Nuggets wing Will Barton made it clear multiple times earlier this month that he believes he deserves to be a starter. However, after coming off the bench in Wednesday’s opener, Barton said he’s happy for Michael Porter Jr. – who has been promoted to the starting lineup – and is prepared to accept his new sixth man role, as Mike Singer of The Denver Post writes.
“My concern is not about (starting) anymore once I channel my energy to where it has to be,” Barton said. “That’s where I am, so I’m locked in right now, I’m coming off the bench. I’m not trying to worry about if I’m gonna start again. Right now I’ve got a job to do, and that’s my focus is to come off the bench and try to change the game for us and still help us win games.”
While Barton may not have started the Nuggets’ opener, he got the opportunity to finish it, playing all five minutes of overtime in Denver’s loss to Sacramento.
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- The Trail Blazers brought in former Bulls head coach Jim Boylen for a three-week consultation to help Portland’s coaching staff implement a more aggressive defense, says Jason Quick of The Athletic. “I was intrigued with his ideas and what he did in Chicago,” Blazers head coach Terry Stotts said of Boylen. “And we will be using some of the things he talked about and augmenting some of his other things with what we already do.”
- Even after stockpiling future draft picks for a second consecutive offseason, the Thunder may not be done, according to John Hollinger of The Athletic, who points out that the team could continue to extract draft assets in deals for Al Horford, George Hill, and Trevor Ariza, or by using a pair of giant trade exceptions to accommodate salary dumps.
- ESPN’s Lisa Salters conducted an in-depth interview with Jazz center Rudy Gobert, discussing his path to the NBA, how it felt to become the league’s “patient zero” for COVID-19, and his relationship with Donovan Mitchell, among other topics. “We had conversations as grown men, and we told each other what we had on our minds,” Gobert said of mending his relationship with Mitchell. “And the end of the conversation was that our goal was to win a championship together and, you know, I thought it was really mature from both of us to come out of the conversation like that.”
How does anyone ever cut Jim Boylen another check for anything basketball related? He was the worst coach in NBA history.
He was they were awful on offence but they were actually quite a good defensive team. Around top 10.
At what point do the Thunder have enough? They already have like 16 first round picks in the next seven drafts. You only have a 15 man roster. I know having draft capital means you can move up whenever you find someone you really like, but if I was an OKC fan, I would prefer the team package some of those 24-25-26 year picks to get someone that can play now. The Thunder have enough ammo that they could pick up 2 legit superstars or several young potential superstars to pair with SGA and whoever else and actually be a pretty decent team. But they seem to think that the only model out there that works is the Philly model of drafting players that aren’t going to play and just hoping your fans stick around for 3-5 years for you to start trying again.
As a thunder fan, I have no issue dumping 34-35 year old players for second round picks. (Unless were getting a massive salary dump on us, that’s all we’re getting.). Since were tanking the next couple of years, I have no problem also stockpiling picks to use as ammo to get who we want. I highly doubt Presti ends up making 27 draft choices over the next decade. More than likely these will be combined to get who he wants. We’re a small market team and for the most part the big name free agent isn’t coming here until we’re good again as even then sometimes they still don’t wanna come here. We need a gm to make smart moves and deals and has to hit on his draft picks. Presti hasn’t been perfect, but he’s been pretty dang good so far. Getting PG13 for Oladipo and Sabonis has…and will…pay off into the future.
I agree that they have done a great job stockpiling thus far, but I just hate to see them waiting when they could be competing now. Or at the very least picking up talented players that are not being used well by their current teams. Trading some, but not all of those future first rounders for players like DeAndre Hunter on the Hawks or Jaxson Hayes from New Orleans or Matisse Thybulle from Philly or Carsen Edwards and/or Grant Williams from the Celtics would be far more beneficial to an OKC rebuild than sitting and waiting until later. Get those guys and see if they mesh. All of them won’t work out, but some might. Keeping two picks per draft is still plenty of capital to maneuver later on, but having three picks per draft just seems wasteful.
It’s like going to Sam’s Club and buying 14 pounds of table salt because it’s cheaper per ounce than the 1 pound can. Sure you save money in the long run, but you also have your money tied up in a product you are not going to use for years to come.
That being said, I like what they have done so far. I am just not patient enough to be a fan of a team going through a 3-5 year rebuild plan.
That could make one salty!
Why do you have the coaches you have if you have to bring an outsider in for 3 weeks to construct something as important as your team defense? They must think Boylen can be like Chef Ramsey on Kitchen Nightmares.
Excellent comparison. Kudos sir.
Seeing how they played at home against Utah, it obviously didn’t work.
Oh, I think a lot of the stockpiled picks will eventually be packaged and dealt. Thing is, from everything I read, next years draft will be talented and deep. It will probably be the best chance for the Thunder to get talent through the draft in the next few years. So as much as I hate it generally, this is the year the Thunder want to tank, so their picks convey better. Bringing in guys this year who might help you win a few more games now doesn’t help you tank. I can see the Thunder with a top-3 pick in the 21 draft, and a second pick somewhere in the top-10. They draft right, that’s the lion’s share of the rebuild right there. Then they can package future picks on a more established young player or three to warp speed the rebuild.