Woke up this morning and it was a bit chilly! Fall is coming. Basketball is coming! Here are the Rumblings…
R.K. Anthony of WTLC says if Steven Adams is to be successful this season, he needs to work on his post moves: “Watch the Adams, Kanter, and Sabonis practice video again. Kanter and Sabonis utilize a hop catch. Perhaps without a great deal of enthusiasm or on every single rep, but the fundamental is there in their back-to-basket game. But Adams never executes one … ever. If the Thunder wants Adams to develop a back to the basket post game, it is imperative they remember how raw he still is for his age and must follow the basics on every rep, starting with his footwork BEFORE he catches the ball.”
Tony Heim of Thunderous Intentions says Steven Adams is the most important player on the Thunder: “That’s where Billy Donovan steps in. Donovan showed the basketball world that he was a top ten NBA coach during those aforementioned Playoffs. He defeated Coach Popovich and the Spurs with a Twin Towers lineup, then flipped the script and went small against Golden State. Donovan utilized his entire roster’s skillset perfectly, something Thunder fans had never experienced. His coaching clout suffered last season, however. Donovan didn’t have a roster built to make the playoffs, but he had a superstar hungry to prove the world wrong. The solution: run everything on offense through that superstar. It made for great television, yes, but it didn’t help with player development.”
Russell Westbrook is winning this off-season: “With KD gone, Russ finally had the opportunity to change the way the public saw him. That’s exactly what happened. For the first time ever Westbrook was top five in jersey sales around the league. He beat out Durant as the rookie classes’ second-most favorite player in the league. Russ didn’t just show off on the court – he built a brand as the fiery competitor on the court and relaxed, happy-go-lucky man off it.”
Magic Johnson basically says “my bad” when it comes to the Lakers’ tampering charge: “We can’t say a lot but we will correct the situation,” Johnson said Monday, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. “It’s under my watch. I apologize to Jeanie (Buss, team owner), and that was the main thing. I told her she could take it out of my salary because I don’t want the Lakers to be paying that fine. … I don’t want her spending $500,000, because she didn’t do anything. That’s on me.”
Paul George worked out with Dwayne Wade this past weekend.
Nylon Calculator looks at the westward movement of talent in the league: “Start with the prominent blue line atop the diagram. This chord indicates the 11.5 RPM wins produced by Millsap, who switches from the Atlanta Hawks to the Denver Nuggets. If we move clockwise from there, we find Brook Lopez (7.6 from the Brooklyn Nets to the Los Angeles Lakers), Butler (17.4 from the Chicago Bulls to the Minnesota Timberwolves), George (9.7 from the Indiana Pacers to the Oklahoma City Thunder), Jeff Teague (8.1 from the Pacers to the Timberwolves), P.J. Tucker (6.0 from the Toronto Raptors to the Houston Rockets), and Patrick Patterson (5.4 from the Raptors to the Thunder). All of these players bring top-100 RPM wins from the East to the West.”
Alex Abrines has been injured while playing for Spain at EuroBasket 2017: “Abrines is playing for his native Spain at FIBA EuroBasket, the European basketball championship. But the 6-foot-6 guard has missed the past three games after an injury in Spain’s tournament opener, a 99-60 win last Friday against Montenegro.”
Now That's Thunder Basketball 