Jenni Carlson with a nice story on the Thunder developing our community: ”The Thunder has made folks feel united in a way that this state has never experienced. You could sense it in the late-game sing-a-long that broke out Saturday night at the Ford Center when they played “Sweet Caroline.” You could hear it in the roar that went up when this team came out for warm-ups before the first two home playoff games. You could see it on the streets outside the arena after the home games. Bricktown became a rolling block party Saturday night. Folks hung out of cars high-fiving pedestrians. Fans cheered. Horns blared. A railing that runs along Reno Avenue between Rooster’s and Starbucks became a prime location. Fans stood on that railing and were able high-five pedestrians on the sidewalk and motorists on the street. One out-of-town visitor said Thunder fans were Red Sox like.”
Ron Artest on his performance in the series: ”I don’t care,” he told FanHouse when asked if he felt as if his defense was being overlooked. “All those guys who kill me (in the media) can kiss my (butt). I’d tell them to their face, but I don’t get a chance because I’m not worried about it. “They talk about my offense, but it doesn’t even matter because my defense is so unbelievable. Who cares about offense?”
Time for a Russell Westbrook comeback: ”Russell Westbrook surely must have known Kobe Bryant was coming for him. Now he has two days to decide on a comeback. After all, Westbrook grew up just south of Los Angeles and starred at UCLA. The Oklahoma City Thunder point guard was a witness to the Lakers’ three NBA titles with Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal at the dawn of the last decade, all won on steely determination as much as talent.”
Man, Bango the Milwaukee Bucks mascot is getting a ton of national attention for his backflip dunk off a ladder. If only Rumble had made his…
Former Thunder great Matt Harpring will officially retire after this season.
This story is weird: ”Los Angeles Lakers star Derek Fisher wants to make one thing clear — he’s no Waffle House brawler. Reports surfaced yesterday that the Lakers guard was involved in a fight at a Waffle House in Oklahoma City last week. But Derek told TMZ the full story, and says the only truth is he was at a Waffle House — a year ago! He says the brawl went down when two dudes began scrapping over Derek’s autograph. Derek says he was “an innocent bystander,” and cops eventually broke up the fight.”
Darius of FB&G with a brilliant post on the triangle offense: “Spacing and Timing. The Triangle is an offense that, at it’s heart, is built off of two distinct principles – spacing and timing. Against the Thunder, both have been disrupted all too frequently. The Lakers spacing has been thrown off by the Thunder’s bigs fronting the post and their sagging perimeter defenders that have subsequently cut down the passing angles that LA’s wings have to make their entries into the bigs. The timing of the Lakers offense has also been thrown off for these reasons.”
This isn’t Phil Jackson’s last year coaching, but maybe his last in LA.
Ryan :@Chas
Everyone knew. You been living in a cave? He has dated her for like 12 years. She celebrated last year with the team when they won it all. Or let me guess this your first year watching the NBA?
Of course not. But it's the first time that I've really got to know another team like my own. I can barely watch the Lakers but for playing them.
@Ryan
Ryan. I didn't know either. Honestly, I could care less about Jackson's love life.
@Gavin
I like Haslem, but word is he and Wade are really tight and it's likely he goes whereever Wade goes. Whatever, though, Haslem would only be a stop-gap.
What about Udonis Haslem? He is good defensive big man.
I don't know if this made it on the board yet or not (I'm not searching other posts), but here you go:
LAST MINUTE TICKET OPPORTUNITY
Game Six vs. the Lakers starts at 8:30 p.m. Friday. Fill Up the Ford will take place outside the arena starting at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow (ed. note -- Friday, gameday). The final one hundred pairs of Loud City tickets will be made available. Twenty-five pairs of tickets will be given away and the remaining 75 pairs will be available for purchase. In addition, a big screen outside the Ford Center will broadcast Game Six to the public. It’s being broadcast on FOX Sports OK (37, 722) and on The Sports Animal and the Thunder Radio Network.
@justin
What bench big men would you consider better than Collison? Varejao, Chris Anderson, maybe Gortat? Bench bigs that are as good or better than NC are a scarce commodity. Collison has a lot of value to a team with championship aspirations; whether that value is worth paying a premium for as opposed to drafting a younger, less capable replacement is debatable.
Jax Raging Bile Duct :@Sammy
Just to add to your point, Dejuan Blair would have been a great Nick Collison replacement. If there is a similar player in this year’s draft, that’s the kind of guy you get to replace Nick on the cheap.
Precisely.. players like this are everywhere if you look hard enough. Cleveland had one in Varejao who was on a cheap rookie deal for awhile doing Collison-work.
@Ryan
Isaiah is vastly overrated but yeah he was the 'leader' of that team and they won the rings.. I guess he's the exception. Lots of revisionist history regarding Isaiah and his accomplishments but I'll leave it at that.
@Sammy
Just to add to your point, Dejuan Blair would have been a great Nick Collison replacement. If there is a similar player in this year's draft, that's the kind of guy you get to replace Nick on the cheap.
@Ryan
I think Justin's point is decent, even if I disagree. Whatever young big we slot in to take Collison's spot likely won't be as good as Nick, but he'll be several million cheaper at a time when cap space will be at a premium on this team.
@Chas
Everyone knew. You been living in a cave? He has dated her for like 12 years. She celebrated last year with the team when they won it all. Or let me guess this your first year watching the NBA?
@justin
Wrong dude. First Collison is signed for next year and if you don't resign him you have to go get a guy just like him and there are not guys like him out there. Collison is key part to any team but for sure this team.
@justin
Isiah Thomas won 2 rings and he was a scoring PG.
I got 2 tickets in section 102 for tomorrow I need to sale. Will be out of town and can’t go and I have been offered $300 a piece for them but the guy is a Laker fan and I don’t want a laker fan there. If you are itnerested email me at osulingo@yahoo.com.
@Sammy
id like to see phil coach a team without s superstar see if he is any good with a kobe or jordan
God, I think I'd throw up if Phil ends up coaching wherever LeBron plays. Though it would give LeBron vs. Lakers matches a ready-made storyline.
@Sammy
yeah politics and demographics do have a lot to do with it.
@DXL
To be fair, he missed the final stretch of the season including the deciding game against the Bulls. They probably would have taken chicago's place as Lebron's punching bag if he hadn't gotten hurt
@Sammy
I think it's likely we'll find a capable replacement in the draft or as a cheap acquisition. With all our picks and Presti's propensity to find skilled bigs I think one will be good enough to be a backup center.
Nick will be 31 also, not sure how well he'll hold up...
If we resign collison it will be for less money, he can get a better deal elsewhere
@DXL
Thats fine, let him come here and fill up the stats and let Russ and KD push us over the top
@f5alcon
Politics and demographics have a lot to do with it.
@justin
Why not re-sign Collison? It seems the assumption is he's on the way out, but are we really gonna get a better value at backup PF/C elsewhere? I'm not the biggest plus-minus fan in the world, but I'd be pretty hesitant to just jettison Nick for anything less than an amazing replacement (so amazing that, off the top of my head, I can't really think of a bench big I'd want in his place)
I wonder about Bosh. If he's supposed to be a superstar how did he not get that Toronto team, which seems to have a lot of talent, into the Eastern Conference playoffs? One has to question his heart or his will to win. Is he a statstuffer who's never going to quite get his team over the hump?
@Jon
lol, yeah we all know better. I remember when the hornets were in OKC, they kept bringing up a trade for KG like it was a done deal. I think it was when David West missed a game for his child's birth, they made it seem like that was just a cover for the impending deal.
because*
@Sammy
yeah i couldnt find anything either
@Sammy
Its not so much that they might like to live here, its more that they cant comprehend that anyplace that is not where they live could be any good or why people would want to not live there. I am from new york, and the level of disgust from even inside my extended family when my family moved here was appalling, all the comments were about how much better upstate new york is and how Oklahoma is a flyover state. My roommate who I went to high school with in new york with, father will not even come visit him in Oklahoma because being here is beneath him. So yes coastal bias is real.
@justin
I'd put the odds less than 50% that Nick is resigned, but I wouldnt say it's a foregone conclusion. I think it's a reasonable possibility.
Either way, the money I set aside for him is probably going to be spent on someone other than 3rd core player + Green.
@Omar
Thats why i asked if anyone else had heard anything, becayse im not just going to take SA at its word. C'mon now Im on daily thunder, I know better than that
This 'debate' embarrasses me. http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/news/story?id=5145729
They've been dating a long time, even back during the shaq-kobe feud.
And who knew that Phil was dating Buss's daughter? That's got to be a bit awkward when he's trying to re-sign.
Omar :The bleacherreport is clearly speculative and not really researched. For one thing, it mentions of moving Jeff Green to SF. Isn’t it pretty much a given that OKC would have ship Green in a sign and trade to get Bosh?
Yes, that is the likely scenario if he does come here.
I love Nick but I doubt we re-sign him. A proper backup center will probably be on the docket by then...
The bleacherreport is clearly speculative and not really researched. For one thing, it mentions of moving Jeff Green to SF. Isn't it pretty much a given that OKC would have ship Green in a sign and trade to get Bosh?
Sammy :@f5alcon
Do you really think that people on the coasts deride cities like OKC because they’re secretly afraid they might like it if they lived there?
I think a lot has to do with the political atmosphere (especially in OK with the passing of that new abortion law). It's a radical change to move from the coast to here and vice-a-versa.
But who cares about civil rights?! I can buy a mansion for 250k!!!!
@The DON
If we can get Bosh for less than the max, then I say that's a no brainer. 1) I don't think we can support two max deal, primary players. It's not a market thing; it's a sensible spending + depth/risk thing. 2) If Bosh is willing to take less than the max to play in a small market and be a second banana, that says a LOT about his character that I've personally been a little unsure about. That puts him squarely in "Presti guy" territory.
I mapped out the salary at the end of the last thread, but I'll make another go of it.
Here are a few assumptions...
*Durant gets a $100/6 max offer starting in 2011-12
*Westbrook gets a 55/5 (9/10/11/12/13) starting in 2012-13
*Collison gets a 18/4 (4/4.3/4.6/4.9) starting in 2011-12
First off, let's ignore next year. Our cap situation is trivial next year because it's before Durant gets a big pay raise. There's almost nothing we can do to hurt our cap situation next year. It's 2011-12 where things will start getting tight.
Also, for 2013-14, I'm assuming we just make qualifying offers to this year's 3 rookies. With this scenario, we're basically saying Westbrook, Durant + new guy is the core, everyone else is just a quality roleplayer who, if they require too much money to stay, can be replaced with draft picks + prospects.
Finally, I'm increasing the salary by $5M each season to account for a hand full of picks + prospects to bring our roster up to the 13 player range.
So, for Westbrook, Maynor, Thabo, Harden, Durant, Ibaka, Collison + picks/prospects, we would be spending...
2011-12: $38.0M
2012-13: $46.9M
2013-14: $53.8M
We all know a net decline is coming for player salaries with the new CBA that starts in 2011-12. This season, the average a team spent on salary is $70.9M
If the new CBA causes that to drop by 10% to $63.8M per team, then that means we'd have...
2011-12: $25.8M
2012-13: $16.9M
2013-14: $10.1M
...left to spend before spending the average amount. This can be used on someone like Bosh + maybe giving a prospect like White a little more PT, or it could be spent on a lesser player like David Lee and keep Jeff Green. Either way, we'd likely still be spending over the average in 2012-13 and definitely over the average in 2013-14.
But we'd also be a championship contender.
@Jon
He made that up, as far as I can tell. I can't find any reports corroborating that, and twitter is silent as well.
@Jon
Well if thats what teh SA said, then its official: "Chris Bosh to Chicago"
Jax Raging Bile Duct :My gut tells me that Bosh will go to Chicago on a max contract.
That's my guess too.
Bosh=haywood+David Lee in contract,but do less than them.
I like Bosh very much but I dont think I can see he becomes KD's teammater.
My gut tells me that Bosh will go to Chicago on a max contract.
@f5alcon
Do you really think that people on the coasts deride cities like OKC because they're secretly afraid they might like it if they lived there?
Sports Animal just said that Bosh came out with a short list today of preferred teams, with OKC on top, has anyone else seen anything about this?
@Vega
Yeah people assume everybody must hate it in okc because they cant possibly think anybody would want to live somewhere that is not new York, boston, or LA and their families have probably lived there for generations, it is like they fear that someplace else might actually be a better place to live.
@The DON
Uhh... Chris Bosh is getting a max contract. I'd bet my house on that.
That's how much he's going to get no matter what. Bosh is not going to get $15 million.. his salary will START at $16.8 million or so (30% of the cap) with 10% annual increases.
It's a dream to think Bosh will sign with us, it's an even bigger dream to think he'd sign for a penny less than the max.
Bosh will get the max.. That is foregone conclusion...
I'd rather trade one of our first rounders for Gortat than over pay David Lee or give RW's future max contract to Bosh
@Jax Raging Bile Duct
Bucher says it's not possible, but Chad Ford thinks it's a good fit. Even 'experts' have no idea what a player really wants to do until they do it.
I have a hard time believing anyone will be dumb enough to offer $126 mil to Bosh so I don't think we're competing against offers in that neighborhood in pursuing Bosh. Now if someone is indeed dumb enough to throw that much money at him, then god bless them and let them have him.
Chris Bosh is worth $15 Mil. Then, lets say we give KD like $17m Mil and Russ $9 Mil, we still have like $16 mil to spend on role players. I think we can manage.