Friday Bolts – 8.21.15
Fran Blinebury of NBA.com on MVP: “We know Stephen Curry will run hot. We know LeBron James will boil over the edges of the pot. But there simply will not be another elite player in the league next season whose fire will burn as hot as Durant’s. Not after missing 55 games due to foot problems and surgery. Not after seeing his Thunder settle for just 45 wins. Not after sitting out the playoffs for the first time in his career. A healthy, rehabilitated K.D. is a driven, fearsome K.D., ready to re-engage as the most unstoppable offensive force in the league. On top of all that, it’s the season leading into Durant becoming the prize free agent in the summer of 2016. Not that he’s got to sell himself to anyone, but it never hurts to go onto the market as everybody’s most desired bauble. New coach Billy Donovan might bring in a few new tweaks to the attack. But nobody has to strike a match to light this fuse. Durant will be all-in from Day One to add a bookend to his 2014 MVP trophy.”
Via Ken Berger of CBSSports.com, Blake Griffin on what frustrates him with the media: “Untrue stories. I think the worst thing that’s happened to sports is ‘sources say.’ Sometimes it takes the credibility out of it. But it’s a part of it now, and I think guys are learning how to deal with it and learning how to stay out of harm’s way.”
ESPN Forecast has KD fourth in MVP.
Tom Haberstroh of ESPN Insider on his MVP pick: “After winning 45 games last season, the Pelicans’ improvement will be the flame that ignites Davis’ MVP campaign. In a piece back in 2013, I found that the MVP hailed from a team that won on average 61.6 games during the regular season. That makes it pretty clear: If Davis wants to put himself over that MVP hump, history says the New Orleans Pelicans had better cross that 60-win threshold. Just ask Curry. However, don’t bet the Pelicans will improve by 16 wins next season like the Warriors did. That kind of jump from good to all-time great almost never happens, but the Pelicans should improve just enough to get Davis’ MVP campaign in full tilt.”
By the time Shaq is 60, he’s going to be saying he couldn’t even stop himself.
Brian Phillips of Grantland with an important piece on Star Wars Land: “Who knows where this franchise is heading, except into galactic omnipresence. I’d like to be optimistic about what the Disney phase will mean. But we live in a moment when escapism is not about a different kind of life but the same life in a different setting, not about the place we’re escaping to but the people we’re escaping with. And I’m sorry, but I have a bad feeling about this. It’s one thing to escape from a Sith Lord. There is no escape from us.”
Interesting: Nick Collison has made $10 million more in his career than Smith.
