Monday Bolts – 11.30.09
Interesting note from the Weekend Dime: “Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant became just the fourth player in league history, joining LeBron James (twice), Shaquille O’Neal and Michael Jordan, to score at least 400 points during the first 15 games of a season at age 21 or younger.”
The Thunder sits 13th in Dime’s power rankings: “Are they for real? Friday’s game against Boston will tell us something, but wait until the middle of December when OKC gets Cleveland, Denver, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, the Lakers and Phoenix over a 10-day stretch.”
NBA.com has KD in its MVP discussion: ”Now, there are two views of Durant: The first is that he is not that good a player or leader, a high-volume shooter whose 27 points per game is inflated because he averages more than 20 shots per, an argument augmented by his 3.1-3.2 assist-to-turnover ratio. The other view, to which The Race is beginning to ascribe, is that Durant is the future of the NBA, his young teammates’ success possible only because Durant’s undeniable talents garner so much attention.”
A recap from Bleacher Report: ”Some losses are understandable. Some losses just drive you insane. This loss against the Houston Rockets is one where you go insane. The Oklahoma City Thunder had every opportunity possible to come out of the Ford Center with a victory.”
BDL, Behind the Box: “Too many three-point attempts went awry for Oklahoma City, they missed 14 of 15 overall with only Serge Ibaka (!) connecting. That’s just too many possessions, in a game against any, to waste with nothing to show. Speaking of which, the 19 turnovers didn’t help, nor did the 46-35 rebounding disadvantage.”
An interesting story about the chaplain for the Thunder: ”The Rev. A. Byron Coleman III is in his first season as a chaplain for the Thunder. He’s a busy man in his own right, not only pastoring the Fifth Street Missionary Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, but also teaching two courses per semester as an adjunct professor in the African and African American Studies Program at the University of Oklahoma.”
Hey, remember this?
Scott Brooks gets an A- from HoopsWorld for his work so far: “After a start to the season that many were surprised by, the Thunder seem to have hit their first hurdle of the season. Injuries have started to pile up – Nenad Krstic, Nick Collison, Kevin Ollie, Shaun Livingston, and Kyle Weaver are all battling injuries at the moment and the Thunder will be challenged in the last three games of this five-game homestand. Brooks has his squad fighting in each and every game no matter who or where they’re playing, as is evidenced by OKC’s 5-4 record on the road (impressive for a young, developing team), a tough loss to the Lakers and a win against the East-leading Orlando Magic, both at home. Brooks is the main reason Russell Westbrook has improved as much as he has since he was drafted and Kevin Durant’s offensive game is starting to reach the next level as well. Lastly, Brooks has done well in integrating new back-up PG Ollie, who needs minor knee surgery, and will now be faced with the same challenge with recently-added guard Mike Wilks.”
Kevin Durant with the NBA’s Dunk of the Night:
Berry Tramel on OKC’s home court play: ”The two years that Sir Willis Reed graced us here with the Hornets, he offered a bushel of NBA proverbs. The Thunder is testing Reed’s theory. The baby Boomers lost to Houston 100-91 Sunday night at the Ford Center, where they finish out November 4-4. The Thunder is 5-4 on the road. If this team can figure out how to win at home, it just might be a ballteam.” Wait, wait, wait. Baby Boomers?
Shirts go on sale sometime this week. The response has been pretty huge so if you don’t get one before they sell out, have no fear, more are coming. AGAIN, MORE ARE COMING. For instance, we dropped this little design over the weekend:
Basketball-Reference has league 3 pt FG% at 35%.
OK J.G. thanks. I don’t think I had heard that.
KG is a nice choice. Hits almost everything you’d want including passing. Tough model to live up to though.
Yep. they get fewer assists out of their “bigs” (including Green) that any or nearly any team.
Should they encourage or even allow Ibaka or White to try 3s? I am open to it, though it is a sidelight to what bigs should do.
And I can’t see Kirstic or Thomas stepping up in that regard, they both have stone-hands – big time.
Not sure what is a small sample fluke and what isn’t but White is shooting great and almost never turns it over. Good combo. His steals are up almost 150% compared to last season. Maybe his feet are slow but his hands are smart, fast and strong enough?
It seems pretty clear that Brooks and Presti like a big that can help spread the defense… so it’s likely going to stay a part of Ibaka and White’s respective arsenals.
My question is, which on of these bigs is getting traded this year?
His PER went from 20 last season to 28 now.
If he doesn’t fit here somebody might want him and though they’d try to get him cheap they shouldn’t succeed at that.
Interesting point… I really think they need to use him more in games where interior D is not as much of a factor, or when scoring is an issue.
….until its time to contest shots… or close out on people…
Right now White is the best passing big on the team though the competition is very weak.
my money is on White getting traded before Ibaka does.
Cryogenic freezing? I mean just have to demolition man it! lol
Just had a thought, any chance that Thomas, White and Ibaka ever get on the court together? Ibaka should be quick enough to handle a back up SF… wouldn’t you think?
Yes they are picking White’s spots to put him in where scoring is possible and needed and where interior defense might look less challenging and right now it looks like they have to.
White is a small ball and maybe faster pace Krstic?
maybe Eton, Ibaka and Nick instead? Could really gobble up the boards…
@Bryan
maybe once ibaka gets confident on offense… otherwise the 2 guard will be putting up a lot of shots.
@dork
err 2 guardS!!
And that 2 guard could be Harden or Durant… with Westbrook. Just thinking outloud mostly.
One thing I love about Ibaka is that he has been ballin’ all his life. A far cry from a few athletes from that part of the world who come in with all kinds of physical gifts but no feel for the game (Mo Sene? Thabeet?) Not trying to dog them, but Ibaka is a player, he has a game to work on, he is not just a project! Thank the gods.
@4razr
He He. I think him as an actual project(has skills in place to develop). Not someone you have to teach high school level fundamentals to… (Sene, Thabeet)…
@dork
think him? man i’m having problems either with english or with typing today… I really hope its not english… ‘Tis my only language
White-Thomas has been tried a grand total of 80 seconds.
Ibaka-Thomas about 7 minutes.
White-Ibaka 15 minutes. It is actually -7 though so far. And per minute that is not good. But if they’ve tried Thabo with the starters 600 minutes to get where they are at now you could invest in some other tests.
No White-Ibaka-Thomas yet but they have had White-Ibaka-Durant-Green for 3 minutes and they won 10-4.
White-Ibaka has also playd a few stray minutes with Durant and with Green.
But Ibaka is a big in those lineups.
You really have to have a strategic plan and be very diligent about it to learn as much as possible from actual game minutes about combos and what appears to work or not. There isn’t enough time to check everything and some of the things that should get checked more than they do don’t because too much stray stuff gets used.
If they wanted to look at Ibaka at SF put him on Durant in practice. Good training op. Or Thabo.
@Crow
In the Ibaka-white minutes Who was the opposing 4 that White guarded?(rhetocial) Opposing 4′s have a + against him?
Hey lets not try too much on Ibaka at once. He could eventually play at the 3 (SF) but for now lets get him in the grove at the 4/5 first. Hmm… anyone know where I can buy offensive confidence? Would make a great x-mas gift for Ibaka.(smell the mancrush?) lol
I have thought that DJ would be a good change of pace 4 for this team, coming in to spell Green. I mentioned this a few days ago, but DJ had a great post-up game in college, but I haven’t seen it yet at the NBA level. So in my mind, at first, DJ would be redundant with Nick Collison.
However, you can tell that DJ has more scoring talent than Nick shows. But as of right now, Nick does all the dirty work and can play some great defense. DJ hasn’t figured defense out just yet. Those are the two things that I think DJ needs to do in order to play meaningful minutes for us; bring back his post-up game, and learn the defense.
I think they sell offensive confidence at Target… oh wait, that’ Axe body spray. Never mind, wrong type of “offensive”
@Jax Raging Bile Duct
unfortunatly I don’t even see DJ attempting to play defense. No hustle is what I see when I watch him play. Even with a post up game (which I call even between DJ’s college post game and Ibaka’s post game) DJ would still be riding the bench due to lack of hustle.
As a side note, I just want to publically state how nice it is to be disappointed with a loss to Houston when the Thunder is missing it’s starting center, plus half the bench. Yes I know Houston is shorthanded as well… just sayin…
That is all
If White was the 4 he guarded H Warrick 4 minutes, Odom 7 minutes, Ilaysova 3 minutes. Odom did nothing and both Warrick and Ilyasova went off. Odom is athletic but he might be the best lethargic of the 3. Centers tend to be lethargic. White probably shouldn’t guard athletic, active guys. Which most PFs are.
Maybe White’s wife is too good a cook. Taste-wise.
Don’t know how much the team tries to control diet or how successful they are but sometimes on the court can be affected by diet for ill or good.
Either he needs more strength and toughness and maybe a little more weight- to play center, or maybe less weight to play more athletic 4s though he can have as strength and toughness as he can find.
on the court “energy”
I don’t know the deal but it is something for him and team to know and have right.
As much as I love Ibakla’s upside, he is not ready to play significant minutes as the team’s center. My preference is that they work towards making him a PF in the mold of Kemp to ultimately compete with Green for the starting spot. Thomas is a bust in my opinion. Hands of stone. No hops. Poor decision making. Lumbers up and down the court and is NOT active in hitting the boards. If it comes to him, he will pull it down with an attitude, but he spends far too much time in the paint just watching others go after the ball. Time for Presti to pull the trigger on a deal that brings us a genuine defensive minded, rebounding center. If he already has something in mind that requires waiting till mid-December, fine, I can wait that long, but we just need to fill this one role to be an honest to goodness play-off team. Gortat, Biedrins, Okafor, Haywood, Camby, McGee, Pryzbilla- anyone of those guys works for me at this point. We have five picks next year and really need none of them. Collison, White, Mullens, Ollie, Weaver, Livingston all have value, and any one (or two) are expendable. Thomas has an expiring 7mill contract that a team looking to cut a big salary should drool over. We have one of- if not the lowest- payrolls in the NBA and can afford to eat a bad contract. In short, Presti has more than enough assets to get this done, so please do it already so I don’t have to sit through a replay of last night’s game anytime soon.
@Steve H
Calm down man. Ibaka is 20… and has a LOT!! higher ceilling than those you listed. I see Ibaka being our center of the future. Btw in todays NBA Kemp would have likley been a C that also played some PF.
Rushing to fill a “need” on a team that is still in the rebuilding (yes, we are still in the rebuilding part don’t forget) process is how teams peak before becomming a true threat (doubt me? Fine. Go look at the Hornets.)
We don’t NEED to have one right now, and if I am seeing Presti’s plan correctly we are going to have one of the perenial top defensive teams in the league..with an extremely athletic center or sharpshooting center.