Friday Bolts – 10.9.09
Basketball Prospectus’s season preview book is out and… I honestly don’t have words to describe it. It’s essential for 
any NBA fan. (And it’s got a small contribution from yours truly, so that part is obviously a must-read.) We’re lucky because you can actually preview the Thunder’s player comments.
The Thunder has partnered with Race for the Cure. Per a press release: “The Oklahoma City Thunder will have a significant presence in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure this Saturday in Bricktown. The 2009 NBA Mascot of the Year, Rumble the Bison, and members of the Thunder Girls will participate in the opening ceremonies of the race at Bricktown Ballpark., scheduled to begin at 8:15 a.m. More than 11,000 people have registered for the race, and 40 of those have Thunder ties. Front office staff from both the business and basketball departments will be participating, as well as family members of players and coaches.”
Kevin Durant on the replacement refs: “They did their best,” Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant said. “I think they tried to make every call. They talked to us and made us feel like we had some input and weren’t scared to talk to us. I think they did a good job and called some good calls. But nobody’s perfect.”
Ziller, while looking at Eric Gordon, had this to say about Russell Westbrook: “Russell Westbrook had the distinction of being rather inefficient while taking up a bunch of possessions; call it the “Modern McGrady” role (though Westbrook is an insane defender).”
Nenad Krstic is trying to get back to form: ”Richard Jefferson considered him the NBA’s best big-man shooter not named Dirk Nowitzki. After facing him in a playoff series, Pat Riley said, “If he gets much better, he’s going to be one of the better players in this league.” And Jason Kidd called him the best big man he had ever played with. In 2006, that was the trajectory of Nenad Krstic’s career. But a serious knee injury three days before Christmas altered his future, a major reason the 7-foot center from Serbia is now on the Thunder’s roster.”
A leathery Tim Leglar and Mike Yam take a look at the Thunder’s upcoming season:
The Thunder’s hired TWO people to handle sideline reporting duties this year. Veteran sportscaster Tom Werme will work 17 Wednesday night games, home and away, on KSBI-52, Thunder TV. Former OU basketball player Elissa Walker Campbell will work about 25 home games for Fox Sports Oklahoma. Also, Morning Animal Mike Steely will now host Air Thunder.
The film SonicsGate premiers tonight in Seattle. Our favorite columnist Steve Kelley previews it: ”But beginning tonight and Saturday night, Seattle will have that opportunity. Before they release their documentary “Sonicsgate” free on the Internet, the people behind the movie are offering two public screenings. Tonight’s sold-out show will be screened at SIFF Cinema. The movie will be shown again Saturday night at Pacific Place. Some tickets still remain for Saturday. Both screenings begin at 8 p.m. This is the chance we’ve needed to discuss what happened and what went wrong in the final whirlwind season of 2007-08.”
Rumble and the Thunder Caravan will be at Pauls Valley’s Toy and Action Figure Museum Saturday celebrating the release of Where the Wild Things Are.
19.
At least Seattle can sell out something…
@cwilson
Zing.
“SIFF Cinema also serves as the Seattle International Film Festival’s flagship venue, and has a capacity of 400.”
Can anyone point me to a legend or explanation of the basketball prospectus terms. Some of it was obvious/familiar, but I had no idea what INS, IMP, BRK, or COP mean.
I thought this basketball prospectus was supposed to be a very knowledgeable source for info… But in reading the player comments preview, when did I miss that guys like Ryan Bowen, Michael Ruffin, and ROBERT SWIFT were going to be part of the Thunder this year?
@Kyle
Be sure to read the comments. They acknowledge they aren’t part of the team, but since they are NBA players caught in limbo, they just place them under the last team they were associated with.
Hopefully Thunder fans can sell out the league’s second smallest arena this year.
Easy now people.
I guarantee that New Orleans will ship Hilton Armstrong off to Sacramento or OKC. Put it in the Smart Thoughts or something so that it will officially be on the record.
Where is Malic Rose at now?
@Vega
I’m hoping they ship Okafor here…
I can’t wait to see SonicsGate. I’m sure it will be as fair and impartial as any Michael Moore or Fox News documentary.
@Clark Matthews
I’m really looking forward to it as well. It’ll likely be one of those thing where you’re pissed off the whole time, but I want to see it regardless.
I only allow myself a certain amount of drama every day. Today, it’s between Sonicsgate and the Nobel Prize fallout.
Tough decision.
Looking at Westbrook’s assessment made me very happy. And, comparing his stats to Green’s rookie year put things in perspective for me. Maybe he doesn’t make the jumps that Green and Durant made in their second years but an across the board improvement would make him a very very good pg.
Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus is a genius, and you are right Royce, Tim Legler is leathery……what gives?
I guess his one marketable skill three point shooting netted him lots of tropical vacations in the off season.
This may help Josh: http://www.basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=518