Tuesday Bolts – 1.20.15
Sam Amick of USA Today on Reggie Jackson: “For Oklahoma City’s purposes, Thunder officials simply wish Jackson would focus on the task at hand and leave the long-term outlook for later. At 20-20, Oklahoma City is still three games back of the Phoenix Suns for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference — tied with the New Orleans Pelicans for ninth place with four games left on this five-game road trip back East (they beat Orlando and still have to face Miami, Washington, Atlanta, and Cleveland). And while they don’t need him quite as badly as they did early on when Westbrook’s hand injury made Jackson the starter for 13 games, he remains — when focused and fiery — a vital piece of their championship-caliber puzzle.”
Scott Rafferty of Upside Motor with good stuff on Josh Huestis: “Under his newfound role, Huestis has showcased the ability to knock down three-pointers in volume on a number of occasions already this season, connecting on three or more perimeter shots in four games. He also has made the third most three-pointers on the team, barely trailing Mario Little and Michael Jenkins. While only shooting 31.8 percent overall, a decline was expected given the uptake in volume and the adjustment to a longer three-point line. While still in need of developing his overall game, it’s a positive sign that Huestis’ jump shot has improved greatly since he was at Stanford. Even more promising is that he has emerged as one of the elite perimeter defenders in the D-League. He’s averaging 1.6 blocks and 0.9 steals per contest with the Blue, all the while being asked to matchup against players of various positions on a nightly basis. Against the Los Angeles D-Fenders on December 26th, his versatility was on full display when he spent time guarding Vander Blue, Manny Harris and Roscoe Smith at various points of the game. He has the foot speed to matchup against more smaller wings and is able to disrupt passes and shots with his 7-foot-1 wingspan.”
Berry Tramel: “Westbrook invents enemies. That seems to be what fuels him. So good for Westbrook and good for the Thunder. But inventing enemies means you don’t know who your friends are. Or how to treat them.”
Tom Ley of Deadspin on Tramel’s column: “The line’s also disingenuous; there’s no shortage of ways for fans to gather information about their favorite teams and players these days, and if a guy doesn’t want to give boilerplate quotes after the game, nobody’s missing out on too much.”
Jack Winter of Dime on Dion Waiters: “Waiters and Oklahoma City are still in the honeymoon phase, of course. There will likely come a time when Brooks doesn’t play him as many minutes or chastises him for shot-selection, and we’ll find out much more about the viability of this optimism depending on Waiters’ reaction. But considering his oft-volatile nature in Cleveland, Waiters’ early happiness with the Thunder deserves special attention. And if it continues for the season’s remainder, he’ll have likely emerged as a key reserve cog for Oklahoma City as it’s made its way up the Western Conference ranks.”
Andrew Sharp of Grantland: “After two years without a scoring shooting guard to replace Harden, OKC went after Dion Waiters, hoping he could inject some life into the offense. And instead of getting a bargain on Gasol this summer, the Thunder are apparently chasing Brook Lopez. Think of Lopez like a crappier version of Gasol, except a lot more expensive. And injury prone. It speaks to the desperation with the Thunder right now. Three years ago, it looked like this roster would dominate for the next decade. Now Durant’s free agency is approaching in two years, and he really might leave. In the meantime, the West is better than it’s been in years, and after the nightmare first two months, the Thunder really might miss the playoffs.”
Marc Stein has OKC 12th: “They finally hit top gear Friday night to avenge three earlier L’s to the Dubs and then reached .500 at last. Now for the scary part: OKC, even with KD, hasn’t gotten much closer to the West’s top eight. Which tends to neuter all our talk about the Spurs and OKC being the scariest 7/8 seeds of all time.”
