David Berri looking closely at Jordan Hill: “Jordan Hill – a power forward out of Arizona – is generally thought to be a 
lottery pick (Ford’s latest mock has him going 10th to Milwaukee). Although Grant and Thomas are not considered “stars”, each had productive seasons in the NBA. Across 12 seasons, Grant produced 60.3 wins and posted a 0.135 WP48. Most of these wins were produced for Portland and Miami. In seven seasons with these two teams, Grant produced 51.3 wins with a 0.167 WP48. Again, Gottlieb thinks Grant is the best case scenario for Hill. And that doesn’t look to bad. But what if Hill is actually Thomas? Thomas had had trouble staying healthy, but he has produced 17.3 wins with a 0.125 WP48 in his career. His third season was the only time he managed to appear in more than 75 games, and that season he produced 5.6 wins with a 0.143 WP48.”
Jeff Green talked with the official team site about what he’s doing this summer: “He snorkeled the blissful coastline of Costa Rica and rode a zip line through its rainforest. And hardly a soul knew it was Jeff Green. That’s just how Green likes it, especially since this was his first vacation in what seemed like forever. The Thunder forward has since resumed classes at Georgetown University. He hits the books just like any other college kid, and even has a six-page English paper due next week. All the while Green has made plenty of time for the weight room and basketball court in an effort to return to Oklahoma City a better player than he left it.”
James Harden has a workout scheduled with the Thunder: “Harden also has workouts scheduled with the Washington Wizards, Oklahoma City Thunder and Memphis Grizzlies. Of the teams he’ll audition for, the Thunder has the greatest need at shooting guard after drafting Russell Westbrook to play point guard last year. The Wizards have Gilbert Arenas to run the team, but he missed most of last season with a knee injury. Memphis drafted O.J. Mayo last year after drafting point guard Mike Conley in 2007. The Kings have Kevin Martin at shooting guard, so Harden would have to show he could run a team in addition to scoring to fit in with Sacramento. Harden said he sometimes initiated the Arizona State offense to take pressure off the point guards. He admits doing that in the NBA would be different, but feels the teams he’s working out for could use him.”
Boy, how about those Lakers? One thing that every sports fan is thinking right now is, “I kind of hope Orlando wins Game 5, so L.A. can win this thing at home.” I bet even some Laker fans are thinking this. For some reason, it’s just more satisfying for a team to win a title at home. The crowd cheers, confetti drops, people go wild. It’s just a little tainted watching it on someone else’s court. It’s quiet and the team is trying to be excited, but the whole thing is missing something. They always try and show a shot of a hometown bar or something, but it’s not the same.
John Hollinger just released his franchise rankings and the Thunder came in 12th. Right ahead of the Pistons which (very justifiably) has them steamed: “So I took the total numbers for a few of the teams using Hollinger’s rankings and here is what I got. The Pistons(13th) had a total of 3,150 points, the Phoenix Suns(ranked #5) had 2,372 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder(12th) had 2,202 points. What Hollinger did was take the number of seasons each franchise played and divide the total points by that number. So teams who have been in the league a relatively low amount of years but have had some success will have a better number than teams who have been in the league for a long time and have had gone through years of bad times. So take these rankings with a grain of salt, they don’t really mean much and Hollinger is off the farm on this one. Sports Nation ranks the Detroit Pistons as the 5th best franchise in all of profession sports, which seems more like the actual value the Pistons should have.”
One thing I’d like to say about those that use stats and formulas to come up with things – Sometimes, a lot of times, your formula works just the way it should. But any time you’ve put together a formula based on things where you assign points, you can get backed into a corner with your stat. Maybe in your mind you know a franchise should be ahead of another, but based on your numbers, they’re not. And you’re stuck.
If you’ve been following Kevin Durant’s Twitter, you would have noticed that one of his hobbies is “layin’ down beatz” and other things like that. Well, let’s see him in action:
Peace, Love and Thunderstanding takes a good look at big men free agents: “Marcin Gortat - The former Magic second round pick out of Poland has been one of the breakout stories of the season. His statistics are not impressive, but considering he plays behind Dwight Howard, he isn’t getting a ton of minutes. It is what he is doing with those minutes that makes him coveted. Project his stats out to starter minutes of 36/game, and Gortat averaged 10.9 points, 14 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks. Those are good numbers and show he can clog up the middle of the lane and scare players from challenging him for a layup. He also shot 57% from the floor, which is deceiving. He is obviously not taking many shots outside of five feet from the basket. Getting Gortat to sign would be a similar process to Andersen. He hasn’t played long enough to create Bird rights, so the Magic (as a team over the cap) can only offer him their mid-level exception. The Thunder could probably outbid all other offers by proposing a deal for about $6MM/year.”
Rob Dauster of Ballin’ is a Habit takes a look at my “Next” column: “The point is, no one (not even the experts) know what these players can turn into at the next level. So much of it depends on how hard the player works, if he is given a chance to prove himself, if he ever develops the confidence to play in the NBA, etc. Why do you think there was so much written about Durant vs. Oden or Rose vs. Beasley? For every Manu Ginobili (57th pick in 1999), there is a Michael Olowokandi (1st pick in 1998). For every Gilbert Arenas or Michael Redd (31st and 43rd pick, respectively, in 2001), there is a Kwame Brown or an Eddie Griffin (1st and 7th pick, respectively, in 2001). So take these comparisons for what they are worth, argue your case, and then enjoy watching those that do develop into stars so that one day, you can explain why so-and-so will be the next Blake Griffin, not the next Jordan Hill.”
HoopsWorld takes a look at OKC’s immediate needs: “It’s the understatement of the year to say that by June 25th, Sam Presti will have done his homework in making his draft choices. It may not be the most popular choice, that being Thabeet or Rubio, but with their No. 3 draft pick, they should go with uber-talented James Harden. (Let the bashing of this opinion begin…Ready? Go.) Trade down to get B.J. Mullens with the late first-round pick or look at Gani Lawal. And in July when free agency begins, go ahead and get Marcin Gortat or Birdman. With so many choices available to a team already having such promising young players, and being steered by an incredibly savvy general manager, reaching the playoffs within the next couple years is inevitable.”
Brandon Jennings spouts off about Jrue Holliday and Tyreke Evans: “No, I don’t think so,” said Jennings of Holiday and Evans being NBA point guards. “To be a point guard, it has to be in you. I don’t think you can suddenly be a point guard after one year. You are the leader, you are the quarterback, and that takes a lot of understanding. You have to make the right play, you have to run a team, you have to be a leader, you have to see things out there on the court. People might say, “He can be a point guard in the league.” But that is a hard transition. You have to know how to do it. You have to be the one to take the heat when things don’t go right.”
Sam Amick of the Sac Bee reports the Kings will interview Rubio, but also says that the buyout situation may have a major effect on what happens with him: ”Spanish sensation Ricky Rubio is expected to interview in Sacramento, but no date is scheduled and it remains unlikely he will work out. Meanwhile, whether Rubio will be available at No. 4 has become less relevant than whether he will be available at all. Rubio, the 18-year-old who has played professionally in Europe for the past four years, still is attempting to get out of his contract with his Spanish league team, DKV Joventut. While he has entered his name in the draft, his contract reportedly has a buyout worth approximately $6.6 million. The situation has effectively put a damper on the hype that surrounds Rubio, with teams well aware they could draft him only to see him forced to return to DKV Joventut for another season (although the team would retain his rights). His buyout reportedly increases by about $1.4 million next season, so the matter doesn’t necessarily get any more manageable.”
Dime looks at Jordan Hill: “So where does he fit? Hill was Top-5 player all year long, but since pre-draft workouts and the drafting order have come into effect, he’s now slotted to go anywhere from 3rd to 10th overall. The Thunder (#3) need a big man and can afford to add a raw talent to their young core of Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook, but I think they’re going to look at the backcourt with their pick, whether it’s James Harden or Ricky Rubio.”
@Royce
Man, impressive all the way around. The best part for me was his interview. He seems to be maybe a little misunderstood. I'm starting to think it is honest confidence not arrogance... DANG IT!!! Now I want to draft him pretty bad!
dj :
Draft James Harden…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf5ye0Fc4oo&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fuser%2Fkingsflix&feature=player_profilepage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrhYjZCMXgs&feature=channel
Man, Harden looks fantastic.
HELLO ALL MY THUNDER FANZ.....I APPRECIATE THA POSITVE COMMENTZ THAT I'VE READ ON HERE....IT'S TIME FOR OKLAHOMA'S TALENT TO EMERGE ON THE BIG SCENE....WE ARE LONG OVER DUE!!!!!.....COME AND JOIN IFEEDBEATZ.COM MY FRIENDS....IT'Z A NEW MOVEMENT....ABOUT TO BLOW OKC UP OFFICIALLY!!!! MEANT2B AND RUGGED INDIVIDUALZ...WUDUP TO MY BOI KEVIN DURANT....
@KingGondo
Its only when the gangsta songs come on do the Thunder make their shots at the Ford Center
Yay! Another player (mini)interview. Darnell talks to Russ
blog.newsok.com/thunderrumblings/
J.G. :
lamen = laymen
I wasn’t talking about the Japanese noodles or the island. Sorry bout the typo.
I love lamen noodles. They velly good!
@GAP
I thought so too. Very intelligent article. Susan Bible has written a couple of things on the Thunder and she really seems to be well-informed.
lamen = laymen
I wasn't talking about the Japanese noodles or the island. Sorry bout the typo.
OK Smooth was awesome. Definitely not Ford Center/family friendly, but maybe they can just play the beat during offensive possessions next season.
OK Smooth is actually a pretty good nickname, too.
Wow Royce.....loved the story on hoopsworld about the Thunder that writer seemed to know more about our team than writers at the oklahoman and Thunder.com.
@Wilson
Wilson, you didn't disagree with me at all except in one area. I said it will take Durant one to two years to pack on enough muscle to look "big" or have a muscle "explosion." This is very true. However regarding your assessment that "the more he works out the more he will be able to stack on serious weight quickly," is scientifically and physiologically impossible. The most weight Durant will be able to gain in the shortest amount of time span through lifing is right now. Why? Because he's underweight and he's never lifted before.
It's physiologically impossible for someone to be able to pack on a greater amount of muscle mass per week the longer they've lifted than it is when they first start; it's the physiological Law of Adaptation. The human body adapts to demands placed on it, thus at first, the demands of weight lifting kick-start a massive on-rush of the person's metabolism, fat-burning hormones and testosterone, enabling a dramatic and immediate production of muscle development (think increase in muscle fiber size, not muscle fiber numbers since that, also, is physically impossible). However, since the human body adapts so successfully, the muscle development levels off at about 6-8 weeks because the strain placed on the person is no longer as shocking or as severe to their homeostatic system because of the mass that the body has produced to help meet the need.
Or in lamen's terms, it's not as hard on the body as it was initially because they've added that sorely needed muscle; their body has gotten used to it so it doesn't need to respond with as much growth. Thus, as any of us who lift weights knows, the most "gains" we ever see in a short time span are when we are beginners, but the more lifting we do the harder it is to gain new muscle mass because our bodies only care about efficiency, and will only use as much fuel or require as much growth as is necessary to perform that activity (hence why lifters alternate reps, sets, exercises, etc; to keep the skeletal system in a constant state of change).
And I agree with you about Durant adding too much weight (240 is probably what I'd like to see him at), but I'd be SHOCKED if he came in to summer camps weighing 240 pounds, as he would have had to have added around 16-17 pounds of muscle mass + probably 3-4 pounds of fat in a 3 month time span.
@Vince
Hey, what are you, some kind of comedian or something!
:)
Royce :Also, if you go to the website listed with that KD video, there’s a song that played called OK Smooth. And as you may have guessed, it’s entirely about Kevin Durent.
http://ifeedbeatz.com/
OK Smooth? I think we have a winner in the "Kevin Durant Nickname Contest".
Draft James Harden...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf5ye0Fc4oo&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fuser%2Fkingsflix&feature=player_profilepage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrhYjZCMXgs&feature=channel
HAHA! I went to school (elementary through high school) with one of those guys, Vyshus, on http://ifeedbeatz.com. That's awesome! .....Maybe KD wants to come visit me at my place of employment. I can show him some mad marketing skillz.
@J.G.
I actually have to disagree. I think the more Ksmooth works out the more likely he will be to stack on serious weight quickly. The fact is he has a frame that can carry that same 250ish type weight and if he is training 'in a good way' (pardon my Bob Stoopism) using pyramid lifting, muscle confusion and great nutrition we could definitely see a muscle explosion this off season or next. And, as we all know this guy is probably spending twice my annual salary on trainers and nutritionist so I think we can expect some great improvement in this area in the next couple years. The other thing is KD is still young and his body can still make pretty far reaching changes for the next couple years, if he is consistent with his training then his body will start to build itself naturally how he is training it.
My question is this, does he want to stack on a ton of weight? I'm starting to wonder if he wants to keep his body on the lite side in order to not change his game. I wonder if he is afraid he won't be the same at 245 as he is at 225... Lets hope not!
@J.G.
Interesting. That makes a lot of sense.
I've always thought that basketball players should be lean. Muscular but lean. But then Lebron comes along and it seems to contradict the conventional view. But maybe Lebron really is an exception. Muscle mass doesn't seem to have inhibited his play any. But personally, I wouldn't want to see the league filled with NFL style muscle men. In my mind, lean and strong is still the best basketball physique.
Also, I'm pretty much joking about KD. He is never going to be Lebron shaped - which I think is good. His game is already pretty damn awesome... ya don't want to screw it up. I also think that when the season starts that he'll weigh right around 230. He might go heavier than that during the summer, but it'll come down again when he ups the aerobic stuff in the fall. That would be still be 10 pounds of solid muscle gain which is excellent, really.
Also, if you go to the website listed with that KD video, there's a song that played called OK Smooth. And as you may have guessed, it's entirely about Kevin Durant.
http://ifeedbeatz.com/
@daniel
As far as I've heard and researched, you're not that far off in terms of tapering towards a greater aerobic capacity the closer you get to the season, but there's a few things that are missing, namely rest, special needs training and the lack of a 5x5 workout plan, which is geared more towards straight-up mass building and 1RM than total strength/endurance.
Most NBA players are advised to give their bodies at least 1-2 weeks of doing absolutely nothing at all, especially the bigs, because of the wear and tear of an 82 game season.
Secondly, most summers are geared towards strengthening specific areas of weakness in a player that the previous season revealed. For instance, lateral agility would involve a greater focus on loosening up hips and developing the player's fast-twitch muscles through the gluteus and groin muscles by certain exercises, drills, etc. But their lifting routines are VERY basketball specific, instead of just general lifting like you or I would do.
Lastly, Durant is the exception. Very rarely do you ever want an NBA player to bulk up because, unlike lineman in the NFL, a very muscled up NBA player is going to have a greater risk of reducing his overhead flexibility, speed to weight ratio, perhaps alter his shot mechanics with the added mass, etc. Typically, an NBA player wants to be as lean as possible without sacrificing strength...so sheer mass is really only for post players who get banged on and could use the insulation for protection.
Patience my young padawan.
We want 13-30 now!!!
out of curiosity, does anyone know what the (recommended) training regimen for an NBA player is, over the summer?
Obviously, NBA players need tremendous endurance and wind, so you'd expect a lot of aerobic training. However, in the off-season, this would surely not be a priority. So I would expect that during the summer, they would be encouraged to concentrate on lifting, with an emphasis on heavier weights, pyramiding, and lots of rest in between. Then, in the fall as the regular season is approaching, back off to lighter weight with higher reps, and begin to increase the aerobic activity (jogging, bicycling, etc.)
You guys are almost starting to convince me about Harden, but I'm still lukewarm on him. Sendek's teams are methodical and his #1 option usually scores around 20 a game. Julius Hodge consistently averaged about 17 or 18. Sendek picks his hoss and gears his offense to get him shots. I'm not saying Harden's not better than Hodge. He probably is. Harden's been working out well, but he didn't look especially quick or anything in games. I also don't think you can just throw out the NCAA tourney games. Big-time players step up in big games. I like Steph Curry, but I'd probably give Presti the benefit of the doubt if that's the pick. Either way, a top 3 pick is probably going to pan out. I'm interested in the other first rounder.
@Royce
"I keep expecting an Andrew Bynum-type muscle explosion."
eek, don't like the term "muscle explosion". Makes me think of pieces of muscle meat splattered across the walls and floors. Ouch!
I can just see KD reading one of those old, cheesy body-building ads:
"Tired of being a 220 pound weakling? Tired of other NBA players kicking sand in your face? No more! Just send off for this muscle building kit and you too can be a he-man that the woman simply can't resist!" Photo next to it showing muscle man with arms raised in biceps pose, and two bikini clad babes hanging on to each arm.
edit
"gain 2 lbs of muscle a week WHEN you have never lifted weights or are very underweight" -- not unless, sorry
@Royce
Judging by that video and his weight going into the summer, I wouldn't expect a muscle explosion at all. 6 lbs of muscle (reportedly what he's gained) is a pretty significant amount of mass for anyone to pack on in such a short period...until you factor in that he is 6'10 and weighed 220 and never really did a heavy weight-lifting regimen in his life. 6'10, 226 is still way underweight.
Remember, Blake Griffin is very built and muscled up, at 6'10, 250. And since the rule of thumb is that you can gain 2 lbs of muscle a week on average (without synthetic help) unless you have never lifted weights or are very underweight (Durant is a giant YES for both of those), so Durant should/will level out eventually and won't pack on the pounds at that rate. Thus, I'd guess he will probably show up 10-15 lbs heavier. Which will still only put him at 6'10, 230 or 235.
Bigger and more built? Yes.
Muscle-Explosion? Not so much, he'll need another year...or two.
@daniel
It's weird that I can't wait to see what KD looks like, right? I keep expecting an Andrew Bynum-type muscle explosion.
Fantastic that someone caught up with Jeff. Thanks Chris Silva!
I wish the interview was a little bit longer, more in depth, but hey, something is better than nothing. Great to hear about what he's up to.
Moms out there should save this link: whenever their kids whine about doing homework, have them read about a well paid, internationally known NBA player spending his summers going to school and doing two hours of homework every night.
Snorkeling and zip lining in Costa Rica. Zip lining! Cripes, I've never done that. He should have had somebody record some video of that.
Cool. Good luck with your classes Jeff. Oh, and hit the gym. Watch out because KD is bulking up to Lebron proportions (gained six pounds already).
I'm sick of the draft speculation... I wish it were here already!
But then, the free agent speculation begins. Gortat, Andersen, Lee, Hamilton... Who knows what Presti is thinking?
Actually, I'm just ready for next season to start.