In today’s exit interview, Russell Westbrook was asked a lot about his playoff experience, the criticism and about his future with the Thunder. Westbrook of course is eligible for an extension on in July. In between enjoying his gum loudly right next to the microphone, Westbrook said he definitely wants to be back in Oklahoma City for the long-term.
“I definitely want to play here. I love being here. I definitely would love staying here.”
There’s pretty much no doubt that Westbrook will get a solid extension offer from the Thunder. The question is though with the uncertainty of the new CBA if things could be affected there. But as long as Westbrook wants to be in OKC, he’ll likely get the offer needed to keep him here for the long-term.
What I loved most thought about Westbrook’s interview though was what he said he wants to improve on most.
“The first thing for me is leadership. I think that’s a big part of me becoming a better player and me reacting certain ways on the floor. That’s definitely going to be a big step for me next year.” Good stuff there, Russ.
russokc :@justinThe thunder has the Clippers 2012 No.1 pick to trade (surely more valuable than a Dallas pick considering how well they’ve done this year).
Nope. A little known fact that completely escaped the OKC media, Thunder gave that Clippers pick to Boston in the Perkins/Green trade. Makes no sense to me to give up a 1st round pick for an expiring contract, but it apparently happened. The only good news is that the Clippers are protected from losing that pick for the next few years if it is a top 10 pick.
Russel Westbrook playoff tribute video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBnlsEevsCk
Daniel Hawaii :
Danny :@GAPI like it. First thing i came to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AMcaakfRpE
I haven’t seen him in any first-round mocks. What about Marshon Brooks?
Russ – MaynorHarden – Rookie – CookDurant – BeasleyIbaka – CollisonPerkins – Krstic!!
I’m sticking to it.
Uhhh… how are we getting Michael Beasley?? And what happened to Thabo? Did Kahn strike and decide to trade Beasley for Thabo? If so, somebody buy that man a cupcake, on me.
In my dream: yes. We get Beasley for Thabo, Robinson, and other fillers.
Go Presti, Go!
so you can do 1 westbrook 2 harden/ 3 kd 4 ibaka 5perk and a bench of 1 mayner 2 sef/vaden or what ever cook like shooter we pick up 3 green 4 collison 5 aldrich/pliess
This would give us a killer starting line up with smart players to hold court on the bench and mayner plus green is about equal to mayner harden plus kd harden and westbrook would all play part of the time with the 2nd unit
why not just keep what we have minus cook and nate trade them for a pointless draft pick and cap relief and go hard at jeff green... Brooks wouldnt even be able to screw it up and on a second unit jeff green can be that scoring threat
justin :@russokc
Nazr cannot be traded he is a free agent. Beaubois at the time that article was written was a big trade chip, young player on rookie scale. Significantly more valuable than Cook (who can’t be traded) or Nate or Sefolosha. Beaubois probably has the same kind of value to Dallas as someone like Harden does to us, whether it’s warranted or not.
Thunder does not have the Clippers 2012 #1 pick, that was traded to the Celtics.
Hill is not an expiring contract, his contract is already expired and cannot be traded.
I admit defeat and gracefully bow down to you ...you win that argument. ;)
But I still think Nash would consider a move to a contender and the Thunder should speak to the Sun's about a possible trade. If he wants to go I'm sure they could work something out. He's 37, if they wait for his contract to expire they'll be left with nothing.
@russokc
Nazr cannot be traded he is a free agent. Beaubois at the time that article was written was a big trade chip, young player on rookie scale. Significantly more valuable than Cook (who can't be traded) or Nate or Sefolosha. Beaubois probably has the same kind of value to Dallas as someone like Harden does to us, whether it's warranted or not.
Thunder does not have the Clippers 2012 #1 pick, that was traded to the Celtics.
Hill is not an expiring contract, his contract is already expired and cannot be traded.
@justin
Nazr (6 million expiring this year) is in the same position as Stevenson (4 million expiring) and Butler (10 million expiring).
Beaubois is no more a legitimate trade chip then Sefloshoa cook or even Nate.
The thunder has the Clippers 2012 No.1 pick to trade (surely more valuable than a Dallas pick considering how well they've done this year).
We can take on Childress' contract (it's 6 million a year), plus he could be a back up to Durant.
Hill has an expiring 3 million contract so that wouldn't be an issue.
@russokc
"The Mavs could offer Rodrigue Beaubois (a legitimate trade chip), Caron Butler's expiring deal, DeShawn Stevenson's expiring, their 2011 No. 1 pick and $3 million for Nash, Grant Hill and Josh Childress (whose unseemly contract would be the Trade Tax for giving up Nash and Hill)."
How is that anything like the trade you proposed?
http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/mavericks/post/_/id/4674412/best-case-trade-scenario-return-of-steve-nash
justin :@russokc
Nate / Nazr / Sefolosha won’t get Steve Nash. Sorry. And Nazr can’t be traded he’s a free agent.
We’d need to give them Westbrook, or some combination of Ibaka, Harden, etc. Bleacher Report is not a reliable news source.
You maybe right, but I think you'll find he'd be traded for less than you think. The idea only works if we can get him without losing Westbrook Harden or Ibaka.
@PNT
We all get that. It's not that hard to make the adjustment to make sure you can always score the ball. But we need another guy who can gel with the second unit the way Harden does. The best sets in Brook's offense are designed for Harden, Nick and Maynor. They work because they practice together as a unit. We need someone to help fill that void a little bit. We have to have that regular, 2-man, 3-man game to go to when the starter (who is still in with the second unit) is not able to generate some offense.
@russokc
Nate / Nazr / Sefolosha won't get Steve Nash. Sorry. And Nazr can't be traded he's a free agent.
We'd need to give them Westbrook, or some combination of Ibaka, Harden, etc. Bleacher Report is not a reliable news source.
PNT :
I don’t get why so many here seem to be worried about the 2nd unit scoring if Harden were to be moved into the starting lineup. It’s not a problem as long as Brooks adjusts the rotations so that at least one of Durant, Westbrook, or Harden is on the court at all times.
Just don’t rest KD and Russell at the same time and it’s taken care of.
That may work in the regular season.. but don't forget what happened in the playoffs. We needed three playmakers/scorers on the floor (KD/Russ/Harden) to be a consistent offensive threat. Our starting five was stagnant because we only had KD/Russ and teams could double team them forcing turn overs or hard shots or forcing them to pass to ineffective scorers.
We don't want to be in a situation where we'll only be effective with our starting five on the court, we'll loose our edge when the bench comes in.
I thought the interplay between Harden and Westbrook at the end of game 5 was a thing of beauty and (I hope) was a preview of what to expect during the 2011-2012 season. I've been an advocate of keeping Harden on the second team, but if Russ and James can learn to work together and trade off the point guard duties like they were in game 5...sign me up for the "Start Harden" bandwagon. Harden feeding Russ flying to the basket seemed so fresh...but I had to remind myself that James had played a lot of minutes with KD and Russ and we hadn't really seen that kind of flow with them. That kind of give-and-take between Russ and James can make teams forget that the league's 2-time scoring champion is lurking in the wings, waiting to stab a dagger into their hearts.
justin :
First of all, we’re not getting Steve Nash for Cook and Nazr. Second of all, we can’t get Steve Nash for Cook and Nazr since they are no longer under contract.
The idea of acquiring Steve Nash for essentially nothing is so ridiculous that it ruins the entire premise of your idea.
No Nash wouldn't come for Cook and Nazr. Not sure who thinks that or where you got that info...
Considering his age and Phoneix's willingness to trade him he probably would come for a combination of players e.g. Nate/Nazr/Seflosha and maybe a draft pick.
The sun's nearly traded him in January and there have been a number of reports of them allowing Nash to leave so he can have a shot at a ring before retirement. After blowing up their team in the Orlando trade they seem even more likely to trade him so they can rebuild..
This is an article that discusses possible Nash trade scenarios. It doesn't mention the thunder but it shows the sort of players that would be needed to make a trade:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/675429-steve-nash-trade-scenarios-10-plausible-destinations-for-the-phoenix-suns-star/page/11
Scotty Brooks clearly isn't going anywhere, so I think one of our priorities this offseason should be to hire an offensive-minded assistant coach.
Similar to what Ron Adams did for the defense, we need someone who can put an offensive system into place. I'm tired of our guys running around like chickens with their heads cut off. There's no system in place, so no one knows where they are supposed to be, especially in late game situations. I don't have any faith in Brooks to correct this problem on his own.
Would Rick Adelman consider being an assistant coach if no one hires him to be their head coach? Lots of former head coaches become assistants on other teams. Bring in Adelman and get him to install his "corner" offense. I bet he'd jump at the chance to coach KD, Russ and James. He'd probably be really expensive though.
I don't get why so many here seem to be worried about the 2nd unit scoring if Harden were to be moved into the starting lineup. It's not a problem as long as Brooks adjusts the rotations so that at least one of Durant, Westbrook, or Harden is on the court at all times.
Just don't rest KD and Russell at the same time and it's taken care of.
@Caleb
hahaha.... That's how you handle Justin
100% joking on the last one... I keep being about okur but haven't watched much of his game
Remember when Kyle Weaver was our energy guy off the bench? Those were the days lol.
@Justin
How about Dwight Howard for nazr and cook then?
Did I mention it was a DREAM?
In all seriousness, the Thunder just need a little extra bench scoring. In my opinion, they need two things:
1) A decent back-up center who has good hands and can finish at the rim and maybe knock down a few shots. Aldrich is probably good for 8-12 ppg off the bench. And he can contest shots without leaving his feet and get some rebounds. He can also pass the ball. Tibor Pleiss might be a better option. He can do everything Aldrich can do, but is more mobile and can knock down jumpers, and can block more shots.
2) A tweener SF/PF or long SG who can create his own shot, play serviceable defense and knock down the corner three. It's too bad Latavious Williams can't hit a three, because he can do everything else... plus rebound the ball. If guess the Thunder will have to go hunting in the draft or FA, or find a suitable trade.
lafowler255 :@Daniel Hawaii Howard has already said if he could pick someone to play on a team with it would be KD dont think being in OKC would be a problem for him though Im sure LA and NY would be him 1st options… we cant afford him though and what would we be forced to give up to have him? Answer:EVERYTHING!
If Dwight Howard suddenly decides he'd love to play with KD in Oklahoma City, spurning the big city life and the chance to become a mega-movie star, I will run butt naked up and down the streets of Waikiki, wearing nothing but a Superman cape in his honor.
First of all, we're not getting Steve Nash for Cook and Nazr. Second of all, we can't get Steve Nash for Cook and Nazr since they are no longer under contract.
The idea of acquiring Steve Nash for essentially nothing is so ridiculous that it ruins the entire premise of your idea.
Daniel Plainview :
dream catcher :
GAP :What do you guys think of David Lighty from Ohio St., has size at 6’6 and looks like a decent playmaker that could come off the bench. He could start even, pretty good perimeter defender….. thoughts?
solid all-around player but not much of a scorer.
That Diebler kid can drop thress all day long. Id like him in teh second
Good shooter for sure, but another reason for Lighty is he's a four year collegiate player. He's not the scorer Harden is, but has a lot of playmaking skills and a good enough offensive game that he would fit the culture of this team right off the bat.
Not to mention, his defensive prowess. He could be just one more suprise Presti has under his sleeve in this years draft. Mock drafts have him in the early second round, but I believe him to go maybe late first round.
@Daniel Hawaii
Howard has already said if he could pick someone to play on a team with it would be KD dont think being in OKC would be a problem for him though Im sure LA and NY would be him 1st options... we cant afford him though and what would we be forced to give up to have him? Answer:EVERYTHING!
@TaoMaas
Exactly! thats what OKC needs is another Harden(type) player! so Harden can start and Thabo come in whenever we really need him.
@Daniel Plainview
I completely agree!! ESPN only want the drama and they know if they talk about it enough it will be reality that have a huge influence in the sports world now and they have attempted to put a divide between RW and KD and anyone who watches the Thunder on a regular basis knows that is no real issue.
Daniel Plainview :@russokc
This is teh first Ive heard Of Hubie watching the Thunder.
Exactly! You probably just now heard about it because he hasn't watched the Thunder until the Western Conference finals. That's why he's making foolish suggestions. The Thunder don't need Nash...(and I LOVE Steve Nash). We're set at the point guard position. If Hubie wants to help, give us some suggestions for replacing the scoring on our second team when we swap Thabo for Harden.
Bryan :Oh how I dream of having Russ, Harden, Durant, Ibaka and Dwight Howard starting the 2012 season in Thunder blue. Give them a bench that can hold court and call it a dynasty.
That's some dream. Whilst in this crazy fantasyland, you may as well also dream that you just beat the crap out of Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian was so turned on, she decided to have sex with you.
Dwight Howard would never come to OKC anyway. He's a primadonna who is demanding a big market like NYC or LA. Not to mention the fact that he'd destroy our team chemistry and I doubt he'd be ok with playing second fiddle to KD. And make no mistake, this is KD's team.
You guys think we could get okur for a draft pic and Nate
@Greg
Maynor can't stop the ball well enough to play more than 30 mins at PG against the league's best. But at least you could protect the paint like nobody else in the league. And It would be a pretty high scoring team with even a half decent scheme.
Oh how I dream of having Russ, Harden, Durant, Ibaka and Dwight Howard starting the 2012 season in Thunder blue. Give them a bench that can hold court and call it a dynasty.
Maynor, Harden, Durant, Serge, Dwight. Hm.
"The recent drama over Russell Westbrook's un-point-guard-like play, and other rumors about the Thunder looking into trading the young point guard for Chris Paul or Deron Williams makes this trade idea legit."
Come Bleachereport. Don't you guys care at all?
I wish I would have realized this was a Bleachereport article before I started reading. But, when is says something crazy like Dwight Howard for Russell Westbrook and Kendrick Perkins, I just can't help myself....
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/713716-nba-trade-rumors-5-interesting-landing-spots-for-dwight-howard#/articles/713716-nba-trade-rumors-5-interesting-landing-spots-for-dwight-howard/page/4
Also, at this point, Ill preemptively say, I have no interest in hearing any talk of trading Harden, unless its for Dwight, but je is going to be a monster, and once he starts, he will rival RW for triple doubles
Man grant hill would be great but I love the thought of barrier being on our team.. would be a great veteran to have... Lock down defender who can hit the corner three pretty well also... Wonder how much Memphis will work to get him back... I wish he was on a little bit less of a team as far as talent... I think that idea would be more attainable then... Of course isn't Memphis going to have pretty empty pockets with giving gay and Randolph max and then mark up next who prob won't take anything less than that with the way he has been getting talked up? I wish there was a way you could prove your allegiance of being a die hard fan and in doing so you got a top secret insider pass to some website where presti let's you know what he is thinking for the up coming draft, trade deadline ect. Of course that idea has disaster written all over it... I have heard a couple of people say presti will prob end up doing something again where we so " wow that was genius", but is there much he can do with the choices before the season to make us think that..also are we at a point where we are adding such small pieces that we are no longer in a position to do something like ghat for the time being (which isn't necessarily a bad thing obviously)
Danny :@GAPI like it. First thing i came to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AMcaakfRpE
I haven’t seen him in any first-round mocks. What about Marshon Brooks?
Russ – MaynorHarden – Rookie – CookDurant – BeasleyIbaka – CollisonPerkins – Krstic!!
I’m sticking to it.
Uhhh... how are we getting Michael Beasley?? And what happened to Thabo? Did Kahn strike and decide to trade Beasley for Thabo? If so, somebody buy that man a cupcake, on me.
I really apologize for my typos, friends. I am at work, on teh floor at a bookstore, typing inbetween customers and my hawkish managers, who are mildly ok with it if we are slow. I would not want to read my slaughtered prose if I were you either.
JJJ :I don’t think we need to get bogged down with what position Russ plays. He’s skilled bringing up the ball, as well as playing off-ball. Harden is skilled at finding players and playing off-ball as well. Defensively, Russ guards the faster player, while James guards the bigger player. The sooner those two realize how to play off each other and not monopolize the ball/shy away from the ball, the closer we will get to a championship. Don’t play to someone’s arbitrary roles, play to your strengths.
Yes, I think it was the last two games, at times. they really started to feel each other out. Kevin too made some beautiful passes. The three of them next year our going to be amazing. Cant wait to see COle get an alley oop dunk.
@lafowler255
ESPN realy gave spotrts fans a revolution in coverage and analysis. However, over teh past 5 to 8 years, they seem less astute than ever and more concerned with their celbrety and turning everything into a melodrama. What happened to them is what happened to MTV. Its astounding how obtuse many of these sports casters are. Its liek the more books they right, teh more money they make, the les intelligent their analysis is. I'm not sure Rick Reilly can talk inteliigably about anything that involves a ball, a puck, or variety running.
Stuart Scott, in the first interview with Mike Brown as the new Coach of the Lakers, did not congadulate him nor asked him if he was excited about his new prospect of Coaching Lake town. he said along th lines of this, "Your following one of teh greatest coaches of all time, most people do not believe you are qualified for this job. How do you respond to that?" While the question is legitimate, starting off in that manner was classless and provocative. SHit Journalism
@lafowler255
I agree, the biggest downside is annoying Westbrook and/or stunting his development.
But it would give the team so many more options. Durant is the 2 time Nba scoring champ with a non conventional PG who routinely takes more shots than him. Imagine how much he could score with Nash getting the ball to him.
Starting Nash and Westbrook would allow us to keep Harden coming off the bench. If he doesn't we'll have a similar problem to this year in that the team will struggle to score when the bench players are in.
If shooters are hot (e.g. Durant hitting everything) we need a true point guard on the floor to get him the ball.
If the team is struggling to score or we're playing a team with fast point guards like Chicago or Boston, then we can play with a Harden/Westbrook back court.
It's all about match ups and having options to beat anyone.
Nash would only play for a year or two but he would greatly develop the young players too
I don't think we need to get bogged down with what position Russ plays. He's skilled bringing up the ball, as well as playing off-ball. Harden is skilled at finding players and playing off-ball as well. Defensively, Russ guards the faster player, while James guards the bigger player. The sooner those two realize how to play off each other and not monopolize the ball/shy away from the ball, the closer we will get to a championship. Don't play to someone's arbitrary roles, play to your strengths.
@russokc
Yeah I read those comments and I still was not impressed at all. Why undermine RW ability to improve? If nash wants to come off the bench then ok but he wont.
I personaly dont care about Hubie Brown or anyone else on Mike and Mike think since truthfully they probably only look at stats and have not watched every game. KD gets a lof of defensive pressure especially in these playoffs and it forces RW to make a play for himself when his only other option is Thabo or ibaka(if he is paying attention which he cost 2-3 TO this playoff from not being ready for the pass from RW)
dream catcher :
GAP :What do you guys think of David Lighty from Ohio St., has size at 6’6 and looks like a decent playmaker that could come off the bench. He could start even, pretty good perimeter defender….. thoughts?
solid all-around player but not much of a scorer.
That Diebler kid can drop thress all day long. Id like him in teh second
@russokc
Our perimeter defense would be worse than it already is. Plus, there's no way PHX takes those players from us. Nazr and Cook are already free agents as well.
Joe :It’s good to hear that Russell is much more mature and forthright than you might suspect just watching his body language sometimes on the court. For if his character was judged solely on that, he wouldn’t get high marks from me or many others I suspect.
I agree. His on court frustrations were starting to concern me. But his interviews, the one right before game 5 with Doris Burke, and since have buouyed my spirits regarding his maturity and ability to grow. Buy am I excited for next year
@russokc
This is teh first Ive heard Of Hubie watching the Thunder. If Nash wants to play on the second unit, that would be nice. But Russ at the 2 should forever opnly take place as an experiement.
@russokc
OKC won 55 games and made it to the Confernce Finals with RW as the PG. With a little more maturity and experience and better play-calling and execution, they'd likely be in the Finals. Given that we can expect RW to also improve to some extent, why mess with something that has been proven to work really well? Especially when Nash isn't likely to play in the League that much longer.