Tuesday Bolts – 1.12.10
As you’ve probably heard, NBA Jam is coming back and this time you get to vote for who you want to represent OKC. However, there is no Serge Ibaka on the list, which is a giant sized bummer. He would have boom-shakalaka’d like no one before him.
Commenter Vega, visionary: (On Oct. 1): “I guarantee that New Orleans will ship Hilton Armstrong off to Sacramento or OKC. Put it in the Smart Thoughts or something so that it will officially be on the record.” And what happened? Hilton Armstrong was shipped to Sacto. Points for you sir.
Dustbury on the game: “‘Shot down’ defined: (1) Chris Duhon got only three points. (2) Danilo Gallinari didn’t score at all, though he did reel in 11 rebounds. (3) The Knicks as a whole shot only 38.2 percent, (4) and 21.4 percent — 6 of 28 — from the three-point line. New York was competitive on the boards, recording 46 rebounds (the Thunder had 47), but the Thunder did a better job of keeping a lid on the basket, Nate Robinson’s 19 points off the bench notwithstanding.”
Seth from Posting and Toasting: “The defense against Durant was curious, to say the least. D’Antoni started with the 6’1” Chris Duhon guarding Durantula, then doubled whenever he caught the ball. Not only did this leave every other Thunderperson open for easy makes and offensive rebounds, but the Knicks couldn’t even double right. Durant went to the line 10 times in the first half, and went 13-16 from the stripe on the game. Wilson Chandler’s defense against him was underwhelming and foul-prone, and I wish he got more time to face Durant one-on-one.”
Power! Dime has OKC at 13: “Breaking news: Kevin Durant is a scoring machine. In his last 11 games, he’s dropped 30-plus points nine times.”
Stein at 12: “The word for Durant’s past 10 games is ridiculous: 32.7 ppg on 57.4 percent shooting and 47.1 percent on 3s. In related news, OKC has quadrupled its win total from last season’s 5-31 mark at the same point.”
SI at 11: “Further proof Kevin Durant is becoming a complete player: The soon-to-be-All-Star/Olympian has been a better rebounder this season. The NBA’s No. 4-ranked scorer (28.7 points) leads the Thunder in rebounding (7.0), up half a board from last season.”
NBA.com at 11: “Kevin Durant is on one of those runs. He’s averaging 32.7 points on a scorching 57 percent shooting over the last 10 games. The Thunder are just 2-9 against the other seven playoff teams in the West and play two of them (Spurs and Mavs) this week.”
KD, still in NBA.com’s Race to the MVP at six: “Here’s all you need to know about Durant: The Thunder won 23 games last season and 20 the year before. It currently sits at [21] wins with a [21]-16 record. Durant is averaging 28.4 points and 7.0 rebounds. Does any other proof need to be put forth?”
Austin Burton of Dime names his “All-Foxhole Team“: “When I interviewed Kevin Durant for his Dime #51 cover story over the summer, he told me that Thabo was the heart and soul of the Thunder. The designated defensive stopper and one of the oldest guys on the team that actually plays, Thabo can stick anybody from Danny Granger to Kobe Bryant to Rodney Stuckey from game-to-game without a double-team, using his quick feet, active hands and long limbs to make them work for everything they get. While he isn’t much of a scoring threat, you hardly see OKC playing in crunch-time without Thabo on the floor.”
KD-Green-Westbrook for me on NBA Jam. Would vote for Ibaka if he was available, but alas. KD-Westbrook will actually be a pretty awesome team.
Great win last night, best overall team effort I’ve seen in a while. Two most exciting things for me: KD seems to be getting better at finding open shooters, and Maynor has been stellar as a backup PG. No longer do we have to worry about the likes of Earl Watson, Chucky Atkins, or Kevin Ollie (although Ollie isn’t too bad) messing up our offensive flow when Russ goes out.
KD-Green-Harden is my vote on Jam
What I MEANT to say was KD-Westbrook-Harden…oops
Knicks afraid of OKC ghosts: http://tinyurl.com/y9omjn4
I’m thinking we need to use this to our advantage. Pipe in some ghostly sound effects. Decorate the visitor’s locker room with skeletons and zombies. Hire a few of those high schoolers who work those haunted houses at Halloween to crawl around and jump out of nowhere. Put the ghostbuster’s graves at the airport as soon as the team steps off the plane.
I mean, if Red Auerbach can have the building turn off all the hot water to the visitors locker room so the other team has to suffer through cold showers and miserable conditions so as to mess with their mental condition, I think we could get away with this.
David Lee Says It’d Be Fun To Play In OKC
More Thunder News
Jan 12, 2010 8:10 AM EST
Knicks forward David Lee was asked by the Oklahoman on Monday whether he had given any thought to playing for the Thunder.
Lee will be a free agent after the season.
“Any team that has cap space, you have to give thought to,” Lee said. “I got to spend time with all of three of them last summer at the Olympic camp in (Las) Vegas. They’re all good guys. I’ve known Jeff (Green) a couple of years. Anytime you have exciting young players, it would be a fun place to play.”
Even though the Thunder will have $14 million in cap space this coming offseason, Lee realizes that general manager Sam Presti is probably going to save money for Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook.
“They’re probably saving the Brinks truck for those three guys,” Lee said. “At this point there’s so much still to be seen. I’m just concentrating on helping this team, which can do some good things, then see how everything pans out this summer.”
@Jax Raging Bile Duct
haha thats hillarious!…
and how cool would this be if you were playing lazer tag only to see KD and company come in to play?
ah twitter..
“KevinDurant35 Practice..time to get better with my bros! Then we goin laser taggin after..we a buncha kids!”
@Jax Raging Bile Duct
I had to give that one its own post. Too funny.
@Royce
It just fits too well with the whole Zombie Sonics thing. Now all we need are a few bottles of trueblood laying around, and a full moon or two, and we’ll run the ghoul gamut.
nba jam only being on wii is annoying, i dont have mine anymore.
Maybe david lee will sign for less money so he can be on a winning team, and here he could play PF instead of center.
@f5alcon
If I were Lee, I wouldn’t go anywhere if I knew Lebron was coming… just sayin.
@Bryan
After losing in the NBA Finals with Cleveland this year, he just returns to the CAVS more hungry (and paid) next season. Book it. Bron ain’t goin nowhurr!
@The DON
I like the fact that he thinks that the big 3 would consider us… but rereading it leaves me to wonder… How much of a payday is Lee expecting? He was one of two quality bigs (other being Milsap) and literally got no play last offseason….
While adding him “cheap” might be a decent addition… I’m not sure that we couldn’t get the same production from Ibaka with another year to get compfy…
KD-RW-JG
Totally digging Maynor. Loved the sequence when KD drove from the left, passed to Maynor who then passed to Collison for the bucket.
Ibaka w/ the double-double.
@dork
I don’t know about laser tag, but if they ever wanna play paintball….
That would be wicked cool though! I bet a bunch of people in the area have run ins with the fellas all over town during the day to day. They all seem like they really do hang out together alot.
@Mully Mulls
Lee is an elite offensive player and rebounder, Serge Ibaka doesn’t know how to box out. Lee has been top 10 in FG% the last three years and always gets 10+ boards.
Ibaka won’t touch David Lee’s production.. very unlikely.
Ibaka could be a better defender, though. But you don’t go after David Lee for his defense.
@justin
Ibaka does box out.. err did earlier.. wasn’t doing much of it last night thats for sure..
I still like Ibaka over Lee though
@dork
David Lee is probably an All Star this season, the odds of Serge making an All Star team are slim to none..
I don’t think David Lee is worth the money he will get but he’s way ahead of Serge Ibaka, c’mon.
Fun Facts-
In Hollingers Playoff Odds:
The Northwest has 4 teams in the playoffs
The Thunder have 10x the chance of winning the Championship as they do the lottery. (the grass really is greener on this side)
@Bryan
Even with lebron the knicks are not a contender, i really doubt he goes to the knicks unless they also can sign wade. Why sign with a bad team when you are already on a contender that has your bird rights. We almost have a better chance of signing lebron then the knicks.
@f5alcon
There’s a good reason you sign with the Knicks if you’re LeBron and it’s spelled M-O-N-E-Y.
“Kevin Durant is on one of those runs. He’s averaging 32.7 points on a scorching 57 percent shooting over the last 10 games. The Thunder are just 2-9 against the other seven playoff teams in the West and play two of them (Spurs and Mavs) this week.”
As good as we have looked this last month, It’s time to take care of business against the best in the west, ya heard.
Kevin Durant currently has a TS% of .598 which is incredible. He’s also second in the league in win shares behind LeBron.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/britt_robson/01/12/durant.defense/index.html
Bird rights, cleveland can pay lebron more then the knicks can.
@f5alcon
New York media market is worth more than an extra year and 10% raises.
@DizzyDai
I’d put up a list of all the Sonics bigs we’ve said that about over the years but I don’t think there’s enough space.
Ibaka’s a good rotation player right now, but there’s dozens of players at his level in the NBA with various skill sets. Most of them remain backups for their careers, some might crack a few starting lineups. Very few will see All Star games, if any.
Durant will be an all-star reserve this year. Might be awhile before he gets voted in as a starter. Hopefully Westbrook can get a reserve nod within the next couple of years. Other than those two I don’t think we’re going to have any all-stars for several years. Though I do hope I’m wrong and we have multiple all-stars on a regular basis in the coming decade.
Durant has been on a twitter rampage.
Two things I liked:
He wants to finish his career in OKC.
He thinks Ibaka is the funniest in the locker room.
http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/12236/kevin-durant-goes-tweet-crazy
@justin
Three questions:
1) If the Thunder resign Jeff Green, how much would his contract have to be for you to feel close to neutral? Factor in future trade value.
2) What do you think is a reasonable contract for Jeff Green would be on a team that really needs him and has the playtime for him (most likely as a 3)?
3) Would David Lee be worth the money in #2 to the Thunder?
Just curious about your opinions. Not really setting you up for anything.
ah, man.. i really wish that NBA Jam was gonna be on the PS3.. you gotta go KD/Westbrook/Green.. it’s the original Three Amigos..
Traber interviewing Presti. Likes Maynor and just admitted Westbrook proved him wrong.
Thunders next two: Spurs and Mavs
Spurs next two: Lakers and Thunder
Mavs next two: Lakers and Thunder
I’ll be rooting for the Lakers to hit a couple of double-overtime games the next couple of days.
On the NBA rumors section today, it mentioned Lee to OKC. I don’t have Insider, can someone post what it says?
@Brett
See comment #5
@Elegy444
Thanks, must have skipped over that one.
@Mark!
A lot of this depends on if the regression that we’re seeing this year is closer to his true talent level. Last year was so tantalizing considering it was his first year at the 4. Obviously, if his performance doesn’t improve by the end of the year, the organization will need to reevaluate whether he’s a long term solution and will probably hold off from signing him to a large extension (or they’ll low ball him). If the season ended right now and Green were available on the open market, I’m sure there are enough teams enamored with his upside and versatility for him to net a full MLE.
@Mark!
I think Jeff Green is worth a bit more than the full mid level to a team that can play him at SF. Like Sammy said, he has enough upside and he’s versatile enough that some team would give him that.
David Lee would be worth more to this team than Jeff Green since obviously he would have more success at PF than Jeff Green. In fact, it’s likely David Lee would improve if he could play his natural position since he plays center on the Knicks; he wouldn’t have to go up against many players that are bigger than him.
I’d give David Lee more than the MLE, definitely. I’m not sure he’s worth the investment on this team; like Al Jefferson he’s a one way player and we’d need a competent center to play next to him.
IMO, though, David Lee is going to be way overpaid by a team that loses out on Bosh, LeBron, etc. He’s not going to be worth what he will get.
@justin
I dunno if NYC helps lebron, just because its lebron and he already is a huge marketing success.
For lebron to go to NY he gets less salary, shorter contract, higher taxes, move away from his hometown, worse starting team, i mean its gonna takes years to build a core around lebron. If he goes to NY and they dont get wade or bosh also, lebron will never win a championship.
@f5alcon
I don’t think it’d take years to build around LeBron in NY. They have tons of cap space, some young talent to move around if they want.. and two more expirings next year (Curry, Jeffries). It’s basically like building an expansion team around LeBron if he signs there.
@f5alcon
I think the last few years prove that ANY team with the bron is a championship contender. The only road blocks to bron winning a championship wherever he goes are poor roster building and poor coaching.
@Sammy
nobody can win with one player, jordan couldnt bron cant, kobe cant, wade cant. he needs another star to help him, or at least a solid supporting cast
@f5alcon
If you look at Cleveland’s record over the past few years, then take a look at their rosters, it’s pretty apparent that LeBron James doesn’t need a lot of help to make his team a contender. Of course, one is more likely to win when you surround one star with four other stars, but to say that NYK would ‘take years’ to contend is, in my mind, patently false. I don’t think it’d be too difficult to fill out the rest of NY’s roster with decent role players that want to play in the Garden with LBJ.