Bruce Bowen on the West: “There’s a team out West called the Oklahoma City Thunder. Those young boys, it seems like each and every year they get better… I don’t think you can rule them out with their starters, their bench. You look at Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka down low, I think they will be aggressive and challenge Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol. Then you look at James Harden coming off the bench, who’s going to matchup with him? It’s not even a question with Steve Nash and Russell Westbrook. So now it leaves Kobe and Kevin Durant…. I’m not sold on this new Lakers team because it takes time to gel.”
Kurt Helin of PBT on the West: “Really, we’re not going to be able to judge the Lakers vs. Thunder until what we see the Lakers are playing like in March. Remember, it took the Heat more than a season to win with their superstars and the idea it could take a couple years for the Lakers is very possible (even if they get by the Thunder there will be the Heat to contend with). But we should speculate about it now.”
Berry Tramel: “Still, no matter how much Harden wants to be here, he’s not going to sign for $8 million a year. And even with sacrifice, Bennett has to decide if his franchise, without major money coming from a local television contract, can approach $100 million in payroll costs. If the Thunder signs Harden, it will be a major step of faith for Bennett and his fellow owners. Before signing Ibaka, the Thunder had two mountains to climb. Now that OKC has signed Ibaka, two mountains remain.”
A couple alternate uniform ideas from a fan. I approve. With a little tweaking here or there, these could be terrific alternates.
HoopsHype: “Serge Ibaka’s new deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder is for $49 million guaranteed and could go up to $51.5 million if certain individual and team goals are met, HoopsHype has learned. Ibaka will make at least $12.25 million each of the four years of his contract.”
Shirt recommendation for Russell Westbrook.
Matt Moore of PBT: “It’s true that ownership always talks big about spending and actually doing it is another matter. It’s true that management always says it’s going to keep players until it doesn’t get done. And it wouldn’t shock anyone for the Thunder to ship Harden out in a trade suddenly. After all, there were whispers of him in talks around the trade deadline and at the draft. It’s unlikely. But it’s possible. No one’s going to be surprised if Harden’s not with the Thunder next year. But you shouldn’t be shocked if he is, either.”
Thunderstruck premiered in OKC last night. Don’t worry, I’ll have a review of it at some point.
Mike Prada of SB Nation on why it’s more likely Harden stays now: “That’s perfect for Sam Presti, of course. The Oklahoma City Thunder GM just needs to sell Harden on the idea that winning provides the kind of value that a couple extra million on his new contract can’t make up in another situation. He can kill two birds with one stone, keeping his championship-contending nucleus together while lowering his team’s luxury-tax bill. All he has to do is tell Harden to look around and see what everyone else is doing. Suddenly, that $11-million-per-year contract offer looks much more attractive. It doesn’t matter how many dollars are at stake. Peer pressure is still peer pressure, and nobody knows this better than Presti. He’s been setting this sequence up for a while and, now, only one more domino has to fall for him to keep his team together for years to come.”
Note: Just because you happen to disagree with a comment doesn’t mean you should flag it. Only do so if it contains excessive profanity, is offensive or is obvious trolling.
http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/49322/whats-10-million-worth-to-serge-ibaka
http://www.dailythunder.com/2012/08/dt-mailbag-talking-ibaka/#more-21731
@dancassidy35/FreeFestusFromGSW! I would give your new avi a like. Portal is so so good
Where's El Prez? http://blogs.thescore.com/tbj/2012/08/20/james-harden-seems-to-be-enjoying-his-summer/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBasketballJones+%28The+Basketball+Jones+%28Blog%29%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
@ou_sas where was my invite harden :(
@ou_sas oh and lol
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19221306
@cleandoe Shut yer gob.
@ou_sas Heard that one lol
@cleandoe Did you hear that RVP failed his medical? Bad back from carrying Arsenal all those years.
@ou_sas Spoken like a true scouse fan :)
COME ON RVP!
@ou_sas I didn't know Sullinger was friends with the Beard.
@ou_sas great hat or the greatest hat?
Let's trade for Kevin Love. Clearly the team that scored 105 in a blowout loss in Game 5 of the Finals needs more scoring.
@SB718 So OKC is going to live and die by the 3? You know him and KD is just going to stay by the 3 point line.
http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2012/08/20/serge-ibaka-thunder-nba-title/
@SB718 Great piece
@YoniFromIsrael Lowe's the best, to me anyway.
@SB718 Yes...definitely worth the investment
If it came down to it and we had to trade harden, his trade value is much more valuable then ibakas i understand the reasoning.
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@MisterJohnsonOKC @Lost Ones
You don't understand Basketball.
Wasn't Ibaka playing with cardboard in his shoes five years ago? Didn't he barely pick up a ball until then? I am pumped for the upside of Ibaka's continued growth in team D and offense.
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@MisterJohnsonOKC @JeremyBrewer Cmon really? You basing this off what Battier? We all know that Battier couldnt have another series like that if his life depended on it. Ibaka is a paint player. Battier was killin it from three. Lets stop it right there. We all know we need him.
@FREE_COLE @MisterJohnsonOKC @Tricia_Status @JeremyBrewer THANK YOU. Like Serge can say Screw it I'm just guarding Battier. This is a Coaching error based off a Matchup issue. That is all.
@MisterJohnsonOKC @Serge_Protector @Tricia_Status @JeremyBrewer Disagree there. Saying Lebron will get his is pretty simplistic. He will get points but it's someone like Serge's job to make it that much harder so that he doesn't just get them. In this, I don't think it's on Serge. It's on Perk and Scott. Perk not saying take me out and Scott just not pulling him. They went small and we went stubborn and tried to fight it. Our small would have been effective, I think. Needed to cover that 3 line without taking Serge out or our offense suffers
@MisterJohnsonOKC @Tricia_Status @JeremyBrewer You're wrong Mister! So you say to Serge Okay. Help out in the paint because Lebron will be coming through like a freight train...oh yea, and take care of the 3 point line because shane's out there. You're caught in the middle. You either have to commit to helping if Lebron drives, or commit to battier. We all know Lebron can dunk. Battier has been brick city ALL YEAR LONG. I'm committing to the paint where I know the percentages are higher.
@MisterJohnsonOKC @Tricia_Status I'm somehow in this loop of liking both of your points of view. I can't even remember the last time I agreed with both sides of the debate. Good stuffs.
@MisterJohnsonOKC @Tricia_Status @JeremyBrewer You are pretending that Battier was scouted to kill from the 3 point line and Serge didnt do his job. Nick Anderson on NBA TV said something to the effect of...Shane being practically HORRIBLE all year from the 3 point line. This was a case of the coaching staff being unprepared. NOT Serge being inept.
@MisterJohnsonOKC @FREE_COLE @Tricia_Status @JeremyBrewer You cant say Oh...Ibaka should be able to guard the paint and yea make sure you guard the 3 too. NOPE NOPE NOPE. I'm not saying he's the best post defender either, but your commenting like its okay that KD or James arent guarding the perimeter (while they are on the perimeter most games out the year), but its not okay that Serge cant do both...#atthesamedamntime LOL...nope nope NOPE.
@MisterJohnsonOKC @Tricia_Status @JeremyBrewer KD can't defend 3 point shooters only because he gets lazy and sags in like crazy. If he actually played good D (read: tried), he's bigger, faster, better than battier. Not a huge request.
@Jax Raging Bile Duct There it is
@MisterJohnsonOKC @Tricia_Status @JeremyBrewer Average post D by numbers. What man D, out on the perimeter? If we're really asking him to do that, don't you think that's maybe a design flaw, not a serge flaw?
@MisterJohnsonOKC @Tricia_Status @JeremyBrewer Therein Lies the problem. Harden SHOULD be able to guard the 3. So dont blame serge
@FREE_COLE One of the best help defenders there is. Average post defender. Poor perimeter defender. Terrible PnR defender.
@MisterJohnsonOKC @Tricia_Status @JeremyBrewer It's not any specific person, and I don't have access to synergy but he's pretty average to good in anything that isn't PnR
@Jax Raging Bile Duct Teamwork bro. Team WORK. lol
@Tricia_Status beat me to the point.
@MisterJohnsonOKC Agree with you but also feel compelled to defense Serge. He shouldn't have been asked to defend the perimeter for that long. Brooks should have made an adjustment and didn't. Brooks also should have never put Harden in the position of being the first of a double team on LeBron. Brooks is supposed to put both Serge and James into a position to succeed, and he did the opposite, and then didn't adjust.
But yeah, Serge can't play the perimeter, and he plays poor one on one defense in the post.
@MisterJohnsonOKC @Tricia_Status @JeremyBrewer Can't guard anyone well? Doesn't that seem a bit of an exaggeration?
@MisterJohnsonOKC @Tricia_Status @JeremyBrewer OH PUHLEASE. Serge Shouldnt have been guarding him. Thats Scotty's fault. Miami played small and OKC didnt match up. If Battier is shooting at the 4...get a smaller faster person to guard him.
@SB718 @Tricia_Status @MisterJohnsonOKC @JeremyBrewer Fast/immediate gratitude isnt always the best approach. Do you want 1 championship or several in a row. I think I want several...
@Tricia_Status @MisterJohnsonOKC @JeremyBrewer We don't need Ibaka we can have Millsap protecting the rim lolololololol
So can we wait till next year or beyond to amnesty Perk, I forget.
@JeremyBrewer we can wait as long as we want, after this next season is the best financial spot.
@f5alcon I would wait until Luxury taxes hurt too much. We ned the body, just wish coach would play him less in many situations.
Still my big question for nay sayers. If we had let FA determine ibaka's worth, he's getting more then this contract. If true, we don't keep both. If it's Ibaka who we let walk, how are you planning to replace him? Are you moving Nick in to the starting line up and counting on Cole/Hasheem for the bench? Is there a cheap PF you're thinking of?
The way I'm seeing it, this contract is great. We get him below the real market value (different from the ideal in which talent levels are recognized for what they are) and maintain a chance to keep Harden and Ibaka? Isn't that what we wanted?
@FREE_COLE Some people refuse to grasp that big men always get overpaid.
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@MisterJohnsonOKC Who is this better player?
@MisterJohnsonOKC @Lost Ones
DJ plays with Chris Paul who has shown to be able to make below average players score. If Ibaka plays with Paul, he might double DJ PPG
@FREE_COLE @MisterJohnsonOKC
Millsap would never average 16/8 in OKC scheme. He is option no2 in Utah. In OKC, he may be no4. He will never get close to that. Moreover, he is nothing special defensively and doesn't serve as a deterrent to anyone.
@MisterJohnsonOKC @Lost Ones DJ got manhandled by Tim Duncan and sat on the bench most of the playoffs because Reggie Evans and Kenyon Martin were better than him
@MisterJohnsonOKC @Lost Ones DJ also can't shoot. FT% of 50% so he can't even play at end of games because it'd be hack a DJ. Yeah, Serge deserves much more then DJ
@MisterJohnsonOKC you have to be trolling right?
@MisterJohnsonOKC he's worth it DJ got 40 million and has no game at all.
@MisterJohnsonOKC I'd generally agree. But given available players, cap situations of other teams, and the continuity of our finals team, Ibaka was the best choice. And if he is the best choice, getting him before FA determined his value was extremely important. Same as Harden
@MisterJohnsonOKC Paul Millsap is unrestricted after this season. He has 16/8 to Serge's 9/8 and he's gonna go for less? No chance
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