New 2K11 spot: 1997 Bulls vs. Genghis Khan? Russ says Bulls

No machine guns for the Bulls. You get what you normally play with. Baggy shorts and sharp shoes for the Bulls, ugly beards, helmets, and blood-stained swords for the Mongols. Besides, The Zen Master wouldn't go for the whole weapons of violence thing. He'd try to out-scheme Khan, while Khan would have a somewhat more basic strategy of simply trying to behead everyone.

The '97 Bulls didn't win 72 games.

That's ridiculous. Genghis Khan would get crushed by the Bulls. But if it was Genghis Khan AND David Khan, that's a different story. I hear David Khan is a better passer than Chris Webber.

@Todd
GOTTA go with the home team. Home-court advantage wins this series.

@Todd

You forgot one thing: The Bulls were coached by Phil. He wouldn't be dumb enough to challange a brutal army unprepared. The Bulls would go with time and pull out some machine guns. No contest, Bulls "sweep".

@Jeff Allen

a 7' if.. ;)

I do know: 1996-97 Bulls only won 69 games. By then, Rodman was a mongol....oid.

Hmmm. 97 Bulls vs. Genghis Khan. Have to give the defensive edge to the Bulls. Tough on defense that year. Offense might be a tougher call. I doubt the Mongols would have anyone who could guard Jordon, but then you have the whole chopping-off-the-hand-with-the-sword thing going for the Mongols. So it probably depends on the rules they're playing by. If it's NBA rules, Jordon and the Bulls have a decided edge. But if it's anything goes, that definitely Mongol territory. In fact, I think I have to go with the Mongols, no matter the rules used. The 97 Bulls were good and were known for their killer instinct, but when you get right down to it, no one ever defined "killer instinct" quite like The Khan. Seven game series, the Mongols sweep it four games and fifteen dead bodies to zero.

@f5alcon

that's a pretty big if...

It's actually probably a great thing that Nenad and Nick are out for now. Those guys are vets and they understand things better than most. Aldrich, Ibaka and Mullens need the post minutes much more for their advancement.

aaaand Ibaka

@f5alcon
And/or Aldrich for that matter.

@Ozark
if mullens develops a post game, we become a very scary team

Mullens was jockeying for post position? Who knew.

we need more then wrinkles on offense

@James
That's got me pretty pumped.

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INTENSITY REVVED UP DURING SCRIMMAGE
Date: 9/29/10 Time: 2:11 p.m.

Energy and intensity have been the buzz words throughout the first two days of training camp, and that was perfectly evident judging from the Thunder’s full-court scrimmage toward the end of Tuesday’s practice session.

To say that the scrimmage portion of practice was exciting would be an understatement. Players showed the same type of tenacity and hustle that we saw toward the end of the season. Head coach Scott Brooks said that he told the team on Monday that the biggest sign of respect a player can give his teammate is challenging him every day on the court.

Aside from that, Brooks said he liked the carryover from the early part of practice to the scrimmage.

“Guys are picking up on things pretty quick and I thought they did a very good job in the scrimmage,” he said. “Normally when you stop doing the drills and the stations, you kind of lose the things during the scrimmage because of the fatigue but they stuck with it and did a good job there.”

A few observations from the scrimmage, which had the Thunder divided into three teams:

The white team consisted of Russell Westbrook, Daequan Cook, Cole Aldrich, Jeff Green and Elijah Millsap. The blue team had Kevin Durant, D.J. White, Thabo Sefolosha, Eric Maynor and Byron Mullens. And another blue had James Harden, Morris Peterson, Serge Ibaka, Longar Longar, Demond “Tweety” Carter and Royal Ivey.

-In the first five minutes scrimmage, Westbrook and Aldrich worked the high pick and roll on several possessions, with Aldrich scoring off the roll. Both Peterson and Cook hit threes from the wing.

-The Aldrich-Mullens was a fun matchup to watch in the second five-minute scrimmage, with both players jostling for post position on either end of the floor….Maynor defended Westbrook at the top of the key, and the second-year guard was very vocal on the defensive end.

-Both Maynor and White showed some aggressiveness on the defensive end when they trapped Westbrook with the ball in the backcourt on one possession, forcing Westbrook to call a timeout. White has talked about his desire to improve defensively, so it was nice to see him get after it during the portion of practice that was open to the media.

-Durant had the game-winning shot with seven tenths of a second left off a play in which he flashed his lateral quickness. Durant got past the defender with a sharp crossover dribble at the top of the key before draining a jumper.

-There were several possessions when you could hear Durant yelling for his teammates to get back on the defensive end.

Durant was asked about being vocal afterward, to which he said, “I’m the type of guy that’s more lead by example. But I think there’s times it’s good to be vocal and tell my teammates what to do, especially guys like Byron and Cole and (Jerome) Dyson, who is still trying to learn our defense and offense.”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
When practice was over, the entire team gathered at one end of the floor to wish Durant a happy birthday. Players wore birthday hats (the cone type) and blew into those kazoo noisemakers for Durant, who turned 22 on Wednesday. Rookie Cole Aldrich and the training camp invitees led the team in a “Happy Birthday” sing-a-long, which sounded like the Stevie Wonder version.

Durant joked that he probably won’t have a birthday cake because it doesn’t fit with his diet, but he’ll probably have some pasta.

As far as gifts go, he said, “I’m not a hard guy to please. I just want people to think about me on my birthday.”

When the singing was over, Durant gathered the team in a circle. Everyone put a hand in and shouted “family” on the count of three.

Think these guys get along?

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MORNING NOTES
Date: 9/29/10 Time: 10:19 a.m.

Some leftover notes from Tuesday’s practice: head coach Scott Brooks said the team will have two-a-days on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; the league allows each team to have six during training camp….

If you see Kevin Durant out and about, wish him a happy birthday. He turns 22 today….

A follow-up to what Brooks said in regards to putting in a few wrinkles to both the offensive and defensive sets: the coach said he wants to see better execution, timing and spacing with the sets the team already has in place from last season. Once they’ve proven comfortable with that, then they can go full-bore with scrimmages. Brooks reiterated that he’s only adding wrinkles to the sets.

“Just enough for our guys to take more in,” he said. “You always give the team a little bit more than they can handle, put a little bit more stress on their bodies and their mind and I think our guys are able to handle a little bit more than last year.”…

Another quotable: “When you’ve got a set of guys who have been here a couple years, you expect the best out of them. He expects us to help him and that’s what we’re here to do. We have a lot of new faces and we’re trying to get them on the same page as us.” – forward Jeff Green, who was asked whether Brooks is tougher on his veterans. …

And finally, just a friendly reminder that the Rumble plush dolls go on sale Thursday at noon. You can buy them at the downtown Thunder Shop in Leadership Square, where Rumble will make an appearance….

Practice is already underway, with media availability slated for around 12:30 p.m. Check back later for some practice notes.

Man, no spinners. You cheatin'