Monday Bolts – 7.25.16
Berry Tramel: “What’s the old Garth Brooks lyrics? “Our lives are better left to chance; I
could have missed the pain, but I’d have had to miss the dance.” Losing Durant sucked. It brought a cloud over all things Thunder. But when the Thunder signed a guy from across the sea, whom most of us have never seen play, the sun peered through just a little bit, and reminded us that come October, the music starts up, albeit with a different tune, and we all can dance again.”
Anthony Slater: “But like Durant — because of Durant — a hopeful but uncertain tone is attached to Oladipo’s dreams about next season. The KD earthquake hit on Independence Day and the ground around the Thunder hasn’t stopped shaking. There’s credible thought that Westbrook may get traded before camp should he show no desire to sign a long-term extension, jump-starting a long OKC rebuild. For Oladipo, it’d be like getting traded from the Magic to a different version of the Magic. But for now, he’s operating with optimism, in part because of his conversations with Westbrook.”
I appreciate the optimism, but nah man. Nah.
Erik Horne: “Sabonis’ offensive game is eerily similar to current Thunder forward Mitch McGary, who Sabonis will be competing with for minutes at power forward. Sabonis’ offensive polish was well-heralded coming out of Gonzaga, but hardly anything was seen of his right hand. Aside from his two-hand dunk on the break, all six baskets Sabonis scored against Spain on Monday came either from his left hand or driving to his right. But the variety was impressive — 6-of-9 shooting with no two shots alike: A dunk, a putback, a reverse, a runner, a hook shot, rolling to the basket out of pick-and-roll.”
Want a KD jersey for 48 cents?
Fan trades for their team getting Russell Westbrook are predictably underwhelming.
KD: “No, I don’t. I want to be liked by people that I think love me. People I don’t know, I don’t care about,” Durant said. “I want you to respect my game and what I bring to the floor, and if you don’t like what I do as a person, I don’t care. I want you to respect my game and if you don’t, that’s your problem. But I don’t want to be liked. If somebody says, ‘KD’s a bad person,’ I’m not going to go in my home and boo-hoo tears. If you don’t like my game, I’m going go work on it and prove people that I am who I am, so it’s a difference.”
Matt Moore of CBSSports.com: “That’s kind of what it comes down to. Durant wanted to be “a part” of something special and wanted to be a great “teammate” on an all-time great team, which the Warriors will almost certainly be. A lot of people wanted Durant to be something more than that, to be the best player, the leader, the one who carried a team like Oklahoma City (which was great in its own right up until July 4th) to something special. Durant didn’t want that, he wanted to just be a part of something he thought was better.”
