Tuesday Bolts – 1.31.12
Kendrick Perkins on Russell Westbrook: “He always gets this label of being selfish,” Perkins said. “He’s not that at all. The one thing about Russ is he’s a scoring point guard, and that’s what we need him to be. That’s why this team has been successful because he does what he does. The thing that bothers me … is Derrick Rose is not a true point guard, he is a scoring point guard, but nobody gets on Derrick Rose like they get on Russ.”
Nick Collison for GQ on rookie hazing: “I’m pretty easy on rookies, and I think it’s because I had it easy myself. There is one thing, however, that I do enjoy doing: Once or twice a year after shoot-around on the road we will empty the entire ball rack by either throwing or punting each ball into the stands, then make the rookies climb the steps all around the arena to get each ball. I’m not sure why, but I really like doing that.”
A story on that weird YouTube pronunciation guy.
Chuck Hayes with a great observation: “Ok so I just saw the blake dunk again, and I’m more impressed that the thunder bench didn’t have a reaction, not one player moved, #teamwork.”
Perk after last night’s game: “I know one thing about it is, if we’ve got plans on winning a title it’s called sacrifice,” Perkins said. “I just came off a team [the Boston Celtics] that played with three Hall of Famers that didn’t mind sacrificing, didn’t mind taking a back seat. In order to win, sometimes you’ve got to sacrifice. You can win games and do that, but in order to get a ring, you’ve got to sacrifice.”
KD tweet: “Yea ima sore loser.”
A graph on who is assisting who.
Marc Stein’s power rankings have OKC two: “The committee (of one) gave deep consideration to bumping the team with the best road record (8-2) up to No. 1. The committee, however, ruled that the recent road loss to the Wiz — which is the only thing separating OKC from a 12-game winning streak — must factor into our thinking two weeks in a row.”
How Basketball Reference got every NBA box score in history.
NBA 411 talking youth or depth.
Bill Simmons writing something I’ve been saying since the Thunder moved to OKC: “You always hear about players wanting to play in bigger markets, but here’s the reality: Once technology progressed to a certain level, markets stopped mattering as much. Yeah, the Lakers and Knicks will always outspend everyone else because of their ticket/cable revenue, and yeah, players will always gravitate toward big cities, warm weather or tax-free states. But from a visibility standpoint, it doesn’t matter where you play in 2012. Our marquee contenders are Miami, Chicago … and Oklahoma City. Our marquee superstars are LeBron, Wade, Kobe, Rose, Howard, Nowitzki … and Kevin Durant.”
CBSSports.com’s MVP rankings have KD fifth and Westbrook seventh.
John Krolik for PBT on Perk’s above comment: “Still, Perkins’ larger argument is probably more right than wrong: Westbrook and Rose are asked to play similar roles for their teams, are both considered franchise players by their teams, and their teams have the best records in their respective conferences. Both players should probably be above nit-picking when the things they’re doing are clearly working for their teams right now.”
A breakdown of KD and Westbrook in the pick-and-roll.
Bradford Doolittle for ESPN.com says Minnesota is the next OKC: “Let’s assume that Minnesota’s current Pythagorean record (the forecasted mark based on point differential) is the team’s true talent level for this season. Over an 82-game season, the Wolves’ differential would typically get you 45 wins. In 2009-10, Oklahoma City jumped from 23 to 50 wins. The Timberwolves would be jumping from 17 to 45 wins — basically the same improvement. They’re a few wins behind Oklahoma City’s pace from a couple of years ago, but, then again, Durant is a step up from Love.”