Wednesday Bolts – 3.16.16

Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com: “Go through Ainge’s public comments over the past nine

years and they are littered with (non-tampering) references to wanting to acquire players with the talent, skill set and/or potential of Durant. It seems impossible that Durant could be unaware of how Ainge has gushed about him. It’s also hard to imagine how, if Durant elects to explore his options this offseason, he doesn’t at least give Ainge another chance to sit down with his family.”

Berry Tramel: “No, the Thunder hasn’t been playing pretty good basketball. The things Donovan described is pretty bad basketball. But if the light to which Donovan referenced serves as a wakeup call for the Thunder, then some good can come from this stretch. And at least, the Thunder proved that it’s far ahead of its potential first-round playoff foes. The Thunder routed Portland 106-90 in OKC in December. The teams meet again April 6 in Portland.”

Enjoyed this from Scott Cacciola of the NY Times on Baron Davis: “Playing for the 87ers was not part of some grand plan, Davis said. In fact, he said, he long ago accepted his knee injury as the unfortunate coda to his pro career. He was finished with basketball, and he began to pursue a new life as a filmmaker. But after months of rehabilitation (with the primary goal of just being able to walk again), he regained enough strength to join a regular pickup game with several friends at Santa Monica College, near his home. It was nothing special.”

Thunder win percentage in each jersey.

Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com on LeBron’s tweet game: “I had my opinions and theories about it all, too. I found the tweets to be innocuous at best, unnecessary at worst. Certainly not a sign of collapsing chemistry, though. But as a beat reporter, it’s not my job to center my coverage on my opinion. It is my job to try to give fans of a team content that actually matters, to steer the conversation toward the truth found in nuance and balanced perspective, rather than feeding on the emotions and click bait stirred up by bombastic black-and-white claims.”

Westbrook’s 16-assist game was more impressive than we thought.

Kevin Pelton of ESPN Insider on if Westbrook can average a triple-double: “So how does Westbrook get there? One easy way would be playing more minutes. Westbrook is averaging just 34.7 per game, the lowest average of any player on the above list. At his current rebound rate, Westbrook could average double-figures by playing 45.7 minutes per game. Obviously, that’s not realistic, particularly because of Westbrook’s history of knee injuries. But an increase to 38 minutes per game might be possible if the Thunder (or another team) needed more from him. At 38 minutes per game, Westbrook would still need to increase his rebound rate from 11.7 percent of all available rebounds to 13.8 percent to average double-figures, which would make him better than the average power forward (13.4 percent) on the glass.”