Thursday Bolts – Give Thanks Edition
Hola campers. I’m back. I’m glad we all survived the Royce sabbatical. It was rough on all involved. Where 
was I? Fulfilling my duty as a Young and deer hunting with my family. This was year 62 for the Young’s to trek off to the woods of Southeastern Oklahoma and shoot at animals.Much thanks to Joe, J.G., Mrs. DT and everyone else for holding down the fort. I won’t leave you again. Well, not any time soon at least.
David Thorpe’s rookie rankings has Harden on the move up to four: “Thunder GM Sam Presti had the opportunity to draft Ricky Rubio or Tyreke Evans with the No. 3 pick. But Rubio had the buyout hanging over his head and wasn’t a sure thing to come play in OKC. And Evans, who needs the ball in his hands a lot to be effective, would be a tough fit with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, who have similar needs. Harden, meanwhile, was the rare scorer who had terrific passing skills and could impact games without taking lots of shots or dribbles. And so far in his rookie season, he has been true to that evaluation. He has an assist rate that puts him in the top 10 of the class, making him the only non-point guard in that group. He’s been a solid defender on a top-10 defensive team. And although his shooting numbers are down, he has the mechanics to get that back up soon.”
Harden’s up to 10 on SI’s: “After an uninspiring start to his rookie season in which he averaged 5.8 points through his first 11 games, Harden has averaged 17.25 in his last four. Harden hadn’t scored more than nine points in a game before he exploded for 24 against Orlando and 25 against Washington in the next game, outscoring the Wizards reserves single-handedly. Harden also connected on 10-of-13 three-pointers in those two games, including seven consecutive at one point, which tied a rookie record for the most consecutive three-pointers converted by a rookie since Michael Dickerson made eight straight for the Rockets in 1999.”
Still not ranked on NBA.com though.
I must say, this Traber tweet has some serious unintentional comedy: “Hey Simmon’s clones… Your boy got suspended from twitter. LOLOLOL. Perfect!!” Grammar: Not The Ultimate’s strong suit.
No PL&T today. Watch football instead. Even though the games aren’t all that exciting. Alas, it’s Thanksgiving and it’s what we do. Well, watch the first 18 minutes and nap for the rest of the game.
Hollinger’s power rankings has OKC at seven. SEVEN!
Darnell Mayberry on Ryan Bowen’s waiving: “Well, with injuries to reserve guards Kevin Ollie (knee), Shaun Livingston (knee) and Kyle Weaver (shoulder), the Thunder now has a pressing need. Starter Russell Westbrook is the only healthy point guard on the roster. And while James Harden is capable of manning the point position, and Kevin Durant and Jeff Green can bring the ball up the court, OKC would walk into Friday’s nationally televised game against Milwaukee without an experienced playmaker if a move is not made. That’s why I expect a move to be made soon, perhaps no later than Friday morning.”
FanHouse power rankings: “Solid bounce-back win at Utah on Tuesday, after playing the Washington Generals to the Lakers’ Globetrotters show on Sunday. Kevin Durant has been the leader on the court, and he’s taking the lead off it as well: check out his latest music video with teammates Jeff Green and James Harden.”
Kind of hard to believe Allen Iverson has retired. Really hard to believe actually. I’m thinking Europe is in his future or he’ll sign with a contender later this year. Some players talking about it, including Durant.
KD, thinking about Thanksgiving: “Growing up, Thanksgiving for me was having all my family be at my Aunt’s house. All the kids, there was about 20 of us, We’d play football in the front yard and wait for the food to be cooked. Either the Cowboys or Redskins would play and we’d watch that. Thanksgiving was always big in our family. As far as favorite Thanksgiving Day foods go, my Aunt used to cook this macaroni and cheese. It was unbelievable. Different than anything I’ve ever had before. I don’t know how to describe It except that it was extra cheesy.”
I’m thankful for:
- An 8-7 basketball team.
- A head coach that has his head in the right place.
- A bright future full of playoff runs.
- A rookie that fits our squad perfectly.
and of course, a special edition of Bolts for Turkey-Day!
Good to have you back, Royce–hope you killed lots of woodland creatures on your trip.
Not sure what to think about the back-up PG situation, or whether Bowen’s release is in anticipation of a replacement signing, or something else. Weaver is listed as “questionable” for friday’s game, meaning he could be available. S. Bible at Hoopsworld says Livingston is expected to return in one to two weeks. Don’t know about Ollie, but I haven’t read the words “ripped” or “torn” anywhere, so his prob. is presumably minor with a relatively close return date as well. Does Presti cut Bowen and add a contract for such a short-term vacancy at a back-up position? My best guess is that he has an honest to God acquisition coming up in December that will require vacating a roster spot, and that Bowen is being released earlier than necessary on the off chance that Russell gets hurt and we need to sign the 66ers starting PG to the NBA’s smallest, shortest contract for a game or two.
Interesting write-up about Thunder practice yesterday:
http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=14471
i just wanna wish everybody a happy thanksgiving!!!!!!
go thunder
I was watching the KFOR local news last night at 6pm and they actually played KD, Green, and Harden’s (The Broingtons) new video during the newscast as part of their sports report…Watching with my parents was ridiculous…They had no idea what was going on…
hollinger ranks have us at 6 not 7
oh and about kevin durants music video, in the words of bill walton, break it down big man
Hollinger’s rankings update automatically, so I guess that’s what happened after this posted.
yeah thats what i thought
As far as the Broingtons go, I think Jeff is the star. KD smiles too much to gain any street cred. And I know it’s a minor thing, but I like the fact that they always have their Thunder wear on. I’m sure they get boxes of the stuff, but they represent well.
Hollinger has Kyle Weaver ranked #3 for all players ???
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/rankings?&action=upsell&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fnba%2fhollinger%2frankings
and #1 in the SG position???
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/rankings?pos=2&action=upsell&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fnba%2fhollinger%2frankings%3fpos%3d2
someone has had their fingers in the crack jar today
I’m just taking a half day at work, and because of how slow it is here it feels like a saturday. I came on earlier hoping to see a new video and was pleasantly surprised to find that I had lost track of days and there was a Bolts instead! I am thankful for that.
I’m curious about releasing Bowen, too. It sounds like, according to the link from OKC Thunder Fan, that they are not planning on signing another PG for now. That could mean something is in the works. There are only a few weeks before Dec 15, which is the day a lot of players can be moved, right? Maybe they are just preparing for that? This could be an interesting few weeks to be a Thunder fan, with that possibility and a nice home stretch ahead of us.
We’ve beaten the Jazz, Magic, Heat and Spurs. Maybe we can add the Celtics in a few days to that list?
KD giving us some perspective on the Thanksgiving NFL games:
KevinDurant35: “People always talk down on the lions…but u don’t know how hard they work everyday..put urself n their shoes.it’s a process u take 2 b good”
@Lefty
When you look at past history, the Thunder has only released players just before a signing. When Bowen made the roster, Brooks talked about how he wouldn’t see much time on the court, but he was such an asset in practice because he made the other guys work their tails off. I just can’t see any reason they would release him nearly three weeks before the Dec. 15 date that matched RFAs can be traded.
I’m not getting my hopes up on a Gortat trade either. The Magic don’t know when Foyle will be back, and Bass’ minutes have been cut so much since Lewis returned that I can’t imagine they’re looking at him backing up Howard.
@Lefty
Btw, I know you didn’t mention Gortat, but your post helped me remember that others had previously mentioned it.
Looks like we are signing Mike Wilks to replace Bowen:
http://www.insidehoops.com/blog/?p=5074
Some of you guys are geniuses. Wilks sounds familiar but I never would have thought of him as a possible signee, unlike you all.
@vex
I guess that settles that. Hard to see this guy- who hasn’t so much as practiced with the squad- getting minutes friday, and hopefully one of other three back-up pgs can be back by sunday’s game w/ Houston. Don’t much get this move at all.
If ever the stars aligned just right… it’s now. If AI can stomach a back up role, I say bring him in….
Bring him in to play against AI 2.0 (Brandon Jennings) and expand this team’s media market over night…
guess I should have read the comments first
@KingGondo
He would know, but it’s only been recently that the Lions have been trying to win in a responsible way.
@B-RY
Uh- No. Bad idea.
@Steve H
The AI idea, or reading all the comments before posting?
@B-RY
The AI idea. Giving our entire team the clap would be a better addition than Iverson. He plays no defense- not a good addition to a young team that is successfully emphasizing team defense. Doesn’t pass the ball much and takes a lot of shots- not good on a team where the coach is stressing ball movement, and that has a Kevin Durant who shouldn’t be giving up touches to an aging, undersized guard. If the veterans with attitudes and work ethics like Ollie are considered a good influence on a young team, then a hall of fame veteran notorious for being dismissive of things like practice and not criticizing your team mates and coaches, has to be considered a bad influence. We would honestly be better off adding a nasty case of VD to everyone on the squad than adding Iverson.
robert swift with 2 broken legs is better then iverson
I’m all for crushing Traber for his grammar, but you might want to take that apostrophe out of “Young’s.”
Touché I suppose.