Friday Bolts – 4.3.15
Ken Berger of CBSSports.com: “For the Thunder, and for the dozen or more teams that will be carefully monitoring Durant’s comeback and wooing him from far, it’s true: One guy could change it all. If I were a betting man, I’d wager that Durant stays and everyone lives happily ever after. But I don’t have a crystal ball, and even if I did, it wouldn’t matter as much as what’s between the ears and inside the chest of the man himself.”
Darnell Mayberry on OKC’s defense: Of the 11 healthy players, eight have finished a season with a defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possession while they’re on the court) of at least 107. The three exceptions are Westbrook, Adams and McGary. Of the eight offenders, four have finished a season with a defensive rating of 107 or higher at least twice. They are Augustin, Morrow, Novak and Enes Kanter. Against the Mavs, the Thunder had stretches where three of those four were on the court together. Morrow, according to nba.com/stats, actually is having a career year defensively. He’s currently posting a 101.4 defensive rating that marks the first time in his seven-year career that he’s recorded a net positive between his offensive and defensive ratings. Before this season, Morrow had not posted a defensive rating lower than 105.1. He’s now proof that previously below average defenders can improve.
Oklahoma stands alone on Russ for MVP.
Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders: “As much as Durant has pledged his long-term affections for Oklahoma City, those mega-star free agents that have come before him have done the same thing. LeBron James said similar things about Cleveland before leaving them later for Miami. Dwight Howard pledged his love for Orlando before forcing his way out of Central Florida. Carmelo Anthony said he loved Denver right up to the point that he forced his way to the Knicks. Free agency can be viewed in a lot of ways, and for the next 456 days, the Thunder are going to have to entertain both.”
Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com on LeBron’s MVP case: “Curry is flirting with the exclusive 50-40-90 club, shooting 48.3 percent from the floor, 43.4 percent from 3 and 91.8 percent from the foul line and racking up a ridiculous true shooting percentage of 63.4, unheard of for a 6-foot-3 guard. Westbrook has 10 triple-doubles on the season, leads the league in scoring and has been putting up stat lines so impressive that even James’ teammate, Kevin Love, endorsed Westbrook for the league’s most coveted individual award. Harden is averaging career highs in points (27.2), assists (7.0) and rebounds (5.7), has nine 40-plus point games (including hitting for 50 twice) and has played in 74 of the Rockets’ 75 games.”
Ben Alamar of ESPN Stats and Info on a top 16 system: “In a top-16 world, there is only a 10 percent chance for a non-top 10 team to reach the semis, and a 1 percent chance for a non-top 10 team to play in the Finals. Since the teams in the semifinals and Finals would be far more likely to be the top teams in the league, fans would be much more likely to see a highly competitive series in those rounds. This is true, in fact, for each round. Based on the simulation of both structures, the average BPI of teams competing is higher in each round in a top-16 system than in the conference system. Some teams in the East may not like the prospect of not being able to tell season-ticket holders that they had a playoff season, but the top-16 system gives fans more competitive basketball in each round of the playoffs.”
