Team USA rolled Great Britain 118-78 in a tuneup in Manchester, England. Nothing all that notable from it, but the people you care about — Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden — all played reasonably well.
Durant finished with 13 (while also missing two easy layups), Westbrook 15 points and nine assists and Harden with nine points, three assists.
And oh yeah, Westbrook did that really cool thing where he jumps super high and throws the ball in the rim super hard. I always like that play. Team USA should run it more often.
http://www.dailythunder.com/2012/07/friday-bolts-7-20-12/#respond
I have such a man crush on Russ.
@Marty_McFly321 I have a man crush on Russ' Honey Badger attitude. I need a Russ jersey so bad. I have a KD home/away jersey but yet to get my hands on a Russ one, and he's probably my favourite player despite his faults.
I like Kendrick Perkins as a person. I even like his toughness in the paint. What I'm upset about is our starting center only averaged 5.1 points and 6.6 rebounds per game during the regular season. And we pay him basically $8M per year. I don't mind the pay for the starting center, but to me, the production doesn't match. He plays 26 MPG and can't get 10 points and boards. This production puts too much pressure on our Big 3 of Hatden, KD, and Russ. A lot of people argue that Russ shoots too much but the stats tell u that he has to. Kevin is the only other viable option in our starting unit. I guess what I'm saying is it would be nice and extremely beneficial to ask our starting center to average a double double. That would relieve some of the pressure off our two all stars by keeping the opposing team just a bit more honest while on defense. I'm truly hoping Serge works with Hakeem after the Olympics to develop his post game, Thabo becomes a true 3-Point threat, and Perkins comes back 100% healthy and averages at least a double double this next season. With Maynor coming back, Harden leading the 2nd unit, and PJ3's versatility our offense should be much improved in 2012-13.
@Jameswade99 For your reference, every player who averaged a double-double in points-rebounds last season. http://bkref.com/tiny/4LrHy
This isn't meant to do anything other than give you some perspective to what you are asking for. To my knowledge, each and every one of the guys on that list is earning 10 mil+ per, if not max. Do I think Perk should be more productive? Absolutely. But I'd settle for more in the way of rebounding than requiring him to be anything on offense other than a putback dunk/lob kind of guy.
Now Serge is a guy who I think could average 10/10. If he's going to demand max money, I think you have to demand that kind of production out of him.
Again, not to disagree with your point of requiring more from Perk, I just wanted to add some perspective to what you were asking and how frequently that actually happens.
@ou_sas Perk is decent for what we pay him, but his fg% and rebounding numbers were the worst of his career, we gave him the salary based on what he provided in the past and a career worst season is not what we wanted.
@f5alcon The question I have to ask at this point, given the news from yesterday, is "Has Perk ever been 100% healthy for us?" It doesn't feel like it.
http://thehoopdoctors.com/online2/2012/07/nike-zoom-kd-iv-scoring-title-release-date/ Just a reminder, new KD 4s come out Saturday at the House of Hoops in Penn Square. Even if you're not into sneaks, they'll have a great resale value, probably 3x on eBay.. I don't know how big shoe culture is in OKC, but I'm not going to be camping out like they do in other big cities and for big time shoe releases
@DennisBerry I'm waiting for the Olympic gold pair... now those are nice!
I hope Skip baseless watches this and realizes russ is so ball-dominant in our offense only because he has to be. we have three guys in the starting lineup that basically can't dribble.
@Thunder S i think Westbrook's assists will go back up next season...and i'm also blaming perks wrist that we didn't know about, he would have been an offensive juggernaut if not for that wrist lol
@OBoymuzik @Thunder S They might. There were certainly some left on the table. I'm less concerned about assist numbers and more about playing the three guys together more and Russ taking less threes out of rhythm.
@Thunder S Exactly, Russ had 9 assists despite coming off the bench. The whole selfish and ballhog and bad teammate narrative really has no basis in fact
@Thunder S Skip would just point out he 1 turnover Russ had. And Pops Mensa Bonsu needs to be in the league. I'd give up any of the bottom 4 guys in our rotation for him easily. He even has a 20/20 under his belt. Dude has a motor. Any time your name literally translate to King of the Whale Killers, you know you's a beast
I love everyone tonight!!!! Today was a great day. It was my day off and spent the entire day with my 2 year old son. He's trying to get this whole peepee in the toilet thing down pat. We've had some successes but also some disasters. Just thought everyone on here should know about my son who's being raised to love the Thunder. He can't say a lot of words well but he can yell THUNDER if a game is on. He's such a cool kid.
@Jameswade99 http://i.qkme.me/3ocjyv.jpg
@Jameswade99 I'm 27 and still not shooting 100%, especially in the mornings
@DennisBerry @Jameswade99 I'm sure we've all written on the wall once or twice.
@DennisBerry So I've got a ways to go, at least another 25 years. Unless he's a fast learner.
JOOSEPPI- hello
@OBoymuzik Sup.
@Jooseppi just trying to fit in
@OBoymuzik <3
JOESSEPPI. On Jimmer. my expectations are best case Luke Ridnour on a cheaper contract, worst case a shorter Daequon who shoots 40% from three. If you only had to give up a roster spot for that player would you do it?
@jdstorm Jimmer is probably, long term, a three point specialist. The problem is that he's not a point guard, but he'll have to defend point guards in the NBA since he does not have the size to defend shooting guards. I think his ceiling is J.J. Redick, who has been in a system that hides him defensively while he does his thing on the other end. Jimmer is stronger than Redick, tested out better in the agility drills pre-draft, and has a bigger wingspan despite Redick being a couple inches taller. But I think Redick is smarter and craftier. If that kind of player is Jimmer's CEILING then, no, I don't think it's worth giving up a roster spot for him.
@justin_mia He will never be a J.J. Redick.
@jdstorm I don't think he's that player. Ridnour is a significantly better and more willing passer than Jimmer has ever shown and was never as poor overall as Jimmer is now. I don't think that's a realistic expectation.
His ceiling is lower. He's never going to bring anything significant to the table other than shooting, and he hasn't shown an ability to do that well at the NBA level, much less well enough to make up for his other flaws.
@Jooseppi Fair enough
@jdstorm *looks up D League roster*
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JOOSEPPI- Just now read your response from Earlier you apologized (kinda) after my response to u providing me a link.my response was simply in agreement that the CBA/FAQ site is very useful. I proceeded to poke fun at myself for bringing up the renegotiation of contracts last night. Definitely wasn't meant to be sarcastic or rude and I didn't think u were being that way either. No need to apologize. I appreciated the link. Yes I know people don't apologize on this site very often. They should after some of the ruciulously personal comments that are made. Thanks again.
@Jameswade99 Oh I wasn't sure so I was just covering my bases. Text and all that.
Player plays well: "Guys, it's summer league. Calm down."
Player plays poorly: "Guys, it's summer league. Calm down."
@Old Man Game On DT it's like ....
Player plays well: "Oh man dude is awesome,gonna tear it up in the NBA."
Player plays poorly: "Dude sux, has no place in the NBA. Out of the league in 2 years.."
@Old Man Game i think the whole thing is silly...obviously austin daye isn't going to average 20 ppg because he did in summer league. But to me i like watching it to see how guys adjust to playing their first pro ball. they're nervous and don't know the teams offense. Lillard has been most impressive to me, if he bombs in his rookie season i'll maybe start to buy into this stuff...i've admittedly only watched 2 years of summer league
@Old Man Game That's summer league at its core.
@justin_mia So why do they play this summer league then justin? You seem to thinks it is of no matter whatsoever.
@justin_mia @Jooseppi Well that's what I'm here for man. Come to think of it that's why I watch the regular season also.
@Jooseppi @Old Man Game @justin_mia It's good to give your high draft picks who haven't been good enough to break into the rotation and do anything against the big boys, a chance to play against Summer League and overseas fodder who won't even be on a roster, and get their confidence up by going against less experienced, younger guys.
Of course, sometimes said high draft pick still sucks against guys who were in high school while he was dominating big time d1 college basketball.
@Old Man Game @Jooseppi Of course it has value but IMO little value to fans other than entertainment.
@Jooseppi @justin_mia It has to be of some value else they wouldn't have these high draft picks here at all. Why risk injury?
@Old Man Game I think it's important for teams to get a feel for their players, how they play with other pros, how they interact with professional coaching, maybe as a way to scout undrafted free agents or journeymen. But I don't think it's a great predictor of future performance or even a very good indicator of skill for a lot of guys.
@Old Man Game @justin_mia It's valuable to see if somebody's body won't explode by playing basketball. Some measure of entertainment value. Chance to look at players up close.
http://niketalk.com/content/type/61/id/9738/width/500/height/1000 Rob Hennigan got tired of Dwight's whining, complaining, and refusing to make a decision and stick to it, so he just traded him to the WNBA
@DennisBerry I hope he managed to get Maya Moore back as part of the deal
@jdstorm I'd like to make a deal with Maya Moore. http://youtu.be/oShTJ90fC34
Kenneth Faried bleeding all over the place there.
@Old Man Game "If it bleeds we can kill it." Bobcats Coach
@jdstorm @Old Man Game Reggie Miller just said it on NBA TV..shots being taken at the Manimal?!
@jdstorm Predator reference. Very nice, especially given their physical resemblance.
@Old Man Game They wanted him to bleed so they could take some of his blood and identify the Faried gene.
@Jooseppi @Old Man Game They're trying to develop Manchildren over at Charlotte