Wednesday Bolts – 7.15.09
Randy Hill of Fox Sports looks at teams moving up: ”OKC – We can consider this team upgraded by simply tearing 
another year off of the calendar. But the maturing Thunder also used the third overall pick in the first round to select a card-carrying shooting guard named James Harden. What Harden provides is a legitimate two guard whose presence will continue to discourage anyone affiliated with personnel groupings to put Kevin Durant back at shooting guard, where he couldn’t defend a bear in a phone booth.”
Chris Mannix of SI with some Summer League notes: “Oklahoma City’s James Harden is going to be a stud. That’s what I keep hearing.”
I was just flipping around the web yesterday and I stumbled across this 2007 Bill Simmons column that had a bold statement about Kevin Durant before he was drafted: “All I know is that MJ was the last guy since Wilt to crack 37 a game in the pros … and Kevin Durant will be joining him in 5-6 years if he stays healthy. That’s not even hyperbole. I don’t see anyone stopping him. But will his rebounding/shotblocking catch up to the rest of his game? And will his teams ultimately win? Those are the looming questions.”
Adrian Wojnarowski with a little Thunder tidbit: “Maurice Cheeks has been offered a job on Scott Brooks’ staff with the Oklahoma City Thunder. He’s still deciding.” (h/t Alex)
Another comeback story for Shaun Livingston: ”But he’s been humbled. The Clippers renounced his rights in June 2008 to clear cap space for Baron Davis and then he had a brief stint with the Miami Heat before signing with OKC and heading to the NBDL. “I think that says a lot about him that he was willing to go to the D-League,” OKC general manager Sam Presti said. “We are talking about a guy who was the fourth overall pick. That said a lot about him and his willingness to get back.” Livingston said the knee is healthy but he still needs to get back in basketball shape; that has been the purpose of summer league.”
Darnell Mayberry on how James Harden bounced back: “Even while being more aggressive and methodical, Harden continued to impress with his confidence, poise and perimeter shooting. And he again showed his versatility by initiating the offense, directing traffic and defending multiple positions. It was also encouraging that Harden was effective and efficient for the second time playing without Russell Westbrook, who commanded much of the attention while playing in five of the Thunder’s summer league games.”
David Thorpe on Steph Curry: “The good news for Curry is that he’s been able to get shots — largely because the ball has been in his hand. He’s picking his opportunities. Unfortunately, he’s picking far too many of them. Although he’s averaging 19.5 points per game, he’s doing it on only 31.4 percent shooting. His assist/turnover ratio? 4.5 to 3.75.”
The Carlos Boozer trade rumors are heating up: “But there are other options for Chicago and Utah to turn toward. Like Sacramento, Memphis or Oklahoma City, who all sit on cap space. Portland’s the easiest friend in cap terms, but all three young rosters could be willing to help the Bulls get a post scorer while helping Utah get out of trouble.”
The Mo Cheeks things is interesting. I read up on him, and it seems like he would be a great motivator for our young team (much like Scotty Brooks already is). Maybe not a great X’s and O’s guy, but an awesome bench presence that could bring up our intensity for critical possessions.
He’s also a defensive specialist, so he could probably really help Westbrook and Harden progress into the defenders we know they can be. Here’s hoping it happens.
Neither Chicago or Utah have anyone that we would want, and I don’t think that Presti would be very happy with simply taking on salary unless there a few draft picks were involved too.
For those interested in Gortat:
Magic GM Otis Smith told HOOPSWORLD that his decision to match the offer sheet on Marcin Gortat was about protecting an asset saying that the NBA as a league does not have many quality centers and he was not about to let Marcin walk away for nothing. Smith downplayed the notion he would trade Marcin at any point in the season but repeatedly referred to Marcin as an asset, more so than a player.
Sources close to Marcin are also here in Vegas and said today Otis has backed away from his “won’t trade Marcin” stance. They also said it was likely Orlando would test the trade market for Marcin at the trade deadline, but it was far more likely the Magic hold on to Marcin until next year when better free agent options are available and he would be into the 2nd phase of Base Year Compensation and easier to move.
@Vega
I’m with you on that. It would seem to me that Presti has the pieces he wants for now. But, if he could trade a guy like weaver or one of the new interior players for a reliable big in return, he might take it – so long as it didn’t kill his beloved cap space completely.
I’d hate to see Weaver go because he gives the team depth, but if it brings in someone who could make a real impact, then why not.
Utah has the Knick’s 2010 first round pick. Could have three lottery picks in a deep draft just to take on some salary.
Hey Royce, stupid question. How does one go about getting an avatar?
@Bryan
Go to en.gravatar.com and follow those directions. Once you upload it, it’ll take a few minutes for it to process, but it’s pretty easy.
@Royce
Cool, thanks man. Keep up the great work.
Hey Thunder fans, I’m currently training for the next deployment and haven’t had a chance to post like I want to but, I finally got a chance to buy the summer league and see the Thunder against the Lakers.
Gotta agree with most of u guys on the fact Mullens shoots too many Jumpers from 18 to 22 feet when the organization says he’s 7ft 2in. He has a nice skill set, but he need to bang some down low if we’re gonna get what we need out of him.
Ibaka needs to do some drills on catching the ball, I mean sheesh, it’s almost like he has bricks for hands when a simple pass in traffic comes his way! He’s gonna be a heck of a post player when he learns to catch the ball in a congested area.
I was proud of what Weaver did on defense in that game, my only problem with him is he’s already showed us he could play defense last year when he blocked Kobe’s shot in a game in LA last season, What we need to see is improvement on the offensive side of the ball where his shot at best is moderatly better…if that.
Off-topic, but I think that the Hawks need to use their MLE and get some depth. They did get Jamal Crawford for Acie Law and Speedy Claxton’s rotting corpse, but they still need some more pieces. Here is their rotation:
PG: Mike Bibby
SG: Joe Johnson
SF: Marvin Williams
PF: Josh Smith
C: Al Horford
6: Jamal Crawford
7: Zaza Pachulia
8: Jeff Teague (And he may not be ready to contribute yet.)
9-12: A bunch of scrubs.
They are immensely lucky to have Crawford and Zaza, two starter caliber players, coming off the bench, but seven deep isn’t enough to win in the playoffs. They need a backup point guard, perhaps a cheap veteran like Bobby Jackson, and a forward of some sort, like Drew Gooden, Linas Kleiza, Joe Smith, Wally Szczerbiak, or Hakim Warrick.
Just because someone’s 7ft doesn’t mean they can play ball. BUT if they’re 7ft AND a McDonald’s All-American I expect to see a freaking post move or two. We don’t need a 7ft jump shooter, we need a 7ft defensive presence that can pull out a decent post move every once in awhile. He’s Shawn Bradley just 6″ shorter. Below is a vidi of BJ scoring 108 pts in two games, blocking shots, going to the rack with force, etc. What happened? Was he up against a bunch of 6’5″ centers in HS? Oh wait, he was. I’m digging EVERY young player we have for the upcoming season, except this guy. I really hope BJ can contribute and keep up with White/Ibaka when it comes to development this season.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oto65oChjc
Some updates with Stern talking about the economy of the league and labor talks. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/sports/basketball/15stern.html?_r=2
Bill Simmons is shouting lock-out, wouldnt’ that suck. Losing out on a year of KD and the guys would be terrible.
Mullens is fine for a kid his age with his experience. He is exactly what I expected, plus a decent jump shot. Everyone knew he was two years away from contributing to an NBA roster. Vaden is the guy who has me scratching my head. When we drafted them, I figured we’d see them both in D League. But now I’m not sure if Vaden even belongs there. Does France have a D League? If so, they should take a look at Vaden.
When is our next game?
Wasn’t sure if anyone else saw it, buy DailyThunder made it on to TrueHoop’s “Bullets” again.
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-42-79/Wednesday-Bullets.html
@tbird26p
Thursday at 7:30 CST.
@Jax Raging Bile Duct
The way Vaden has played, I’m not so sure I’d take him in a pick-up game. I just don’t get it. How is it that a guy who dropped like 40 points a few times in college end up missing like every shot. I just don’t get it.
I don’t expect anything from Vaden as a 2nd rd pick though I’m hoping he can contribute down the line.
Obviously we would have had to pay more money but I REALLY wish we could have gotten Jodie Meeks instead of Vaden.
Simmons was writing about Durant all during his freshman year. Durant was pretty much the main reason Simmons actually wrote about March Madness that year (instead of sticking only to pro sports). He was the one voice from ESPN that I remember loudly advocating Durant over Oden.
Maybe vaden got lucky when he put up those numbers a few games in college. i mean heck even if i shoot the ball 20 times a night surely i would go off a few games.
If you look further back in his archives you can probably find many more nice things Simmons said about KD!
A guy on a HoopsWorld chat came up with this Boozer/Miami scenario that would get OKC involved:
Jazz receive:
Udonis Haslem
Chucky Atkins
Miami receives:
Carlos Boozer
OKC receives:
James Jones
I absolutely love that trade, and I think that it could actually happen. Jones is a good backup SF and a great shooter.
@Vega
But why would Utah do that trade, it offers them zero salary cap help for the upcoming season and definitely doesn’t help them in terms of product on the floor.
They’d still feel a serious hit from the luxury tax and be a much worse team…I’d love a quality backup and a chance to unload Atkins, but just not going to happen.
Is Haslem’s contract expiring like Atkins is?
@Vega
yeah, i don’t think that one makes any sense. although jones would be awesome, he can flat-out shoot the ball. but like jg said, the jazz are looking for cap space so they can match millsap without breaking the bank. they don’t need an expiring contract like chucky because they have an expiring contract that can actually play (boozer)
James Jones for Chucky Atkins? Player for player it sounds like a great deal, but I don’t know about the salary issues.
Jones is on the books for about $22M through 2013. Atkins’ $3.4M is going to be pretty valuable come the trade deadline.
@nick
I think the point is they would buy Chucky out…
I haven’t really thought through that trade or anything…that just appears to be what would be going on at first glance…
@GAP
Thanks for your service Gap. Iraq or Afghanistan?
@J.G.
Hey Vega, you mentioned Atlanta’s gaping holes in their roster. Maybe they need a backup point guard. How about Earl, since their GM is Rick Sund, the guy who Presti replaced, and the guy who TRADED FOR Earl in the first place. Maybe he’d like him back for some goods. I think Earl is going to be near impossible to get rid of until the trading deadline. 6.5 mil is a lot of money for a backup. Some team will definitely take him at the deadline in Febrauary with only 3 or so months of the season left to help in the playoffs or to get his expiring contract for the big ’10 free agent crop. But to trade him now, will be hard to do, very hard.
@Vega
Wouldn’t Utah be better served by just trading us Boozer straight up for Collison? We could throw in Atkins for salary matching purposes if need be and they could buy him out for 760K. That move would trim about 12mill off the Jazz payroll this year after the tax is imposed. I would love to add Boozer- even if it is for just one year. He might very well decide he likes it here and play for less than 12+mill per year, or we could trade him at the deadline to some team in contention for lots of goodies. Worst case would be we get a 20/10 guy for a year playing his ass off for next years contract for the price of a back-up PF/C and an additional 6 mill in salary this year.
@Nix
yeah, i suppose. it just seems like they could do better, they’d still be paying haslem’s 7 mill … that is a pretty significant saving with the tax i guess, but i would have thought they could do better.
@Royce
on hoopshype it says that every year after this next year on jones’s contract is a team option- is that right?
@Steve H
i’m not at all a fan of getting boozer. i think he would really hurt the development of green, white, ibaka, etc. and the guy plays absolutely no defense, kev would go crazy if we had him. i don’t think he makes us all that much better in the short term, i think he hurts player development, and we’d have to pay extra. pass
@nick
I didn’t get that from HoopsWorld’s salaries:
http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=9147
I read on Hoopsworld that Livingston would like a guaranteed contract from the Thunder, and I for one am hoping he gets it. Is this the kind of thing (contract extension for Livingston) we are likely to see this off-season? I get the feeling his price is only going to go up the longer we wait. I would also like to se Presti lock up Thabo for about four more years while he is at it.
@nick
If Green comes back a little bigger,stronger, and more committed to interior defense and rebounding, I’ll be happy to hitch our wagon to him as our future power forward. If not, I’m looking at him primarily as a great back-up three, or filling the 4 spot when we decide to go small and up-tempo. My point is- if we are looking at essentially the same player as last year, we could sure use a new starting PF, and I don’t see the harm in landing Boozer. I love both White and Ibake’s potential, but I don’t want to rely on them for starters minutes next year either. I also think we could also expect to see more defensive intensity from Boozer than he might have previously exhibited because he would be auditioning for his 2010 contract. And like I said, if he isn’t setting the house on fire and ain’t interested in staying- we could always move him at the deadline. Presti got PHX unprotected 1st rounder making a similar move with K.Thomas. God only knows what he could bring in for Boozer.
@Royce
ok, it was probably a mistake. i didn’t think that would make much sense
@Steve H
that super backup role for green only makes sense in sepcific circumstances. a lot of people bring up odom, but the only reason odom gets major minutes there is that pau can slide over to play the 5. boozer definitely wouldn’t be able to do that, so green minutes would solely come behind boozer and durant, and there aren’t a whole lot of minutes there. and even if you that there were enough minutes for green, then we’ve totally buried collison, white, and ibaka. especially for the next year, where i don’t think we’re really going to compete, i’ll pass on boozer. i’m not entirely against upgrading the 4, i just think it makes way more sense to do it with someone who could also play the 5 (those guys are pretty scarce)
@nick
Next year’s draft class is loaded with PFs. If the Suns move either Nash or Amare, we could find a long term solution at the 4 spot with their pick. I guess we will just have to disagree on this one, and the odds are that we never land Boozer, but I still think it would be a great value move that would ultimately yield a greater return than just hanging on to Collison.
At some point the Thunder are going to be done rebuilding and start building a title contender. We have westbrook and durant solidified as starters for a long time, if green gets bigger and keeps improving then he is the 3th long term starter, and harden is playing great and seems like a guy that will fit perfectly with wesbrook and durant. Assuming harden works out and green turns into a real PF, we have enough pieces of the puzzle that its time to start thinking about what we need acquire to be a title contender in 2-3 years. Drafting more rookies that take a couple years is not the way to fill those holes, unless they are extremely talented, because we won’t have the minutes to give them to speed up their learning curve. I think this is the year that Presti decides what the missing pieces are and gets them via trade in the next 12 months, using our $13.3 mil expiring contracts and lottery picks.