Thursday Bolts – 10.9.14
Anthony Slater: “Andre Roberson got the nod at shooting guard on Wednesday night. And it’s likely he’s cemented in that spot for good. But regardless of who starts, who closes and who plays how much, the Thunder will need a lot better production from that spot. Roberson finished 2-of-6 for six points. He had seven rebounds in 27 minutes. An overall decent game. But when compared to Jeremy Lamb’s night, it looked Hall of Fame worthy. Lamb was given a team-high 37 minutes. In that time, the Thunder was outscored by 29 points. Lamb went 1-of-14 from the field and 0-of-6 from three. This is no time to panic. Not even close. Lamb struggled last preseason and then had a great first half. But it’s a bad opening act to what will be a crucial season for the third-year shooting guard.”
Andrew Sharp of Grantland on OKCs offseason: “Ignoring the draft is a big reason why a team like the Heat had no depth down the stretch the past few years. Exploiting the draft is a big reason the Spurs have been able to stay dominant for the better part of two decades. Nothing the Thunder did this summer was going to change their core that much, but they had a chance to get younger and scarier off the bench, and for some reason Presti went with the Miami approach. In other words: If you hear someone call OKC cheap and lazy this year, by all means, nod your head. But it has nothing to do with free agency last summer. Draft night is when that myth became real.”
Sidebar on that: I don’t really understand that thinking whatsoever, because 1) the Thunder have an incredible draft record, particularly deep in the first round. Reggie Jackson may be headed for a max contract and Andre Roberson, a guy many griped about, is about to be the team’s starting shooting guard. And 2) I don’t really understand what the “Miami approach” is, because their approach was not having first round picks at all, while the Thunder had two of them.
Scott Brooks on Jeremy Lamb: “Just going over the game right now, it’s hard to tell if every shot was good. I know he forced a couple. But he has to continue to look for his set-ups. I think when he sets up his man he puts himself in a better position to get a better shot. But we’ll watch film tonight and go over it in practice and see where all his shots came from. I’m not worried about his 1-for-whatever he was, 13, 14. It’s his shot selection, if they’re good or not. We’ll find out tomorrow. Just off hand I think they were pretty good.”
Rookie contracts to extend. Reggie Jackson wasn’t included.
Ben Golliver of SI.com on win totals: “It’s also worth noting that the Clippers won a franchise-record 57 wins last season despite a number of injuries: Paul missed 20 games, Crawford missed 13, Matt Barnes missed 20, and Redick missed more than half the season. Among L.A.’s stars, there really aren’t any obvious candidates for age-related decline. On paper, there doesn’t seem to be much separating the Clippers from the Thunder (over/under at 57.5) and Spurs (over/under at 57). No one should be surprised if another year of continuity, good vibes from a badly-needed ownership change and the added motivation of a tough loss to the Thunder in the playoffs combine to power the Clippers to a 60-win season.”
