Friday Bolts – 2.12.16

Anthony Slater: “In the wake of this tragedy, Williams received tons of local support. Players

checked on him. The Thunder organization held a pregame moment of silence for Ingrid. Fans brought flowers and cards to the arena. After learning of the crash, Thunder general manager Sam Presti stayed with Monty at the hospital from Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.”

Kevin Pelton of ESPN Insider: “At the same time, no matter his offensive success, Harden simply isn’t performing like a superstar or a top-10 player right now. If his current frustration isn’t enough to get Harden to expend effort on defense, who’s to say that he will be able to summon it up in the future? If he can’t, Houston is better off grabbing value now while other teams believe they can get last season’s version of Harden.”

Tom Haberstroh of ESPN.com with a must-read on NBA health: “No sport spends more time at 30,000 feet than the NBA. Consider that the Warriors will travel an NBA-high 54,000 miles this season, per an NBAsavant.com analysis, twice as many as the NFL’s top travel team (the 49ers, who jetted 28,000 miles in 2015, according to Pro Football Reference). Baseball obviously has it worse with its 162-game schedule, right? Wrong: The average NBA team logged 44,214 miles last season; in MLB it was 29,374, according to BaseballSavant.com. Even NHL teams travel less than NBA teams do, averaging about 40,000 miles of flight per season.”

The Rockets are shopping Dwight Howard?

John Schuhmann of NBA.com on Westbrook: “Has recorded an assist on 17.6 percent of his passes, a rate which leads the league. Leads the league in fast break points per game for the second straight season. Leads all guards in rebounding percentage, grabbing 12.1 percent of available boards when he’s on the floor. One of four players with three 3-pointers with a score differential of three points or less in the final minute of the fourth quarter or overtime. More SportVU: The Thunder have scored 1.28 points per possession when he’s run a pick-and-roll with Enes Kanter, the league’s best mark among combinations that have run at least 200 pick-and-rolls.”

Erik Horne: “Billy Donovan called timeout, and the Thunder’s coaches gathered in a tight circle away from the players’ huddle. In the Thunder’s final game before the All-Star break, it was a coaching ring noticeably shorter in stature than the previous 53 contests. Monty Williams’ 6-foot-8 frame was missing. A day after Williams’ wife, Ingrid, died from injuries suffered in a multi-vehicle accident in southwest Oklahoma City, the Thunder had to play the New Orleans Pelicans.”