Daily Thunder.com

Doug Gottlieb of CBSSports.com says buyer beware on Shabazz Muhammad: “What you’re left with is a great competitor who likes to win and has always been able to score, but who is also a rare combination of being smaller, older, less skilled, less trustworthy and a worse teammate than we were ever led to believe. I know a team will select Muhammad and I hope he buys in and “gets it” sooner rather than later. But I do not see him becoming the player he needs to become to be effective, and rewiring a guy’s game and expectations when they have been surrounded by sycophants for the last three years (at least) is difficult. Most teams do not, and should not want to go through the effort of working through those growing pains, and neither would I. I would pass.”

Neil Paine of ESPN Insider has KD ranked fourth in his top conference finals performers: “We’re just two conference finals berths into Durant’s career, and the numbers he’s produced have been staggering. Despite losing to the Mavericks in 2011, Durant averaged 28 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, a prelude to the show he would put on a season later. Last season, as the Thunder stormed back to win four straight against the Spurs, Durant averaged 29.5 points per game on a 66.2 true shooting percentage and had 7.5 rebounds per contest.” Keep Reading…

ESPN.com has OKC No. 2 in Future Rankings, and here’s Kevin Pelton on it: “On a more positive note, according to our panel Oklahoma City still has the best talent in the league. Not only are Durant and Westbrook just entering their primes, but they and forward Serge Ibaka are all locked up through at least the 2015-16 season, leaving the Thunder’s championship window wide open. Westbrook will be back healthy in October, and Oklahoma City can build on the best regular-season point differential since the 2007-08 Boston Celtics. But there are still questions. Will the Thunder bring back Kevin Martin to play the role of high-scoring sixth man? And can Kendrick Perkins stop his backslide, given that the team has ruled out using the amnesty provision to remove the last two years of his onerous contract from the books? With the franchise’s reluctance to pay the luxury tax limiting options in free agency, highly-rated Oklahoma City GM Sam Presti will have to mine contributors on rookie contracts from last year’s newcomers (Perry Jones and Jeremy Lamb) and this year’s pair of first-round picks, including the 12th overall pick via the Harden trade.”

Darnell Mayberry on Daniel Orton: “I have no idea what he will do. But I know what he should do. That’s stick around. Not simply because this is his hometown. That’d be silly. But also because he’s in a good situation with a great organization. Even if he doesn’t play much next year he’ll still be surrounded by people who genuinely care about his development and well-being. After two wasted seasons in Orlando, chances are Daniel knows just how critical that is in this league.” Keep Reading…

Berry Tramel on Reggie Jackson: “I expect Jackson to become the Thunder sixth man as well as the backup point guard. I think Jackson will play quite a bit with Westbrook, as well as running the offense the 12 minutes or so a game Westbrook sits. He can’t shoot like James Harden or Kevin Martin, but Jackson can penetrate and get to the rim.”

Sunny Saini of ESPN Stats and Info asks if Tony Parker’s the best point guard in the NBA: “In the Western Conference Finals, Parker drove to the basket 61 times in the half court and created 76 points for the Spurs. Parker had 17 assists when driving to the basket, and his teammates were 17-31 (54.8 percent) on those plays, including 9-16 (56.3 percent) on 3-point field goals. The Spurs outscore their opponents by 10.7 points per 100 possessions when Parker is on the court but that drops to 2.2 points per 100 possessions when he’s off. That difference of 8.5 points per 100 possessions was more than Paul, Curry, Kyrie Irving, Rajon Rondo, Russell Westbrook and Deron Williams this season.” Keep Reading…

Bradford Doolittle of ESPN Insider on spacing: “Team defense has been altered since the illegal defense rules and hand-checking protocols evolved into the form we now know. Smart coaches like Chicago’s Tom Thibodeau and San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich figured out how to load up the strong side of the court while sagging from the weak side of the defense to protect the paint. Unless there is a defensive breakdown, the only good option on many possessions is to swing the ball from one side of the court to the other in hopes of finding a weakside shooter. This requires precision ball movement and a player who can hit those open looks before the defense can recover and close. If you don’t have that kind of stand-still shooter, then the defense shuts down the lane, stifles the pick-and-roll and reduces an offense to hero shots. We saw that time and again in the Memphis-San Antonio series.”

John Rohde: “From the outset, Martin essentially was in a Catch-22 situation. Had his productivity remained on par with Harden’s, the Thunder wouldn’t have been able to afford to keep the 30-year-old Martin, who earned $12.4 million this season and will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. Oddly enough, when OKC’s season abruptly finished by losing 4-1 to Memphis in the second round of the playoffs, Martin was left thirsting for more playing days with the Thunder.”

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