Tuesday Bolts – 3.18.14
Zach Lowe of Grantland: “The wheel isn’t going away, despite some initial fears it would allow consensus no. 1 picks to game their NBA destination by entering the draft only when a “glamour” team was up next. Mike Zarren, the Celtics’ assistant general manager and the architect of the wheel, has already presented Silver with revised alternatives that would address this issue and several others, per Silver and other sources.”
Anthony Slater: “Interesting trend since Russell Westbrook’s latest return from surgery: He’s been a great 3-point shooter. In the past two games, he’s gone 7-of-14 from deep. In the past 10, 25-of-57. That’s a 44 percent clip for a career 31 percent long-range shooter. A great development for Westbrook, taking his already dynamite offensive game to a completely new level. But if he regresses back to his expected mean, it could be bad news for OKC. Not sure you want a 31 percent 3-point shooter jacking up 5.7 per night. But if he’s gonna keep that clip above 40…”
Kevin Durant to be honored for donating $1 million to tornado victims.
Darnell Mayberry: “Back to Westbrook’s early playmaking. He set up Andre Roberson in the corner for a wide open 3. Roberson missed. He then set up Roberson in the lane for a layup. Roberson was stripped. He then set up Adams in the lane for a layup. Adams bobbled the ball. Three possessions that Westbrook delivered the ball on time and on target only to see each one end as empty possessions. Yet soon after that a reporter tonight had the nerve to say to me after a Westbrook jumper, ‘Does he ever see anyone on the court?” Reputations, man. Reputations.”
Andrew Gilman of Fox Southwest: “The fact the Oklahoma City Thunder are better with Russell Westbrook is pretty obvious. Losing to Dallas at home Sunday and then winning in Chicago Monday is concrete proof. But the fact the Thunder have now made it quite clear there are some regular-season games that are more meaningful than others is notable. Certainly Westbrook’s knee injury and subsequent surgeries in the past 11 months have changed the outlook of the Thunder, but something coach Scott Brooks has always maintained is this team plays every game – all 82 of them – to win.”
Jordan Brenner of ESPN the Magazine on Westbrook and Durant: “Basketball’s ultimate two-man play is the pick-and-roll. So if there were any real issues involving Westbrook and Durant’s playing together, they’d manifest in that set. Instead, the Westbrook/Durant combo is as deadly as you’ll find running the pick-and-roll. According to Sport Vu, they produce 1.26 points every time they run the play, second in the NBA to the Suns’ Goran Dragic/Channing Frye combo (1.29). But don’t believe us, believe Grizzlies PG Mike Conley, who knows a thing or two about facing OKC. “I think the criticism is almost just more to give people something to talk about,” Conley says. “We in the league — we all know the truth. And we know with Russell Westbrook, they are a dangerous team … and much different without him.”
