Monday Bolts – 6.28.10
Ron Adams is indeed headed to Chicago but Mo Cheeks is staying on the Thunder staff: “Adams, who resides in Chicago, came to Oklahoma City from the Bulls midway through the 2008-09 season. It’s unclear if Oklahoma City will replace Adams, who was the lead assistant to Scott Brooks. Thunder general manager Sam Presti and Brooks are expected to make a joint decision on a replacement over the next several weeks.”
Morris Peterson: “I definitely want to be in Oklahoma City,” Peterson said. “They’ve got great fan support, a class organization. And they’re a team that’s on the rise and I feel like I can come and give them some veteran leadership and help with my basketball skills.”
Sam Presti said Friday in a radio interview that Tibor Pleiss will play next year in Europe.
Another good look at Tibor Pleiss: “In rebound situations, Pleiss is regularly overmatched physically but goes hard for boxing out his opponents. He needs to fight maybe a bit more when he is in a bad position in order to gain the favorable position back. Due to his excellent presence in shot blocking and trajectory changing, he loses his spot for the rebound several times too and needs to find it back faster when the shots are missed.”
Aldrich is a fit for OKC: “Oklahoma City is as much the right place for Cole Aldrich to baptize his professional career as declaring for the NBA Draft after his junior season was the right time. Based on little more than his size, hands, shot-blocking timing and Final Four performance against North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough, Aldrich would have been selected in the 2008 draft, probably somewhere in the back of the first round to a winning team with an established front-line center.”
Presti isn’t going to Portland: “With no hope of successfully prying San Antonio’s R.C. Buford or Oklahoma City’s Sam Presti away from their respective clubs, Portland has Ferry high on its list of potential replacements for Pritchard, mere weeks after Ferry parted ways with the Cavaliers, sources told ESPN.com.”
The Thunder’s summer league roster, according to NBADraft.net. Cole Aldrich is on it. However, the trade doesn’t become official until July 8 and the Thunder’s first game is July 5. So I’m not sure about that.
The Thunder’s free agency wish list, according to Paul Forrester of SI: “The Thunder have been patient and frugal during their rebuilding. Now, with expectations rising, a playoff team in place and plenty of talent available through free agency or trades, this could be the time to strike. A low-post scorer may be all that is needed for the Thunder to reach the conference finals and, more important, persuade Kevin Durant to sign a contract extension.”
Berry Tramel on Presti’s plan: “As for this draft, personally, I would have been thrilled by any Thunder draft that didn’t include trading away Jeff Green. You kept hearing rumblings that Green might be available for swap, but we never should have worried, because again, that would have gone against the plan. Green is a tremendous athlete who plays defense, doesn’t seem to mind that Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are options A and B, and is very popular in the clubhouse. Presti’s plan is to fill the roster with guys like Green, not get rid of them.”
A draft recap from Thunderground radio.
Chris Mannix grades OKC’s draft: “At some point in the next few years, Sam Presti is going to own all 30 picks in the draft. Oklahoma City’s young, enterprising GM was wheeling and dealing on Thursday, sneaking into the lottery to pick up a potential starting center (Cole Aldrich), a solid veteran two-guard (Morris Peterson), a bruising power forward in Ryan Reid and a young center in German 7-foot-1 Tibor Pleiss, whom the Thunder will stash overseas for a few years. In addition, Oklahoma City got back Latavious Williams, a D-Leaguer who played for the Thunder’s affiliate in Tulsa last season. Presti also secured a future first-round pick from the Clippers when he shipped Eric Bledsoe to L.A. He maybe should have kept the dynamic Bledsoe, but overall a strong night from one of the NBA’s top GMs.”
