Tuesday Bolts: 01.14.20
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The Thunder handled the Wolves on the road, thanks to a Deal With It 20/20/10 game from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
- Brandon Rahbar DT recap ?
- Brandon Rahbar appearance on The Uncontested podcast ?
- Brandon Rahbar scheme to make money off my good name (literally) ?
Nick Gallo (okcthunder.com) on SGA’s historic night: “Coach challenged me before the game to fill the stat sheet and do more things because he thought, and I thought, I was more capable of what I was doing, I just tried to give my full effort out there,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. The Thunder’s do-it-all guard became just the fourth second-year player in NBA history to register a 20-20 triple-double (Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and Oscar Robertson) and he’s only the third guard in the last 25 years (Russell Westbrook and Ben Simmons) to have a 20-point, 20-rebound game.”
Sam Amick (The Athletic) on the mixed signals teams are getting about the Thunder’s trade inclinations: “They’re open to wheeling and dealing if there’s something significant to be gained, but are just fine standing pat while waiting for all those draft picks to come their way – especially considering all the fun they’re having. Did you see that whooping of the Rockets on Thursday night? Man alive. This Thunder logic about the trade season, it appears, would also apply to players like Steven Adams and Dennis Schroder who will always attract interest and who are both having wonderful years.”
John Hollinger (The Athletic) wonders if Dennis Schroder-for-Justise Winslow could happen this trade season: “Everybody talking about Chris Paul and Danilo Gallinari is looking in the wrong place for Thunder trades. Schröder has excelled this year off the bench (highlights include shooting 65.8 percent in the basket area and actually trying on defense) but still is only the third-best point guard on his own team, making him a natural candidate to be part of a package for a wing. The Thunder don’t need more draft picks, but if a living, breathing small forward came back they’d have to look hard at it, while for the acquiring team Schröder at $15.5 million next year suddenly seems like a benefit to the deal rather than a cost. Putting together a fake trade here is tough because of the salary match on Schröder’s $15.5 million. But what if the Thunder sent out one of their many future firsts to swap Schröder to Miami for Justise Winslow, a younger player locked in at reasonable money? That first likely would be enough for the Heat to make other, even more profitable deals that involve parlaying Dion Waiters into a useful basketball player.”
Thabo Sefolosha talks to David Yapkowitz (Basketball Insiders) about his longevity as an NBA player.
Royce Young on the Thunder’s placement at 13th in the latest ESPN power rankings: “The week ended on a low note with a loss to the Lakers’ B-team, but maybe it was understandable given how perfect Russell Westbrook’s return game went two nights before. With OKC wearing its city edition uniforms for the first time (which honor the victims of the 1995 Murrah Federal Building bombing), Westbrook was celebrated with a touching tribute video and raucous ovation. But then the ball went up and OKC routed Westbrook’s Rockets as Chris Paul capped it with a brilliant highlight nutmeg. If the marketing team would have drawn it up, it would’ve gone exactly the way it did.”
Catch some (brief) Thunder talk on the latest Dunc’d On podcast:
