Hoops Hype Just days before the seven-year anniversary of the deal that brought James Harden to the Houston Rockets, a response to a question posed by an academic to the Milwaukee Bucks' marquee player ought to be giving that team's ownership considerable pause. At first glance, the connection between The Beard ending up in Texas and Giannis Antetokounmpo speaking to Harvard academics might not be so obvious, but let me explain. In a recent interview with Harvard Business Sch

35. Kyle Lowry 2018-2019 Season Stats: 14.2 PPG 4.8 RPG 8.7 APG 1.4 STLS PER: 16.5 TS%: 56.2% WS: 6.6 - 41/35/83 Lowry had the best postseason of his career and cemented himself as maybe the greatest Raptor of all-time. He may be hitting the twilight years of his career but his skills should age well. He’s incredibly intelligent, a great defender and charge drawer, an above average shooter and a solid playmaker. Lowry will be forced to step up in the absence of Kawhi. Don’t b

Getty Images For better or worse, the Golden State Warriors’ stranglehold on the rest of the NBA appears to be a thing of the past. Kevin Durant to Prospect Heights, one of many high-profile stars to change homes this summer. An NBA Title hasn’t felt so up-for-grabs in years, while the Association also boasts a thriving middle class. There is, of course, an underbelly of the forgotten and the unlucky. Clubs in limbo, rebuilding or reloading in an attempt to secure a new futur

Photo credit: Getty The 2019-2020 NBA season starts October 22nd and to get you ready for tip-off, Off the Glass is previewing all 30 teams. Today we look at the Oklahoma City Thunder. 2018-2019 Record: 49-33, 4th in the Northwest Division. Lost 1-4 to the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. Season Recap: Paul George came out of the gate for the Thunder having an incredible season. While Russell Westbrook did struggle at times, he was able to impact

Getty Images The Russell Westbrook era is over in Oklahoma City. After a season that saw the Thunder finish 6th in the Western Conference, the team suffered a first-round exit at the hands of the Houston Rockets. The loss prompted more questions than answers. Will the combination of Paul George and Russell Westbrook be enough to win in the Western Conference? Can General Manager Sam Presti build upon a roster with little cap flexibility and few draft assets? Fans and pundits

Complex Pick 30: Los Angeles Lakers - Frank Ntilikina (Original pick: Josh Hart) The last (first round) pick of the Phil Jackson era in New York has not been great. Defensively is where his game shines, but his career 5.9 PPG on 35% shooting is horrendous. To restart his NBA career, why not put him in L.A. to get some bench minutes while backing up Fox. Pick 29: San Antonio Spurs - Markelle Fultz (Original pick: Derrick White) Let’s have fun. Fultz has not lived up to the hyp

The Ringer It's that time of year again - the crickets are chirping, sportswriters are yawning, and the curtains have (basically) closed on the 2019 NBA Offseason. With that being said, we'd be remiss if we didn't get some staff opinions on an absolute whirlwind of a summer; we're certain that our talented writers have some colourful opinions on what went down this past month. With that being said, it's time... for another OTG Roundtable! The question: Which team had the risk

Bleacher Report Somewhat lost amidst the upheaval of their basketball-changing trades of Paul George and Russell Westbrook, the Oklahoma City Thunder traded away a third starter from last year’s playoff team -- 5th-year forward Jerami Grant. In his deal to the Nuggets, the Thunder acquired their eighth and final (for now, at least) future first-round pick, a good rate of exchange for the former 2nd round pick (39th overall) out of Syracuse. Though he’s entering his sixth seas

Bullets Forever The Washington Wizards are on the short list for worst Eastern Conference team next season. They have been a dumpster fire the past couple seasons, going so far as not hiring a new general manager and it’s July 18th as I write this! They have literally bypassed the two biggest tasks of a general manager (the draft and free agency) and are still yet to name the person who will be captaining their franchise into a new era of change. To make matters worse, John

NYDaily How will Westbrook and Harden fit together? Whenever a star joins up with another star, the most popular statement to hear is ”there is only one ball”. Never has this saying been truer than with the reunion of Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Two high-usage players who have problems with turnovers on one team sounds like a recipe for disaster. However, these two, per reports, wanted to play together, which may be an indication of a desire to make this unorthodox p

USA Today With the NBA postseason now behind us it seems like the right time to reflect on the spectacle of the 2018-19 playoffs, before the memories of the earlier rounds and the greatness of the Finals fade away into free agency and the start of next season. The Toronto Raptors are the champions of the world. The Golden State Warriors quest to win four out of five was ended by a strong Toronto team, a myriad of injuries, and inconsistencies on the defensive end. At the end

Steve Dykes / Getty Images Russell Westbrook may have successfully evaded The Oklahoman columnist Berry Tramel’s questions with his infamous “next question” response. But after another disappointing first round exit, the polarizing guard and the Thunder are now confronted with a question that must have an immediate answer this summer: What’s next? Back in February, the Thunder were sitting at third in the West before the All Star Break. They were 37-20, just a couple of games

Despite everything, Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers are moving on. Dame’s endured All-Star snubs, back-to-back first round series sweeps, ‘Jenny tweet’ memes, Westbrook’s ‘too small to defend me’ & his rock-the-baby taunts, and more, Still, Lillard is advancing to the next round following a pulsating 118-115 victory over Oklahoma Thunder Tuesday night. Portland’s 28-year old Portland superstar humiliated one of the game’s biggest personalities to earn what is a

NBA.com Game 3 is in the books and the Portland Trail Blazers now lead the Oklahoma City Thunder 2-1. As we wait for Game 4, here are five thoughts on the series. 1. Getting out of the first round is important for both teams Interestingly enough, both teams came into this series having been knocked out in the first round of the Playoffs for the last two years. OKC lost to the Houston Rockets in five games in 2017 and then to the Utah Jazz in six in 2018. The Blazers have had

Just qualifying for the playoffs usually isn’t enough in the postseason. Front offices often demand much more, and head coaches are often the most obvious and useful scapegoat in the face of unreached expectations. This season is no different. There are a few coaches in the playoffs that could find themselves out of a job depending on how things shake out. In no particular order: Brett Brown - Philadelphia 76ers Deep in the heart of the Process, Brett Brown was named head coa

USA Today Season Recap The Oklahoma City Thunder entered this season placing all of their bets on Paul George and Russell Westbrook to lead this roster to another playoff run. The duo did, as George and Westbrook led the Thunder to the sixth seed in a brutal Western Conference. Biggest Strength Heading into the NBA Playoffs, teams struggle with lack of star talent on their roster. For the Thunder, they have George and Westbrook who are having tremendous seasons. George’s MVP

Getty Images The NBA Playoffs begin today, and with that come some crazy outcomes. For some people we can see the outcomes coming from a mile away, but in some cases it shocks the NBA landscape . For the first time in a long time, both the Western Conference and Eastern Conference are pretty balanced in terms of great matchups each night. With that being said, who will be ‘upset’ in the first round? (6) Oklahoma City defeats the (3) Portland Trail Blazers in five games: Why o

Yahoo In many ways, this season was a win for Oklahoma City when Paul George signed a new four-year contract with them last July 1st -- everything after was gravy. Overall this season was a very typical post-Durant season for the Thunder: they’ll win almost 50 games and face a very tough first round match-up -- they haven’t seen the second round since Durant departed. Like a few other teams that have struggled to advance in the rugged Western playoffs, their success will not

Fortune Let’s get something straight – if the 2018/2019 version of the Golden State Warriors is playing at peak level (i.e. there are five All-Stars in their starting lineup and they’re each playing at their respective All-NBA ceilings), then there is no team in this league that can beat them in a 7-game series. Not in this league, not in the NBA of years past, and maybe not even in the NBA of the future (especially if the CBA is re-negotiated in a manner that significantly c

Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via GettyImages After playing mostly excellent basketball for the first two to three months of the season, the Oklahoma City Thunder has unexpectedly fallen off. Losing 11 of their last 16 games, OKC finds itself 7th in the ever-changing Western Conference standings at the time of this publication. They’re just 3.5 games behind the third seed, but only half a game ahead of the eight seed. Considering the Thunder were tied for the best record in the We