Friday Bolts – 6.20.14
: “Any semblance of a post game would be nice. The past couple seasons, there were a few times when opposing teams were able to downsize and throw a much smaller guy on Ibaka. James Harden guarded him for brief stretches. Paul Pierce guarded him for most of a game. He’ll never be a ‘dump it down on the block 10 times a game’ guy. And the Thunder don’t need him to be. But Ibaka’s gotta be able to take more advantage of those mismatches just to dissuade teams from using them.”
Darnell Mayberry on Ibaka: “Ibaka’s steady improvement, as well as his drive and determination, suggest he’s still only scratched the surface of what he can be in this league. He’s finished in the top five in Defensive Player of the Year voting in each of the past three seasons, including a second-place finish in 2011-12 and a third-place finish in 2012-13. Ibaka is likely to face stiff competition to get over the hump. Big men such as Joakim Noah, Roy Hibbert, DeAndre Jordan, Dwight Howard, Marc Gasol and Anthony Davis figure to be in the running for the award for years to come. Wing players such as LeBron James, Paul George, Tony Allen, Andre Iguodala and Kawhi Leonard will be in play as well. But Ibaka has earned his place among them all.”
Amin Elhassan of ESPN Insider on fits for LeBron: “We had some fun in San Antonio on TrueHoop TV suggesting this, but the truth is that no other franchise can offer James what he truly seeks on a basketball level. The model franchise in terms of ownership commitment (without being meddlesome), shrewd management and elite coaching, the Spurs play a brand of equal-opportunity basketball that de-emphasizes the importance of any one cog in the system, the opposite of what James has experienced earlier in Cleveland and lately in Miami. With Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili eventually moving on, James could step in as the link to another decade of San Antonio dominance.”
Pat Riley on Melo: “That’s a pipe dream. But everyone thought 2010 was a pipe dream. That’s not where we’re headed.”
Tom Haberstroh of ESPN Insider says the 2008 draft class is the best of the last 25 years: “Not what you expected, huh? This is the deepest class of the last 25 years. By far. At the top, there are some potential Hall of Famers in Russell Westbrook (No. 4), Kevin Love (No. 5) and Derrick Rose (No. 1). The next tier features All-Stars and All-NBA players in Goran Dragic (No. 45), Roy Hibbert (No. 17) and Brook Lopez (No. 10). That’s some serious high-end talent. But that’s not where this class shines. The list of near All-Stars is astounding. Serge Ibaka, Ryan Anderson, DeAndre Jordan, Eric Gordon, Danilo Gallinari, Nikola Pekovic, Nic Batum and Omer Asik all were part of the 2008 class. Sure, Michael Beasley and O.J. Mayo haven’t lived up to expectations as top-five picks, but this class was absolutely stacked with talent from start to finish. Consider that this class has 14 draftees who have yielded at least an annual 4.0 EWA and the 2003 class has only five.”
If you missed it, patience is a good plan.
Trade talk is swirling about Kevin Love, with the Warriors seemingly being the leading candidate. Ethan Strauss of ESPN.com: “Since teams must respect Curry’s off-the-dribble 3-point shot, they have to guard his pick-and-rolls a bit differently. When there are four 3-point shooters on the floor, Curry gets teams in situations in which not a single defender is in the paint. A Love-Curry pick-and-roll would shatter a lot of defensive schemes. And with uncommonly sharp shooting for a power forward, Love complements Curry in a way Thompson can’t. These are some large stakes. Either Golden State gets that perfect superstar to align with Curry and allay his concerns, or they’re stuck worrying about what he’ll do when his contract is up in 2017. Suddenly, the feel-good Warriors are like a lot of big-market teams: pressured to make a splash so as to placate their franchise player. To make that splash, they must be willing to sacrifice one of the Splash Brothers.”