Thursday Bolts – 10.11.12
Bill Simmons of Grantland says the Thunder should pay James Harden now: “Is there some wealthy maniac out there who would pay 30 percent over that Forbes sticker price without blinking? The short answer: YES! That’s why the NBA owners were so disingenuous during the lockout — they were crying poverty, and meanwhile, they had a waiting list for new owners! And we fell for it! Never again. That’s why I think Oklahoma City’s owners are full of an entire sewage system of shit. Let’s just say it wouldn’t be the first time. So don’t settle for less than what you’re worth, James Harden. They’re playing possum. They will cave. You will get paid. Let the dynastendery begin.”
Jonathan Feigan of the Houston Chronicle: “Even with Westbrook dominating the first quarter and Durant taking over in the second, the Rockets’ starters played the Thunder evenly while running few plays, but running the floor well. Kevin Martin played only in the first quarter, making 3 of 4 shots for his 11 points. The starters overall made 16 of 31 shots. At halftime, when Westbrook and Durant were done for the night, it was a one-point game.”
Darnell Mayberry: “Durant was Durant. Nothing new tonight and nothing special. He went in the post against Chandler Parsons a time or two and looked like classic KD when he sank turnaround jumpers. He only got credited for three rebounds, but Durant looked ready and willing to mix it up with anyone to fight for a board. That was a good sign. And Durant also defended Patrick Patterson in the post some, which might have been a scary sight in the past but KD held his own, which surprisingly included his position.”
Scott Brooks on preseason playing time: “Our three bigs are going to get plenty of opportunities to play and see what they bring to the table,” Brooks said. “And they’re going to get consistent minutes. Sometimes that’s hard to do. When you have a healthy team, there’s not a lot of minutes to go around. But as a player, you always want an opportunity and you want some consistent time, and those guys are going to get some good looks.”
Eric Maynor tweets: “Felt weird tonight at 1st but i got going…..feeling good…..thanks for all the love n support…..#realtalkBo”
Zach Lowe’s All-League Pass teams.
Trey Kerby of TBJ on OKC’s new unis: “Hear, hear. Besides the fact that the NBA 2K13 version literally says “Thudner,” do these say Thunder at all to you? Did you even realize navy blue was one of the Thunder’s colors? (It is, as a very minor color in their logo.) Outside of the font, which still isn’t great, these are pretty generic even though there’s nothing like them in the NBA, if that makes sense. Basically, any NBA team that wanted a navy blue jersey could have these and it wouldn’t look any different.”
Why good defenses don’t go for offensive rebounds.
Henry Abbott of TrueHoop with more thoughts: “The Heat and Thunder did have a low number of shots per possession. But that was not because they didn’t get a lot of offensive rebounds. It was because they had a lot of possessions end in made buckets and free throws. Those are two ways of ending possessions that keep your number of shots down — the make ends the possession before there could ever be an offensive rebound, and the free throw doesn’t even count as an attempt.”
