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hey "rob" (?), which international swing men are you targeting?

hi rob

larry :“Marvin Williams, who is basically Jeff Green himself.”
That’s a bit over the top. i do not know of anyone that would trade Green for Williams.

Take off the homer glasses. Williams and Green are almost identical in terms of productivity.

If you look at Adjusted +/-, Williams wins again.

Marvin Williams and Green each have some advantages but on career PER Williams has a small edge.

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

30 minutes per game.

Looked at the average player stats for the league for players who played 30 minutes across all positions. Green was real close to the league's average big minute player on most of the boxscore stats with few big departures other than weaker than average shooting. The biggest other one was assists where he produced only about half the average. On the plus side he had more blocks and fewer turnovers.

If you like or argue for "basketball players", not specialists, Green is an example of that.

"Marvin Williams, who is basically Jeff Green himself."

That's a bit over the top. i do not know of anyone that would trade Green for Williams.

A welcome to the Thunder family for Mr. Maz Trakh. I'm hoping (assuming) there are better pictures of him than the one shown here, where he looks as if someone just stole his winning lottery ticket.

Someone in the comments, reflecting on Krstic and his epic Greek Revival Rumble, mentioned that the chair merely slipped out of his hand and landed on someone's head. Hate to disagree, but that wasn't no slip. That was a full-forced, I absolutely meant to hit you with this chair, all-out hurl. And it didn't simply alight softly on someone's head. It whomped them. Hard enough to draw blood. If you doubt it, try this experiment. Have a soon-to-be-ex good friend stand approximately three feet away, grab a metal chair, and slam it over your head. Then come back and tell us how it felt. Before or after you get the stitches out. Your choice.

Different expiring contracts can potentially have different cap hold rules based on the type of the previous contract. That can matter if you want to retain the player or are even thinking of it.

It was unlikely an explicit factor in the decision but Rondo and Coach K were certainly aware of their respective college loyalties from the first minute they saw each other. It might have made a little tougher to get comfortable and "click". But Rondo does a lot of that on his own too.

@Serge Ibaka’s 17th Sibling

Duke and Kentucky are huge rivals. They don't face often but no other team stirs as much up for Kentucky as Duke and for Duke, Kentucky is perhaps the biggest non-conference rival and maybe second only to UNC. They compete for many of the same players.

@justin
I'm all on board for Nene or West, especially the latter.

@Greg

I don't think that's enough for Smith since Green will need to be extended (eliminating the savings benefits of the expirings). Plus they already have Marvin Williams, who is basically Jeff Green himself.

I don't see much out there that the Thunder would consider for expirings. It'd probably be better to just wait until the offseason to pursue the upgrade as most of the movable guys have already moved. Let Krstic / Collison expire and maybe pursue someone like Nene or West.

justin :If he was on any team but Dallas I think Tyson Chandler would be obtainable for Nenad Krstic.

This is exactly what I was thinking about, but alas Krstic won't be dealt to a contender. Maybe something along the lines of Jason Thompson? I don't know. Bringing in a two-way F/C would be idea. I don't see us bringing in a PG, SG, or SF this year while we still have Thabo and Green.

I think Green, expirings, and possibly Thabo, could be enough for a (potentially) desperate ATL team to give up Smith. But given Smith's past, he seems like one of the last players Presti would go after. Any other PFs are who are borderline or non-contending teams?

If he was on any team but Dallas I think Tyson Chandler would be obtainable for Nenad Krstic.

@Steve H
I do expect Krstic to get a Stern talking to. (See what I did there?) :)

@Greg

No, which is also why I some people are placing too much value on our expirings. For them to have any value Presti would have to be willing to take on a long term deal. The trade deadline will be quiet unless he goes all out for someone like a Josh Smith, in which case our expirings will have a good bit of value (but not enough to get that caliber player on their own).

I'm hoping at the very least Presti manages to pull a trade similar to the Maynor one last season. Of the tax teams I think Denver might be one who would look to save some $$$ especially if Carmelo is serious about leaving. Don't see what we'd get from them though.

@justin
I see what you're saying now. To me it sounds like fetching a player who would log notable minutes here in return for Krstic's contract doesn't seem likely.

James :Trabor is on the radio talking about the Krstic fight. He is going crazy about it. He had Gottlieb on and Gottlieb said the Thunder may try to get out of his contract as a result of “conduct something something”. I didn’t think the fight was that bad?? He hit a dude with his wrist and then picked up a chair and made an attempt to throw it but in reality in just dropped out of his hand and landed on his teammate’s head. He wasn’t climbing in the stands punch fans out like Artest or even landing good blows to another player.

Thats just our usual crazy radio talk. The league has already said it will take no action, so why would Presti give a crap? Its not like he was smuggling heroin or killing hookers in Athens. We need Kristic for front line depth this year- if he gets traded for another center that will be a basketball decision unrelated to what happened in Greece.

@Greg

We'd have the same amount of cap space regardless. Krstic is expiring so his fate doesn't affect our cap situation next year no matter what.

justin :Another way to deal Krstic is to deal him for a player making significantly more, since we still have available cap space. We could save a tax team some $$$ while at the same time giving them a talented rotation player.

That sounds more realistic than receiving a draft pick. This way we have even more cap space next summer.

Greg :@justin So expiring contracts aren’t valuable to teams who are looking to clear cap space?

Sure they are, but the only way an expiring contract clears cap space is if that team sends a player under contract the following year (or more). See what I'm saying? Say Philly wanted to clear cap space for next season. If they trade Louis Williams for Krstic's expiring, they get out of Williams' final two years. If they trade Jason Kapono, who is also expiring, it doesn't accomplish anything for them.

So the Thunder would have to be willing to take on long term salary for Krstic to have any value as an expiring contract.

Another way to deal Krstic is to deal him for a player making significantly more, since we still have available cap space. We could save a tax team some $$$ while at the same time giving them a talented rotation player.

@justin
So expiring contracts aren't valuable to teams who are looking to clear cap space?

I doubt there's any way the Thunder could get out from Krstic's contract that way. If they do move Krstic due to this incident it'd be a real conservative thing to do.

@Greg

An expiring contract is only valuable to a team who is sending a player who is signed to a long term deal (i.e. to get out of a longer contract).

@James
"conduct detrimental to the team"? I think at worst for Krstic, his valuable expiring contract traded away. I'm not sure what we could expect to see in return, the rotation is full - so I'd assume maybe an early 2nd round pick in exchange for Krstic?

Trabor is on the radio talking about the Krstic fight. He is going crazy about it. He had Gottlieb on and Gottlieb said the Thunder may try to get out of his contract as a result of "conduct something something". I didn't think the fight was that bad?? He hit a dude with his wrist and then picked up a chair and made an attempt to throw it but in reality in just dropped out of his hand and landed on his teammate's head. He wasn't climbing in the stands punch fans out like Artest or even landing good blows to another player.

I never saw how rose/billups/rondo were all going to get minutes at the point. RW is probably better suited to play off the ball since he played the 2 in college and does so on occasion with the thunder. Also, Duke and Kentucky aren't really rivals. They played an amazing game 18 years ago and thats about it. I doubt that even entered Coach K's mind.

@j-mo

Gilbert Arenas was cut from the team once and they said he was 'injured'. I think he was cut.

Do you think Rondo really "withdrew"? If I remember correctly, he was a last minute invite to team USA camp anyway. Maybe RW's jump shot has improved a bunch and it wasn't even a question to keep RW over Rondo and team USA is letting Rondo save face by letting him "withdraw" rather than get cut. Someone said Rondo didn't play at all against Spain.

I haven't followed the exhibition games but Rondo has a championship with a star-studded team. Difficult though it seems to have been. He also is from Kentucky. Hope that didn't affect Coach K in any background way.

Looks like Seattle has gotten their revenge on OKC....

http://okblitz.com/Article.aspx?id=25300

Although not relevant to Team USA, Westbrook performed better against the Lakers than Rondo did.

Rondo has "withdrawn" from Team USA, Westbrook made the team.

http://www.insidehoops.com/usa-basketball.shtml

@Crow

I like Brian Keefe a lot. He seems to have a very firm grip on our defensive principles and gameplan. He had the summer league scrubs playing decent team defense over the course of one week.

Brian Keefe is being groomed for some level of advancement. He is not the back-up Head Coach plan yet but he might get there. That would put a lot of emphasis on home-grown to take him over who else is out there. But that is probably too ahead of what is happening now.

Cheeks seemed like a back-up plan and only a back-up plan to me. Not sure who else they could get if they wanted to make a move some day down the line.

How much does Presti need in the next 2 years to retain Brooks even longer? Is 2 playoff appearances enough? Do they have to get to the second round at least once? More or deeper than that?

@justin

Probably. But if they are sub 45 wins there is some room for doubt. Depending on how it looks.

How much of the credit for a good defense should go to Brooks has been hard to say from the outside. Maintain a top 10 defense and he should get more credit. Get to top 5 or beyond even more. Slip and the answer is pretty clear too.

@Crow

No matter how this season goes I think Brooks will get another one.

I don't know how much Cheeks did with the defense last season but perhaps he does more? They wouldn't let him out of his contract to go to Chicago this summer but I find it unlikely he stays beyond this season unless things totally fall apart on Brooks and he gets an opportunity to step in and I doubt it goes bad enough for that.

Westbrook made Team USA, Rajon Rondo withdrew.

Is anyone a little worried we'll miss Adams? I totally understand the need for a player development guy on this extremely young team, really. I mean, assuming we don't take a plunge to turn multiple young players into one already elite player, the development of Ibaka, Harden, and Aldrich is going to be the ultimate difference between being the Lakers/Spurs (champions, dynasties) and being the Jazz (always good, never the best).

But man, I really liked what Adams brought last year.

@shiki=4 seasons

The press release said that he would be a player development coach. I take that to mean one of the other assistant coaches stepped into the defensive coach role. I know Mark Bryant is our player development coach for Serge and the other front court players, but I don't know if there is a single position that Maz would focus on or not. I guess we'll have to wait and see when more news is available.

It seems only west Asia clubs play FIBA Asia Club Championship.And you can win this champion easily if you have good american players in your team.
Is he a good defense coach in his career?

@justin

Obviously meant "Maz Trakh".

@justin
Haha, I saw that too.

Is it a bad sign that the first google result for "Max Trakh" is a Facebook group called "I hate MAZ TRAKH!!"?