Wednesday Bolts 8.4.10

Sham Sports has updated its salaries and Royal Ivey appears to have signed a two-year, $2.4 million contract. The first year is guaranteed, the second year isn’t. (h/t DXL)

Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports Kyle Weaver prefers to play in the NBA and has not signed with Maccabi Tel Aviv. Spears tweets that 10 teams are interested in Weaver’s services. When the original story said Weaver was going overseas, I was a little shocked because surely someone would want a solid defensive-minded shooting guard that can’t shoot. Weaver can fit in at the end of some bench out there.

And here’s the audio of KD’s rap appearance on Wale’s new mixtape. He sounds… chilled out. A couple shoutouts to OKC, one bad word and a rollcall of KD’s early achievements. (thanks to Andrew)

Steve Francis to SLAM: “To be the greatest player out of the DC/Maryland area since Len Bias,” he states, “Kevin Durant can’t say that. Michael Beasley can’t say that. None of those guys can say that. I am the best player to come out of DC since [Bias].”

The Painted Area is counting down the top 20 plays of the playoffs and Russell Westbrook checks in at No. 7: “If you wanted to argue that Russell Westbrook is the most explosive player in pro basketball today, I don’t think we’d object. And I don’t think Lamar Odom, Khloe, Kourtney, Kim or Bruce Jenner could, either, after this Westbrook rocket-ship crossover-and-dunk move which blew the roof off the Ford Center.”

Both Steve Kerr and Kenny Smith said last night that KD is a top three NBA player, ahead of Dwyane Wade. Suck it Miami.

Fran Blinebury of NBA.com with a great feature on the Thunder: “The last time most of the outside world tuned in, the Ford Center was ground zero for an emotional explosion that was both an appreciation for what had been accomplished and a peek at the future. The Thunder had pushed and tested the eventual champion Lakers in the first round of the playoffs, falling in six games, yet already picking themselves up and dusting themselves off before they made it off the court and into the locker room. While the fans threatened to blow the roof right off the arena with their ear-splitting cheers, Kevin Durant and his teammates were already thinking about their next step following a 50-win season and a first-ever playoff appearance in Oklahoma City.”

Kevin Arnovitz of TrueHoop looks at the teaser schedule: “Jazz at Thunder: After the show these two teams put on April 6, how could the league resist showcasing a rematch during the season’s opening week? The Jazz, who lead the world in assist rate, run one of the NBA’s most systematic offenses. They’ll face off against one of the most devastating one-on-one players the league has seen in recent memory.”

Great point from Dan Shanoff: “The NBA has done a spectacular job of turning itself into a 11-month-a-year league. Beyond the regular season and playoffs, there was the John Wall Lottery in May, the Draft in June, July’s free-agent insanity… And even into August — which should be a dead zone — the league has three things it can stand on: The schedule release (yesterday, which was big enough), the World Basketball Festival (in two weeks) and, of course, Shaq about to sign with the Celtics.”