Thursday Bolts – 8.11.11
Danny Chau of Paroxysm on Serge Ibaka: “Serge Ibaka became a nationalized citizen and is playing for the Spanish team despite only spending three years in the country as a teenager. But playing for a country means more than just having blood ties to the land. Ultimately, beyond the national colors, it’s still about basketball. Spain was the country that fostered his development, expanded his understanding of the game, and opened doors to opportunities that weren’t previously there. This isn’t necessarily a debt being paid, just a player mindful of his journey — and the people in it — doing his best to say ‘thank you.'”
Beckley Mason of HoopSpeak on KD at the Goodman: “I made the trip out to Spingarn– where by the way only 13 percent of students met or exceeded mandated standards– because I wanted to see Durant ball. I left thinking about the awed and expectant expressions on the face of his hometown admirers as waves approached him for autographs, pictures, or just to catch up and exchange numbers. One thing you don’t appreciate until you see it up close is that these days literally everyone has a camera on his or her phone. Five years ago, his exit takes about half as long. Now everyone is a paparazzo. Still Durant was calm and welcoming, even Zen-like in his patient, smiling poses. In a gym choking on humidity, with guys frying wings on the sidewalk outside and a circle of friends and onlookers surrounding him just off the court, KD looked right at home–because he was.”
The best Thunder kegerator ever.
Chris Broussard of ESPN.com on big name players playing overseas.
Holly MacKenzie of TBJ with a lovely piece on stereotypes: “Maybe that’s what this lockout can do for us. With every young guy that makes the decision to go back to school, whether it’s to fulfill a promise to a mother, father or grandmother or to simply keep busy and study something that interests them, these stereotypes are being broken down. With John Wall, Rajon Rondo and Eric Bledsoe slated to go back to Kentucky to study and man the sidelines as assistant coaches, the argument that young players are selfish, stubborn and uncoachable gets weaker. With golden boy Kevin Durant taking his previously hidden “business tatts” to his Twitter avatar for everyone to see staring back at them as they continue to fall in love with his authentically affable personality tweet by tweet, it’s time to get serious.”
CBSSports.com’s 60-51 in the top 100 countdown.
Great stuff from NBA Playbook on Serge Ibaka’s first appearance with Spain: “With Serge Ibaka, I don’t know if he needs to develop any physical skills during the offseason, but he does need to develop mentally, and watching Spain play against France, you can start to see that development. Now, whether this is Ibaka doing work on his own, becoming more comfortable with his shot (therefore being more confident), or getting all this experience working with Pau Gasol watching him work, either way you can see that he is already way ahead of where he was at the end of the postseason with Oklahoma City.”
Here’s a picture of Russell Westbrook back at school with Kevin Love and a few others.
ESPN’s 5-on-5 about the Heat asked if Miami would have the best record next year. Beckley Mason says no: “I think it’s even money between Oklahoma City, Chicago and Miami — whoever is healthiest wins. I’ll take the field, but I think if everyone on every team is healthy all season, the Heat are primed for a monster season.”