Friday Bolts – 10.24.14
Eastern Conference scout to Chris Broussard: “They’ll be good without Durant. They still have a large part of their nucleus. I think losing Thabo Sefolosha is going to hurt them because he could always guard the opponent’s great offensive player. But without him — if Russell Westbrook gets into foul trouble, what now? Westbrook will play well without Durant. He’s just so dominant. I don’t particularly like the way he plays, but he’s so good. You talk about Derrick Rose driving to the basket, well, Westbrook’s two inches taller and just as, maybe even more, athletic. I’ve heard some say that playing without Durant will help their other players, but I don’t think so because of the way Westbrook plays. He’s like, ‘I’m going to dominate you.’ If you put Chris Paul on that team, yeah, Chris Paul is going to make Jeremy Lamb and Steven Adams better because he just gives guys confidence and puts them in position to score. But Westbrook is not like that.”
Shea Serrano of Grantland with a celebrity fan index: “Bill Hader is a surprisingly perfect fit here. He’s young, he’s hyper-likable, he’s smart, and he’s right on the cusp of being a true-blue superhero. That’s basically the same description you could toss at Kevin Durant, really. And it’s always wonderful when the team’s best player is an avatar of its most famous fan (Nicholson and Kobe, Obama and Rose, Wahlberg and Rondo). Best-case scenario: Hader’s The Skeleton Twins ekes out an Oscar nomination or two this year and the Thunder manage to keep Scott Brooks tied to a chair long enough to win a championship this season. Remember him going against Pop last year in the playoffs? Man, come on.”
Andrew Gilman of Fox Sports: “You have to expect Jeremy Lamb is going to get lots of opportunities this season, but this may be his last real chance to prove himself. Lamb is in the mix for the starting No. 2 guard, but went just 4-of-28 on 3-pointers this exhibition season. Who knows if Lamb is already pressing too much. He’s a career 42.4 percent shooter and just a 35 percent shooter on 3-pointers. He’ll have to improve on those numbers this year as well as his habit of taking too many bad shots. Even with a healthy Durant, Lamb would have had a lot of eyes on him this season. Now, the third-year player has even more reason to try and impress.”
Brian Phillips of Grantland: “What I’m worried about, I guess, is that this could be a preview. OKC has never been without Kevin Durant for an extended period — never, not since the franchise moved from Seattle in 2008. For a player who, especially early in his career, trended toward the willowy end of the superhero-body-frame spectrum, he’s been astoundingly durable. But he hits free agency in less than two years. LeBron just moved back to Cleveland. There are non-crazy scenarios that would see Durant giving up Oklahoma City’s vibrant culture and exciting nightlife for a less appealing coastal city. He could, for instance, go back home to Washington, D.C., his personal Cleveland. So the next two months of making do and juggling role players and hoping Westbrook doesn’t explode until he’s safely out to sea could be our first look at the Thunder’s future. Worse still? It could help create that future.”
Kendrick Perkins is said to be ready for the opener. So… will he start?
Darnell Mayberry if the Thunder are a playoff team without KD: “No. This isn’t a playoff team. It’s a team of guys built to complement Durant and Westbrook. With no Durant, winning isn’t sustainable over the course of 82 games. Too much would be asked of too many guys who aren’t accustomed to playing prominent roles. My guess is the remaining roster is a 41-win team, at best, in the West. And that speaks mostly to Westbrook’s greatness. In the East, I’d say this team would finish around the seventh seed, battling Atlanta and New York for the final two playoff spots.”
