Sean Deveney of Sporting News: “Part of the challenge for Durant’s teammates is making sure he understands that if he does, in fact, need to score 40 in order for them to win, no one is going to hold that against him. One of the criticisms Krzyzewski frequently levels against his teams from the sideline is that they can be too unselfish, that sometimes it is good for the team to let their individual brilliance shine through. The big-time scorers who have done this before—James, Anthony and Bryant—seem comfortable with the balance between creating their own shots and just being a cog in the Team USA machinery.”
Neil Paine of ESPN.com built a Team USA that “fits” and Nick Collison made it. So did KD too, of course: “Surprised to see KD in this slot over a certain Chosen One? You shouldn’t be. Durant averaged more points per minute than LeBron James with a higher true shooting percentage; he also took a greater percentage of his team’s shots while on the floor, and he’s better at working off the ball (which will come in handy alongside a ball-dominating point guard like CP3). If the criteria is a great, efficient pure scorer in the mold of a traditional “Alpha Dog,” Durant fits that bill better than anybody else in the NBA right now, including James.”
Coach K: “It’s not awkward at all,” Krzyzewski said. “You have a performance to give, are you doing it on a Wednesday matinée or a Saturday night? It’s not who you are playing. You should never judge how you’re going to perform on who you’re potentially going to play against. You are a person performing, your team is performing. How do you do it? You never want to get in the habit of just getting by, because eventually, you don’t get by. So our goal is to make sure play hard, have good habits and we’re as sharp as we can be.”
Seattle is getting closer to a new arena.
The Lost Ogle has new sideline reporter suggestions for the Thunder: “BJ Wexler: This makes perfect sense. As the long time host of the OETA movie club, BJ is skilled at providing viewers with interesting facts and tidbits about what they are watching on TV. That’s a skill that will translate nicely to a career as sideline reporter. Plus, it would be fun to hear the Gremlin’s theme during his post game interviews.”
Spain beat Australia today as Serge Ibaka had eight points, two rebounds and a block in 16 minutes.
The Thunder Girls audition finals are Thursday and judging them will include Wayne Coyne and “Miss Oklahoma 2012.” That’s what the release said. I guess she doesn’t have a name.
http://www.dailythunder.com/2012/07/dt-mailbag-ideas/
The same dudes that cried for Hardens start want to trade him. SMH
@OkcBaby I never once requested Harden starting and I would trade him and Ibaka for a good big any day.
Good luck, Royce, with your Thunder Girl audition!
@ThunderChick2010 Thanks. I'm gonna need it.
@Jax Raging Bile Duct
(Just don't forget to shave.)
@ThunderChick2010 DAMMIT!
Id appreciate it if we could stop posting bogus Harden trades. Doing my best to ignore them and ur just making it harder
@OkcBabyIt's not like Presti is actually going to trade Harden unless a phenomenal deal somehow happens (Dwight for Harden and Perkins, then Dwight agreeing to an extension). Even then Presti might not pull the trigger if he knows Harden will give OKC a discount.
@jder03 Dwight at the max is better than Harden at any reasonable discount.
@justin_mia @jder03 If you want 3 on 5 games
@OkcBaby Harden for a ham sandwich! Do it Presti!
@EatSleepThunder @OkcBaby sign harden mutli-year for a ham sandwich a day? sure but go light on the mayo.
@EatSleepThunder ...do we still get to keep Harden's beard?
@EatSleepThunder @OkcBaby An open-faced club sandwich?
@OkcBaby Until harden or ibaka sign extensions I have no problem with trade scenarios
http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/1278975-nba-trade-rumors-3-trade-scenarios-involving-oklahoma-citys-james-harden Srsl??
@Jokazc remember BR said that the mavs would sweep us and the lakers would sweep us and the spurs would sweep us.
@f5alcon @Jokazc and we'd sweep the heat :(
@f5alcon @Jokazc j/k. that wasnt funny. im sad now im leaving
@Jokazc I love how he uses the words "perfect fit" for both Golden State and Boston. Golden State would have to give up their entire drafts for years to have Presti even think about that deal. As for Boston, they already have two other decent shooting guards in Jason Terry and Courtney Lee. Trade is obviously favored in their direction, though.
The last trade made me grimace in pain. Trading away Harden for a shooter who plays no defense (Young) and ANOTHER young point guard (Bledsoe), as well as a pick that isn't even going to be top 20 that year.
@jder03 @Jokazc Klay Thompson + Harrison Barnes + draft picks isn't horrible...hey they could even throw in Festus for dancassidy
@jder03 And in any trade where we deal harden or ibaka one of the main goals is to be able to lock up whoever we are not trading...don't want to be in the same pickle in another year or 2
@jder03 I agree it's tough though...every trade I've tried with harden to get a decent big ends up where you want a young promising 2 guard that can shoot also and those are pretty rare right now...I wouldn't do the trade for Klay and Barnes but I wouldn't be too mad at it...I'd rather have them than Thompson and David lee
@OBoymuzik That's a decent one. Though I still think for any trade to involve Harden we need to get back at least one good offensive big man.
@jder03 @Jokazc How bout Lebron for Larry Sanders & Luc Richard Mbah a Moute? I really think Lebron is a PERFECT FIT for that milwaukee team, ya know?
@Crow Plus Orlando is probably looking to get rid some of their crappy contracts (Turkoglu and/or Richardson) along with Howard.
@Crow I don't think Orlando would want Bosh though. Miami doesn't really have anyone else to send, either. They could throw in Cole, but that really doesn't improve it much.
@jder03 somewhat surprised howard to miami has never been mentioned. for bosh and change. has miami even considered it? maybe not.
@persiansooner13 pretty dang funny.
@jder03 omg how funny would it be if orlando did that out of spite
@persiansooner13 Or Dwight Howard to the Bobcats. Actually that's not a bad idea.
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=88ewbsp
@Jokazc hahaha nick young...i hate how bleacher report shows up when I search google news. What a stupid website
@persiansooner13 put -bleacherreport after your search string
@Jokazc Anytime I see someone arguing for Russ to be "trade bait," I stop reading/listening/caring what that person has to say.
@duhsweetness @Jokazc I wasn't that mad because a lot of people wrote that crap in 2011...then I saw the article was written may 2012......LOLZ
@Jokazc Lolz bleacher report doing bleacher report things....like suggesting us trading James for 2 Russell westbrook knock offs...only thing I would consider would be a trade for Klay Thompson...but not one with us taking Richard Jefferson lol
@Jokazc Not srsly. You'd do yourself a favor if you ignored bleacher report.
@Jax Raging Bile Duct isn't this bleacher report the one that said the Lakers were going to sweep the Thunder in the playoffs last year? lol
@jder03 @Jax Raging Bile Duct comedy
@SoCal Thunder @Jax Raging Bile Duct http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1175249-la-lakers-8-reasons-theyll-sweep-okc/
@Jax Raging Bile Duct is bleacher report terrible? Why?
@Tricia_status @jder03 Bleacher Report has tried to change their reputation lately (I've seen Holly MacKenzie articles made it there), so there may be a day when it's worth paying attention to that site again. But it's not there yet.
@jder03 Okay cool. I follow a bleacher report writer on twitter and I sometimes his nba tweets are off the wall
@Tricia_status What jder03 said. Sorry, I didn't get to your comment in a timely manner. I wasn't ignoring you, I was just focused on my lunch at the time.
@Tricia_status Bleacher Report articles can be submitted by the public, and do not require any sort of fact. Like this article for example. The author lists three trade scenarios. They are not much different then when people like us speculate on here, only these are only comments, while Bleacher Report is articles. It'd be like Wikipedia if they didn't have people constantly monitoring for incorrect information.
tl;dr Bleacher Report is almost all speculation from people who normally do not know what they are talking about.
@Jax Raging Bile Duct ok :D Sometimes it is intresting to see how other people dont understand basketball
Miss Oklahoma's name is Alicia Clifton...just FYI
@HardenIsMyManCrush u sure its not this one?
http://www.examiner.com/article/miss-oklahoma-usa-2012-lauren-lundeen-swimsuit-competition
@persiansooner13 Pretty sure. The one you linked to is Miss Oklahoma USA, which is a different pageant system than the one Alicia Clifton won. Miss Lundeen will be competing for the Miss USA title while Miss Clifton will be competing for Miss America. And I just realized I know more about beauty pageants than any grown man should know.
@HardenIsMyManCrush @persiansooner13 Are you Donald Trump? You king of the pageants!
@HardenIsMyManCrush @persiansooner13 Are you tom haverford?
@persiansooner13 @HardenIsMyManCrush Went to middle school and HS with her older brother....weird
@HardenIsMyManCrush both in sororities at ou btw. BOOMER
@HardenIsMyManCrush She's purdy cute.
@duhsweetness Yep, she's really short too. There was a pageant at my work a few weeks back she attended. She' pretty adorable.