Kevin Durant is ESPN.com’s No. 1 fantasy player for 2011-12 but two Thunderers are moving up too: “Every year, we see a few players make great strides in the playoffs and ride that confidence into a breakout in the following season. This year it was Harden, who posted averages of 13.0 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.4 3-pointers in 17 postseason games. More importantly, the Thunder were at their best when Harden was on the court as the third scoring option behind Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. His playoff numbers were no fluke. In fact, Harden posted 15.8 points with 1.7 3-pointers and 1.2 steals in 28 games after the All-Star break last season. Look for a bump in minutes in 2011-12, and do not be surprised if Harden is one of the season’s biggest breakouts.”
Wesley Morris for Grantland didn’t know he was talking about Serge Ibaka when he called him the best dressed at the draft: “Still, with all due respect to Walker, he came in a somewhat distant second. When Stern announced that the Congolese Bismack Biyombo would be going to Sacramento, a dapper gentleman stood up to hug him. This someone wore a perfectly tailored salmon-colored suit and an open shirt, and, if memory serves, nothing in the jacket pocket. Either way, it was million-dollar perfection. I don’t know who this man is or he even if plays basketball, but if the scouts have any sense they’ll track him down and make him an offer.”
Thunder fan Chris Bils isn’t apologizing for being a bandwagoner: “If being a fan of the Oklahoma City Thunder makes be a bandwagon fan, so be it. It’s better than being a fan of a team that went 19-63 last year and just wasted the fourth pick of the draft on Tristan Thompson (sorry Cleveland). I have found that being a bandwagon fan in the NBA is the way to go. I am a bigger fan of the NBA in general since becoming a Thunder fan and I followed this year’s playoffs closer than I ever have before. The NBA might be more interesting than ever, and that has a lot to do with it, but it’s a hell of a lot more fun when you root for a team that has the potential to win it all.”
Is Chumlee from Pawn Stars a Thunder fan? (Maybe NSFW-ish)
Chad Ford’s top 100 prospects for 2012.
Darnell Mayberry on Reggie Jackson: “For four days, most of us have been blinded by what position Jackson plays. It’s time for us to clean up that clouded judgment. It’s time we realize, once and for all, that clearly defined, traditional positions are largely meaningless, especially on a team as versatile as the Thunder. Reggie Jackson is a fit, and it’s perhaps taken most of us too long to see how.”
This graphic recapping the season from Hoopism is awesome.
Michael Dugat of Fox Sports Southwest on OKC’s pick: “Barring something unforeseen, such as an injury or trade, this likely isn’t a move to bear much weight in the direct future. Rather, it adds the asset of another talented player who should be allowed to grow into a role. His skills whisper the possibility of playing from both guard positions, and Jackson offers a small hint of insurance should Westbrook or Maynor not be retained (both have only the 2011-12 season guaranteed on their current contracts, though OKC does have a team option for the following season with Maynor). Of course, particularly with Westbrook, this is an insurance you’d have to prefer is never called upon.”
Sam Amick of SI.com grades OKC’s draft: “GM Sam Presti does as good a job as anyone of thinking two steps ahead, and that’s what we saw with the Thunder’s first-round pick. With a big payday around the bend for Russell Westbrook, it’s looking likely that incumbent backup point guard Eric Maynor will be tough to hold onto once his rookie-scale contract expires in 2013. Enter BC’s Jackson (No. 24), who was intriguing enough that Miami was trying hard to land him to compete with Mario Chalmers. Rival teams thought the Thunder had issued a promise to Jackson, and it appears they may have been right.”
@ james1
I think is an adequate defender at the 4 (certainly better on the perimeter), the problem is he is more likely to get into foul trouble that way.
@ james1
I agree with you entirely on Thabo.
I don't think we need to deal Thabo. I think he just needs to be a situational player. He's already not very good on offense and defense is different that offense in that you don't have to get consistent minutes to be effective. It's all effort. So play Thabo when we play a team with a good 2 otherwise sit him. He was effective against Wade during stretches, he has been effective against Kobe for stretches, he was effective agasint Terry for stretches. He has a place. It's just just a specialty place. We need to resign Cook. I still think though if we can find a decent stretch 4 we should sign him instead of Mohammad though. Thats the only way we can open up the court without having KD at the 4 (which is a liability on D against decent 4's).
@ justin
Nor would I trade Maynor for him, thats plumb foolish. Im not sold they would.either, by Dalember might be in the move and Casspi doesnt want to be there so I thought the hypothetical was minimal. Id.sh, or ship nate too, if they asked anything beyind that id want honeycutt, but then were talking multiple player stuff, which would fall umder my 2nd tier trades
Oh I read your trade wrong. Kings wouldn't trade Casspi for Mullens.
I wouldn't trade Maynor for Casspi.
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine
Almost identical contracts. Casspis per is that of Maynors. While theres no guarantee he will Improve our team we could not lose from this decision
Oops, hit send.
...and that player, to me, who offers lowest risl highest reward, is Omri Casspi.
If they would take Mullens, and or Nate, even up for this, I would.pull the trigger in a second. We would lose a current fourth string center who will most likely never see the court. We would gain an actual sf back up to KD, not a stretch two who cannot shoot. Casspis rookie year was equal to that of Danny Granger and had 4 double doubles. True, he fell iff his sexond year but I hope that was due to an organization in disarray who flipflopped between 3 sf's.
Let me reiterate; this is the lowest risk, highest reward scenario, Casspi, my friends is not my ideal dream. If he does not improve, weve lost nothing. Weve givenn Mullens two years why not put the faith into someone who HAS played and started and contributed. He has two yeara left on his rookie scale and that too is a boon.
Francis*
@ Daniel Plainview
2's not happening. So replace with Reggie turns out to be Steve Fancis at the 2 spot and we dont have to do anything
Crow :I can’t see Presti trading Thabo with the Thunder sitting at 15th of 30 on defensive efficiency for the regular season and 9th of 16 in the playoffs… but that was with Thabo. An injured Thabo though. They’ve got to get back into the top 10 on defense IMO to achieve what they want to achieve. With Thabo or without.
They were top 10 after the trade. Thabo's supposedly been 'injured' since January 2010.
I have 3 tierd screnarios of improving our team.
The first tier would entail acquring my most dreamy FA.s, and involve.some difficult to resolve hypotheticals.
The second tier would involve what many believe to.be (i am one) the inevitible.departure of Maynor and what could get for him. This too will require tii many speculations, dreama and unknowns.
The third tier deals with the most plausible smalltime adjustments we could make. Trying to figure out what player out there that we could acquire on the cheap, can score, young with upside and does not at all disrupt our current roster
Thabo with all lineups except the old and new starting lineups: +3 per 48 minutes on raw team +/-, equal to his overall average including the starting lineups (with Green was bad, with Perkins was good, at least in the regular season).
The overall team point differential was almost 4 so his time was a bit below that but not much and he probably played against tougher opponent lineups on average. He played with a mix of better players and not so good ones compared to the bench.
The Adjusted +/- estimate grab bag is 4 positive, 3 negative though basically all of them were quite close to a neutral overall impact. I don't think he is as big a problem overall as it sometimes seems but he almost never missed or sat a game in OKC so it it hard to say what the impact of not having him out there would be. You can guess or you can try a without experiment or leap and commit to it without trying such an experiment. Or stay as is without trying such an experiment.
I can't see Presti trading Thabo with the Thunder sitting at 15th of 30 on defensive efficiency for the regular season and 9th of 16 in the playoffs... but that was with Thabo. An injured Thabo though. They've got to get back into the top 10 on defense IMO to achieve what they want to achieve. With Thabo or without.
Webster last season: career high eFG% and TS%, 3 pt FG%, FTA per minute, points per minute, Offensive rebounding %, assist%, steals and Offensive Rating. Career worst turnover % but still not bad on that. Not yet 25. But kind of run of the mill overall boxscore performance and at a fairly high price.
Negative on 6 of 7 Adjusted +/- estimates for different time periods and quite bad on 2 for just last season. But how much weight to give that, playing poorly on a poor team? Another context might produce a different impact estimate. It might not though. The general thrust of the cumulative evidence is that he is at minimum not a positive overall impact player.
Quite a contrast of perspectives.
Probably wouldn't be a top target of mine. I'd think there would be other names that are cheaper and better on overall impact. They could take a closer look if they wanted to. If they thought they might have an appropriate role for him and if they thought his future would be brighter than his past and if they thought they could formulate a trade that made sense. Only has 1 more guaranteed year and a team option. I might see trading Nate for him. Probably not Thabo.
the past year*
Maybe Crow can pull up some minutes when Thabo played with the 2nd unit. I am pretty sure it wasnt bad without even looking at it. 2nd unit wasnt the one with the problem this year. Maynor, Cook, some Harden, some Jackson, Collison, Nazr would be fine with practice time together. we should still try to pick something better up.
I think another issue with Minnesota is that their team isn't as young as they like to think. The youngest core player is Rubio, who is 20, but Rubio doesn't have the same hype anymore. Love and Beasley are 22, both going into their 4th years in the league. Last year's rookie will be 24 before the season starts. Given years in the league and actual production, their talent just doesn't seem all that talented.
justin :It takes Darnell awhile but I suppose he gets there in the end.
You shouldnt be the one to critique:) Just sayin
Expectations for the Wolves in the nest year or two are probably generally low. I am not sure where I'd put them. What he does with the Coach will have a big influence.
@ Crow
The difference is that Presti bored everyone into not noticing him until it was clear that his moves had paid off lol. Khan just can't help taking best player available - all other considerations be damned.
Theres no way we are not signing Cook and Nazr as the roster looks now. Not with Sef and Cole backing up.
@ Crow
Good point. Still, it's hard to live down not googling someone to figure out their age.
I am not trying to get Kahn completely off the hook but he has been GM for 2 years and 3 days. He inherited a team that was sub .500 for 4 straight seasons and had won less than 30% of its games for 2 seasons. Where was Presti after 2 seasons? Still below .300. Does it really matter if you were at 28% wins after 2 years like Presti or 21% like Kahn? The judgment on Kahn should be based mainly on what happens in the next year or two not the last 2.
What does anyone think we could get Battier for? How ridiculous is the idea of a 1 year 6M deal?
new avatar thanks to Hoopism!
@The Beard Knows
Can we just like have them kidnapped or something?
OKsee :So what will our payroll look like next season if we drop Cook and Nazr, and then offer Westbrook near max? About $50 million? If we were somehow able to pawn off Ivey, Mullens, and Nate, that would leave us with about $15 million in cap space under the current agreement. My math could be off, but it seems like we would have a decent amount of change to spare on a trade/free agent.
It sounds like so much more money than it really is. The only team willing to take on NateRob's 4.5M is going to want to dump a different toxic (hopefully expiring) contract onto us.
I think a small change like that could make a huge difference with the team as it's constructed. Webster may not be the right guy, but I'd prefer a range-y shooter type in Thabo's role next year for sure.
@ justin
I'm not a fan of Webster, and it's not worth his own contract to backup up KD for 8 minutes per game. He's not athletic enough to play the 2 either. 1.5 million matters because Webster doesn't push us over the top. If we aren't getting exactly what we want, why pay more?
If only Serge could become a more reliable pass catcher. I would be more than happy to live with a failed attempt than a turn over more often than not. I think a lot of Russ's seemingly ball hogging come from his frustration in dropped passes. Why not take the shot yourself if everyone else is just going to fumble the ball off to the other team? I think I even saw Perk at the end there just deciding he was going to take the shot come hell or high water and I wonder if it had anything to do with his confidence in others' ability to handle the drop off.
So what will our payroll look like next season if we drop Cook and Nazr, and then offer Westbrook near max? About $50 million? If we were somehow able to pawn off Ivey, Mullens, and Nate, that would leave us with about $15 million in cap space under the current agreement. My math could be off, but it seems like we would have a decent amount of change to spare on a trade/free agent.
@sammasaaron
go to nbashop.com and customize a jersey with any name and number you want on it.
Thabo made a lot more sense when we had Green and Krstic in the front court rotation.
@ Keith
What's $1.5M in the scheme of things, though? Webster's final year is not guaranteed. With our front court rotation as it stands, I don't see how we can construct second units (even staggering rotations) that have more than one or two guys who can make a jump shot. Thabo is a liability for us now...
How about this: We let Nazr and Cook walk, look for a deal to save money on NateRobs contract and sign an injured David West. OK, not really.
But you have to admit, this looks pretty fun:
Perkins, Ibaka
West, Collison
Durant, Thabo
Harden, Jackson
Westbrook, Maynor
Troy Murphy is done.
I love the fact that this board has had an ongoing discussion on how to 'fix' our bench for the past few weeks (fix in quotes because, honestly, even without Harden the bench isn't bad, just not as good as it was). This is easily the most quality sports board I've ever followed, if not the best board in general. Also makes it easier to pretend I've never heard the word 'lockout'.
Also, I like to get jerseys of lesser-known (and less likely to be on a different team) players for fan gear: anyone know if there is a Presti jersey out there? Because I might buy that.
Thabo didn't show his defense skill after Ron Adams went to Bulls.He needs a system to play his best but we dont have it now.
He can get minutes when Green and Nenad in our team but we had Perk who are another player who is 0 in offense end.It made KD and Russ play tough job in Playoff.
I dont know whether Royce posted this article http://hoopspeak.com/2011/05/can-durants-defense-stifle-the-mavs-3-point-attack/ .KD did much in defense end and can do more if he wants to.I believe he can make us forget thabo in future.
DizzDai :Other than insurance, I feel the main reason Presti drafted Jackson is to open up roster spots. If the team is comfortable playing Jackson next year Presti can easily show Ivey, Robinson, and even Cook the door.
I would say Presti is going to give Lat Will a chance next year, but he doesn’t bring much offense to the hardwood. I dunno if that is going to happen.
Possible stretch bigmen:
I feel Okur & Bargnani are too pricey.Channing Frye is too expensive, but he’d cost on the defensive end.Is anyone still interested in Troy Murphy?
Thoughts?
I meant: Channing Frye isN'T too expensive
@OKsee
The Thunder have until midnight Thursday to reach a deal. I guess we will see how Presti really feels about his last two or three draft picks. If Nazr resigns, I think it says a lot about Cole Aldrich not being ready.... which sucks.
Other than insurance, I feel the main reason Presti drafted Jackson is to open up roster spots. If the team is comfortable playing Jackson next year Presti can easily show Ivey, Robinson, and even Cook the door.
I would say Presti is going to give Lat Will a chance next year, but he doesn't bring much offense to the hardwood. I dunno if that is going to happen.
Possible stretch bigmen:
I feel Okur & Bargnani are too pricey.
Channing Frye is too expensive, but he'd cost on the defensive end.
Is anyone still interested in Troy Murphy?
Thoughts?
@ Bryan
I am not so sure that either one makes it to the NBA. Latavious' best quality is rebounding and we aren't hurting there. He has worked hard to develop a post-up game over the last couple years but it's not NBA-caliber and I am not sure it ever will be.
Pleiss' greatest strength is his height..which he doesn't use to his advantage. He is a score-first option and, honestly, I think Mullens would eat his lunch...which is obviously sad.
@ justin
My worry about the strength of our bench is miniscule, and Thabo makes about 1.5 million less than Webster. If it's not the perfect fit, I don't see the point in investing extra.
So is it looking like we aren't going to resign Cook or Nazr? When do we have to give him our qualifying offer?
Let's do this:
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=3g3mn4q
I'm okay with Jackson getting minutes off the bench at the 2. Like Harden, Jackson should be able to work that nice 2-man game with Collison - which is really the key to the second unit's offense.
Presti picked this kid up several reasons: 1) He seems like another high-character pick 2) He will be valuable in Tulsa (I know that it's not supposed to matter but it does) and 3) He has a sweet PnR game that could work really nicely with Nick and Nazr or Aldrich, who all have nice hands.
All that said, I still don't see him cracking the rotation for a while.
If I'm Presti, I'm looking seriously at some trade options. If nothing materializes, I'm taking a long look at Latavious Williams and Tibor Pleiss to help out..... sure wish Williams could hit a three.....
Wow, I'd much rather have Webster on this team than Thabo. Thabo hasn't been a great defensive player for the last year and a half. I don't think Webster is a bad defensive player, especially off the bench. And he's a good 3PT shooter - 38.6% the last three seasons.
Put it this way, I'd rather have Webster 10-15 minutes off the bench than Thabo on this team...
I am not convinced. Maynor does have the timing, does Sef?
http://nbaplaybook.com/2011/05/18/quick-hitter-weakside-action-gets-the-thunder-a-wide-open-three/
@ The Beard Knows
The play to Cook is more about the screen and his position across the court. Maynor can make that pass, and it's not his or Thabo's defender that would be stopping it anyway. It works because the spacing draws defenders to the loaded side (opposing second units still have to defend, they can't just let 3 guys do whatever they want on one side of the floor), Cook grabs a screen from Collison and catches the pass while moving. It doesn't require a defense-demanding passer as much as it requires precise timing.