Thursday Bolts – 6.28.12
Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com has OKC taking Draymond Green: “He doesn’t look the part, but he can do a little bit of everything. He’s tough, can shoot it, makes his teammates better and also rebounds the ball.”
Pablo Torre of SI.com on Royce White: “Until then, he will keep grappling with the same old stressors. Already a light sleeper, White has traveled across the country, alone and wide-eyed, for the first time since he was a teenage recruit. “And I’m scared as hell,” he admits. White flew commercial to five cities before Vye canceled his remaining workouts last week, fueling the latest round of intrigue—Is Royce hurt? Scared? The recipient of a first-round promise? In those visits, puzzled execs liked to play casting director: Who are you? What can you be in the NBA? Magic? LeBron? Boris Diaw? The questioning was tense—not to mention ironic. The answer, tattooed and transparent, is still staring everyone in the face.”
Darnell Mayberry on the Brad Beal thing: “Harden, Ibaka and Maynor are all under contract for next season. If they don’t agree to a new deal by Oct. 31, they will be restricted free agents next summer. Even then, they could return for their fifth seasons under what’s known as a “qualifying offer” should both the Thunder fail to come to terms on a deal and another team fails to offer a desirable contract. Much of the Thunder’s summer will be spent figuring out how to make it all work. But who’s to say that first step won’t be taken Thursday night?”
Just in case, might as well get to know Brad Beal a bit better.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports: “Greek forward Kostas Papanikolaou has appeal to several teams in the back end of the first round – including Miami (27) and Oklahoma City (28), sources say – who aren’t eager to add payroll and want to store a player overseas for another year. Papanikolau, a 6-foot-8 forward, could be gone early in the second round. His contract status with Olympiakos has two years left on it, but a reasonable buyout after next season means he’ll probably be in the NBA for the 2013-14 season. Papanikolau, 21, had a breakout performance in the Euroleague Final Four in Istanbul this spring. His shooting makes him intriguing to teams. The Thunder have a desire to secure some shooting at No. 28, which is partly why they worked out Kentucky’s Doron Lamb this week in Oklahoma City, too.”
A look at the No. 0’s in history from Paul Lukas: “His favorite number, which he wore in high school, is 4. But that number was already taken at UCLA and again with the Thunder, so Westbrook chose 0 because “it’s not a normal number, so I like it.” Also said, “You go with the zero when you’ve been through something and you are looking to get a new beginning. It helps you get going again. It helps you get the swag[ger] back.”
Chad Ford of ESPN.com has OKC’s big board as Evan Fournier, Papanikolaou and Furkan Aldemir.
NBA.com om OKC’s pick: “With Eric Maynor coming off injury, a backup PG could be a target.” Do people think Reggie Jackson died or something?
