Oklahoma City Thunder Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Odds & Ends: Calathes, Rockets, U.S. Select Team

June 6th, 2012 at 12:41pm CST by Daniel Seco

The Thunder have an opportunity to make it four wins in a row tonight against the Spurs as the series heads back to Oklahoma City for Game 6. A victory would send Kevin Durant and company to the NBA Finals and further validate general manager Sam Presti's experiment in which the team has generally been constructed through NBA lottery picks like Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Let's check in around the league to catch up on the latest news and stories making headlines on this Wednesday afternoon…

Odds & Ends: Draft, Sloan, King, Playoffs

June 3rd, 2012 at 3:12pm CST by Daniel Seco

The Chris Bosh-less Heat and Celtics resume battle this evening in a pivotal Game 4 in Boston. A win for the Celtics would continue a Conference Finals streak of the home team coming away with a victory. The Thunder brought their series with the Spurs to a tie as they beat San Antonio 109-103 in Oklahoma City on Saturday night. Let's catch up on the latest news and happenings making headlines from around the league…

Odds & Ends: Raptors, Bobcats, Wroten

June 2nd, 2012 at 10:34pm CST by Ryan Raroque

With the eighth, 37th, and 56th selections in this upcoming NBA Draft, the Raptors could potentially draft three rookies in addition to bringing last year's draft pick, Jonas Valanciunas, into the fold for next season. Stephen Brotherston of HoopsWorld spoke with GM Bryan Colangelo, who is looking to explore multiple scenarios with his second round picks. Colangelo admits that bringing in three rookies may not be the best scenario, and that he will consider packaging picks in order to move up the draft board or possibly make a second round selection with the intention of developing that prospect in Europe for a few years. Here's more of what we're hearing from around the league this evening, including an update of the Bobcats head coaching search.

Money Time: Upcoming Free Agents In The Playoffs

June 2nd, 2012 at 1:54pm CST by Chuck Myron

Three of the four conference finalists should return next season with their rosters largely intact, as the Thunder, Heat and Spurs all have at least eight players with fully guaranteed contracts for next season. By contrast, the Celtics only have four such players, so this week's Money Time has a heavy Boston influence. This week, we'll expand our look at free agents in the playoffs to include players with option years and non-guaranteed deals for 2012/13, and next week we'll wrap it up by identifying the free agents who've had the best and worst postseasons overall.

Winners:

Kevin Garnett, Celtics: His scoring keeps improving with each round of the playoffs, from 18.7 points per game in the first round, to 19.7 PPG in the second, to 21.7 PPG against the Heat. His 9.7 RPG has helped the Celtics, a woeful rebounding team in the regular season, record just three fewer rebounds than the Heat for the entire series. Yesterday Steve Aschburner of NBA.com suggested Garnett might retire this summer, but if he does, he'd be leaving a lot of money on the table from the Celtics, Nets or anyone else in need of a game-changer at power forward.

Keyon Dooling, Celtics: Seeing increased playing time with Avery Bradley out and Ray Allen hobbled, Dooling helped the Celtics clamp down defensively against the Heat in Game 3. Yet his greatest impact has been on offense, as his 6-for-10 shooting from Game 7 against the Sixers through the first three games of the Eastern Conference Finals has kept defenses honest and helped replace the second-unit scoring lost with Allen back in the starting lineup. He probably won't get another $2.246MM payday like he got this year, but his recent performance has shown his value as a part of a backcourt rotation.

Gary Neal, Spurs (non-guaranteed deal): His 3-for-11 in Game 3 against the Thunder notwithstanding, Neal has been a subtle offensive weapon for the Spurs as they've trounced their way through the playoffs. He's the team's sixth leading scorer in the postseason despite playing just 15.2 MPG. That's in large measure because he's nailed 14 of 28 attempts from beyond the arc during the playoffs, but he's more than just a spot-up shooter, as his 20-for-37 rate on two-pointers demonstrates. He's miscast as a backup point guard, but there's no reason to expect the Spurs won't bring him back, especially since his non-guaranteed deal is only for the minimum salary.

Losers

Nazr Mohammed, Thunder: As much as Kendrick Perkins has struggled against the Spurs, it's a little curious why Mohammed has played less than five minutes the entire series. He played in all five games of the conference semifinals against the big bodies of the Lakers, but coach Scott Brooks has gone away from him against the more perimeter-oriented Spurs. Mohammed, shooting 50% in limited action this postseason, could be Oklahoma City's best offensive option inside, and as an ex-Spur, he might know a defensive trick or two that could stymie Duncan. Still, it seems unlikely the Thunder will re-sign Mohammed this summer, and the chances he equals the $3.75MM he made this year are just as remote.

Ronny Turiaf, Heat (player option): Turiaf has started all three games, but he's received fewer minutes than anyone else in the Heat's rotation against the Celtics so far. He's 4-for-5 from the floor against Boston and 10-for-18 in the playoffs overall, but his offense is not why the Heat picked him up midseason. The opposing starter at center in this series is Garnett, and while he hasn't done all his scoring against Turiaf, coach Erik Spoelstra's lack of confidence in his big man is likely to be reflected in the way NBA executives would regard Turiaf as a free agent in the offseason. He'd be wise to take his $1.146MM for next season and stay with the Heat.

Greg Stiemsma, Celtics (non-guaranteed deal): He's had his moments, like his 5-for-5, 10-point game against the Sixers in the second round, but Stiemsma has largely fallen out of the rotation in the playoffs. He's averaging just 8.5 MPG in the postseason, and just 7.0 MPG against the Heat. When the Celtics have used a backup center, Ryan Hollins has most often been the guy. Still, Stiemsma has the team's best postseason defensive rating, per Basketball-Reference.com. Since he's due only the minimum salary if the Celtics guarantee his contract next season, he's a decent candidate to be back in green next year.

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Odds & Ends: Spurs, Thunder, Bobcats, Hornets

June 2nd, 2012 at 11:48am CST by Zachary Links

French guard Nando De Colo is ready to join the Spurs as his contract with Spanish team Valencia BC is up at the end of the month, according to a report from Encestando passed along by Tim Griffin of the San Antonio Express-News. The 25-year-old combo guard was the taken by the Spurs with the 53rd pick in the 2009 draft and will play for the French team with current Spurs Tony Parker and Boris Diaw next month. More links from around the web..

Derek Fisher Has No Plans To Retire

May 29th, 2012 at 1:54pm CST by Luke Adams

Derek Fisher experienced arguably the worst regular season of his long career in 2011/12, a year that saw him traded away by the Lakers in a salary dump. Still, despite his declining production and increasing age (he turns 38 this summer), the veteran guard has no plans to retire, according to Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman (Twitter link). Fisher told Mayberry that he intends to continue his career beyond this season.

After Fisher was traded to the Rockets by Los Angeles, Houston bought out his contract, which included a player option for next season. Upon becoming a free agent, the point guard signed a rest-of-year deal with the Thunder. He'll hit free agency again this summer, at which point any team can sign him, including the Lakers — CBA rules forbid teams from re-signing traded players for a year after the trade or until their contract expires, whichever comes first. In Fisher's case, his contract will expire in July, allowing him to re-sign in Los Angeles if he so chooses.

Given his production in 2011/12 though, Fisher is probably not a great bet to sign for more than the veteran's minimum this summer. While he has extensive playoff experience and provides leadership off the bench, he set career-lows this season in points per 36 minutes (8.4) and PER (8.0), among other categories. He was also at the center of some off-court drama, when the NBPA attempted to oust him as union president.

Odds & Ends: Lin, Thunder, Bobcats, Magic

May 27th, 2012 at 9:41pm CST by Zachary Links

Links from around the league as the Spurs and Thunder kick start the Western Conference Finals..

Jeremy Lin's ability to play to the level of elite point guards such as Tony Parker and Russell Westbrook in a playoff series will dictate his level of success with the Knicks, says Jared Zwerling (Twitter links). Zwerling adds (link) that one of the best things going for Lin is that he's healthy now and has the entire offseason to prepare for a bump in minutes.
Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com (via Twitter) praises Thunder GM Sam Presti's draft record. While drafting Durant was a no-brainer, Russell Westbrook (4th overall, 2008) and Serge Ibaka (24th overall) weren't exactly slam dunks.
The Bobcats could interview Pacers assistant Brian Shaw as soon as next week and plan to meet with Lakers assistant Quin Snyder in Chicago before the NBA pre-draft camp, sources told ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard.
Matt Moore of CBSSports.com tips his cap to the Magic for targeting Thunder vice president Troy Weaver and Spurs assistant GM Dennis Lindsey.

Orlando Targeting Spurs, Thunder Executives

May 26th, 2012 at 9:36pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reports that the Magic are looking at Thunder vice president and assistant general manager Troy Weaver as well as Spurs assistant general manager Dennis Lindsey as candidates for their vacant GM position. Rob Hennigan, another assistant GM of the Thunder, is also being targeted.

Wojnarowski says that Weaver is one of the league's elite young executives and has a strong record as a talent evaluator, most notably pushing hard for the team to draft Russell Westbrook higher than most draft boards had projected. Lindsey has been the assistant to RC Buford in San Antonio for the last five years after an 11-year-stint with the Rockets.

Magic CEO Alex Martins reportedly plans to allow his new GM to control the search for the team's next head coach.

Rohde On Sam Presti, Connection To Spurs

May 26th, 2012 at 9:31pm CST by Ryan Raroque

A few days ago we asked for your predictions on the Thunder-Spurs matchup, and about 31% of you voted that San Antonio would win the series in six games. Jenni Carlson of NewsOK feels confident enough to disagree that she's compiled a list of 18 reasons why the Thunder can beat the Spurs. Her colleague, John Rohde (also of NewsOK), decided to look at the interesting connections between the two teams as we wait for the start of the Western Conference Finals:

Rohde revists Thunder general manager Sam Presti's humble beginnings as a video coordinator intern with the Spurs before becoming the assistant general manager after seven years with the team.
Here's a complete breakdown of how the current rosters of both teams were built.
Rohde gives a list of specific members of the Thunder organization (Nazr Mohammed, Maurice Cheeks, and Mark Bryant to name a few) and talks about their history and ties to the Spurs.

Odds & Ends: Lowry, Raptors, Heat, Jennings

May 26th, 2012 at 4:13pm CST by Chuck Myron

John Havlicek's famous steal in the 1965 Eastern Division finals might be the most storied of many Game 7 moments between the Celtics and Sixers, who look to add another chapter in tonight's Game 7. Still, many Boston fans have another theft on their minds as they file into the Garden this evening, since it's the 25th anniversary of Larry Bird's game-saving steal against the Pistons in Game 5 of the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals. Here's the rest of what's going on around the Association today:

Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun believes Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo and Daryl Morey, his Rockets counterpart, are likely to discuss a trade for point guard Kyle Lowry. Earlier today, we passed along a report from Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle about Lowry's dissatisfaction in Houston.
Feigen disagrees with Kyle Lowry's conclusion that he can't flourish under Rockets coach Kevin McHale, pointing to Lowry's early-season play as evidence.
Mario Chalmers and Shane Battier, who both signed multiyear deals when the lockout ended in December, are two of the role players who paid dividends for the Heat in this week's elimination of the Pacers, writes Steve Aschburner of NBA.com.
Brandon Jennings isn't worried about whether the Bucks will offer him an extension this summer, as Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel reports. "I will let (agent) Bill Duffy handle that," Jennings said. "That's what he does. I will leave it up to Bill Duffy and (Bucks general manager) John Hammond. It's really not my department." Earlier this month Duffy said he was surprised by Hammond's comment than a Jennings extension "is not something we have to do."
Howard Beck of The New York Times looks at what James Harden brings to the Thunder as the decision of whether to extend his rookie contract looms for GM Sam Presti this summer.