Tuesday Bolts – 10.27.15
Zach Lowe of Grantland has OKC in the championship tier: “They slot a hair below the tippy-top
until we see how Billy Donovan juggles minutes around his three stars. Good role players take open shots on offense, make quick decisions on cuts and passes, and play their asses off on defense. They help you by not hurting you. Oklahoma City has invested big in two supporting players, Dion Waiters and Enes Kanter, who commit gruesome acts of sabotage when they go off the rails. They’re both just 23; they have plenty of time to buff away their weaknesses and assimilate into a team structure. Donovan apparently has the clout to bring Kanter, a freaking max player, off the bench, and that could indicate Donovan has the clout to nail him there when the games really matter.”
Marc Stein’s power rankings have OKC fourth: “No team has more riding on the outcome of this season than the Thunder. And no fan base is sicker of that snap take than this one. The good news: Kevin Durant shot nearly 60 percent from the floor in his preseason comeback and couldn’t have looked much better. As stressful as the next nine months will be for everyone in OKC … inspiring start.”
Berry Tramel on the starting five: “It’s possible that the Thunder believes Roberson is particularly well-suited to play with Durant and Westbrook. In other words, Roberson playing with Kyle Singler in the starting lineup would NOT be a good idea. The Thunder needs more scoring than that. But with Durant and Westbrook, it works. Durant and Westbrook are unconventional players. Does that an unconventional lineup best suits them? That seems to be the Thunder’s theory.”
Westbrook is seventh in #NBARank… down three spots from last year?
Tramel on keeping Durant: “Big Shot describes this Thunder season. We don’t know if this is the Last Shot. Don’t know if Durant will return in 2016-17 for his 10th season with the franchise that drafted him out of the University of Texas. Durant’s contract expires after this season, and he will hit the free agent market in July, a recruiting frenzy that will rival the pursuits of LeBron. The optimists among us believe Durant will return. But until that decision, the 2015-16 season will be known as OKC’s Big Shot. The Thunder’s best opportunity to win a precious NBA championship and show Durant that there’s no better place for him to play ball.”
Matt Moore of CBSSports.com: “Out of sight, out of mind. The narrative is the big thing around Kevin Durant this season. “Will he go to home to the Wizards this summer? What about the Lakers? He wore a Redskins jersey, oh my gosh!” Do not forget what this man is capable of doing on the court. Durant’s transcendence is lost in the stories of the Thunder’s trade of James Harden, in their lack of a title (turns out winning one is hard), and his evolution from media darling and smiling sweet kid to media-bashing, angry megastar. But in the month of May, Kevin Durant has 19 games with more than 30 points out of 43 total games played. He combines effortless efficiency with lethal recognition of the biggest moments. Durant never forces the issue, but instead finds his way into whatever weakness the defense exposes.”
Tom Ziller of SB Nation: “Golden State is the best team until proven otherwise. I maintain that the Thunder are knocking down that door — especially now that we’ve seen some of the twists Billy Donovan has cooked up. We now know that Enes Kanter is going to be a bench guy despite his salary, and now that DION WAITERS LIVES. I really have drunk the OKC-oolaid.”
Seth Partnow of the Washington Post on Serge Ibaka: “Ibaka’s ability to fill holes and cover for weaknesses has been a go-to point for those defending Oklahoma City’s decisions to first acquire and then retain Enes Kanter. A capable interior scorer to be sure, Kanter lacks shooting range, and more importantly, whether in Utah or OKC was one of the worst defensive players in the league last year. Across a variety of metrics, rim protection, Real Plus/Minus or a simple before and after comparison of the Jazz’s defense with (29th) and without (a historically good first) Kanter on the roster, it is hard to overstate how poorly Kanter performed on defense.”
Erik Horne: “You shouldn’t expect to see a deviation from Durant and Westbrook as the leading scorers and shot-takers. But Donovan wants the end result — be it a Durant pull-up jumper or a Mitch McGary corner 3 — to come via different movement. For example, big men are going to show up in places on the court and make passes and plays they haven’t in the past, for the sake of player development and offensive efficiency.”
Charles Barkley: “I think there are four elite teams in the Western Conference. I am going to pick Oklahoma City to win the West, followed by the Warriors, the Clippers and the Spurs. If any one of those four teams win the West, I would be totally shocked. It will be a dogfight out West, man. … I think if Durant is healthy, Oklahoma City is the best team. They are the biggest team, they are the most athletic team, they are the deepest team, in my opinion. They are scary, but it all depends on Kevin Durant’s foot.”
