Monday Bolts: 10.7.19

?? ? ?  ??

Jason Anderson (The Sacramento Bee) has sources refuting that story about the Kings’ interest in Steven Adams.

Brady Trantham (The Franchise) thinks the “something special” vibes around Darius Bazley are legit, and went to the man himself on the subject: “There’s no question I have God-given abilities,” Bazley told The Franchise. “A lot of it is just natural talent. Obviously, you’ve got to work hard to get to this level and then you have to continue to keep working. So i’ve built off the foundation I’ve been blessed with.”

As we mentioned over the weekend, it appears that the Thunder are going with 6′ as Chris Paul’s official height. In other news, turns out I’m 6’2″.

Zach Lowe (ESPN) is not optimistic about the Thunder this season: “They have a playoff-caliber starting lineup but almost no proven depth on the wing or at power forward. Paul hasn’t played in more than 61 games since 2016. Danilo Gallinari cracked 65 last season for the first time since 2012-13. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is not an awesome fit hanging off the ball while Paul does his point god thing. Throw in the likelihood that someone gets traded, and Oklahoma City lags behind the playoff race.”

The Jump did a segment on Chris Paul’s win-win situation in Oklahoma City (H/T Tamberlyn Richardson, FanSided):

Also, even with the state of Oklahoma hopping off the bandwagon, the @replies on that video indicate there are plenty of Chris Paul haters left.

HMMMM.

There are conflicting reports over whether Daryl Morey was in jeopardy of being fired over his tweeted support of pro-democracy Hong Kong protestors, which led to swift recantations by Houston owner Tilman Fertitta and severed contracts from the Chinese market (including the CBA) for the league. But it sure does appear Morey was forced to give a non-apology apology by the team after Fertitta himself liked comments calling for the Houston GM’s job. The NBA Cares that the folks stamping out protests were offended. Ben DuBose (USA TODAY) has your rundown.

One wonders if a league that has drawn plaudits for its progressive stances on things like the bathroom bill in North Carolina ought to have been commended for merely protecting commerce under the guise of human rights.

All of this puts a damper on my excitement for talks of an NBA-associated league in India, which I do think sounds awesome.

This is just a cool article with nifty sliders by Ian Levy (Nylon Calculus).

Have a link you think is worthy of a bolt? Drop it here.