Daily Thunder.com

Darnell Mayberry reports the Thunder are talking with Paul Millsap:

The Thunder has reached out to representatives for Paul Millsap, the Utah Jazz restricted free agent forward, according to a source with knowledge of negotiations. Oklahoma City entered into preliminary talks with Millsap’s camp about 30 minutes into the start of free agency late Tuesday night. Teams were permitted to begin negotiating with free agents at 11 p.m. Central Time.Early discussions between the Thunder and Millsap’s representatives have been described as positive, but there is nothing concrete between the two sides. A follow-up conversation could take place later Wednesday …

… The Thunder is one of over a half dozen teams that have shown interest in Millsap in the opening hours of free agency, including a handful of teams that weren’t expected to make a run at him because of a lack of salary cap space.

Yes, I guess that’s somewhat interesting news, but it’s nothing shocking. So Oklahoma City called to talk to Paul Millsap, one of the top free agents on the market. No offer sheet has been signed, no offer has been made, just the two parties are talking about possibly taking the next step. But you’ve got to start somewhere. It looks less and less likely tha Utah will attempt to match an offer on Millsap though with today’s signing of Eric Maynor to a $3.1 million contract. Add that to Kyle Korver and Carlos Boozer exercising their options and the Jazz don’t have a lot of coin to spare.

(One thing to point out about Millsap: He was taken with the 47th pick in the 2006 Draft and obviously was a steal. But it’s not like he’s some sure-thing, high-profile power forward. Sure he played well in Carlos Boozer’s steed last year (13.5 ppg, 8.6 rpg), but how can we be sure that D.J. White isn’t the next Paul Millsap? White had just seven games last year and I thought he looked pretty good. So before we go bananas and sign a guy that had a solid half season to a multi-year, mega-buck deal, I think we need to evaluate what we’ve already got. Of course, I’m sure Sam Presti has already done this, so the point is, I don’t see Millsap in Thunder blue unless the price is VERY right for Oklahoma City.)

UPDATE: Per Darnell again:

Add the Thunder to the list of teams interested in Gortat. I’m told OKC officials made contact with Gortat’s camp shortly after midnight.

Also, Robert Swift will finally play for Boston. Well, at least for the summer:

The Celtics also added free agent center Robert Swift to the roster. The former Oklahoma City/Seattle seven-footer, who joined the league straight out of high school, has always intrigued Ainge.

News Paul Millsap, Robert Swift

I flipped over to watch a little Mythbusters during a commercial of the Rockets-Lakers series and for some reason I got to thinking about Robert Swift, as I often do. I have no idea how the Mythbusters building a giant Lego ball got my brain to Robert Swift, but it did. But instead of wondering the usual things like, “Does he know what he looks like?” or “If a small cat ran in front of him, would he be able to jump over it?” or “Did he actually paint his nails or is that just Sharpie?” I started thinking about his current career stats, his free agency and what it has to do with his $3.5 million salary.

How much money did he make per minute? Per point? Per rebound? What about for his prestigious four-year career with this franchise that will undoubtedly come to and end this offseason? Because any time a player is often injured, I think it’s actually law to calculate those things to point out how unproductive and how much of an anti-MVP he was. And this was a contract year for for Big Robert. The good news is this was his second most productive year of his career. But that’s also the bad news.

This season, Swift made $3,579,131. So for 82 games, technically, he would make $43,648 per game if he had played in all of them. But he played in just 26 (the second highest for his career!) so that means he made $137,659 per game this year. If Swift would have been paid on a per game basis, he would have made “just” $1,134,846 this season or just 31 percent of his total salary. (Maybe that’s how teams should pay players. And to provide for the fact an unfortunate injury could sideline you for an extended period, you buy “insurance” from the team on your contract. If you don’t get hurt, just like the rest of us schmoes, you’re out the money. But if you choose not to get the insurance, you don’t get paid for the games you don’t play in. Probably a stupid idea, but just thinking out loud.)

This year he made:

• $41,618 per point (for a little perspective, KD made $2,397 per point; and that’s with making a full million more than Swift)

• $ 40,215 per rebound

• $10,435 per minute (or $996 for every minute spent sitting on the bench) Read more…

Commentary Robert Swift

When the Chris Wilcox/Malik Rose trade first happened, it ranked up there in things I don’t understand right next to why the ShamWow guy wears a headset and math. But after two small cameos, it’s already clear that this deal makes total sense.

No, Rose is not going to be a substantial, long-term contributor. He’s 34 and his contract is up this year and that’s his main value. His stint with OKC will probably last just 22 more games, but his immediate impact is being felt. He’s doing things Chris Wilcox rarely ever did.

While he doesn’t catch alley-oops and fly through the air throwing down jams, he does the dirty work – the little things absolutely necessary to win. Rose provides physical, low-post defense. He’s grinds in the post, is a boulder for any cutter that tries to skip through the lane and never takes a possession off. Read more…

Commentary Malik Rose, Robert Swift