Monday Bolts – 8.15.11
Tyreke Evans on working out with Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose: “When we work out together, we always do different things. There’s things that I do better than them and there’s things they do better than me. So it’s always good to work out with them and try to learn new things from their games.”
Jenni Carlson with a lecture for Perk: “He can be a hothead. But a knucklehead? There has never been a time when Perk seemed like a goober. Truth be told, he’s one of the more thoughtful, intelligent interviews on the team. He sees situations for what they are, then he tells it like it is. I’m going to follow his lead. Perk acted like a bonehead this weekend. The Thunder expect better from him. Ditto for Oklahoma City.”
More from KD’s interview with the Washington Post: “I just want to hoop,” Durant said Saturday. “I do it for everybody back here that really don’t get a chance to see me that much. I just want to break the barrier. A lot of NBA players don’t do it as often as I do it now, before. Guys may come, play one or two games, but I play all summer, so I just want to break the barrier, show them that I’m regular.”
95 Theses for the NBA lockout.
Shoals says KD is winning the lockout: “The Heat no longer serve as an owner talking point, yet at the same time, they plop us right back in 1999, where Stern convinced America that his players were spoiled, hapless jerks. LeBron, even at his best, belongs to that aristocratic class. Durant, on the other hand, is the breath of fresh air. Even better, he may not even know, or care. He puts on a show without the slightest hint of cynicism; he drops 66 at the Rucker because that’s what scorers do. Durant’s writing his script as he goes, one night at a time. Who knows what it means, though, if he takes that rumored deal to go play in Turkey or Russia for the duration of the lockout. We may, a year from now, look back at that as Durant’s very own “Decision”.”
Kelly Dwyer of BDL on Perk: “OK, don’t do that — allegedly — Kendrick Perkins. With that in place, and with him allegedly in that particular place, the sort of picks he could after a dozen Lone Star longnecks could really do some damage. Apologies for making light of what was apparently a long weekend gone wrong, but if this is Perkins’ low point? Thankfully nobody was hurt. Apologize 12 times over, to all 144 involved, Perk. Now go make up for that missed appearance at camp. And stop relying on Stephen Jackson for advice. He’s only good for dollar-to-Euro conversion rates these days.”
The Simmons/Stern podcast is outstanding.
Darnell Mayberry on Perk’s weekend adventure: “But above all, this lockout, which is now in Day 46, is increasingly endangering the players and leaving the teams for which they play powerless to help. That’s quickly becoming the most worrisome side effect to this labor dispute. Perkins becomes the latest and most chilling case of player’s well-being being at risk. While playing in a pro-am game in San Francisco, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Matt Barnes punched an opposing player. During a street ballgame at Dyckman Park in New York, Minnesota forward Michael Beasley approached a heckling fan standing courtside and shoved him in the face. Those brief skirmishes are minor compared to Perkins needing medical attention.”
