Friday Bolts – 7.20.12

Andrew Sharp of SB Nation writes that James Harden is kind of the greatest: “And James Harden is kind of the greatest. There are a lot of ways to “do” fame and fortune and outrageous talent, and different people handle it in different ways. But with all due respect to DeShawn Stevenson’s in-home ATM, nobody in today’s NBA does it better than James Harden, who seems determined to have more fun with this stuff than anybody in the world. All of which is to say, there’s a lot we could talk about with Harden and how he became a member of this Olympic Team, but I think it’s probably better to take a step back here. Remember what’s really important, you know? What’s really important is that James Harden is probably the best, most self-explanatory argument we have for the United States being a zillion times cooler than any other country.”

Bill Simmons using Game of Thrones to recap the NBA summer: “One of the show’s cockiest quotes goes to Oklahoma City GM Sam Presti, who made the Finals, then followed that up by drafting Perry Jones (this year’s big feast-or-famine post-lottery pick) and signing Hasheem Thabeet (for the veteran’s minimum, but still). Both moves reeked of a little “I don’t care if everyone else is scared off, I can fix this, I’m Sam Effing Presti!!!!!” swagger. I thoroughly enjoyed them. By the way, no TV show ever used beheadings and severed heads more effectively than Thrones — it really makes you long for the days when you could celebrate a big win by putting your opponent’s head on a stake.”

Chris Palmer of ESPN.com breaking down 2013′s free agents: “It’ll be a real challenge for Thunder general manager Sam Presti to keep both Harden and Serge Ibaka, who become restricted free agents at the end of next season. It’s more or less a toss-up as to who is the more valuable player. Harden, the NBA’s reigning sixth man of the year, has developed a rep as the all-important glue guy and could command roughly $10 million a year for his services. Harden has the unique ability to get his own shots while not disrupting the sometimes delicate balance that exists between high-volume scorers Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. It’s also worth noting that Harden is closer off the floor to Westbrook and Durant, and it could ultimately play a role in Harden’s possible return.”

The NBA is likely to put small ads on jerseys next season.

Beckley Mason of ESPN.com on positionless basketball: “Nelson’s vision was more or less to have five players who could do everything on the court, playing as interchangeable parts. The idea was that such extreme versatility would make defending or scoring against that team more difficult than a conventional lineup with conventional (and therefore obvious) strengths and weaknesses. It’s a nice idea, but one that’s far harder to achieve in practice than it is in conceptualize. In the Heat, the NBA has a working model for this type of play, which Chris Bosh succinctly describes to Couper Moorhead on Heat.com as “putting traditional guys in the next position over.” This allowed the Heat to play with more speed on the court than even the Oklahoma City Thunder, who, though extremely athletic at multiple positions, often played with at least one plodder on the court.”

NBA owners did not vote on flopping at the Board of Governors meeting. Eric Freeman of BDL: “That take is largely based on what the owners did discuss: immediate replays after every flagrant foul, to determine severity; whether teams should be able to choose to inbound from the baseline or sideline after timeouts; and late-game replays for goaltending calls and fouls in the restricted area. These are fairly simple ideas to debate, based not on subjective interpretations of rules but simple discussions about whether replays breaks and more team choices improve quality of play. They’re the sort of issues that can be voted upon in a short opinion, rather than over the course of many meetings with all sorts of worries about unintended consequences.”

Ian Thompson of SI.com on Team USA: “Don’t forget about Carmelo Anthony. While LeBron James and Kevin Durant figure to be the leading scorers at the Olympics, Anthony should prove to be indispensable, especially over the next three games. As the U.S. moves to Barcelona for remaining exhibitions against Argentina and Spain, followed by its July 29 Olympic opener against France, the U.S. could lean more heavily on Anthony’s versatility. All three of those opponents are medal contenders likely to limit U.S. opportunities in the open floor. And when games slow to a half-court pace, the U.S. will look to Anthony to create mismatches with the defense.”

James Harden: “SMH. Sick people. My love and prayers go out to all the people involved with Aurora Colorado.”

Hasheem Thabeet: “WHERE OUR GENERATION IS HEADING IS CRAZY.. 14PEOPLE GOT KILLED OVER WHAT??? THIS IS JUST UGHHHHH.. “