Kevin Durant’s Basketball Never Stops Spot
Here is Kevin Durant’s latest Nike commercial, which we first reported in The Oklahoman last Friday was coming down the pipeline. It’s a great concept and was executed flawlessly. But that’s what we’ve come to expect from Nike ads.
This one is especially cool because it’s got a shot of the actual Chesapeake Energy Arena shutting out the lights to signify the NBA lockout has stunted the game we all love. But in this “spotlight” series, helicopters flash a light on Durant and the other stars in random places to show that basketball never stops.
As previously reported, as part of this series Durant will show up at a truck stop in another spot to play with truckers. And I have since learned that Durant will appear at a family cookout as well in search of a game. Should be a cool series.
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Why The 2011-12 NBA Schedule Is Worthless
How much more harm is the NBA inflicting by not releasing dummy dates so arenas like the Peake can book other acts?
Howard Beck of The New York Times has reported what many of us have whispered and assumed for weeks.
The 2011-12 NBA schedule no longer means a thing.
The NBA is expected to continue canceling regular season games in two-week chunks, with the next round of cuts possibly coming today. But it’s all a formality. The schedule, as it was presented in July, was never going to see the light of day once the edict came down on Oct. 10 to wipe out the first two weeks of the regular season. There just was no way it could have.
The reason is competitive balance. (more…)
Michael Beasley Says What You’re Thinking
Put a microphone in Michael Beasley's face and there's no telling what you'll get.
It was only a matter of time.
At some point, you knew a player was going to come out and speak his mind.
Minnesota Timberwolves forward Michael Beasley on Sunday did just that about the stalemate between players and owners in the NBA’s labor dispute. After talks between the two sides broke off last week, Beasley apparently couldn’t understand why. The union had come off their insistence to not accept less than 53 percent of basketball related income. The players union had offered to take 52.5 percent. But the owners rejected that concession and maintained their stance of an even split. The union then said no deal and added there was nothing left to discuss.
Following the US Fleet Basketball Invitational, Beasley shared his feelings of the latest rift.
Fighting over 3 percent, that’s kind of retarded to me. But it is what is. We’ll come to an agreement. The quicker we can get a deal done, the better. Like I’ve been saying before, the main ones suffering are our fans.”
I’m kicking myself for not having my tape recorder in Beasley’s face when he said this. One of my goals Sunday night was to get as many players as possible explaining how they would feel about a 50-50 split. And at the start of the night, I knew there was a good chance that Beasley would be the player who would most freely speak his mind. Turns out, I was right. It’s just I was preoccupied with interviewing James Harden and trying to chase down others to get this quote. But I would have loved to have gotten it so that I might have also gotten Beasley to expound on it.
At any rate, you might disagree with the adjective Beasley used, or even consider it offensive. But you get his point. He thinks it’s ridiculous that the union and owners are haggling over 3 percent and costing the league games in the process. It’s hard to argue with him there. Unfortunately, few will pay attention to Beasley’s feelings because he’s largely been a basket case since entering the league in 2008. Had LeBron James or Kobe Bryant said the same thing, even choosing their words more carefully, it’d be huge news.
What’s most interesting about Beasley’s opinion is that it is one of a rank and file player. As a former No. 2 overall pick, Beasley was projected to be a star. Three years later, however, he’s fallen into the talented-but-too-inconsistent category. The irony is that in many ways, Beasley is one of the faces of what this fight is all about. He’s a middle-of-the-road player. A player whose likes the union is striving hard to protect. And a player whose likes owners are desperately seeking to stop overpaying.
That’s why Beasley’s opinion matters. How many others like him share his view? If a vote of the players was taken today, how many of these same rank and file guys gladly would accept an even split? That’s where things get interesting. The widespread belief is the vast majority of them would deal in a heartbeat. And there are hundreds more middle of the road players than there are megastars. As CNBC’s Darren Rovell pointed out on Twitter, some guys might already be in financial trouble.
But I asked one of those megastars Sunday night what is the issue with 50-50. Here’s what New Orleans guard Chris Paul told me.
It’s more than that. It’s also about the system. People that came before us fought hard for guaranteed contracts, (Larry) Bird rights and a lot of other things. A lot of people think it’s just about the economics, but the economics is something we’re willing to talk about. But at the same time, the system and the economics have to go together.”
That, too, is a piece of logic that’s hard to argue with. An even split might sound fair on the surface. But if the salary cap system that surrounds it is suspect, 50-50 could really be 55-45 in favor of the owners. That’s what the players are guarding against.
And that’s where we currently stand in this lockout.
A good way to move things forward is for the union to go ahead and accept what more and more appears to be an inevitable even split of BRI and start focusing their attention on securing all they can in the system that surrounds it.
If they don’t now, this lockout will continue heading nowhere fast.
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Kevin Durant Brings Basketball Back To OKC
Kevin Durant (left) and LeBron James combined for 82 points Sunday night.
News, notes and observations from Sunday’s US Fleet Tracking Basketball Invitational.
- This thing had the look and feel of a real NBA game…right up until the ball was thrown up. The place was packed in pre-game. The lights went down for intros. And in typical Oklahoma City tradition, a minister from Life Church trotted out and gave the invocation just before the lineups. Sandi Patty, a Grammy winning Gospel singer, delivered the national anthem. Event organizers talked about doing this the right way, and I’d say they did just that.
- Then the game started. When that happened, host Kevin Durant took the liberty of jacking up a 40-footer from the right wing on the opening possession. I joked on Twitter that it was right out of the Thunder playbook. Even the miss. Unfortunately, it set the tone for a largely defenseless showcase between star-studded teams more interested in putting on a show for fans. That’s just the way these things go.
- I may be different than others, but these types of games largely do little for me. It’s been that way for me all lockout, and it didn’t change one bit when these guys came into my backyard. But judging by fan reaction, I’d say many share my sentiments. While the game no doubt was fun and provided fans a rare opportunity to see so many stars up close, the basketball value is terrible. I got the sense many fans lost interest midway through the second quarter. By the fourth quarter, hundreds, if not thousands, of empty seats were visible in the upper bowl. This much is clear: if the lockout lingers and players want to keep up these barnstorming games one of two things must absolutely happen. 1) They’ll have to lower ticket prices, or 2) They’ll have to bring some defense to the games. Customers aren’t going to continue to spend big bucks on the equivalent of And 1 ball.
- I didn’t look at stats all night. At 11 p.m. I realized KD had a triple-double…WITH 42 POINTS, 26 REBOUNDS and 11 ASSISTS!! Durant is good. But make no mistake, he’s not Wilt Chamberlain. That says much more about the quality of ball being played folks.
- Since I’m on the subject. Chris Paul had 25 assists, 13 of them coming in the first quarter. OK, so that’s not really the same. Dude really could probably do that in a real game.
- Did anyone really miss Blake Griffin? Did I really just ask that? Considering our location, I can assume the answer to that is yes, probably with a few expletives. But my point is, this was still a great night if you’re a basketball fan.
- A whole lot of no-shows tonight. The list includes, in addition to Griffin, Kendrick Perkins, Amar’e Stoudemire, John Wall, Monta Ellis and Rudy Gay for three quarters. Gay showed up in street clothes at the start of the fourth after being announced as “running late” during pre-game intros. Wall was said to have missed his flight. And there was no word on the other guys. I guess that’s the risk you take when you throw an event like this together in a matter of weeks with no compensation for players.
- The no-show who carried the biggest disappointment was Perk. Obviously that has nothing to do with wanting to see him in an All-Star-styled event. I wanted to see how much weight he’s lost, how his knees look and whether he’s regained some of his explosiveness.
- Replacing Ellis was a nice surprise, Thunder rookie Reggie Jackson. And this setting was a great opportunity to see just how skilled and athletic he is. Unfortunately, the rook chose to largely defer to the stars. Probably a good decision on his part. He took just seven shots and made five for 10 points in six minutes.
- Tell me you loved this quote from Jackson as much as I did. When I asked him why he passed up a breakaway dunk attempt to throw it off the glass to KD for a dunk, Jackson said “I”m a point guard. I don’t need to score. I don’t really care about scoring. I just care about wins. So if it’s getting people baskets, getting assists, or sitting on the bench and watching a win, I’m cool with it.” The pick is looking better and better.
James Harden Popping Bottles
James Harden (middle) knows how to get it in!
I share this story at the risk of perpetuating an already well-established stereotype of NBA players.
But this image of James Harden popping bottles is too good to ignore.
In a story examining how clubs have become dependent on marked up bottles of liquor, Harden, of all people, somehow manages to become the face of the story.
On a recent Thursday night in Hollywood, NBA player James Harden was holding court, but there wasn’t a basketball in sight. The second-string guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder was partying at Roxbury, celebrating his 22nd birthday with several hundred of his closest friends. Jammed into a circular corner booth with roughly 40 others, Harden took swigs from a bottle of Patron as hip-hop music blasted and leggy ladies in short dresses filled the dance floor. The $13,000 moment came when a parade of runway-ready “bottle servers” sashayed toward his table carrying his order of 22 bottles of Moet & Chandon.”
You gotta love that image.
Harden knocking back patron bombs straight from the bottle. Then deciding, ‘Wait, that’s not enough! Let’s get 22 bottles of Moet because, you know, I’m 22.”
Ah, to be young and rich.
All jokes aside, this story of Harden splurging on a good time comes at a time when the NBA’s image is sliding down a slippery slope. The league is in the middle of a 4 1/2 month-long lockout that has wiped out games. And the brunt of the backlash will land at the feet of the 450 or so players, many of whom already are labeled by some as selfish, arrogant athletes. Now along comes this tale. It serves as both a clear cut example of the financial choices some NBA players make, while also verifying the negative view some observers have of the league’s players.
Here Harden is, barely old enough to drink, buying bottles of Moet at $590 a pop. It’s that kind of lifestyle that ordinary Americans see but never will experience. It’s that kind of lifestyle that fosters resentment, especially in this downtrodden economy. It’s that kind of lifestyle that has made casual fans unable to comprehend why this lockout is lingering or what it’s even about.
Meanwhile, those 22 bottles of Moet are a small representation of “The Lifestyle.” It’s something most fans not only never will get to experience, but also don’t seem to understand.
There are two popular misconceptions during this lockout: 1) that the players are asking for more money (they’re not; they’re simply trying to maintain much of what they already earn based on previous negotiations), and 2) that players should be OK with taking a pay cut because they’d still be millionaires. You know how that second line of logic goes. How many times have you heard, or even said, something to the effect of “What can you do with $15 million that you can’t do with $10 million?”
I don’t pretend to know the answer to that. And I’m not sitting here saying that a player can’t live comfortably off of a few less millions. But what I do know is that when you make $20 million, you live a $20 million lifestyle. And when you make $20,000, you live a $20,000 lifestyle. James Harden is slated to make slightly more than $4.6 million next season. From the sound of it, he lives like he makes $4.6 million. But if Harden’s salary dipped to, say, $2.3 million, you can bet a lot of things would change. It’s like an average Joe going from a $50,000 a year salary to a $40,000 a year salary. The only difference is a few zeros.
But rarely do we understand millionaires fighting for fair compensation. It’s beyond our grasp. And the reason is clear — there are NBA stars who make more in a year than most of us will generate in our lifetime. We tend to think they ought to be well off. No matter what. Never mind the taxes that are taken off the top, and the agent fees, and the family obligations and the investments, and, yes, “The Lifestyle.”
Sure, the lifestyle is a decision, and maybe even a poor one. If an NBA player blows through his stacks on strippers and booze and jewelry and cars, shame on him. But so what. That’s beside the point. The point is, who are we to say how someone should or shouldn’t spend their money? Especially since the vast majority of us know nothing about life in that tax bracket.
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Tim Tebow Trumps Kevin Durant For Mag Cover
No matter how popular you get, it's hard to compete with Tim Tebow. Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant might have just learned that the hard way.
In September, I told you Kevin Durant was scheduled to be featured in an issue of ESPN The Magazine this month.
I also reported that Durant would receive the cover.
As it turned out, only the first of those two things actually happened.
And it might just have been because Tim Tebow was announced as the Denver Broncos starting quarterback on Oct. 11. Now, instead of your favorite two-time NBA scoring champ garnering a cover story, Thunder fans get more Tebow stuffed down their throats.
The mag’s theme this issue is “Plan B.” It makes some sense. Tebow is Plan B in Denver, Durant’s summer of pickup ball was Plan B to the NBA season and so on and so forth. The only problem was Durant ironically became the mag’s Plan B when the more popular Tebow got promoted.
But there are two good things to take from this development: 1) Durant still has a prominent piece in the issue, and 2) if you’re a subscriber like me, this issue is guaranteed to be better than two of the more recent issues — the body issue (which I have no use for) and the Boston love affair issue (How long until Tom Brady retires so the Pats can stink again and we don’t have to hear about ‘em?)
Do yourselves a favor and read Allison Glock’s story on Durant. Much of it might not be anything new to die-hard fans who have watched Durant up close for the past four seasons. Still, Glock does a terrific job of offering you a glimpse into Durant’s character, his humble nature and what it is about him that make some consider him to be “boring” and void of personality.
A few quick snippets:
A DOZEN THINGS YOU PROBABLY don’t know about Kevin Durant:
He has never been in love.
He has a music production studio in his house.
He has been known to rap.
His back tattoo took eight hours.
It isn’t finished.
His inner voice is often “just a buzzing noise.”
He used to sleep in church.
He has no regrets (not even missing the prom).“People think I’m boring,” Durant says, his voice soft. “I hear, ‘You don’t have a personality.’ Or I’m too nonchalant.” He shrugs. “I can’t focus on what people think.”
“I felt like I was just being me,” he says, swallowing a fried cheese stick. His pickup games were not, he stresses, about PR, nor were they about staying in the lockout limelight. “I was actually surprised by the attention it got,” he says with some chagrin. “I wasn’t doing it to get noticed.”
Also, be sure to check out the accompanying video of Durant discussing the lockout, his work ethic and his future plans. The best part of the below 2 1/2 minute video is a subtle moment during an exchange when, at the 45-second mark, the reporter asks Durant about his “59-point” game at Rucker Park. What’s great about it is there is no doubt Durant knows he dropped 66. But when he casually lets the error slide, it becomes a perfect example of what the story is all about in the first place: Durant’s humbleness.
Oh, and the trick shot at the 2:12 mark ain’t bad either.
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Russell Westbrook: The NBA’s 15th Best Player?
OKC Thunder guard Russell Westbrook has soared up the list of the league's best.
By now, you probably have seen ESPN.com’s complete player ranking of the entire NBA.
Now is perhaps when it gets most interesting to Oklahoma City Thunder fans. While it was slightly intriguing to watch where certain Thunder players landed like Eric Maynor (157), Thabo Sefolosha (134), Nick Collison (115), Kendrick Perkins (95), James Harden (58) and Serge Ibaka (56), the real question was where would the team’s lightening quick point guard and biggest lighting rod come in.
Today, Russell Westbrook received his ranking.
According to 91 “experts” who rated each player on a 0-to-10 scale in terms of the current quality of each player, Westbrook is the NBA’s 15th best player.
Not bad.
What am I saying? That’s incredible for a guy who was barely recruited by mid-majors out of high school. A guy who had to scratch and claw for a starting spot at UCLA. A guy who couldn’t start in front of Earl Watson as a rookie.
Westbrook’s rise has been meteoric.
But did the experts get it right?
ESPN.com is encouraging you to weigh in, and they’ve started the debate with five panelists debating whether Westbrook’s ranking is too high, too low or just right. Two said just right. Two said too high. One said too low.
What do you think?
Here’s what I think.
Thabo Sefolosha To Sign With Turkish Club
Thabo Sefolosha (right) became the second Thunder player to agree to a deal overseas. There's a good chance Serge Ibaka could be next.
The Oklahoma City Thunder has temporarily lost its second player to an overseas club.
Starting shooting guard Thabo Sefolosha has agreed to play in Turkey. A Swiss television network first reported the deal Tuesday night. Sefolosha’s agent, Guy Zucker, confirmed the report to The Oklahoman.
Sefolosha will join the Turkish club Fenerbahce Ulker and is expected to sign as early as Wednesday. Because Sefolosha is under contract with the Thunder, his deal will contain an out clause with Fenerbahce that allows him to return to the NBA whenever the lockout is lifted.
Zucker said he had been in talks with Istanbul-based Fenerbahce for awhile, but Monday’s announcement that the NBA regular season’s first two weeks would be canceled made it an easy decision.
“These lockout talks are going nowhere and Thabo did not want to spend the whole season or most of the season sitting at home. He wanted to play,” Zucker said.
“It’s extremely difficult to predict if we’re going to get a quick solution or if it’s going to become a much more protracted battle with the owners regarding the new CBA. We wanted until the last moment and then that moment passed. Now they’re beginning to cancel games and this could last for quite sometime. So Thabo wanted to play and this was too good of an opportunity to pass up on.”
Fenerbahce, which competes in the Euroleague, has won back-to-back Turkish Cups and is considered one of the top organizations in Europe. The team’s new coach, Neven Spahija, is a respected coach who has won the Turkish title, Spanish title and Eurocup title with the Spanish club Valencia.
“He wasn’t going to play anywhere, but this opportunity was the best of both worlds,” Zucker said. “It allows him to play at the highest level of ball in the world right now while staying in shape and staying ready.”
Sefolosha, who resides in his native Switzerland in the off-season, joined several of his Thunder teammates for a voluntary mini-camp in Lexington, Ky. last week. Sefolosha has since returned to Switzerland.
Zucker said Sefolosha’s background and familiarity with the European style of play should help him adjust quickly.
“I don’t think that he will face the same adjustment that a lot of big name American players are,” Zucker said. “His adjustment period will be significantly shorter than it would be for someone who has never played in Europe before.”
Byron Mullens became the first Thunder player to circumvent the lockout by signing overseas. But the 7-foot center returned to the states after less than a month in Greece playing for Panionios. Mullens said he “felt out of the loop not being here with my team.”
Starting power forward Serge Ibaka, according to one report, is now interested in signing overseas and playing immediately. But Ibaka, who helped the Spanish national team win the gold medal at the European Championship last month and played a season in Spain before joining the Thunder, has experience competing overseas.
The growing interest in making the leap across the Atlantic, however, perhaps is a telling sign of where players think negotiations with league owners stand.
“The latest update about the lockout, let’s put it this way, it gave us no reason to pause,” Zucker said of Sefolosha’s decision. “In the past, there would have been a reason to pause. What’s been happening lately has shown us that this could pretty much go anywhere because I think we’ve hit the danger territory where anything is possible.”
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The 2011-12 NBA Season Was On The Brink Before It Ever Came Close To Starting
NBA Commissioner David Stern announced the cancellation of the first two weeks of the regular season Monday night after league and players union officials failed to reach an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement.
This is a sad day for the NBA.
But the league is headed for many more.
The first two weeks of the regular season were canceled Monday night in the wake of the league’s labor dispute. The remaining 20 can’t be far behind.
“We remain very, very far apart on virtually all issues,” NBA commissioner David J. Stern said of the failed collective bargaining agreement negotiations that led to this owner-imposed lockout.
Most saw this day coming. Few close followers hadn’t long ago resigned themselves to the inevitability of the NBA missing games for only the second time in its 65-year history. Few, however, could predict the resignation with which league and union officials allowed this first wave to come and go.
That’s what’s most troubling.
The two sides have dug in. They’ve each drawn the line, and they dare not inch across it. Surrendering game nights at this point simply is seen as the cost of doing business.
“This is what we anticipated would happen,” said union president Derek Fisher, “and here we are.”
All that matters now is that someone gets off their soap box. The clock is ticking. Each passing day is now a costly one. Each passing week now sheds another two from the season. When asked Monday night whether the season is in jeopardy, Stern said “I’d like to think not.” How’s that for a ringing endorsement? He’d like to think not.
The truth is, this season has long been on the brink. The players knew it when their union began preparing them for this day two years ago by imploring them to save their money. The owners orchestrated it when their initial proposals in early 2010 were so preposterous the only place for which the union deemed the documents fit was the dumpster.
“I’m convinced that this is all just part of the plan,” union executive director Billy Hunter told reporters Monday night. (more…)
Reggie Jackson Going To Work
This video’s been out for awhile, but it’s worth posting now. If nothing else, it’ll help take your mind off all this lockout nonsense. So enjoy while you can.
The thing that impresses me the most so far about rookie Reggie Jackson, the Thunder’s 21st overall pick, is his confidence. It oozes out of him. He just seems so sure of himself. While he’ll no doubt take his lumps during his first NBA season, don’t be surprised if that confidence (and of course his incredible skill and athleticism) helps to put him ahead of the curve.
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