Monday Bolts – 6.22.15

Berry Tramel: “That’s why I find free agency much more interesting. A bunch of players swapping teams. The occasional superstar — this year, LaMarcus Aldridge and Marc Gasol are on the market — but even far less-talented players make a difference. For instance, restricted free agents make a deal, then the original team has to counter (Enes Kanter). Or role players branch out (Anthony Morrow arrived in OKC last July).”

ESPN Stats and Info: “According to ESPN Stats & Info’s NBA Draft Projection Model, Payne is projected to have a statistical plus/minus of minus-0.60 in years 2 through 5 of his NBA career. Statistical plus/minus is an estimate of a player’s contribution to his team’s point differential per 100 possessions. An SPM of zero is considered league average (weighted for minutes), and replacement level players have an SPM of about -2.”

Darnell Mayberry: “But there’s another potential hurdle in the Thunder moving up. In addition to not having many attractive assets to entice a team to trade back, the Thunder also has other teams ahead of it, like Denver at No. 7 and Indiana at No. 11, that reportedly could be looking to trade up as well. And both the Nuggets and the Pacers could potentially offer better packages than the Thunder in that pursuit.”

The Thunder will likely be drafting a Tier 4 player.

Bradford Doolittle of ESPN Insider: “We can expect the Thunder to be an in-your-face defensive team that tries to get out and run. We can expect a more ball-sharing approach than we were used to under Scott Brooks. OKC has a fully stocked roster, a mid-first rounder in the upcoming draft and an expensive payday coming up for restricted free agent Kanter. You’d like to see general manager Sam Presti find a way to wriggle a veteran playmaker out of the minimum-salary market for the bench, but most of what seems new to Thunder fans next season will be what Donovan brings to the table.”

If you missed it over the weekend, Oklahoma broadcasting icon Bob Barry Jr. tragically was killed in an automobile accident.

Jenni Carlson: “Truth is, he had more best friends than he knew. That’s because he made friends everywhere he went. Junior simply loved to be around people. Could be fellow sportos. Could be people he covered. Could be folks in the community, and frankly, that’s no small thing. Even though part of a journalist’s job is to interact with people, there is no shortage of people in our ranks who would just as soon light themselves on fire as interact with real, live people. Not Junior.”

Moving tribute from the KOCO team.

Dean Blevins: “The day after the tragic death of our friend Bobby Barry Jr., I’ve reminisced alone, with friends and with my wife – who was very close to Bobby during college, when Junior apparently spent enough time in the Kappa house to letter. But more on the lighter side at a later date —although Bobby’s wit was so much of who he was that it’s hard to not talk about that element now. The majority of my conversations yesterday and today with Bobby’s friends has been spent on the funny side of BBJ.”