Smart Thoughts of the Week: Jan. 30 – Feb. 5

Smart Thoughts makes a triumphant return, with a new logo! Big thanks to Colin for it.

Throughout the week some of you drop some brilliant or at least somewhat thoughtful comments and so this is a try at highlighting some of them. Disclaimer: It’s not that I necessarily agree with all of them, but they were interesting and for the most part, well put. Consider everything [sic’d].

Yeah, that Durant guy is alright. (justin): It’ll be tough to increase his scoring efficiency much more than it is currently. It’s probably possible that he’ll experience a few 50/40/90 type seasons a la Larry Bird, and with the increased free throw trips of this era, he could pull off some 62% TS seasons.. otherwise, there really isn’t much precendent for a wing player being that much better as a scorer than KD is right now. I think 50/40/90 is his peak as a scorer, and at his volume and ability to draw fouls, that’s up there in terms of historical significance. KD could score 32-35 points a game on those percentages with his kind of usage.

If KD really wants to make his mark historically he’ll have to either learn how to distribute the ball better or he’ll need to slide to PF to get closer to 10RPG and become a versatile defender.

I think the latter is more likely but KD has good court vision and his handle is improving.. he’ll go down as one of the best scorers the NBA has seen easily, even if he keeps up his current production his entire career he would be Top 10 all time in that regard, but if he can add either play making or rebounding / defense as another dominant facet he’ll be a legit all time great.

Is it true that if you don’t use it, you lose it? (Jax Raging Bile Duct): It is a waste of cap space if you don’t use it. You are allowed to go over the cap to resign your own players. You can’t go over the cap to sign a free agent. You have to do a sign and trade to get a free agent in that situation. The least we could do, if there are no good options available to use our cap space on, is to sign a good player on a good contract. You can always find a way to trade a good player with a good contract.

Thabo, for example, has a very good contract in terms of value. If Thabo gets named to a couple all nba defensive teams over the next couple of seasons, that contract looks even more appealing. You can trade a contract like that. He’s not the centerpiece, not a blockbuster, but that is a very movable asset. Not every team could use Thabo’s talents, but lots of teams could. I could see us using our cap space for a guy like that. A guy that most teams could use, with a good contract. That way, when on down the line a player that we do want becomes available, we could use our good contract in a deal.

The unused cap space is not cash. The cap space is an asset. If you use the asset it costs you cash, but you acquire another asset, in this case a player. You can then trade that asset for another asset. You can’t trade cap space (sort of, you can rent it out so to speak). So, by not using the cap space, you’re essentially releasing an asset. Of course, if you acquire an asset that turns out to be a liability, then you’ve hurt yourself long term.

Looks like Coach Scotty sells himself short (see what I did there?): (Crow): I thought it might be interesting briefly looking at Scott Brooks as an offensive player. He downplays his career, the right thing to do as a Coach these days, but he has some stuff that is notable. 5-11 PG starts plays every game as a rookie and puts up a PER14. Backing up Cheeks. With a 4.5 – 1 A/TO and an offensive Rating of 118. 4 seasons over 40% on 3 pointers. Only once below 35%. He got to PER17 in one brief, low minutes season. Two brief seasons with a TS% above 60% and one of those his eFG% was right at 60% too. Career shooting and scoring percentages right about league average. Career A / TO of 3.5. He played on 4 top 10 offenses and 3 bottom 10 so he knows both firsthand. Of course teaching it is different.

Now to the important stuff – Harden’s beard. (girlballer): I was absolutely flabbergasted (no WAY I spelled that right…)but Ibaka’s offense!! He has a velvety 10-14 ft shot–where does THAT come from?!? Blocks yeah, rebounds yeah, but 14 fts from the elbow? REALLY?!? Ibaka needs the next shirt.

And my two cents on the beard issue (female opinion I might add…) is that I ALWAYS prefer 5 o’clock shadow to either baby bottom smooth or grizzly Adams! HOWEVER,YOU DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING WHEN MAKING A PLAYOFF PUSH!!! An all out twitter campaign must be raged if he seriously intends to do this…

CHEWBLOCKA GET STRONG HELP TEAM. (Sammy): At only 20, I think it’s fair to expect Ibaka to gain some weight as he grows older. I thought he played exceptionally good post d tonight. I agree that if Green is you PF, Ibaka at center is probably not going to work unless he makes a quantum leap offensively. With a ‘true’ PF I think he’d be just fine. Honestly, with the vast improvement in team defense that we’ve seen this year, I’d be interested in experimenting with going big again. Westbrook/Durant/Green/Collison/Ibaka. Not as a permanent thing, but this could be a useful lineup when facing a team like the Lakers.