Tuesday Bolts – 10.21.14
Darnell Mayberry on Andre Roberson: “But there’s one big question. Can he score? The fear of many fans has been that Roberson will win the starting shooting guard job and only replicate the offensive unbalance the Thunder often displayed with Sefolosha and Kendrick Perkins in the first string. For years, that duo helped make the Thunder an elite defensive team, but it also placed an enormous amount of pressure on Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant to manufacture way too much offense. With Sefolosha and Perkins in the starting lineup, the Thunder’s offense frequently bogged down into an overly-predictable set of ball screens designed solely to get the team’s stars a shot. Much of the preseason talk this year has been about moving away from that by sharing the ball more, utilizing better spacing and, ideally, achieving better balance. That’s where Roberson comes in.”
Sean Highkin of PBT on the Thunder opposing lottery reform: “The Thunder’s reported opposition to the reforms is more interesting. They’re a title contender in the Western Conference (presuming Kevin Durant‘s foot injury isn’t lingering), so this doesn’t affect them in the short term. They won’t be picking in the lottery regardless. However, the Thunder got where they are by following a rebuilding model very similar to what the Sixers are attempting to do. Their middle-of-the-decade awfulness (some of which took place when they were still the Seattle SuperSonics) resulted in three consecutive top-five picks, all of whom became superstars: Durant in 2007, Russell Westbrook in 2008 and James Harden in 2009. They see the value in the strategy and don’t want to lose the option of bottoming out again if Durant leaves in 2016.”
KD and Mitch McGary are Scooter Boys.
John Hoover of the Tulsa World: “There may not be many things in life more inconsequential than an NBA preseason game. It’s a league built around an 82-game regular season and doesn’t truly get serious until its two-month playoff schedule begins. So seven preseason games have little meaning. And yet, the BOK Center was painted Thunder blue on Sunday as Oklahoma City’s preseason road show settled in Tulsa for one night.”
Jay Z’s sports agency is looking to hire more agents.
Read Henry Abbott’s thing on Kobe.
David Aldridge of NBA.com: “But the idea would be to get Westbrook the ball, on the move, as quickly as possible. He’s almost impossible to stop when he gets a head of steam, capable of stopping and elevating to a ridiculous vertical in a second, or blowing past anyone foolish enough to crowd him. Regardless of the system, though, Westbrook should be just as effective in the screen and roll with Ibaka as Durant was last season. The question is what will happen when defenses decide they’re going to make somebody other than Westbrook beat them, and get the ball out of his hands. Can Morrow, or Lamb, or Jackson, make them pay?”
