Thursday Bolts – 6.2.16

Berry Tramel: “Kevin Durant is not a chameleon. Oh, Durant can change colors. Guard

Steph Curry one minute, Andrew Bogut the next. Swish a 24-footer one trip, drive over Tim Duncan the next. Act like a bad boy with the media, then apologize when his conscience gets the better of him. But mostly, what you hear is what you get with Durant. There’s scant evidence that he’s a flimflam artist. If Durant is a confidence man, he hasn’t shown it in eight Oklahoma City years. All of which should make OKC breathe easy this month of June. As Durant’s free agency nears, all signs and Durant’s own words point to him remaining in Thunder blue. The question is not if, but how long. Will Durant sign the expected one-year contract that would mean greater financial gain or a multiyear deal that would cement him as an Oklahoma icon on par with Curly McLain?”

Anthony Slater: “Fewer than 48 hours later, the look of playoff heartbreak still lingered on the face of each Thunder player. The West finals collapse stings now and carries a sour stench that may stick forever. But at Wednesday’s exit interviews, there was a simple solution to brighten the look of any player: Mention the future. Mention the roster. Mention the ascending and now battle-tested young core, which includes a 22-year-old, Steven Adams, who multiple teammates said is already one of the best centers in the NBA.”

News story from KD’s exit interview.

Get a load of this crap from Marcus Hayes of Philly.com: “He is not this generation’s Oscar Robertson, or any generation’s anyone else. He is unique, with gifts unmatched at his position. If he ever learns to control these gifts – if he develops the sense of synthesis every point guard must have – he will be the best player in the NBA. His teams will win championships. Until then, he will sabotage his team’s best chances.”

This is good from Rodger Sherman of SB Nation: “The Thunder shouldn’t have tried. Because Oklahoma City tried, we know that they are chokers, and being a choker is pretty much the worst thing you can be in the NBA. Oklahoma City probably just had the greatest losing performance in NBA playoff history. The Thunder just took three games in a single series from a team that looked better relative to their competition than anybody has ever looked. The 1996 Bulls, who won fewer regular season games than these Warriors did, only lost three games in their entire playoff run. OKC lost, but they showed the incredible caliber of their talent. And to some, their failure to win is a mark against their character. To some, it’s more embarrassing to blow an incredible victory — to choke — than it is to get blown out.”

Warriors fans still upset that Russ chuckled: “Westbrook couldn’t help but giggle at the idea of even commenting on Curry’s defense. And to be fair, there is really no great way to answer this type of probing question — not for Westbrook anyways. You see, Westbrook is a rarity in today’s age of increasingly buddy-buddy relationships between opposing players. He doesn’t want to be your friend, he just wants to win and I respect him for that. But the thing is, Westbrook is even more confident in his abilities as a basketball player.”

The disrespect police were quick to jump on Westbrook’s laugh, but anyone with a shred of common sense understood he was laughing at the question, not Curry’s defense. But that doesn’t fit fun narratives and such. Why let the truth get in the way of a good take?

Brian Robb of Boston.com: “The NBA’s collective bargaining agreement gives any free agent like Durant the most financial incentive to re-sign with his own team. Not only can OKC offer one more year (five) than any other franchise, it can also offer raises of 7.5 percent annually for each year of the contract. Durant has played nine seasons with the Thunder so the team has the ability to use Bird Rights to sign him to maximum contract (despite the fact that would put them over the salary cap). A player with nine years of service in the NBA is eligible for a maximum contract starting at (roughly) 30 percent of the salary cap, which is expected to rise to $92 million for the 2016-17 season.”

Jared Dubin of Vice.com: “All of which is to say that the Thunder, in reaching new heights, revealed themselves to be an entirely different team than the one we saw during the regular season. Even during the three straight defeats that ended their season, they still showed signs of being that team—they were that team for most of the first 45 minutes of Game 6, and for much of Game 7 as well, and mostly had the misfortune of playing this year’s Golden State Warriors during that stretch. And the Thunder might very well be that team in the future, provided Durant sticks around, which would in turn make them a very viable contender for the NBA championship. And yet they weren’t fully that team, or at least they were not yet far enough along in the process of becoming what that team to be able to escape the fate that so clearly awaited the team they were over those first 82 games. The Thunder showed us they could be great, in other words. They also showed us that they weren’t quite ready to be that.”