ast TO Stl Blk PF PPG
2007 - Jeff Green 80 28.2 4.0
9.4
42.7 0.3
1.0
27.6 2.2
3.0 74.4 1.3 3.5
4.8
1.5
2.0 0.6
0.6 2.5 10.5




FG 3PT FT Rebounds Misc

G M M A Pct M A Pct M A Pct Off Def Tot Ast TO Stl Blk PF PPG
2008 - Jeff Green 78 36.8 6.1 13.7 44.6 1.2 3.2 38.9 3.1 3.9 78.8 1.5 5.1 6.7 2.0 2.2 1.0 0.4 2.6 16.5

In his sophomore season, he saw a lot more action, and was getting the minutes needed to push his development forward. With those extra minutes he saw an increase in points per game from 10.5 to 16.5, 4.8 to 6.7 in rebounds, 1.5 to 2.0 in assists, and probably the most important improvement this season was his 11% better shooting from behind the arc. Now, although you really aren't looking for 3 point shooting out of a power forward, for a team that struggled from beyond the 3 point line all season, it was a welcome and much needed improvement. There is no question that Jeff Green's progression this season was nothing short of tremendous.

But back to that question of whether or not Jeff Green is the starting Power Forward of the future. Well, that is a very complicated question, especially if the draft lottery balls fall in Oklahoma City's favor and Blake Griffin ends up being the #1 pick in the draft for the Thunder. In that scenario, I would expect Green to continue starting for another full season, as a young Blake Griffin works in off the bench at the 4 and 5 positions. People might call me crazy for saying that, but I think taking the pressure off of Griffin, giving him time at both the power forward and center positions, in conjunction with limiting his minutes to around 30 for his rookie season would be beneficial for his long term development. For Green it would give him another season to develop at the Power Forward position while they test the Griffin at Center to see if they can keep Green at the 4, and Griffin at the 5 for the long haul.

If the Thunder don't feel like Green is the long term answer at Power Forward, he may eventually be relegated to coming off of the bench. As mentioned above, his improved 3 point shot could be beneficial in the sense that it adds a bit of versatility to his game that would allow him to play anything from the 2 to the 4. Again, people may call me crazy for saying that Green could come off the bench as a 2, but I think over the next year or two he's going to continue to become more versatile and his game and size will allow him to play any of the those three positions. If he was to eventually be a guy who comes off the bench, he'd in all likelihood be one of the very best "6th man" guys in the entire league.

But with the terrific season he had, why are we even talking about him being replaced at power forward or coming off the bench? Well, there are a number of reasons, the first of which is that he seems to be a natural small forward who has been forced to play the 4 to make room for Kevin Durant at the 3. Secondly, the Thunder are looking for dominate players inside as they attempt to push this team towards a championship in years to come, and Green just isn't a guy who is going to be dominating on the inside. He's more of a finesse player who will get in there and do the dirty work, but doesn't have the size to really get in there and bang opposing teams big men around.

Of course if the Thunder aren't able to pluck Blake Griffin in the draft, there will be no question who the starting power forward is and will be for next season. If Uncle Jeff is able to progress next season as he did this season, he may very well turn into one of the very best offensive power forwards in the league. But defensively, I just don't think he has the size to be the defensive stopper in the middle that we would like to see. Again this is mostly due to his size and being more of a finesse player than a physical player. Overall though, you can't say too many negative things about the season that Jeff Green had. He improved in nearly every major statistical category and did so in the shadow of Durant, and in a very quiet manner. He has a very bright future no matter how the Thunder decide to use him in the future, and he's just another one of those tremendous character guys that Presti is trying to assemble a championship contending team with.

End of Season Evaluations (Click the Picture to read each players Evaluation)

Sbnpcrussellwestbrooksmall_medium Sbnpcthabesefoloshasmall_medium Sbnpcdjwhitesmall_medium Sbnpcnickcollisonsmall_medium Sbnpckyleweaversmall_medium Sbnpcchuckyatkinssmall_medium Sbnpcmalikrosesmall_medium Sbnpcnenadkrsticsmall_medium Sbnpcshaunlivingstonsmall_medium Sbnpcdamienwilkinssmall_medium Sbnpcjeffgreensmall_medium Sbnpcearlwatsonsmall_medium Sbnpcrobertswiftsmall_medium Sbnpcdesmondmason_medium Sbnpckevindurantsmall_medium

0 recs  |  Comment 2 comments |

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Display:

Jeff Green

….very quietly had a very good, productive, and very much improved sophomore season.

-This comment brought to you by Mr Pappagiorgio aka Mister P
Welcome to Loud City | WTLC on Twitter | Mister P on Twitter | WTLC on Facebook | SBNation

by Mr Pappagiorgio on Apr 27, 2009 5:22 AM CDT reply actions  

This guy is a key

and staple of rht future success of the Thunder and has become quite a fan favorite as well

"Where's the beef?"

by MMunoz33 on May 1, 2009 12:06 PM CDT reply actions  

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

Your SB Nation source for everything you could possibly want to know about the Oklahoma City Thunder. Quote to live by: "After all, one century's magic, another century's science. They thought Columbus was a nut job, right?"
Start posting about the Thunder »

Join SB Nation and dive into communities focused on all your favorite teams.

Connect_with_facebook

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recent FanPosts

Small
My Tibor Pleiss scouting report
Small
I am a Magic fan but I am just wondering
Lakers_627_071230_small
Four games announced
Small
Next years minute distribution and production levels
Small
Blazers got Cho...farewell.
Me_as_a_simpson_small
Should I Root For Your Team?
Bears-attacking-peyton-manning_small
Does LeBron's "Decision" actually make Durant the better man?
Small
Day 2: Live Summer League Stream
Small
Josh Smith
Small
Live Summer League Stream

+ New FanPost All FanPosts >

Follow WTLC on Twitter

Twitter-3_medium

Follow WTLC on Facebook

Facebook_medium

50 - 32

3

Lost 2

0

Northwest Standings

W L PCT GB STRK
Denver 53 29 .646 0 Lost 1
Utah 53 29 .646 0 Lost 4
Oklahoma City 50 32 .609 3 Lost 2
Portland 50 32 .609 3 Lost 2
Minnesota 15 67 .182 38 Lost 7

(updated 9.2.2010 at 4:09 PM CDT)

Loud City - Bring The Thunder (Rafter Banner)

Rafterbannersmall_medium

SBNation.com Recent Stories

NEW YORK CITY NY - AUGUST 12:  Kevin Durant #5 looks on during the World Basketball Festival USAB Showcase at Radio City Music Hall on August 12 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images for Nike) +4 updates

FIBA World Championships 2010: Team USA Routs Iran 88-51, Clinches Top Spot In Group B

Cleveland Cavaliers' Delonte West, right, shoot over Indiana Pacers' Jeff Foster in the first half of a NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Monday, April 13, 2009.  (AP Photo/Michael Conroy) link

Celtics Sign Free Agent Delonte West

Rose +2 updates

FIBA World Championships 2010: Team USA Ekes Out 70-68 Win Over Brazil

More from SBNation.com >


Founders/Partners

Zorgonwebpinawesome_small Zorgon

Alec_guiness_small okluschen

Logo300x300_small okcthundercast

Community Manager

Blackbluelogo2_small daddydai

Contributing Writers

Threeofus_small gforce

Green_small illfreaky911

Hallofthegods_small Spencer Pan

Reffeet_small freelantz