Sam Amick of SI.com: “Fisher was a good fit for Oklahoma City last season when he played the role of the sage point guard so well behind Russell Westbrook. The timing was right, with the Thunder needing someone besides Kendrick Perkins to tell a few championship tales while being the consummate pro and a capable backup. One source close to the situation says the chances he’ll be back with the Thunder are “remote,” though, as they have a full roster and three point guards on board with Eric Maynor returning from a torn ACL and Reggie Jackson — the 24th overall pick out of Boston College last year — entering his second season. The same goes for Miami, which has had talks with Fisher but doesn’t appear motivated to bring him on board.”
Kurt Helin of PBT: “As I keep saying, the Thunder have known the price tag for Harden since before they inked Serge Ibaka’s new deal. They can pay it now or they can wait and pay it next summer if they want to keep him (which they do). We’re going to get a lot of spin and people talking back and forth about it, but the mechanics are pretty straightforward. It’s just a matter of what decision the Thunder make and when.”
The Wolves could be kind of good this season.
Henry Abbott of TrueHoop: “Around draft time, I asked some people with direct knowledge of the talks about other teams making strong plays for Harden, and was told that wouldn’t happen … unless things dragged on with the Thunder until the end of the summer. Summer, the season, officially ends in about a week. Tic toc.”
Steve Aschburner of NBA.com on Seattle’s play for the NBA: “Remember, Seattle was a terrific NBA town, a place whose hoops heritage deserved better. This was an especially tough, emotional summer for Sonics fans, too, watching the team that was once theirs go to the Finals. For a minute, it looked as if the Thunder might even beat the Miami Heat for the NBA title. As one local told Seattle Times columnist Jerry Brewer in June, it felt “like being in your ex-girlfriend’s wedding, and she looks better than she ever looked for you.”
So this guy wants to propose to his girlfriend by pulling the ring out of James Harden’s beard. Not bad.
Chris Bosh is becoming almost a full-time center.
Sekou Smith of NBA.com on superteams: “Small-market fans who cry foul over this and claim that the superteam movement doesn’t allow them to compete with their big-market brethren must remember that this is equal parts rub-your-lucky-rabbit’s-foot luck and well-crafted planning by the franchise’s front-office brass. Oklahoma City has a superteam of their own brewing in the lab at Thunder headquarters. They struck gold with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Serge Ibaka in the Draft. Yet no one (outside of Seattle) ever accuses the Thunder of being evil for amassing such an explosive and versatile wealth of talent.”
Smith on KD and LeBron working out: “You couldn’t have competed any harder than James and Durant did against one another in The Finals, with James and his Heat team prevailing in June. They joined forces in London and proved to be a dynamic and devastating duo against some of the best the rest of the world had to offer. And we have no doubts that they’ll crank right back up this season battling for NBA supremacy from the start of training camp until the final buzzer of the 2012-13 season. But not everyone is as accepting of this sort of pairing. Some folks, even a stray voice or two here at the hideout, are not as comfortable with this training set up, even if is just one week.”
OKC is playing the Kings in SB Nation’s 3-on-3 tournament: “Despite some consternation with the selection of Collison and some real respect for the talent of this Kings’ threesome, the Thunder are still four-to-one favorites to win any single game in this series. Overall, they have close to a 90 percent chance of advancing. Collison will have his hands full with Cousins, and the fact that Evans doesn’t have a clear position in the NBA won’t matter here, but no one is stopping Durant, so this should be OKC’s series.”
http://www.dailythunder.com/2012/09/saturday-morning-cartoons-best-versus-the-best/
Jax, here is a player typology I came up with in 2005, talking with Ed Kupfer, who went on to get picked up by the Rockets.
http://apbr.org/metrics/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=163&p=359&hilit=typology#p359
for a shooting only typology one could simply look at how good they are from long-range, mid-range and in close. allow 2-3 categories for each and get 8-27 possible types of scoring ability mixes. or use cluster analysis and tell it to find say 7-15 clusters.
other typology discussion with David Sparks, who went on to work for the Celtics:
http://apbr.org/metrics/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=112&hilit=typology
http://apbr.org/metrics/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=116&p=193&hilit=typology#p193
At one or another, one place or another I have had conversations with about 20 of the employed NBA statistical analysts.
At one or another... time....
(I drop words regularly. my mind is not good with typing or fast typing)
@Crow It's all good, we knew what you meant. :)
So did we sign pruiti as video analist?
@gnaygg that is the report
http://sphotos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/530060_275738535869274_892691125_n.jpg
@Jokazc Wasn't Sullinger supposed to be there?
@Jokazc good job but dam camera can make you look more skinnier than you are
Can't stay awake any longer . . .
Good night, everyone!
Since when did Harden become more important than KD and Russ. Let this dude go. Does he really consider himself to the level of difference making as KD or RW? Cut the dude loose and get people who want to play the game. I really would like Harden to look himself in the mirror and say "Am I as good as they are? Hell, am I even considered great?" Thats all I'm going to say on that matter. I'm going to see Cowboy Bebop. See you later Space Cowboys... and Gals
@thelaughingwiseman Amigo!
Have fun with Cowboy Bebop. Still one of my favs.
@thelaughingwiseman I want to see him shave the beard too. It would be a symbolic statement of increased focus and no distractions. Same with Russ and the crazy outfits. When you win that shit is great, but when you lose it's like "what are you doing?"
@DennisBerry @thelaughingwiseman not gonna happen: Remember he said its not coming off until they win a championship so can you imagine what it's gonna look like come June:)
Goodnight thunder faithful
Serge have good offensive ability and were gonna see it unleash this season, he can shoot, he can drive and finish and he can face up a bit
For those who think ibaka doesn't have good post move already then youtube "ibaka school mcgee"
@okcprophetic Yeah, I don't think one video can give a great indicater of Ibaka's so-called offense. I feel that he settles for way too many jumpers, like the playoff's. He doesn't have great hands
@thelaughingwiseman The hands are the limiting factor for Serge for sure. This is why I think the idea of Perry Jones working with Hakeem is much more intriguing and likely to lead somewhere. His hands and handle are just so much better than Serge.
@thelaughingwiseman he has better hands than perk for crying out loud
@okcprophetic @DennisBerry @thelaughingwiseman Serge be trickin' off layups, with his Adonis body and falls down then looks at the refs. Those muscles, strictly for show because his finishing ability is weak and obviously limited by the fact he has stone hands
@DennisBerry @thelaughingwiseman ibaka gonna surprise a lot of you guys this season cuz let me telll you... ibaka can score, theyvjust didn't go to him more often than not
@okcprophetic @thelaughingwiseman tallest midget though
@okcprophetic youtube "Dr J McGee's mom." Embarassing. Then youtube "whooty"
Broussard reports "olajuwon impress with mcgee". i guess he's gonna look at ibaka next summer and think ibaka is olajuwon the 2nd
@okcprophetic McGee has better moves around the basket than Ibaka though.
@DennisBerry i dnt knw how to bring on a article on here otherwise i wud show you wat ibaka did to mcgee in post, olajuwon esque
Okay . . . okcprophetic = bmuelle21.
It's the only thing that makes sense.
@ThunderChick2010 is that something good or bad
@okcprophetic @ThunderChick2010
We love bmuelle . . . when he's not messing with us.
@ThunderChick2010 is that something good or bad
@okcprophetic @ThunderChick2010
We love bmuelle . . . when he's not messing with us.
@ThunderChick2010 no
@okcprophetic @ThunderChick2010
Are you admitting it?
@ThunderChick2010 ok so how do u like me lol
@ThunderChick2010 Why would he do this to us? :(
Metta "people forget how great a rebounder jamison is is" and i dnt see anybody getting past us
@okcprophetic Every person is saying the same thing about their teams. I don't see why this is relevant. It is also true that they have a much better team than last year. Dwight will make it very hard for Russ to score in the middle, especially with Gasol in the help and Artest being about 20 lbs lighter too. He is at the end of his road and he is not going out with out another shot at the ring... Respect the teams, but believe in your own. That's what Ron's doing, and we should too.
@thelaughingwiseman for your information i already predict the nba champs for 2013... OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER
@okcprophetic Dwight Howard, forget about him. He will singlehandedly make up for the fact none of their guys can keep ours at the paint plus he will own Kendrick Perkins. Quit lying to ourselves calling him a Dwight Stoppers. Dwight layed 33 on his ass last time they played
@DennisBerry @okcprophetic NO
you cannot say that both dwight will keep our guys out of the paint AND that Perk can't stop Dwight because he dropped 33 on us.
KD and Russ combined for 67 points in that game. You can't use a game to support one of your points when the same game proves your other point wrong.
@thelaughingwiseman @OBoymuzik @DennisBerry @okcprophetic U crazier then skip
@OBoymuzik @okcprophetic @thelaughingwiseman Raja Bell at one point, but he's turned into a flopping biznatch too. Delonte West too by the way.
@OBoymuzik @DennisBerry @okcprophetic Tony Allen, Stevenson, Joakim Noah (the way he shoots his FT's, just imagine how he fights!?)
@DennisBerry @okcprophetic @thelaughingwiseman lol I would like to hear an honest poll of what % of nba players would square off with MWP.. probably somewhere between 0-2%
@OBoymuzik @okcprophetic @thelaughingwiseman Serge fake ran up on him. It's that "hold me back, hold me back, let go! No don't really let go" posturing people do when they know stuff is gonna get broken up.
@DennisBerry @okcprophetic @thelaughingwiseman serge and russ were the only 2 that saw it happen because they were inbounding the ball. MWP is a nice player but his speed is what hurts him guarding KD
@DennisBerry @okcprophetic @thelaughingwiseman umm serge tried to fight him
@OBoymuzik @okcprophetic @thelaughingwiseman athletic enough to dunk over 2 of our guys multiple times then injure a 3rd. And nobody on our team did a damn thing but look at the refs
@DennisBerry @okcprophetic @thelaughingwiseman that still doesn't give him back the athleticism he had in his prime though.
@okcprophetic @thelaughingwiseman @OBoymuzik @DennisBerry pause, but MWP is in pretty good shape. Your body dont look like this http://jocksandstilettojill.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/MettaWorldPeace.jpeg
@thelaughingwiseman @okcprophetic @OBoymuzik rapping with Privaledge and mouthkissing his moms on other continents.
Nah but seriously, I'm not worried about KD and Russ improving. It's a given with them 2
@thelaughingwiseman @okcprophetic @DennisBerry "HOW IS KD GETTING BETTER"
!?!?!??!?!?!
@okcprophetic @thelaughingwiseman @OBoymuzik @DennisBerry How is KD getting better? I have no-way of telling if his D will every be good enought to stop opposing 3's or 4's or 2's
@thelaughingwiseman @OBoymuzik @DennisBerry kd is getting better while mwp trying to stay in shape
@OBoymuzik @DennisBerry @okcprophetic Through those statistics out the window. This is a totally different team. He didn't have players with such high basketball IQ's and they go a long way to defeating the Thunder. I just can picture a lot of Andre Miller's running around using their veteran craftyness to pummel us.
@DennisBerry @thelaughingwiseman @okcprophetic i posted on here one time Dwights stats in the last 16 matchups vs perk. Dwight average slightly under his points average, over his rebounds and about even on shooting %
@OBoymuzik @DennisBerry @okcprophetic it suppose to be 100 scale player rating kobe is an 84
@OBoymuzik @DennisBerry @okcprophetic Perkin's is going to have a tough time in the middle. Luckily he isn't going to have to be guarding 2 people. I hope Ibaka's one on one defense is going to be a whole lot better because he is going to be out in the perimeter when he's guarding Gasol. We all know how bad Ibaka is at doing that since he loves to roam around sooo much.
Of course Dwight can't guard KD and RW, they play totally different positions. His place is in defending the paint, not the perimeter. You also have to realize that his other defender was a very undersized Glen Davis and not a 7ft tall Gasol who can also go out to defend a little outside the paint.
It is going to be much harder for RW to go in the paint and he is going to settle for jumpers a lot more, that's a gurantee. It is good though because he has been improving his jumper every season he's been in the league.
In their primes, this would be a scary team. But as it stands, it is still very formidable, and I wouldn't be surprised if they meet the Thunder in the playoffs and beat us. Very old Nash who can pass, on a 100 player scale, Kobe would be like an 84. They have great offensive rebounding in Jordan Hill. The back up is Steve Blake and I'm sure he will have a much better time with that Laker team than Maynor and his little production (like 5 pts 2 rps and 3 ast per game?)
I think this would be a 7 game series going either way
@OBoymuzik @thelaughingwiseman @okcprophetic Dwight has always owned Perk, sans for the 11pt game in the season opener of last yr in a season he was generally tanking. Perk's best defensive games against Dwight came in Boston where their team defense is far better than ours. What is Perk going to do about a Nash and Dwight pick and roll at the free throw line that will either end up in a lob over his head for a Dwight dunk, or Perk refuses to step up and help the guard and Nash knocks down the 17 foot jumper?>
@OBoymuzik Other than Howard, the Lakers are basically an AARP team. They better win this year because next year they'll be going up and down the floor on rascal scooters.
@thelaughingwiseman @DennisBerry @okcprophetic i can pick out a single game from last year and make a solid argument that Gordon Hayward is a better player than KD if i really want to
@thelaughingwiseman @DennisBerry @okcprophetic look the lakers are going to be tough, i can't wait to see how we match up with both teams healthy. But 1 game from last year doesn't mean Perk can't stop Dwight and it also doesn't mean Dwight can't clog up the paint and make it tough on KD, Russ and James.
But saying Perk can't stop Dwight and ignoring that Dwight couldn't stop KD and Russ is just stupid, and it's happened twice this week on here.
@OBoymuzik @thelaughingwiseman @DennisBerry he is a terrible defender
@OBoymuzik @DennisBerry @okcprophetic He doesn't the speed to stay infront of him. Howard and Gasol are going to have KD be more hesitant when going to the basket. This would give Ron enough time and space to stick close to KD and muscle him and bother him. Ron is looking much quicker than the past 2 years and mostly do to the 20 lbs he's lost this offseason.
@thelaughingwiseman @DennisBerry @okcprophetic Artest can't stay with KD anymore and Jamison has the rep of being a downright terrible defender.
@OBoymuzik @DennisBerry well said oboy
@OBoymuzik @DennisBerry @okcprophetic Howard didn't have a Jaimson and Artest to help guard KD