Kevin Durant Says He’s Ready To Dominate NBA
Michael Lee of The Washington Post recently had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Thunder star Kevin Durant. Even though he's yet to turn 24, Durant says he's ready to take his game to the next level and dominate the league. Here are a few highlights from the conversation:
On where he's at in his career and how he sees himself within the league:
“I’ve heard a few times, in three or four years, this league is going to be yours. . . . I don’t like that. Because I think I’m established now. My time is now. I feel as though I’ve proved myself these last five years that I can be one of the top players in the league. I’ve got a long way to go to being the ultimate best, but I think my time is now. And I’m starting to enter my prime.”
On what it was like to play with the top players in the world during the Olympics:
“I always felt that I belonged on top with those guys and I just have to continue to keep working to maintain that. It feels good to be a part of a great group of guys, to do something special for the country. We all respected each other and they never looked at me as the younger guy coming up and waiting his turn. They were just, ‘Go out there and play, do what you do.’ And that’s what I did.”
On his decision to make a movie during the NBA lockout last summer:
“The thing that I was more concerned about is that I was just so shy. I didn’t want to look dumb. [My mom] told me don’t worry about that. You can’t let other people dictate how you live. She gave me a whole little speech. I said, ‘Why not?’ I want people to see another side of me that they don’t see on the basketball court."
On what not winning a championship would mean for his career:
“I’m not going to let people define my career as a player thus far if I don’t win a championship. They are going to say I’m a bust or I flopped or that I didn’t have a good career in the NBA because I didn’t win a championship in the time that they wanted me to do it? I’m just going to keep enjoying what I’m doing and hopefully I get there sooner than later.”
Eastern Notes: Haslem, Wade, Collins
The Heat enter the 2012/13 season as the team to beat given their status as reigning NBA champions, but will face numerous improved squads on a nightly basis. From the Sixers' deeper frontcourt to a reloaded Nets team, Miami faces an uphill battle as it looks to take home another ring. Here's the latest from around the Eastern Conference…
- Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel says the Heat should be able to count on Udonis Haslem as the team's backup center even after having a disappointing season last year. The big man's struggles most likely stemmed from his continued recovery from a previous foot injury. Beyond Haslem, the Heat have few options to provide depth to their frontcourt and may have to add pieces during the season like they did last year.
- Dwyane Wade spoke with Winderman about how the Heat's style of play evolved over the course of the season to best fit the players they had on their roster and their respective skill-set. "You never know what player is going to start off and be playing a certain way and you switch things up a little bit," Wade said. "But we have that luxury, because we have not only three marquee players, but we have a lot of other players on our team that's very capable, highly capable, and very good."
- Sixers head coach Doug Collins says that he sees himself continuing to coach in Philadelphia for four or five years, writes Marc Narducci of The Philadelphia Inquirer. He also wants to make it clear that he's not campaigning for Coach K's former spot as the head coach of USA Basketball. "It's a tremendous honor that somebody would even throw my name out there," Collins said. "It's four years down the road and I understand in this business you hope you are an active coach at the time."
Extension Candidate: Eric Maynor
With all of the hoopla surrounding the recently-inked contract extension for Serge Ibaka and the concern over whether the Thunder will have enough left over to retain James Harden, there hasn't been much talk about a new deal for point guard Eric Maynor. The former VCU star saw his season end just nine games into the season on January 7th when he tore his ACL on a drive to the basket, so he won't be dealing from a position of strength. He also doesn't have the kind of stats that scream for a sizable multi-year deal with career averages of 4.5 PPG and 3.1 APG in just over 15 minutes per contest.
However, as John Rodhe of The Oklahoman rightfully points out, the one-guard's numbers don't tell the entire story. The 25-year-old carries himself with the maturity of a much older player and plays a decidedly conservative game, especially when juxtaposed with starter Russell Westbrook. Maynor's career assist-to-turnover ratio is 3.04-to-1, a number that Rodhe notes would have ranked seventh in the league last season.
So, how much is a young point guard with a skyhigh basketball IQ but a less-than-skyhigh stat sheet worth? That's a tricky question to answer, especially when considering the financial quandry facing the Thunder. Of course, their top priority will be to keep the 2012 Sixth Man of the Year in place for the foreseeable future. Journalists and rival executives are already wondering if Sam Presti & Co. will be able to find space for Harden as they'll be pressed up against the luxury tax threshold. Maynor obviously won't command as much as the club's big four, but a multi-year commitment for a few million per season could be an indulgence that is simply to rich for their blood.
Maynor's agent Andrew Vye is keeping mum on how talks are progressing between him and the Thunder, but we can safely assume that the club won't come to the table with a solid offer until they know what the future holds for Harden. Maynor will earn just over $2.3MM this season and Rodhe suggests that locking him up could require anywhere between $14MM and $18MM over four years. With all due respect for Maynor's skillset, it's hard to imagine a club pressing the high end of that range for a backup point guard. The Thunder can probably get a deal done with an average annual value around $3.5MM – the question is, will they instead look to save some scratch and look to build a cheaper bench for the next few seasons.
Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Allen, Bynum, Nets
Yesterday, Knicks star Carmelo Anthony weighed in on a number of topics, including the dramatically different climate in the Atlantic Division. Anthony duly noted that the Nets improved, the Sixers upgraded their frontcourt with the addition of Andrew Bynum, and when it comes to the Celtics, "Boston is Boston." The one rival absent from the rundown was the Raptors, who are clearly looking to build for the future. Here's more out of the Atlantic..
- The Celtics' loyalty and pragmatic approach has been on full display this summer, writes Stephen Brotherston of HoopsWorld. Some have questioned the C's loyalty when it comes to Ray Allen and Mickael Pietrus, but the club was simply outbid for Allen and Pietrus refused to sign for the veteran's minimum. While the club's commitment to their core players is commendable, Brotherston brings up a very valid comparison between the club's current approach and their unwillingness to disband the big three of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish in 1987.
- The 76ers' addition of Bynum will completely change the way their offensive philosophy going forward, writes Anthony Macri of HoopsWorld. Philadelphia will now adjust from being a very perimiter-heavy team to one where their best options should all be in the low post. With Bynum commanding double teams down low, it would help the Sixers' cause if they were able to add outside shooting, Macri opines.
- Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News (via Twitter) is surprised to see that Terrence Williams can't seem to hook on with an NBA team. Bondy adds that it's even more amazing that Nets GM Billy King was able to get a first-round pick for him from the Lakers (JaJuan Johnson) in a three-team deal that turned into the pick used to draft MarShon Brooks. The Nets originally tabbed the super-athletic Williams with the eleventh pick in the 2009 draft.
- Earlier today, we checked in on the Knicks and the Nets, who already seem to be gearing up for a spirited East River rivalry.
Poll: How Many Games Will The Thunder Win?
While several teams underwent serious makeovers this summer, one elite team more or less stood pat and instead focused on keeping its successful core in tact. The Thunder re-signed Serge Ibaka to a four-year, $48MM extension and even though they appear to be hard-pressed for financial flexibility, they will now turn their attention to keeping James Harden in Oklahoma City for the long-term.
Some may say that a team that doesn't improve from one year to the next will get left behind, but it's hard to imagine that being the case for the richly-talented and young Thunder. Another year of experience under the belts of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Harden, and Ibaka accounts for more of an upgrade than most clubs could ever hope for. Meanwhile, the Thunder will have to butt heads with improved conference rivals including the Nuggets, Clippers, and of course, the super-charged Lakers. All things considered, how many games do you see the Thunder winning in 2012/13?
Odds & Ends: Griffin, Sacks, Harden, Davis, Nash
Blake Griffin believes the Clippers have become a "free agent destination," and he thinks player personnel director Gary Sacks is the right man to pursue them from the GM's chair, according to comments he made to Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. Sacks, along with team president Andy Roeser and coach Vinny Del Negro, have shared the GM duties since Neil Olshey jumped to the Blazers, but Griffin made it clear which one he wants to assume the job full-time. "With the moves that the front office made — and now with Gary Sacks, who hopefully steps into that GM role — that made it easy for me and I think this is the place where everybody wants to come," Griffin said. "I think Gary has a great relationship with all the players and the players like him. If he is finally named GM, I think that's just the icing on the cake of having a franchise that is complete." We've got more weekend rumblings right here:
- James Harden believes Serge Ibaka deserved his four-year extension from the Thunder, and while saying he's unsure if he and the team will reach a similar accord this summer, Harden expressed a desire to stay in Oklahoma City, where he feels at home with his teammates, as he told the Spanish website Marca.com (translation via HoopsHype).
- Hornets No. 1 overall pick Anthony Davis dishes about his time with the U.S. Olympic team, his similarities to Kevin Garnett, and his thoughts on playing with Eric Gordon in a Q&A with Joe Brescia of The New York Times.
- Doug Smith of the Toronto Star examines the relationship between Lakers point guard Steve Nash and Blazers assistant coach Jay Triano, who are teaming up to lead the Canadian national team as GM and head coach, respectively.
- Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel looks at whether it's worth it for the Magic to wait to make a big splash in free agency until 2016, when Kevin Durant becomes a free agent. Putting aside the connection Durant has with Magic GM and former Thunder executive Rob Hennigan, that seems like an awfully long time to wait.
New York Notes: Nets, Knicks, Machado
When the Clippers traded for Chris Paul last season, on the heels of the Lakers' failed deal for the superstar point guard, it made Los Angeles a true two-team city like never before. The clubs battled for first place in the Pacific Division throughout the season, with the Lakers edging the Clippers for the division title, and home court advantage in the playoffs, by one game. Fans without a stake in the matter can only hope for a similarly tight race between the Knicks and Nets this season, both of whom will be playing in the Big Apple this year. Here's the latest out of the city that never sleeps:
- The Nets agreed to add Donte Greene to their impressive free agent haul this week, and those moves plus the trade for Joe Johnson have some in Brooklyn thinking championship right away, as Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News writes.
- Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov and the team's marketing staff seem to be taking aim at the Knicks, as Bondy observes via Sulia. Yet Carmelo Anthony, who tells Newsday's Roderick Boone he's excited to see the results of Amare Stoudemire's offseason work, and the Knicks don't appear to be fazed. "There's no rivalry between us and Brooklyn right now," Anthony said during his youth camp at St. John's. "It starts on that first game. We'll see what happens with that first game. But as of right now, we are focused on ourselves. We are not really focused on nobody else."
- Former Iona guard Scott Machado drew some second-round consideration before going undrafted in June, and saw some time in the summer league with the Rockets. Now he appears to be drawing interest from overseas, as Emiliano Carchia of Sportando indicates.
Extension Candidate: Gerald Henderson
It's tempting to write off everyone from the woeful 2011/12 Bobcats as unable to contribute to a winning NBA team, but at least a few of the players from the NBA's all-time worst outfit have futures in the league. There are no superstars in this bunch, but the team might want to hang on to Gerald Henderson, the team's leading scorer last year at 15.1 points per game. The 12th overall pick from 2009 has shown consistent improvement in his three years in the league, and for a team that found it difficult to attract even middle-tier free agents like Carl Landry and Antawn Jamison this offseason, developing and retaining its lottery picks must be a priority.
Henderson came to the Bobcats with a sterling basketball pedigree, having played three seasons at Duke after learning the game from his father, 13-year NBA veteran Gerald Henderson Sr. He saw limited run in his rookie season, and spent 2010/11 as a part-time starter before landing in the starting lineup for all 55 games in which he appeared last season. His increasing role led to healthy jumps in his scoring average the past two seasons, but he's backed that up with improvements in his shooting percentage, which he lifted from 35.6% in his rookie year to 45.9% last season, and true shooting percentage, up from 45.3% his first go-around to 51.1% in 2011/12. His PER has gone up in each successive season as well, from 9.7 as a rookie to 14.0 last year. Henderson isn't an effective distributor, averaging 2.3 assists and 1.8 turnovers last season, and his per-36-minute rebounding numbers have declined two years in a row. That's not too disconcerting, since wing players aren't often tasked with heavy rebounding or assist-making duties, but his outside shooting is cause for greater worry. He made just 23.4% of his three-point attempts last year, and that was a career high. Teaming him with fellow lottery picks Kemba Walker and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, neither of whom is an outside shooting threat, might prove difficult.
The Bobcats will surely give Kidd-Gilchrist, the No. 2 pick in this year's draft, every chance to prove he can hold down the starting small forward spot in Charlotte. Walker likely has a future with the team as well, but at 6'1", he'll probably have to prove he can handle the point guard position to become a full-time starter. Point guard Ramon Sessions is around for this season and next at $5MM a year, and 6'7" Jeffery Taylor, the first pick of the second round this past June, will be in the mix among wing players as well. The team has options when it comes to outside players, but Henderson looks like the best bet at two-guard. Shooting aside, his blossoming scoring punch complements Kidd-Gilchrist's defensively oriented game, and new coach Mike Dunlap's up-tempo attack could allow Henderson's athleticism to flourish. The Bobcats figure to be a lottery team for a while, so they could always look for another two-guard in the draft, but early returns on the next two draft classes don't offer much hope.
Henderson certainly isn't going to see anything close to a maximum extension, but the Bobcats might be wise to offer something in the neighborhood of $5MM a year for three or four seasons before the October 31st deadline. That would be roughly the equivalent of the mid-level exception and the annual salary of Sessions, Charlotte's lone veteran free agent signing this summer. Locking up the 24-year-old Henderson would be like signing a middle-tier free agent, but with more upside. Henderson could be in line for more money as a restricted free agent next summer if his improvement continues, but it probably wouldn't be too much more. Long-term security has its own value, particulary for a player who's started only 85 NBA games.
Checking In With Last Year’s 10-Day Signees
The 10-day contract opens a slight crack in the window of opportunity for NBA hopefuls, but few are able to slip through to stay. Of the 32 players who received at least one 10 day contract last season according to our 10-day tracker, only three have signed as free agents so far this summer. Each of those players signed two 10-day contracts followed by a deal for the rest of 2011-12.
- Gerald Green, after hooking on with the Nets last year, signed with the Pacers for three years, $10.5MM.
- Cartier Martin re-signed with the Wizards for the minimum salary.
- Alan Anderson re-signed with the Raptors for the minimum salary.
Green, of course, is the standard-bearer for last year's group of 10-day signees, averaging 12.9 points, 3.5 rebounds and 25.2 minutes per game with a 15.8 PER in 31 contests for the Nets in his first NBA action since a 38-game stint with the Mavs in 2008/09. It was an inspiring comeback for the 18th overall pick in the 2005 draft, but his story is far from typical.
Aside from those three, there were another three 10-day signees who impressed their teams enough to warrant contracts that kept them from this summer's free agent market. The Rockets picked up Courtney Fortson's minimum-salary team option for 2012/13, guaranteeing his salary for this season. Donald Sloan has a non-guaranteed deal for this season with the Cavs, as does Lance Thomas with the Hornets. Others had non-guaranteed deals but were waived, as was the case with Jerome Dyson, who was used for salary-matching purposes in the Robin Lopez three-team swap before getting waived by the Suns.
Still others have found jobs overseas, as Ben Uzoh, Morris Almond and Justin Dentmon have all done. It appears Darryl Watkins is heading overseas as well.
Of the remaining free agents who signed 10-day contracts last year, Terrence Williams, who we heard this week is drawing interest from the Wizards, is probably the most likely to get another NBA deal before training camp, with Mike James and Bobby Simmons distinct possibilities as well. There's still time for more of them to sign, but guaratanteed contracts don't come easy at this stage of the offseason, and those who do sign will likely have to battle for a roster spot in training camp. That would essentially put them back where they were when they signed their 10-day contracts, once more in a position where they have to prove their worth as NBA players.
Quick Hits: Kings, Kidd, Clippers, Musselman
While the Kings appeared to be Anaheim-bound last year, this offseason's relocation rumors indicate that they may be headed to Virginia Beach. Joel Brigham of HoopsWorld wonders why Seattle isn't next in line for an NBA franchise. Investor Chris Hansen has put together a plan with the city of Seattle to build a brand-new, $500MM area to house a team, but they can't break ground on the new facility until a team agrees to come. With all due respect to Virginia Beach, Brigham argues that they can't offer an arena ready to be built and a rabid fan base ready to support their team. Here's more from around the Association..
- New Knicks point guard Jason Kidd says that he hopes to be a facilitator for Amare Stoudemire in the mold of Steve Nash when the two played together in Phoenix, writes Jonah Ballow of KnicksNow.com. The Knicks signed Kidd to a three-year, $9.09MM deal after the point guard was seemingly on the verge of re-signing with the Mavericks.
- Brian Kamenetzky of ESPNLosAngeles.com (video link) examines how the Clippers might stack up against the new-look Lakers in a seven-game playoff series.
- Former Kings and Warriors coach Eric Musselman hopes to remain in charge of the Venezuelan team when the country hosts the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship, according to the FIBA newswire. Musselman's two-year contract expired after the team fell in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament.