Wednesday Bolts – 7.14.10
The Washington Post writing on leadership mentions KD: “At 21, Kevin Durant is the youngest player in league history with a scoring title. Going largely unnoticed in the free-agent signing frenzy, Durant re-signed with the small-market Oklahoma City Thunder. His announcement was sent via twitter, a grammatically incorrect short burst of thanks for the opportunity to keep growing with his team. Where the Miami Heat are looking to buy a title with players in their prime, the Oklahoma City Thunder are a study in contrast, as they are going through the long process of building a championship caliber team through developing young players like Durant. While neither method is necessarily better, it will be interesting to see which approach is more effective.”
Darnell Mayberry on where Mo Pete and Daequan Cook fit: “The answer, for now at least and barring significant injuries, seems to be as specialists. With the Thunder committed to developing its young talent, Peterson and Cook appear to be long shots to remain on the roster past 2010-11. The Thunder, though, could use both in certain game situations, most notably the end of games, the point in the game that OKC struggled so much last season. “I’m one of the premier shooters in this league now,” Cook said. “I can help a lot.”
New episode of Air Thunder is on the official site.
I took a look at CBS at five GMs that might be next to go.
Britt Robson of SI on five teams that did the most this offseason: “This offseason, Presti started with four draft picks all outside the top 20. He turned those selections into veterans Morris Peterson (acquired from New Orleans) and Daequan Cook (from Miami, along with the No. 18 pick for the No. 32 pick), two long-range shooters who can relieve some of the perimeter pressure from Kevin Durant and provide a wing option for Russell Westbrook of penetration; the 11th pick in the draft, Kansas center Cole Aldrich (obtained in the Peterson trade), the kind of reliable career backup who gets the most of mediocre talent and will be a good fit in the locker room; a future protected first-round pick from the Clippers in exchange for Eric Bledsoe, the 18th selection last month (history suggests the odds of it being better than 18th are very good indeed); and second-round prospects Tibor Pleiss of Germany, D-League forward Latavious Williams and Florida State’s Ryan Reid.”
Not a lot going on out there in the Thunder world. It’s like it’s July or something.
Update: Great article from the Wall Street Journal on Ryan Reid: “Any way you slice it, Mr. Reid is one of the most unlikely basketball draft picks in at least a decade. He never averaged more than 25 minutes in a college season and never averaged more than seven points. His career high was 17, his rebound rate peaked at five per game and it fell to four during his senior season, when he averaged 22.7 minutes and 6.8 points per game.” (h/t justin)
