Happy weekend. Thank you for your support of Daily Thunder. Do you have any idea how close the season is?
This summer, Serge Ibaka went back to his hometown in Congo. And he saw some man in a straw hat do a weird dance. But seriously, this is part one of a little video series chronicling his trip. Good stuff.
http://www.dailythunder.com/2012/09/monday-bolts-9-24-12/
Im honestly looking forward to our (hopefully) improved D after training camp. also, if we can get consistent ball movement in our offense, thatd be great too.
@Thunder S Could you imagine if Russ, KD and Ibaka all played to their full potential on defense? We'd be a top 2 defensive team.
@Stringer Bell @Thunder S it could be #1, I don't see why not
@Stringer Bell @Thunder S I don't know if I trust Brooks to properly implement a defensive scheme to properly harness their talents. I'm still of the opinion that we needed to go out and get a good defensive-minded assistant coach. That said, maybe Pruiti can help them address some of their scheme-related issues.
This off season has been awful for DT. I'm not a particularly frequent poster but I find that I can't even be bothered reading any commenting input because there are so many 'trolls' or whatever you want to call them taking away from conversation.
I understand off season is slow and Daily Thunder actually has a great amount of activity when compared to most NBA blogging sites, but there is too much crap coming in from idiots who just want attention. I don't expect it to be 100% basketball talk (even during the season) but please, ignore the trolls and don't bait them. You should all know it's seriously hard to get good thunder basketball talk this time of year and when I come to DT I would like at least a little.
Royce, much appreciation for your monitoring and all the work you put in to create off-season articles. Very tough to create stories with so little to write about... Not including the Harden fiasco.
@Stringer Bell It'll probably get worse as the Thunder get better. DailyThunder is very fortunate IMO with it's troll population, most sites of this size without a real registration process get a lot more. More basketball talk would be nice, though, I agree.
@justin_mia @Stringer Bell There is a limit to the number of arguments that you can get into over whether or not we want to see Cole get playing time before making a judgment call though. And only so many trade options around the league.
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@MisterJohnsonOKC Nothing wrong with that. I noted that it's obviously not going to be ALL basketball with so little to talk about. My comments aren't directed at you guys anyway. More of an observation, and a hope that when the season comes around in 36 days that the board is back to the way it was last year; a good place for basketball discussion.
I don't know if many of you are familiar with most boards/forums but they tend to be pretty crap in comparison.
@Stringer Bell I hope you're not referring to those of us who are having intense discussions on inane subjects. We still try and maintain a certain standard to our comments, even if they have nothing to do directly with the Thunder.
@ou_sas @Stringer Bell
I hope you're not implying that movies, music, livefyre stats, vegetables, or Raisin Bran Crunch are inane subjects. :)
@ThunderChick2010 @ou_sas @Stringer Bell you're full of sarcasim
@ThunderChick2010 @Stringer Bell No, of course not! Those are important topics!
@ou_sas No, it's not the regulars. I'm sorry that wasn't clearer.
this just popped into my mind: what if we extend perkins more to restructure his contract (like collison...so less money per year, but slightly more money and longer time). This way, we can have less of a luxury tax hit and not worry about amnestying. Even though i didn't like perkins playing a lot, he is still better than backup C's in the league.
@abizn There are rules about how much a salary can increase or decrease per year. Collison's deal was an exception because the team was under the cap at the time and could offer that room to a player as a signing bonus. Further, the Thunder can't renegotiate Perkin's deal until the spring of 2014. In addition, you also have to be under the cap to renegotiate and you can't renegotiate for less money per year.
@abizn if it means retaining Harden, then this would be a great option. If james doesn't stay, than why pay more on Perk instead of a reliable big man
btw, this is my first time in Austin, so I got to see the UT stadium...now gotta find that basketball court haha.
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@MisterJohnsonOKC I agree in terms of starting C's especially with his mobility. I think that he would make a good backup though. He has a specific skill set, and he's another big person and good locker room presence (from what I've seen).
i need my daily dose of basketball related something soon.
I'm mentally exhausted. Just got back from movie night. We saw The Master with Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix. A tough movie to sit through, yet these two characters were somewhat compelling. Hoffman plays this character loosely based on L Ron Hubbard and Phoenix plays this over the edge type who would make a rotweiller seem tame in comparison. Phoenix's character (Freddie Quell) is this pyschotic WWII vet who is befriended by the Seymour Hoffman character (Lancaster Dodd). Phoenix becomes Lancaster Dodd's right hand man in a strange meeting of characters. Odd ending to the movie. If someone has seen this movie--please give me your take as to how the movie ended. I can't rate this movie because I'm not sure I understood the ending.
@El Prez i got done watching Dredd 3-d tonight and it was fantastic. Let me explain before people think im crazy *i am btw*
The action was awesome, the new dredd *aka Karl Urban* is just badass and nothing he says is wasted. The plot is sorta like the raid but not really, kinda hard to explain. The Violence is over the top, ultra gore, death, blood, dismemberment, you name it, its here. If you love action, gore and just a fun movie to turn your brain off too, it comes HIGHLY recommended in the LG territory *legendary dork if you didnt catch on* .
@El Prez
But I bet you ARE sure you liked it better than Young Adult. :)
No--I can't say either way because it's a very odd movie. A man sitting behind us was snoring and I found that very annoying as well. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is why I saw the movie. Imagine...Joaquin Phoenix playing some over the edge, crazy fuckstick. Big stretch there. Amy Adams is in the movie as well..and I love her. Very bizarre story...somewhat surprised there wasn't a Scientoligist cameo by Tom Cruise. I can't recommend this movie.
@El Prez You can't recommend the movie because you didn't get the ending?
@El Prez His only movie I didn't really like was Magnolia.
@El Prez Hm, I've been looking forward to this one, I'm a big fan of Paul Thomas Anderson's work.
I don't know if I can continue to be a Thunder fan AND Ravens fan.... it's not good for my health lol
btw whoever gave up bmuelle21 thanks! you can have it back again in about 3 months as i'll be bmuelle22
What are your expectations for Reggie this season? Playing time? Role (PG/SG)? Tulsa? Effectiveness?
What would you consider a successful season for him?
@Jooseppi bench or tulsa
@Jooseppi I honestly think that a successful season for him would be one in which he looks confident dribbling the basketball up the court every game. I think he's gonna see minutes, especially early, because they're not gonna run Maynor at full throttle at the beginning of the season. If he continues playing 11 minutes a game, I'd like to see him with a line of 5 ppg, 4 apg, and turnovers kept just below 1 per game. I don't think that's terribly unreasonable. Also, one sick yammer every 6th or 7th game to keep our hope alive.
@Jooseppi mvp.....
of the d-leauge
@bmuelle21 @Jooseppi lol
@haha to whoever took bmuelle21 @Jooseppi leauge? Sounds like a gut-punch sound effect (seriously, say it out loud!).
Sorry, my mind tangented to a weird place.
@haha to whoever took bmuelle21 @Jooseppi No fear. I wasn't correcting so much as going somewhere with your typo. And I've had it done to me too, so I know how it works on the other side of things. XD
(e.g. Statestician)
@ou_sas @Jooseppi lol my bad league
i'm typing on my stupid 4g phone you know? lol jk
@Jooseppi I think he stays on the Thunder roster. Ivey and Fisher are both gone and he has experience with the team.
@Jooseppi
I expect Reggie to stick with the Raisin Bran Crunch for breakfast, lunch, and dinner regardless of playing time, role, or effectiveness.
@ThunderChick2010 @Jooseppi So even if he doesn't get regular playing time at least he'll be regular.
@Old Man Game @ThunderChick2010 @Jooseppi At least he's got his priorities straight.
@ThunderChick2010 If I have to choose a cereal on the path toward sugary, I would choose that. Regular Raisin Bran is sufficient for me though.
@Jooseppi I was bandying about the idea of going super small in our second unit by running EM/RJ/JH as the guards/wings. I think he could play off ball quite well and develop into a pretty good slasher.
That said, I'm not sure how much playing time he'll get.
@ou_sas Fisher played ~20 minutes a game last season. Maynor usually plays ~15. Reggie played 11,
I don't see Maynor playing 20 a game. I have no idea if Brooks will trust Cook again, but his minutes should probably be treated differently anyway.
I actually think they should give Reggie the opportunity to run a decent amount of pick and roll. He might not develop NBA range but his PnR skills should translate somewhat.
@Jooseppi Agreed. The other advantage of running that EM/RJ/JH lineup (as opposed to say... Cook... is having 3 ball handlers. And having Cole and possibly PH as your bigs you could definitely run the PnR through all 3, each offering different looks.
I'd consider it a bit of a waste if he spent the season in Tulsa and played less than 500 NBA minutes.
@Jooseppi I really feel like this will be Reggies true rookie season, last year was a mess, he didn't have confidence, none of our players trusted him. I think it will depend on if we keep Cook and if Maynor is himself. I think he has a chance to contribute.
@OBoymuzik @Jooseppi haha trust? Maynor gave him the ball like 3 times that game he shot 3 air balls in a row. You doubt maynor will be himself? Oh, Of course you do
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@MisterJohnsonOKC It IS isn't it. It always looks "wrong" when I type it.
@Jooseppi Getting triple doubles in Tulsa.