Thursday Bolts – 7.16.09
Dave D’Alessandro of the New Jersey Star-Ledger looked closely at incentives in players’ contracts and there was an 
interesting one: ”Some incentives are bizarre. Consider Nick Collison of the Thunder — nice player, probably worthy of anybody’s power rotation. He gets $100,000 if he wins — wait for it — MVP. MVP? If he wins MVP, someone ought to anoint him king.”
And evidently, Nick had no idea: “If I would have known this I would have been MVP a long time ago.”
A cool article about Bill Branch, the architect behind Oklahoma City’s summer roster: ”But the Thunder has been watching each of the six roster invitees for years. Guard Keith McLeod, for example, is a veteran player looking to extend his career. Branch knew McLeod is a high-character guy who was willing to come in and play backup minutes at the point. The Thunder liked what it saw in 6-8 forward Doug Thomas last summer when he played for the Chicago Bulls Summer League team. Oklahoma City had him in during its European mini-camp in May, which provided an avenue to invite the physical, hard-working Thomas to Summer League. The Thunder also was familiar with forward Moses Ehambe, an Oral Roberts product who spent last season with the Tulsa 66ers and also speaks the same language as Ibaka.”
Zach Lowe of Celtics Hub looking at the market for Rajon Rondo: “The Thunder are a bit over $30 million in guaranteed deals for 2010-11, assuming Nenad Krstic elects to take his $5.8 million player option (duh). In theory, this leaves room for a run at Rondo, but: a) the Thunder appear committed to Russell Westbrook at point guard; and b) Kevin Durant and Jeff Green will be restricted free agents after the 2011 season, so it’s not like the Thunder are going to be tossing around money after the 2010 season unless they want to go well over the luxury tax later.”
OKC and Desmond Mason are talking about what to do with him: “General manager Sam Presti has had ongoing discussions with Desmond Mason’s agent regarding the possibility of re-signing the unrestricted free-agent forward and fan favorite. A deal, however, is not imminent and a potential agreement could take until the end of the summer to crystallize.”
Not basketball related, but I took part in this major survery Penn State did about blogs and bloggers. Kind of interesting: ”A majority of bloggers who comment daily about college and professional sports online do not see themselves as professional reporters, but they do believe their work fills a void left by mainstream media. According to a survey of more than 210 bloggers conducted by the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State, 75 percent said they do not see themselves as rivals of professional journalists.”
NBA owners met this week to discuss the CBA: ”NBA owners gathered Tuesday at the Palms Hotel & Casino for a critical Board of Governors meeting to prepare for collective bargaining negotiations that will begin next month. There were no crucial votes on the agenda, no pressing matters requiring immediate attention. But given raging uncertainty about how their basketball and other businesses will bounce back for the rest of 2009 and 2010, plus the potentially sweeping changes in the league’s salary structure and revenue sharing model that owners will seek in the new CBA, this was no play-cation at the Palms. This was serious.”
Darnell Mayberry on Kyle Weaver: But it hasn’t been all defense. Weaver is shooting well this summer. Thunder coaches talked all last season about how good of a shooter Weaver is. But what has stood out, even in limited chances, is how Weaver is beginning to shed his slow, elaborate shooting form. He’s now looking more comfortable shooting from the perimeter after working on developing a quicker release. Through the Thunder’s first two games, Weaver is shooting 53.7 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from 3-point range.”
A great list of the current remaining free agents and where all the ones that have signed have gone.
A cool story about the Goodman league at Barry Farms: ”The league also features some of the NBA’S finest. Gilbert Arenas and most of his teammates play here. So do many of the other local basketball players like Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder. “I think it’s great one of the best summer leagues in the country– you got a mixture of dudes who didn’t make it to the NBA,” says player Derrick Payne.”
Willie Warren really stood out at LBJ’s skill academy: “There were other pro prospects on the floor: Wake Forest’s Al-Farouq Aminu, Kansas’ Cole Aldrich, Califorinia’s Patrick Christopher. As terrific as those players were – and can be – there were times it seemed Warren was a level above everybody else. He is fast and powerful and dynamic with the basketball. He’s obviously not big for a shooting guard, but the value placed upon such players as like Ben Gordon and Stephen Curry indicates there’s a welcome place for Warren in the NBA.”
Forget Jordan Crawford dunking on LeBron James, this kid claims he took Kevin Durant off the dribble and “busted on him” at KD’s basketball camp. I must say, for some reason I just don’t quite believe him. Looks like he had a memorable time though. Good for him.
Kevin Durant attended the ESPY’s last night and was looking sharp:
Totally not basketball related, but if you follow the Sporting News link about the free agents, you’ll see a page with the headline ‘OSU has firepower, leadership’ with a picture of Sam Bradford. The article is about the Sooners. Professional journalism at its best!
I remember reading an article early in the year on the CBA (TrueHoop maybe?) that talked about one of the lessons both sides learned in the last stoppage is that NBA players, by and large, don’t have the cash reserves to survive a protracted lockout, so they’re likely to reach some type of agreement.
I noticed that too and considered punching my computer screen or maybe just emailing SN to alert them of their error.
@MartzMimic
I think that was TrueHoop. I read that too. Or maybe it was Simmons. One of the two, I read it as well.
hmm seeing druant like makes me think the new scoreboard is actually one of those men in black memory erasers. *gasp* hehe
Denzel called though….. Wants his glasses back! Just kidding KD you the MAN!!
and BTW–My kid was @ the Kevin Durant bball camp as well, and won a year’s worth of Krispy Kremes playing hot-shot with the man himself. We are very lucky to have this young man as the face of our franchise! He deserves all the accolades given him and MORE–just can’t say enough about what a inspiration/role model he is for the young ballers out there!
Is KD auditioning for Will Smith’s next sidekick in MIB3?
KD looks fresh to def!!!
I was thinking Jamie Foxx.
Skeets has a good interview with KD:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Kevin-Durant-talks-nicknames-Twitter-Thunder-e?urn=nba,176961#remaining-content
Great answer by KD about Twitter:
“Yeah, I love it. When I first started out on it I didn’t really respond to people. I just went on it to see what people were saying about me, you know? But now I’m a lot more active on it — I reply a lot more. I realized a simple “hello” can really make someone’s day. It’s cool to get a direct response from a basketball player, and it’s a great way to connect with fans. I Tweeted Keri Hilson the other day and she actually wrote back! I was so excited. I’m sure that’s what other people feel like when they hear back from their favorite athlete or celebrity. It’s fun.”
Good grief he’s down to earth and humble.
@Royce
Absolutely. Has to be the most modest budding NBA superstar EVER. We’re lucky to have him.
I hope Dez re-signs. I paid twelve bucks for a OKC Dez statuette. If he signs elsewhere, that money was wasted.
I have to say, ive been on all the blogs on the Truehoop Network and this is by far the best in terms of the articles, the backgrounds and links, and the people who actually comment. Most other blogs have few people have commenting their stories and the articles and few and far between.
By the way, how could you have two guards in the backcourt when both cannot shoot ? (I.E. Rondo Westbrook)
@Brian
i wouldn’t do the rondo thing either, but that guy is incredible. he was absolutely boston’s mvp this year. i think he’s a little along the line of the discussion people had about rubio: he might just be special enough to put them together and let them figure out shooting. they’re both young and will improve in that. again, i wouldn’t do it, but i could see the reasoning
@nick
If you look at Rondo’s numbers the first year they had KG, Allen, and Pierce, his numbers are still worse than Russ had his rookie year with FAR inferior talent. Averaged about 11-5-4, while Russ averaged 15-5-5. I’d say his ceiling is well above Rondo’s.
If Russ makes a similar jump in assist numbers compared to what Rondo did last year (8.2/game), I think most Thunder fans would be very happy. Westbrook has a chance to be a triple-double machine if he can do that.
@KingGondo
its because russ had such inferior talent that he was able to put up those numbers. don’t get me wrong, i love russ, but how many players shooting under 40% are even allowed on the floor enough to score 15 a game? rondo, on the other hand, shot nearly 50% the year you’re referring to and over 50% last year, which is flat-out incredible for a guard. his role with kg, allen, and pierce was essentially to give the ball to those guys and get the heck out of the way. with kg hurt and allen/pierce getting older, he really stepped it up this year. he belonged on first-team all-defense this year and was huge in the playoffs. and he is absolutely the pure passer that russ is not and doesn’t turn it over with anywhere near the regularity that russ does (and he never has). this year he averaged a full turnover per game less than russ and 3 assists more. obviously his assist numbers are up from playing with pierce and allen, but durant was easily better this year than both of them. i don’t know whose ceiling is higher because i do think russ could be very very good, but rondo is special.
Rondo is a no go – remember Ainge wanted to trade him due to chemistry issues –
if they are willing to trade a multidimensional guy like Rondo, then that should tell you something . . .
stay away . . .
outstanding post . . .
@KingGondo
Rondo was considerably better than Westbrook, even when Rondo was a rookie–if you don’t look at just the totals. In Rondo’s rookie year, he shot better from the floor, had an Ast/TO ratio of 2.1 instead of 1.6, had far more steals per minute, and more rebounds per minute. He produced 7.2 wins his rookie year. (Westbrook had only 4 wins produced). Take that on to Rondo’s rookie year, and Rondo’s shooting percentage from the floor far outshines Westbrook’s, he had a 2.7 to 1 Ast/TO, and most other rates were better than Westbrook, though his rebounding regressed.
Efficiency is more important than overall numbers. Had Rondo played more minutes or used more possessions, he would have had higher overall numbers as well…
Oh, and Rondo produced 10.5 wins that year, also. (I believe Wins Produced is the most accurate measure of value in the NBA…)
@Kev
this is true. again, i said earlier that i didn’t think we should get him, and the reason was mostly chemistry. for boston to want to trade him is just insane, so he clearly has his issues. but as a basketball player, he is a stud
You should read some of his tweets. He was begging Keri Hilson to say hi, even tweeting people who were friends with her to get her to say hi haha, makes you realize these guys are just college age males that have their celebrity crushes like the rest of us.
And BTW, I HATE twitter haha, but Nick Collison is so incredible at using it that it makes me contemplate getting one so I can follow his and comment on his posts. He is the one person on that site that I check daily and actually laugh out loud regularly
Case in point, right after I post it
http://twitter.com/nickcollison4/status/2672845567
“my daughter is addicted to chapstick,me,her mom,our dog Mort,and Diego will be waiting in her room when she wakes from nap for intervention”
twitter is pretty amazing actually. i mean, freedom fighters in Iran used it to attempt a revolution against Islamic extremists. Plus you can have them sent to your iphone….
I believe some of you were having a discussion about this earlier in the week?
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-42-86/Portland-s-Pursuit-of-Paul-Millsap–Sincerity-or-Strategy-.html
@nick
All good points, but I think it’s too early to call Rondo better than Russ just because a) Russ is transitioning to NBA point guard, and hasn’t played PG his entire life unlike Rondo, and b) Russell’s scoring ability has a much higher ceiling than does Rondo’s.
It’s admittedly tough to compare Russ and Rondo, in spite of their similarities. But I ultimately see them developing into about the same level of player, just with different styles–Westbrook as a score-first PG, Rondo as more of a pass-first PG. But it sure won’t hurt Westbrook’s assist numbers to have KD, Harden, and Green to pass to, either.
@Royce
Yeah, Keith and I had a nice discussion on it.
Pretty much along the same lines of debate, too.
Collison has to be the funniest guy in the NBA. I almost spit coffee all over my desk when I read that MVP comment.
I think Rondo is the better point guard, but I am with Kev, no go on coming here. He is going to want big dollars and he has reputed attitude problems and has been described as uncoachable. ”
“Chris Broussard: Rajon Rondo is definitely on the market. I’m told he’s very hard for Doc Rivers to coach, and that although Rondo gets along OK with his teammates, he’s far from a great teammate. The fear in Boston is that if Rondo is this difficult to handle on a rookie-scale salary, he’ll be a monster once he earns big money.
One GM told me, “They won a championship with this guy, and he’s coming off a tremendous playoff performance … and they’re looking to trade him. That tells you how bad things are.”
From the Celtics blog: http://www.celticsblog.com/2009/6/24/923910/more-rondo-updates