Thursday Bolts – 7.28.16
Kevin Pelton of ESPN Insider: “While Waiters wasn’t taking much off the table during the
playoffs — a big improvement from his 2014-15 campaign — he wasn’t bringing much as a spot-up shooter, and he’s better defending on the ball than in a team setting. So instead of cashing in as a restricted free agent, Waiters found the market tepid and the bottom fell out when the Thunder pulled their $6.8 million qualifying offer last week out of fear Waiters would take it and scuttle their plans to extend Russell Westbrook’s contract. With the few teams left holding cap space uninterested, Waiters was left to settle for the Heat’s room exception on a two-year deal with a player option on the second season. That may yet work out for Waiters, who should have more opportunity to demonstrate his value in Miami than he would have in Oklahoma City after the Thunder added shooting guards Victor Oladipo and Alex Abrines, signaling they no longer viewed Waiters as part of their future.”
ESPN Forecast has OKC sixth in the West: “Despite OKC’s losing Kevin Durant and trading away Serge Ibaka for Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova and Domantas Sabonis, our panel still likes the Thunder’s chances of making the playoffs. Over the past two seasons, Russell Westbrook played 48 games without Durant; he averaged 30.5 points, 9.2 assists and 7.6 rebounds, and he registered 11 triple-doubles. Oklahoma City went 25-23 in those 48 games, which would equate to 43 wins, just barely south of where our forecast places the Thunder in 2016-17.”
Listen to the new Mr. Presti’s Neighborhood podcast. That’s an order.
Harrison Barnes: “That’s where the story gets a little more confusing. It’s more so when that decision was made I texted my teammates and took some time to process it. I got on the phone with my agent and looked at Dallas a lot closer and then I made the decision. The decision was more so made for me,” Barnes said. “I was not necessarily walking away from the situation. I wasn’t saying, ‘I don’t want to be here. I want to go there.’ But at the same time, I’m very excited about Dallas. It gives me an opportunity to grow.”
Russ is projected second for MVP.
This is good: “Retired players with between three and six years of NBA service time but who are not yet eligible for Medicare would be offered a plan that includes medical, hospital and prescription drug coverage with modest out-of-pocket costs for deductibles and co-pays; Those with between seven and nine years of service would be offered the same coverage with even lower out-of-pocket costs; Retired players with at least 10 years of service would be offered the same coverage as the seven-to-nine-year players, and would include coverage for their entire family.”
DIRK.