[rQUOTEr]Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka will undergo a knee procedure to address some persistent soreness, sources told ESPN.com. It is not clear how long Ibaka will be sidelined following the surgery. Ibaka has missed the Thunder's last two games with what the team has called knee soreness. He will see a specialist for further evaluation, with the expectation for him to have a clean-out procedure in order to be ready for the postseason. The Thunder have not confirmed that Ibaka will undergo the surgery, saying in a statement Monday that they have sent him to a specialist. "As we continue to monitor and evaluate the soreness in Serge's knee, in consultation with his representation, we decided the next best step is to have him travel to New York to see a specialist," a team spokesman said. "We will provide an update as appropriate." http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/1...a-city-thunder-undergo-procedure-injured-knee[/rQUOTEr]
That doesn't sound good. The Kanter addition is looking better and better. I wonder why Morey didn't go after him. It's very unlikely we'll draft a better player with the Pelican pick. On second thought, I guess he felt like with Howard coming back there would be a big logjam there in the front court, but he really is looking good in OKC. I hate that they gave up so little for such a quality player.
They will be fine. Russ will just have to protect the rim in addition to the other stuff he currently does.
You can't overstate how big Kantor has been for them. In terms of importance to their team, Serge might now be behind Kantor.
Since he has mastered the art of the triple double, perhaps it's time he start going for quadruple doubles to challenge himself.
Let's not go crazy. Kanter has been a good addition for them, but he provides zero rim protection. Ibaka alters tons of shots, and gives them 38% 3 point shooting on offense. No way OKC beats any western conference team in the playoffs without Ibaka.
Kanter looked terrible in Utah, showed zero development. And he will get paid this summer (Restricted Free Agent), so Morey was 100% right not even considering him. There are also issues with Kanter's agent. Big blow for OKC. Hope they don't fall back, so we get the 14th pick, as we're used to.
Lets all react like a typical clutchfan. Constant soreness.......bone on bone.......micro-fracture...... Never will be the same.
After 2012 NBA Finals: Don't worry, these guys will be back. They're gonna have a great run together. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Bad News Thunder. First Russ, then Russ again, then Serge, then KD, then Russ, then KD again, now Serge again. Can't get - or stay - right.</p>— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) <a href="https://twitter.com/MrMichaelLee/status/577530152437039105">March 16, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
If Kanter is the no. 1 option for the Thunder in the playoff, I wish they will be Rocket's opponent in every round.
steven adams is an elite rim defender and this means more time for mitch mcgary to get burn.. with KD returning, I'm sure they'll be fine
He didn't look terrible, Gobert just looked better. They went defense over offense. There was no room for Favors, Gobert, and Kanter. They made the right decision in Utah, but Kanter was and is a solid player.
Kantor's rebounding ability has complemented that team very well. Consequently, Serge shooting 3s has moved him away from the basket and because of it his ORB% have declined each of the last 3 years. I actually think that the rotation of Kantor/Serge/Adams at the 4/5 position could become the best in the NBA if they keep that group together. Their respective strengths' overlap the weaknesses of each other. Ibaka can stretch the floor and block shots. Kantor can rebound at a high clip and Adams can defend post players. 96 mins of very solid play from those 3 bigs. And that's all you need when you have Durant & Westbrook How does Serge being out equate to Kanter being the No. 1 option Maybe you've heard of Durant & Westbrook
I don't know what roster you're following, but our center depth chart is on the pathetic side and that's WITH a healthy Dwight. If you're telling me you'd rather have Joey Dorsey over Kanter then I'd argue you're delusional. ANYTHING is better than what we have at our backup center position right now
Huh? Kanter didn't show any improvement in three years with the Jazz. He is indeed terrible on the defensive end (DefRtg 107.8 - that's about Jeremy Lin's level) and not very flexible on the offensive. Favors and Gobert are WAY better. I'd rather have Dorsey than paying Kanter up to 15m$ next year or even give up a draft pick for him. He wouldn't have helped us anyway, we need defensive help in the zone.
Man, OKC can't catch a break with these injuries. Pretty remarkable that they're probably going to get that 8th seed.
Enes Kanter is a very selfish player, and this was pointed out by the Jazz beat writers many times before. Before the trade, he was averaging about half assist per game, which is so laughable considering the Jazz played him a lots around the elbow. He is the opposite side of Asik, whose decent in offense but generally bad at D. And plus his selfish playing style, that's why the Jazz dumped him. He played at OKC 11 games after the trade, while his rebounding number is very decent, but people forgot to check that actually half of those rebounds were coming from OREB, which is no a surprise the way OKC is running their current offense under Westbrook, who will shoot at will. Just by the numbers itself, Serge Ibaka is a player 8 times better than Kanter in shoot block, and this had been proved to be the difference when the Thunder playing the Rockets before. Ibaka was the guy actually changed the way Harden play (which he almost shut down the lane completely when he was healthy) because he can force the Rockets to settle for more outside jumpers.
Kanter is a good fit for the Thunder because they lack interior scoring, and Westbrook offers plenty of good looks for bigs with his penetration and pick and roll play. But don't be fooled, Kanter is not a particularly special talent. He's not very athlethic, nor exceptionally skillful. He'll probably get paid next year, but he's no way close to the value of Ibaka.
