Thursday Bolts – 7.16.15
Alex Wong for Sports On Earth: “Make no mistake, regardless of whether Durant’s long-term future with the Thunder hinges on the team winning a championship or at least making the Finals next season, the narrative will be spun, and it will be a circus when the Thunder are on the road, especially in places like Washington and Miami, and just for fun, any big market such as New York or Los Angeles. Over two-thirds of the league are likely to have max cap room next summer when the cap jumps with the league’s new television deal kicking in. There will be many suitors, and a ton of fan bases thinking they could position themselves to land a once-in-a-generation superstar. Everything Durant says and does (or doesn’t do) will be analyzed, dissected, then parsed further. If the Thunder get off to a slow start, the Durant-Donovan partnership will come into question. We may go through another round of whether Durant and Westbrook can co-exist. Everything is on the table.”
Darnell Mayberry on Dion Waiters: “Waiters said he’s working to improve every aspect of his game but specifically mentioned developing his catch-and-shoot skills and his ability to shoot off the dribble. He also pointed to his post-up game and finishing ability as areas that he wants to improve.”
Wait, is baseball the next big thing in OKC?
Isaac Chips of For the Win: “Rawls is the heart of the Goodman League. He’s been the commissioner since 1996, and emcees this evening as he does every night. The Goodman games reflect the neighborhood where they’re held. Fans bring lawn chairs up to the sidelines for views inches from the court. The games can be chippy, and the trash talk is incessant. Rawls is in the midst of it all, orchestrating the evening like a symphony, spitting one-liners and nicknames at a torrid pace.”
Kanter and Singler both make FiveThirtyEight’s most overpaid list.
Chris Mannix of SI: “Paying Kanter gives pundits license to bring up James Harden, and the Thunder are right to be pilloried for that move. They should have offered Harden the max three years ago, dared him to reject it and dealt with any third banana complex Harden would have felt at some point. They didn’t, and there will always be what-ifs because of it. But matching Kanter isn’t overcompensating for a prior mistake. It’s locking up a gifted center years from his prime. It’s plugging Kanter, 23, into a rotation with an average age of 26. It’s giving Durant and Russell Westbrook the low post presence they need to balance the lineup. And let’s be real here: Being cheap is not an option. Durant’s free agency has already cast a long shadow over this team, and that shadow will only grow as we inch toward next summer. But while speculation will run rampant, Presti is doing the only thing he can—putting together a deep, talented team with the potential for long-term success. Time and again, Durant has expressed one desire: To win. And while so many teams are gutting their rosters to create the cap space necessary to sign Durant, Oklahoma City has quietly put together a superior one around him.”
Patrick Dorsey of ESPN.com builds his all-bargain team: “Anyone still want to argue that 3-point shooting doesn’t win championships? Morrow shot 43.4 percent last season and is at 42.9 for his career. We’d buy that for a dollar.”
