Month: November 2015

Kevin Durant, James Harden and Jeff Green video. Days of innocence.

There are several ways I can approach this recap. I can take the Christian approach and neglect to write these Sixers lost their 19th consecutive game dating back to the end of last season. Or, I can go completely berserk going all Howard Beale from Network and call this Sixer group the latest in Sam Hinkie’s dumpster fire team building projects which in Year 8 might actually lead to some watchable NBA basketball. Or, I can take the high ground and just gently move to the recap and move on as quickly as possible. Let’s go to Option 3, no drama required on this one.

OKC’s Thunder won Game 9 on their schedule by a 102-85 count over a Philly Sixer team which had six undrafted players in uniform tonight. Take away No. 4 Nerlens Noel and what I basically saw was a D League team. Nerlen Noels is going to be a nice player. Sam Hinkie got that one right–I think. Okafor…I  might get to that later, or I  might not.

Philly actually led 24-18 after the first period of play, but OKC behind the play of Nick Collison, Enes Kanter and Dion Waiters off the bench… ‘kind’ of got things back on track in the second period and went to the half leading 48-43.

Before I go any further I want to give Nick Collison the OKCThunderGround No. 1 Star of the Game. In nineteen minutes–6 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and one block. I had his backdoor pass to Westbrook as my play of the game as well.  Collison to Westbrook was a beautiful basketball play. Period.

Back to the game. I’ll give the Sixers this—even though their roster isn’t much,  they did hang around and make it somewhat uncomfortable for OKC until the last several minutes.

OKC improves to 6-3, Philly drops to a league worse 0-9 and remains the only winless team in the NBA almost three weeks in on the schedule. Two things are certain this far into the season….Golden State is the best team in the West and its a very bad loss for any team which loses to Philadelphia maybe save the Lakers.

Some other things:

Anthony Morrow started in place of Durant and was functional going 5-8 for 12 points in 21 minutes. He was my No. 2 Star of the Game.

OKC, the league’s best rebounding team, pounded the Sixers on the boards 55-43.

Jahlil Okafor, the No. 3 pick in the 2015, draft went 3-18 on the night and was blocked on numerous occasions.

Steven Adams continues to do little things the right way which don’t always show up on a stat sheet.

Five different Thunder players scored in double figures…Westbrook, Ibaka, Waiters, Kanter and Morrow.

Thunder had 20 assists to 13 turnovers. Not bad. Didn’t reach the 25 assist plateau mark, but only because some very makeable shots didn’t drop.

And,  by the way, Russell Westbrook had his second consecutive triple double going 21 points, 17 rebounds and 11 assists. And, almost forgot, Russell Westbrook tied one Kobe Bryant with his 21st career triple double in this one.

So–on the night, OKC takes care of business without Durant, gets the win, and stays just behind San Antonio for second place in the West behind the 10-0 Golden State Warriors.

Brad Stevens and his Boston Celtics at the Chesapeake Energy Arena on Sunday evening.

 

 

One last Sam Hinkie video in the pregame presentation because I think what he’s doing is very interesting, albeit it sucks in the present tense if you’re a Sixer fan.  I want to be fair and make sure all sides of the Hinkie argument are at least explored. Plus, he’s an Oklahoma guy who grew up in Marlow and earned his undergrad in business at OU before earning his MBA at Stanford. Even though I hate the complete lack of competiveness to date, I find it compelling because it has a Michael Lewis ‘Moneyball’  element to what he’s doing for such a sustained period of time. I love Michael Lewis–so maybe there’s a Michael Lewis book in the works when all this is completed in Philadelphia

Interesting matchup tonight in OKC as the Sixers in Year 3 of Sam Hinkie’s rebuild plan through tanking take on an OKC club which once again finds itself without Kevin Durant. OKC enters tonight at 5-3 and in third place in the West after a Tuesday night blowout win over the Wizards. Sixers enter tonight as the league’s only winless team at 0-8 with a league worse team differential of -13.6 per game.

For Sixer fans—the Hinkie tanking plan to date has been trying. In 2013-14, the Sixers went 19-63 while losing 26 straight games at one juncture. The 2014-15 season was worse with an 0-16 start and an eventual season mark of 18-64. The tangible pieces assembled to date ‘on the court’ are Nerlens Noel a power forward defensive specialist who missed his first season due to a knee injury. Joel Embiid, a center from Kansas who will probably miss his first two NBA seasons due to chronic foot issues and surgeries. Plus, Jahlil Okafor who was taken third in the 2015 draft from Duke and is a nice low post offensive center who struggles defensively. Undrafted TJ McConnell from Arizona at point guard, Nik Staukas from Michigan at shooting guard, and Jerami Grant from Syracuse round out the starting five. Philadelphia is coached by former Spurs assistant Bret Brown.

For a prestigious franchise like the Sixers who have won three NBA titles and had players like Wilt Chamberlain, Hal Greer, Billy Cunningham, Julius Erving, Mo Cheeks, Andrew Toney, Moses Malone, Charles Barkley and Allen Iverson—the Hinkie Era has been tough to swallow.

OKC enters a string of at least five games without Kevin Durant who is sitting a minimum of 7-10 days due to a strained hamstring sustained against the Wizards. Russell Westbrook has been spectacular offensively this season and will lead a starting  lineup rounded out by Serge Ibaka, Anthony Morrow, Steven Adams and Andre Roberson. Much will be needed offensively from Enes Kanter off the bench in these games without Durant.

Westbrook leads the NBA in assists while OKC has already amassed four games with at least 25 assists. It will be intriguing to see if Westbrook can continue to remain patient distributing the ball with Durant sitting. Ibaka, Waiters and Kanter all have to be solid scoring the ball when they have open looks.

Despite the lack of Durant and the Sixers’ 0-8 league worse record it will be an interesting game to watch from a standpoint of seeing how Westbrook adjusts his play without Durant, and to see if Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor can lead their team to a win and avoid the 0-9 start.

 

 

MJ

Kevin Durant missed 55 games last season and basically was absent from high level basketball for eight months. He was just rounding back into form when this minor hamstring strain occurred in the last minute of the first half against the Wizards. This hurts because Durant and this team are all in the process of learning their new roles under Billy Donovan.

Even more to the point, the 9-0 Golden State Warriors have come out of the gate as a defending champion with an obvious focus on not only repeating, but maybe setting their sights on a 70 win regular season. They won 67 regular season games a year ago  enroute to their championship–so I don’t think it’s crazy talk, especially considering Memphis and New Orleans don’t appear to be what many of us thought they might be this year–namely two tough, grinding teams in the West. The Pelicans under first year coach Alvin Gentry have been horrible. How can you have a player like Anthony Davis and be 1-7? They never should have fired Monty Williams. In Memphis—there’s talk of moving Zach Randolph and owner Robert Pera possibly considering removing Dave Joerger as head coach. So–in essence the West may not be as tough asmost thought it might be this season beyond the top five teams in Golden State, San Antonio, OKC, LA Clippers and Houston. The young Timberwolves will come back to earth as the marathon season unwinds.

From what I’ve read–Durant’s strain is the most minor degree of a hamstring strain. With rest—the hope is he’ll be back on Nov. 22 when the Thunder host the Dallas Mavericks.

The interim five games are against my pathetic Philly 76’ers (more on the idiot Sam Hinkie tomorrow), Boston Celtics, Robert Pera’s Grizzlies, the NBA’s most disappointing team in the Pelicans and the NY Knicks. Combined these five teams are 11-25 into this young season. So there’s that working for the Thunder in the next ten days or so.

Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka, Dion Waiters and Enes Kanter have all been solid offensively as of late. This trend will need to continue during Durant’s absence–however long that turns out to be. Role players like Steven Adams, Andre Roberson, DJ Augustin, Nick Collison, Mitch McGary, Kyle Singler and Anthony Morrow need to do fill their roles. Be professionals. Especially Singler and Morrow in that they’re basically small forwards and need to help fill the Durant vaccum at small forward or call it finesse forward if you will. If I’m Donovan—I’m challenging both of these guys in private to show me who wants to play rotational minutes once Durant returns.

Westbrook has been spectacular offensively this season, defensively not so much. But Westbrook will have to be the guy and while being the guy not suffocate the progress Ibaka, Waiters and Kanter have made in recent games.

Good thing they start with my former favorite team in the Philly 76’ers who for some reason have used all their tanking to date to draft a defensive zone only player in Noels, a big man with chronic foot problems in Joel Embiid who will miss his second straight season since being drafted by the analytics savant Sam Hinkie, and of course, Jahil Okafor from Duke in the recent NBA draft. Okafor can actually score the ball from within six feet, but can’t make free throws and couldn’t defend Byron Mullins, but at least he can make some baskets.

So take heart Thunder fans–it could be way worse. You could be a Philadelphia 76’er fan and been forced  to watch Sam Hinkie’s bullshit for three years running. I’m sure Tramel will have his Annual Sam Hinkie Progress Report at newsok. Can’t wait. First F bomb on my blog…f–k Sam Hinkie.

More on Bain Capital’s  Sam Hinkie tomorrow.

 

Mike Jackson

 

Kevin Durant will be out for at least seven to ten days with a strained hamstring he sustained late in the second period last night in D.C. He’s to be re-evaluated then…heard that before. Mitigating ‘good’ news is that OKC plays the Sixers, Celtics, Grizzlies, Pelicans and Knicks during this span. Grizzlies and Pelicans have both been early season disappointments—so maybe this won’t be too tough. Dave Joerger may even be in trouble in Memphis.  Dion Waiters should get the starts as good as he’s been playing of late.