Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE/Getty Images
Sorry for the late recap but I’m just getting caught up on my DVR. In other news, Argo was really good.
The essentials: The Jazz dropped the Thunder to 0-2 in preseason play, 97-81, as Perry Jones III led Oklahoma City in scoring with 14 points. Russell Westbrook and James Harden didn’t play, while Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka both played fewer than 20 minutes.
The Jazz on the other hand, went with their starters for quite a lot of the second half, to which OKC’s second and third unit guys did a nice job of hanging tight with. But without real quality offensive options to look to, the Thunder couldn’t score enough points to make up a deficit. In summary, 0-2 PANIC.
Here are five quick takeaways:
1. There’s still time, but Cole Aldrich seems to have a firm hold on the backup big spot. Another pretty impressive outing from Aldrich. He notched a second straight double-double and a second straight night with three blocks. (Of note: Kendrick Perkins didn’t have consecutive double-doubles once last season. Preseason, I know, but still.) The baby hook is dropping and while Aldrich mostly does work on the glass when the ball comes his way, he’s doing a pretty solid job. And only two fouls!
It was a nice test to see how Aldrich could defend the post though and I’d give him a D. Granted, it was against Al Jefferson who is one of the more gifted post scorers in the league, but it seems Aldrich doesn’t know how to defend physically without fouling (or getting called for a foul, I should say). That’s something Perk has mastered.
2. Perry Jones is smoooooooth. Basically, the opposite of Cole Aldrich. At times, it just looks like butter for him. When the jumper is going, he can fill it up. As his confidence builds and he understands his role better, there’s no telling what kind of weapon he could be for the Thunder. He subbed in for KD in the second quarter and played mostly the 3 tonight.
I think role is going to be really important for Jones this season. Because the talent is there. Loads of it. Don’t forget: He’s a rookie and he’s going to do dumb things and take bad shots. But the guy can definitely play and I think he can absolutely help this team.
3. Hollis Thompson played the role of Sixth Man tonight and saw his first shot land wide right. In 20 minutes he scored six points and went 0-2 from 3. Kind of hard to get a real good read on his game.
4. Serge Ibaka looked as comfortable offensively as I can remember. It seems like he’s gained some confidence in the post and with the ball in his hands.
5. Lazar Hayward didn’t wear a headband and it totally freaked me out.
I think it's safe to say...Thabeet has the shortest shorts in the NBA. He's a very large man in very tiny shorts.
All I gotta say is Longhorns are really good once you cook em' LOOOOL!!!! Ok, sorry....
I wanna see 1 big line up with james, kd, pj3, nick and serge
@RodneyRosavelRusanWilson The problem remains that we will be small where being big matters. Nick doesn't rebound and Serge hasn't shown the ability to match up with centers.
I havent even seen Hollis play but om very excited about him for some reason. Is that him in teh above pic?
@K-Dagger Plainview he is nothing worth getting excited about. Badly missed his first two shots. Like, air ball bad...
@Stringer Bell Im sure may players airballed their first couple of shots. Didnt he shoot over 43% from 3 his entire college carerr?
http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2012/07/hollis-thompson-signs-three-year-contract-with-thunder/ @Stringer Bell
Would a Russ, Harden, KD, PJ, Serge line up be the most athletic ever?
@K-Dagger Plainview imagine a fast break with that lineup.
@K-Dagger Plainview Yes....yes, it would. Short of an all-star team, who else could put together the league's 3-time scoring leader...another top-5 scorer...the league's leading shot-blocker...the 6th man of the year...plus, a lottery pick?
@K-Dagger Plainview If you want athletic on the Thunder, I'd replace Harden with RJ.
@ERROR72 I thought about that, and Harden is no doubt the least athletic of those 5, but his athleticism is underrated. His combine numbers were among the best. His like 60 yard run or whateever it is was the the second fastest his rookie year.
@K-Dagger Plainview For the Thunder, probably. I'm sure you could find an all-star lineup or team USA lineup that's more atheletic.
@ou_sas That I get, but Im talking that one NBA team could put up
@justin_mia @ou_sas But for Starters, they might be superior
@justin_mia @ou_sas Ones not Gallinari is it?
@ou_sas @K-Dagger Plainview Denver's projected starting lineup is pretty athletic.
@K-Dagger Plainview It should say something that we're even having the discussion and not being joking about it.
@K-Dagger Plainview Right. Most teams don't have the pure athletes that we do, so it's also probably a good benchmark for the league too.
http://www.dailythunder.com/2012/10/saturday-morning-cartoons-thunder-rising-2/
So Lazar doesn't wear his headband and they lose. Coincidence? I doubt it.
Also, Texas sucks
@anonymous12345 So...Lazar with the headband and he's bad. Lazar without the headband and he's terrible. Maybe next game he should go the headband and protective mask and he will be passable.
Wait did Thabeet foul out of this game too? Sick.
Hey Brooksi, I wanna see some KD, Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka/Collison, PJ3 for a few minutes each game...
@greatwhitebuffalo If teams try to go small against us that's a lineup that can punish them while also keeping up with them at the other end of the floor.
I'm really liking Aldrich's rough play. It's great. What better way to clean up your game, then to actually play the game! Who'd a thought that he'd be able to pick up some stuff by playing some damn minutes. But no, only super high draft picks get to play early. I still think Cole would have progressed if he had meaningful minutes last year, instead of this year...
@thelaughingwiseman You know, during the broadcast, Jazz commentator Matt Harpring was saying you really need to play about 30 minutes a game to improve in this league. Made me sort of wonder about old Cole. Maybe he should have gotten more D-league reps when he was eligible rather than riding the pine for us.
@Old Man Game @thelaughingwiseman Would be great to see the D-League really used like a minor league system. If you know Cole is 3rd string center last year, let him be starting center in the D and let him learn and improve. I remember Collison being a fould King in his rookie year and learning from it. Would have liked to see Cole do the same.
@Old Man Game @thelaughingwiseman Would be great to see the D-League really used like a minor league system. If you know Cole is 3rd string center last year, let him be starting center in the D and let him learn and improve. I remember Collison being a fould King in his rookie year and learning from it. Would have liked to see Cole do the same.
@Old Man Game @thelaughingwiseman Yes.
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@MisterJohnsonOKC That's the point though, he hasn't gotten a chance to really prove if he sucks or not. I would have preferred 2 years of Cole playing (last year + This year) and then Judging if he sucks, if he has potential or if he's good. Instead of this lone year. But I guess preseason and regular season are really different. I just would like to see progress
Very true! The Thunder already have KD/Russ (two of the scariest players at their respective positions) and Ibaka/Harden (the league's leading shot-blocker and 6th man of the year)...if Jones simply clocks in at a notch below the "best in the league", that's a world of plenty.
@TaoMaas Even just slightly below Harden/Ibaka quality would still be really good value for a 28th pick.
I think Cole is going to be okay. His numbers have been good already and ought to improve when he's playing against the opponent's 2nd team. I also stand by my feeling that drafting Jones is going to be huge. I don't think he'll be KD/Russ good (but then...who is?), but I definitely think he'll be performing in the Ibaka/Harden range by next year.
yep i stayed up this long to read the recap lol
#dedication
@bmuelle21
#insomniac