Thursday Bolts – 11.12.15
These here Bolts are brought to you by Fan Essentials. What’s Fan Essentials, you ask? Well, it’s a nifty subscription service that sends cool stuff to your front door. Basically, you sign up, and wait for unique Thunder (or whatever team you like) merchandise to show up each month. Stuff like apparel, artwork, posters, decorations, small items, etc. There’s 11 days left to sign up before this month’s boxes go out. So hustle up and check it out.
Ken Berger of CBSSports.com on Durant’s future: “This is all another way of saying the Thunder won’t have to sell Durant on how good they’ll be. They’re already good. Only the Spurs have a better winning percentage over the past five seasons, and only the Spurs (nine) and Heat (14) have won more playoff series than the Thunder during that span (eight). They also won’t have to sell Durant on being patient while a youth movement takes hold. They’re already young, with an average age of 26.3 as of opening night. Essentially, none of the reasons that prompted James, Anthony, Paul, Howard and other stars to change teams in recent years apply to Durant. Anything the typical star free agent looks for in a suitor, Durant already has (with the exception of being able to compete in the Eastern Conference).”
Lucas of The Lost Ogle with early season prescriptions: “The Thunder signed former Jazz big man to a $70-mil contract during the off-season. He can average a double-double, getting buckets and boards every night, but his defense is gonna have to improve if he wants to live up to his pay rate. He’s done a better job so far this season of staying engaged, but the Thunder are giving up way too many points in the paint and at the rim. I recommend we get him a bottle of Ritalin to keep him focused in on being an aggressive defender. As a plus, he could be really good at cleaning the locker room post-game and the Thunder can save a little payroll money on janitorial services.”
KD is out 7-10 days, at least.
Berry Tramel on OKC’s remarkable 3-point shooting: “OKC’s 40.5 percent leads Golden State (39.7), Utah (38.7), Chicago (38.1) and Portland. The Thunder isn’t shooting as many as a lot of teams — the Warriors have averaged 11.6 3-pointers per game, Portland 10.4, New Orleans 10.0 and Chicago 9.6 — but that’s OK. This Thunder team can score in a lot of ways. It doesn’t have to shoot a ton of threes. It just needs to make its fair share. Last year, the Thunder was 22nd in the 30-team NBA with 33.9 percent on 3-pointers and 16th with 7.7 3-pointers made per game. But last year should be discounted, because of the injuries.”
Fun breakdown of KD2DC versus KDStayInOKC over at DT Unplugged.
Interesting read about LaMarcus Aldridge’s free agency.
Erik Horne: “That Durant continued to play after the initial injury showed it wasn’t as severe as it could have been. There are three degrees of hamstring injuries, with Durant’s likely falling into the first degree, according to Dennis Thompson, ATC — managing partner of Excel Physical Therapy in Ardmore and a certified athletic trainer for 30 years.”
Brad Doolittle of ESPN Insider ranks Ibaka as the 11th best power forward.
