Thursday Bolts – 9.22.11
John Rohde of The Oklahoman: “Even though the NBA is in the midst of a lockout, the Thunder still reached its full-season-ticket capacity and announced it has started a waiting list. The Lakers, Celtics, Bulls and Knicks reportedly are the only franchises to have sold out season tickets for 2011-12.”
Beckley Mason of HoopSpeak on if Phoenix should trade Steve Nash: “The only way to get that young talent is to be bad. And not just bad, but excruciatingly, Toronto Raptors bad. Then you get a top five pick, then you get the cheap talent, then you get the wins in a few years (note: bungling this process is as easy as making a David Kahn joke). Picking up Harden and Ibaka, or Parker and Splitter, muddies that clear stream flowing towards Thunder-esque glory. Not only are you going to want to pay those guys (they’re really good, after all), but they’re young, so you’ll want to sign ‘em for a long time. This, it appears, is a fool-proof (caution: phrase may not apply to Sarver-run team) recipe for remaining in that undesirable netherworld of 43-39 seasons.”
Darnell Mayberry had a Q&A with Byron Mullens: “Just the experience. There’s probably not going to be an opportunity to go over and see Athens, Greece. Aside from just going over and getting the experience of playing basketball, I’ll also get to experience going over there and seeing another country. It didn’t really matter where it was, I was going to jump on it either way.”
Nick Collison was among a pretty cool group playing in a charity game in Toronto.
Ziller riffing more about shot creation: “Russell Westbrook is basically the poster child for this line of thinking, in addition to being the spark that got me thinking about this matter. Some of the shots Russ creates are alley-oops to Kevin Durant. Those are effective shots, and he deserves kudos for creating them. Some of the shots Russ creates are pull-up jumpers in traffic. He ain’t no Beno Udrih. Those are not effective shots for him, and it’d probably be better if he didn’t create them.”
When can the NBA season start?
The Nuggets, who are maybe OKC’s biggest competition in the Northwest, just lost another player to China. Zach Lowe of SI on Kenyon Martin signing there: “While it’s easy to say the Nuggets would have major cap room if Nene does leave, we really have no idea if that will be true. Under the old collective bargaining deal, elements of which will persist in the new one, Denver held varying levels of control over all of its outgoing free agents. That control came with a price: salary-cap holds, or artificial charges to its cap number that would effectively take it out of the free-agent derby. The only way to get rid of such cap holds was for a player to sign elsewhere or for Denver to renounce its rights to such a player. It may well have done that with Martin and Smith, but will the new system allow the Nuggets to do so now that the two have signed abroad without entering NBA free agency — and could return to the NBA in time to sign with a playoff team next season? Will cap holds even exist?”
