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Monday Bolts – 2.23.09

by Royce Young on February 23, 2009 at 9:39 am 22 Comments

The Celtics want Joe Smith to be this year’s P.J. Brown. If you wanted him this bad, why didn’t you offer us Kevin thunderbolt2314 Garnett and a first-round pick for him?: “Smith’s defense isn’t spectacular, but he’s been steadily holding power forwards to league average stats for the last few seasons. And that’s what I want from a potential C’s back-up big man: steadiness. Glen Davis doesn’t have it in any phase of the game (he still can’t shoot, no matter what your eyes seem to be telling you), Leon Powe doesn’t have it as a shooter and Mikki Moore definitely doesn’t have it. Joe Smith has it. If I’m Danny Ainge, I’m throwing whatever I can at Smith, even it means having no shot at Marbury.”

But Joe Smith says he doesn’t want to go anywhere: “Contrary to several media reports, Smith said he wouldn’t seek a buyout of his contract with the Thunder, The Oklahoman reported. “What for?” Smith asked. “I’ve been here all year. Why would I want to do that now? I’m (not) seeking it.” Smith said he has not talked to his agent about a buyout. It had been reported that Smith, 33, would ask for one so he could join a title contender. “A lot of people assume that when you reach a certain amount of years in the league that you always want to seek a title,” Smith told The Oklahoman. “It’s (not) just me. … Like I’ve said all year long, I like these young guys around here. We’ve developed some type of chemistry now where I got faith in them and they got faith in me.”

You thought Shaq’s JabbaWockeez was good? Check out Kid Delicious getting down.

Midseason rookie grades handed out by some guy. Russell gets a “B” and you have to read this part: “Truth be told, Thunder rookie Kyle Weaver is a better playmaker than Westbrook, which doesn’t bode well for Westbrook’s status as the franchise’s point guard of the future. So if Westbrook isn’t a natural point guard, he must be a shooting guard, right? Wrong. Though he excels around the basket, Westbrook leaves much to be desired when it comes to outside shooting. His release is flawed and inconsistent – a far cry from the wonder-stroke of Eric Gordon – and opposing guards generally let him take open threes. Through 53 games Westbrook is shooting just 40.8% from the field and 29.6% from downtown.” Keep Reading…

Shooting guards – Part 2

by Joe on February 22, 2009 at 7:54 pm 6 Comments

I started out yesterday with the discussion about the shooting guards in the rotation for the Thunder. Kyle Weaver’s stats showed that he was very productive in spot minutes behind Desmond Mason and occasionally Kevin Durant.

Kyle Weaver reserve:
G Min fg% 3fg% ft% stl blk ass rebs to pf pts WS48
9 13.1 51% 40% 67% .4 .2 1.9 1.8 1.0 1.0 3.2 8.24

Next I showed the big drop off in efficiency when Des blew out his knee and Weaver was moved into the starting lineup. Kyle responded with his best game as a pro last night and I updated his numbers as a starter, but you can still see that in the starting lineup Weaver hasn’t been as effective:

Kyle Weaver starter:
G Min fg% 3fg% ft% stl blk ass rebs to pf pts WS48
10 30.2 37.9 20.0 100 .9 .7 2.1 3.0 1.1 2.7 6.0 4.29

His field goal shooting, including his three ball has been spotty at best. His Win Score/48* breaks down the drop off. The NBA average shooting guard has a Win Score/48 of 6.20. Weaver had been above average as a reserve and has dropped down below the average production for the shooting guard position since becoming a starter.

Now here is a similar breakdown for Desmond Mason in his time as a starter and a reserve this year for the Thunder: Keep Reading…

Thunder 120, Warriors 133

by Joe on February 22, 2009 at 12:39 am 9 Comments

Pace Eff eFG FT/FG OREB% TOr

OKC 105.0 114.3 53.5% 32.6 40.0 20.0

GSW 126.7 61.9% 42.5 9.7 16.2

Box Score

Game flow

Tough loss tonight to the Warriors, but it is to be expected when you play this brand of basketball. I’m not really sure why the Thunder get caught up in trying to outscore a scoring team and completely disregard defensive intensity. I don’t think it’s for lack of trying, but defense needs to compulsive with this team if it wants to get out of the basement in the NBA. Defense can’t be an on again off again thing if we are going to be successful. Some nights the jumpshots won’t fall. Some nights the refs may short change you, but there is really no excuse for not “bringing it” on the defensive side of the ball.

I was hopeful that this might not be “that” kind of game (like last night, or last week against the Lakers) and that we wouldn’t get caught up in this run and gun track meet style of play, but the 105 possessions we used tonight tells me otherwise. When we beat the Warriors a few weeks ago we only used 98 possessions. When we beat the Knicks in January we only used 96, and when we beat the Warriors on New Year’s eve we used 96. That’s actually fairly fast since league average is only 91.7. The 105 tonight is just over the top run and gun, and it plays right in the Warriors hands, just as it did for the Suns last night when we used 104. Is it me or does anybody else see that trying to “out track meet” these run and gun teams doesn’t seem to pay off for us? How about this statistic: 8 games above a pace of 98 and we are 0-8. Maybe we should re-think this strategy. Keep Reading…

Thoughts on our shooting guards – Part 1

by Joe on February 21, 2009 at 1:01 pm 15 Comments

I was thinking recently how similar Desmond Mason, Kyle Weaver and T-Bone Selofosha are in physical stature and then the thinking branched out into some similarities in their style of play. They are all within an inch or so in height (variously listed between 6’5″ and 6’7″) at around 6’6″, and all having skinny frames. Desmond is probably the bulkiest, but would still be considered thin. They all can play multiple positions and have a reputation for being above average defenders. None of them however possesses much of a jumpshot. These however are the guys that Presti has assembled at the shooting guard position.

I thought I would take a look at how these guys stack up so far and what direction the team might go with the position going forward.

First, here are Kyle Weaver’s averages so far this season as a backup wing coming off the bench:

G Min fg% 3fg% ft% stl blk ass rebs to pf pts

9 13.1 51% 40% 67% .4 .2 1.9 1.8 1.0 1.0 3.2 Keep Reading…

Thunder at Warriors: Pre-game primer

by Royce Young on February 21, 2009 at 12:42 pm 4 Comments

okc6 vs. gsw

Thunder (13-42, 3-23 road) vs. Golden State Warriors (19-36, 14-13 home)

TV: KSBI-52 (Cox 9)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)
Time: 9:30 CST

Offensive Rating: Thunder: 103.5 (27th), Golden State: 109.0 (11th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder: 109.9 (23rd), Golden State: 112.6 (28th)
Pace: Thunder: 93.8 (7th), Golden State: 97.6 (1st)

Finally! Our last game against the Warriors. I think this is maybe game 15 or 16 against them. I lost track.

Last night’s game was a pretty good warmup for tonight’s. Just like the Suns, the Warriors get up and down the floor. The Thunder went into Oracle Arena and snaked a one-point win last time they were there on a Jeff Green buzzer-beater, but in that game the Warriors scored a lot early, but the Thunder locked down when it mattered and got some huge stops. And ironically, that’s the last road win this team has had. But this Warriors team is playing pretty good basketball right now, having won four of five at home, all against pretty good teams (Portland, Utah, Phoenix, New York). Keep Reading…

Thunder 118, Suns 140

by Joe on February 20, 2009 at 11:23 pm 13 Comments

Box Score.

It’s been such a long time since we’ve had a good old fashioned butt kicking that I’m not really sure how I feel about it yet. As near as I can tell, the last time we got spanked by 20 points or more was January 7th, against the T-Wolves, in our one, really bad game of the new year. Now make it two.

There is something that I really don’t understand, some weird relationship between the new (old) found run and gun, seven seconds or less offense that the Suns are back to, and somehow becoming more intense on defense at the same time. How does that happen? How do you crank up the speed and play loose and free, and simultaneously get better on defense? It doesn’t work for Golden State. There’s no doubt this is the best defense the Suns have played against us in our three matchups, and they did it with small ball (less the big Shaqtus). The Suns started three guards (Nash, Barbosa and J-Rich), a small forward (Grant Hill) and Shaq, and the only other guys they used for the most part was Louis Amundson ( a natural power forward), Barnes and Dragic.

The answer seems to be sort of a pick your poison gambit: They assume they may get beat on the boards, and may not be able to protect the rim that well (even though they did), in exchange for a lot of fast and loose guys switching and playing the passing lanes like a bunch of hawks. It worked great tonight. The Suns got 14 steals, and forced 23 turnovers (and got 29 points off of them), and the Thunder never looked in sync except for a nice little run in the third. The rest of the time it was making my eyes bleed.

In the first quarter I had a pretty good idea that we were in for a long night when I counted the Suns getting to the rim on their first seven possessions. Keep Reading…

Thunder at Suns: Pre-game primer

by Royce Young on February 20, 2009 at 1:31 pm 30 Comments

okc5 vs. pho

Oklahoma City Thunder (13-41, 3-22 road) vs. Phoenix Suns (30-23, 15-10 home)

TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)

Offensive Rating: Thunder: 103.3 (28th), Phoenix: 108.9 (10th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder: 109.4 (21st), Phoenix: 109.4 (18th)
Pace: Thunder: 93.6 (8th), Phoenix: 94.7 (4th)

As much as I love trades and roster moves and all the shifting pieces, I’m kind of relieved to get it back on the basketball court. The last few days have been pretty nuts and it will be nice to get back to what’s actually important – the game on the floor. (Though I’m sure Brian Davis and Grant Long will be sure to spend 75 minutes discussing every bit of the minutia that occurred this week. I know. I can’t wait either.)

There’s no secret as to what Phoenix is going to do to tonight. They’re going to score, score and score some more. After firing Terry Porter and promoting Alvin Gentry who vowed to put the team back at its “breakneck pace,” the runnin’ Suns have put up 140 and 142 points the last two games. Granted, it was against a Clipper squad that really doesn’t really enjoy playing basketball right now, but still, 282 points in two games is darn impressive. It would take a P.J. Carlesimo team two months to score that many points. Keep Reading…

Friday Bolts: Now we can get back to actually playing basketball… Edition

by Royce Young on February 20, 2009 at 9:14 am 6 Comments

And if you haven’t heard, the Thunder waived Mo Sene last night to make room for Sefolosha. I know. I miss him thunderbolt2313 already too.

NOTE: Something that every major outlet has been reporting is that in exchange for Sefolosha, OKC gives up the lesser (which actually means higher, or least favorable) of either the Nuggets or Suns pick in 2009, which Hollinger worries one could end up in the lottery. Well, the Suns pick is for 2010. OKC owns the Spurs’ and the Nuggets’ 2009 picks. Just a clarification there.

UPDATE: Tyson Chandler just posted a story about the whole trade thing on his website: “The next day I was getting everything straight with my family and packing up stuff. The kids were going to go back to California with our parents and I was going to head out to Oklahoma City and start looking for a house for the following year. Until then I was going to be in a hotel. On my way to the airport I get a call from my agent again and he says “Don’t get on the plane.” And I’m like “What?” He repeats, “Don’t get on the plane. There’s some problems with the trade, I don’t know if it’s going to go through.” So I go back home and he calls me back to say the deal is not going through. Meanwhile, I’m like “WHAT?” Next thing you know, I’m getting calls from a couple of the Hornets people, and they’re saying, “We’re looking forward” and this and that.”

Lots of Thabo love from ESPN’s Daily Dime. Lots: “Kevin Arnovitz: It might not be the splashiest deal of the day — and it’s certainly a fall-off from the Tyson Chandler trade — but I like Oklahoma City’s acquisition of Thabo Sefolosha for a late first-round draft pick. Oklahoma City has incredible offensive firepower on its roster. What OKC needs now are some players like Sefolosha who can give them some length and toughness on the wing. For the Thunder to become a perennial playoff team in the West, they’ll need a defensive stopper or two, and Sefolosha can excel in that regard. He can guard four positions and rebound the ball without hurting them offensively. In other words, he can provide the Thunder some reliable glue for all those nice pieces.”

John Hollinger grades OKC’s trades: “I love this deal for the Thunder. They’ve needed a shooting guard all season, especially one who will defend and doesn’t need the ball much. Sefolosha pretty much fits the description on all counts, and he should be a perfect fit as their starting 2 going forward. He doesn’t have great offensive gifts, but he could become an elite defensive stopper in time. The Thunder trade one of their three first-rounders in what shapes up as a fairly lame draft, but there’s a chance that the pick (the lesser of Phoenix’s or Denver’s) will end up being in the lottery. In a related move, the Thunder waived Mouhamed Sene, one of their recent lottery picks to try to fill the center spot for the franchise. I’m guessing you won’t hear that name again unless you’re a big fan of FIBA qualifying tournaments. Grade: A-”

And on the Rose/Wilcox deal: “This is a bit of a come-down from Tyson Chandler. But the Thunder got some payola out of it for agreeing to take Rose, and I’m sure Clay Bennett appreciates that. The Thunder might get a few more ducats out of it if Rose agrees to a buyout so he can sign with a contender — perhaps returning to San Antonio. Grade: C-plus” Keep Reading…

	Pace	Eff	eFG	FT/FG	OREB%	TOr
OKC	105.0	114.3	53.5%	32.6	40.0	20.0
GSW		126.7	61.9%	42.5	9.7	16.2

Thunder (13-42, 3-23 road) vs. Golden State Warriors (19-36, 14-13 home)

Oklahoma City Thunder (13-41, 3-22 road) vs. Phoenix Suns (30-23, 15-10 home)

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