KD was named the 17th most powerful athlete in the world by Business Week: “This young superstar-in-the-making has notched two seasons as the NBA’s top scorer and led Oklahoma to back-to-back playoff berths. He signed with Nike shortly after the draft and has been courted by other blue chip companies ever since.”
Russell Westbrook was 70th: “The dynamic scoring duo of Kevin Durant (No. 17) and Russell Westbrook announced themselves to the NBA two years ago, when their Oklahoma City Thunder nearly derailed the Los Angeles Lakers’ championship run. This year the Thunder have one of the league’s best records (14-3 as of publication), and Westbrook’s quicksilver drives to the hoop and 20-point average are a big reason why. The Thunder rewarded Westbrook with an $80 million contract extension in mid-January.” Read more…
Actually, the right question is, could Kevin Durant consider restructuring his contract?
In this week’s mailbag, I answered a question about Durant and the possibility that he would renegotiate his deal to potentially free up a little more room to sign James Harden and Serge Ibaka. Under the old collective bargaining agreement, contract restructuring wasn’t allowed. But in the new one, players can.
It was among the so-called “b-list” issues and basically a player can renegotiate their deal to be paid a smaller amount, but the player’s salary can’t decrease by more than 40 percent.
However, there’s a catch and that’s where KD’s deal comes in. Someone with direct knowledge of the CBA tells me a player on a maximum level contract can’t do it. Because the restructuring has to include an extension and a designated five-year player can’t be extended. For example, a player on a three-year deal could restructure, but would have to get a new four-year deal. And since KD already has a five-year contract, he can’t add any more years to that.
So the conclusion: Even if KD wanted to do it, he couldn’t do it. But would he if he could?
Eddie Johnson of HoopsHype ranked the top 25 players with Westbrook 12 and Durant four: “I was having dinner with my wife last year, looked up and saw Durant walking outside. Without hesitation I bolted out of my seat to approach him to just let him know that I admire everything about his game and his attitude. True to form, he stood there and soaked in everything I said and said thank you. Not one time in those few minutes did I feel rushed or ignored and it seemed like he was reveling in the opportunity to gain more knowledge. This is why Durant will become one of the best players this game has seen. It is mindboggling that his numbers, already in the stratosphere, continue to improve every year. He is standing alongside Kobe Bryant right now as the best perimeter shot maker in the game. The biggest asset Durant has is his leadership. The way he has handled his teammates, especially Russell Westbrook, has been extremely impressive.”
For the first time in four home games, the Thunder starters weren’t spectators for a fourth quarter. And actually had to really work to secure Oklahoma City’s third straight win.
The New Orleans Hornets never would give in, keeping the score within 10 points before the Thunder finally just kind of quietly finished them off 101-91 with a couple Russell Westbrook baskets, a fast break oop to Kevin Durant, a big bucket from James Harden and a couple deep balls from Daequan Cook.
The difference between the first and second half was pretty striking. The first half might’ve had the best ball movement and offensive execution of the season. The Thunder had 13 assists at the half, scored 60 points and shot better than 50 percent. Oklahoma City wasn’t relying on just easy transition baskets (only 19 fast break points total) but were moving the ball, cutting and hitting shots. For a stretch in the second quarter, there were multiple possessions where all five guys were getting touches in rapid succession. Read more…
Another subpar team comes to The Peake. Which should mean Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook should plan on only playing roughly three quarters. After the home loss to Portland, the Thunder haven’t played a close home game. Blowouts to the Rockets, Spurs, Knicks and Pistons and now another less than stellar opponent comes into OKC. Read more…
Berry Tramel writes that Mark Cuban could have a good point for the Thunder: “Cuban could be doing the Thunder a huge favor. Westbrook and Durant figure to be right in the middle of U.S. Olympic and World Championship teams the next few years. And with the Thunder having committed more than $150 million to the duo over the next five years, the health of Durant and Westbrook is paramount. I know, we all want to think of patriotism and playing for love of the game and love of the country. But when you write checks for that much money, you’ve got to start thinking of protecting your investment. If the flood of NBA stars into international basketball subsides, it can only help the Thunder. Mark Cuban might be the one man who talks enough to make the league take a look at the current system.”
CBSSports.com power rankings have OKC No. 2: “I’d harp about their defense like I always do, but I can understand how difficult it is to get mentally prepared to shut someone down when you’re up by 25 points all the time.” Read more…
You should do a run-down of the top Thunder Killers. Thunder Killers, meaning players who always seem to play above their heads against the Thunder. — Dustin T.
Well, no Thunder Killer list can be correct without having Dirk sitting firmly at the top. That dude is basically Charles Manson to Thunder. He’s a straight Thunder serial killer. (To kind of define this, what I consider a Thunder Killer is someone that seems to always hit big shots or play really well against OKC. And that doesn’t always mean LeBron, Kobe or Chris Paul. It’s pretty much anyone that seems to save their best games for the Thunder.)
But this would be my All-Thunder Killer Team: Read more…
Ben Golliver of CBSSports.com gives OKC an A+ for their first quarter of the season: “The slip up against the Washington Wizards was both memorable and regrettable, but OKC has otherwise been clicking on all cylinders to start the season. It doesn’t come as a surprise, given how aggressively Kevin Durant and company attacked the lockout. If you’re handicapping the West, it sure looks like “Thunder or the field” already, which is scary given the youth of their core. Did I mention that they locked up an All-Star point guard for the next half decade?”
NBA.com power rankings: “Despite the loss in Washington, there was plenty of good news for OKC last week. Russell Westbrook got locked up for the next five years and the Thunder started to play some defense. They couldn’t score against the Wizards or Nets, but have allowed just 91 points per 100 possessions over their last five games.” Read more…
It’s hard for a game to be over with a score of just 8-2 and nine minutes left in the first quarter, but Monday’s game against Detroit was done pretty much right then and there. The next 45 minutes were just window dressing.
Two plays in the first five minutes sealed the Pistons’ fate. First, Russell Westbrook blew past rookie Brandon Knight for a vicious Westbrook-style one-hand hammer. Second, Westbrook made maybe the pass of his young career, a left-handed behind-the-back fastbreak fish to Kevin Durant for an and-1.
“I’m naturally left handed you know,” Westbrook said. “[KD] was running with me and he was he was going to get the pass. He just didn’t know how.”
After that, it was really just a matter of what the final score would be and what everybody’s stats would look like. Read more…
Pistons, bad. Thunder, good. Should be as simple as that, right? Unfortunately, it’s not always that way. Learned lessons and all. But there’s really no good reason the Thunder should leave this one in doubt in the second half. The expectation is a business-like disposal of the Pistons and on to the next one. Read more…
Coming into last week’s slate of games, I think most Thunder fans, or at least realistic Thunder fans, were set to be satisfied with a 2-1 road trip. Oklahoma City was rocking along with the best record in the league and a six-game win streak, but a big game against a hungry, desperate Celtics team was waiting.
But with a solid win over the Celtics, the Thunder were in prime position to stretch that streak out to 12 before a game in Los Angeles against the Clippers. And then a funny thing happened: The Thunder lost to the league’s worst team. It wasn’t that jarring, as it kind of felt like it could be coming. Still, the Thunder went 2-1, but just not in the way that was really expected. Because of that, I’d give the team a C grade for the week. Two wins are good, but the loss to Washington and an ugly win over the lowly Nets didn’t make it a banner week by any means.
Marc Stein of ESPN.com: “The Thunder, though, can’t be done for this season. Named NBA Coach of the Year as recently as 2010, Scotty Brooks is in the final year of his contract. Doesn’t he need a contract extension, sooner rather than later, to be able to manage the mercurial Russell Westbrook with the requisite authority and freedom?”
Nick Collison with a terrific new post at GQ on NBA travel: “Coach Cheeks told me when he played, teams didn’t have buses. They piled into a few Cadillacs and got to hotels and arenas by themselves. If the guys on our team had to do that—get around all these different cities using an actual map, instead of Google Maps on our iPhones—it would be a disaster. I would get lost and be late to half the games. The only pregame requirement back then was that the players had to be dressed and seated 40 minutes before game time. There wasn’t much scouting; the assistant coach went to games when he could to see other teams. That was all they had.” Read more…
The Achilles heel of the Thunder this week (season) continues to be giving up offensive boards. But with Perk, Ibaka, Collison, and a collection of some of the leagues better rebounding guards and forwards, how does this continue to be such a significant problem for the Thunder? The guys discuss this and much more in this weeks TGR including…
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The last step in Russell Westbrook’s five-year, $80 million extension with the Thunder was taken Sunday afternoon at the team’s old practice facility in front of crowd that included Westbrook’s parents and brother, his agent, owner Clay Bennet and a bunch of youth basketball players and their families.
Maybe it was a bit coincidental that the presser was there, but that old practice facility is really where it all started for Westbrook. Scott Brooks said he remembered looking at Westbrook during the first Thunder practice there and saying, “My first thought after the 10 minutes of the drill and this is a true story, I said to myself, ‘I am glad I’m coaching not playing anymore because I couldn’t guard this guy.’”
Westbrook, Sam Presti and Scott Brooks talked about the important move the Thunder all kind of spreading the credit around to each other. But Westbrook repeated one theme throughout: He wanted to be in Oklahoma City not just because the team is good or because they’re paying him. He said it multiple times — he wanted to be here because of the community, the organization and the fans. Read more…
Most of the time when the Thunder win ugly, it’s just because they didn’t play a great game, didn’t shoot well or played bad defense but found a way to win. It doesn’t normally mean that the game was pretty much unwatchable.
We’re not used to the Thunder playing a game where you genuinely start thinking about how you could be better using your time. Really, what it was, was the Thunder should’ve been blowing the doors of the Nets and had things in cruise control for the fourth quarter but instead was in game where they had it under control, but never had it entirely put away for good.
Russell Westbrook was solid, Kevin Durant the same and everyone else fine, but nothing really stood out about this game. (Except for Serge Ibaka’s ridiculous block on Deron Williams.) The Thunder handled their business and beat a bad Nets team, as they should, but I think we all expected a bit more of a takedown considering the bad taste Oklahoma City had to deal with the past couple days from the Wizards loss. Read more…
KD was named the 17th most powerful athlete in the world by Business Week: “This young superstar-in-the-making has notched two seasons as the NBA’s top scorer and led Oklahoma to back-to-back playoff berths. He signed with Nike shortly after the draft and has been courted by other blue chip companies ever since.”
The Achilles heel of the Thunder this week (season) continues to be giving up offensive boards. But with Perk, Ibaka, Collison, and a collection of some of the leagues better rebounding guards and forwards, how does this continue to be such a significant problem for the Thunder? The guys discuss this and much more in this weeks TGR including…
