jeff and thunder keep rolling

[lichoya68]

yup another consitant game for jeff green with like seventeen adn 14 rebbies and three steals and the thunder i think have won nine in a row GO JEFFF

[Dhall]

that team is durant and 11 other guys, but it's nice to see jeff a part of it for now at least.

[Filo]

Feb 22, 2010 8:38:03 GMT -5 Dhall said:

that team is durant and 11 other guys, but it's nice to see jeff a part of it for now at least.

Not in the least. Durant is on an amazing streak. Dude is awesome. But Westbrook is also putting up unbelievable numbers and Jeff's numbers have been good also.

[TrueHoyaBlue]

And Jeff is getting a lot of credit as a glue guy on and off the court, and has recently been described as the kind of NBA player anyone would want on their team.

[joey0403p]

Biggest issue this team is going to have is keeping both durant and jeff. Durant has to get a max deal - has too. But how much do you pay jeff? because westbrook will be a free agent the following year. I doubt they will be able to keep all 3 of them to be honest. and its probably 50 50 as to who they keep westbrook or jeff.

[CAHoya07]

Thunder have now won nine in a row. They are 33-21 and currently fifth in the Western Conference. Still plenty of basketball to be played, and there are a lot of good teams in the West. Still, would love to see me some Jeff Green and the Thunder in the playoffs.

Jeff's numbers have dropped a little bit from last year - 14.6 ppg and 6.2 rpg vs. 16.5 and 6.7 last year. However, it may just be that he's playing on a better team now. He's third on the team in scoring behind Durant (29.8) and Westbrook (16.4), and well ahead of James Harden (9.9) who is in fourth. A big difference is his threes - he's hitting 31.5% this year vs. 38.9% last year. However, his turnovers are well down from 2.22 last year to 1.63 this year. Less assists (1.6 vs. 2.0), but his assist to turnover ratio seems to be improving.

Anyways, aside from all the numbers, great to see Jeff being a valuable contributor and one of the go to guys (although Durant is THE go to guy) on what seems to be a playoff caliber team. Should be fun to watch down the stretch.

[lichoya68]

JEFF IS THE GLUE AND THOSE THAT WATCH THE THUNDER CAN SEE THAT HE GETS HIS POINTS AND REBBIES ADN STEALS AND SETS PICKS AND PASSES ETC HE IS THE GLUE very proud hes a hoya go jeff go thunder yes

[hoyaboy1]

Feb 22, 2010 10:46:32 GMT -5 joey0403p said:

Biggest issue this team is going to have is keeping both durant and jeff. Durant has to get a max deal - has too. But how much do you pay jeff? because westbrook will be a free agent the following year. I doubt they will be able to keep all 3 of them to be honest. and its probably 50 50 as to who they keep westbrook or jeff.

They could keep them all if they wanted to, although that might put them over the luxury tax. Durant is obviously a max guy, and if Westbrook keeps playing like he has been lately he will be too. Jeff will cost quite a bit less, but might get priced out, I suppose.

[thehandicapper]

The NBA is losing money. These owners aren't going to be throwing around max contracts anymore. This is the post-recession NBA. The top free agent last year, Turkoglu got 5 years 53 million. To put it in perspective, Antawn Jamison the year before got 4 years 50 million and he wasn't coming off an NBA Finals run.

Jeff and Westbrook won't sniff 10 million a year after their rookie contracts. They'll get anywhere b/w 6-8 million a year.

[HoyaSinceBirth]

I love that jeff follows the Hoyas close enough that he's rooting for Uconn just for tonight because it helps the team get a double bye. I love that our former players still care that much about the program.

[SFHoya99]

Durant is obviously a max guy, but a winning team wouldn't make Westbrook a max guy. And I'm a Westbrook fan -- I was one of the few people on here who liked the pick -- but paying guys like that the max instead of replacing them is what kills teams.

[MCIGuy]

Feb 22, 2010 20:20:54 GMT -5 HoyaSinceBirth said:

I love that jeff follows the Hoyas close enough that he's rooting for Uconn just for tonight because it helps the team get a double bye. I love that our former players still care that much about the program.

Did you get that from his twitter? Pretty cool if that's the case.

[HoyaSinceBirth]

yeah was reading his twitter. I was quite impressed.

[daytonahoya31]

Russell Westbrook is a max guy. He's one of the best point guards in the league already and he's only going to get better.

[HoNYaSaxa]

Westbrook can't shoot (and overshoots).

[GIGAFAN99]

On the Thunder, I think Westbrook and Jeff are actually pretty similar in value.

On the open market? Westbrook is worth considerably more. There are just too many lousy point guards and decent teams with lousy point guards.

[Buckets]

I think this is all irrelevant considering that Green's contract expires when the CBA does, and Westbrook's got a team option for a season that may not happen. It's pretty irrelevant to discuss what either guy is going to get without any idea what the CBA is going to look like.

That said, Westbrook is arguably not one of the top 5 point guards 25 and under (Paul, Williams, Rondo, then arguably Rose and Evans) so it's pretty ridiculous to say he's a max guy. He'll also be 24 in the 2012 offseason and Green will be 25 in 2011, so comparing either to an unathletic 30-year-old who had a career year and saying he's going to get 60-80% of that money is pretty dumb, too.

[SFHoya99]

Feb 22, 2010 21:55:30 GMT -5 daytonahoya31 said:

Russell Westbrook is a max guy. He's one of the best point guards in the league already and he's only going to get better.

No, he's not. He's a nice player, a good player. But the reason why mediocre teams stay mediocre (or bad) is because they overpay guys. Nobody carries two max guys without paying luxury tax -- and Ok City isn't going to do that.

He's not going to ever be a player on the level of a Durant, D. Williams, Nash, Paul, James, Bryant, Bosh, Howard, Dirk, etc. He'll be lucky to be an Arenas, and making him a max is what screwed Washington.

No maybe in the new CBA the max is so low things change, but the team that makes Russell Westbrook a max player is one doomed to mediocrity at best and most likely just sucking.

[daytonahoya31]

We obviously don't see the same player. The Westbrook I watch creates shots for others, scores, rebounds, racks up assists and plays great defense. He's 6-4 and insanely athletic. I wouldn't argue him over Paul, Williams, and Rondo, but I would take him every day and twice on sunday over Evans and he's not far behind Rose.

To me, he's better than a good player. He's someone who you want to pay to keep around.

[Cambridge]

Do you think Rondo is a max player?

PS I say this as a Celtics fan.