Chad Ford of ESPN.com: “Jones slid on the draft board because of a concern about a knee issue. Teams were also concerned about his motor. But at this point in the draft he’s a no-brainer pick and a great get for the Thunder. He’s long and athletic and he should thrive in their system. Great pick at 28.”
Matt Moore of CBSSports.com: “Jones fell even harder than expected, to the very precipice of the first round. And all of a sudden, what would have been a terrible pick in the low teens is a great pick for Presti at 28. That’s how it goes. Jones gives the Thunder exactly what they need in the frontcourt, an athletic scorer, Serge Ibaka through the looking glass. Great pickup for OKC at such a low risk with this pick.”
Perry Jones is @Perry_jones1 and he tweeted this: “The best part about today. I ended up with a great team and even better fans! THUNDER UP! #thunder #okc”
Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports: “One NBA executive said Jones has the athleticism, skills and versatility to challenge Kentucky’s Anthony Davis as the most talented player in this year’s draft. But NBA teams grade prospects on more than talent, and that’s why Davis was taken first overall by the New Orleans Hornets and Jones – once considered a top-five candidate – fell all the way to the Oklahoma City Thunder at No. 28. No player suffered a more disappointing drop in the 2012 draft, and scouts point to two big reasons why: Jones’ inconsistent play during his sophomore season and a reported knee condition that might have scared teams. Some talent evaluators also think Jones did himself a disservice by working out for teams primarily as a small forward instead of showing his strength at his more natural power forward position.”
Chris Mannix of SI.com has PJIII as a loser: “An uberathlete with the height (6-foot-11) to play power forward and the quickness and ball-handling skills to play small forward, Jones slipped to the bottom of the draft due to inconsistent play last season at Baylor and late concerns about a possible long term knee injury. The downside: Jones loses a lot of money slipping all the way to No. 28. The upside: He’s with Oklahoma City, one of the best developmental franchises in the NBA, which will give him the freedom to mature in practices rather than games.”
Ben Golliver of CBSSports.com has Presti as a winner: “As if he needed it, Oklahoma City Thunder GM Sam Presti got another perfect opportunity to look like a genius after Baylor forward Perry Jones III, a potential Lottery talent, slid all the way to No. 28 after concerns over the state of the meniscus in his knee. Jones can take his sweet time getting healthy and the Thunder get to develop his game and personality in their ideal environment. It almost doesn’t seem fair.”
Sam Presti on James Harden: “James Harden is a coveted player. But I don’t think anyone covets him as much as we do.”
Presti on PJIII: “We didn’t enter this draft thinking that Perry Jones would be there at 28 for us.”
Berry Tramel on the Harden rumors: “How could the Thunder trade Harden the week after he stood on the sidelines of American Airlines Arena, in the final minutes of the NBA Finals, arm-in-arm with Durant and Westbrook, watching Miami in victory celebration. It was a clear show of solidarity for the Thunder future. A declaration that the Thunder planned to change the outcome next season and that Harden was clearly seen as part of the OKC trinity.”
Eric Freeman of BDL on Perry Jones: “There’s no disappointment here, just acknowledgment of an opportunity. In many ways, the Thunder are the perfect team for Jones. They’re a young, talent-driven group that values versatility, and their management has shown enough willingness to change that a rookie like Jones can carve out a role for himself based on merit. The draft might not have gone how Jones expected when he decided to forgo his final two seasons of NCAA eligibility, but NBA careers rarely go exactly has planned. If he continues to search for the positives in this new situation, and his medical issues turn out to be overblown, then Jones might find himself in a better situation than selection in the lottery ever could have given him.”
this has to be the first time ever that i've read every single one of these articles before it was posted up on the Bolts. I tried tapping my self on the back, but i'm not flexible enough, so i high-fived the laptop screen
http://www.baynews9.com/content/news...7fXhi4.twitter Thunder will compete in the 2012 NBA Summer League in Orlando Florida AIRTRAN AIRWAYS ORLANDO PRO SUMMER LEAGUE SCHEDULE (Orlando, FL – Amway Center) All times are in Central Time Zone All Games be televised by NBA TV Monday, July 9, 2012 Visitor Home 1st game 10:00 a.m. Brooklyn @ Orlando 2nd game 12:00 p.m. Boston @ OKC 3rd game 2:00 p.m. Utah @ Detroit 4th game 4:00 p.m. Indiana @ Philadelphia Tuesday, July 10, 2012 1st game 10:00 a.m. Philadelphia @ Utah 2nd game 12:00 p.m. Indiana @ OKC 3rd game 2:00 p.m. Detroit @ Orlando 4th game 4:00 p.m. Brooklyn @ Boston Wednesday, July 11, 2012 1st game 10:00 a.m. Indiana @ Boston 2nd game 12:00 p.m. OKC @ Detroit 3rd game 2:00 p.m. Brooklyn @ Philadelphia 4th game 4:00 p.m. Utah @ Orlando Thursday, July 12, 2012 1st game 10:00 a.m. Detroit @ Boston 2nd game 12:00 p.m. Brooklyn @ OKC 3rd game 2:00 p.m. Indiana @ Utah 4th game 4:00 p.m. Philadelphia @ Orlando Friday, July 13, 2012 1st game 7:00 a.m. Utah @ OKC 2nd game 9:00 a.m. Boston @ Orlando 3rd game 11:00 a.m. Philadelphia @ Detroit 4th game 1:00 p.m. Indiana @ Brooklyn
Ok this could just be me missing it, but we are definitely playing in the summer league yeah? NBA.com's schedule doesn't have us listed from what I've seen
@FREE_COLE we are playing in the Orlando Magic Summer league begins 1 week from Monday all games on NBA TV
@tydude Yup missed that somehow. Thanks bud :D
http://www.dailythunder.com/2012/06/how-does-perry-jones-iii-impact-the-thunder/
Just hope PJ3 doesnt turn into Earl Clark
@OkcBaby So excited when the suns picked him, then...........irrelevance happened. Seemed he had the size and talent to be a productive 3, then he whittled away.
@OkcBaby A little different builds but i can see what you mean. I pray to god he doesn't
Cho gave Presti a high second rounder for Mullens. This leads me to believe Cho might be silly enough to give Presti another high second rounder for Lazar. That would turn the Lazar trade around, I think. Two low second rounders turned into Lazar, Lazar turned into one high second rounder.
Probably too far-fetched but I have hope.
@Jooseppi We cant trade our superstar bench player. Who would we joke about if he leaves?
@EatSleepThunder I was about to say Ivey, but Royal Ivey is no joke
I love PJ3 too, and watched him a bit, but lets not get ahead of ourselves. Dude has massive upside, but he could very well be a bust as well. I'm def a fan of his though. Got the PJ3 jersey on radar the second it's released.
@ElMexiThunder There's no such thing as a 28th pick being a bust. If he pans put fine , low risk high reward
I saw someone mentioned O.J. Mayo for Harden. I lol'd.
@Arent Its the off-season.
Jones, Ibaka next twin towers
@OkcBaby Ibaka has to be able to catch a basketball and be able to defend a chair before considered a twin tower.
@MisterJohnsonOKC Lets get rid of Sef 2. He was bad all season last year. SMH
@MisterJohnsonOKC @OkcBaby I think you're right man. That Ibaka guy is useless. We should probably dump him
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@MisterJohnsonOKC @dancassidy35 Go Sooner:)
@dancassidy35 Although your bad sarcasm is shining through, there are plenty of times where he is useless. This showed up in the finals. I didn't say he was a bad player, he just needs to learn how to use his gifts.
Liked this nugget from Darnell
I don’t know what to think about PJ3′s passivity, to be honest. But I know that Presti brought up a great point, one that I think we should all file in the memory bank for two or three years down the line. At some point, it will come into play. “We really see him as a blend player,” Presti said. “We see great value in the fact that he’s incredibly talented, but he’s able to play within a team and understand how he can impact a game. He doesn’t need to be forcing the issue at all times. And with our particular team, we feel like that’s a huge quality that we looked at as a positive for us.” Amen to that. With Harden,Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant seemingly set to be together for years to come, the Thunder doesn’t need another player who wants and needs the ball. Whenever PJ3 cracks the rotation, it will be a luxury to have a talented big man who can get you 20 one night but also be content with taking a lesser role as a scorer yet still gobble up 10 boards and block four shots the next.
http://blog.newsok.com/thunderrumblings/2012/06/29/the-book-on-perry-jones/
@dancassidy35 a lot of experts said harden wasnt athletic and I think he showed them.
@dancassidy35
Well if Darnell is reporting it, there's got to be something to it.
plus PJ III can't wear number 1 because its retire
Heat ended up with Justin Hamilton. lmao thats what happens when u broke
@OkcBaby who in the world is Justin Hamilton
@tydude exactly nobody :) hahaha
@OkcBaby I really thought they were going to take Jones. I was ready to pissed at the universe that they won the finals and then got Jones. Thank goodness it didn't happen.
@supreme35 @OkcBaby If they took jones, we still could have gotten moultrie, who is still a pretty good player
@EatSleepThunder @OkcBaby True but it would have been about who the Heat got more than who we didn't. And regardless Jones > Moultrie.
Some people take this site waaay too seriously. Just sayin.
@supreme35 Still doesn't mean there should be as many trolls as there are. This isn't the ESPN Boards, Some come on to try to get intelligent talk going, others come on just to show their fandom(im in that category), others are just trolls.
@ElMexiThunder I think i can count myself to all three categories!
@ElMexiThunder I'm not a fan of trolls either. But what even classifies as a troll on this board? I think some of the people that we call trolls are just negative people with opinions lol
@ElMexiThunder
When a team makes the finals and begins to get a big boost in national exposure bandwagoneers are inevitable. Sad but true
@ElMexiThunder hipster
@supreme35 No, there are some people on here who just try to start a debate with no logical point, calling out other posters ect. It kills the fun in what the board use to be. Trade Talk, Changes ect is all fun but some of it is just straight up stupid, and really is only being said just to be annoying. I've been on this board since the start, Use to be under the username ESRCFC7 the first season, and DJ7 the two after, and even though i'm more of a fan then i am of a analyst, the quality of comments on this board have dropped dramatically in this season alone.
@supreme35 People value different things. It's cool.
Darnell says that PJ III will likely wear number 3
SMH how Miles Plumlee was picked before PJIII.
SMH how Miles Plumlee was picked before PJIII
@Jax Raging Bile Duct brought it up in the last thread, but Drew really is a poor coach when you consider the level of talent he's had the past few years. All the credit in the world for getting those guys to come to Baylor and bringing it to a high level after their problems in 2003, but I'm not sure he's anything other than Rick Barnes when it comes to playing.
@Jooseppi Truth.
One thing I am hopeful for with PJ3 is that he's long enough with enough lateral agility to be really outstanding guarding the PnR. Serge does too, but he hasn't caught on yet. I hope PJ3 can.
@Jax Raging Bile Duct @Jooseppi PJ3 probably is better coordinated athletically than Ibaka is even now.
@Jax Raging Bile Duct @justin_mia @FREE_COLE I think he's quick enough and coordinated enough. His ball handling shows a nice level of coordination. Side to side I've seen a decent amount of clips where he hedges and contains quicker guards but I don't know how indicative it is of his actual play. He has the ability, at least.
@justin_mia @FREE_COLE @Jooseppi I think PJ3 is more coordinated laterally than Serge, which would help. Serge doesn't shuffle side to side that well.
It's hard to get a read on that though, since like Jooseppi said, Drew doesn't utilize his players defensively in that 1-3-1 zone.
@FREE_COLE @Jax Raging Bile Duct @Jooseppi I think Ibaka's coordination is very specific to shot blocking. Jones seems more coordinated in general.. to me anyway.
@justin_mia @Jax Raging Bile Duct @Jooseppi Really? I'd think the block timing Ibaka has puts him on a coordination level not many are gonna reach. I haven't gotten to watch as much of PJ3 as I'd like so I wouldn't know