Daily Thunder.com

ESPN.com:

Damien Wilkins will be back with the Oklahoma City Thunder for another season. Wilkins’ agent, Mark Bartelstein, said in an e-mail Tuesday that the guard would not terminate the player option on his contract.

Wilkins averaged a career-low 5.3 points last season as he fell out of the rotation and played in only half of Oklahoma City’s 82 games. Before then, he had been a regular in the lineup during the franchise’s days in Seattle. He played in every game for the SuperSonics over a two-year span and averaged 9.2 points in 76 games in the team’s final season in Seattle. Wilkins indicated after the season that he planned to return.

Also, there’s a rumor floating that David Lee will sign an offer sheet with the Thunder:

A source told Ken Berger that he believes David Lee’s days as with the Knicks are over. Agent Mark Bartelstein will reportedly have Lee sign an offer sheet with the Grizzlies or Thunder that the Knicks will not be willing to match. “It’s a tough loss for New York, but they don’t want to screw up their 2010 plan,” the source said.

UPDATE: Daryl Morey, general manager of the Rockets, is courting Marcin Gortat… via Twitter.

“Meeting in a few w/ Gortat,” wrote the Rockets general manager. “Send a note to him NOW at rocketsfanslovegortat@gmail.com. He will receive. Show him how much we want him in Red!”

News Damien Wilkins, David Lee

And now for the next trick. But don’t worry, I don’t think free agency is near as stressful and draft time. Especially when you’re a team that’s got very specific needs and the market doesn’t have a whole lot of drop-everything-and-sign-him type of players. So what’s the plan for free agency?

Sam Presti isn’t looking for the quick fix. He’s still looking to build long term. Which is something you may not appreciate next year, but you will in five. Reader Chas said it perfectly: “One playoff run is nothing compared to 8-10 stellar seasons where we are always in contention.” I think Presti and Co. have that exact same mindset. There’s no pressure to win and win big now. Everyone knows it’s a process and this organization is in no huge hurry. Which is a smart way to build.

The free agency signing period starts at midnight and with a little money in the piggy bank, some feel like this is a chance for Sam Presti to prove his worth again. There’s some good players out there that are looking to get paid – Trevor Ariza, Carlos Boozer, Paul Millsap, Lamar Odom, Hedo Turkoglu, Ben Gordon. There’s not a ton of top-tier talent, but there’s enough to pay attention to.

But I’m not so sure Presti will be doing much of anything. I’m sure he’s got his eye on a few players, but right now, he could live with the current roster. Of course it could and should be improved, but Presti appears to be the type of guy that likes to do that through the draft and through smart, sensible trades. Look at his summer free agent signing history:

• Signed guard C.J. Miles to an offer sheet.

That’s it. That’s all he’s done in summer free agency in two years as GM. Now he’s pulled a bunch of small signings like Chris Alexander and Derrick Byers for training camp, signing Kyle Weaver, inking guys like Eddie Gill and Ronald Dupree for 10 days and also of course signing Nenad Krstic last winter. But he’s not the type of GM that’s shown to jump into free agent waters and make a big splash. At least not yet. Read more…

Commentary Free Agency

Oklahoma City ranked 28th on Steve Aschburner’s top free agent destinations: “Oklahoma City: The talent on the roster, and the brainpower in the front office have lots of admirers, and the Ford Center fans can be among the league’s most active and loud. But there’s no cachet to being the first franchise in, at the big league level, and the Thunder will need to win soon to convince young players to stay or come aboard.”

Darnell Mayberry with some great analysis about the Paul Millsap rumor: “He’ll create a logjam. Where will Millsap play? The Thunder isn’t really worried about positions right now. The team is playing Green out of his customary small forward position at power forward just to get him the most minutes as possible. But acquiring Millsap will either move Green to the bench (highly unlikely) or mean Millsap will continue coming off the bench (making him one of the league’s most expensive reserves). Add to that, Green already plays 37 minutes, mainly at power forward, and Durant plays 39 per game, mostly at small forward. There is little wiggle room in the rotation at those positions (unless you want to move Durant back to shooting guard, Green back to small forward and cut off minutes for Thabo Sefolosha and third overall pick Harden. Again, highly unlikely).”

Layup Drill on the Harden pick: “James Harden was not only one of the best talents available, but fits well into the Thunder’s plan. The pick solidifies Russell Westbrook as their Point Guard of the future and gives them a solid scoring punch at the Shooting Guard position. Harden is one of the more NBA-ready prospects, and will be able to contribute immediately. The lefty can shoot well, uses his solid frame to rebound and has been praised for his highly unselfish game and ability to feel out the game. This again fits well for the Thunder, who have a lot of options in Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and Westbrook.” Read more…

Bolts

Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune reports that Sam Presti is hot for Paul Millsap: “There also was speculation Sunday that Oklahoma City might be preparing to make a push to sign Paul Millsap as a restricted free agent. Former Jazz director of player personnel Troy Weaver now is an assistant general manager with the Thunder. The Thunder unsuccessfully tried to sign away C.J. Miles from the Jazz last summer. They are expected to have $11 million in salary-cap space and could offer a contract in the neighborhood of five years and $65 million to a free agent. Detroit and Portland also could be potential Millsap suitors.”

Tom Ziller on Millsap to OKC: “The one question about Millsap in Oklahoma, however, is what the team will do about the center position and Jeff Green. The team grabbed B.J. Mullens in the late first round, but even my friend Steak Tartare thinks the Buckeye is too raw. Among returning players, steady Collison and Nenad Krstic shared pivot duties last season. Green played predominantly at the power forward, which is the only place Millsap can legitimately play. Unless Presti feels paying top dollar for a back-up is smart, or if he plans to trade Green sometime soon, I’m not sure exactly where Millsap fits. If the price were cheaper, you could plunge now and let Scott Brooks figure it out in October. But cap space is precious. Filling it with a foreign puzzle piece doesn’t make sense.” Read more…

Bolts

It’s April 7th 2009 at the Ford Center. There’s a seemingly meaningless game in the house, yet it’s not so meaningless. On one side of the ball there is the Oklahoma City Thunder, at the time a 21 win team with no post season prospects, and on the other the San Antonio Spurs with their 49 wins in the bag, playing for playoff seeding. Even more, the Thunder had managed to eek out two wins against the Spurs in the previous 2 1/2 weeks or so. The Thunder really believe they can win, the Spurs are both pissed and determined to step on this bug that keeps swarming them at a time when they’re trying to close out the season with some winning mojo.

The Thunder actually take a lead into half time at 51-50, showing some spunk and confidence. In the third, both teams make runs. First OKC goes on an 11-5 swing, followed by the Spurs and a 12-3 run of their own. Late in the fourth, the Thunder lose ground, but make a little push and get the game close, down 89-85 with 2:31 left. Coach Popovich calls a timeout and both teams plan their strategy; the Thunder need some scoring and they need to hold the line defensively.

It doesn’t happen. The Thunder manage 3 made free throws and a meaningless 2 point jumper by Westbrook with the game clock expiring. In that final 2:31 the Thunder were 1-5 from the field. The shots were there but they weren’t falling. It was a winnable game that we didn’t win.

In that last 2:31 Coach Brooks used a lineup of Durant, Green, Krstic, Westbrook and Livingston, with Thabo subbing in for Livingston in the final :25 for defense (the Spurs went with Parker, Duncan, Finley, Udoka and Drew Gooden). Durant and Green have established themselves as effective three point shooters and are offensive weapons suited to this situation. Krstic is the best we have in the middle with a balance of offense/defense. Westbrook, Livingston and Thabo are the weak links here when we needed scoring punch and quick offense. Read more…

Commentary

The MidFirst Bank caravan thing had a stop today and gave fans a chance to get to meet the Thunder’s three new guys. And for your info, James Harden will wear No. 13, B.J. Byron Mullens will wear No. 23 and Robert Vaden No. 30.

(Thanks to Jacob Thompson again for the incredible picture.)

And here’s Sam Presti with James Harden today at the caravan:

Also, Sam Presti was on Tirico and Van Pelt yesterday and here’s that interview for your listening pleasure (h/t to J.G.).

News B.J. Mullens, James Harden, Robert Vaden

(Hola campers. Your Saturday open thread. Enjoy yourself.)

So we added a new face to the Thunder roster Thursday night if you hadn’t heard. His name is James Harden and he plays basketball for a living. And let me tell you, besides being an excellent dresser and a pretty dang good hoops player, he’s also a fairly interesting interview. I love watching Harden play – his game is so complete. A smooth jumper, excellent slashing skills, an dynamic passer and a willingness to just play within the flow of the game. I’m excited for next year. Can you tell?

Video James Harden

I love how people immediately doubt Presti’s moves just because he didn’t take a guy you happen to like. Now of course everyone likes different players and we all have our thoughts, but the thing is, we don’t know about these guys yet. It’s pretty stupid to grade a draft before a guy ever plays. Just like I wrote about in my “What makes a bust” column, we don’t know how this will turn out. We could be calling the Timberwolves draft a major “F” in two years and crowning the Knicks as the huge winners. We just really don’t know.

But we all have our opinions about how OKC did, so let’s grade away anyway. Everybody’s doing it.

First pick: James Harden, shooting guard, Arizona State

It’s amazing how much momentum Ricky Rubio picked up in OKC over the last week. The fan pick went from Harden to Rubio faster than you can say Thabust. But we forget something all along – what’s the one position most everyone agreed needed to be addressed most? Shooting guard. And what did Oklahoma City draft? The best shooting guard in the draft. So how exactly is that a bad thing? Rubio would have been nice and he would have been cool. I probably would have bought a Rubio jersey. I’m sure every NBA 2K10 franchise would have been started with the Thunder. We would have been the coolest, most exciting team in the league.

But if “exciting” and “cool” doesn’t help you win games, then what do I care? Besides it’s not like Harden makes the team uncool. We’re still superfly if you ask me. Westbrook, Harden, Durant, Green, Somebody still looks pretty sweet methinks. And if I hear one more person say Harden is unathletic I’m going to throw myself down an empty elevator shaft. Look at his combine numbers people. LOOK!

I understand the Rubio love. I got hooked too. But did he really fill a need? And how sure are we he was even the best player at that position? Was he really that type of talent that you re-arrange your roster for? I’m not sure. If you think so, well bully for you. Sam Presti didn’t.

I flip-flopped on Rubio for a month. I still like the guy a lot but with news coming out that he may stay in Spain another year and that he’s not thrilled about Sota shows he may have been more trouble than he was worth. It’s doubtful Rubio will step on the court and play 30 minutes a night as a starter. I fully expect Harden to do exactly that. David Aldridge (who I think is pretty smart) already has Harden penciled in as his Rookie of the Year.

I really don’t know what’s not to like about this pick. Not only do you fill a need, but you do it with possibly the best player available. What’s bad about that?

Grade: A+ Read more…

Commentary 2009 Draft

First off, congrats to Chris Arrnold who won our Daily Thunder MockTest! He got both Thunder picks correct (Harden at No. 3 and Beaubois at No. 25), was within one of Rubio going to Minnesota and also got Curry to the Warriors correct. Congrats. Technically it was a three-way tie for first with 40 total points, but I gave Chris the victory due to a made up on the spot tiebreaker which said most correct Thunder picks won. Nick Johnson and Kyle Dahlgren were the runners-up, but neither had a correct Thunder pick.

Source: Oklahoma City is reportedly high on James Harden. What’s that? The draft’s over? Oh awesome. No more of that crap.

Read more…

Bolts NBA Draft Reaction

Somehow, I think we all knew this is where we’d be. We all had visions of black floppy hair streaking up the court and busting out a fancy-pants pass, but I think deep down, we knew James Harden was going to be the name called with the third pick.

It’s kind of a weird feeling honestly. I’d been calling for Harden for almost two months now. I don’t think there’s any player that fits us better than him. Oklahoma City was statistically the worst team at shooting guard in the league last season. Harden is talented and can do multiple things. He’s can step on the court tomorrow and make this team better. I truly think he’s going to be a fantastic player. Read more…

Commentary James Harden

This is like… exciting. With the conclusion of this draft, we will OFFICIALLY wrap up the first year of professional basketball in Oklahoma City. And we will also have a new player or two in Thunder blue. I hope it’s the guy you really want. Unless his name is Hasheem Thabeet.

6:01 p.m. CST: Yes. My favorite part of any anticipated broadcast. Thirty minutes of talking about things were already know. I can’t wait to hear Jay Bilas tell me Hasheem Thabeet is long and that Blake Griffin is good at basketball. I’m really looking forward to it.

6:06: For some reason, people really care about the suits these guys wear. Rubio looked extremely sharp, Blake Griffin has a purple shirt on and James Harden is wearing a bowtie. How funny! A bowtie! That’s so ironic!

6:11: I can’t decide what I was more nervous for – the lottery or the draft? The lottery was a slap in the face. It happened so quick. The draft is such a process. And why am I nervous about David Stern calling some guy’s name over a microphone to send him to Oklahoma City? I have no idea.

6:13: Shutup, shutup, shutup everybody! Jay Bilas is going to tell me who his top five players are! I’m sure glad I haven’t been looking at that huge graphic on the side of the screen that says, “Jay Bilas’ Best Available” for the last two hours. Talk about a spoiler alert!

6:19: I guess ESPN thought we might forget who Jay Bilas’ top five guys are, because he’s telling us again. What’s that? You like Tyreke Evans as the third best player in this draft? News to me.

6:23: Most awkward interview of the night award already goes to Mark Jones and Ricky Rubio. Nothing is topping it. Well, I forget that Stuart Scott is in the building and has a microphone in his hand. So it’s probably too early to be crowning anyone.

6:29: Is Hasheem Thabeet wearing a silver trash sack? And also, why is Dick Vitale talking to me? A nice did you know about Vitale: Out of eight ESPN writers last fall, he’s the only one that didn’t have Blake Griffin on his pre-season All-American team. Better yet, he didn’t have Blake on his second team. But yet this man is supposed to be educating me about the draft. Awesome.

6:31: (Summons Mike Goldberg) And. Here. We. Go! Read more…

Diary 2009

Touch hands and join ’round. We’re gonna be talking in here. Once the draft starts, I’m going to branch off and pound out one of my obnoxious live diaries and start up an open thread just for Thunder lovers, but for the next couple hours, feel free to join in and shoot the shoes with us. Most of the TrueHoop Network talking heads will be in here, so there’s going to be some good basketball brains yapping. Get some.

Other

Russell Westbrook was just on Rome Is Burning (sporting a new little buzzhawk) and he talked about the draft tonight.

On OKC drafting Ricky Rubio: “It wouldn’t be a bad situation for me, but I’ll just leave it up to Oklahoma City and hopefully they make they right decisions.”

On being a point guard: “I feel like I’m a true 1. I’ve been playing point guard all my life and I’ve been trying to get better at it and learning different things especially in the NBA, point guard is a tough position.”

On what he wants to see the team do: “Whatever’s good for the team, I’m going to try my best to contribute to the team any way I can.”

On the “You trippin’” quote: “I don’t recall saying that. I don’t remember saying that at all.” (Though I will note, Westbrook had a huge smile and was laughing. Take that for what it’s worth.)

So, either someone grabbed Westbrook’s collar and told him he better speak right on Rome, or all those reports were hooey. It didn’t seem like he wasn’t speaking freely, but it’s unfair to speculate about what he may or may not have really been thinking.

Again, I’m sure he’s not super-psyched about the situation, but I get the feeling he’d get used to it. Especially when he can free-range and just roam the court and doesn’t have to worry about setting up teammates and running an offense. We’ll see. Just two hours left party people.

News Ricky Rubio, Russell Westbrook

What: The 2009 NBA Draft
When: Coverage begins at 6 p.m CST. The draft starts at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Madison Square Garden
TV: ESPN (Cox 29, HD 720)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)

The draft starts in seven hours. You ready?

As tough as it is to get a read on Sam Presti’s direction, I think we can narrow the Thunder’s draft night options down to four: James Harden, Ricky Rubio, Hasheem Thabeet or Stephen Curry. Barring a trade or something all too shocking, one of those guys will be in a Thunder uniform. Hey, three out of four ain’t bad right?

So what do you want to see happen tonight? James Harden? Rubio? Curry? Thabeet? Something completely different? Vote. Or die.

 Loading ...

Riff Raff Polls

Last chance to get in the Daily Thunder MockTest. Here’s what you can expect tonight: Of course and open thread to discuss everything, but I’ll be running another wonderful live draft diary as part of it. And then of course, once the smoke settles, some instant analysis. It’s going to be beautiful. Also, if you are interested, the TrueHoop Network will be running a massive Live Blog throughout the evening with multiple blogs taking part. So be sure to check that out as well. Matt over at HP is heading it up.

Chad Ford’s confidence level is 50 percent for OKC taking Ricky Rubio: “If the Thunder keep the pick, my brain says Harden is a perfect fit in Oklahoma City next to Russell Westbrook. The scuttle is that Curry is the hot name in the Thunder’s draft war room. And a few people think Thabeet’s size will win the day. But I have to believe that Rubio, whom we’ve had here since the night of the lottery, will end up in OKC.”

Ian Thompson’s latest and greatest mock: “Thunder – Stephen Curry. The Thunder could go with shooting guard James Harden, Ricky Rubio, Tyreke Evans or even Jrue Holiday here. But the latest hunch is that they’ll complement Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook with a shooter and playmaker. As Oklahoma City turns into a playoff team, Curry could become his generation’s Manu Ginobili off the bench.”

Reader Jacob Thompson (who designed the awesome Thunder logo I use for Twitter and other places) put together this little photoshop for the player he’d like to see in a Thunder uniform tonight:

Just wanted to say thanks to Steve Kerr for beginning to blow up the Suns. I like the looks of that 2010 pick more and more. Potentially an unprotected lottery pick for Kurt Thomas? Yes please and thank you. Read more…

Bolts