I want a Lillard/Kyrie finals so very bad... Think of the boners a Cavs/Blazers finals would give to NBA fans... Lillard vs Kyrie Aldridge vs Love The defensive tenacity of Wes/Batum vs LeBron
Bro, it's a common comment Blazer fans say regarding anything OKC. OKC had a cheap foul call that cost us the game, on the back end of our winning streak, which ironically started a downward spiral for our team. When the media interviewed Durrant, saying the league apologized for the blown call, Durant replied "tough shit!" So anytime something shitty happens to OKC, most us fans reply "tough shit!"
Kyrie is more skilled, better ball handler, cleaner shot and can create better shots. Wade was extremely athletic though. That 2006 Heat team was loaded btw with Shaq, Mourning, White Chocolate, Gary Payton, a prime Haslem and Antoine Walker (When he was a solid player),
Jury is out on Kyre right now. Wade has proven that he can lead his team to a title without LBJ. And you can talk about what players were on that Miami title team, but it was obvious that Wade was the "Go-to-guy". Kyre has proven that he can lead his team to the lotto each and every year.
Yes, that is all true. However, let's not forget Kyrie has played in Cleveland the past 3 years. Even in the East that roster sans Kyrie was dreadful. Wade was lucky to go to Miami where he had some solid vets to learn from right away (Eddie Jones, Brian Grant, Lamar Odom), Kyrie's vets were guys like Jamison, Luke Walton and Varejao.
OKC was fool's gold last year. They road KD during the regular season, but their extreme lack of depth was exposed during the playoffs. I called i when Westbrook went down - they'd play better as a team with Reggie Jacskon as a starter (which they did) because it would let Durant dominate (which he did). After Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka, their starters suck and they have a very thin bench. Perkins and Sefolosha combined to average less than 7ppg in the post season. With those two starting, they were playing 3 on 5 on offense (I can't believe their tight ass owners let James Harden walk because they were too cheap to amnesty the corpse of Kendrick Perkins). They were forced to move Reggie Jackson into the starting line up, which meant their crappy bench got even crappier. Their big off season pick up was Anthony Morrow. Better scorer than Sefolosha, but worse on defense. No matter what Westbrook thinks, Kevin Durant IS that team. Without him, they will be sub-.500. BNM
So he's only going to miss a month? Won't help us much, or hurt them much in the big picture, I'd guess.
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/kevin-durant-injury-jones-fracture-oklahoma-city-thunder-future-russell-westbrook/
A few interesting quotes from the article: 3 or 4 more losses could mean the difference between HCA and not in the highly competitive Western Conference. At the very least, it probably means they will not get the best record in the conference which means a tougher road to the finals. This is the point I was making about OKC playing 3 on 5 on offense with Perkins and Sefolosha starting last year. And that didn't work very well in the playoffs even when they had Durant, the most deadly scorer in the world. No way in hell it works without Durant. In spite of the easy schedule, I think Durant missing 15 - 20 games will translate into more than 3 or 4 additional losses. I said it at the time of the Harden trade, their ownership through away a chance at a dynasty because they were too cheap to pay Perkins not to play for them. And it's not like he's played worth a damn. The guy totally sucks. They could have easily picked up a guy for the vet minimum that wold have given them as much, if not more, than Perkins has. So, they gave away James Harden and all it would have cost them was one season of luxury tax - if they would have kept Perkins, or zero seasons of luxury tax if they would have anmestied his worthless ass. Think Scott Brooks doesn't wish he had James Harden now to help them get through these first 15 - 20 games without Durant? I wonder how many rings the refusal to either pay luxury tax, or jettison Perkins cost the Thunder. I also think, the refusal to pay luxury tax when the team is on the verge of title contention will also play into Durant's willingness to resign with OKC after next season. The Thunder got extremely lucky. They were able to assemble a very young Big 3 through the draft, but then were too stupid/cheap to keep them together long enough to win a title. Oh well, tough shit. They'll never get that lucky again and OKC will never be a destination for top free agents. They have cheap ass owners and there isn't exactly a lot of overlap in the lifestyles of NBA players and pro rodeo riders. BNM
Even more so. If this is a 15-20 game injury that means the Blazers will have a chance to play OKC not just once but twice without KD. Once here and once there. There are no guarantees of getting a win but the chances get better without a doubt. Taking a 2-0 lead in the season series could very likely be a giant step toward taking the division.
Yeah the that was the first thing I did as well. (Counted off 6-8 weeks while looking for that 2nd match up. (December 23rd) Although he may be back by then, they could still be going through an adjustment period with him back on the court. (The adjustment coming from Westbrook only taking 20 shots instead of 40)
Jones fracture could re-fracture if he comes back too soon. I bet you 8 weeks is too soon. I'm thinking more like 12.
I wonder how the rest of the Thunder players will respond if Westbrook is, in fact, leading the league in shots and scoring during Durant's absence as the article writer predicts.
After that string of amazing fortune for a few years, injuries have started to finally creep up for OKC. Their top three players all going down with relatively serious injuries in a two year span. We've been there. Sucks for KD, but as he likes to say, "tough shit."
Somehow it wouldnt surprise me if they actually ended up playing better team ball, Jackson steps up and they do just fine ... then I remember the Westbrook is already licking his chops. [TWEET]522031270948139008[/TWEET]
That is the equation for massive turbulence in any team. Me first player trying to take his game to another level. This is where we question if Durant will even stay in OKC?
