Via Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports, the Thunder have re-signed Daequan Cook to a two-year, $6.5 million deal. (Originally, reports on Cook’s contract had it at $7.5 million.)
Cook, a restricted free agent, never really showed interest in signing anywhere else other than Oklahoma City. But it was whether or not the Thunder would make enough of a financial commitment to him in order to keep him. His qualifying offer was for $3.1 million for next season and OKC got him for $3.25 million a year.
My snap take? Feels like too much, but it really isn’t. For a specialist like Cook, someone that plays 8-12 minutes a game to take three or four shots, that much money is a pretty heavy price. Especially with second year, which kind of surprises me. But it’s just something you kind of have to pay if you want the luxury of a shooter.
The $3.25 million a year eats up most of Oklahoma City’s remaining cap space and while it won’t have any kind of longstanding impact on roster decisions (i.e. Ibaka, Harden or Maynor), it does mean the Thunder will now definitely be standing firm throughout this free agency. Not that we didn’t know that already.
Compare Cook’s $3.25 million a year to other so-called 3-point specialists though: Read more…
Everybody is asking the question. Who does a shortened season benefit? And they’ll probably be asking it about 500 more times come the first official media availability for each team.
There are two schools of thought, both correct: 1) A shortened season helps older teams because the season is shorter and there are fewer games, meaning less opportunity for wear and tear over the long haul of 82 games. And 2) A shortened season helps younger teams because 66 games will be piled into four and a half months meaning back-to-back-to-backs, five games in six days and a lot of nights with heavy legs and ice baths.
This type of situation puts a lot of pressure on coaches. They’ve got to get creative with rotations and maybe even consider using the depth of their roster a bit more. If you’re team is sleepwalking into the fifth game in six nights with a roadie in Toronto, you might have to consider dusting off that seldom used rookie or token veteran on the end of your bench.
Which of course begs the question for Thunder fans: How will Scott Brooks handle this? Read more…
How about this Chris Paul stuff? Two quick thoughts on it: 1) Completely ridiculous by David Stern and the league to pull this and 2) now what the crap are the Hornets supposed to do?
Dan Gilbert sent an email to Stern: “I just don’t see how we can allow this trade to happen. I know the vast majority of owners feel the same way that I do. When will we just change the name of 25 of the 30 teams to the Washington Generals? Please advise….” Read more…
“In collaboration with Nate Robinson and his representatives, we have mutually agreed to continue working toward clarifying his future status with the Thunder. Nate is an accomplished player, but with the current composition of our roster, it will be unlikely he will have an opportunity to contribute on a nightly basis.
Given the compressed period of time that we have been given to work through the current situation, it has been decided that Nate will not attend training camp while we work with his representatives to resolve the situation. We will not be commenting on this subject further but will provide notification when a resolution is reached.”
The NBA has made some pretty major changes. And I’m not just talking about this collective bargaining stuff. I’m talking about real rules. Changes to the way the game is played.
Via ESPN.com, vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson confirmed some pretty significant alterations. One of them being that KD’s “rip-move” is pretty much not effective anymore.
The rip move will now be considered a non-shooting foul if the contact happens before a player is into his full shooting motion.
But that’s not it. Another change will affect Russell Westbrook’s reckless attacks on the rim. “Also, on drives to the basket, a shooting foul will be called only if contact occurs after the offensive player has begun his shooting motion, not after he has initiated his leap toward the basket.”
Bill Simmons on trading Russell Westbrook for Chris Paul: “New Orleans says yes; Oklahoma City says no; Chris Paul probably says, “I loved my time in Oklahoma City, but I’d rather live in a big city, thanks anyway.” Besides, the Zombies can’t give up on the Westbrook/Durant partnership yet, even if there’s mounting evidence that Westbrook has real bitterness about becoming the public fall guy during last spring’s loss to Dallas. I continue to think we might be headed for an Avon/Stringer situation here … but both guys are so talented that you need one more year (and maybe a different coach) before you pick one over the other. (And by the way, the Zombies are picking Durant.)”
Chris Mannix talked with trainer Rob McClanaghan who works with Westbrook: “Polishing Westbrook’s pull-up jump shot was a point of emphasis this summer. Because Westbrook is so explosive in the open floor, it has been difficult for him over his first three seasons to knock down pull-ups in transition. Every day, McClanaghan ran Westbrook through pull-up drills. First, he would start at the opposite baseline. Then from ¾ court. Then from halfcourt. When Westbrook got to the foul line, he would stop on a dime, pull up and shoot … In addition to the pull-up, McClanaghan and Westbrook worked on a floater. While Westbrook is spectacular at finishing at the rim, he shot a career-low 26.6 percent from three-to-nine feet out, according to Hoopdata.com. Post moves were emphasized, too. At 6-foot-3, 190 pounds Westbrook has superior size for his position. With McClanaghan, Westbrook worked on a variety of power moves and turnaround shots.” Read more…
With the lockout shortened season, the Thunder won’t be welcoming every team to Oklahoma City and the newly renovated and renamed Peake Arena. Not coming to town: Milwaukee, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Atlanta, Indiana and Washington.
Not really a disappointing slate of opponents to not have come to town, except for the fact that was probably six easy wins down the drain.
Ben Golliver of CBSSports.com says OKC is a schedule loser: “Boston, with 57 wins, and Oklahoma City, with 56 wins, both were among the NBA’s elite last year. However, both drew exceedingly difficult home-and-home opponents, likely by virtue of their television-friendly teams. Boston plays the defending champion Dallas Mavericks, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Thunder twice each. The Thunder is set to play the Celtics, the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic twice each. If Tyson Chandler and/or Dwight Howard change teams prior to the start of the season that would probably be appreciated in Massachusetts and Oklahoma. Both Boston and Oklahoma City, despite being well above .500 last year, have differentials of zero thanks to the tough scheduling.”
Bill Simmons ranking 2-guards: “Look at that landscape. Our best four shooting guards are over 30 years old; only Wade still qualifies as being “unquestionably in his prime.” I watched Gordon in person for three years — he’s the no. 2 candidate to make a gigantic, Westbrook-like leap this season. (No. 1: John Wall; no. 3: James Harden.)” Read more…
We have a season so therefore, we must have a schedule. So what that it’s just 66 games? Better than nothing, right? (Correct answer is “right.”)
If you want to go over the entire thing, it’s right here, but I’m going to hit on the big parts of it.
FIVE MUST-SEE HOME GAMES
1. Magic, Dec.25. It’s the home opener, which means you’re going to want to be at Peake Arena that night, but it’s also Christmas against Dwight Howard (maybe) on national television. That’s the type of game you don’t miss. Also: The last time you saw your Thunder at home they were blowing a 15-point fourth quarter lead in the Western Conference Finals. So it’ll be nice to welcome them back by forgetting that.
2. Mavericks, Dec. 29. The first opportunity for payback and redemption comes right off the jump. You can be sure the Arena Formerly Known As The Ford Center will be amped about this one. The last time the Mavericks were in Oklahoma City, they broke the Thunder’s heart with that ridiculous 15-point comeback. No way KD, Russ and the Thunderdome are planning on letting them walk out with anything easy this time. Read more…
The Thunder’s full 66-game schedule is out with the season kicking off on Christmas against the Magic in OKC and finishing April 25 at home against Denver. Here’s the whole thing, after the jump: Read more…
Bill Simmons sees a correlation between DeAndre Jordan and Kendrick Perkins: “Here’s the reality: Perkins signed a four-year extension with Oklahoma City for $32.55 million (and got paid an extra $2 million last year as something of a signing bonus). That means Jordan’s next contract should pay him about $32 million over four years in a world that makes sense. But because of the Saab corollary, because too many teams have money to spend, because restricted free-agent offers skew high (so they don’t get matched) and because it’s the NBA and teams just can’t help themselves, get ready for a team to make Jordan a restricted offer around the “four years, $42 million” range. First of all … yikes. Second … Kendrick Perkins just threw his iPad through a window at 95 miles an hour.”
Gary Dzen of the Boston Globe on the Rondo-Westbrook stuff: “There’s a rumor that Ainge tried to trade Rondo for Westbrook after last year’s playoffs and that the Thunder didn’t have much interest. Fair enough that OKC wouldn’t want to part with their rising star. But why are the Celtics trying to part with theirs?” Read more…
Daequan Cook has been on my mind lately. Today is the day that NBA teams get to actually, you know, speak to their players. And the only real free agent business we have left is Daequan Cook and the Russell Westbrook extension.
Daequan was tendered a Qualifying Offer by the Thunder on June 27 for about $3.1 Million for the upcoming season. What this means is that Daequan was a first round pick who has completed his fourth season, and received the QO from his existing team thereby rendering him a restricted free agent (if the Thunder wouldn’t have offered the QO Cook would be an unrestricted free agent). This means that the Thunder expect to bring him back for the $3.1 and have the first right of refusal should some other team offer him a higher contract offer that he signs. The $3.1 Million figure is 125% of last year’s salary and is part of the old CBA. It’s certainly possible that Daequan could receive a higher offer from a team, but I really don’t see that happening. It’s also possible that Daequan’s representative could negotiate a different amount or length of a deal independent of the QO, but I also don’t think that’s likely.
So we are likely to see Daequan running to the corner waiting for the pass to hoist up a three quite a few times this season. Read more…
Love this point from Bill Simmons: “If this lockout was happening partly because we were trying to protect small market teams from being unable to compete, mission unaccomplished. On the other hand, I always thought this point was overrated. The two-year “Where are LeBron/Wade/Carmelo going?” storyline helped give the NBA its best momentum since MJ’s second Bulls run; looking back, The Decision was one of the most important moments in the history of the league. Yeah, it’s a little tougher for small markets to keep their best guys, but it’s not impossible: either you build something meaningful that makes them want to stay (see: San Antonio and Oklahoma City), or, you fail to build a good enough foundation and they leave (see: Cleveland and Orlando). It’s really that simple.”
Via Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, the Thunder have not engaged in negotiations with Shane Battier’s representatives yet, as many expected. Well, as some fans hoped.
Many had expected the Oklahoma City Thunder to aggressively pursue Battier, but that hasn’t happened. Kevin Durant has publicly campaigned for Battier on Twitter in the offseason, but Thunder officials haven’t been engaged in the recruitment. With Battier in his advancing years, there are natural questions about his slippage as an elite perimeter defender, especially over a multiyear deal.
Instead, it’s the Miami Heat that are in hot pursuit (ha!) of Battier. Because of the likelihood they’ll amnesty Mike Miller, the Heat will be able to offer Battier the full mid-level exception (or something close to), which is more than what OKC could offer. Read more…
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