Tuesday Bolts – 2.2.10
This is so cool. Wyn Douglas has put together an amazing transaction flow chart for every team. It’s an awesome visual way to see how each team was formed. Here’s the Thunder’s chart. Seeing “Kurt Thomas for unprotected first round pick” in graph form is still a beautiful thing. (via TrueHoop)
KD on the MVP chants: “Yeah I heard ’em all right, I wanted to stand there longer so I could hear it more,” Durant said after Monday’s practice. “It was cool for the fans to think of me like that. To hear that MVP chant was pretty special.”
This doesn’t sound great: “Two reports over the past week — one by Frank Hughes of Sports Illustrated and a second appearing in Sports Business Daily (subscription required) — suggest the coming formal proposal from NBA owners regarding the salary split in the league’s new collective bargaining agreement could lop off as much as 20 percent from player payroll. Currently, players are guaranteed 57 percent of basketball-related revenue earned by the league. Hughes reports the owners are looking to lower that share to 45 percent.”
At the ThunderShop downtown in leadership square, Kevin Durant All-Star jerseys are on sale today. Getcha one.
This writer for Bleach Report think KD could tell LeBron a thing or two: “He lives the good life in OKC. Maybe James and Wade could use another reminder of their peachy situations. Would you turn down $30 million over the life of your next contract? James and Durant play to engaged sellout crowds, and Wade sometimes does. The three stars are heroes in their cities. The self-proclaimed King owns Ohio, Wade has a monopoly on Miami, and Durant suits up for the only pro franchise in the state. Durant should not tell them what to do. Not even the NBA’s leading scorer since Christmas Day has that right. He can, however, recap his story, and it will hold some water.”
KD won Western Conference Player of the Week again.
Power rankings! Stein has OKC at 16: “January was Durant’s best month as a pro. He averaged 32.1 points for the month and signed off with his fourth 40-point game of the season, placing him fourth in the league behind Kobe (7), Melo (5) and LeBron (5).”
NBA.com has the Thunder at seven: “It was against the Warriors (there’s a Golden State Conversion Rate for scoring), but Kevin Durant was ridiculous on Sunday: 45 points on 16-for-21 shooting as the Thunder shot better than 50 percent as a team for the second straight game.”
OKC has made it to the first page on SI’s power rankings: “Two nights after dropping 30 points in a win over Denver, Kevin Durant scored 45 of the Thunder’s 112 points in a win over Golden State. The outburst, which came on 16-of-21 shooting from the field, moved Durant to within a tenth of a point of Anthony in the race for the league’s top scorer.”
Mike Baldwin reviews January: “The Thunder’s record in January was similar to cars in Oklahoma that spun their wheels during recent winter storms. The team avoided careening off the road — but it didn’t gain much traction in the NBA playoff race. Still, posting an 8-7 record in January was the first time since 2005 the organization has posted back-to-back winning months. The 2005 season is also the last time the franchise reached the playoffs.”
