The D-League: Shaping the NBA since…well, someday it might have an influence
When it comes to developing young men drafted by their league, Major League Baseball’s “minor leagues” is the premiere system. Unlike the NBA, which immediately guarantees a roster spot to a first round draft pick and guarantees the player millions of dollars, MLB has a system of incremental player growth administrated by the team that gradually prepares the player for the rigors of the sport.
In the past, the NBA had no real concern about developing players. When players had to prove a “financial hardship” to enter the league prior to exhausting their college eligibility, and Soviet rule kept players from defecting before they had passed their prime, the league used free methods of transitioning players from their parent’s (or government’s) oversight to a life of extravagant wealth. Then, about twenty years ago, the trend of players to quit school and start making money began. General Managers, not wanting to miss out on an elite talent, stopped emphasizing things like “preparedness” and “development,” instead caring more about “potential” and “athleticism.” The result was that a good number of players whose immaturity and inability to grow, that in the past would have become apparent when they clashed with their college coach, were drafted into the NBA and given multi-year guaranteed contracts. Even if some of those players could become valuable pieces, their development was stunted due to inability to get floor experience.
Over the past decade, basketball has attempted to emulate the plan of their baseball playing brethren. In creating the National Basketball Developmental League (“D-League”) some effort has been made to address the trend of players beginning their careers earlier. In ____, __ teams, mostly in the Southeast, were spawned by the NBA as a de facto minor league. It mostly consisted of second rounders cut by teams and free agents whose dreams of playing in the NBA still had a flicker. As time has progressed, the D-League has expanded, some teams (including the Thunder) have purchased franchises, and in the most recent CBA, the players relented to allow first and second year players to be assigned to teams affiliated with their club. This past Summer, the league allowed a bit more control regarding how teams filled out their D-League rosters by giving D-League rights to the affiliates of teams that cut the player during training camp. Read more…
Daily Thunder bracket group! Join if you’re so inclined to do such things. There’s a new Perk shirt in it for the winner (or a shirt of your choice if you don’t want that one).
Jakob Eich of Piston Powered on guarding Russell Westbrook: “Westbrook is a very effective guard. He has an all-around skill set. He’s incredibly fast, he has a good jumper, he can finish at the rim, and he shoots free throws fairly well. His quickness is a problem for all NBA teams, not even the quickest of the quickest can stay in front of him, so I won’t blame any Detroit guard for not doing so.” Read more…
Let’s all simmer. All settle down a bit. Five deep breaths and a count to 10. It might be difficult to temper the excitement, but perspective is always important. Just like you can’t freak too much after a loss to the Grizzlies in December, you can’t go in the opposite direction after a blowout of the Wizards in March.
Though I’ll admit, this game was fun.
As excited as we’d all like to get from this game, with it being Kendrick Perkins’ first appearance and all, remind yourself that the Thunder were playing the Wizards. And not only that, but the Wizards may have turned in one of the weakest efforts I’ve seen this season. A lot of that absolutely has to do with how well Oklahoma City executed and played on both ends as well, but the Wizards aren’t good. The Cavs are the worst, but the Wizards have played incredibly poor basketball the past month. Without Andray Blatche, without Rashard Lewis, this team was all Nick Young and John Wall’s and they didn’t play well at all. Result? Blowoutsville. Read more…
COUPLE NOTES: Kendrick Perkins will start tonight. Andray Blatche won’t play the Wizards just announced and Rashard Lewis is listed as “questionable” right now, but likely won’t play. So basically, this isn’t much of a “primer” at all.
Another “Can you stay focused?” game for the Thunder. Except keep this in mind: The Wizards are near as terrible as the Cavs. Especially as home. Read more…
Most everyone said it when the Thunder acquired Kendrick Perkins. He’s going to bring something different to town. He’s tough, he’s big, he’s physical and he’s not shy about speaking his mind. If Chris Bosh is a fake tough guy, Perkins is every bit of real tough guy as you can get. And in a locker room that’s mostly tight-lipped with every cliche down pat and ready to use in any situation, Perkins has a candidness that we haven’t really ever seen here.
In the newest issue of ESPN the Mag, Perkins and Kevin Durant were both asked a couple of the same questions with both having mostly differing opinions. All of it was pretty interesting, but the question, “Lakers: Team to beat or old news?” brought out the best in Perk.
“Yesterday’s news,” he said. “I don’t like Pau Gasol or Phil Jackson. Phil is arrogant. Pau is soft. Kobe tries to bring out his toughness, but he’s still soft.”
Well then.
Durant’s answer? “They’re the reigning champs and still playing like it.” See the difference there? Like I said, Perk might take a little getting used to. I actually wondered to myself if these quotes were even real or if I was missing the point of some kind of fictional, made up quote piece.
It’s great to see James Harden exploding onto the national scene and coming out from under the shadow of the bigger names playing ball in OKC. First it was Durant making a huge otherworldly jump in production in his second season, then Westbrook last season answered most questions about whether he was a “real” point guard. We are seeing great things from Serge Ibaka, but it’s big game James that is really putting it all together now.
Since Jeff Green was traded the minutes have opened up for James and he has responded. So far for the month of March (7 games) James is rolling with 31 mpg, 51.2% FG, 35.3 % 3fg, 93.8% FT, 3 rebs, 3 assists, almost 2 steals and 18.3 points per game. It’s incredible production and I for one am not surprised. Read more…
Yet another team hoping to copy the Thunder model:”In Oklahoma City, the Washington Wizards see a team they would like to be; one that recognized the need to start over from scratch and reached relevance after an initially gruesome beginning. The Thunder (42-23) has yet to win a championship or a playoff series for that matter, but it already has created a team-building strategy that is referred to around the league as “the Oklahoma City model.”
From Elias: “Russell Westbrook scored 20 points in 24 minutes and watched the entire fourth quarter from the bench with Kevin Durant as the Thunder cruised to a 95-75 victory at Cleveland. Westbrook shot 10-for-16 from the field, but it was the first game this season in which he didn’t score from the foul line, snapping his streak of 67 games with at least one free throw made dating back to last April. Not to worry, Thunder fans, Kevin Durant made all six of his foul shots, extending his streak to 117 games with at least one point from the line.” Read more…
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It’s kind of hard to be impressed when you beat a 12-win team in March in almost any circumstance. But I’m pretty impressed by the Thunder’s effort Sunday. Take into account the variables. It was a road game. It was against a bad team, meaning sometimes focus is an issue. It was a noon start time but was Eastern time zone as well as daylight savings, so basically it was a 10 a.m. start. The excuses were certainly there for the Thunder if they sort of mailed in a half, or even a quarter.
Except from the tip Oklahoma City was locked in and put away the helpless Cavs quickly. After one it was 29-14, at the half OKC led by 12 and by the end of the third, the Thunder held a 19-point edge. With only one starter playing in the fourth (Nazr Mohammed), OKC stretched out to a 28-point lead, cruising to a 95-75 win over Cleveland. Read more…
Hey, remember that the Cavs beat the Lakers a few weeks ago. Just put that in that back of your mind before you go ahead and cross this one off.
Now, that said, there’s no excuse to lose this game. Road or home, losing to a team as poor as the Cavs are just isn’t an option. I’m not saying the Thunder has to look fantastic or roll to a double-digit stomping, but just don’t lose. That’s the key. Read more…
Morning Thunder people. Thank you for your support of DT. Drinks on the house!
Everything looks better in slow motion. Slam dunks, knockouts, swimsuit models coming out of the ocean, fat guys getting hit in the stomach — slo-mo just makes it all better. So put Serge Ibaka — someone awesome to watch in any speed — to slow-mo and you know you’ve got a winner.
From the start, it was pretty easy to tell the Thunder was going to win this game. The Pistons aren’t very good, they didn’t seem to be all that invested and they’re kind of horrible on the road. It really was just a matter of how well Oklahoma City would execute and if there was a chance we’d see Royal Ivey.
But for a lot of the game, the Thunder seemed a bit unfocused. They appeared to lack intensity. So the Pistons hung right in the game. But for a stretch to end the third quarter, OKC finally tightened up, moved the ball, made shots and essentially put Detroit away. James Harden hit back-to-back 3s, Russell Westbrook completely tore down the Detroit defense and the Thunder finished with a strong run heading to the fourth.
A late 10-0 run and a four minute drought let the Pistons get within six, but a couple Russell Westbrook free throws and a tip by Serge Ibaka ended any doubt that the Thunder would blow it as OKC won 104-94. Read more…
Note: As noted earlier, Kendrick Perkins will not debut tonight for the Thunder, so says Scott Brooks. Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports tweeted that Perkins said he’s eying Wednesday versus the Heat as his first game.
OKC gets the Pistons tonight and their dysfunctional rag tag bunch of veterans. At home, this game is nothing less than a should-win affair. Read more…
There are only 19 games left for the Thunder in the regular season counting tonight’s matchup against the Pistons. Did that come quickly or what? The playoffs have really crept up this year, seems like.
That means its not at all too early to look at possible playoff opponents for Oklahoma City in the first round. The Thunder isn’t necessarily locked in to the No. 4 seed, where it has sat for seemingly forever, but that’s where it will most likely end up. With a relatively easy upcoming schedule, it appears OKC is more likely to move up to No. 3 than down to No. 5, if any movement happens at all. But with the Lakers sitting in that No. 3 spot and already owning the head-to-head tiebreaker over OKC, the Thunder is probably sitting where it will wind up. And no matter where the Thunder finishes, its first-round opponent will come from a group of four teams: Denver, Portland, New Orleans, Memphis. Phoenix and Utah could still qualify for the playoffs, but there’s no way either of them will climb to No. 6 or higher.
A couple of those teams — namely the Grizzlies and Blazers — give me the heebie-jeebies. How disappointing would it be for the Thunder, judged by many pundits to finally be a “team of the present” after the Kendrick Perkins and Nazr Mohammed trades, to get home-court in the first round and then lose to another young team? I shudder at the thought. So who exactly should OKC want to play? Let’s list them in order, starting with the most favorable matchup. Read more…
Scott Brooks talking last second sets: “If the score is tied and you run a pin-down play, who has the ball? If Russell has the ball, what happens if they switch out on the pin-down and deny Kevin the ball. So now that play is gone. Now everybody is in a bad position and it’s going to be a put your head down and try to make a play (situation) for Russell. So you try to set your team up so that everybody knows where they’re going to be so if it does break down at least you have some guys spaced out.” Read more…
The D-League: Shaping the NBA since…well, someday it might have an influence
