And The Thunder Roll...

I still can’t believe that Ainge made that deal. Green is an effective 3/4 and can be a 3rd or 4th option on a team but he is in no way equal value for Perkins. A legit 5 in his mid 20’s who doesn’t need the ball and is more than happy to fight for his teamates and can play excellent D and rebound. It lets Ibaka reach his potential as a weakside shot blocker and not have to defend centers.

Sam Presti should be commended for waiting out all the mediocre offers and pulling a robbery.

Getting Perkins for Green was an absolute steal. Everyone knew it immediately, especially the Celts fans. I look forward to cheering for KD in the playoffs. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them win it all this year.

After watching the Nuggets beat up the Lakers at Staples and then Dallas in between two serious beatings by OKC I’m convinced that the Thunder are the only real threat to the Lakers in the west.

I initially thought the Nuggets could get a first round win over either Dallas or San Antonio buy running the old guys out of the gym in an elongated series. But the Thunder are younger, more talented and tougher.

The Nuggets and the Thunder are the only interesting teams to watch in the west. The Nuggets because they aren’t Carmello’s team any more and I want them to win to show the NBA just how fucked up the star system is. OKC obviously because of Durrant, and they’re actually fun to watch too.

Presti learned his craft a little too well—and the Spurs may end up paying for that.

Did anyone take a flyer on a Bulls/Thunder NBA Final when the year started? Me neither, but it would have gotten you very good odds.

Hey Scipio could you get some shitty Garth Brooks stuck in my head? Oh you could? Thanks a bunch.

OKC and Chicago each have a legit chance to go deep in to the playoffs. I never would have imagined either at the start of the season.

Even Artest didn’t want a piece of the Thunders bigs. Perkins turned him in to a skeered jump shooter last night. Those Thunder big bodies also provide Durant pillars of cement, so he can leverage an extra split second off a screen. Perkins set some nasty rhinoceros picks.

They honestly look like a different team at both ends of the court.

If only Chicago had been dumb enough to pull off a similar Omer Asik for Courtney Lee trade.

bizness -
 
If Ainge doesn’t get the Garnett gift from his buddy McHale, you could argue that his tenure as GM is nothing but failure. I’m not sure why – when you have a team of aging veterans – that you get rid of the guy in his 20s.
 
dick -
 
I think smart people knew it. I saw a lot of people making the mistake of comparing statistics and believing that the Celts got the better end of it.
 
roach -
 
Good thoughts. I think the 1st round series in the West will be pretty interesting. It’s interesting how everyone has written off the Spurs. They are a 60+ game winner, right?
 
jones –
 
That would have been a potentially rewarding Vegas bet. Right now I like Lakers-Bulls, but Thunder-Bulls is absolutely in the realm of possibility. The Lakers wanted to send a message to the Thunder by playing their hardest and blowing them out at home and this has been an interesting turn of events.
 
Still, this is the NBA. And I don’t discount the potential for whistles to affect a playoff series in favor of the pre-ordained.
 
nordberg -
 
AND THE LIGHTNING STRIKES!

Mocking Bird -
 
The Bulls are my clear favorite in the East.
 
Durant lit up Artest on 11 of 15 shooting. A far cry from last years playoff series. That’s a big deal. If the Lakers have to try to use Kobe on Durant, the Mamba is going to lose his legs in the 4th quarter and Westbrook will run the Lakers mercilessly.

I had a Jeff Green-like affect on every inter-mural team I ever played hoops with.

I think I could still bring it, fwiw.

I think your teams’ primary objection is that every time you were passed the ball you placed the ball under your foot and asked the assembled crowd, “Why basketball, gentlemen?”

Did he also remove his shoes and socks and stage a sit-in on the court?

Supposedly NBA salary cap rules prevented the Celtics from offering Perk nearly as much as he could make in the open market Ainge felt like he had to trade. Why he dealt one of the NBA’s best interior defenders for a nice 3/4 hybrid is another question. Conventional wisdom is that Greene has the body type to limit Lebron/D-Wade. I think everyone saw how that worked in practice yesterday.

Scipio — The NBA is facing a lock-out that could ruin the sport like the NHL’s in 2004. The only way that doesn’t happen is a Lakers/Heat NBA Finals … which would be THE international sporting event of the year and make the league an absurd amount of money here and worldwide. It’s something to keep in mind when you’re watching the refs in the playoffs this year.

Tjarks – break it down for us.

A big hearty $%&@ you for getting that song stuck in my head.

Scipio,

I wouldn’t say I’ve written off the Spurs I’m just skeptical of their success. They remind me of pudgy white pickup basketball guy. You know the guy nobody want on their team, but as soon as the game starts he does nothing but drill threes from the time line.

They may still win it all, but man they look old, slow and “fundamental” They make the Hickory High look athletic and smooth.

You guys obviously do not understand basketball. The Thunder is not going to make the Western Conference finals! The Spurs play team ball and will win it all because of that. Sorry for all you guys that have a crush on KD, but it ain’t happening open your eyes.

You got us, Roland!

Roland lives inside one of Greg Popovich’s facial scars.

Who is this Garth Brooks or which you speak, mate?

I’m a Spurs fan. I love them…but dammit, Roland.

“They may still win it all, but man they look old, slow and "fundamental"”

I keep hearing this opinion of the Spurs this year and I just have to wonder how many people have actually watched any of their games. Offense has actually carried them for the better part of the season. Parker and Ginobili are 2 of the more athletic, exciting players in the league IMO, and the Spurs have gone through a pretty impressive youth movement and athletic upgrade the last 2 seasons.

tjarks-

The lockout is happening regardless of the Finals, teams in Minn. Memphis, N.O, Sac, and several others are getting killed now and good ratings don’t make them additional $$$$.

Horncasting-

At this point I have trouble trusting Ginobli and Duncan to stay healthy enough for a long playoff run.

Roland Gunner-

Excellent point on the cap rules preventing an extension by the Celts, but i’m still wondering if they tell the league that Perk is available and willing to sign a 4y $32M extension if Jeff Green is the best offer they get.

Following up on the Perk trade points. As I try to get inside Ainge’s head on this…first of all it’s a whiny looking place. Seriously, no one in the league looked more whiny than him, until Kurt Thomas entered the league. Second, maybe he thought that if they were going to lose Perk, and trade him, make sure it’s at least a west conference team…maybe? I thought it was awesome as a casual Thunder fan from the start. It’s only remained so. Certainly may have swung the west in a new direction for years to come.

Whenever a trade like this occurs that improbably swing the balance in a new direction I think we should call it a Gasol. Or use it as a verb, as in the “Celtics sure Gasoled that one.” Nothing will ever beat that poo-poo platter the lakers sent memphis for Pau. Still kills me.

Biznesstime – I agree, health and reliance on the 3 pt shot are my biggest worries for the Spurs.

So… the correlation between team ball and the championship is 1.
And… team ball is a binary variable.
And… the spurs are the only team for whom the team ball variable equals 1.

Got it.

The Spurs have a really good shot if Ginobili and Duncan hold up. This is a team that relies pretty heavily on the three ball, no question. I don’t think we necessarily have to be on fire from outside the arc to win, but if we go ice cold from the perimeter we are toast. If we do get hot from the 3-point line, we are damn near unstoppable because that opens up drives to the basket for Parker, Ginobili and Hill.

As far as athleticism, the Spurs have some of the most athletic guards in the NBA and that translates to a fast break game that we have not had in years. We are definitely undersized in the front court, but Blair plays bigger than his size defensively and on the boards and can get a hot scoring hand from time to time. We have added Splitter, who is a legit big and has played some solid ball of late. We’ll need him to continue that in the playoffs. We need McDyess to elevate his game and provide productive minutes on a consistent basis.

From a physical standpoint, we are not the most talented team, though we are a lot more athletic overall than we have been in years and the disparity on this front is not near what the pundits would have you believe. The Spurs play good team ball and can beat you in several different ways. We are a very deep team with a bench that can score in bunches. I think we have as good a shot as anyone.

Even considering salary cap implications, the Perkins trade makes no sense to me. The Celtics are in “win now” mode. Garnett, Allen, and Pierce don’t have 5 years left in the tank. Trading Perkins (whose importance against the lakers was obvious when he was absent last finals) mortgages a legitimate finals run this year for winning a few more games next year.

I pretty much took your Jeff Green opinion and made it my own. When this trade dropped your original piece immediately came to mind. I was actually talking to a sucker (friend of mine) that thought the Celtics got the better of the deal. After expertly pointing out Green’s rebounding deficiencies my friend was easily swayed.

I bet that same friend at the beginning of the season that the Thunder would finish top four. Now if you’ll get me Steve-O – he wants me to call him Steve-O – Wynn’s phone number I’d be much obliged.

Anyway, nice call on Green.

I think a Man United-Barcelona Champions League final would elicit just a wee bit more international interest than Heat-Lakers

How dare you bring you global perspective.

This is a bit tangential to the OP, but a great KD story nonetheless. Didn’t see it posted on BC before, so apologies in advance if it was. It’s worth the read just to confirm what we already know: Kevin Durant is one cool dude. LINK

Seems he got a private shoot-around with Obama last year. He invited a couple of teammates, him mom and his grandmother. That’s it. No entourage, no cameras, no press. And he didn’t want it publicized.

If this were any of a dozen other NBA stars, they’d have squeezed every ounce of media pub out of the "event" they could. This kid just thought it was cool to get to shoot a few with the prez.

If there’s a more humble, down to earth professional athlete on the planet, I don’t know who it’d be. Makes me proud he’s a horn.

Shit, link didn’t work. Try this:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5776652

I want to see KD and Messi together like Manute and Spud.