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@4razr
Shooting guard is our deepest position right now with Mo-Pete and Cook. We can't possibly bring any more in.

No place to post this, but I see Portland is looking to trade R Fernandez for a pick and a TPE (possibly....rumors!). thunder could easily absorb his less than 1.5 million salary, but is there room for him? I think he could see the floor at the 2 and possibly backing up the 3. This would require less Thabo. It´s probably not a good fit, but it seems like a low risk/high reward kind of move. But who would he replace? Ivy?

@shiki=4 seasons
True. But if he's referring to "defense" as a part of expanding his game, then that's a good thing. That'll get him in the rotation faster than anything, outside of knocking down open 3's.

@Greg
We dont need him show his full skill.A good shooter is very important to thunder which is the 5th worst team in 3p%.

@Greg
I'm liking Cook more and more, seems like a good kid and will fit in fine with the young core.

Cook expanding his game
7:16
AM ETDaequan Cook | Thunder Top Email
The Thunder acquired Daequan Cook from the Heat just before the draft last month. He's currently in Oklahoma City working out to improve his skills.

"Playing in Miami, my skills weren't expanded as much as I know they can be because you have a guy in Dwyane Wade who had a lot of attention and the ball was with him most of the time," Cook told The Oklahoman. "But here, I'm going to get an opportunity to expand my game. I'm more than just a shooter and I've always been. So it's just important for me to work on those things and get back into the habit of doing the things I was doing."

Cook said his biggest adjustment will be fitting into the Thunder's team chemistry.

"You've got a lot of guys who've been playing together for the last couple of years," Cook said. "For me coming in, it's important to play the role that's given to me on this team, not to come in and try to do too much. Just do enough to be a part of the team."

The Miami Heat continue to re-sign players who ended last season with the club. According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, guard Kenny Hasbrouck told a station in Albany, N.Y. that he'll sign a contract with the Heat on Wednesday.

Who???

Interesting espn.com/nba poll:

Which big man entered the NBA with more potential?
- Yao Ming
- Greg Oden

Results are pretty split. 54% Yao, 46% Oden.

That's pretty funny if he actually said the words "lowkey".

@Anonymous

I think it's too early to dub them east coast champs...are they favored?...sure. But how long will it last.

Bosh went back and forth from I can be the sidekick to I wanna be the Man. Wade has had injury problems. James is a reg season champ...

@Greg
"I lowkey miss Seattle and Key Arena"

KD makes a home wherever he goes.

When and what was Durant's tweet about missing Seattle?

DXL :@AnonymousYeah, NBA championships are reserved for the big cities, like, um, San Antonio? Stop trolling, jackass.

But San Antonio is the exception. After all, they have a transcendent player in Duncan that other players will gravitate towards.

If only OKC had a "transcendent" player in Duncan's model... *evil laugh*

@Anonymous
Yeah, NBA championships are reserved for the big cities, like, um, San Antonio? Stop trolling, jackass.

Anonymous :Its a league only for a few cities anyway. The rest of the cities are just there to play the punchin bag and be the Washinton Generals for the Globetrotters.

The Washington Generals are awesome! The Globetrotters took the "easy way" to a championship. The Trotters will have chemistry problems. After all, how will all those egos share ONE ball? The Gens will prevail through hard work and team unity. Go Generals!

Anyone else think Pat Riley just made a mockery of Sam Presti's slow ,methodical, studious, careful, construction of a team. Screw all those manuevers, just sign three superstars and voila ........ instant championship contender.

Tired of the worry about whether these players like OKC or not. NBA is a joke of a league anyway. Never had a lot of parity and now it has even less with these players pulling these school yard stunts of choosing up sides. If the NBA survives in OKC, then great, if not , then great. Its a league only for a few cities anyway. The rest of the cities are just there to play the punchin bag and be the Washinton Generals for the Globetrotters.

It makes sense. I thought Mo Peterson was going to be waived but he was little more productive than I thought he was last year--his 3-point shooting percentage has been solid. If Peterson and Cook are going to be on the roster, along with Thabo and Harden, then we can't carry 5 shooting guards.

Weaver couldn't be the third point guard so he had to go. If any of the rotation backcourt players are injured I'll be more confident with the veterans Peterson, Cook, and Ivey stepping in rather than the inexperienced Weaver.

Seattle is awesome, but I'd pee myself if someone from the NW said something as simple as "That OKC place isn't half bad. They do alot with what they're given. I encourage their growth and progression." Instead, it's almost exclusively "Can they read?" Even Seattle natives would tire of such constant bigotry.

Can't we all just get along? ;)

Cpt. C-Note :
I miss Austin and I’m a Sooner fan. I guess that means my loyalty and dedication to Oklahoma should be questioned?

YES! *hits C-Note with rotten tomato*

P.S. - Austin rules.

I went to Seattle once about eight years ago. I miss it too. It's a cool place.

Good luck Kyle. You are a hard-worker and a stand-up guy.

Durant can miss Seattle as long as he plays here. I miss Austin and I'm a Sooner fan. I guess that means my loyalty and dedication to Oklahoma should be questioned? GO THUNDER!!

Plus, they need that 15th roster spot for a third PG, whether that be Mustafa or Ivey (hope not)or somebody else.

@Crow
All that you said about Weaver is true, but again, this is like a stew. You put all the ingredients in and try and create a tasty meal. True that Weaver isn't any worse than Thabo offensively, but in that stew you don't put rice and pasta. That's too much of something too similar. You can tolerate a certain amount of players who are offensively challenged, but how many is too many?

I think the thing that is being overlooked is that they had a decision to make about the end of the bench guards (since they brought in Daequan and Mo Pete on trades) and to help them make that decision they put the ball in Weaver's hands in Summer league. He played 34 mpg in those 4 games to show how his game has improved and he responded with 39 percent shooting. After that, they brought in Ivey..

Now, I don't get the Ivey signing, there are better players out there, and I'm not convinced he's far and away a better defender than Weaver, but they did give Weaver two seasons to improve his game and the poor showing in Orlando I think did him in.

uh oh July 27th, 2010 at 21:24 | #3 Reply | Quote KD is missing Seattle… His words not mine

uh oh,
ALL would agree that Seattle is a vibrant, international city. It would be ludicrous for KD to not have enjoyed a city of that stature, just like Collison does. Having said that, let it rest! We know OKC is not Miami, Seattle, LA or NY and as has been said at least 100 times some players may not fit the Thunder. Altough it would be nice, we don't need our players to live here year round, we just want them to play hard and win. We have KD for the next 6 years, after that we will see, but, I believe winning will out weigh location when the times comes to renew.

KD's Seattle tweet makes me love him so much more.

Could it be possible the Thunder hooked Weaver up with a job?

weaver being dumped is a money/ too many SGs move and being the easiest to let go. his stats were not as important as non guaranteed contract

Vujacic + 1st pick for nothing or next to nothing- a future 2nd rounder- is not a bad deal to consider for 1 year of Sasha; but it might take added cash to seal a deal as you suggest with somebody. Probably not OKC at this point given the moves made and supposedly coming soon.

can't wait for Traber or Carlson to take KD's words out of context.

Lakers offers anyone to absorb Vujacic + 1st pick. I would do it if they include $ 3M, and then we buy out Vujacic contract.

Weaver deferred to Durant and Westbrook and most everybody else but that is not surprising for a guy assigned to a bench and deep bench role the past 2 seasons. But whatever. Get the 9-10 man rotation to beat the other strong teams in the west.

Given Weaver played near to none last season and the 5th guard seems fairly unlikely to play much this season I don't think this has much impact except in case of injury.

If they are ditching Weaver out of concern for the offense there are others playing more minutes who they should have looked to upgrade first for greater impact.

It is a weakness to be sure, but if you tolerate it for Thabo, I don't see how it has to be different for Weaver.

I thought up comparing Weaver to George Hill and, except for the frequency of shots, the comparison is pretty good. Weaver fouls a lot less.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/tin...

Crow :Weeaver’s career TS% is at or slightly above league average. eFG% clearly better. On career scoring and shooting efficiency he is better than Thabo, Westbrook, Maynor, Ivey, Cook, Peterson and Green. On low usage but that was in keeping with the overall game plan.

I think that's in keeping with the fact that he has trouble creating his own shot and he's not a great offensive player...

Weeaver's career TS% is at or slightly above league average. eFG% clearly better. On career scoring and shooting efficiency he is better than Thabo, Westbrook, Maynor, Ivey, Cook, Peterson and Green. On low usage but that was in keeping with the overall game plan.

That's too bad. Weaver was a good dude and has potential to be a solid bench player some day. Best of luck to him.

Harden did shoot free throws three times as often. Weaver's foul rate was like Maynor's but Weaver hit them a lot better.

Weaver hit 60% of his inside shots in 08-09 and his inside frequency then was higher than Harden's was this season. And he hit every single one of the few inside shots he attempted this season.

shiki=4 seasons :
Which Maccabi will he join?Maccabi Tel Aviv or Maccabi Haifa?

Maccabi Eufala Oklahoma. They have more than two branches, y'know.

Durant misses Seattle?

He's a very diplomatic sort of guy who thinks before he speaks.

I think I probably said something similar to my ex girlfriend after she got chubby. "I really miss you baby, I wish things could have worked out differently, but you know how things change"

And the Seattle kids fell for it, too.

Kevin Durant should be Secretary of State one day.

Crow :Of 9 players who take the shot only Harden and Peterson are clearly better in the stats from 3 point land. Weaver was just slightly below league average on this.

That'd be OK if he didn't stink at scoring from everywhere else. He's like a worse version of Thabo pretty much.

Of 9 players who take the shot only Harden and Peterson are clearly better in the stats from 3 point land. Weaver was just slightly below league average on this.

Weaver's just not NBA caliber. Hope he can carve out a career overseas.

Which Maccabi will he join?Maccabi Tel Aviv or Maccabi Haifa?

"They wanted him to hit 3s. He didn’t."

Well, per minute over his career he shot them as frequently and almost as well as Durant career. More frequently than Green and hit the same FG% career. Twice as often as Westbrook and way better. 50% more often than Maynor and Sefolosha and better than them too.

A third less often than Cook but only 1% less well. 50% more often than Ivey and slightly better. Way less than Peterson and not as well.

If they are going to emphasize the 3 point more, as they should have before, that is probably good; but still want to see it though. They probably could have done other things differently before now.

@Brandon

Agreed; he was popular in Seattle and the year he was there the team was run by Bennett and Presti. plus, having lived there for 20 years, it's wonderful to be in the mild/comfy summer weather instead of the sweltering, can't escape, blistering heat. It's a pleasant 79 degrees there now.

I always liked Weaver, especially in college at WSU. I thought he would carve a career like Nate McMillan as a tall PG, but it was never his role here.

He played good team D, but he couldn't move his feet as fast as Thabo to stay in front of speedy guys, and the injury and his inconsistent shooting.

Plus, they put the ball in his hands in Summer league and gave him ample minutes to show his game had stepped up, and he shot 31% on threes and 39% overall.

However, I think he is more than good enough to be a solid pro in Europe; and he will be on the team with newly signed Mikhail Torrance.

Can't get mad at him for missing Seattle...it was his first NBA home. He has shown his loyalty to OKC by signing a Max deal with the Thunder so need to make a big deal out of him saying he misses his first NBA home. He's a businessman the more fans he has the more money he has...