Daily Thunder.com

Steve Kerr on the Thunder’s weakness: “I still want to see a more composed version of Russell Westbrook. I think the internal improvement there really starts with him, both with his offensive efficiency — there is no reason why he should shoot 41 percent; he’s just too good of a player — and there is just no reason for his tantrums. It may not kill them as a team. They are so mature that they seem to weather those emotional outbursts, but it’s not helping them. I’d like to see him just show a little better leadership and maturity, and I think that’s probably the next step for him and the team as a whole, just seeing how they can make that improvement emotionally.”

Alok Pattani of ESPN.com: “LeBron James has garnered a lot of praise for his six-game streak of scoring and shooting percentage. However, if you look at a complete statistic that takes everything a player contributes to his team over the course of a season, James actually trails Kevin Durant. The statistic is “Win Shares”, developed by Basketball Reference building off the individual offensive and defensive rating framework established by ESPN Production Analytics’ Dean Oliver. Win shares quantifies a player’s overall impact on his team’s winning – taking into account a player’s individual box-score statistics in the context of his team’s offensive and defensive performance.” Keep Reading…

A study from Kenpom on fouling when up three: “However, I think that says something about how difficult it is to determine the proper strategy. To me, the only conclusion one can make is that the criticism of coaches that choose to defend appears to be misplaced. A small percentage of the time you’ll get burned no matter what you choose to do. We will continue to see teams make game-tying threes near the end of games more often than they get fouled simply because more coaches choose this strategy. In the long run, it’s difficult to prove it’s a bad idea.”

Kelly Dwyer of BDL on halfcourt heaves: “When Durant says “it depends on how the game’s going,” he truly and technically is referring to his individual game on that night. To some this reeks of stat-padding, and needlessly obsessive stat-padding: NBA fans typically don’t freak out over shooting percentages on shots that players tend to take possibly once or twice a week; especially for someone like Durant who averages 19 shots per game on his career. In terms of sheer honesty, though? We love it. Though Kevin Durant is just about the only player we’ll let get away with it.” Keep Reading…