Charles Barkley’s criticisms don’t add up
As Charles Barkley remains steadfast in his criticism of the Thunder, one obvious question remains: If OKC has such little hope of winning a championship, how does it keep winning so many games?
With Thursday night’s 105-102 victory at Orlando, the Thunder has the best record in the NBA (29-7), the best record at home (15-1) and is within one game of having the league’s best record on the road (14-6).
Barkley sees many flaws in the Thunder, the most prevalent being that OKC is a jump-shooting team that struggles with its half-court offense. The Thunder indeed relies heavily on the jump shot and at times struggles with ball movement in its half-court sets. This will come to the forefront in the playoffs when the pace slows, play becomes more physical and the half-court game takes on added importance.
But what if your jump shots keep going in? OKC is second in the the NBA in field-goal percentage (.474) behind Miami (.487), the overwhelming favorite to win this year’s title. Because a half-court offense becomes more important in the playoffs, wouldn’t this be advantageous to good jump-shooting teams like OKC?
Kevin Durant is shooting a career-high percentage from the field (.512), as are Russell Westbrook (.469), James Harden (.475) and Nick Collison (.656) – and all by substantial percentages. The last time the Thunder/Sonics franchise shot this well from the field was 1995-96 when it finished the season 64-18 and lost 4-2 in the NBA Finals to the 72-10 Chicago Bulls, the winningest team in league history.
Barkely also criticizes OKC for having only three scorers in Durant (28.0), Westbrook (23.6) and Harden (16.7). This trio ranks second to the league’s most heralded threesome of Miami’s LeBron James (27.7), Dwyane Wade (22.8) and Chris Bosh (18.4), and trails by just 0.6 combined points (68.9-68.3). Isn’t having three prolific scorers a good thing?
OKC’s inside combination of Collison, Kendrick Perkins, Serge Ibaka and Nazr Mohammed is arguably the league’s best defensive frontcourt, and prides itself as such. They don’t demand the ball, but will gladly mop up misses and accept any open looks. Terrific Karma underneath. Again, a good thing.
During TNT’s pregame show on Thursday night, Barkley twice said of OKC, “This (Orlando) is not a good matchup for them” and he repeated it again at halftime. An hour later, the Thunder completed a season sweep over the Magic and won for the first time in Orlando since 2004.
Barkley credited Westbrook for his Wednesday performance at Philiadelphia (22 points, season-high 13 rebounds) and co-analysts Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal also shared how Westbrook could improve. It was accurate and helpful criticism without trashing Westbrook, as many have been prone to do.
Barkley: “One of the keys to being a great player, you can always get your shot. The key for him (Westbrook) is, ‘How can I get Kendrick Perkins six points? How can I get (Thabo) Sefolosha (out with a foot injury) six points?’ That’s when you become a great player, when you make the players around you better. When you make the players around you better, it makes the game easier.”
Smith: “There’s five ways to be a superstar — points, scoring and assists, but the others things are leadership and tempo of the game. He (Westbrook) can create a tempo of the game … that he can get those guys easy baskets. Kendrick Perkins should just be laying it in. He can do that. The issue is, he (Westbrook) is so good at scoring he says, ‘Why should I, because I could get by my guy, too.’ But sometimes that will make you go over the top and be a championship team.”
O’Neal: “Those guys (Durant, Westbrook and Harden) score 66 percent of the team’s scoring and the big guys only score 12 percent. The question is, do the big guys need to score more? Do you want to trade what they’re doing on offense for defense? I think they’re doing well, but the question remains, ‘Will they play this way in the postseason?’ Chuck said it, I said it, you said it, ‘You live by the jump shot, you die by the jump shot.’ ”
Until the playoffs arrive, it appears a team with many flaws will somehow keep winning many games.
Kobe Bryant speaks out on Thunder
For 2½ hours Thursday night, every non-Lakers fan in a sellout crowd of 18,203 at Chesapeake Energy Arena seemed to boo superstar Kobe Bryant.
Roughly an hour after the Thunder’s 100-85 victory and well past local newspaper deadlines, Bryant showed OKC far more respect than he had just been shown himself.
Here are some of Bryant’s thoughts on the game and the Thunder: (or watch the whole interview here.)
- On OKC All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook, who at times has been heavily criticized: “I don’t know what the media is doing out here, but everybody just needs to lay off of Russell. That’s a bad little dude, man. That’s a bad little dude, man. You guys are fortunate to have him. You guys have got two explosive scorers here. I like how he’s playing. He just has to continue to improve and do his thing.”
- Does Bryant see any of himself in Westbrook? “He’s got the same type of dog that I had in me — that I still have in me — when I was coming up playing with Shaq (former teammate Shaquille O’Neal). He’s got the same fight and he’s just 6-4.”
- How has center Kendrick Perkins instilled his tough attitude into the Thunder? “Perk, in my opinion, he’s the best one-on-one post defender in the league. He’s that good in the low-post. That gives them an added presence. He’s also a very good help defender and a screen-and-roll defender. Boston really gift-wrapped them one (with the Feb. 24, 2011 trade that sent Perkins to OKC).”
- How has Kevin Durant developed? “He’s just going to continue to get better. He’s making great plays for other players. He’s obviously been a phenomenal shooter. He has a developing post game. They’ve got two, three of my favorite players in the league on that team, man. They’re fun to watch.”
- On the verbal altercation with James Harden with less than two minutes remaining: “The conversation was pretty brief. I mean, I was doing all the talking. There are certain things you can’t (share publicly) … Maybe one day they’ll be able to sit at my lunch table [laughing]. Right now, we’re at two different lunch tables, man. That conversation was pretty brief.”
- Western Conference All-Star coach Scott Brooks says you’re going to play a lot this weekend (to wear you out): “(Expletive). [Smiling] Let me tell you something, man, this is his first rodeo. This is my 14th, man. I’m pulling rank. … I told him, ‘Look, you can put me in the last two minutes, if you want.’ “
Thunder still not best in West
NBA on TNT crew of Shaquille O'Neal, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley.
On Monday night on TNT, the Thunder beat the Boston Celtics for the third straight year inside TD Garden. For more than two hours, the telecast crew of Kevin Harlan, Mike Fratello, Chris Webber and David Aldridge heaped praise upon the Thunder, which has the NBA’s best record at 12-2 after its 97-88 victory at Boston. But when TNT joined its studio crew of Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal outside Staples Center in Los Angeles, the Thunder quickly played second fiddle again.
Johnson asked the panel to pick a series winner between the Los Angeles Lakers and Thunder right now and all three without hesitation picked LA. The Lakers are too big and Kobe Bryant is simply too good for OKC to win.
LA then went out and nipped Dallas 73-70 on a 3-pointer from Derek Fisher with 3.1 seconds left. The Lakers scored seven total points in the third quarter, shot 38.2 percent from the field, shot 10 percent from 3-point range (1 for 10) and Bryant went 7 for 22 from the field and finished with 14 points.
Some excerpts from the TNT experts:
Webber on Thunder forward Serge Ibaka: “He is athletic, smart defensively. He’s a great shot blocker and a great inside presence.”
Fratello on Thunder head coach Scott Brooks: “He really knows his players and he knows which guys to let grow and develop and which ones he can get on a little bit harder. He wants players to grow and experience this learning process and by the way, they’re winning a lot of games in this process.”
Webber on Thunder sixth man James Harden: “The best teams that I played against had role players that were superstars. They took their role seriously and they knew the importance of their role to the team. (Harden) has embraced his role (as sixth man) and has made sure that the bench is better for that.”
Smith on point guards Rajon Rondo of the Celtics and OKC’s Russell Westbrook: ”They are the only two teams that have guards, besides (Chicago’s) Derrick Rose, that consistently get into the paint.”
Fratello on Thunder forward Kevin Durant: “He is a very unselfish player. He has the God-given ability to score the basketball whenever he wants to. He understands the team aspect of the game and is a willing passer.”
Barkley’s predictions on the best teams in the Western Conference: “The Portland Trail Blazers and the Denver Nuggets are the two best teams I have seen in the West.”
O’Neal on the Thunder being 12-2: “They’ve had an easy schedule.”
As you can see from ESPNstats, the Thunder ranks No. 1 in the NBA in RPI and No. 8 in strength of schedule. O’Neal is partically right in that OKC often has played teams not at full strength such as San Antonio (no Manu Ginobili), New York (Carmelo Anthony), Memphis (Zach Randolph, Darrell Arthur) and New Orleans (Eric Gordon and Trevor Ariza), but other teams also have enjoyed the same benefit. In addition, the Thunder also swept its back-to-back-to-back, won five games in six days and is on a seven-game winning streak.
Where to next for Nate Robinson?
Guard Nate Robinson cleared waivers Tuesday, which means anyone can claim the 5-foot-9, 27-year-old, three-time NBA slam dunk champion.
It was no surprise OKC and Robinson parted ways at the outset of training camp earlier this month. Robinson’s me-first attitude didn’t mesh at all with the Thunder. What’s surprising is there has been little, if any, interest in Robinson’s explosive offensive game.
Sam Amick of SI.com tracked down Robinson a few hours after he was waived by the Thunder. Robinson insists he has matured and would not be a headache for the team that took a chance on him.
Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News didn’t think the Knicks will be offering Robinson a return trip to their roster, which turned out to be true. The Knicks signed Jeremy Lin on Tuesday to replace injured rookie Iman Shumpert.
The condensed 66-game schedule figures to take its physical toll, so don’t be surprised if someone eventually offers a roster spot to Robinson to replace an injured player. But under no circumstance will that team be the Thunder.
Slicing Up The Schedule Part I: November
The full 2010-11 schedule continues to carry great intrigue 24 hours after it was announced. With it’s announcement, Thunder heads finally have a concrete calendar to attach built up possibilities the mind has created over the past few weeks.
The schedule couldn’t have come at a better time. Free agency news has slowed to a crawl. Training camp remains more than a month away. Aside from USA Basketball, the only thing left on the NBA bone is a detailed scrutiny of the schedule. And so we’re breaking down the season’s six months month by month over the next six days and topping off each month with a prediction on how the Thunder should fare over that 30-day period. With only three games in October, we begin with the first full month of November.
HOME/ROAD: Eight at home; seven on the road.
BACK-TO-BACKS: Four. Three of the Thunder’s games on the second night are on the road. Two sets are road-road back-to-backs (Clippers/Portland and Boston/Milwaukee), one set is a home-road (San Antonio/Utah) and the final back-to-back is a road-home (Houston/New Orleans). The San Antonio/Utah set looks to be the most difficult of the four.
DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY: Brutal. OKC plays Portland twice, Boston twice, Houston twice, has road games at Utah and Milwaukee and must play San Antonio, Dallas and New Orleans at home. Even a road game at Indiana has the potential to not end well (see last season). Between the top notch competition and the amount of back-to-backs, you could make the case that this is the toughest month of the season. We’ll find out early on what this year’s squad is made of.
MARQUEE MATCHUP: Portland. The Blazers are on the schedule twice this month, on Nov. 4 at Portland and Nov. 12 inside the Ford Center. These are the best two up-and-coming teams in the league, and you can count on these Northwest Division foes having four hotly-contested battles this season. Boston might bring more household names into the Ford Center on Nov. 7, but the Blazers-Thunder meetings are about divisional and conference supremacy.
TOUGHEST TEST: At Boston on Nov. 19. Not only does the Thunder have to take on the Eastern Conference champs on their home court, but OKC must do so as part of the fourth game in six nights. The Cs have reloaded with Shaquille O’Neal and Jermaine O’Neal, and the Thunder’s offense won’t get anything easy against Boston’s defense.
WORRY-FREE WIN: Minnesota on Nov. 22. The Thunder swept the four-game series last season and won both home games by an average of 12.5 points. And the Wolves didn’t get any better this off-season. As a matter of fact, they might have gotten worse. To further convince you that this one is a gimmie, consider that Russell Westbrook averaged 13.5 assists in four games against Minnesota last year and Kevin Durant averaged 32 points.
CATCH THEM WHILE YOU CAN: Future Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal will be in the house on Nov. 7 when Boston comes to town. The big man says he wants to play two more seasons, but you never know what might happen. This could be his last trip to Oklahoma City. Unless of course the Thunder meets the Celtics in the Finals.
ROOKIE WATCH: The only buzz No. 2 overall pick Evan Turner has generated since dominating his junior year at Ohio State came as the result of a disappointing summer league stint in Orlando. But trust us when we say the kid can ball, and he’ll make his only Ford Center appearance on Nov. 10 when his Philadelphia 76ers come through town.
SAME FACE, NEW PLACE: If you haven’t stayed abreast to this summer’s player movement, two games in late November might throw you a curve ball. When Minnesota makes its first Ford Center visit, former Kansas State and Miami Heat forward Michael Beasley will be in a Wolves uniform. And when Dallas plays inside the Ford Center on Nov. 22, old friend Tyson Chandler will be suiting up for the Mavs after a trade from Charlotte.
PREDICTION: 10-5. Momentum is real in sports, and I expect the Thunder to carry over its winning ways into 2010-11. The team’s chemistry was incredible last year and the roster should return with essentially the same nine-man rotation from a year ago. Road games at Portland, Utah, Boston and Houston will be tough, and the home date with Dallas stands out as a trap game following what should be a blowout home win over the Wolves. But if that scenario plays out, that means the Thunder goes 7-1 at home in the first full month of the season and will have taken a significant step in establishing an overpowering home-court advantage.
-DM-
Thunder/NBA links for Saturday, July 24
Kevin Durant speaks to the media during a USA basketball practice this week. AP PHOTO
Another glowing piece declaring Kevin Durant as the face of Team USA. … One writer thinks Jeff Green will be the Team USA’s final cut. … Shaquille O’Neal wants to play for the Boston Celtics, according to Fanhouse.com. … Chris Paul’s top trade destination preference is Orlando. That and more in today’s links:
Kevin Durant: The new face of Team USA, Case Keefer, Las Vegas Sun
“Durant immediately greeted the throng of spectators by bolting from the other side of the court to swat a layup attempt from Ohio State’s William Buford, one of 20 college players making up the USA Basketball Select Team. Durant then seamlessly swished contested 3-point shots on each of the next two offensive possessions. Yes, there’s a reason why Durant, the 21-year old Oklahoma City Thunder star, is being hailed as Team USA’s headliner as it plays for a gold medal this September in Turkey at the World Championship.”
Jeff Green to be the last cut?, Pete Thamel, New York Times
“(Green is a) team-oriented guy, but (Kevin) Love offers more beef. Likely the final cut.”
Thunder, USA basketball value Green’s versatility, Chris Silva, Thunder.NBA.com
“As Team USA prepares for next month’s World Championship in Turkey, the USA Basketball committee has continued to stress how much it values players who can play multiple positions. Green fits that description. And when it was learned that big men Amar’e Stoudemire (insurance on contract) and David Lee (finger) would not be able to play for Team USA this summer, it opened another window of opportunity for Green to show he’d be a good fit.”
Shaquille O’Neal wants to wear Celtics green, Tim Povtak, Fanhouse.com
“Veteran free agent center Shaquille O’Neal — the future Hall of Famer without a team — has been lobbying the Boston Celtics aggressively, still trying to convince them that his addition would help their quest to win another NBA championship.”
Chris Paul prefers Magic to Knicks, Chris Broussard, ESPN.com
“While the Knicks are still high on Paul’s list, he believes the Magic, with All-Star center Dwight Howard, would be a better fit. Paul also realizes Orlando has much more to offer New Orleans in a trade and therefore believes it is a more realistic destination than New York, according to the sources.”
Chris Paul bends to King James’ rule, Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports
“James, his business manager Maverick Carter and powerbroker William Wesley have far too much influence over Paul’s career, and they’re running it right out of the sunshine and into darkness. They’re using Paul as a commodity to elevate their clout, to show how they can take a player with no contractual leverage and muscle him out of New Orleans.”
Derrick Rose wants Tracy McGrady in Chicago, Nick Friedell, ESPNChicago.com
“Tracy McGrady used to be Derrick Rose’s favorite player, so it should come as no surprise that Rose wants the Chicago Bulls to sign the free agent guard/forward.”
