Friday Bolts – 1.27.12
KD was named the 17th most powerful athlete in the world by Business Week: “This young superstar-in-the-making has notched two seasons as the NBA’s top scorer and led Oklahoma to back-to-back playoff berths. He signed with Nike shortly after the draft and has been courted by other blue chip companies ever since.”
Russell Westbrook was 70th: “The dynamic scoring duo of Kevin Durant (No. 17) and Russell Westbrook announced themselves to the NBA two years ago, when their Oklahoma City Thunder nearly derailed the Los Angeles Lakers’ championship run. This year the Thunder have one of the league’s best records (14-3 as of publication), and Westbrook’s quicksilver drives to the hoop and 20-point average are a big reason why. The Thunder rewarded Westbrook with an $80 million contract extension in mid-January.”
A SportsNation poll has KD right in the MVP mix.
Dirk Nowitzki: “I haven’t seen one team in the West that I’m scared of,” Nowitzki said. “I really haven’t. I think we can compete with all of them. Oklahoma City has probably the best record, but I think we’ve played them well every time we’ve seen them and everybody else has been up and down.”
Rob Mahoney of The Two Man Game in a 5-on-5 says Westbrook’s extension was the best move last week: “Russell Westbrook’s five-year, $80 million extension. Sam Presti made it crystal clear that the Thunder consider Westbrook a star and a cornerstone as he locked up Oklahoma City’s core for the foreseeable future. The money is easily justifiable for a player of Westbrook’s talent and production, and this move had the added benefit of altering the NBA narrative; the annoying (and exaggerated) Westbrook vs. Durant subplot seemed to disappear overnight, as this extension quelled any lingering doubt over Westbrook’s future.”
Scott Brooks on eight of the next nine being on the road: “It’s not easy to win on the road. You go into some hostile environments and we definitely have our hands full the next two weeks … very tough cities to play in. Our guys love challenges. They embrace it. They don’t shy away from it. We don’t have a cockiness to us, we just have a belief.”