Tuesday Bolts – 4.14.09
Marc Stein’s power rankings with a pretty strong note: “Was this the one and only season in the Durant Era that the
good folks of OKC had to stomach a ranking that was always in the 20s? The answer is YES unless the whole league is guilty of overhyping this situation.”
SLAM awards: “O.J. Mayo? Are you kidding me? Russell Westbrook? Word? Look. This rookie class has been exceptional. I see about eight future All-Stars. But there shouldn’t be a discussion, here. Rose came into the season facing the pressure and shouldering the burden of being the No. 1 pick, playing for his hometown Bulls. He was thrust into a starting role in the game’s most demanding position. To make matters more challenging, he was playing on a young squad without a leader and for a coach whom many of his teammates disliked. Through a season that included a coaching change and roster overhaul, he’s put up 16, 6 and 4 and helped the Bulls get into the postseason. Meanwhile, O.J. and Russ play for two of the worst teams in the League and O.J. has often played like the typical “numbers guy on a bad squad.” Rose better be a unanimous pick.”
NBA.com looks at potential Most Improved candidates:
Layup Drill has five players it wishes were in playoffs: “1. Kevin Durant: KD is the truth. The kid is making Portland wish they had went in a different direction a few seasons ago when bypassed Durant for Greg Oden. The Thunder have built the franchise around their lanky swingman, who averaged career highs in points, assists, and rebounds this year, and should have been selected as an All-Star. There’s always next year though.”
Blazer’s Edge’s slightly sarcastic recap: “So what “decided” the outcome of this “contest?” “Oklahoma City” didn’t bother to play any “defense,” allowing “dunk” after “dunk” after “dunk” against a far superior opponent. The “Thunder’s” “stars”, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Jeff Green, combined to “hit” 12 of 38 “shots.” Earl Watson “managed” 5 turnovers in just 25 minutes and “Robert Swift” (despite “rampant cheering” from Kevin Pelton) did whatever the “exact opposite of controlling the paint” is.”
Darnell’s observations: “My question to coach Brooks and the players after the game was how much are we supposed to read into these blowout losses? That’s six losses in seven games this month. The defeats are by an average margin of 20 points.”
HoopsWorld: “LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden looked up in the stands during a time out with about two minutes left in the game and waved to a couple of friends. At that point, Portland was sitting comfy after building a 35 point lead against Oklahoma City and the Blazers had waved bye-bye to the Thunder long before that. Call it basking in the glory of a young team headed to the playoffs. Call it confidence. Call it an easy win after two tough contests against San Antonio and Los Angeles. Call it Portland establishing a fear factor for other teams coming into the Rose Garden.”
John Hollinger’s pick for Most Improved: “Two other players — Kevin Durant and Danny Granger — have had PER improvements in the same ballpark, so it has come down to two factors for Roy. First, he isn’t a second-year player, while Durant is, and I’m normally reluctant to put second-year guys in the discussion because so many of them make huge strides in Year 2. (In fact, Jeff Green was arguably more deserving than Durant.)”
NBA.com’s power rankings: “As terrific a talent as Kevin Durant is, this was still the second-worst offense in the league. Scott Brooks needs to get in the lab and figure out how to get more out of Durant’s supporting cast offensively, while still getting them to improve on the defensive end.”
Scott Brooks challenged Russell Westbrook for this offseason: “He’s going to have to really step up and have a great summer. He can’t rest on the year that he has had,” Brooks said. “I believe that at a young age you shouldn’t just work on one area, you should get better on all areas of the game… And Russell has the ability to improve a lot. He has a lot of athletic ability. He has a lot of talent. He works extremely hard. And the thing that I see is he understands and he knows that he needs to get better. As a point guard, you can’t rest. You can’t take time off. There are so many good point guards in this league. Guys are waiting to get after you and pass you up. And Russell has to have that mentality. He has to understand that there are guys out there that are going to want to test him in his second year, and he has to really get after it and challenge himself this summer.”
48 Minutes of Hell with a fantastic interview with D-League commisioner Dan Reed: “I think it’s fascinating that you say that some of your readers balk at the fact that our league has so much talent, because what you’re saying is true. 60% of our players last season were All-Conference or better in college, which sure sounds a lot like your comment about an “All-Star league”. In each of the last 4 seasons, at least 25% of that year’s NBA draft class played in the NBA D-League. But regardless of how many stats I can rattle off that demonstrate how great our basketball is and how many top NBA prospects are playing in our league, for whatever reason people think about the idea of “minor league basketball” differently than they think about, say, college basketball or even minor league baseball — although I think we’re starting to change that perception.”
