FanHouse Jeff Green

TULSA, Okla. -- It's no surprise Kevin Durant is really pushing the team angle this week.

When asked by FanHouse if he wants to play for Team USA in the World Championships next summer in Turkey, the Oklahoma City forward couldn't stop talking about how badly he wants to represent his country. Sounds as if he'd settle for the role of scorekeeper.

Asked, though, about wanting to play next February in his first All-Star Game, Durant mostly just shrugged. This is apparently not a good time to be talking about such an individual accomplishment.

Durant made news on his Twitter page last Sunday by responding to an Oct. 9 ESPN TrueHoop post that, due to his poor plus-minus rating, Durant "has been killing his team.''

FanHouse previews a player to watch from each NBA team in advance of the 2009-10 season.

The English dictionary defines relentless as "Jeff freaking Green." I'm not kidding. Go look it up. And if it doesn't say that, then your dictionary has been scared into a lie.

Jeff Green is the other-other Thunder. If Russell Westbrook is The Edge to Kevin Durant's Bono, Jeff Green is one of the other U2 members that you don't actually know because they aren't The Edge or Bono. But if you haven't been paying attention to Green because you've been too busy calling your friends to tell them Kevin Durant is breaking your mindskull, take a second look at the power forward for the Thunder. Because if Oklahoma City is going to take the next step this season, it won't be on the back of Westbrook, but the man they call Predator.

FanHouse previews all 30 NBA teams in advance of the 2009-10 season.

The goal of the Oklahoma City Thunder should be apparent: Rise from the dregs of the Western Conference and into the middle-of-the-pack. That's a realistic endeavor, and it will be the responsibility of coach Scott Brooks to get the Thunder there.

Nobody expects the Thunder to be lumped in with the Lakers, Spurs, Blazers, Nuggets, Mavericks or even Hornets. But it does seem doable for OKC to gain some separation from the Kings, Timberwolves and Grizzlies of the world.

LAS VEGAS -- The question for the Oklahoma City Thunder is whether premium free agents will want to play in a city with little NBA reputation. That question will loom large in coming years because the Thunder will have a satchel full of money and cap space to attract an All-Star caliber player to join Kevin Durant, James Harden and Jeff Green.

Until then, the Thunder will rely on the draft and clever moves such as the mid-season signing of Nenad Krstic and the acquisition of former lottery pick Thabo Sefolosha. Oklahoma City has one of the NBA's lowest payrolls -- although many critics would say that's due to the thriftiness of owner Clay Bennett -- and just $20 million committed to players after the 2010-11 season. But will any of those potential 2010 free agents -- a class that includes LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Dirk Nowitzki -- consider the Dust Bowl?

LAS VEGAS -- After watching DaJuan Summers, who curiously fell to 35th in last month's NBA Draft, score 24 points with seven rebounds in 33 minutes in a Summer League win over Sacramento, assistant coach Darrell Walker made a declaration.

"Summers is a player and I don't know how he goes 35 in the draft," Walker said after Detroit's 86-77 win Friday at Cox Pavilion. "Things happen in the NBA Draft. I ain't crazy, I understand that but he's a legitimate NBA player. And I think he's going to get some legitimate minutes."

Summers was by far the best player on the court. He played on the perimeter and in the paint. He distributed the ball. He committed one turnover and stuck his hand to deflect passes. Georgetown players generally make solid NBA players because of their all-around skills and Summers resembles Oklahoma City forward Jeff Green.

The market for restricted free agent Paul Millsap was expected to be robust in theory, if not in actuality. This is to say Millsap is a highly desired fellow, given his proclivity to rebound like a champ, score efficiently, and defend his tail off at the power forward position. However, as always, a limited pool of clubs will head into July with cap space for next season.

The Thunder is one team with space to sign a free agent like Millsap. The team currently falls about $15 million under the cap, and Millsap has been pegged to pull a starting salary around $7-8 million. Oklahoma City can certainly afford to get into that ballpark, should Sam Presti desire to. Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune seems to believe OKC, in fact, desires Millsap.

FanHouse fixes a decade of draft-day blunders in Revisiting the NBA Draft.

Hard to believe that several NBA general managers can have regrets after two years, but it's true. The results of the 2007 NBA Draft are slowly reaping, which should teach a lesson to their 2009 brethren on Thursday about taking chances on raw college players, international prospects and even those who are allegedly "proven."

The biggest debate two years ago was whether the Portland Trail Blazers should take Greg Oden or Kevin Durant first overall. Oden was a franchise center out of Ohio State while Durant was the smooth scoring swingman from Texas. Durant had the better workout with the Blazers, apparently blowing the mind of coach Nate McMillan. Yet, the Blazers stuck with conventional thinking and took the big man.

Over the weekend, the Jazz announced that Jerry Sloan would be back for his 22nd year as head coach in 2009-10, the longest stint for any head coach in any of the professional sports.

On the exact opposite of the longevity spectrum, the Thunder and Timberwolves are mulling the futures of Scott Brooks and Kevin McHale, respectively, two of the newest members of the NBA's head coaching fraternity. Will they remain with Sloan in that elite group?

Georgetown freshman Greg Monroe couldn't have been more of a Duke guy if he'd been born with a birthmark shaped like the Blue Devil and given the middle name Krzyzewski.

He's pocket-protector smart, graduating with a 3.75 GPA from Louisiana's Helen Cox High School, so composed you could yell fire in a theater and he'd tell you to get of the way of the Paul Blart trailer, and grew up among that percentage of the population dwindling faster than an analog television set, those who like Duke basketball.

Heck, the guy probably helps old ladies to their seat during television breaks.

Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the lig. Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

The Thunder don't win very often, so when they do, it's cause for discussion. All it took was a home game against a Warriors team that plays zero defense for Kevin Durant and Jeff Green to lead the team to just its fourth win of the season.

Durant ended up with 25 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, and two blocked shots, basically doing everything possible to ensure victory over a very beatable Golden State club. Green chipped in 26 and eight, and Chris Wilcox had 23 and nine off the bench. Again, should we really be impressed since this took place against the Warriors? Probably not, but for OKC, any win deserves some celebration.

Nene continues to impress: Can you be the most improved player in the league if you only appeared in 16 games the preceding season? That's a question those who vote on the award will have to answer, because Nene has been amazing this season for the Nuggets. Lots of big lines from the high-scoring affair in Toronto, but Nene's 21 points (on 12 shots), seven rebounds, three assists, and just three fouls in 39 minutes stood out in Denver's win.

They're not booing, they're saying Mbah a MOUte: The negative lines are as much fun to point out as the positives sometimes, and when a starter has a lot of zeroes in the box score, well, that's one that we're going to mention. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute started for the Bucks against the Rockets, played 19 minutes, and somehow managed not to do anything but foul people. He finished with zero points, zero rebounds, zero assists, and four personals.