Monday Bolts – 11.17.08
David Berri of Wages of Win looks at what’s ailing the Thunder and it may surprise you: “On offense, though, it’s a very different story. So far Oklahoma is only scoring 90.0 points per 100 possessions. To find a team that had this much trouble scoring one has to go back to the 2002-03 Denver Nuggets. So the problem is on offense, not defense. And to see why this team struggles so much on offense, one only has to look at the five players who lead this team in shot attempts.
- Joe the Guru of Thunder actually had that same theory before David Berri: “It seems like the Thunder are relying much more on the players creating their own offense this season, as opposed to having offensive sets where players run certain plays to generate good shooting opportunities. Durant and Green constantly have to make something out of nothing. If this is what I am seeing, this might explain why Collison, Wilcox, Mason and Watson are playing so much below last season’s levels; none of these guys excel at creating their own offense.”
- Mr. Monday says hang in there Thunderfans: “Mr. Monday keeps saying that Oklahoma City will be in this for the long haul, that there wouldn’t be any grumbling about the fact the team has about as many 3-point shooters as a British cricket team. Of course, Mr. Monday thought no one would get tired of singing the Macarena in 1995, but who’s counting?”
- Seattle’s next move: “The latest plan to bring pro basketball back to Seattle now that its team has been sold and moved to Oklahoma City faces enormous challenges as it heads to the 2009 legislative session. The city of Seattle proposal for financing a major remodel of KeyArena — a prerequisite for getting a new NBA team — would raise $75 million with a 1 percent Seattle hotel tax currently collected to pay debt on the Washington State Convention and Trade Center. The city would provide another $75 million with revenue and admissions taxes from KeyArena. A group of investors, including Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and Seattle developer Matt Griffin, is seeking to buy a new NBA team to play in Seattle and has agreed to contribute $150 million to the arena upgrade. But all of that depends on persuading state lawmakers to allow the city to keep that 1 percent hotel tax.”
- This week’s blogger power rankings. Guess where OKC is? “Maybe Seattle should be happy this team relocated … The Durantula is in for a big season, Jeff Green can play and, um, yeah.”
