Friday Bolts – 10.1.10
Two reminders because I’m a nice person: 1) The superfun Thunder scrimmage at Yukon High School is tonight. Doors open at 5 p.m. and the scrimmage goes from 5:30 – 6:45 p.m. 2) Thunder single game tickets for the first half of the season go on sale Monday, Oct. 4 at 10 a.m.
Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com: “Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman nails it. The long stares should be on Russell Westbrook, not Kevin Durant, to gauge the next step in hopeful OKC. Durant is a known. But the extent of Westbrook’s improvement after the valuable playoff experience followed by a prominent role in the world championships will play a large role in determining the extent of improvement for the Thunder.”
Get your weird looking Rumble doll! Get it now!
Nick Collison: “Did you overcompensate using your left knee while your right knee was healing? ‘Not real sure what happened. It might have got hit, bumped knees playing pickup. It was a pain that was just kind of lingering and started to get worse. The good news is they feel like with rest it should be OK. I’d love to be out there playing.'”
Darnell Mayberry on the Thunder going from hunter to hunted: “How well the Thunder is able to focus following a small taste of success could be a defining key to this season. The team won 50 games a year ago and came within a last-second tip-in of forcing a seventh game in its first-round series against the Lakers. Suddenly, the Thunder has become the darling of the NBA, with the national media wasting no opportunity to declare how dangerous this team is.”
Should the NBA look at a hard salary cap?
Daniel Orton will miss all of the preseason for the Magic. What a relief we didn’t get him.
A season preview from TSN: “The big question in meeting those expectations is whether or not the Thunder can improve their fortunes against winning teams. Last season they did a tremendous job of pounding on the league’s weaklings, going 29-6 against sub-.500 squads. However, they were just 21-26 against the over-.500 crowd last season, and if they want to reach the upper echelons of the Western Conference (remember that they only finished as an eighth seed last season) they are going to have to address this weakness right away.”
Kevin Durant won a scrimmage for his team yesterday and here’s the video proof.