Thursday Bolts – 1.29.15
Frank Isola of the New York Daily News with some #rumors: “The Knicks have expressed interest in Jackson, but for what it’s worth, the word coming out of the Thunder locker room is that Durant is not a big fan of the free-agent-to-be guard. And depending on whom you talk to, there are also whispers that Durant is growing increasingly frustrated with Westbrook, one of the league’s most dynamic players and whose style is shoot first, ask questions later. The question for Presti and coach Scott Brooks will eventually be: continue to build around Durant and Westbrook, or trade Westbrook for a point guard more to Durant’s liking.”
Matt D’Anna of Nylon Calculus: “Simply put: during the past 1.5 seasons, when Kevin Durant is on the court with Russell Westbrook, he is scoring from only a fraction of his preferred shot locations. As I mentioned at the onset, this is not an indictment on Russell Westbrook or Scott Brooks. KD has been hurt and working his way back into regularity, which may help stabilize these Hunting Grounds. Also, there is not necessarily a 1:1 relationship with increased court space and points scored. From a predictability standpoint, however, Durant appears to lose some of his offensive spontaneity. Less spontaneity potentially means (relatively) greater opportunities for the defense to succeed.”
Kurt Helin of PBT: “Understand where the Thunder are. Oklahoma City is a .500 team (23-23) that, after Phoenix’s win Wednesday, is now 3.5 games out of the playoffs (and on their way to Memphis on Saturday, so OKC could well be below .500 again). The Thunder will need to go 25-11 the rest of the way to get to 48 wins, which is going to be the bare minimum to get a West playoff seed. That number is doable — when Durant and Westbrook both play they are 14-7 this season, continue at that pace the rest of the way and the Thunder have 47 wins — but it means OKC needs to start winning now. If not, they will miss the playoffs. That is a real possibility now. And if that happens this game will not be rock bottom.”
Six times Dion Waiters should’ve gotten the ball.
Berry Tramel: “Sam Presti’s options include a coaching change, but that seems unlikely to help. How would elevating a staff member change much? Same old voices. How would bringing in an outsider in mid-season help; coaching Westbrook takes some time and some wisdom. Presti could try for a flare in the trade game. Send Jackson packing, since he’s likely to depart in free agency anyway. I don’t think all or even much of the problems stem from Jackson’s attitude, but at this point, what can it hurt? Maybe a trade mixes up the chemistry and jump-starts the Thunder. But Presti already has tried that. Waiters arrived the first week of January. OKC’s record with Waiters: 6-5.”
Anthony Slater: “With the loss, OKC moves three games back of the Suns for the eighth spot. Phoenix was scheduled for a late Wednesday night tip against the Wizards at home. But regardless of the result, the Thunder’s climb back to the West’s eighth seed remains extremely doable. Phoenix isn’t running away with it. But to catch the Suns, the Thunder needs to do some internal soul-searching. This isn’t the team of years past. Or at least it hasn’t been. Wednesday’s disaster in NYC made that plainly clear.”
