might not be the smartest move by Thabo because he is a player that has a big upside as a defensive ace and good glue player offensively…a super poor mans scottie Pippen in my opinion and now that he is locked into a cheap contract the team can potentially bury him on the bench. part of getting big minutes and not getting bounced around from team to team is being on as big a contract as possible.

Then again, the Thunder front office and coaching staff might reward his loyalty and finally give him regular minutes in the mid 30’s range for giving them cap flexibilty next year while retaining him.

He is easily the best defensive player on the team and with regular minutes for once in his career could easily take Bowens place as 1st or 2nd team defender.

This kind of player can be huge on a great team (see the old Spurs teams)_something the Thunder can become if they round out the roster with a post player (Blair comes to mind) and a great defensive C (not sure who they can target-too bad camby is too old). Sefolosha still has lots of growing to do as a player on both sides of the ball but if he realizes his potential he will be th eultimate glue player for this team seeing that Westbrook and Durant are going to put up the offensive fire power.

Thabo probably shouldn’t be a starter, but he is a good defender coming off the bench, and the money seems fair for a good bench player with potential to become a very good bench player.

SD20, he is good, but he is not 1st or 2nd team all NBA defense good. At least not yet

you say he is a good defender…and I agree…you say he is not a 1st team defender right now…and I agree. You say he is not a 2nd team defender right now and that’s obviously correct but he has never ever been given 33 mpg consistently save maybe 6 games before he got hurt in OKC last year at the trade and then maybe 10 games in a row for the Bulls mid Feb 2 years ago.

I’m a Bulls fan and have that Bias but he was never given a real shot with the Bulls largely because we were trying to develop, Tyrus, then Noah, and had these 2 on the court with him then added another rookie in rose last year.

The problem in Chicago was not thabo…thabo is not a great nor good outside shooter (yet)….but Chicago had Rose as a rookie, Tyrus and Noah all on the court with thabo…4 guys that cant shoot…still that unit (as a unit) going against starters did just as well or better +/- wise until VDN went with Gordon at SG. Inserting Gordon into the starting unit put the Bulls on just about the same win pace…The Bulls didnt get decent last year until the trade brought over a C that could shoot and Salmons that can shoot (cuz Rose and Tyrus still have limited jump shots)

And Thabo has the same weakeness-shooting from the outside.

OKC however does not have that issue. Durant should see minutes at the 4….he can shoot as well as any 3 or 4 in the league almost. Green can also shoot. Collison and Krystic are serviceable in the FG% part of their game. Westbrrok may not be the best outside shooter but like thabo (i think both are on the uptick and on their way to being 33-35% 3 pt shooters at some point.

And that’s where a team really benefits from a player like thabo…he is constantly passing the ball and moving the ball…he is constantly rotating the ball to the weakside or back to the strong side of the court. Which cuases defenses to shift more often so a player like Durant and Green will get better open looks and more lanes to the rim for Westbrook.

Thabo was 2-2 from the arc in your first game. so if he gets his confidence going you may end up being really really surprised. He has lots of point-forward/ point guard-skills and decent ball handling when he is nervous yet can be a thing of beauty to watch run and offense and a team when he is relaxed, poised, and NOT playing to NOT mistakes. Like all NBA players….he is there for a reason. And when you are 6’7" and can play SG guard in the NBA it can really wreak havoc on opposing teams.

Thabo has some decent strength in the post as well. he was the best reboiunding guard on the bulls. and rebounded nearly as well as Deng did on a per 36 basis.

On a per 36 basis for the Bulls he almost always averaged 2 steal adn 2 bloacks per game with out ever gambling…with just solid up in your grill defense.

Look without too much hype, just watch him on defense…focus on him…you will see him flat out denty elite scorers in the league the ball and any breathing space. Guys that averge 30 usually wont get more than 15 off him when he is on the court.

What you will see happen is other players then step up…he will for example take a Rip hamilton completely out of the game…or a carmello…then another player will step up….they will then switch thabo onto the hotter player…who is already hot and feeling…its hard to stop a NBA quality scorer from scoring once they are in their groove. Then thabo’s original responsibilty gets heated up because thabo isnt on him anymore…then put thabo back on him and its trouble. If your coach just has thabo completely smother whoever he is on and lets thabo stay on him all game you will end up seeing a 2nd team all defender easy and perhaps a 1 st team defender.

Offensively, Thabo just needs to keep the ball moving, help with ball handling, make wide open 3’s, the occaision fast break lay up or dunk and the occaisional basket in the paint and you guys are all good. You have enough scorers. You dont win in this league with 4 wcorers…especially when one of them will always be around 30 ppg. You win with 2 or 3 scoreres in the 20’s another around 15 and the rest scoring around 10 ppg and EVERYONE playing their role. Thabo will do that. Thabo will make sure Durant gets his looks and gets heated up every game. Harden will be looking for his shots as will durant, green, Westbrook which will take away from Durant’s game. Know your role is the name of the NBA game. scottie Pippen…who was 10 times the player Durant is knew he is role. And Scottie said the hardest thing for any NBA player to do…if they want to win…is “to know your role.”

Offensively, Scottie was light years ahead of thabo…but defensively Thabo is right there if he just can keep his offense together well enough to stay on the court for 33 plus mpg.

I know a lot of NBA fans think the NBA is just about scoring. And Harden can potentially be a good scorer. But thabo give your team the best shot at winning.

Look what happened last year. You guys won like 7 straight before thabo got injured…he tried to palyer through. same thing this year…concussion…0-3 or 0-2. he comes back you win. he plays 3o some odd minutes in game 1 and you win.

If your coach just gives him the minutes, and Westbrook plays under control when running the offense and doesn’t try to do it himself, adn Durant does his thing, and Green his, and Collision and Krystic, theirs, you guys will win 43 or more games and give a top seedd all hell in the playoffs.

Harden should come off the Bench all season and hopefully be a nice scorer off the bench when Durant and Westbrook take breathers.

If the numbers i just read on hoopshype are correct then the Thunder got an even better deal and Thabo should fire his agent. 4/15 was pretty fair, but according to the numbers it is only 4/13.8 with salaries of 3, 3.3, 3.6 and 3.9 mil the next 4 years.

I agree with SD20 that this is not a smart move from Thabo. I’m afraid of Thabo will be buried on the bench soon or later (or his min will be reduced to 20 or below) because GM/Coach usually always favor the player they drafted, particularly Harden was drafted at #3. I also agree with what SD20 has said about all of those good qualities that Thabo possesses. 13.8 mil/4 yr is a grossly lowball offer for Thabo. Thabo could easily get at least MLE offer from several teams, should he become a FA. Since Thabo can play both SG and SF position, the Heat and Cavs (and the C’s, Mavs, Spurs, etc.) would be more than happy to offer Thabo MLE (which still underestimates Thabo’s value). A combo of LBJ/Thabo or Wade/Thabo would help their teams win the championship.

I’m a Bulls fan and the Thunder becomes another team I’m interested in watching solely because of Thabo. Thabo and the likes (who are two-way players, play great defense, provide intangibles, and are unselfish and versatile), not some ballhog shooters, are the reason I watch NBA; this type of players make true impacts on team winning and represent what a successful team/organization/society should be.

The main problem with the Bulls is their stupid coaches (Skiles and Vinny) and GM Paxson. Thabo got only a few times playing 30 min or so per game under Skiles; every time Thabo played well and helped the Bulls win. However, in the next game, for no reason Thabo saw only a few or zero min. Skiles/Vinny may on purposely keep Thabo on the bench for some unspoken reasons, as SD20 has pointed out there is no evidence Ben Gordon helped them win more games. Pax never did anything to make the room for Thabo.

Thabo game is complementary to Kirk Hinrich’s game; Thabo is a slash guard and Kirk is a good jump shooter…both are very versatile, good ballhandlers and passers, unselfish, and great defenders… both bring lots of intangibles to the game (that do not show up in the box/stats) and are glue guys; together, they would be the best defensive and one of the most versatile backcourt in the NBA (no other backcourts can score much against them). The Bulls had their championship-caliber backcourt in Kirk/Thabo, but the FO is just too stupid to recognize. I like Rose, but Thabo’s game is not complementary to Rose’s (Rose is a slash guard). I particularly like Rose because he helped get rid of the me-first Gordon (Rose is also a poor defender and they cannot have two poor defenders in the backcourt). Anyway, I’m not sure why Thabo accepts such a lowball offer (maybe he doesn’t have enough confidence in himself?), but it’s great for the Thunder.

I especially love what you said about…team, organization, society should be. I like the NBA solely because I enjoy watching the game played right…even the greats like Durant, Lebron, Wade, MJ must stay within their role. MJ didnt win a thing until guys like Horace and Pip showed up.

And MJ’s role was no less or more important than pips in my opinion…when it comes down to 82 games and 15 more win to win it all….you need it all to work in a beautiful system. Guys like thabo that have the ability to be selfless for the sake of a greater good are priceless. You can do almost anything in life when surrounded by guys like that. Pip was the same way (most of the time).

I see great things with a durant, thabo, westbrook, Green combo.

All the Thunder need is that defensive ace in the middle. Find that young Mutumbo or something along those lines cuz they have all the scoring and play making that they need. But if they get a great shot blocker behind Thabo and Westbrook these guys will wreak havoc on any offense…Lakers included and then have the ability to put in the basket on the other end.

great Post Clev !!!

Myself and other have been describing him as a pippin type defender since he came ot the Bulls and got to play a little even as a rookie.

And Finally it is starting to catch on. 2 national media articles this week pointing to the same thing.

Not only do the Thunder already have their Bowen, their Prince, their Pippen defensively but in my opinon they also have a real good player potentially on offense as well.

In my opinion, if Brook allows the offense to run through thabo a bit more instead of so much Durant and Westbrook, you guys will come out with phenomenal results…over time I truly believe thabo has very good playmaking ability as well as running a conservative offense. He would make a good triangle offense point guard like Pippen and Ron harper did as well as a decent triangle offense focal point in spurts because he sees the floor so well and doesnt try to do it all himself. durant and Westbrook would still get all their points just get them a little easier with less turnovers and broken plays.

I’ve always said on realgm that i see a very close resemblance to scottie in Thabo.

I can easily see Thabo averaging 15 ppg, 6 apg, 6 rpg, 2 steals, 1 block with lock down defense when needed if they just expand his role and live through his mistakes for about half a season…that’s all he needs is about 40 games to play freely and he will get it!