Daily Thunder.com

Some really interesting stats to chew on after just a few games:

• The Thunder are third in the league in points allowed per game (86) and third in defensive rating (95.2 pts/100 possessions).
• The Thunder are 10th in the league in FG% at 47.4% and 6th in 3fg% at 40%.
• 10th in assists.
• 12th in blocks.
• 20th in turnovers-we were numero uno last year.
• 3rd in FG% allowed at 38.9%
• 5th in 3FG% allowed at 24.2%
• 8th slowest team in the league. Last season we were the 7th fastest. Keep an eye on this this season.
• We are top half of the league offensively in 3 out of the “four factors”, the one we are missing on is offensive rebounds.  Curiously offensive rebounding was one of our strengths last year.
• We are top half in 3 out of 4 defensive four factors, the outlier being getting to the line and hitting the freebies (fta/ftm).
• Kevin Durant is tied for 5th in the league in field goal attempts at 43.
• Thabo is tied for second in the league in 3 point FG% at 75% (3/4 on the season).
• Westbrook is fifth in the league in assists with 23 in two games. The four above him are Rondo, Nash, Baron Davis and Lebron. He’s also third in the league in Assists/game and Assists %.
• Here’s a weird one: Earl Watson is third in the league in effective Field Goal percent (.864) and second in True shooting percent (.862).
• Etan Thomas is 4th in the league in block percent (the percentage of the opponent’s shots that he blocked while he was on the court) with 8.1%.
• Kevin  Durant is third in minutes played per game at 42.5.

None of this means anything at all after just two games. It’s just a conversation starter until Portland comes to town. Enjoy!

Commentary, Other

(Happy happy day Thunderfriends. Thank you for your support of Daily Thunder. It’s appreciated. Now kick back and enjoy a nice college football Saturday.)

It’s taking everything I’ve got to not get too high from last night’s win. It’s early, it was against a possibly mediocre team and it’s early. But hot dog, it sure feels good to be 2-0. It just looks good in the standings. I mean, look at it. Bea-u-tiful. Anyway, the Thunder’s opening night video was pretty popular and there have been a lot of people asking around if anyone has it. Well friends, you’re in luck. The internet has conquered again. Reader Alex has ripped both intro videos and uploaded them for your viewing pleasure. Rise Together, Thunder Up, whatever. It all sounds good when you’re winning. (Video two here.)

Video

BOX SCORE

November 29th, game number 18.

That was the date and the game number last year in which the OKC Thunder won their second game. That’s pretty cool.

The game tonight was really surreal if you were a Thunder fan last year and watched most of the games. It was like watching an old fashioned slugout slugfest between two defensive minded Eastern Conference teams. It was like the Pistons of old against the Cavaliers of old. This is not the Thunder of last year, and hey, that’s a good thing!

I didn’t feel real good about the direction of the game through the first quarter. The Thunder starters were getting manhandled to open up.  The Thunder didn’t get to the line at all in the first, big Ben Wallace had 5 boards and a block, and all of the Thunder starters were looking pretty stinky offensively.  Defensively they were getting after it and giving good effort, but they weren’t getting stops. When Brooks began to trickle in the bench, things began to change for the better.

James Harden showed some of his ball handling wizardry beginning late in the first and carrying over into the second  By the time he came out  in the middle of the second he had 5 assists and a ” +10″ after his name in the box score.  He was bringing the ball up the court some and was like a second point guard running the pick and roll very smoothly with Collison (who set some fierce screens on the Pistons). Harden got a nice “welcome to the NBA” message when he tried to drive on Kwame Brown of all people, who nicely put his shot into the seats. But there is no denying Harden has great court vision and expert passing ability- all the reasons most of us Thunder fans were praying for him on draft night. Read more…

Recap Detroit Pistons

vs.

Oklahoma City Thunder (1-0, 0-0 road) at Detroit Pistons (1-0, 0-0 home)

TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37, Tulsa Cox 27, HD 722; DirectTV 679, AT&T U-Verse 753)
Stream: Click Here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 7:00 CDT

View from the enemy: Piston Powered

Offensive Rating: Thunder – 112.9 (7th), Detroit – 115.7 (4th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 98.5 (9th), Detroit – 89.2 (2nd)
Pace: Thunder – 90.3 (24th), Detroit– 82.9 (28th)

UPDATE: Richard Hamilton is a game-time decision with an ankle injury.

I have a strange feeling going into this game. After a dominating, excellent, near perfect performance in the opener, I fear I expect too much. Now Detroit isn’t the best team in the world, but they’ve got players. Pretty good ones too. Much better than Sacramento in fact. But because of how good I feel, I’m a little weary of being brought down big time tonight. Read more…

Preview Detroit Pistons

Throughout the week some of you drop some brilliant or at least somewhat thoughtful comments and so this is a try at highlighting some of them. Disclaimer: It’s not that I necessarily agree with all of them, but they were interesting and for the most part, well put. Consider everything [sic’d].

The kool-aid tastes bad anyway. Ooooohhhh yeeeeeaaaahhh. (okiefunk): I feel kinda bad for these kids (millionaires that they are!), when they can’t speak their minds and be themselves because of media-types looking for the next hot story/controversy to “expose”. (No offense Royce–luv ya!)

Smart Thoughts

Thabo Sefolosha’s contract is a four-year, $13.8 million deal that starts after this season. Right now, he’s making about $2.7M. With the extension, he’ll make $3M in 2010-11, $3.3M in 2011-12, $3.6M in 2012-13 and $3.9M in 2013-14.

John Rhode says OKC is in for better things: ”This season brings a new locker room with a ceiling roughly twice as high as last year’s digs. This, too, seems appropriate. More head room for a team with a higher ceiling for success. Thunder players now know where they are. Their next trick is to figure out who they are. What they are is a better team.”

Kevin Durant likes Carmelo Anthony to average 30-plus points for the season and win the scoring title: “Melo gon average 30 this yr lol..hes da truth … Melo is gon be da scoring champ…balee dat…” Read more…

Bolts

(Want to know the top five scariest places in Oklahoma? Royce lays them out over at The Lost Ogle.)

By the time this article runs, the Thunder will have played their first game, and, Gary England willing, be 1-0 after stomping the Kings.  That’s going to happen.  If it doesn’t, you probably shouldn’t pay any attention to my predictions for the rest of the season.

Key to the Season: Jeff Green

Sure, Kevin Durant is the team’s best player, and James Harden is the rookie ingenue that is supposed to fill the holes the team had last year.  No one is going to dispute that.  The guy who will have the biggest influence on how this season turns out for the Thunder, though, is the glue guy–Jeff Green.

For the Thunder to reach the unfair expectations being heaped onto them by much of the national media, Jeff Green is the guy who has to get to that next level.  When he was drafted, the thought was that he would be as Scottie Pippen was to Michael Jordan for Kevin Durant.  And, honestly, I think he can fill that role.  For now, though, I’d just like to see him strive to be like David West.  If he can consistently bring his A-game, improve his rebounding, and silence the detractors that say he is too small to play power forward (much like West dealt with before the Hornets arrived in OKC), the Thunder will easily improve on their win total from last season, and with luck challenge for a playoff spot.

Even if he does not, I think Green will do a lot for the team fresh off being named a team captain.  While I don’t think I’ve seen this mentioned anywhere, it was Green who I saw motivating his teammates this Summer, by publicly calling on them to get to the gym (via Twitter).  It might have just been that he didn’t understand you could send messages directly to people with Twitter accounts, but I prefer to look at it as him cracking the whip. Read more…

Commentary Love and Thunderstanding, Peace

As someone pointed out, the Thunder’s on pace for 82-0. Just sayin’.

Kevin Durant has launched an official site. Check it out – it’s got KD sightings, KD1 sightings and other stuff.

A must read: John Hollinger makes sense of the Thabo signing: ”The Thunder extended Thabo Sefolosha for four years today, and I know what you’re thinking: Why now? Who was coming after this guy with big free agent bucks? Here’s the answer, and it has to do with cap management. Let’s start with the basics: The Thunder are set to have a trove of cap space next summer, around $15 million depending on the cap holds for their two first-round draft picks and where the final cap number comes in.”

A firm called Sysomos did an interesting Twitter research study, looking at the habits of NBA players. Kevin Durant is followed by the fourth most fellow NBA players and the Thunder’s the fifth most active team on Twitter. Kind of interesting. Read more…

Bolts

BOX SCORE

(AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Well honestly, I’m not sure that could have gone much better.

Oklahoma City’s starting five poured in 91 of the Thunder’s 102 points, as OKC rolled Sacramento 102-89 to open the season 1-0. Which also means we’re enjoying the first winning record in Thunder history.

Now, now before we get ahead of ourselves here we must understand this was a stinky Kings squad. And it’s just one game. Nobody should start dreaming of playoffs or a .500 record or anything like that. Yet.

Yes, everything went very well. If you scripted this out, I’m not sure it would’ve gone this well. OKC started with great energy, basically burying the Kings early. The Thunder outscored Sacto 39-22 in the first and really never looked back. The closest the Kings really got was the 13 they lost by when OKC had scaled everything back. Offensively, the Thunder looked near unstoppable. Weapons everywhere, points from everywhere and crisp, clean ball movement.

Russell Westbrook looked like an absolute STAR going for 14 points on 7-12 shooting, 13 assists, seven boards and just two turnovers. If this happens all season then maybe we can start getting ahead of ourselves. The new and awesomely improved Westbrook was something else. He played with his usual fire and energy, but really harnessed it. He just sees the court and plays so much better. A perfect example among many: the bounce pass to KD for a dunk late in the second quarter. He read everything perfectly and instead of jumping and getting caught mid-air and trying to force it to Durant, he slowed down and made a smart but decisive one-handed bounce pass. That play really summed it all up for me. Westbrook is a new player. A new and much, much better player. And he was pretty good to start with. Read more…

Recap Sacramento Kings

Per a release:

The Oklahoma City Thunder have signed guard Thabo Sefolosha to a multi-year contract extension, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti. Per team policy, the terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“We are excited that we were able to reach an agreement that will keep Thabo a part of our core group moving forward,” said Presti. “Thabo represents many of the qualities that we look for in our players, great competitiveness, a team first mentality, and a strong work ethic. We believe Thabo’s best basketball is ahead of him, and his desire to remain a part of the Thunder family allowed for us to make this happen.”

I see this as excellent news. I don’t want to guess what the terms might be, but I’m sure it’s reasonable and maybe within the Bruce Bowen-ish range (his first contract was a 3-year, $11.7 million deal). They surely didn’t pay him starter money as I’m sure they intend for James Harden to be that in the future. But Thabo adds depth and a defensive mindset to the team and it’s good to get this out of the way so that it’s not an issue hanging over everyone during the season. I’m glad to see that Thabo is in the franchise’s long-term plans.

News Thabo Sefolosha

vs.

Sacramento Kings (0-0) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (0-0)

TV: Thunder TV – KSBI 52 (Cox 15, Tulsa Cox 3, HD 715)
Stream: Click Here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 7:00 CDT

View from the enemy: Cowbell Kingdom

Offensive Rating: Thunder – 102.9 (29th), Sacramento – 105.5 (25th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 109.4 (20th), Sacramento – 114.7 (30th)
Pace: Thunder – 93.6 (8th), Sacramento – 94.2 (7th)

And. Here. We. Go. (waves hand)

Basketball! Basketball! Basketbawwwwwwl!!!! We’ve waited six months for this night. We feel good about our squad and there is a good chance to start out 1-0. A less than awesome Sacto Kings team comes to town and if this Thunder team is going to improve the way we think it is, a win should happen this evening. Read more…

Preview Sacramento Kings

I spent the whole summer being incredibly excited about this season one minute and then completely terrified the next. Excited for what could be, terrified for what might not. A summer of hype and potentially unreasonable expectation has scared me a little. Well, maybe scared me a lot. I don’t want to be let down. I haven’t soured by any means on the season, but I think I need to re-excite myself. So here’s 20 reasons to be fired up about this season even if you’re so terrified about it that you’ve changed pants four times already and it’s not even lunch.

1. Kevin Durant
He’s No. 1 for a reason. He is the absolute tip-top reason you should be pumped about this year. Nobody really knows what to expect from him. Twenty-five points per game? Thirty? More than 30? I feel like George Costanza asking Jerry how much he paid for his suede jacket. I’m walking out of here right now thinking KD could average more than 35 points this season, unless you tell me different. Most that claim to know stuff have eliminated his ceiling completely. But not only can we expect to possibly see KD step into the pagoda of the NBA elite in terms of gaudy offensive statistics, but he’s worked all summer upping his defensive game. He’s motivated and that’s scary. Forget reading the other 19 things I list. This should be enough. Read more…

Commentary 2009-10 Season

Finally. Finally. Finally. We play basketball and keep score tonight. After a long summer writing about meaningless crap, getting in arguments with radio hosts and hyping and trying to de-hype, I am glad we can turn our attention to actual basketball.

The Thunder Ally pregame party is back on Reno again this year: “The motocross stunt show, “Defying Danger FMX and Globe of Thunder”, produced by BMX stunt rider and Oklahoma native Mat Hoffman, will headline the Thunder Ally festivities. Two shows are scheduled on Reno Ave. before doors open and one after the game. Entertainment also includes a concert by country musician Mark McKinney, courtesy of Budweiser, interactive games, food, a Budweiser beer garden and an autograph session with the Thunder Girls.”

Another playoff prediction for OKC: “The Oklahoma City Thunder will be the breakout team this year in the NBA. The Thunder are led by the best young, pure scorer in the NBA in Kevin Durant. Durant will win his first scoring title this season. Alongside Durant is dynamic second year player Russell Westbrook who while not quite a PG, is perfect for the up and down style the Thunder will play this season. Jeff Green is a very underrated player while the top 5 pick of James Harden will prove to be a great pick. Harden is the ultimate glue guy and will give the Thunder the solid third option behind Durant and Westbrook.” Read more…

Bolts

What is Iceland known for? Ice? Land? That whole story you heard in fifth grade about Greenland and Iceland and some sort of confusion between the two in naming them (I obviously didn’t really listen to it)?

Whatever it is, I would think basketball would be relatively low on the list. And thus, one would assume, making it somewhat odd to be a fan of the NBA in Iceland. Somewhat odd. Not completely out of this world to enjoy it.

But what’s really odd – meaning more than somewhat - is being an Oklahoma City Thunder fan in Iceland, one of the least visible teams in the league. Which brings us to Hlynur Omar Bjornsson, the self-proclaimed only Thunder fan in Iceland. Let me ask it for you: “Huh? How? Why?” So I asked him, among other things.

You know if you look real hard, it kind of looks like OKC's logo.

You are a Thunder fan in Iceland. Simply, how and why?

I‘ve always liked basketball and the NBA. As a kid I started supporting the Sonics. First, because of Shawn Kemp and his monster dunks, but eventually Gary Payton became my favorite player. I‘ve never been to Seattle, but my father used to travel there quite a bit because of his work (visiting the Boeing offices) and he really liked the city, so at least I had some connection to the city.

When the team was sold and eventually relocated to Oklahoma City, I was pretty upset and thought that if there was any time when you were allowed to actually switch your allegiances and become a fan of another team, this was it. So I tried to find a new team to follow but none stood out. I then noticed that every morning when I checked the NBA news or the box score, the team I looked up first was the Thunder. How was my old team doing? How was Kevin Durant playing? I was really excited when the Sonics drafted KD so maybe I was just keeping track of him? Read more…

Interview Iceland

Top pick Blake Griffin is out as much as six weeks with a stress fracture in his knee. How did he get this injury you ask? By getting drafted by the Clippers, that’s how. Not only is this a shame for the NBA, but out six weeks means he won’t be ready Nov. 15th for his Oklahoma homecoming. I’m so peeved. We can only hope he switches on Wolverine mode and heals this thing in four days like he did with his injuries at OU.

Mark Heisler of the LA Times picks OKC 13th in the West: “If this were a 25-and-under league, you’d really like their chances. Kevin Durant, who just turned 21, now must do the hardest thing of all: turn those stats into wins. Russell Westbrook, 20, and Thabo Sefolosha, 25, might be the game’s most athletic backcourt, with versatile Jeff Green, 23, alongside Durant. That leaves them one center and another year or two away.”

Jeff Green and Kevin Durant have been named captains. Captain KD has quite a ring to it. Captain Uncle Jeff… not so much. Read more…

Bolts