Friday Bolts – 2.5.10
Empty the Bench looking at how teams are choosing defense over offense: “The 6-6 Switzerland product has started every OKC game next to Durant, Westbrook, and Green, averaging a lowly 6 points per. His perimeter D on twos and threes is the reason why he’s in the starting lineup. Sefolosha is athletic and intuitive, always in the right position and at the proper angle to make someone think twice about driving or pulling up for a jumper. His wingspan is immense, so he gets his hands all over the ball, registering 1.3 steals (top-25 in the NBA) and 0.7 blocks from the off-guard position. Not surprisingly, the Thunder’s Defensive Rating rocketed from 20th in the league a year ago to 6th currently.”
The AP with a nice story on KD: ”One by one, Kevin Durant has been taking the NBA’s biggest names and scoring his way right on past them. First Kobe. Then LeBron. Next up, Carmelo. With a tear that began just before Christmas, Durant has climbed into a virtual tie with Denver’s Carmelo Anthony for first place in the NBA scoring race. He’s had at least 25 points in each of his last 23 games – a feat none of the other superstars has ever accomplished and no one else has ever done at his age.”
An OU student is becoming an NBA halftime sensation: ”At age 7, J.P. Wilson, business sophomore, performed his first magic show at a children’s birthday party. Thirteen years later, he presents his seven-minute, magic-filled act to sold out NBA crowds across the country. “He is the hottest halftime act around the league,” said Dan Mahoney, vice president of corporate communications for the Oklahoma City Thunder. “He has a great work ethic. He is a student as well and it’s incredible that he balances it all. It must be magic.”
Should I link this? Probably not. I find Youtube videos of people talking about things strange as it is, but this one is really weird because it’s a guy talking for 20 seconds about KD’s block with one shoe. I felt like I needed to share.
I was sent this site last night. Someone has made a Kevin Durant fanblog and it’s called The Durantulas.
SLAM takes a look at center prospects for this draft.
There is a campaign started to get Monta Ellis in the HORSE competition to face off against KD: So it is with great honor that, without any authorization whatsoever, that I join forces with our friends at Ball Don’t Lie and The Baseline to launch a “Put Monta Ellis in H.O.R.S.E.” campaign. Modest as it may sound, it would be great for fans, great for Ellis’s visibility, and situate him where he deserves to be in the solar system of the league. That’s right, where the likes of Kevin Durant, O.J. Mayo, and Joe Johnson (take the mean of those three), sit proudly but restlessly.
A new app has been made for iPhones called FanPulse that’s pretty spiffy. Basically you pick your favorite teams and it’ll give you schedules and scores for those teams, as well as a Twitter looking feed that picks up the RSS feeds of things that cover your said favorite team. Why do I tell you this? Because Daily Thunder is one of the feeds for the Thunder.
The Blowtorch brings the thunder: ”However, I DO NOT agree with them replacing their best player’s arms with thunder sticks just so ‘the people’ can better identify with him. I know you’re not used to having a basketball team, but one of the first things they teach you at the town meeting the city holds when it’s announced that you will be getting a new basketball team is to never replace your star player’s arms with any sort of cheering apparatus. That’s like Fandom 101, which is offered at any community college. Take a class, guys.”
Five on the Rise, Russell Westbrook: “Westbrook gets the nod this week for his near triple-double en route to a schooling of Hornets rookie guard Darren Collison. Westbrook, who played with Collison at UCLA, helped limit New Orleans’ new starter to a 4-for-12 shooting night and five turnovers. Westbrook, for his part, had 26 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds while impressing us, also, with just two turnovers. It marked the second straight game in which Westbrook flirted with a triple-double (he had 12 points, nine assists and nine rebounds in a win over the Hawks) and controlled the pace in both games. “I’m just trying to stay consistent,” Westbrook told The Oklahoman. “Whether we win or lose, I think if I stay consistent it’s a better outcome most of the time.”
They can do what they want J.G.
Recent conference finalists have had 1-3 bottom 10 Factors. So that doesn’t automatically disqualify.
Thunder do have 4 of those though.
Nobody with a better record has more than 3.
@Crow
So which one do you think the Thunder are most likely to get out of regarding the four bottom 10 factors?
@J.G.
Going back to the original question, do I feel comfortable with that statement? Yes, yes I do. When you grab more rebounds than the other team on a consistent basis, you’re the better rebounding team. That Cleveland is a mediocre offensive rebounding team doesn’t mean calling them the “best rebounding team in the league” would be a misleading statement.
I don’t know. To me, getting upset at a statement like that is like getting upset if someone were to say “Monta Ellis is one of the highest scorers in the game.” Sure, if you want to dig into it, you can bring up efficiency stats and rates and pace to devalue Monta’s performance, but the core statement is still pretty impeachably correct.
@Crow
So the Thunder have 4 top 10 and 4 bottom 10 out of the 8 factors? I guess that’s a good way to exploit strengths/cover weaknesses. Don’t try to do everything, but do some things very well. No doubt cutting down on TOs to the point it’s no longer bottom 10 would really help.
Actually Thunder only have 3 weakness to the level of bottom 10 right now. Sorry fouls given fluctuates in and out of bottom 10.
If you willing to make any changes to try to address team weakness you’d reduce minutes for poor shooter / scorers and add for better ones (Collison, White if healthy, if you believe) reduce for turnover producers and add for protectors (Harden and White), reduce for weak rebounders and add for strong ones (Ibaka and Collison).
@Sammy
And I can definitely understand/respect that.
It might just be the writer side of me that finds the statement incomplete and shockingly misleading (just because they don’t reference or acknowledge a fact/statistic (the DRR) that could be used to discredit their overall assertion, which is typically Lesson 1 in writing essays or articles that are argumentative/proving a point based). So it strikes me as either lazy or intentionally misleading.
Actually it is only 2 now that I think about it. They have a 20th and 21st ranking. The former isn’t bottom 10.
It is realistic they could end the season with only 1 bottom 10 Factor- own turnovers. That seems like the least likely to change anytime soon without major personnel change or coaching impact.
If they can keep 4 top 10s and keep it down to 2 or less bottom 10s they are in pretty good shape. Improve by one or two more Factors- into the top 10 or out of the bottom 10 and you will move up in the standings and in playoff contender status.
There probably have been times this season where they’ve had 2 top 10s and 4 bottom 10s. I don’t mean to overemphasize getting into or out of each ten about it is a way to simplify the data and balance is important.
In the playoffs it comes down to player matchups and Factor matchups and who can exert their strength.
People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along?