Rob Mahoney of SI.com on Serge Ibaka: “A rim-protecting big man is a valuable commodity in the NBA, but a rim-protecting big man capable of handling himself on the perimeter in a crunch is the pro basketball equivalent of the holy grail. Ibaka still has a long way to go before his rotational speed and instincts are really up to snuff, but it’s good to see him handling switches on the perimeter with a bit more balance. Over the last few seasons, Ibaka’s block-chasing made him one of the easiest bigs in the league to lose with a pump fake. Yet in a few select situations so far this season, Ibaka is staying grounded when guarding perimeter types, and using his length and height as an effective deterrent.”
Beckley Mason of ESPN.com says OKC’s taken a step back: “That’s what happens when you lose your second best player. Yeah, I said it! The question is “for how long?” OKC still has five months to regain its bearing and Martin looks like he’ll efficiently buoy the bench. But without Harden aboard, Durant and Westbrook must do a better job of steering the offense to positive possessions.”
Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com’s mock has Shabazz Muhammed going sixth. That’s potentially in the territory OKC would be picking. If you haven’t seen anything from Muhammed, take a look. He’s left handed and kind of looks like someone we’ve seen before.
Matt Moore of CBSSports.com on “narratives of the week” in his Baseline Awards: “Russell Westbrook is the worst thing ever and should have been traded instead of James Harden.” I almost wish this would have happened so that Westbrook could completely destroy teams as the man on his team and there wouldn’t be questions about why he’s not passing to his teammate who likes to manage his shot volume and doesn’t establish position.”
A psychoanalysis of the Harden trade.
Ben Golliver of SI.com on Harden: “He was a top-five player at his position in terms of overall offensive efficiency last season and he’s a career 37 percent three-point shooter, so there’s plenty of reason to believe that he can keep his scoring average closer to 30 than 20 now that he’s fully unshackled. That would put him square in the middle of the scoring champ race; Durant and the Heat’s LeBron James, perennial contenders for the award, should emerge as the other favorites, but both have high-usage teammates who have helped cap them out around 28 points per game over the last two seasons.”
Berry Tramel: “It’s been fairly push-button the last couple of years. You knew who was coming in and when. Barring foul trouble, you could set your watch by it. And if this team had simply traded James Harden for Kevin Martin, it might have the same neatness. But with three members of OKC’s second unit — Harden, Nazr Mohammed and Daequan Cook — gone, and with Eric Maynor back as the backup point guard, Brooks is still experimenting.”
Marc Stein of ESPN.com’s power rankings: “Three games post-Harden, two deflating L’s and two sightings already of the PG known across the Twitterverse as Bad Russell. Good thing I didn’t write “things can only get better from here” in this space as I originally planned on the Monday after the trade/OU’s loss to Notre Dame.”
Tom Haberstroh of ESPN.com if Harden’s an alpha: “So, what was Harden’s scoring rate per 36 minutes with just Durant? 22.8 points on 49 percent shooting over 250 minutes. And with just Westbrook? 22.3 points on 55 percent shooting in just 63 minutes, an admittedly very small sample size. The subtraction of one ball-dominant star from the equation added nearly 10 points to Harden’s scoring rate. This makes sense, but it’s helpful to actually put numbers behind the “sharing the ball” concept. And now, here comes the juicy part: Examining Harden as the alpha dog, when he was released from the shackles of Durant and Westbrook’s ball-dominancy. What was Harden’s scoring rate when he was the clear No. 1 option last season?”
If you missed yesterday’s Thunder show on The Spy, you can listen to it here.
I haven't had a chance to read more than the first page today, but one thing I'd like to remind us all of is how many times this team has bounced back from adversity. Whether it was a bad stretch of selfish play and disinterested defense during the regular season or fighting back from down 0-2 to San Antonio, this team has collectively shown resiliency.
I look forward to seeing some of it this evening.
@rednuht This team is fine... A big adjustment in personnel isn't managed overnite.
http://www.dailythunder.com/2012/11/raptors-vs-thunder-pregame-primer-4/
Yum Pizza rolls my favorite. Perry You need to eat healthier:)
I hope Shabazz Muhammad is ruled ineligible by the NCAA for 2 reasons:
1) I would love to see him as a Thunder (and I believe that if he plays he's going to become one of the top 3 players in the draft)
2) He wouldn't play and destroy my USC basketball team
@SoCal Thunder usc baby... i was at the oregon game
@RRRWHATEVER I was there too :( It's a very tough L to swallow. It's incredible that we scored 50+ points and still feel like we got our asses kicked
@SoCal Thunder he might be terrible considering hes playing in UCLA .. but his defense lawd
I voted for Rombama!
@RRRWHATEVER Vote Roomba! http://imgur.com/3CP4d
Just kidding, i voted for Obomney
Perk "The guys have to understand that I'll always have an advantage in the post because of my size and skill....i think i can help us get easy buckets down there"
@Thunder S it must be a special type of humiliation to air ball a jump hook when you are nearly seven feet tall
@Thunder S he proves it every night after all
@Thunder S good god
@SilenceTheLambs just kidding. #igotjokes
@Thunder S @SilenceTheLambs good one :F
http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/41787/youre-allowed-to-hate-the-thunder-now
for you
@RRRWHATEVER I really couldn't give a crap about what Bill Simmons think. Yes, he's a hilarious writer. But he is so clearly biased when he writes about us. And honestly I couldn't care less if less people love the Thunder. I saw OU become the sweethearts of college football in 2000 and then try to ride that into the ground. Now we're stuck in "win the big games but then lose to TCU and Texas Tech at the end of the season" hell 13 years later. They got complacent and just expected the best recruits to easily pick OU because we have a winning tradition and it's "a great place to live." As a die hard OU fan, it hurts to say that times have greatly changed over the last 10 years but the program still lives in the 2000s.
I give Presti major props for doing what he did. Ya it really really sucks to lose James and sucks even more that he's murdering the league. But I think that if Presti had faith in Harden doing the right thing at the deadline or even next summer, he would've given him time. But he didn't seem as apologetic or sad as he did when we traded Jeff Green. I got the impression that Harden's agent was trying to strong arm the Thunder. He could live with the scrutiny of trading James, but he wasn't gonna let one guy punk the culture of this organization because he had a hot post-season. Sometimes you gotta make a stand and live with the consequences. I'd rather be a good team with a shot for the next 10 years than break the bank for the next 2 and risk falling apart at the end of all these contracts.
@RRRWHATEVER *sigh*
This PSA is approved by KD.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHZx2Aepyq8
Raptors got as much a chance to win as Mitt Romney
@OkcBaby I'm worried for the Thunder then.
@Remify If you know the Thunder then their would be no questions:)
I noticed Miami Heat hang banners for the Olympic gold medalists that have been won by the Heat players over the years and the latest being opening night.
I think the Thunder should do this too, Russ and KD need to be recognized for representing the USA and bring home the gold.
Rasheed Wallace leading the league in PER.... 2012!!!!
How many times do you see the Miami Heat posting up Joel Anthony? Or the Spurs posting up DeJuan Blair?
@justin_mia sigh
@justin_mia Or Dejaun Blair and Joel Anthony boxing out and rebounding
Hey guys you can watch this for the next few hours before the game starts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAOxaWjdVIs&feature=plcp
@duhsweetness Does anyone else think that the guy on the left looks like an Oklahoman Adam Pally
the more you look at the trade, the less it hurts. this is a strong draft year. Martin and Lamb might have been almost fair value, but the toronto pick practically gauntness us a chance to get a new 7 footer. i know we've all discussed this before, but there are about 8 7 footers that could possible come out between picks one and 20... not a sure thing, but still. lamb pj3 + new picks extends our dynasty by years...
its a gamble... but if it pays off???
@RRRWHATEVER that's how I actually saw the trade. As a chance to make the team improved over the course of 5-10 years. & not necessarily this season. And signing JH & paying tax, although I would've liked that, would've severely limited adding anything to the team.
although, to be fair, some of the 7 footers are actually shorter, like Nerlens
If we lose tonight I'm just warning everyone on here to prepare for my drunken rage complaining about the game and who looks like is going to be our president... again... lol
@bmuelle21 Business as usual lol
Interesting meta-question for the season: what can we improve upon, and what are simply personnel problems? I'm looking at you - passing and defense
@Thunder S There is no apparent understanding of the currency of possessions on either end. They don't play defense all the time, they waste offensive possessions posting up Perkins or shooting a 21 footer with no passing. Most great teams don't do these things as often.
@justin_mia @Thunder S that's why I feel like we should experiment ie play our youth more.. We already waste possessions as is, I'd rather do it with more talent & basketball saavy on the floor
@justin_mia @Thunder S I feel like Martin in the starting 5 would solve a wealth of offensive issues - if only because you don't get Russ in the mindset of "Nobody can score but me, so I may as well keep it" 2 seconds into the game.
@Thunder S Defense is a scheme/coaching/effort thing - I really think we have the personnel to do it. Passing, I'd say we're actually getting better at. Catching? That's an entirely different question. I've got a feeling that we need to tinker with our starting lineup in order to fix that - maybe switch KMart and Thabo in the starting lineup except when playing the Lakers or something. I mean, Brooks doesn't use Thabo properly anyways, so why not bump him back?
@ou_sas also on passing, im much more comfortable with a bunch of pick and pops than the pocket passes on the pick n rolls. those might lead to turnovers because the catching issue is an issue. rather take a midrange than force a pass to a big rolling through with less chance of finishing
@ou_sas Yea i do agree with you about passing, but the more i watch elite defensive teams, the more i see instincts and positioning that I feel can only very incrementally be improved. Obviously this is me being more analytical than may be necessary, but Ibaka and Russ have issues with jumpiness and overaggression- they compensate with athleticism- but i think itll take a lot of time for them to become solid positional defenders.Others have issues like: perkins is slow and durant is not that big. Of course, we have tremendous length and speed overall, which combats some of our positioning issues, and we played great D for the most part in the playoffs. Im still very optimistic we can improve these things, but i wonder how much of these issues will always continue to be issues.
@Thunder S By big, I assume you mean muscled. Because KD has no problems vertically.
If y'all haven't seen this yet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EffR6G6hMYg&feature=g-u-u
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--james-harden-disappointed-thunder-didn-t-give-him-more-time-to-consider-offer-06561809.html
I'm dissapointed as fuck aswell. What was Presti thinking, giving your player an ultimatum will never lead into anything good
@ILikePancakes Le sigh :(
I don't think Presti really liked James and his look at me attitude. He always seems like a professional doing things the right way with as little distractions as possible. Harden was the opposite of that IMO.
@dream catcher These guys loved eachother. He decided to destroy it all by giving an ultimatum. To an all-star talent. Look at us now. Without Harden, this team is a mess with a hothead handling the ball all the time. Harden was bailing us out. Who will bail us out now because Russell can't fucking control himself?
@jdstorm @thunder_mike @ILikePancakes @dream catcher And they say OKC doesnt have tough guys.
@thunder_mike @The Sports Oprah @ILikePancakes @dream catcher Also This + the Jeff Green Trade sends a strong message to all future thunder players/agents. Take the deal or we'll ship your ass out
@The Sports Oprah @ILikePancakes @dream catcher Presti isn't a moron. This didn't have anything to do with James's partying or lifestyle. It was simply the fact that James and his agent wanted all the leverage. A good business man never surrenders total leverage, especially to someone who isn't your #1 and arguably not even your #2 commodity.
I know everyone is pissed about the effect this trade is having on our current season, and ya in the end it might have screwed our chances at the championship this year. But if Harden planned to walk or force us into the max next year, then Presti made the right choice in keeping us competitive for the foreseeable future.
And I'll say it again, I have a feeling we're gonna be a major player at the trade deadline. I don't think Presti is done.
@The Sports Oprah @ILikePancakes @dream catcher Exactly. Presti handled his bushiness fine. He was Probably at Hardens House at 12am the day he could sign an extension, they'd Negotiated for Months. Then Presti Gave him an Hour so Trade rumors wouldn't have had time to circulate if his agent had wanted to leak them for more leverage
@ILikePancakes @The Sports Oprah @dream catcher You realize you're defending Harden by saying Ibaka spent. too much time at yacht parties.
James had a birthday MONTH of parties lol
@ILikePancakes @dream catcher I believe he went back home to visit his family in the Congo.
I cant really argue with going to visit your family
@The Sports Oprah @dream catcher He was supposed to work out with Hakeem? Yeah, he'd rather go on Yacht parties.
@ILikePancakes @dream catcher Serge was signed off of Potential. He has the potential to be great. The money that bigs are signing for (not considering their potential) is much more than 4/48.
I wouldve signed him for Jeff Green dough (4/40)...which is not much less.
@The Sports Oprah @dream catcher We resigned Ibaka for way too much. Seems like all these blocks made Presti blind on every single bad side of Serge's play
@ILikePancakes @dream catcher Russ?
You pretend that the league isnt afraid of Russ. Lets be rational.
@The Sports Oprah @dream catcher Or maybe we shouldn't have re-signed a guy that made little to no progress throughout his career for all-star money.
@ILikePancakes @dream catcher
You guys... James Harden was going to say NO. They have been doing this all summer. Giving him an hour is something you do when someone is TOYING with you. I bet Harden and his Agent was definitely doing that.
@dream catcher why does he like RW then? Most selfish player in the NBA outside Kobe
@ILikePancakes already posted, but i hear you homie... usually when someone gives me an ultimatum, especially with a time limit, i chose to reject just because im so offended
@RRRWHATEVER After all is said and done, after a few years, everyone will say that Presti done fucked up.
@ILikePancakes @RRRWHATEVER I dont agree, If anything, he mess up was with signing Ibaka first, or not getting a center in teh trade