Tuesday Bolts – 7.8.14
Darnell Mayberry on Perry Jones: “But there were two major differences. Confidence and assertiveness. In his first two games in Orlando, Jones competed with a spirit that’s been seen only in spurts over his first two seasons in Oklahoma City. His aggressiveness was relentless. His hustle was contagious. Jones got the night off in the Thunder’s 98-84 win over Brooklyn on Monday, but he showed enough in those first two days to make you think his motor might no longer be a concern. That, of course, has been the biggest knock on Jones since his college days, and little has changed in the two years since Jones left Baylor. But it appears Jones is striving to shatter that pesky perception once and for all this week.”
Paul Flannery of SB Nation on free agency: “Free agency is The Show stripped bare of its pretenses. It’s competition in its purest form, whether it comes in the form of max money or true friendship. We have created a language around the offseason that gives it a sense of formality, but there are no real rules besides mind-bending salary cap arithmetic, and even that can be circumvented by the right deal. Lesser players are discarded like so many dated photoshops — sorry, Jeremy Lin, anyone want Marcus Thornton? — and recruiting visits are tacky spectacles given an even greater urgency by breathless play-by-play accounts on Twitter. Anyone and everyone can make anything happen, but only a select few are worth it.”
Russell Westbrook is out for USA Basketball this summer.
Tom Haberstroh of ESPN Insider on the Heat’s signings: “The Heat are still confident that James, Wade and Bosh will be back. That hasn’t changed. McRoberts and Granger won’t move the needle much in either direction, but in an aggressive market that saw Jodie Meeks and C.J. Miles get nearly $20 million each, the Heat were forced to temper their expectations with their midlevel and biannual exceptions. Let’s see if James, Wade and Bosh see it the same way.”
Tom Ziller on the Spurs: “The amazing thing is that given the NBA’s financial reward system, this could easily be a vicious cycle in any other franchise’s hands. Players’ contracts are partly based on how their team performs. The Spurs are always amazing. That should boost their free agents’ contract offers! But through some combination of salesmanship, coercion and magic, the Spurs get all of their best free agents to take relative discounts to stay in San Antonio. Duncan’s been doing it for years. Manu did it a couple of times. I’m still not sure exactly why Parker is only making $12.5 million.”
