Thursday Bolts – 6.18.15
Kevin Pelton of ESPN Insider on 50 greatest teams: “Miami’s second championship team with the Big Three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh famously won 27 consecutive games during the regular season, the second-longest winning streak in NBA history. But the Heat actually had the second-best point differential in the league behind the Oklahoma City Thunder (plus-9.2) and they were forced to go the distance both in the Eastern Conference finals (to beat the Indiana Pacers) and then in the Finals. Miami was a shot away from losing Game 6 and the series before pulling off the most improbable comeback to win a title the league has ever seen.”
Darnell Mayberry on Trey Lyles: “That explains why he played out of position for most of the season, logging the bulk of his minutes at small forward instead of his more natural power forward. Kentucky coach John Calipari needed Lyles to play farther from the basket to allow Anthony-Towns and Willie Cauley-Stein, another projected top 10 pick, room to operate inside. The strategy afforded Lyles more playing time, but it also took him out of his comfort zone on both ends, forcing him to be mostly perimeter-oriented offensively, while defending smaller, quicker players defensively.”
Championship odds from Bovada: Cavs 3/1, Warriors 5/1, Thunder 7/1, Bulls 10/1, Clippers 10/1, Spurs 10/1, Rockets 18/1.
Chad Ford has OKC taking Cameron Payne in his latest mock: “The Thunder have been on Payne for a while. They need a long-term backup behind Russell Westbrook, and the buzz around Payne has made him a real draft sleeper. Payne has a high basketball IQ, excels in the pick-and-roll and has great quickness for his size. Another sleeper at No. 14, I’m told, is Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.”
The Hawks are parting ways with Danny Ferry.
Perk’s Oklahoma house is for sale for a cool $615,000.
Talking some Thunder offseason things.
If you use the promo code “Daily Thunder” to sign up for KD’s camp this August you get 10 percent off.
Dan Devine of BDL with thoughts: “Mitch McGary had some time on his hands last fall while recovering from a left foot fracture, so the Oklahoma City Thunder rookie passed the time like any of us would — by buying three baby snakes, naming them Zoey, Zeus and Layla, and going about the business of raising them. McGary’s clearly a doting and committed pet owner; I mean, check out just how much the “babies” have grown under the warm, nurturing care of “The Snake God.” Oh, bee-tee-dubs, Mitch McGary is calling himself ‘THE SNAKE GOD.'”
