Daily Thunder.com

Even with his league locked out, Kevin Durant has still had himself quite a busy summer. He went to China. He’s torn up every pro-am league from coast-to-coast. He got some new ink. He’s made appearances, helped at camps, hosted camps and of course, worked tirelessly on his game.

He needs a vacation. So he’s asking for your help. Last night, he tweeted: “I gotta take a vacation one of these days…any suggestions?”

OK then, well here are a few from me and knowing KD’s interests and what he’s probably looking for, I think they’re pretty good. Read more…

Commentary, Other

Zach Lowe of SI finishes his top 100 and ranks KD No. 8: “Durant sits at No. 8 because the players ahead of him are amazing, and because he still has work to do — and he knows it. His off-the-dribble game is shaky, meaning he often relies on his teammates to pass him the ball in the right place. The league’s elite wing defenders, especially physical guys like Tony Allen, can deny Durant the ball and bump him off his preferred path, mucking up entire possessions. This is one reason the Thunder’s late-game offense produced such cruddy shots in big moments.” Of note: The three in front of Durant on Lowe’s list: Deron Williams, Chris Paul and Kobe. I’ll let you guys yell about this for me.

Perk’s publicist to The Oklahoman, trying to clear his name: “Although these may be misdemeanors, it’s a big deal to Kendrick,” said Denise White. “He’s not happy about how things happened that evening and feels like the police were out of hand … He was not drinking alcohol, nor was he intoxicated. Not one drop of alcohol Friday night. We’re not sure why they said Kendrick was intoxicated. There are witnesses inside the club that will attest to Kendrick only drinking water that evening.” Read more…

Bolts

Kevin Durant’s crossover is getting to the point where it’s not just a nasty little move he can bust out on occasion for funs. It’s quickly become a move. Like a dirty, filthy, disgusting move. In [insert pickup game] over the weekend, KD and Sacramento Kings forward Donte Greene traded crossovers. Greene’s was nice. A quick move on Durant that led to a serious dunk.

But Durant’s was the kind where you don’t even have to shoot after. Greene went tumbling backwards and already before KD even attempted his jumper, he’d won. He could’ve just flipped the ball back to Greene and went the other way. It’s one of those moves that as KD starts his sequence of breaking down Greene, the crowd is starting to rumble (hrrrmm) and then as KD tests Greene with the first little cross and backs him off, the noise jumpers (ahhh) and when he breaks out the big move, everyone just lets it all out (OOOOOOOOOOOHAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH). Love that.

Durant’s used this cross at time — quite effectively, I might add — but I’ve seen it a ton in these pickup videos this summer. KD’s always had a solid handle, but he’s getting more comfortable with it, especially in terms of using it to create space and find a good look. Which is one of the few things Durant can improve upon — creating his own shot with space. Looks like he didn’t have much trouble there.

Via TBJ

Commentary, Video

Kendrick Perkins had himself a weekend. The kind where you end up in jail. (I think that’s officially called “The Charlie Sheen,” isn’t it?) He was arrested for, as police said, trying to fight everyone at a bar, including the manager, while being drunk. He was hit with a public intoxication and disorderly conduct charge.

But Perk is saying he’s innocent. Through his lawyer, he released this statement, via kiiitv.com: “Mr. Perkins has maintained his innocence to the charges and is recovering at home with family suffering from injuries he received during the incident.”

His attorney even says they are considering filing a police brutality complaint against the officers. Perkins’ lawyer says there are different accounts being given by witnesses as to what happened Saturday night in Beaumont than what police are reporting. Read more…

News

ESPN’s rolling out a project ranking the top 500 “NBA” players. Robert Vaden (499) was the first Thunderer to appear with Byron Mullens at 462 and Cole Aldrich and Reggie Jackson popping up in the 420s. Yay?

Zach Lowe of SI is in the top 20 of his list and has Russell Westbrook 12th: “In other words: After three NBA seasons, Westbrook has some work to do to reach his potential as a point guard. He’s 22, and he barely played point guard before entering the NBA. Too much of this criticism missed a very fundamental thing, though: The Thunder had a top-five offense all season with Westbrook leading the way. Scoring was not Oklahoma City’s problem, in the big picture. It ranked so high despite starting Thabo Sefolosha at shooting guard; monkeying around with Jeff Green, who just didn’t fit; trading Green for Kendrick Perkins, a limited offensive player who was limited even more as he recovered from a knee injury; and relying on Serge Ibaka, a raw offensive player, to take Green’s minutes.” Read more…

Bolts

Stephen Dunn/NBAE/Getty Images

All along, I’ve taken the position that I wouldn’t get too upset about this lockout until games are actually missed. Because right now, nothing is all that different in the NBA world other than we missed Summer League and didn’t get a couple weeks of players signing extensions and with new teams. Blah blah, I know the sides are really far apart and that it’s looking pretty dreadful, but there isn’t a real reason to get THAT angry.

Well, wasn’t a real reason. Because with last week’s stuff about David Stern being unavailable for two weeks (allegedly) and meetings being cancelled because of scheduling conflicts — that’s sort of miffing me off. All I want is a real — a REAL — effort to get a deal done before the middle of September when games would be missed. I want legitimate movement towards the middle. Just something to say that these greedy owners and these greedy players actually have the best interest of the game and fans in mind.

Because right now, I’m not getting that impression. All I’m getting is that they don’t really give a crap about what happens right now. Which is a message I’m not loving. Anyway, on to your letters: Read more…

Mailbag

Tyreke Evans on working out with Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose: “When we work out together, we always do different things. There’s things that I do better than them and there’s things they do better than me. So it’s always good to work out with them and try to learn new things from their games.”

Jenni Carlson with a lecture for Perk: “He can be a hothead. But a knucklehead? There has never been a time when Perk seemed like a goober. Truth be told, he’s one of the more thoughtful, intelligent interviews on the team. He sees situations for what they are, then he tells it like it is. I’m going to follow his lead. Perk acted like a bonehead this weekend. The Thunder expect better from him. Ditto for Oklahoma City.” Read more…

Bolts

From Michael Lee of the Washington Post, talking to Kevin Durant about street hoops, the lockout and his decision to possibly go overseas:

Durant said that after speaking with Stephen Jackson and a few other players last week, he has decided to set a deadline of Oct. 1. “Once we really know the season is not going to start at regular time, that’s when you make the decision,” he said. “I guess when October hits, it’s really going to get real for me. I don’t want to do it too early and be locked into something, knowing we’re going to play. I’m going to keep my options open.”

When asked if Turkey was his first option, Durant said, “My agent is talking with those guys, but I really don’t know too much about what’s going on. He’s going to call the next few days, keep me in [the loop]. Right now, I’m just trying to get better hooping and we’ll see what happens.”

News

UPDATE: Via the AP: “A statement from police in Beaumont, Texas, said officers saw a large crowd outside The Ticket night club just after 2 a.m., and received complaints of fights and pepper spray inside. An officer saw about 50 people inside around Perkins, who police said was attempting to fight the club’s manager. The statement said the crowd pushed Perkins out the back door of the club, where he continued to yell obscenities and start other fights.”

According to KFDM in Texas, Kendrick Perkins was arrested in his hometown of Beaumont, TX early Saturday morning. He was booked at about 4:00 a.m. on charges of public intoxication and disorderly conduct.

Perkins posted bond of $150 and were shortly released. (An initial report had Stephen Jackson arrested with Perk, but that has now been changed.)

So, what happened? According to MediaTakeoutOut.com‘s ridiculous account (which is always shady), Perkins, along with Stephen Jackson and potentially Rajon Rondo, all were involved in some kind of altercation outside of a Beaumont club. The group, along with Eric Maynor, James Harden and Kevin Durant, were all to be in town for Perkins’ basketball camp and celebrity game. However, the celebrity game was cancelled after Perkins reportedly had an incident in Jackson’s Port Arthur home late Thursday. Read more…

News

Morning Thunder nation. Thank you for your support of DT. Sources: The Thunder are in negotiations to move to the SEC next year.

Nate Robinson recently launched a new website, State of Nate. So far, there’s really nothing doing on it, though I’m sure in the future it’ll have quite a bit of interesting content. Right now, all it’s got is a seven-minute video about Robinson, his hometown of Seattle, his family, friends and basically everything you want to know about him. Kind of the state of Nate’s life. Get it?

Video

Tyson Chandler was on the B.S. Report yesterday and of course talked lockout, the Mavs title and a few other things we all probably don’t care a ton about. But Bill Simmons asked him about his experience on Team USA in the World Championships last summer, including who surprised him the most. And his answer itself was a bit surprising.

“I will say that Kevin Durant surprised me the most. I didn’t realize, that at 6-10, he can handle the ball as well as he can. And also, how he’s built for that moment. I thought he was a great scorer — I watched him in college, I watched him in high school — I always thought he was a great scorer but I always thought he was a little light.

But I mean he proved everything that I doubted about him wrong and showed me more. Then I got a chance to be around and understand who is and I mean he’s one of the best, I’ll say kids because I’m a little older now, but he’s one of the best kids you could ask for in this league. He has an incredible spirit, he just wants to play the game. He’s not worried about anything else, not worried about the accolades. He just loves the game of basketball.”

On Westbrook: Read more…

Commentary

Some weird story from Anatolia on Kobe and KD in China: “Besiktas also made an offer for the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant, who said he wouldn’t play on the same team as Bryant, Yalcin said. Should Bryant not accept a position, Durant said he was “ready to come live with his mother in Istanbul and wear the Besiktas jersey,” Anatolia quoted Yalcin as saying.”

Players canceled a meeting because David Stern is unavailable for two weeks, via BDL: “With training camps scheduled to start seven weeks from now, one would think that the NBA and its Players’ Association would be hell-bent on explaining their respective sides to each other as they attempt to end the month and a half-long lockout. No dice, friends. Because David Stern’s got some relaxing to do. Apparently it’s been a tough summer for him, too.” Read more…

Bolts

Danny Chau of Paroxysm on Serge Ibaka: “Serge Ibaka became a nationalized citizen and is playing for the Spanish team despite only spending three years in the country as a teenager. But playing for a country means more than just having blood ties to the land. Ultimately, beyond the national colors, it’s still about basketball. Spain was the country that fostered his development, expanded his understanding of the game, and opened doors to opportunities that weren’t previously there. This isn’t necessarily a debt being paid, just a player mindful of his journey — and the people in it — doing his best to say ‘thank you.’”

Beckley Mason of HoopSpeak on KD at the Goodman: “I made the trip out to Spingarn– where by the way only 13 percent of students met or exceeded mandated standards– because I wanted to see Durant ball. I left thinking about the awed and expectant expressions on the face of his hometown admirers as waves approached him for autographs, pictures, or just to catch up and exchange numbers. One thing you don’t appreciate until you see it up close is that these days literally everyone has a camera on his or her phone. Five years ago, his exit takes about half as long. Now everyone is a paparazzo. Still Durant was calm and welcoming, even Zen-like in his patient, smiling poses. In a gym choking on humidity, with guys frying wings on the sidewalk outside and a circle of friends and onlookers surrounding him just off the court, KD looked right at home–because he was.” Read more…

Bolts

Ronald Martinez/NBAE/Getty Images

It’s my new yearly thing: Reckless, wild speculation on how the Thunder’s season will play out. Last year after I went through the schedule month-by-month, I landed on 52 wins for Oklahoma City, which wasn’t too far off. And I felt like that was even a bit optimistic.

So that makes two straight years I’ve undersold the Thunder. I’m going to try and not do that this year, hence why I came up with a 78-4 record. Or something close to that. Let’s break the schedule down in pieces. (If there is a season disclaimer blah blah blah.)

Nov. 1 – 18 (at the LA Lakers, at Phoenix, Indiana, at Dallas, at New York, at Chicago, Toronto, at Charlotte, New Jersey, Denver)

A lot could happen for the Thunder in the first 10 games. They could start slow against the slew of quality opponents and go 3-7. They could break even. Or they could go something like 8-2 and skyrocket to the top of every power rankings poll on the Internet. In those first 10 games, OKC takes on six playoff teams from last year, has six games on the road, which includes the first five of six away from The Peake.

We could really learn a lot about this team and where it stands early on. Of course the season is long and things change, but the last time we saw these guys, they came up just short in the Western Finals, which is pretty big time. Will they pick up where they left the season and use that elimination as motivation to fire out of the gates looking for blood? Or will they be looking for an identity, especially after all the Durant-Westbrook chatter? I have no idea how those first 10 will play out, but they are going to be fascinating. Read more…

Commentary

Duff McKagan for ESPN.com after Sonics Night: “I want a team back. I actually want our team back, the one that is in Oklahoma City. But that would never happen. As a sports fan, I don’t want to necessarily take some other city’s team, but for us to get a team in that scenario, that means expansion. In this economy, expansion most likely won’t happen anytime soon. So where does that leave us? I just want an NBA team back here in Seattle. Me, and a whole legion of Sonics fans.”

Perk is hosting an NBA Celebrity game in his hometown: “On Friday, former Ozen boys basketball player Kendrick Perkins will host a celebrity basketball game featuring five fellow professional basketball players. The game will be held at 1 p.m. Friday at Ozen High School. Perkins, a 6-foot-10 center for the Oklahoma City Thunder, is expected to be joined by Oklahoma City teammates Kevin Durant, James Harden and Eric Maynor along with Milwaukee Bucks guard Stephen Jackson and Boston Celtics guard Rajon Rondo.” Read more…

Bolts