Wednesday Bolts – 9.24.14

Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders says Scott Brooks is on the hot seat: “Fair or not, coaches are hired to ultimately be fired and if things don’t go where they are expected, its going to be harder and harder for the Thunder to hang on to Brooks, even though he’s the most successful coach in franchise history. Brooks has come under fire a lot over the last two seasons, so if the Thunder regress or start to struggle expect his job status to become a topic, even if no one in Oklahoma City wants to think about it.”

The Grizzlies are doing interesting promotional events: “Debuting this season, Grizzlies Wrestling Belts will be given to the first 3,000 fans at the Jan. 31 matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder as a part of Wrestling Night. Grizzlies Flip Flops will be handed out to the first 5,000 fans at the Feb. 27 game vs. the Los Angeles Clippers.”

Nike says happy birthday to KD.

Season preview podcast from Down To Dunk.

Tom Ziller of SB Nation on defensive reputations: “Even Kevin Durant, perhaps the greatest scorer of his age in the modern era — given that MJ was much older than KD upon entering the league — needed production in other realms to take the MVP away from the ultimate well-rounded star, LeBron. In the injury absence of Russell Westbrook, KD created more plays for himself and teammates and took the lead as a perimeter stopper as Thabo Sefolosha flailed a bit. Durant’s narrative conquest didn’t come because he took his scoring to even more obscene levels, but because he added peripheral tools to his belt. What’s especially interesting about KD’s cases is that he had them all along — or at least the previous two seasons — but didn’t need to use them much because he had Russell Westbrook and a plus-defense Thabo next to him. Only in their absence did KD’s other skills come into full bloom. That says something about basketball’s version of limitations creating better art.”

Kendrick Perkins comes in at No. 279 in #NBARank, right ahead of Chuck Hayes, Marreese Speights and Adreian Payne.

Hasheem Thabeet’s thank you to OKC: “I WANNA TAKE A SECOND TO THANK YOU OKC.. THE ENTIRE THUNDER ORGANIZATION AND THE FANS HAVE BEEN NOTHIN SHORT OF AMAZING. THE MEMORIES I’VE MADE HERE WILL LAST A LIFETIME AND I APPRECIATE YALL FOR THAT. LOUD CITY; STAY TRILL.”