Friday Bolts – 9.17.10

Sham Sports with some interesting info in talking about brief Thunderer Eric Bledsoe: “Bledsoe is all ready to back up Baron Davis, who doesn’t weigh 270lbs, contrary to what you may have heard. By the way, the first rounder that the Clippers gave up for Bledsoe’s rights is top 10 protected through 2015, then unprotected in 2016. So if the Clippers just miss the playoffs this year, OKC will have traded up again.”

Fran Blinebury of NBA.com on KD and LeBron: “Maybe the powers-that-be at USA Basketball should save themselves the headache and the aggravation of more tryouts, more spurned invitations, more of the ego-massaging that is always necessary and simply elect to send the entire roster of the Thunder to London for the 2012 Olympics. After all, the way Durant, Russell Westbrook and their teammates are zooming up the ladder of progress, they might be the newly crowned NBA champions by that summer. Just stamp their passports, put coach Scotty Brooks on the Olympic bench and those Thunder chaps could have a jolly old English summer and bring home another gold medal.”

An interesting discussion on market size in the NBA.

From the Dallas Morning News: “New Mavericks center Tyson Chandler learned quite a bit during an off-season that was anything but time off. As a member of Team USA at the FIBA World Championships, he learned just how good Oklahoma City will be this season behind Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. He also learned how good he can be now that he’s fully healthy again.”

Eric Pincus of HoopsWorld: “With exposure comes challenge as teams won’t be surprised by Durant and his scrappy Thunder teammates. The question at hand . . . will it matter?  Can teams, by just taking OK City more seriously, do anything to keep Durant below 30 points a game? Given that Russell Westbrook continues to outperform expectations (at some point it was Thunder duo doing the most damage to Turkey in the gold medal game), the Thunder aren’t just a one-man show. They’re extremely well coached by Scottie Brooks and while there’s not a lot of star-power after Durant and Westbrook, Brooks get the most out of his talented group of role players. With LeBron James joining forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami and Kobe sharing the spotlight with Gasol and Bynum – Durant may be the early favorite for league MVP . . . and he’s just getting started.

Congrats to the Seattle Storm on winning the WNBA championship last night.

Kevin Durant and Wale are having another birthday bash in DC this year.