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Via Marc Stein of ESPN.com, Besiktas, better known as the professional Turkish team that signed Deron Williams and is trying to lure in Kobe Bryant, is trying to kickstart negotiations with Kevin Durant.

Agent Aaron Goodwin told ESPN.com on Tuesday night that he has met with officials from Turkish club Besiktas and has likewise begun exploring opportunities for Durant in Spain and Russia. Goodwin added that playing in China is not something Durant is considering at this time.

“The Turkish option is very intriguing,” Goodwin said. “We’re looking at other countries as well. Kevin hasn’t agreed to play anywhere yet, but we’re looking for the best fit.”

The Turkish newspaper VATAN has reported that Besiktas — if ultimately rejected by Bryant after weeks of trying to get the Los Angeles Lakers’ star swingman to commit to join New Jersey’s Williams at the Istanbul club in the event of an extended lockout — will shift its focus to trying to sign Durant.

If you recall, KD said as of about two weeks ago that he was 50-50 in terms of playing overseas if a lockout caused games to be missed. But this deal sounds like it’s contingent on the Kobe deal falling through, which by most accounts, most certainly will. (Some reports have said that there’s a “zero percent” chance Kobe will sign in Turkey. China is the real option.)

Clearly if the NBA loses games, Durant is going to be hunting for a place to ball. We’ve seen all summer that he has to be dribbling and shooting something in order to live, so take that away from him and he’s going to look at options. Whether it’s Turkey, Spain, Russia or a driveway near you, Durant is going to be playing somewhere come November.

News

Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images

A lot of people have floated the Russell Westbrook-for-Chris Paul trade idea and while it’s pretty much entirely speculation and bored lockout-ists, when someone as smart and level-headed as Kevin Pelton does it, you kind of have to look harder.

You’re Sam Presti (designer glasses and perfectly gelled hair and all). You just signed Russell Westbrook to an extension the second a new CBA is signed. Dell Demps calls you. Chris Paul for Westbrook, straight up.

What do you do? Read more…

Commentary

Just another awesome KD highlight from his Summer of Awesome Basketballing. This one came during a run at the Melo League against some other NBA players.  I’d add a couple hundred words saying how good it was, but I think the reversing and dunking part of the video already says all that.

Video

Kevin Pelton for ESPN Insider on NOLA trading CP3 for Westbrook : “In front of a TV audience that had seen relatively little of Oklahoma City throughout the season, Westbrook was the scapegoat for the Thunder’s inability to construct an effective late-game offense. Westbrook deserved some of the blame; he lacks the kind of court vision to find teammates when they slip open for a split second, which is part of what makes Paul so special. Westbrook also has a tendency to overdribble when the play breaks down, trusting his own ability more than that of his teammates. Still, Westbrook can only run the plays called from the sideline, and Oklahoma City’s half-court playbook is limited. When defenses took Kevin Durant away with physical defense, Westbrook creating on the fly was often the only alternative. Additionally, the Thunder were victims of their own success. Oklahoma City’s problems were only revealed because the Thunder made an impressive run to the Western Conference finals — further in the postseason than Paul, for one, has ever advanced.” Read more…

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Scoop Jackson of ESPN.com on KD’s pickup tour: “Durant has what we call the “Up North” philosophy of the game. A philosophy owned by former NY streetball legend Seth “Up North” Marshall. “God blessed me with talent,” Marshall used to say. “But it’s not mine to keep. It belongs to these parks.” A philosophy often lost when a silhouette of Jerry West starts appearing on your checks. “He just wants to ball,” as his agent says. Which says it all. Just like those three words: “I do this.” Which is, right now, exactly what the game needs.”

Bill Simmons broke down KD’s legendary performance at Rucker: “Dropping 66 points at Rucker Park? Impressive … but not legendary considering Steve Burtt Jr. exploded for 68 there in 2007. Hitting five straight 3s, including two from at least 30 feet? Now THAT was the stuff of legends. My favorite Durant/Rucker clip was called “Kevin Durant Catches Fire in the 4th Qtr (Unedited),” which featured first-class camera work as the clip slowly morphs into complete chaos. I love how everything crests with the fifth 3 — which had to have been 35 feet and was the spiritual Godfather of Larry Bird’s falling-into-the-trainer’s-lap 28-footer that led to two Hawks jumping off their own bench in disbelief.” Read more…

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Good Saturday. Thanks for your support of DT. Enjoy and such and such.

The most interesting recent KD-at-a-pickup-game video is probably this one of him getting dunked on. But that’s not what I’m about ’round these parts. So instead, enjoy yet another batch of highlights featuring Durant as New York City’s Dyckman league. He dropped another 40 spot there and for the week, averaged 43.5 points per game in his run in the Big Apple. Not too bad.

Video

Chesapeake Energy Arena. I don’t think anyone around here was really surprised, and I think a lot of us were relieved because it could have been worse. I’m not really a big fan of Energy Solutions Arena or Quicken Loans Arena or any of the other pretty lame NBA building names out there. At least we’re lucky in that the big corporations headquartered in Oklahoma City (Chesapeake, Devon, SandRidge, MidFirst Bank, Sonic, etc.) don’t have horrible names.

Still, the Ford Center was a solid name. In the era of sponsored building names, that’s about as traditional, institutional and majestic as it gets. And it didn’t really need a nickname. “It’s at the Ford Center” rolled off the tongue pretty easily. It still does, really, for people like me who have been calling it that even when it was officially known as Oklahoma City Arena.

But the new arena name isn’t nearly as compact. It’s not as natural to say, “I’m headed to Chesapeake Energy Arena for the game.” This arena needs a nickname. Let’s get the ball rolling so we can have a nickname picked out for the next NBA season (which hopefully starts sooner than October 2012). Here are my top choices so far. Please submit your own in the comment section. This is important. Read more…

Commentary

Tyson Chandler’s lockout prediction: “I don’t know. I don’t know when it’s going to end. This may drag on for a long time. What I will say is that it’s unfortunate that the league has taken this stance that has taken the game away from our fans, as well as our players. It’s untimely, coming off some of the highest ratings that we’ve had in the NBA Finals. League revenue is up. Attendance is up. Excitement about the league is up, thanks to young players, trades, player movement. Even with us becoming a Cinderella team. There’s a lot of excitement around the league. It’s unfortunate the league would take this stance to take the game away from the fans and players at this point in time. Very unfortunate situation. We have to see how it’s going to go.”

A word from D.J. White on the trade: “I looked at it as ‘it’s part of the business’. No hard feelings at all,” White told HOOPSWORLD about the trade. “I’m still in contact with those guys. We had a special bond. I was pulling for them during the playoffs.” However difficult it was to leave the only NBA team he had known, White embraced the move. “It was an opportunity to get on the court and further my career,” he explained.” Read more…

Bolts

A night after ripping apart the fabled Rucker Park with 66 points including an epic stretch of four straight 3-pointers, Kevin Durant did what has to do in order to breathe: He played more basketball.

He finished with 41 in a game in New York City’s Nike Pro City, showing off a bunch of what he did at Rucker. Dunks, jumpers, deep 3s and all the like. One thing about this event that was a bit different: Some dude decided he wanted to heckle Durant all game long.

The guy starts with “Baby LeBron,” as if that’s supposed to be some major slight. Durant even looks back at the guy and says, “Baby LeBron? OK, Baby LeBron.” I don’t even understand the jab there.

The guy didn’t let up so then Durant even looks at him with a smile that clearly says, “Come on man, shut up,” and gives a little thumbs down. Then he yelled, “This ain’t Rucker, Kev.” Yep, some small gym in NYC definitely isn’t the legendary pickup court. Got that one right, heckler person.

Durant missed a free throw to tie the game and a couple more people joined in. They even started chanting “Russ-ell West-brook.” I get why, really, that’s kind of a pathetic attempt. Durant and Westbrook are really close friends and even though I’m sure Durant understood the reason, it was probably one of the dumbest chants ever lobbed at him.

Right after, in typical ice-cold Durantula fashion, KD dropped a game-tying 3 to send the game to overtime. After hitting it, he looked over at his hecker, cracked a grin and gave him a little “waddup” look. And to wrap it up, Durant drilled the game-winning 3 and gave his heckler a friendly goodbye wave. Durant, in the way he normally does, let his game do the talking. Durant 1, heckler 0.

Commentary

Serge Ibaka returned to Brazzaville to help kids: “He faced many of the challenges that these kids are currently going through while he was growing up in Brazzaville. Serge’s story serves as a great example of how hard work and focus can allow you to follow your dreams and his visit was a great chance for these children to hear about it first-hand. Serge’s good work will be continued as he is planning to start a project for street children in Brazzaville through UNICEF.”

Beckley Mason of HoopSpeak on lockout wars: “A part of me just wants to players to cave so we can have a season next year. Another part, the part that hopes the fantastically skilled and entertaining laborers can get a reasonable deal, wants a world governed by transparency and rationality. That part can just barely stomach the NBA owners leveraging all they have to get a revolutionary new deal, but not the misrepresentations about why they want it, or how they’re going about getting it.” Read more…

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(Editor’s note: Last year we honored Shark Week, and the doldrums even of a lockout-less NBA August, by comparing sharks to the Thunder. So we’re revisiting that theme again in 2011 with the new roster. Perk deserves his own shark too, basically. Some of these are re-runs or slightly modified re-runs from last year, and some are brand new.)

It’s Shark Week again! And it’s still 142 degrees in Oklahoma. Let’s compare members of the Thunder family to sharks.

Kevin Durant: Porbeagle shark

I know, that was pretty predictable. When you saw where this column was going, you instantly thought, “Kevin Durant is JUST like a porbeagle shark.” Or maybe not.

While most sharks prefer more glamorous and warmer climates, the porbeagle shark is home in the quieter, cool waters further away from the coast. He can heat up all on his own. Porbeagles’ tendency to seemingly play, tossing around bits of debris in groups of up to 20, is like Durant’s propensity to play basketball all the time. They just enjoy being sharks, like he just enjoys playing basketball. Read more…

Commentary

It wasn’t quite the spectacle that Rucker Park ended up being, but Kevin Durant took the floor in New York City again last night playing at Nike Pro City. He finished with 49 as his team won 146-143 in a gritty defensive war.

But as TBJ notes, it’s obvious KD just can’t stop playing basketball. He always talks about how it’s what he lives to do, but if there’s a game for him to play in, he’s going to be there. I guess that’s how he ended up in this game against grade school kids dropping 284 points.

Video

Kelly Dwyer of BDL on KD’s night at Rucker: “This is a game that people need to see. This is a game that needs to be watched, even if Reggie Miller is calling the action. This is a game that, sometime around early November, needs to come back into people’s lives. This is a game that counts for absolutely nothing, but means all the world to those who have given their lives to it. NBA? The NBA’s players? This isn’t a game.”

KD isn’t the only one with business tats. Read more…

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Did I just watch that nine consecutive times? Darn right I did. Am I going to watch it another 10 times after I finish writing this? You know it.

Entering the fourth quarter at Rucker Park last night, KD had a solid 38 points. Then he did that whole Durantula thing where he pretty much just destroys everything in front of him. He finished with 66 total, just shy of the Rucker league record. Yeah, only one NBA player was there (and it was only John Lucas III) and yeah, the competition wasn’t all that great. But forget that. It’s not so much about Durant being good because he scored 66 points. It’s more about the moment. It’s about the night he had playing hoops at one of the world’s most famous courts. Doesn’t matter who he was dropping those bombs over. At a certain point, basketball is basketball. You have to get open, shoot and make it go on. KD is really good at doing that against whoever it is he plays.

We already know KD is amazing. Him scoring 66 points in a pickup game doesn’t prove anything more, or anything less. It was just a totally cool thing and something that Durant said he’s going to cherish forever.

Commentary, Video

KD played at Rucker Park last night and completely ripped it apart, scoring 66 points. He tweeted after the game, “No lie, jus had one of the best times of my life at Rucker park..wow! I love NY…Harlem waddup.”

Jeff Green is thinking big next year: “That’s up to Doc (Rivers). I know they wanted me to be more aggressive, so that’s what I’ve been doing, is just working on my all-around game. Getting a little Paul Pierce in me. You know, taking a little characteristics from different players. Kobe, being one. Paul. Being with them for a couple of months now. Just a number of guys. LeBron. I’m just working on my game, trying to get better.”

Read more…

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