Switzer still raves about the Boz
Barry Switzer was on an Atlanta radio station the other day and was his usual entertaining self. He said a lot of interesting stuff, about both the Sooners and his NFL days.
But maybe the most telling subject was on Brian Bosworth and how great a college player he was. The Boz has been gone from the college scene 23 years. It’s easy to remember his shennanigans, but is his linebacking remembered so easily?
Bosworth was a dominant defensive player. I would say in the last 30 years, the best OU defensive players are Tony Casillas, Roy Williams and Bosworth, and while I would probably rank them Williams, Casillas, Boz, you couldn’t go wrong with any order.
Bosworth was a college Ray Lewis, a guy who seemed to impose his will not just on opposing offenses, but his defensive teammates. Switzer tells the story of receiving a call from Bobby Bowden, who caught highlights of Bosworth and couldn’t get over how great a player was the OU linebacker.
Anyway, the interview is worth listening to. Here’s the link to listen to the interview: http://sportsradiointerviews.com/2009/07/06/checking-in-with-barry-switzer/
Someone help on the NBA salary cap
I have a goal for August. When the NBA contract season and summer leagues are behind us, I want to sit down with someone from the Thunder, preferably assistant general manager Rich Cho, and get a quick lesson on the salary cap. I don’t really understand it at all.
The four-team trade involving Dallas, Toronto, Orlando and Memphis was a prime example. Trade exemptions and buyouts and cash considerations. It was all very confusing. I felt a little better after Mavs owner Mark Cuban twittered, “It’s been a long day of looking at spreadsheets, reading NBA cap rules and rubbing my eyes.”
At least it’s confusing for Cuban. But I don’t really follow all the variances of the salary cap rules.
For instance, Memphis will get Jerry Stackhouse from Dallas, Quincy Douby from Toronto and “a substantial cash payment to buy out Stackhouse’s contract.” Only $2 million of Stackhouse’s $7.25 million salary next season is guaranteed, as long as he is waived by Aug. 10. Originally, it was reported that Dallas was supplying the money for Memphis to buy out Stackhouse’s contract, but in later reports, it’s unclear where that money comes from. But either way, that sounds like circumvention of the cap, to send money and a player to a team so that team can buy out the player’s contract. I assume it’s legal, I just don’t understand how or why.
Trade and mid-level signing exemptions also are cloudy. I sort of know what they are but I don’t know how they work. Orlando is involved in the trade by agreeing to a sign-and-trade deal with Hedo Turkoglu, who has agreed on a free-agent contract with Toronto. Instead of losing Turkoglu outright, the Magic signs Turkoglu, trades him to Toronto and creates a $7 million trade exception that can be used in a future deal.
Somebody help me.
I’m told that plenty of NBA general managers don’t understand all the nuances of the cap, which is why people like Cho are so valuable. Their full-time job is knowing all the minute details of what’s acceptable and what’s not.
I’m not trying to become an expert. I just need a remedial course.
Switzer, Sutton: Thumbing it to March Madness
The death this week of former OU quarterback Jack Mitchell brought out another charming story about the open road.
Eddie Sutton always has told the story about hitch-hiking to Kansas City for the 1955 Final Four at Municipal Auditorium, to see Bill Russell and the San Francisco Dons. Sutton was an Oklahoma A&M freshman at the time.
Three years later, another young college student stuck out his thumb for March Madness. Barry Switzer, then an Arkansas sophomore, and teammates hitch-hiked to Lawrence, Kan., for the NCAA Midwest Regional. The Razorbacks were in the four-team field along with Cincinnati, Oklahoma State and Kansas State.
Switzer went for two reasons: 1) cheer on his beloved Razorbacks; and 2) he knew he could get in free.
“We knew if we could get to Phog Allen Fieldhouse, we knew we’d all get in,” Switzer said. “Jack would let us in.”
Switzer still can recall memories from those 1958 games. The great Bob Boozer leading Kansas State to the Final Four. Sutton bringing the ball down court for OSU. And a memorable third-place game between Cincinnati and Arkansas, when with four minutes left, “Arkansas had 54 points and Oscar Robertson had 56.” Cincinnati won that game 97-62, and the Big O indeed finished with 56 points.
Remembering Jack Mitchell: A dashing Sooner
In the Tuesday Oklahoman and on the newsok.com website, we ran a photo of Jack Mitchell accompanying the story of his death Monday. He’s wearing one of those old leather helmets, grinning wide and looking goofy.
Don’t buy it. Don’t buy it for a second. That wasn’t the real Jack Mitchell. Jack Mitchell was one of the most dashing figures in Oklahoma football history.
When I heard Mitchell died, I called two people, Barry Switzer and Claude Arnold. Switzer was recruited by Mitchell to the University of Arkansas in 1956. Arnold was a backup quarterback at OU in 1948, when Mitchell was a Sooner all-American.
Two men who had long-ago, but vastly different, experiences with Mitchell. Yet both arrived at the same conclusion.
Mitchell was dashing.
We don’t use that word much anymore. More befitting a an old-Hollywood movie star. Clark Gable or Tyrone Power or someone. But that’s what Mitchell seemed to be.
Here’s what Switzer said: “Very handsome, good-looking. Married a Miss Oklahoma, a very gorgeous blond. She’d come to practice…
“I liked Jack. He could get a team ready to play … he’d sit in the back of the bus and chew tobacco, spit it out the window.
“He had jet-black, wavy hair. He’d run his hands through it. Very animated. I really liked him. He was a motivating coach. Very charismatic.”
Here’s what Arnold had to say: “Jack was a great personality and a great runner. He was great for the split-T. We didn’t throw hardly at all, but his personality was just dynamite. General Jack, we called him. He had everybody in the palm of his hand.
“Jack was such a leader. Such a personality. Great personality.”
Mitchell and Bud Wilkinson were an early-day Jack Mildren and Barry Switzer. Mitchell, recruited by Jim Tatum off an Arkansas City, Kan., train station, played for Tatum in 1946, then was Wilkinson’s quarterback for two seasons. He was OU’s first option QB, a master at the famed split-T, with innovations like the pitch to the trailing halfback and the “spinner,” basically the early counter play.
In Jeff Snook’s What It Means To Be a Sooner, Mitchell detailed some of his life. He was born and raised in Ark City, but his parents divorced and his mother came to OU to pursue a master’s degree; Mitchell lived in the girls dorm and would crawl under the fence at Owen Field to watch the Sooners play football.
Mitchell moved back to Ark City with his mother, who was the city’s librarian, and remembers winning races through the busy streets on Saturday, a sign of speed and agility that was on display a few years later on college gridirons.
Mitchell had a little Forrest Gump to him. He was dianosed with rheumatic fever as a boy and a heart valve problem. He was ordered to bed for six weeks and told he never could be active again. When he came off the bed, naturally, he barely could walk. But Mitchell started walking, then jogging and finally the doctors told him the valve was healing. Finally, he got clearance to play football.
Mitchell became an Ark City star and was recruited by Texas U. coaching legend Dana X. Bible. He went to Texas in 1941; Mitchell’s grandfather told him to join the ROTC, but Mitchell signed up for the Army Air Corps, because he wanted to fly. Alas, Mitchell was color-blind, which ended his pilot hopes. Almost 70 years later, Switzer still would laugh at some of Mitchell’s wardrobe selections, how mismatched they were.
Anyway, Mitchell wanted to switch to the infantry, but according to What It Means To Be a Sooner, a captain told him, “Listen Jack, you have a lot of potential in college athletics, and you are a smart guy … you have a real future. I am not going to sign off on this and send you to the infantry to get your ass shot off.”
Mitchell won that argument and indeed joined the artillery and eventually went to war. “Fortunately, I didn’t get my ass shot off,” he said.
Mitchell returned home in March 1946, wanting to go to school. OU historian Harold Keith wrote in 47 Straightthat Tatum was waiting for Mitchell at the Ark City train depot when Mitchell returned and talked him into attending OU’s spring practice. Mitchell figured he would attend both OU and Texas spring workouts, then decide where he belonged.
That was the famous spring in which Tatum brought in literally hundreds of players. Tatum remembers the 300 or so players forming a circle that “was so damn big, you could hardly see the other side of it.”
Mitchell was playing halfback, but Wilkinson came over after a week and asked him to move to quarterback, explaining the split-T’s prime ballcarrier was the QB. “I never made it back to Texas,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said that Missouri coach Don Faurot, for whom Wilkinson coached in war-time football, always claimed to have invented the option. But Mitchell says different. The Sooners always called the play depending on the defense; if they faced a 6-2 and the ends boxed out, the quarterback would keep the ball. If the ends faced a 5-3, he would pitch.
During practice one day, the scout-team end kept backing off and backing off. So Mitchell held onto the ball and finally turned upfield. Wilkinson quizzed him why he hadn’t followed through on the pitch that was called.
“It’s just like basketball, Coach,” Mitchell said. “If you have a two-on-one and the defender comes to you, you pass it. If he doesn’t, you keep it.”
Historians credit Faurot with inventing the option in 1941, “but I never saw Missouri run the option the whole time I was at Oklahoma,” Mitchell said.
Wilkinson twice moved Mitchell to halfback, in an effort to get Darrell Royal into the lineup at quarterback. Both times, Mitchell went back to QB. Nothing against Royal, but Mitchell was the greater quarterback. One of the best in OU history.
“I was very fortunate to end up at Oklahoma,” Mitchell told Snook. “To come back and play under a coach like Bud Wilkinson, who taught me so much, remains a great thrill in my life. If it weren’t for Bud, I don’t know what I would have been in life, I really don’t. I went into coaching because of what he taught me and what I learned while at Oklahoma.”
Mitchell went on to become head coach at Wichita State, Arkansas and Kansas. He recruited John Hadl and Gale Sayers to KU. His overall coaching record was 72-61-7; he was fired at Kansas after a couple of dismal seasons in 1965 and 1966.
Mitchell never got the chance to coach at OU. Maybe he would have failed. But it might have been a fabulous fit. Gomer Jones, who replaced Wilkinson in 1964, didn’t have the stomach for the job. Mitchell most certainly would have.
OU football history has had its share of dashing quarterbacks. Jimmy Harris, who went 25-0 as a starter, remains charismatic, 53 years after his final Sooner game. Steve Davis, a Baptist preacher even as a college student who loved Willie Nelson tunes, was a romantic figure. Jamelle Holieway, from Los Angeles and owner of a fur coat, was a character straight out of Guys & Dolls. Sam Bradford today makes the ladies swoon.
But no Sooner quarterback ever was more dashing than Jack Mitchell.
Bedlam golf, PGA style
Tiger Woods ruined what could have been an interesting Bedlam duel Sunday in the AT&T National at Congressional. Of course, few are complaining. Tiger in contention in the final round makes for all eyes on a golf tournament.
But Tiger was playing with ex-Sooner Anthony Kim; they started the final round tied for the lead. And Tiger had to overcome ex-OSU Cowboy Hunter Mahan, who fired a course-record tying 62 (Kim set the record Thursday) and posted a 12-under score while Tiger still had most of the back nine to play. Tiger’s 16th-hole birdie lifted him one shot ahead of Mahan, to 13-under, and that’s how they finished.
But the tournament brought up a great discussion about Mahan and Kim. Who is the better golfer andwho has the brighter future? This looks to be a great PGA rivalry, since both are young, Kim 24 and Mahan 27.
Kim has two PGA Tour wins, Mahan one. Bothhave three second-place finishes, but Kim also has five third-place finishes. Mahan has 20 top-10′s, Kim has 15. Mahan has won more money on tour, $9.83 million to Kim’s $8.02M. Mahan leads Kim in the FedEx Cup standings; Mahan is 14th to Kim’s 32nd, but Kim was fourth in 2008 (Mahan was 18th). In 2007, Mahan was 15th and Kim was 43rd.
But golf status always comes down to the majors. Neither has won a major, but both have made noise. Mahan was 10th (Masters) and sixth (U.S. Open) in 2009′s two majors and was sixth in the 2007 British Open. Kim was 20th (Masters) and 16th (U.S. Open) in 2009′s majors and was seventh in the 2008 British.
Both have tremendous potential. Kim made history last year, becoming the first player since Tiger himself to win two PGA Tour titles in the same year while under the age of 25. Mahan has become known as one of the tour’s great hot golfers, with the ability to go not just low, but really low.
Kim and Mahan are going to be around a long time, challenging for golf championships. This is going to be a fun rivalry.
Emails in on Gehrig & Favre
The new emails are in, and I struck a chord by writing about two legends who had impressive punch-the-clock streaks. Lou Gehrig and Brett Favre. I didn’t write about their consecutive game streaks, but still, it’s sort of an ironic week. Anyway, let’s start with Gehrig.
Mark: “A biography on Lou Gehrig is tucked away somewhere in my study that I read in the late ’50s. Being left-handed and of Germany-Polish heritage, I have a hero for the ages. Thanks for lifting our spirits; it’s nice to remember our heroes.”
Well, I certainly recommend the newest Gehrig bio, Jonathan Eig’s Luckiest Man. An excellent book. Which reminds me. There are epic biographies about Babe Ruth (Robert W. Creamer’s Babe: The Legend Comes to Life), Joe DiMaggio (Richard Ben Cramer’s Joe DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life) and Luckiest Man. But so far as I know, none of the many Mickey Mantle biographies rise to that level.
Karan: Good refresher on the life of Lou Gehrig. His life is inspiring. It’s a shame that this many years later there is still no cure for that terrible disease.”
Don’t you find it interesting that we expect to cure all our diseases? Not that we shouldn’t. Without trying to cure all the diseases, we probably would not have cure any. But there’s a general reluctance to accept death. I find that somewhat honorable in humanity.
Bill: “Thanks so much for your article on Lou Gehrig. Quite a tribute to him. I in no way wish to denigrate Cal Ripken’s accomplishment as the leader in consecutive games played, but I bet that watching Gehrig was more entertaining. Of course, you and I are both too young to remember anything at all about the man, but can you imagine playing in those days of woolen uniforms, dead balls and train travel between cities and then still maintain a .340 average? I would venture to say today’s prima donas would have a very difficult time in that era. Player of the century? At least. Probably for all time.”
I love Gehrig as a player. But as Bill James wrote years ago, the Gehrig/Ripken records were not/are not as unbreakable as we believed. They are records of will. In other words, most anyone could break them, with cooperation from employers. The Gehrig biography clearly points out that several times during Gehrig’s streak of 2,130 straight games, he played but an inning, either with an at-bat or three outs in the field, then was removed. The streak was very important to Gehrig, as it was to Ripken.
Leigh: “Thank you for the wonderful story about Lou Gehrig. Although I was born a few years too late to hear his farewell speech or follow him as an active player, I read a book about his life as a grade school child, and have loved Lou Gehrig and the Yankees ever since. Thanks for bringing back good memories of Gehrig and what it was like to have gracious, dignified players who have their priorities straight.”
Sudden thought. Gehrig clearly remains the greatest first baseman of all time, though a few guys in history have certainly been worthy of consideration, too. Jimmie Foxx. George Sisler. But Albert Pujols is making a run at it. Pujols’ campaign is over, of course, if he’s found to have juiced.
OK, on to Favre. Ryan, a Viking fan: “I think you raise some interesting questions and submit some valid points in speculating Favre is not the answer. Some interesting analysis that I think you left undeveloped is the QB rating among common opponents or something even more telling, the QB rating vs. playoff teams from each year you were comparing. Additionally, I think it is fair to say that Brett has never had the benefit of a running back the likes of Adrian Peterson in his backfield. Instead, Favre has been the guy expected to carry the team. We saw that happen last year and that would not be asked of him in Minnesota, unless Adrian were to get injured. The Vikings do not have a QB on the roster who provides the resounding threat of being able to throw the deep ball and open the field up for Adrian. Jackson has all the talent, but he lacks the ability to carry that talent to the field. Jackson is the guy that can light up the radar gun, but as soon as someone steps on the batter’s box, he can’t find the plate. I do agree with you on one point. It is very possible that Adrian will wake up and be 30 without a sniff of the Super Bowl. I think the path to getting there is by continuing to suffer under the development of Jackson.”
All I’m saying is that 25-year-old quarterbacks with loads of talent sometimes grow up to be effective, but 40-year-old quarterbacks, now matter how talented they once were, always will break your heart.
Jon: “Um, you’re kidding, right? You don’t think Favre can do this year what Kerry Collins did last year? What Joe Flacco did last year? I’ve got news for you, the Vikes have more all-around talent than last year’s Titans and last year’s Ravens. We have three Pro Bowlers just on the D-line. Football is a team sport, and we are stacked and very deep at every position except safety, but that will be covered up with a great pass rush. You’re missing a big point: all we need is improved QB play. We were 10-6 with Gus Frerotte. You don’t think Favre will be better than that? Did you watch the Vikings games last year. There is no way on Earth Favre will be worse than that.”
Is that the Vikings’ mantra? Our guy is better than Gus Frerotte? But to answer your question, no, I’m not kidding. I don’t think Favre is anywhere close to Kerry Collins anymore, and I don’t think the Vikes D is anywhere close to the Ravens. If you want improved quarterback play, a 40-year-old QB is not the place to find it.
Terri: “I am a huge fan of Adrian’s. I am not a Vikings fan, but I love Adrian. He is indeed the best tailback in the game today. No question. I knew he would be. I do wonder what the other six teams that didn’t take him due to his supposed injury proneness. As my Steelers were pick No. 15, I was privately hoping he would drop to us. Imagine Big Ben handing off to Adrian. Wow. At least Peterson would have a ring, which gets me to your article. I do agree wholeheartedly that Peterson is going to be the next Barry Sanders if the Vikings do not step it up and do something at QB. A worn down, broken down Brett Farve is not the answer. May as well try with Jackson or Rosenfels.”
Some ask what the Vikings have to lose. I’ll tell you. Any chance at a season. Here’s the worst-case scenario for the Vikes. Favre realizes in September he no longer can play and walks away. Then Minnesota has squandered several weeks of preparation and whatever confidence Jackson or Rosenfels could have been building by leading the squad into the season.
Danny: “I say let Michael Vick play and go to Minnesota.”
Don’t think it can’t happen.
James: “What is the purpose of this story? Appears you are bashing a legendary QB. I saw the interview and you took AP’s words out of context and wrote an opinion piece.”
The purpose of this story was to bash a 40-year-old quarterback. And I conducted the interview.
Joe: “Being a long-time Viking fan, I can honestly say I’m excited about Brett Favre. I saw how he played through the first 11 games with the Jets last year and at one time he was leading the league in passing. I believe his arm was too sore after that to continue and it was either the Jets or Brett who pushed too hard. I believe the Vikings have to take this shot at trying Favre, and if it works, great, it was worth it. If it doesn’t work, at least they tried something. I don’t think Tarvaris Jackson is the answer, and Sage Rosenfels, well, too many questions linger there. But I think the time is now for the Vikings to give it the big push, and with Favre knowing the offense and being able to read defenses, this could be their best immediate shot.”
There’s a reason Favre’s arm was too sore. He was 39 years old.
Some readers wanted to talk about the Thunder draft. Gary: “I don’t know anything about Mr. Presti or James Harden except for what I read in the paper. However, I am going to guess that Presti’s No. 1 concern about the Thunder is team chemistry. I can also assume that Presti wanted a defensive (interior) man, but if there is no one out there that he liked then there is no need in wasting a No. 3 pick. It was evident who Presti didn’t want. I am sure that you know better than I do the bottom line for success in any team sport is chemistry.”
I would say talent trumps chemistry, but when you’re talking about these kinds of ballplayers, the talent often is very close. The character, not so much.
Shannon: “Safe pick. That is how James Harden is constantly described. I disagree. If one is saying that Harden is safe because of a ‘known’ ceiling and floor, I guess I can agree with that to some degree. But Rubio was the safe pick. Safe from second guessing. Safe from criticism. Take Ricky, and everyone would say ‘you had to take him’, ‘we were lucky he feel to three’, or ‘it was a two-player second tier.’ Sam followed his gut — or maybe foresaw the signing carnival to ensue with Rubio — and took the player he wanted, against conventional wisdom. That is not safe. I say it is daring, and exactly the kind of decision making I want from a GM.”
I don’t know what more Rubio has to do to make every Thunder fan glad he’s not their pick. No shown interesting in signing with Minnesota. No summer league. No nothing. If Sam Presti had drafted Rubio, and he was doing to OKC what he’s doing to Minnesota, everyone would be up in arms.
AHL no hockey upgrade for OKC in term of cities
The Oklahoma City Blazers have suspended operations and say they won’t field a franchise in the Central Hockey League next season, with an eye towards getting an American Hockey League franchise for 2010-11. Sounds fishy to me, how the AHL will be financially feasible if you can’t make a go of it in the CHL. But maybe it will work.
Anyway, one thing that has sort of disturbed me in recent years is that while OKC’s status among sports cities has risen, with first the Hornets and then the Thunder to where Oklahoma City is a thriving major-league city, its minor-league hockey team was in a league playing franchises based in Amarillo, Texas; Rapid City, S.D.; Shreveport, La.; Corpus Christi, Texas; Odessa, Texas; and Hidalgo, Texas (Rio Grande Valley).
The CHL did have some traditionally strong minor-league markets like Tulsa; Albuquerque, N.M.; Wichita, Kan.; and Austin, Texas, and was even in some suburbs of major-league markets: Allen, Texas (Dallas); Prescott Valley, Ariz. (Phoenix); Southaven, Miss. (Memphis); Independence, Mo. (Kansas City); Broomfield, Colo. (Denver); and Richland Hills, Texas (Dallas-Fort Worth).
But here’s the stunner. The American Hockey League is split much the same way. A bunch of major-league markets, some traditional AAA minor-league markets and a bunch of smaller towns.
The major-league markets in the AHL: San Antonio, Cleveland, Toronto, Milwaukee, Houston, Boston (Lowell, Mass.).
The AAA markets: Austin; Providence, R.I.; Norfolk, Va.; Des Moines, Iowa; Winnipeg, Manitoba; Hamilton, Ontario; Rochester, N.Y.; Hartford, Conn.
If that was the league, that’s good company to be in. But the AHL also has a bunch of franchises in cities that are the eastern version of Amarillo and Corpus Christi. Binghamton, N.Y.; Hershey, Pa.; Peoria, Ill.; Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; Syracuse, N.Y.; Rockford, Ill.; Glens Falls, N.Y.
If you’re going to play hockey against Wilkes-Barre or Glens Falls, you might as well be playing against Odessa or Shreveport. At least Oklahoma City fans will know where those cities are.
The AHL is better hockey, no doubt about it. But in terms of city status, it’s no step up.
The better sire: Richard Williams or Earl Woods?
Richard Williams and Earl Woods are two of the most interesting people on the American sports scene in the last half century, though neither played sports at a high professional level.
Both black men raised children in country-club sports but outside the country-club environment, and both raised those children to be the best in the world. And said so. And succeeded.
Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer of all time, while Serena and Venus Williams have been the dominant female tennis players of this decade.
No one would dare say the Williams sisters surpass Tiger in accomplishments, but here’s an interesting way to gauge them. Which of the sires, Earl Woods or Richard Williams, will have the most major championships from their offspring? Right now, Richard Williams leads Earl Woods 17-14. Serena has 10 major titles and Venus seven, and it certainly looks like the sisters will add to that total this weekend at Wimbledon.
Golf is bigger than tennis in the U.S., so no matter what, the Williams sisters wouldn’t be bigger than Tiger. But if not for Venus, Serena would be close to Tiger in major championships, 14-13. Serena thrice has lost to Venus in major finals.
Golfers have a longer shelf life than tennis players. Tiger could be winning majors well into his 40s. Tennis players do little after their 20s.
But for now, Richard Williams leads Earl Woods. The race is on.
Gortat & Powe intriguing free agents for Thunder
The NBA’s free agency signing period has begun, and I don’t expect Oklahoma City to be in the market for big-name players.
Some of the names mentioned don’t fit. Chicago sharpshooter Ben Gordon doesn’t fit at all, culturally or financially. He would cost too much and require too much of a presence in the offense of a young, developing team. New York Knickerbocker power forward David Lee would cost too much money and has little defensive presence, though he does score and rebound. The Thunder needs interior defense. Utah power forward Paul Millsap is the kind of player the Thunder needs, but he likely will require too much money, and the Boomers are not going to upset their financial solidarity, in which they appear in good shape to adequately pay their young core players when contract negotiations come around.
But a couple of players seem right in the Thunder wheelhouse. Marcin Gortat and Leon Powe.
Gortat is a 7-foot, 25-year-old center from Poland who backed up Dwight Howard this past season, after playing just six games as a rookie. Gortat is a rugged defender with limited offensive skills, but rugged defense is exactly what Oklahoma City needs. The Thunder has an offensive center in Nenad Krstic, a sold-shooting 7-footer who has his moments rebounding, too. But Gortat would form a very solid center combo with Krstic. Defense and offense. Gortat doesn’t figure to command a huge salary, maybe something in the $5 million range, which would not wreck the Thunder’s payroll structure. Gortat averaged just 12 minutes a game last season but played well in the playoffs.
Powe is a 6-foot-8, 25-year-old power forward from the University of California. He has spent all three of his NBA seasons with the Boston Celtics and really impressed a year ago in the playoffs. Injuries limited him to two games for the Celtics this post-season. Powe has averaged 6.6 points , 4.2 rebounds and 14.6 minutes per game for Boston over his career. Not a great player, but potentially a solid inside presence, which the Thunder needs.
OKC is not in the playoff hunt next season. Sam Presti and Scott Brooks can’t say that, of course, but it’s true. Next season is one more year in the development of a promising team. No reason to spend a lot of money on a player who might get you from 34 to 38 wins. But a young player who in two years might help you get from 44 to 48 wins? That’s a more intriguing signing.
