Jeff Green ignored once again

[GUHoya07]

This is an article by some clown named Marty Burns about the draft lottery. When I read the excerpt about the Sonics it made me furious:

"Sonics: Last year they moved up three places on lottery night, enabling them to land eventual Rookie of the Year Durant with the No. 2 pick. If the Sonics do get a shot at either Beasley or Rose, they would have a dazzling young pair of complementary stars to lead the franchise if/when it moves to Oklahoma City."

How can you completely ignore Jeff as if he is some worthless schmuck? He was on the freakin' All-Rookie first team!!! A top 5 pick who averaged 10.5 pts a game and made the All Rookie First team and yet he is apparently not worthy of changing the wording and writing "a dazzling young trio" instead of pair. What an ass!

sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/marty_burns/05/20/draft.lottery/index.html?eref=T1

[GUHoya07]

Furthermore, Roy Hibbert is not one of the top 22 Draft Prospects, but these guys are:

sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0805/nba.top.draft.prospects/content.1.html

[KHoyaNYC]

Not surprised about Hibbert. Green is peculiar but most people know he's big time.

[HoyaFanNY]

are you really furious about this? some guy doesn't mention him in an article and you get postal about it. beasley or rose would be much more of a 'star' player than jeff is and that is what he is talking about.

[royski]

Well, the idea that a top 5 pick that lived up to the billing isn't a piece to build around is pretty stupid.

[GUHoya07]

May 20, 2008 14:01:23 GMT -5 HoyaFanNY said:

are you really furious about this? some guy doesn't mention him in an article and you get postal about it. beasley or rose would be much more of a 'star' player than jeff is and that is what he is talking about.

What the hell does that mean? Since when is a Top 5 Pick who makes the All Rookie first time not a guy with legit star potential? Was every NBA star in history considered a lock to be great before they ever played a game in the NBA? Also, has every hyped up guy lived up to the expectations? I just find it absurd that a guy who is considered one of the 5 best players in his NBA class isnt recognized as a potential star in the future.

I guess Im just ignorant though because Beasley and Rose have soooo much more 'star' potential. Its really obvious now that I think about it.

I think Jeff at least deserves to be part of the conversation in terms of the core group of young guys that should be expected to lead that franchise for years to come. Do you really think Durant and Beasley or Rose are so far ahead of Jeff in terms of skill and potential that he doesnt even deserve to be considered a part of that group?

[moe09]

I agree with GU, you think his name would definitely appear there.

[Hoya TMF]

I'm not that worked up about it because Burns is a clown, but it definitely is a slight. Beasley and Jeff play the same position, thus making the statement even more dismissive of Jeff. The Sonics would be much better suited to draft Rose and build around those three than Beasley Beasley is probably more skilled, but I would take Jeff over Beasley any day, especially on a team where Durant is already the "star."

[SFHoya99]

The Sonics played Durant at SG and Jeff at SF all year. Now that may have been done to keep Durant from getting his skinny butt killed, but it isn't inconceivable that they go C-Beasley-Green-Durant-PG across the line.

Rose is definitely a better fit and would be ideal. Then again, they could get a much lower pick and not have that choice at all.

[Hoya TMF]

I guess I can't see Durant and Beasley playing well together. Would anyone else ever touch the ball?

[mrsixer123]

Inhale..............exhale

Relax...............release

[Filo]

You in labor Mr. Sixer?

[dchoyafan]

not to nitpick, but he did say "pair of complementary stars," not just "pair of stars." Although he was either omitting Green or being lazy, I'm willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt and presume laziness. Durant is a bonafide star, not a "complementary" star. Green, right now, is looking to be his Pippin, his "complementary star"- hardly a tragedy. Add Beasely or Rose and you might have 2 "complementary stars" in addition to the "primary" star. A pretty good situation if you ask me!
I dunno if the author meant that, and considering that he didn't mention Green specifically perhaps he didn't. So maybe I'm projecting my own opinion on to this guy, but thats how I see it... I would love to have a trio of stars like that, complementary or not.

[chep3]

I would assume that he meant complementary to one another, and not complementary to Durant. The only people mentioned in the quote are Durant and Rose/Beasley. It would be hard to see him as referring to a player (Jeff) as a complementary star that he hasn't named in the piece.

[moe09]

Yeah, I think it's pretty obvious that he's referring to the due of Durant and whoever would be drafted this year. Anyway.. here's another instance of Jeff Green being ignored in this draft preview on SI about the Sonics picking Bayless:

"An explosive Gilbert Arenas-type who is more of a scorer than a point guard. Some will see him as a tweener, but the rebuilding Sonics have the flexibility and time to add the right pieces around him. He's another building block to go with Kevin Durant."

sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/ian_thomsen/05/21/mock.draft/index.html

[hoyaderm1]

I like Jeff's potential and all, but he's a power forward who shot 43% and averaged under 5 boards per game. He may have made 1st team all-rookie, but Thaddeus Young had a better year, sparked his time to the playoffs, is 3 years younger than Jeff, and should have been on the first team instead. My point isn't that Jeff won't be a very solid player, but only that it is a bit of a stretch to call him "a dazzling young star."

[SFHoya99]

May 21, 2008 20:52:34 GMT -5 hoyaderm1 said:

I like Jeff's potential and all, but he's a power forward who shot 43% and averaged under 5 boards per game. He may have made 1st team all-rookie, but Thaddeus Young had a better year, sparked his time to the playoffs, is 3 years younger than Jeff, and should have been on the first team instead. My point isn't that Jeff won't be a very solid player, but only that it is a bit of a stretch to call him "a dazzling young star."

Jeff played small forward pretty much all year. He rarely was posted up or played inside which helps explain the shooting %.

Thaddeus Young is a nice young player -- I was shocked how ineffective he was at Georgia Tech and am blaming it on Hewitt -- but to say he "sparked" his team to the playoffs is a joke.

Philly had a losing record in the East, and Young was on a much, much better roster than Jeff. Igoudala is the best player on either team; Andre Miller is a better PG than Ridnour and Watson combined, the Sixers have a real center, a real talent in Louis Williams, etc. Young did a good job of playing complementary player, but he wasn't a Top five reason the Sixers made the playoffs.

I think he's going to be very, very good, though. Just that your comments were talking up Young quite a bit. Flip the two players and I think Jeff does better -- he'd have fit in great being able to play PF and not having to deal with a bunch of super selfish players.

[chep3]

Jeff is an outside shot (which he will develop) away from being a potential star, especially because he is going to be a really strong defender as well.

[StPetersburgHoya]

May 20, 2008 19:12:09 GMT -5 Filo said:

You in labor Mr. Sixer?

I humbly nominate this for post of the year.

[w3wa]

It was stupid for Burns not to include Jeff Green, but "ignored once again" makes it sound as if he is consistently slighted. Being first team all rookie, all you mentioned, thats a hard position to support.