Thunder Assigns Byron Mullens and Kyle Weaver to Tulsa 66ers
Per press release:
OKLAHOMA CITY, November 21, 2009 – Oklahoma City Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced that the team has assigned center Byron Mullens and guard Kyle Weaver to the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League.
Weaver, who played two games for the 66ers last season, has appeared in two games for the Thunder this year averaging 5.5 points, 1.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 steal in 8.0 minutes per contest.
Mullens, the 24th overall pick (selected by Dallas) in the 2009 NBA Draft, was acquired by the Thunder in a draft night trade. Mullens has not appeared in a game for the Thunder this season. The 7-0 center averaged 8.8 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in one season at The Ohio State University.
The Tulsa 66ers, who were purchased by the Professional Basketball Club LLC on July 31, 2008, are the minor league affiliate of the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder are one of four teams in the NBA (Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs) who have an ownership agreement with their minor league affiliate. The 66ers play their home games at the Tulsa Convention Center in downtown Tulsa. For more information on the Tulsa 66ers, log onto www.tulsa66ers.com.
Can’t believe Weaver is going – especially with Livingston down – still – it’s not like they cant bring him back up immediately if someone gets hurt – still, it’s sad, but . . . it’s a business . . .
Yeah that’s surprising, I would have bet that either White or Ibaka would have gone to Tulsa instead of Weaver considering the depth in the front court compared to PG. Real interesting.
Interesting. I agree with Kev, Ollie or Westbrook go down Weaver will be up in a New York minute.
Mully should just get used to being down there, he obviously has very little chance of being in the rotation this year.
Mullens, Weaver, White and Ibaka are all going to Tulsa sometime I assume. I don’t think Weaver will really gain anything there unless they are serious about him becoming a backup PG and if they are he should stay there a few weeks and then come back up and be given the chance to apply that knowledge steadily. There is still no comparison to trying to be a PG in the real NBA to anything else. He’s already had 2 summer leagues and a brief look at the NDBL and lots of team practices. Whatever. If he is there a few games it is just a ticket Presti felt he had to punch. Lessening the blow for Mullens. Selling some tickets. Establishing rank (below Thabo and Harden). Kyle just has to take it. The only things you could say negative about his game last season were that he turned it over too much and he wasn’t assertive enough shooting. Of course Westbrook turned it over almost as much and is turning it even more this season but he is a first round pick. Those guys are different apparently.
Well they are, of course.
If Kyle gets a fair shot later in the season this doesn’t matter. If he doesn’t that would be disappointing.
Just 16 minutes but Weaver’s +/- was almost 6 times better than anyone else’s (except White). Last season in over 1100 minutes it was less negative than anyone besides Rose.
If Tulsa runs a similar offense to the Thunder, and they give the reigns to Kyle to run the show as a PG, then I think he could make this work for him.
I’ve said it before lots of times, but I absolutely love his game, and I hope he makes it as the backup sometime soon.
Also, I just saw on TV during the Spurs/Wizards game that Tuesday night on NBA TV, fan night, that it will be OKC vs Jazz. That’s cool – our second fan night of the year so far.
Thabo on the court they were breaking even thru 11/15. Thabo off they were winning by 10 on raw +/-. 8 points better on offense without Thabo and 2 points better on defense. Harden winning by 7. Last few games Thabo on the court has been even worse. Numbers can certainly be tricky this early, starters vs subs, but…
I guess Weaver isn’t worth some minutes right now with Thabo doing so well.
Was Thabo better than Weaver last season? Not by the team numbers. Same on defense, 3 points better on offense with Weaver.
But it is not either / or, or shouldn’t be. 32 minutes of Thabo and zero most nights of Weaver is a choice and I guess it has worked overall but could they do even better? 22 minutes Thabo, 10 Kyle? Maybe we’ll find out.
I know Thabo has played great D on starting SGs and these observations do not wipe that out but these team numbers go alongside on it and show the complexity. Somehow teams are scoring more total points while he is on the court than off. You could say it is the starters he’s playing against are better and maybe it is that to some extent but right now Adjusted +/- (which tries to account for this) makes his numbers look worse not better (though it is early).
Maybe Thabo could do better in other lineups. There is some evidence for this. Maybe Kyle isn’t good as a starter. There is some evidence for this. So you could start Harden. I think eventually it goes that way. Maybe Weaver replaces Ollie. If not, a slice of Thabo’s time is another option. Or not.
But Presti and Brooks will do want they think best.
@Crow
I think Simmons makes good points in his book and on the tour about the futility of individual stats in the NBA. To me, the numbers of the big-time 2 guards against the Thunder (I ran a quick post a few days ago, and they’re shooting somewhere in the range of 35-38%) shows that Thabo is at worst an above-average defender. And from the stands it looks to me like he’s one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. I’m weighing both those things more heavily than +/-, no matter how you adjust it.
I love Weaver — always have — but there’s been nothing this season to make me say he should be getting minutes. If he can overtake Ollie at the 1 I’ll run naked through the streets with excitement, but obviously Brooks doesn’t feel he’s ready to run the point. I don’t think taking minutes from Thabo and/or Harden is the answer. I do think Weaver is capable of being a rotation player on a winning team but this team may just not be the one where he gets those minutes.
Maybe so Vince about Weaver. Not every player gets their crack every place. Sometimes you have to ride the bench, sometimes you have to move. Not unusual. Even when you’ve done alright before.
With Thabo, it is just that every season before he lowers opponents points but it comes every season with lower own team scoring and usually by about the same amount. Maybe he is slowing the game down, lowering pace.
This season he isn’t lowering opponent team scoring and the offense is now almost 15 points worse than with him off but not only is nothing wrong but it is great? I just don’t see it that way though the team record makes it possible to feel differently. I accept that.
I wasn’t relying on individual stats as I define them but I am not going to try to talk anybody else into using +/- raw or adjusted if they are not inclined. Just putting out things that I thought about if anyone else wants to consider them. It is still sometimes a mysterious game.
Even more number study might help but it is a bit mysterious right now.
Maybe there is a blend of these 2 perspectives. Maybe Thabo is helping win some games on defense. mainly individual, and isn’t in others where the other team is either better at scoring away from their star guard or better at defending others on the Thunder, taking advantage of Thabo’s low output and seemingly by the numbers negative team offensive impact many nights. Right now the number of games in each column might be the same. In fact Thabo’s +/- is positive half the time and negative exactly half the time. The losses related to Thabo or look related to Thabo right or wrong might be bigger but it is about wins and not the size of wins or losses.
I noticed the Thunder won another Fan Night vote on NBA TV. Beat out Lakers-Knicks. Got 45% of the vote out of six games.
We almost had the Kings game a few weeks go. There are a lot of people voting for the Thunder.
Oops! Missed that Jax posted the exact same info. I was probably following Crow’s thread and skipped him somehow. So, yeah… That. Go team.
@Jax Raging Bile Duct
Yes that is true! Royce received a press release about it but at the time I couldn’t figure out how to post it. Thanks!
@Joe
I would imagine Harden could play the 1 if Russ or Ollie getting hurt.
Got hurt, sorry.
I agree with Joe. At least for the remainder of the game, then Weaver can be activated.
The idea of Weaver playing point along with Harden off the bench is pretty exciting. Weaver would bring the defense and Harden can provide an offensive punch. Then again, I like Harden playing with any of our guards.
While I initially didn’t mind using our second pick on the prospect center that is BJ Mullens, I was seriously discouraged by his summer league play- particularly his lack of rebounding skill. After reading his rookie profile piece at Hoopsworld, I am encouraged by the effort he is apparently putting in to improve his game. I realize these things are pretty much puff pieces, but Coach Brooks’ comments give me real hope for his future with this team. Do good in the D-League young man, and we might be seeing you in Thunder blue in a year or two.
The thing about Weaver playing point is that when he did it last year, the team seriously slowed down. If you watch him run the point, he doesn’t push it. He isn’t leading a break. Now last year we were playing faster so Weaver’s more walk up style was at odds with what Earl and RW were doing. But this year we are playing deliberately slower (I assume this is a Brooks decision), so Weaver fits a little better.
He certainly has the handles and he sees the floor very well. I’ve said it many times, he was part of a three guard lineup at WSU and ran the point quite a bit, so it’s not a stretch for him. But, he’s probably not better at it than Livingston at this point, so the Tulsa thing is probably good for him. I do think he can be our long term third PG, maybe even in a year or two our second PG.
@Crow
The thing about Thabo is that he can sometimes be just as one dimensional as KD was last year. KD could score 35, but he couldn’t play defense, so his net effect wasn’t that great. Thabo has games where he doesn’t score at all, and it isn’t unusual to see him with 4 points or so in a whole game. That net effect isn’t impressive, even with his man shooting 6-22.
I think if Thabo could develop confidence in his 3 point shot, you’d see his raw or adjusted +/- improve a great deal. Even 10 points a game would dramatically improve it.
@Jax Raging Bile Duct
I agree that marginal improvement in his offensive game would help his +/-, however instead of increase in 3 point confidence I believe it should be his attacking the rim. He went at the rim a couple times against the wizards and it seemed to help his confidence alot.
Is it just me, or is Mullens’ ceiling Krstic pre-injury?
Not related to this blog post but…ESPN has picked up the Friday game with the Bucks and moved the tip off to 8:30
http://www.nba.com/thunder/news/espn_release091122.html
@Mark
Two surprising, exciting, up-and-coming teams with two of the best young players in the league. Good decision by ESPN.
National game eh? Very cool. I’d like to say it’s us, but I’m sure that’s only part of it. I think ESPN loves the idea of showing the new and improved Thunder, but they DEFINITRELY want to promote Brandon Jennings and his crazy rookie adventure. Cool.
Thabo could improve on offense but it is year 4.
When Thabo is having a net positive impact, roll with him. When his net impact is negative after 8 or 15 minutes. I’d think Weaver would be worth a try at least some of the time.
And good point Joe about Weaver better a safer choice / better fit in a slow pace.
The hardest part to understand or verify from the stats is whether Thabo is impairing the offense of others in some way. It is not just about his own shot.
Most teams he’s been on shoot worse with him on the court than off, offensive rebound less and draw less fouls. They turn it over less.
@Mark
Great catch. Thanks for the heads up.
Man, Royce is normally so on top of these things. I just checked and yes, he received a press release about the game being picked up. He’ll be so excited when I tell him about it!