Friday Bolts – 5.29.15
An anonymous Western Conference player to Basketball Insiders: “Players will consider going to the East, for sure. The East is down right now and the West is a dogfight. The seventh- or eighth-seeded team in the West could possibly make the Eastern Conference Finals with how things are now. It wouldn’t be a bad idea [to join an East team],” added another NBA player. “I’m pretty sure Kevin Durant is going to start it off and go home to [the Washington Wizards in] D.C.”
Found this interesting from Albert Burneko of Deadspin on the Hawks: “First of all, however they may congratulate themselves, Atlanta’s braintrust didn’t begin assembling this team with a system in mind, or a conscious preference for unexceptional (“very good”) players. Nobody was out here saying Hey, let’s look for try-hards with modest ceilings, that’s the ticket to victory. They didn’t draft Horford third overall, one spot behind Kevin Durant, because they figured he wouldn’t be a dominant player. They certainly weren’t going to trade him away for a selfless scrub if he turned into Karl Malone. He just turned out not to be.”
Billy Donovan talked to the Florida softball team yesterday. And they won 7-2. So…
Andrew Gilman of Fox Sports on what Thunder fans can be thankful for with this Finals matchup: “Nothing against the Spurs. Nothing against the Hawks, but both of those teams being eliminated mean we don’t have to hear about how the Thunder should copy their style. You know the narrative: Gotta share the ball. Gotta move the ball. Gotta find the open man. Umm, no you don’t. Give it to LeBron. Clear out of the way. Give it to Steph and Klay and let the 3-pointers fly. The team concept is great in theory. It works in practice, but only sometimes. In this league you need a superstar to advance. The Thunder have that — and some.”
Scott Skiles is going to be the Magic’s next head coach.
James Herbert of CBSSports.com on Cameron Payne: “Payne has monitored mock drafts and watched his name rise from the second round to where it is now in a matter of months. At the beginning of May, Murray State head coach Steve Prohm met him in Chicago at the NBA draft combine. Prohm saw a young man who was aware he’d only get to go through this process once. To Payne, being overlooked is at once the biggest thing he’s overcome and the best thing that’s ever happened to him.”
Q&A with Payne from Darnell Mayberry: “Who’s one guy that is ranked ahead of you that you don’t think should be? Tyus Jones. Just because he played on a great team, he had a lot of exposure through that team. He didn’t have to carry his team like I did, so I just felt I went through a lot of adversity and he had one of the best big men that played college basketball around him so he wasn’t a focal point.”
