Jeff Green has been having a decent season for the Oklahoma City Thunder this year, but he has struggled with his outside shot.  After shooting a career high 45% from the field and 39% from three last season, he is only hitting 43% from the field and an ice-cold 29% from three-point land.  Green is an active and athletic player, and is averaging 14.0 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.0 steals.  His point-per-game average is down 2.5 points from last season though, and his poor outside shooting is the reason why.  Green does a lot of things well for the Thunder and is third on the team in scoring (behind Durant and Westbrook), but if he could find some more consistency with his outside shot it will help spread the defense and make things a lot easier for Kevin Durant.  Durant often has to put so much of the scoring burden on himself, and if he has an off night the Thunder are almost guaranteed to lose.  If he could just get a little more help from guys like Green it could help the Thunder take the next step and get themselves into the playoffs.

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Kevin Durant is now in his third year and has solidified himself as one of the top scorers in the NBA.  Durant, who averaged 20.3 points per game as a rookie and 25.3 last season, already has a 40 point game under his belt this season and is averaging a career high 28.5 points this year.  He is also doing a good job rebounding the ball, with an average of 7.5 boards per game.  Durant is doing a great job scoring for the Thunder, but he needs to be a little more selective on his three point shots.  He is only shooting 23% from three so far this season and most of that is due to Durant taking contested threes.  He has a great mid-range game and needs to utilize that more instead of throwing up difficult threes.

23-year old Jeff Green is a player on the rise for the Oklahoma City Thunder. He played in 78 games for the Thunder last season and he averaged 36.8 minutes, 16.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steal per game. He has the potential to score more if the Thunder needs him to. Green could also play some at small forward for the Thunder if the need arises. 28-year old Nick Collison will get a lot of minutes at both power forward and center this season. He played in 71 games for the Thunder last season and he averaged 25.8 minutes, 8.2 points, 6.9 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. The Thunder would likely start Collison if either Kevin Durant, Jeff Green or Nenad Krstic gets injured this season. 23-year old D.J. White showed a lot of potential in his limited action for the Thunder last season. White played in 7 games for the Thunder last season and he averaged 18.6 minutes, 8.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. 32-year old Michael Ruffin won’t likely get much playing time for the Thunder this season as his game is pretty much limited to defense and rebounding. He played in 11 games for the Trailblazers last season and he averaged 3.2 minutes, 0.5 points and 1.0 rebound per game. 20-year old rookie Serge Ibaka will not get much playing time this season as he might have a hard time making the Thunder.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE POWER FORWARDS IN 2009-2010: B

Oklahoma City acquired 33-year old forward Joe Smith from Cleveland and Desmond Mason from the Bucks today. The Cavaliers got point guard Maurice Williams from the Bucks and the Bucks acquired guards Luke Ridnour and Adrian Griffin from Oklahoma City and guard Damon Jones from the Cavs. 33-year old Joe Smith is a very good player to have coming off of the bench to play 20-25 minutes per night. Smith played in 77 games (36 starts) last season for the Bulls and Cavs and he averaged 22.4 minutes, 10.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. Oklahoma City will be able to keep Joe Smith or flip him during the season like they did with Kurt Thomas. Smith has now played in 893 games (612 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 28.3 minutes, 11.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. G/F Desmond Mason was a fan favorite of Oklahoma City when he was with the Hornets a couple of years ago. He will likely be the 6th man for Oklahoma City and he’s a good one. Mason played in 59 games (56 starts) with the Bucks last season and he averaged 28.8 minutes, 9.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. Oklahoma City made this deal because of the depth they have at point guard (Russell Westbrook, Earl Watson) which made Luke Ridnour available. Desmond Mason has now played in 599 games (362 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 30.9 minutes, 12.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.

Oklahoma City has acquired rookie guard Kyle Weaver from the Bobcats for a 2nd round pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. This was a good move for Oklahoma City as Weaver will likely be Kevin Durant’s backup as a rookie. He is 6′6″, 201 pounds so he has nice size and he has a decent all around game despite not excelling in any one area. Weaver played in 121 games (103 starts) at Washington State and he averaged 9.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.6 steals per game. Look for Weaver to get some minutes off the bench backing up at shooting guard as a rookie but he might do a whole lot more in the future.