Author Topic: So it looks like Enes Kanter is coming off the bench for the Thunder.  (Read 4420 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Endless Paradise

  • Jim Loscutoff
  • **
  • Posts: 2853
  • Tommy Points: 182
Quote from: Anthony Slater
Lineup hints

Durant, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and Andre Roberson all started for the White team. Nick Collison joined them, but that was only because Steven Adams sat out with back soreness.

The Blue team included Dion Waiters, Anthony Morrow and Enes Kanter, along with D.J. Augustin and some other expected bench players. Morrow even referred to the group as the “second-unit” in his post-scrimmage comments.

Donovan said the teams weren't split by accident. That's how they've been divided in practice. So at this point, it seems Roberson is this team's starting shooting guard and Adams is the team's starting center.

http://newsok.com/article/5451296

Hmm... could've sworn I'd been saying that was going to be the case over the summer, but someone here repeatedly insisted otherwise because "HE SIGNED A BIG CONTRACT!!!!!"

Oh wait, here it is:

I could care less what a beat writer says.  Kanter started last year (all 26 games he was in OKC) and he WILL start for them THIS year!!!  And that was BEFORE he signed the BIG contract!!!

Re: So it looks like Enes Kanter is coming off the bench for the Thunder.
« Reply #1 on: October 05, 2015, 01:52:18 PM »

Offline PhoSita

  • NCE
  • Robert Parish
  • *********************
  • Posts: 21835
  • Tommy Points: 2182
Now now, no need to call out specific posters for being wrong.  :P  Though who knows?  Kanter might end up starting.


Kanter and Waiters make the most sense as reserves, though, much like Kevin Martin and Nikola Pekovic in Minnesota (here's hoping they get traded somewhere decent).

Unless and until Kanter learns to play some defense, he'll make the most sense as a very productive reserve taking advantage of slower, weaker, less talented reserve big men.
You’ll have to excuse my lengthiness—the reason I dread writing letters is because I am so apt to get to slinging wisdom & forget to let up. Thus much precious time is lost.
- Mark Twain

Re: So it looks like Enes Kanter is coming off the bench for the Thunder.
« Reply #2 on: October 05, 2015, 06:17:47 PM »

Online Who

  • James Naismith
  • *********************************
  • Posts: 47136
  • Tommy Points: 2401
I am surprised by that. Especially given how limited that group has been offensively in the past. It sounded like Donovan's main task was to open up the offense and he is starting that by benching his best offensive big and best overall offensive player outside of Durant and Westbrook.

It would be easier to understand if OKC had more offense from Robertson or Adams or even Ibaka. Not even individual offense but team offense - shooting and passing. Something to help ball movement and stop making it so easy for top teams to load up on Westbrook and Durant come playoff time.

I hope this is not permanent. I think OKC's title chances directly connect to Kanter's development and capacity to improve his defense enough to be a quality starting center. I think Kanter has to be a priority for them.

Re: So it looks like Enes Kanter is coming off the bench for the Thunder.
« Reply #3 on: October 05, 2015, 06:49:09 PM »

Offline Csfan1984

  • Don Nelson
  • ********
  • Posts: 8825
  • Tommy Points: 289
I like it as Kanter has good flexibility to be first big off the bench.

Re: So it looks like Enes Kanter is coming off the bench for the Thunder.
« Reply #4 on: October 05, 2015, 07:49:33 PM »

Offline PhoSita

  • NCE
  • Robert Parish
  • *********************
  • Posts: 21835
  • Tommy Points: 2182

I hope this is not permanent. I think OKC's title chances directly connect to Kanter's development and capacity to improve his defense enough to be a quality starting center. I think Kanter has to be a priority for them.

It may not be permanent, but by most measures Kanter was perhaps the worst defensive big in the NBA last season.  The Thunder are a team with title aspirations.  They can't afford to have Kanter playing in the starting lineup until he's come quite a ways on that end.

Waiters makes the most sense on the bench, if he's going to play at all, because he clearly has the mentality of a bench gunner like Nick Young or Jamal Crawford -- he always thinks the best shot is the one that he takes.
You’ll have to excuse my lengthiness—the reason I dread writing letters is because I am so apt to get to slinging wisdom & forget to let up. Thus much precious time is lost.
- Mark Twain

Re: So it looks like Enes Kanter is coming off the bench for the Thunder.
« Reply #5 on: October 05, 2015, 08:32:31 PM »

Offline Celtics18

  • Ed Macauley
  • ***********
  • Posts: 11688
  • Tommy Points: 1469
If they could figure out a way to meld the good parts of Steven Adams and Enes Kanter together into one basketball player, that guy would be a force on both ends. 
DKC Seventy-Sixers:

PG: G. Hill/D. Schroder
SG: C. Lee/B. Hield/T. Luwawu
SF:  Giannis/J. Lamb/M. Kuzminskas
PF:  E. Ilyasova/J. Jerebko/R. Christmas
C:    N. Vucevic/K. Olynyk/E. Davis/C. Jefferson

Re: So it looks like Enes Kanter is coming off the bench for the Thunder.
« Reply #6 on: October 05, 2015, 10:01:37 PM »

Offline jdz101

  • Ray Allen
  • ***
  • Posts: 3171
  • Tommy Points: 404
If they could figure out a way to meld the good parts of Steven Adams and Enes Kanter together into one basketball player, that guy would be a force on both ends.

A hybrid of the two Lopez big brothers would be pretty epic aswell.


how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck was chris bosh?

Re: So it looks like Enes Kanter is coming off the bench for the Thunder.
« Reply #7 on: October 06, 2015, 12:42:08 AM »

Offline BDeCosta26

  • Bill Walton
  • *
  • Posts: 1314
  • Tommy Points: 232

I hope this is not permanent. I think OKC's title chances directly connect to Kanter's development and capacity to improve his defense enough to be a quality starting center. I think Kanter has to be a priority for them.

It may not be permanent, but by most measures Kanter was perhaps the worst defensive big in the NBA last season.  The Thunder are a team with title aspirations.  They can't afford to have Kanter playing in the starting lineup until he's come quite a ways on that end.

Waiters makes the most sense on the bench, if he's going to play at all, because he clearly has the mentality of a bench gunner like Nick Young or Jamal Crawford -- he always thinks the best shot is the one that he takes.

Agree about Kanter, and if you have to use Dion Waiters, I guess the bench gunner role is the only one that kind of fits. That guy is like 20 years past his time. But I'm not sure Id throw around Jamal Crawford's name into the cesspool of Nick Young and Waiters. He's been a much better player than those guys.

Re: So it looks like Enes Kanter is coming off the bench for the Thunder.
« Reply #8 on: October 06, 2015, 01:32:19 AM »

Offline crimson_stallion

  • Rajon Rondo
  • *****
  • Posts: 5964
  • Tommy Points: 875
If they could figure out a way to meld the good parts of Steven Adams and Enes Kanter together into one basketball player, that guy would be a force on both ends.

A hybrid of the two Lopez big brothers would be pretty epic aswell.

I trademark the Isaiah Thomas / Marcus Smart merger myself - that would be one impressive PG haha


Re: So it looks like Enes Kanter is coming off the bench for the Thunder.
« Reply #9 on: October 06, 2015, 01:35:57 AM »

Offline crimson_stallion

  • Rajon Rondo
  • *****
  • Posts: 5964
  • Tommy Points: 875
He's been a much better player than those guys.

Mmm...I would.

When he was here in Boston, that was really the best I've ever seen him at.  Even then, he STILL made my cry in fear every time he touched the ball.  Often enough he did good things with it, but then just as often he did horrible things with it.

I guess the key difference with Crawford though is that volume chucking isn't his one and only skill - he's actually a half decent ball handler and passer.

Still though, he is a top shelf head case.  Much as I appreciate all the pro-Boston and pro-Stevens comments he made after his time with Boston, I would still never, ever, ever sign him to any roster I was in charge of.

Crawford is pretty much a smaller, more wreckless and less sane version of Evan Turner, but with an added three point shot.
« Last Edit: October 06, 2015, 01:43:30 AM by crimson_stallion »

Re: So it looks like Enes Kanter is coming off the bench for the Thunder.
« Reply #10 on: October 06, 2015, 01:51:16 AM »

Offline Rondo9

  • Rajon Rondo
  • *****
  • Posts: 5379
  • Tommy Points: 277
Quote from: Anthony Slater
Lineup hints

Durant, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and Andre Roberson all started for the White team. Nick Collison joined them, but that was only because Steven Adams sat out with back soreness.

The Blue team included Dion Waiters, Anthony Morrow and Enes Kanter, along with D.J. Augustin and some other expected bench players. Morrow even referred to the group as the “second-unit” in his post-scrimmage comments.

Donovan said the teams weren't split by accident. That's how they've been divided in practice. So at this point, it seems Roberson is this team's starting shooting guard and Adams is the team's starting center.

http://newsok.com/article/5451296

Hmm... could've sworn I'd been saying that was going to be the case over the summer, but someone here repeatedly insisted otherwise because "HE SIGNED A BIG CONTRACT!!!!!"

Oh wait, here it is:

I could care less what a beat writer says.  Kanter started last year (all 26 games he was in OKC) and he WILL start for them THIS year!!!  And that was BEFORE he signed the BIG contract!!!

Sssesh.... Why are you calling out posters?

Re: So it looks like Enes Kanter is coming off the bench for the Thunder.
« Reply #11 on: October 06, 2015, 05:34:54 AM »

Offline Endless Paradise

  • Jim Loscutoff
  • **
  • Posts: 2853
  • Tommy Points: 182
Because if I'm going to be harassed by someone with a grudge against me, I'm [dang] sure going to throw it back at them whenever opportune. Never once claimed to be bigger than that. :)

Re: So it looks like Enes Kanter is coming off the bench for the Thunder.
« Reply #12 on: October 06, 2015, 05:54:52 AM »

Offline BDeCosta26

  • Bill Walton
  • *
  • Posts: 1314
  • Tommy Points: 232
He's been a much better player than those guys.

Mmm...I would.

When he was here in Boston, that was really the best I've ever seen him at.  Even then, he STILL made my cry in fear every time he touched the ball.  Often enough he did good things with it, but then just as often he did horrible things with it.

I guess the key difference with Crawford though is that volume chucking isn't his one and only skill - he's actually a half decent ball handler and passer.

Still though, he is a top shelf head case.  Much as I appreciate all the pro-Boston and pro-Stevens comments he made after his time with Boston, I would still never, ever, ever sign him to any roster I was in charge of.

Crawford is pretty much a smaller, more wreckless and less sane version of Evan Turner, but with an added three point shot.

Your thinking Jordan Crawford, he said Jamal. Jordan Crawford definitely belongs in that group, lol

Re: So it looks like Enes Kanter is coming off the bench for the Thunder.
« Reply #13 on: October 06, 2015, 09:35:36 AM »

Offline D.o.s.

  • NCE
  • Cedric Maxwell
  • **************
  • Posts: 14061
  • Tommy Points: 1239
Yeah Jamal Crawford is pretty underrated. You don't see many guys carve a 15 year career out of playing like Young and Waiters.

Jordan Crawford is pretty underrated, too, but he's definitely in that category. I'm a little shocked that he couldn't find another meaningful NBA gig after the C's if only because of his age.

I would take Crawford over Turner ten out of ten times.
At least a goldfish with a Lincoln Log on its back goin' across your floor to your sock drawer has a miraculous connotation to it.

Re: So it looks like Enes Kanter is coming off the bench for the Thunder.
« Reply #14 on: October 06, 2015, 11:35:44 AM »

Offline pearljammer10

  • K.C. Jones
  • *************
  • Posts: 13129
  • Tommy Points: 885
It would be absurd in my eyes for them to not start Kanter. Heck not starting Morrow is just as bad in my eyes.

Westbrook, Morrow, Durant, Ibaka, Kanter is a force in my eyes. Spreads the floor, scores at a high rate, and Ibaka covers enough of the interior D for Kanter to be adequate. Makes no sense in my eyes.