Daily Thunder.com

@Steve H

Honestly, I think Marc Gasol is more available than Brook Lopez. Lopez is better, but I think the Nets would play Cousins + Lopez in the same backcourt before they'd trade Lopez to make room for a rookie.

Lopez is the only thing on their team they can use to attract a decent free agent. He isn't going anywhere.

But its a fine fantasy :)

Here's my off-season acquisition fantasy. The Nets fall to third after the ping pong balls drop, where they regard D. Cousins (center) as the best available. We offer them Green, Maynor and our two first round picks for Brooks Lopez- THEN we nab Blake and Outlaw in free agency as our back up 1 and 3. Seriously doubt it will happen, but Lopez would be the perfect long term solution at center, Ibaka looks like a better starting 4 to me than Green in the long run, and both of those free agents should be available, affordable, and plenty good for limited minutes off the bench behind KD and Russell.

I actually watched the Tulsa game against Sioux Falls yesterday, online. The entire team played pretty well, but Kyle Weaver played like he belongs in the NBA, and you could see he was really into the game. Mullens seemed a little hot and cold, but not bad overall. Anyway, best of luck to Tulsa in the next round. And best of luck to OKC tonight. They may need it.

@Mark!

I agree with you. I don't think Bosh is worth a max contract to our team. Maybe to the Heat or Nets or Knicks with deep pockets and no problems paying out tax. He'd represent too much of our payroll, with not enough payoff IMO.

Guess I'm in the minority? LA has two big time, big contract players signed (Kobe + Pau). Their secondary players (Bynum and Odom) might be a little (collectively) overpaid, but that comes with the territory when you win a championship. They're still good players. And they have an MLE (Artest.)

And that's it.

LA is a huge market team with tons of income and a star complex. I'm all about spending when the time is right and the money is right, but I think you're confused if you think OKC is going to be able to support two max contracts and keep our roster stocked up enough to maintain more than one serious year of contention.

OKC is extremely unique in the league right now. We have a lot of amazing talent on the cheap. This is the exception, not the rule. It is GOING AWAY.

Here's a great article by Kevin Pelton on this very topic w/ a Thunder focus: http://basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articl...

You can't dismiss the periphery talent we have, at their current price, and just toss in a max contract player and say we'll be amazing for the next 6 years.

If we sign Bosh, I see one, maybe two years of possible title contention, and then some really strained years with -- possibly serious -- money troubles.

And if we have an injury? We're super hosed for the next 6 years. Worth the risk when we don't NEED a number one, much less an overpaid number two? I don't think so. Guess I'm the minority?

Keith :@MastrMattWell, on qualifier should be noted: just spending to get players won’t necessarily recoup their money. But, getting GOOD players, players who are actually worth their contract (by NBA standards) is definitely worth the money. Bosh is very much that kind of player.

Yeah .. thats what I was agreeing with.

Jax Raging Bile Duct :

Joe :
Am I the only one who hopes that Krstic’s knee is still bothering him tonight and that his minutes go to Serge for a nice matchup with Camby?

From the Oklahoman:
Nenad Krstic missed his second consecutive game because of a bone bruise to his right knee. Krstic said he definitely will not play tonight at Portland and could miss Wednesday’s regular season finale against Memphis as well.
“It’s nothing really serious, but it’s been bothering me in the second half of the season,” Krstic said. “I’ve always practiced and played, but I was playing through the pain. But the (team’s medical staff) has decided to rest me a little bit.”
http://www.newsok.com/article/3453192

I always knew God answered prayers. But this is just sooo timely and perfect!!

@MastrMatt
Well, on qualifier should be noted: just spending to get players won't necessarily recoup their money. But, getting GOOD players, players who are actually worth their contract (by NBA standards) is definitely worth the money. Bosh is very much that kind of player.

By the way, KD only needs a total of 26 points (13 ppg) to win the scoring title with Lebron sitting out. So it's pretty much over! CONGRATS KD THE YOUNGEST TOP SCORER EVER

@Keith

Totally agree with you Keith. When someone, or a group of someone's, buy a sports franchise, they understand that the return on investment is only realized when and if they win. This group is pretty smart and I'm sure they understand that if they are willing to take it on the chin just a little bit, if they won a championship (or even just made it to the the finals) the return would be HUGE. An already loyal fan base would be even moreso, the fan base would grow across the country, which means more merchandise sales, etc ...

I think Clay and the boys would pony up for Bosh if it meant they could hang a banner at the Ford Center. The residual money would out weigh the paycheck for Bosh.

Its when teams suck or are just mediocre when owners lose their ass. If they are willing to spend, they'll recoop it in the long run.

MastrMatt :Amare would laugh at an 8MM/5 year deal.

So will David Lee.

Amar'e might actually get close to the max the way he's playing, and David Lee is at least 5/65.

signing bosh would bring us pretty close to a championship, so that's definately worth the money in my eyes

@MastrMatt
ok not amare, but lee probably would look at it.

@Mark!
I can see someone making a claim that we can't afford a max contract down the line, but I don't see how anyone can reasonably claim Bosh isn't worth such a contract. Even at a max contract, Bosh will only be around 20th highest paid in the league. A current max contract is the market value of a player as good as Bosh.

@KingGondo
I think making a big move is very Presti. Trading Ray Allen for the fifth pick. Trading for Chandler. Signing Krstic to an unmatchable contract. Taking a chance on Westbrook at 4. Presti is all about doing whatever he can to make the team better, even if there is a huge chance of crashing and burning.

If Presti thinks he can sway Bosh into wanting to play here, he will. Bosh is the best player available at the best fitting position for this team. Remember, owners buy a team because they want to prove something (that means winning), not because they are great-and-highly-profitable-ventures. I'm pretty sure ownership would sign off on having three of the best players in the league (assuming Westbrook continues to improve) if they have the chance.

Amare would laugh at an 8MM/5 year deal.

the 2nd and 3rd tier FA are going to be interesting, with how much they get offers for, and how many are forced to wait until the top 3 are off the market. How many would take a smaller deal to sign quick or will they wait and hope that bosh,lebron and wade dont all change teams and they can get overpaid by somebody, but if the market dries up they could end up with MLE deals. I hope we skip the top FAs go straight to the 2nd tier and offer somebody like david lee or amare an 8MM/5 year deal and see if they will take it to get off the market before offers start dropping as other teams fill their needs with bosh,lebron and wade.

Say for example wade goes to chicago, lebron and bosh go to the knicks. The nets and miami have nothing really to offer aside from overpaying 2 players and then having nothing to build on, so lets say the nets get scola and joe johnson, that leaves miami, say they grab amare and rudy gay.

That basically leaves us holding the keys to every remaining player, we are the best option left, so we should have our pick from boozer, lee, felton, barnes, korver, maybe mix and match a PF/C and a SG/SF with our cap space

@KingGondo

I know we could make it work, I'm just not sure he's actually worth that much money to this particular team. Do you? He'll be worth something like $125.5M over 6 years. That's a huge commitment to a player who wouldn't even be our number one guy.

@Mark!
Or if we get him in a sign and trade with Toronto, we'd be able to re-sign KD, Russ, Green (assuming he's not traded, although that's unlikely) and CB4 because of our Bird Rights, although we'd likely get into luxury tax territory pretty quickly. It's a tough call.

Seems uncharacteristic of Presti to make such a drastic move, but it could be done if Bennett is willing to get into the luxury tax fairly soon. But it's admittedly risky, and admittedly unlikely.

@MastrMatt

I'm not sold on Bosh @ a max deal. I think he's a really good player and would fit well on our team, but not for that much money. Assuming we offer KD a max deal, he'll start making ~$13.5M the season after next. I dunno if I'd be willing to pay someone more than that. Bosh will get the max, which for him will start ~$16.5M and go up up up from there.

Shoot ... lets just mortgage the future for Bosh and go win a championship next year.

@MastrMatt

If I knew, I'd be called up to run some terrible franchise somewhere :)

The way I see it, there are several available deals out there. I'm sure we'll see some upgrades on our depth chart for our 10-12th man spots, either through direct replacements or by upgrading a rotation player and bumping someone down the bench.

I'm not sure who these players will be, but if I had to guess, I would say a SF who can shoot, a PG who can shoot and a post player who can rebound. All on an expiring contracts or veteran FA's willing to sign for something reasonable for the playtime.

But outside that, which isn't terribly exciting, I think we only have room for one big deal this offseason (or barring that, at least by the trade deadline). It has to be for a player who can be a number two option behind KD. He has to be more reliable than Westbrook (meaning he can be counted upon to produce notably better than 16PPG @ 49 TS%), and can shore up our rebounding problems. If he's able to provide some help side defense as well, it's a huge plus.

Not many players fit that profile, but there are a few in FA and I'm sure there are a few that aren't off limits in the trade market either.

@Mark!

If you were Presti, what would you do? I wouldn't even know where to start after I wet myself with glee.

It's mind boggling how many assets we have this offseason. If we aren't a major player (honestly, the biggest player save the teams involved with Lebron/Wade/Bosh), I'll be very disappointed.

*Two expiring contracts for non-trivial, rotation calibre players (Krstic $5.5M & Collison $6.8M)
*Two quality prospects on rookie contracts that are worthy 10-12th men on any team, rotation calibre on some (Weaver & White)
*Four (potential) starting calibre players on reasonable contracts (Harden, Thabo, Green, Ibaka)
*One rotation calibre player on a fresh rookie contract (Maynor)
*Two first round picks & two second round picks
*Around $12M in cap space

Geeeeeeeez. Not saying we should deal out all those assets, but we have A LOT to work with. It makes me nervous just thinking about it.

@The DON

You're only citing points. And the last ten games. Over the whole year, starting point guards are shooting worse against us than they do against other teams, they get fewer assists, and points. Seems like we're doing at least an average job on them, then, no?

@PNT
orlando uses a 3 headed PF, with rashard lewis, ryan anderson and brandon bass. anderson has 61 games played and bass 49. Its matchup dependent. however i dunno if brooks would do that at SG. i mean hardens mins going up next year would cut thabos, but a Sg/SF combo player could backup durant and would allow greens mins to go down also.

Joe :
Am I the only one who hopes that Krstic’s knee is still bothering him tonight and that his minutes go to Serge for a nice matchup with Camby?

From the Oklahoman:
Nenad Krstic missed his second consecutive game because of a bone bruise to his right knee. Krstic said he definitely will not play tonight at Portland and could miss Wednesday’s regular season finale against Memphis as well.
"It’s nothing really serious, but it’s been bothering me in the second half of the season,” Krstic said. "I’ve always practiced and played, but I was playing through the pain. But the (team’s medical staff) has decided to rest me a little bit.”

http://www.newsok.com/article/3453192

@DL
wow somebody has their panties in a bunch.

I like the "idea" of the 3 headed monster at the 2 since they all bring something we need to the table (Harden- all-around, Thabo- defense, Azubuike- 3pt shooting) but I really can't think of anywhere that has had a situation like that in a regular rotation and made it work.

I think Don and Justin should just hug it out bitches.

Let's be realistic, for us to take on Biedrins' contract Golden State would have to include a first round pick. That's how overpaid, underproductive and injury-riddled he's been. GS wishes they could dump his salary. Biedrins has negative trade value! Azubuike has a ruptured patellar tendon. That's an awful injury for a basketball player. No team in the league is particularly interested in either of these guys. Stop posting about them.

justin :

The DON :

justin :@The DON Russ isn’t a great defender, probably not even ‘good’, but…..

There is no “BUT”
You just co-signed the obvious truth that I stated and the rest of your drivel in your post was pointless

Of course there is a ‘but’, and the entire post, and all the evidence is clearly a ‘but’. When you’re out producing your opponent at a position it’s a good thing. Your statement: “Westbrook is routinely lit up by the opposing PG’s so it’s only when he doesn’t get lit up when we should be surprised.” is false. We (and, Russ) perform better than average against starting point guards.

Exectpt you completely disregarded my point and hijacked the point and introduced Westbrook's offensive production into the equation to show that he is doing fine against opposing PG's. Unfortunately for you, that was never my original point. The point is that recently every PG we face it seems lights us up on offense. Westbrook's offensive production in this stretch is irrelevant to the point I am making and the fact that you have to bring that up clearly demonstrates your inability to refute my point.

I am talking about westbrook on D strictly. Now prove that he has done a respectable job defending opposing PG's recently

justin :@The
DON
Russ isn’t a great defender, probably not even ‘good’

Oh that's right, you can't do that and you agree with my point already.

Again, you make arguing for the sake of arguing an art form.

@PNT
maybe not mullens, but white has potential at least, nothing to show that he isnt going to be a decent player. Mullens is a nelson type outside shooting bigman. I doubt it would happen, if anything we sign azubuike straight up as a FA. Id like him and david lee but we probably dont have the money for both.

The thabo falloff concerns me, i think its just a minutes thing and so having another SG would help limit his mins when he isnt needed to guard the opposing star.

Opposing PG's the last 10 games....

Curry: 25
Nash: 11
Billups: 31
Williams: 42
Flynn: 22
Kidd: 24
Rondo: 16
Holiday: 11
Miller: 26
Fisher: 7

Out of these 10 only 3 of them had a performance that was below their statistical standards for this season: Derek Fisher, Jrue Holiday, Steve Nash

That means, outside of Nash, every semi-respectable PG we have faced in the last 10 games had had an above average performance against us offensively

The DON :

justin :@The DON Russ isn’t a great defender, probably not even ‘good’, but…..

There is no “BUT”
You just co-signed the obvious truth that I stated and the rest of your drivel in your post was pointless

Of course there is a 'but', and the entire post, and all the evidence is clearly a 'but'. When you're out producing your opponent at a position it's a good thing. Your statement: "Westbrook is routinely lit up by the opposing PG’s so it’s only when he doesn’t get lit up when we should be surprised." is false. We (and, Russ) perform better than average against starting point guards.

I didn't format that last post right. Top half was a quote from f5alcon.

justin :@The
DON
Russ isn’t a great defender, probably not even ‘good’, but.....

There is no "BUT"

You just co-signed the obvious truth that I stated and the rest of your drivel in your post was pointless

What i think could solidify us across the board would be a trade with the warriors, though they probably wouldnt do it, a sign and trade with azubuike and biedrins for dj white, mullens 1 of our 1st rd picks, 2nd rd picks and a 2nd rd pick next year.

You would probably have to sweeten the pot with someone like Collison to get that deal done. Why would anyone REALLY want White or Mullens right now?

@ clarkem

which rumor are you asking about?
the only one that mentions OKC is durant to sign an agreement with Panini cards.

From The Oklahoman:

"Kevin Durant could soon add another partnership to his growing portfolio as a pitchman. The Oklahoma City Thunder's star forward is in talks with Panini America, the memorabilia company formerly known as Donruss, about becoming the worldwide spokesperson for the company's basketball division Panini America, the NBA's exclusive trading card and memorabilia partner, recently visited Durant and his representatives in Oklahoma City. A deal could be finalized soon. Durant also has sizable national sponsorship deals with Nike and Gatorade."

kev :
Kevin Pelton and those guys at basketball Prospectus are sharp , but it’s obvious that Thabo shouldnt be on the first team based on his play the last two months . . .

He deserves it. He played outstanding in the first 60 games or so... after that loss against the suns where he went for the steal he has slowed down.

@The DON

Russ isn't a great defender, probably not even 'good', but your hyperbole is grating on my nerves.

OKC Thunder allow a 43.4% FG to starting PG's, which is tied for 12th best in the league, tied with Atlanta and a hundredth of a percentage point behind Denver / Orlando.

We're tied for 9th in forcing starting PG Turnovers, 9th best in assists allowed, etc. The only thing opposing starting PG's do better than average against us is get to the free throw line (20th in NBA) and three point percentage. Everything else we're above league average and in some cases top ten.

I'm not a fan of EFF which is the NBA's "catch all" boxscore metric, but using it we're 6th in the league in starting PG differential, which means Russ produces on average much better than his opponents. We're behind only Utah, Phoenix, Denver, Boston, and New Orleans in dEFF for starting point guards.

So yeah, Russ needs to improve his defense but it's not nearly as bad, or costly, as you are making it out to be.

Clark Matthews :

KingGondo :
Roy being out tonight is a huge break, and will allow us to focus our defensive intensity on Andre Miller (who more or less won the game for Portland last time in OKC). If we win tonight, I think everyone will forget about last night’s travesty.

My thoughts exactly! For some reason, Miller kills Westbrook. He did it last year with Philly, too. But when Thabo guarded him, he was a non-factor. With Roy on the floor, Thabo HAS to take him because he’s the best offensive player on the Blazers. Without him, though, that means Thabo can try to take Miller out of the game, and Westbrook can take a less offensively inclined player.

"For some reason"? Miller just does to westbrook what EVERY point guard seems to do that he faces, kill him.

Westbrook is routinely lit up by the opposing PG's so it's only when he doesn't get lit up when we should be surprised.

@kev
the lack of national exposure helps him here, he got the reputation early, and most people dont watch him every game

Kevin Pelton and those guys at basketball Prospectus are sharp , but it's obvious that Thabo shouldnt be on the first team based on his play the last two months . . .

Quentin Richardson is quietly having a decent year in Miami. Could be a decent backup. He's back to playing great defense..

I think in the draft one thing we need to address is a swingman who is a dead eye scorer/shooter. That player can either play alongside Harden and Maynor on the second unit or whatever, but he needs to be a legit scorer. Landry Fields of Stanford, Q-Pon of Washington...

Just saying. Our second unit has been great, but it is predicated on Green or Durant playing the 3.

@KingGondo
I would be shocked if the thunder didn't focus their defensive attention strictly on LaMarcus Aldridge. If he puts up a good game the Blazers have a much better chance at winning.

Would anyone else be okay with us picking Damion James? He seems like he could be a Gerald Wallace type player... Plus we would finally have a backup for KD..

ugh i need to learn how to format links lol

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/features/rumors?dat...
anybody know anything about this?

@MastrMatt
injuries, he is always injured, when he plays he is great, now if we kept krstic it wouldnt be too bad as he is capable of starting, but he is a big risk, a tyson chandler sized risk.