Thursday Bolts – 7.30.15
Brad Doolittle of ESPN Insider on most and least improved teams: “Getting Pierce to sign filled the Clippers’ biggest hole, but not far behind on the to-do list was upgrading a woeful bench. The talent level in that regard has been unquestionably improved, with Prigioni, Stephenson, Smith and Aldrich taking over for a quartet that collectively would have been forecast to produce minus-2.2 WARP. Doc Rivers has to figure out how the talent will fit, and that’s a concern. The starting lineup is off-the-charts good, but how will a bench group that includes, Stephenson, Smith and either (or both) of Austin Rivers and Crawford share the ball? Either way, it’s a much better problem for the Clippers’ boss to tackle than the one he faced before the endearingly fickle nature of DeAndre Jordan kept him in an L.A. uniform.”
Marc Stein of ESPN.com says OKC will make the biggest jump in the West:” Oklahoma City, as long as you’re prepared to assume a mostly healthy season for Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Billy Donovan’s move to the NBA, like Fred Hoiberg’s in Chicago, will be a source of season-long curiosity. The talent, though, is too good when available for the Thunder not to make their traditional run at 55-ish wins, no matter how the new coach fares.”
Sean Deveney of Sporting News ranking KD’s free agency destinations.
Matt Moore of CBSSports.com with reasons LeBron shouldn’t do Space Jam 2: “Hunter S. Thompson used to write columns on mescaline, and even he would think that plot construction was out there. The central premise that makes Space Jam work is your average cartoon vs. real life slapstick intersection combined with the absurdity of how casual everyone is about the unfolding chaos. The problem, of course, is that surreality has gone to new forms and levels in the 20 years since Space Jam came out. FX had a show about a man who was a dog in a dog costume. Adult Swim has brought animation to entirely new levels. So building upon those concepts are not going to work as well. The parts of Space Jam that work are things which are hard to track down nowadays.”
The Oklahoman is doing a series on Billy Donovan.
Jason Quick of The Oregonian on Wes Matthews: “He believed he was a viable option for teams, even as he continued to rehabilitate a ruptured left Achilles tendon suffered in March. In the days leading up to free agency, Matthews’ camp released video to ESPN showing him jogging in place, utilizing lateral movement and shooting jumpers. He was, he wanted the league to know, ahead of the eight-month recovery time estimated by doctors. A story also leaked that Matthews expected negotiations to start at $15 million a season, or almost $8 million more than he made last year. It was a ghastly number for the Blazers, even though they could technically afford him. Paul Allen is the richest owner in sports, but after a lost era during which he paid more than a combined $100 million to Brandon Roy and Greg Oden, only to see their knee injuries become chronic, Allen was wary of paying top dollar to a player coming off a serious injury.”
