Wednesday Bolts – 8.3.16
Anthony Slater is moving to the Bay: “In August of 2010, I left Northern California for
Oklahoma. I’d never spent a day in the state. Researched very little about it. Didn’t know a single person who lived there. Six years later, to the exact month, I’m retracing those steps, leaving Oklahoma for a return to Northern California and an incredible career opportunity: I’ve accepted a job covering the Golden State Warriors for the San Jose Mercury News/Bay Area News Group. I’m excited about what’s ahead – a new professional challenge, a chance to document the story of the sports world and a 45-minute, not 28-hour, drive to see family. But I’ll be forever grateful for what I left behind, a place that both became my second home and paved this awesome, unlikely dream path back to my original one.”
Klay Thompson says he’s not sacrificing: “I feel kind of disrespected that people keep using the term sacrifice to describe me and describe us. We all want to see each other do well. But I’m not sacrificing [expletive], because my game isn’t changing. I’m still going to try to get buckets, hit shots, come off screens. I want to win and have a fun time every game we play.”
Tracy McGrady doesn’t approve of KD’s move: “I was disappointed in the move to Golden State. I wasn’t disappointed that he left, I mean he’s a free agent, he’s able to go wherever he wants. But I just think having a team now coming off a championship run and you have the champs down 3-1, and they come back and defeat you. I just think as a competitor, you would come back and try to dethrone them with the same team. You’re playing with a top-five point guard in Russell Westbrook. I mean to me, I think OKC is a championship-caliber team. They displayed that; they just had a major collapse in the Western Conference Finals against Golden State. But I was highly disappointed that he chose Golden State to go and play for the other team. I wanted him to stay in OKC.”
Interesting piece on Brandon Ingram and weight gain.
CBSSports.com ranks OKC’s bench the 12th best: “Cameron Payne should make strides from a rollercoaster rookie season with more time to play next to Russell Westbrook in combo-guard lineups. Singler is much-maligned but is still an OK fill-in option. Abrines provides intriguing potential, while Kanter showed improved defense and at times monstrous offensive production last year. There are weapons here, but they all come with skill-specific reservations, more than the units above them.”
