Keeping Cool In The Shadows
Say what you want about Uncle Jeff. Yes, his stats have dipped. Yes, he’s slumped shooting the ball. Yes, sometimes he’s not great on the glass. But if there is one thing about Jeff Green, it’s that he’s a winning basketball player. When the Thunder was struggling offensively, he hit two HUGE shots. When Minnesota had a chance to tie the game, he just makes another incredible play at the rim. He’s exactly the kind of player you need on a team. Someone that no matter what, will give max effort and always seems to be making winning plays. I don’t care what you say, it isn’t a coincidence that he’s playing 40 minutes a night for a 24-18 team.
via Jeff Green comes through again in the clutch as OKC wins 94-92 | Daily Thunder.com.
I’m rapidly approaching the point of saying that OKC needs to take Green off the trade block, permanently. As in saying, “No Durant, no Green. Everything else we’ll entertain.”
It’s not that Green’s a better player than Westbrook (he’s not), or even Harden (we’ll see how the Beard 2.0 does next year). It’s that you can tell he and Durant are linked. There’s a bond there, they’re buddies. And in that friendship are elements of confidence on both sides. Green will do Durant’s dirty work, and Durant gives him confidence that he can be a star in this league. Breaking them up undermines both of their value because they know and like playing together so much.
Green has No-Stats All-Star potential.He makes a ton of hustle plays, battles for loose balls, runs off three point shooters, and isn’t so desperate to prove himself offensively that he’ll take every shot. There are giant, glaring holes in his game (rebounding, reliable offensive moves), but they’re not things which can’t be solved. And in the meantime, Green’s evolution has not only been as important to the Thunder’s winning percentage, it’s correlated with Durant’s leap. It’s a dynamic duo, and OKC would do well to let the caped crusaders battle together.
And sweet Jesus, that dunk on Josh Smith…
Oster-Tags: Jeff Green, Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder
[...] I really agree with Matt Moore of HP here: “Green has No-Stats All-Star potential. He makes a ton of hustle plays, battles for loose balls, runs off three point shooters, and isn’t so desperate to prove himself offensively that he’ll take every shot. There are giant, glaring holes in his game (rebounding, reliable offensive moves), but they’re not things which can’t be solved. And in the meantime, Green’s evolution has not only been as important to the Thunder’s winning percentage, it’s correlated with Durant’s leap. It’s a dynamic duo, and OKC would do well to let the caped crusaders battle together.” [...]