Monday Bolts – 10.3.16
Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical: “In the end, Golden State’s Draymond Green wouldn’t have
been so persistent recruiting Durant throughout the past season had Durant shut down the conversations. Green wouldn’t have texted and talked with one-sided conversations that included no responses, no reciprocation. Truth be told, something was missing for Durant in Oklahoma City, and he left because he believed it existed in Golden State. Great players need an anchor to stay, and Durant didn’t have an anchor there.”
Nick Collison in an interview with HoopsHype: “I was disappointed, for sure. We played together for a long time, we came a long way from where we started. So yeah, it’s disappointing. It’s always tough when teammates leave, that’s the way the business works. It was a different thing with Kevin because of how much time we spent together, and obviously because of the great player he is.”
Dan Feldman of PBT: “Depth on the perimeter is dicier. Beyond Oladipo and Roberson on the wing, Oklahoma City has major question marks in Kyle Singler, Josh Huestis and Alex Abrines, and coaches don’t seem to like the answer Anthony Morrow provides. Cameron Payne‘s injury will force Ronnie Price into a larger-than-desired role at point guard. Ultimately, so much of this falls on Westbrook’s shoulders. If his teammates are collectively anything more than OK, that’s just a nice bonus. Westbrook embraced this, signing a contract extension after Durant left. This is his team. It’s on him to prove it won’t fall into disrepair after losing a superstar like so many teams before it.”
Erik Horne: “The Thunder now has six players on its roster whose basketball education started outside the United States. Steven Adams (New Zealand) and Enes Kanter (Turkey) were already on board, but the offseason saw the acquisition or import of four players with foreign roots in Domantas Sabonis (Lithuania), Alex Abrines (Spain), Ersan Ilyasova (Turkey) and Joffrey Lauvergne (France). A commonality between the Thunder players new and old: the lengths they’ve gone to get to the NBA. It’s a collection of players who left their homes, who faced with language barriers and cultural differences in order to pursue basketball.”
Brett Dawson: “Over the past four seasons, only the Kings’ DeMarcus Cousins (with 120) has drawn more charges than Ilyasova’s 96, according to NBAMiner.com. And no player in the NBA has drawn as many total offensive fouls — charges, push-offs, etc. — as Ilyasova, who has taken 203 of them in that span. Ilyasova isn’t always so fired up to fall down. It hurts to hit the deck in pursuit of a possession, and it’s taken years of work for the 6-foot-10, 235-pound Turk to get so good at it. When Ilyasova first came into the league with Milwaukee a decade ago, he already had a knack for sliding in to get laid out. He wasn’t a great shot-blocker and he’d already learned to compensate by taking the charge. But as he learned the NBA and the American style of play, he needed practice adjusting his charge-drawing technique.”
