What if Jeff Green can develop into David West?

wiff · Post #21 » by **wiff** » Tue May 13, 2008 5:31 am

My personal opinion of OJ Mayo is that the guy is talented as can be, but he is a grease fire waiting to happen.

It would be in OJ's best interest as a pro to go to team that has a strong veteran locker room with strong veteran leaders. And that's not the Sonics.

Anyone in here think OJ and PJ would work well together?

You think OJ is going to take advice from Kevin Durant? They are practically the same age.

Lastly you never get equal money on the dollar when you are looking to trade a guy with issues.

Just look at Zach Randolph. The Blazers had to pay a lot of money to trade him.

If the Sonics where like the Pistons when they drafted Darko with all those vets I wouldn't be so opposed to drafting him but the Sonics are a really bad team and a really young team OJ Mayo isn't going to take advice from anyone.

BBen · Post #22 » by **BBen** » Tue May 13, 2008 5:40 am

Yeah I could see it being a Denver-like situation. That team is so darn undisciplined and it pains me a little to see George Karl as the coach.

fugop · Post #23 » by **fugop** » Sat May 17, 2008 7:35 am

Jeff Green's standing reach is about 5 inches shorter than David West's. With an 8'7" reach, he would easily have the shortest of any major PF (I think Landry in Houston would be the only shorter). Do you guys really think he's long enough to effectively guard the PF position?

wiff · Post #24 » by **wiff** » Sat May 17, 2008 2:19 pm

fugop wrote:Jeff Green's standing reach is about 5 inches shorter than David West's. With an 8'7" reach, he would easily have the shortest of any major PF (I think Landry in Houston would be the only shorter). Do you guys really think he's long enough to effectively guard the PF position?

Well as I said previously in this thread.

wiff wrote:With Green covering guys who are on the beefy side like Boozer, Brand, Scola and Al Jefferson's. And Durant covering the longer guys like KG, Rasheed, Dirk and Aldridge.

So there you have it. They will be playing the guys who they match up against best.

fugop · Post #25 » by **fugop** » Sat May 17, 2008 7:07 pm

Did Green spend much time guarding those guys this year? It seems a bit unrealistic to me; I was a big fan of his at Georgetown (alum), and figured he'd be a pure SF in the league. Were I to compare him to another player in the league, it'd be more Caron Butler than David West.

jambalaya · Post #26 » by **jambalaya** » Mon May 19, 2008 6:53 pm

As a rookie one of the better comparisons for Green right now is Diaw- without the strong passing and not as good a shooter but more aggressive getting to line. Nachbar is another half decent comparison including the weaker than average defense.

It is just year 1 and he should get better (though he didn't show hardly any statistical improvement in college year to year). I'd like to see Green get to Diaw level or Ryan Gomes level first then think about higher. David West level is a long ways off.

I agree Caron Butler seems like a better match on style and probably on position. Including the weak defense.

It will be interesting to see if Green can be a strong NBA passer or if his college stats were mainly a product of the Princeton offense. If Presti paid the #5 for him in part due to perceived passing skill then he better show more of it and PJ or the next coach needs to put him in the right offense and right spots to pass. If they picked him #5 for defense we need to see more of that too in next year or two. If they pick him to be a #2 or #3 offensive player he better get his FG% up. If he improves enough in 2 or 3 of these ways then he could be a decent pick. If he fails to improve substantially in 2+ ways then he will have been a Presti over-reach / talent misread. Most mock drafts had him around 10th best player available and by his rookie results he performed more like 20-30th best per minute despite the all-rookie team vote.