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Tuesday Bolts – 8.25.09

The Traber/Simmons war has reached its absolute boiling point, as it made Deadspin yesterday. Hopefully if things don’t fall through, I’ll have more on this (and hopefully the last word, at least from me) later today.

Kevin Durant returned to DC again, this time dropping 40 against Washington’s Andray Blatche and Sacto’s Donte Greene. Oh, and Jeff Green scored 28. They played this one at Georgetown though, not on the playground. Video!

 

More: “To get a sense of the allocation of NBA talent at Sunday afternoon’s charity game at Georgetown’s McDonogh Gymnasium, one needed only to look at the rosters. Kevin Durant played for one team, while Jeff Green, Andray Blatche, and Pops Mensah-Bonsu suited up for the other. Sounds fair. The game, held to raise money for Project Giveback and run in connection with The Goodman League, would’ve featured Durant against even more NBA talent — if more players had shown as promised.”

KD has tried to get Uncle Jeff to Twitter: ”[Durant and Green are] also good friends – they’ve had to be, since they’ve been attached at the hip since draft night three years ago. If there’s one difference, though, Green doesn’t Twitter. (By the way, follow me here.) “I’ve tried to [get him to],” said Durant (@KevinDurant35), who has over 61,000 followers. “He said he doesn’t know how to work it. I’m going to teach him how, though.”

Pro Basketball News ranked KD the second best small forward: “He won’t turn 21 until Sept. 29 and is coming off a sophomore season where he averaged 25.3 points despite commanding the attention of every defense. His progress eliminated the volume shooter criticism, as he improved his shot selection and wound up at a near-48 percent clip, including 42 percent from 3-point range. At this point, he’s the next big thing, on schedule to become the youngest NBA scoring champion in history this season. Max Zaslofsky and Bob McAdoo were over 22 when they won scoring crowns, while LeBron was 23 when he led the league in ’07-’08. Durant has 2009-10 to make history, and will.”

HoopsWorld counts down the most influential people in basketball: “Aaron Goodwin, CEO of Goodwin Sports Management: Goodwin counts NBA mega-star Dwight Howard and future mega-star Kevin Durant as his top shelf clients. However, he has more than $125 million in guaranteed contract dollars and is one of the biggest names in the agent game. As Dwight Howard’s agent he influences the direction of one of the fastest-rising stars in the sports marketing world and will only get stronger as Kevin Durant matures.”

Nick Collison loves the Midwest!: “Im having a siouxper time in americas heartland. Me to iowa is as fish to water.”

I can’t believe I missed this. From SI writer Grant Wahl: “Just listened to @nickcollison4 own Oklahoma radio clown. Don’t mess with NC–one of the all-time good guys/interviews/thinkers in sports.” Uh-oh Grant Wahl. Uh. Oh.

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@Nix
I also posted a very civil (though dissenting) comment to Jim's blog, and it also got deleted.

I think it's ironic that he bashes Simmons for not allowing comments on his articles, and he (or an SA.com moderator) deletes comments that they do not like.

Traber is a tool.

"I don’t care if Simmons ever stops with his whole “team/city that shall not be named” thing. He’s not into the way things went down, and that doesn’t bother me. He’s never said anything foul about the fans or the people here, only Stern and Bennett. He’s at least careful to make that distinction, and as long as that is the case, I can’t take much offense."

Right on Jox. That is the perfect attitude to have toward the whole thing. Because it is exactly the case. Any people like Traber who try to turn it into an offense are just playing into the whole "little town, big inferiority complex" stigma.

And Traber really better hope that Simmons doesn't actually go on the air with him. Because if that meeting ever happens, Simmons will eviscerate him. Be it on this stupid beef, Traber's bullying tactics, the whole SonicsGate thing, or actual sports knowledge. MAYBE if the topic was enraged baseball tantrums and failed karate kicks, MAYBE Traber might have the upper hand. But Simmons would absolutely destroy that fool. Hell, most of us here could. Someone as knowledgeable, quick witted, and articulate as Simmons just wouldn't be fair.

@Royce
Well, very good then! :) I don't like the self-imposed radio silence between 2 and 6 right now, so that would be awesome.

@Lefty
That's going to kind of be the idea behind it. Thirty minutes or so, mainly focused on the Thunder but with a little of everything.

Well, I guess how about just a website dedicated to putting out some pretty awesome podcasts? Not just Thunder related, obviously, but with a little bit of everything in there. something like that could be pretty cool.

Jox 930 was, like the Animal, a Citadel property.

Jox was owned by Clear Channel I believe.

Whew! Got through one of your posts Jax (jk jk) and I think you're exactly right. You and Nix. Simmons is playful and Traber's an ass.

I remember the article Royce wrote months ago about Simmons and how he won't mention Oklahoma City. I wrote a long-winded post (imagine that) about how Simmons is a writer first, and a sports fan second. A person wouldn't go to Simmons page for sports news any more than they would go to John Stewart for political news. That's not what they do. They take the subjects and write entertainment around them.

If he were sitting at the ESPN news desk doing sportscenter with that act, he'd be out like trout in a drought.

Simmons is guilty of taking an unpopular opinion in a few areas just because he knows it will stir up drama and get his articles read (such as his opinions on Kobe), but Bill is no shock jock. He's funny. He's interested in drama, but not in flame wars. He's not out to prove that the rest of the world are all idiots if they don't agree with him. In other words, he's no Jim Traber.

I don't care if Simmons ever stops with his whole "team/city that shall not be named" thing. He's not into the way things went down, and that doesn't bother me. He's never said anything foul about the fans or the people here, only Stern and Bennett. He's at least careful to make that distinction, and as long as that is the case, I can't take much offense.

@Air_Thurman
That is truth.

I could be wrong but didn't the Sports Animal own Jox?

I love Simmons...

I think he's the most entertaining writer at ESPN...

I actually don't mind him 'bashing' OKC, because everytime he does he's also giving our team complements.

Who cares what people think about us? We have a team. They're not going anywhere. He said in a Podcast w/ Steve Nash acouple of days ago that OKC deserved a team, he just didn't like how it all went down in Seattle.

What exactly is the problem with that?

What's amazing when listening to Traber is he is CONVINCED that we love simmons. We don't love simmons, we just want him to STOP nationally bashing OKC, and Traber is making it easier for him.

@Nix

It's not a good or bad thing. I posted in comment #6 how these games are like all-star games. You don't play defense, you don't give full effort, you just score and let score.

Here is the problem with KD scoring 40 in that league...He was most likely being guarded by Jeff Green (Green was on the other team)

He was also guarding Jeff Green (likely) who scored 28. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Must be an honor coming from the Lord.

@Dylan
I wasn't listening. Awesome though.

I missed what he said! Who called in?

Hahaha, Traber called Royce an idiot.

I just posted a comment on his blog as well.

He says Simmons has no accountability, but now Traber's dodging calls.

What e-mail was sent out to destroy his show? It's a conspiracy theory everyone.

okcnba :Wow, nothing remotely interesting from Traber yet.

"yet" ?? Are you serious? lol

Royce, I think you should 1 up him and just go to the studio. 4045 NW 64th OKC OK 73116 - 6th floor

Wow, nothing remotely interesting from Traber yet.

@Nix
The Lord of them, in fact.

Jim Traber deleted my comments off his blog because I destroyed him...

Idiot

Haha! People are calling in to Rodgers' show to tell him how much of a dumbass Traber is. Rodgers is getting a little frustrated and just wants to talk about sports though. He's too good.

@Vega
Mullens has a higher ceiling, but Lopez seems more likely to meet his (admittedly lower) potential. Also seems like a great teammate, while Mullens strikes me as being a bit shy and immature.

No, they centered around Simmons because Traber had asked Gottlieb to petition Simmons for an interview. They talked and Rodgers kind of antagonized Traber and both of them sided with Collison. They might be too embarrassed to talk about you and all the other faceless bloggers (visit Traber's new blog here http://sportsanimal.oklahoma.net/jimtraber/blog/?p...

On draft night, there was a rumor that we were going to send Phoenix's '10 first round pick back to them in exchange for Robin Lopez. I think that would have been way too much to give for an unproven big, but it does lead to an interesting question. Would you rather have B.J. Mullens, or Robin Lopez?

@Chas
He is. I had a few people text me telling me. Did he mention something about me?

I believe Doug Gottlieb is on the Animal right now.

Grant Wahl? Maybe we'll get to hear Traber rant about soccer today. If Traber can even do enough research to figure out Wahl covers soccer, that is.

@KingGondo

I messaged him about doing just that. Us sissy, pathetic losers who sit behind a computer all day (possibly working, Traber?) need something good to listen to.

@KingGondo
I have and I plan on getting it going soon. We've tried a few in the past but for scheduling reasons it was tough to stay consistent. But we'll have at least a weekly one coming soon.

On a related note, have you thought about starting a Daily Thunder podcast, Royce?

Jox was good. After I found out about that station several years ago, I didnt listen to the sports animal at all.

Ron Thulan did say that he was getting a lot of great feedback (it was the only show I ever called happy, instead of raving mad). I think there was more to it, but the Daily Disappointment didn't feel obligated to delve beyond the surface to find out why another Spanish music station in a bloated market was more successful than Jox.

We had one. Jox 930 had Ron Thulan and the mornings were comprised of ESPN personalities. I just don't think there's a big enough market, but it would be great to have Thulan back on the air. He took his job seriously and did tons of research before his show instead of just callin' on Bobby to use to gall darn wackadoodle machine.

@Lefty

Jox tried it not long ago. I just don't think the market is big enough to support two sports talk radio stations.

Just out of curiosity, what would it take to start up a small alternative station to the Sports Animal that people could listen to if they wanted? It's probably not feasible, but it would be a fun project nonetheless.

@Terry

I'm not sure about the rules, but those charity games that KD plays in are the furthest thing from competitive. It's more like an all star game, where the only time a player is touched is when he high-fives his teammates on the way to the bench after a timeout.

I honestly think GM's are more worried about weight room accidents. Or, in some cases, competitive basketball for national teams. I know Cuban isn't a fan of Dirk playing for the German national team. But he lets him do so if he really wants to.

In less than two minutes of listening to him yesterday, he managed to once again gribe about this site and referred to Royce as "Roycie" and mocked someone who said he was a good kid at some point. I wish he'd realize that Simmons (no matter what I think of him), Royce, and those other "anonymous bloggers" have more credentials than he does, especially when it comes to the NBA. Whenever Traber becomes an ESPN partner, watches games, reads summaries/reports/etc, then maybe he'll know how to pull his head out of his ***.

I'm sure that will happen right after we get a decent sports radio station. I'll be taking WWLS back off my radio speed dial until the season starts. I'll let my wife have that number back.

With all the summer time games and pick-up games that KD is playing in, I'm guessing there isn't concern in the Thunder hq about potential injury to him?? Yeah, KD and others need to stay in shape, but I'm wondering: does the team/nba have any rules about the amount of off-season play?

chunkylover :poor trab. he has no idea what’s coming

No kidding. He's the sort that absolutely refuses to acknowldege he has misspoken, misread, or is in any way resonsible for what comes down on him. He's brought all the scorn and ridicule on himself...

Cue the outrage over Collison writing about having a good time in another location in five, four...

poor trab. he has no idea what's coming

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