OKC Thunder: In the news – Westbrook avoids NBA Finals, Grant Trade, Kanter’s Father Detained and Film Room
Welcome to OKC Thunder – In the news for Saturday, June 3 where we serve up the most topical news on your favorite team.
The arrival of the NBA Finals only serves to open OKC Thunder wounds which seemingly never close. With Kevin Durant exploding in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Thunder fans are only served reminders of this point. But, maybe it’s time to follow Thunder super star Russell Westbrook’s lead in these matters. This story leads off the OKC Thunder In The News segment today along with some other topical and engaging articles.
Westbrook ignores NBA Finals opting for Sister Act:
Russell Westbrook is captivating for fans even when his team isn’t playing. With the NBA Finals underway Westbrook shook up social media with a simple Snap Chat video. In it Russ is watching Sister Act and singing along. Pundits jumped all over the story. No kidding, I counted no less than ten publications featuring Westbrook avoiding the Finals to watch a movie. One of the better reports came via Chris Barnewell of CBS Sports.
"While the NBA world was focused on his former teammate Kevin Durant, Westbrook was busy singing along to Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit on his Snapchat. During the day he works on his game. During the night he works on his singing."
Hmm, I wonder if this speaks to how many fans would rather see Russ in these finals. Or perhaps the fact no one expects these finals to save the most boring postseason in recent memory.
In a ‘normal’ season Russ is not MVP:
Another Westbrook related article comes courtesy of Joel Stevens of Real Sport who suggests Russ doesn’t necessarily have the MVP sewn up. Stevens counters Kawhi Leonard produced the best season on a top three squad. There is merit to Stevens argument in a normal season (and let’s be clear, I’m a huge Leonard fan), but this was no normal season. Here’s a link to Stevens entire article.
"What does it say when in the past 32 years, there have been countless player seasons greater than those of individuals who have won the MVP? Historically, the media members making these picks are generally very shrewd with the award. That’s why Leonard, the best player on the second-best team, will win the 2016-2017 Maurice Podoloff Trophy."
Examining Jerami Grant trade:
Fred Katz of The Claremore Daily Progress retrospectively evaluates the Jerami Grant trade (we’ll forgive the publication for spelling Jerami as Jarami) and opines on Grant’s future in OKC.
"Still, Grant is more of a longterm solution. Ilyasova will be a free agent this summer, and it would have been difficult for the Thunder to justify keeping him, though circumstances would have developed differently had he stayed for the entire year. Grant, meanwhile, just concluded his third NBA season, is one of the team’s two or three best athletes, can potentially guard three positions, can switch onto perimeter players and ended up knocking in 38 percent of his 3s (though almost every one of his attempts was open)."
Kanter’s Father detained and questioned:
More from Thunderous Intentions
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- 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
- Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
- Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder
Troubles for Enes Kanter continue with his father being retained for questioning in Turkey. Royce Young of ESPN offered more details via his article.
"Enes Kanter released a statement saying his father is being held because of his political views and that he may be tortured “simply for being my family member.”“My father is arrested because of my outspoken criticism of the ruling party. He may get tortured for simply being my family member,” Kanter said. “For a second please think and imagine, if something like this is happening to an NBA player, what is happening to the people with no voice or podium to speak on? There could be hundreds of thousands of people that are detained, tortured, or murdered that we are not hearing about.”"
Thunderous Intentions Film Room:
Finally, Thunderous Intentions scribe Gideon LIm spends hours pouring over game film to isolate plays he would use to help each OKC Thunder player improve their games. His current segment features Doug McDermott. Lim offers plenty of solid advice, so if you know McBuckets please make sure to pass this great article and film work along for his offseason home work.
"Instead, they make shooting over their defender their go-to move. Once defenses adjust to that, Nowitzki and McDermott bring out pump fakes to get around defenders. From there, even if their defender can bother their shot, they already have enough separation to get their shot off.Look at this fadeaway from McDermott over LaMarcus Aldridge. His one-dribble pull-up looks so natural."
Lim’s Film Fest offers amazing insight and analysis. Mark it down on your must read list as he’ll be looking at ten OKC Thunder players over the course of the series.
Have a great start to your weekend this Saturday and see you back here tomorrow to catch the next installment of OKC Thunder ‘In the news”.