Wednesday Bolts – 2.11.15
From the New York Times: “Before Mr. Williams apologized for exaggerating an account of a forced helicopter landing during the Iraq war, he ranked as the 23rd-most-trusted person in the country — on par with Denzel Washington, Warren E. Buffett and Robin Roberts. On Monday, he ranked as No. 835. That puts him on the same level as the actor Gene Hackman, the basketball player Russell Westbrook and Willie Robertson, who stars in A&E’s “Duck Dynasty” reality series, according to the Marketing Arm, a research firm whose celebrity index is closely watched by advertisers and media and marketing executives.”
Matt Moore of CBSSports.com: “So which is it? Are the Thunder too far behind the 8-ball, even if they do make the playoffs, to make a run? Will the series of unfortunate events carry on? Are they too deeply flawed to compete in the madhouse of the Western Conference? Or are Durant and Westbrook so singularly transcendent that any obstacle can be overcome by simple virtue of their brilliance and the occasional, if inconsistent contributions from their supporting cast? That answer is what we’ll be looking to discover over these next two months as the stretch run before the playoffs begin. And while the struggle may be real for OKC, the fun of watching them overcome it is what will keep everyone watching.”
Zach Lowe of Grantland on Steven Adams: “He has a chance to be the rare defender rugged enough to deal with Cousins in the post, and mobile enough to switch onto some power forwards if the Thunder prefer to keep Ibaka around the basket. Adams chases pick-and-rolls out to the 3-point arc — a chase that doesn’t always end well for him — and has spent time recently defending Anthony Davis and Aldridge along the perimeter. Blake Griffin had zero clue what to do with Adams in the post during last season’s playoffs, and Adams seems to irritate opponents just by standing in their general vicinity. He has to control his fouling and turnovers, but Adams should develop into at least an average starting NBA center. He’d better, since it looks like he’ll end up the centerpiece of the James Harden deal. (Sorry.)”
Charles Barkley is fun, but man, he says a lot of dumb stuff. It’s just crazy to me that one of the leading voices in the NBA is so unbelievably uneducated about today’s NBA.
Oh, and then there’s Magic Johnson, who said this about Serge Ibaka: “The team I’m waiting to bust out is OKC,” Johnson started. “If the big man quits shooting 3-pointers; the power forward, Serge Ibaka, he’s killing me. Serge, look, man. You were one of the best 12- to 15- foot power forward shooters in the game. All of a sudden he thinks he’s a 3-point shooter. Now on the pick and roll he fades to the 3-point line and is missing a lot of them. No, fade to the 12-foot line and hit your jumper. You were killing it. Or roll to the basket, because he was getting dunks left and right. But he’s killing me this year. I don’t know why he thinks he’s a 3-point shooter.”
Russell Westbrook doing something about fashion.
Ben Golliver of SI.com on playoff reform: “The general perception of Phoenix — reinforced by the current system — is that it’s a less preferable postseason option when compared to New Orleans and Oklahoma City, because those teams have A-list superstars in Anthony Davis and the Kevin Durant/Russell Westbrook duo. That’s a shame, because there’s no telling what type of exhilaration the Suns might cook up if the Dragic/Bledsoe/Thomas triumvirate and the Morris twins were unleashed on an unsuspecting foe in the postseason. This just shouldn’t be an either/or.”
