Per Press Release:
OKLAHOMA CITY, November 25, 2009 – Oklahoma City Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced today that the team has waived forward Ryan Bowen. Bowen appeared in one game for the Thunder scoring four points to go along with two rebounds and one steal in eight minutes of action against the Los Angeles Lakers on November 22nd. The Thunder roster now stands at 14.
MESSAGE BOARD!!!
Vega :@James
I agree with you there. We need a message board.
Thirded.
@Kev
Remember that the issue is whether we should sign/are signing a new pointguard to play back-up minutes behind Russell while Ollie, Livingston and possibly Weaver nurse short term injuries. No, going forward for years to come, we should not play Harden much at the pg position. But we already have a crapload of guys who can play the point on the roster, and I was positing that adding a new guy at such an already loaded position seems goofy when we have Harden who seems perfectly capable of bringing the ball down court if we need to sit Russell for a couple of minutes, over the next couple of games.
I now see the 10 day thing was covered earlier but perhaps the other stuff is worth something.
Blake the minimum contract would be 1 year, can't sign 10 day contracts yet, but it doesn't have to be guaranteed (or at least fully guaranteed) so if it wasn't the guy gets paid per game til they cut him or just up to the guarantee.
Bowen might have reached his guarantee (or not).
I guess Presti was continuing his high level pattern of bringing in guys to be "influences".
@f5alcon
Dont forget that the Heat can add one more max deal even if they keep Wade, the Nets can do 2 max deals too. The Bulls will have some money also.
@Vega
There are only 3 or 4 teams that can offer max contract to those big name players, unless they all stay with their current teams, they at least have to give us a look, and out of the teams that can afford them we have the best future, the knicks are horrible,Detroit has fallen off, memphis tries to keep payroll down,none of those teams would be title contenders with a top tier FA, us getting a wade or lebron and we are title contenders. As for being a small market, its not that big of handicap, not every player cares about the big market, the ones with families probably prefer the smaller ones. Some of those players already are from small markets. If we pay them and have a chance at winning a title they will consider us.
A lot of the media complains about oklahomas weather, but really we are a fairly warm climate, our average highs are still in the 60s in nov, and we have 200+ days of sun. I am from NY the weather there is 5 months of cold and cloudy from oct-mar. When ESPN comes friday the high is 68 degrees. I wouldnt be surprised if they say something during the broadcast about it.
Isn't Byron Eaton playing in Tulsa. I say pick him up for a min. contract, and then when he is done filling in he goes back to Tulsa.
Could somebody tell me what the minimum lenght of a contract we can sign somebody to is?? If it was a year do you think Presti would look overseas. Whoever it is they will be at Tulsa for most of the year. Of course unless there was a trade.
One last Brendan Haywood note, he was ranked as the second most underrated center (behind Marc Gasol) by John Hollinger:
"Haywood is the type of no-frills player who's easy to overlook, especially on a Wizards team with so many scorers. However, he's been a quietly productive center for several years now and it's no accident that the Wiz slid down the tubes last season when he missed nearly the entire season with a wrist injury.
Haywood has limited range but scores surprisingly often (15.2 points per 40 minutes in 2007-08), using the occasional dribble drive. Meanwhile, his size makes him a force at the defensive end despite a lack of highlight-reel blocked shots."
Kev :
Steve H :@Kev He wouldn’t have to guard the other PG- Thabo does that quite nicely. Just ask D Williams.
Thabo can’t guard ALL point guards - and he already has a job, guarding the great twos of the league - Wes Mathews was a non factor, so he switched over with no problem - besides that, Thabo usually rests when Harden comes in . . .
Plus Harden usually comes in for Thabo (or is in mostly when Thabo is out). Harden can D up most PG's. He can just do what Westbrook does and switch under every time there's a pick. How hard is it to do that?
@justin
My lack of knowledge on the Wizards really showed there. Still, he is thirty years old, not exactly a spring chicken, and I have a feeling that Presti would rather have someone younger for the long-term.
I'm sorry for the ignorance on the subject of Brendan Haywood. I just looked at his career stats and saw a bunch of mediocre years, and then one career year. That seemed to indicate Sam Dalembert Syndrome, but it seems that I was wrong. My most sincere apologies.
Steve H :@Kev He wouldn’t have to guard the other PG- Thabo does that quite nicely. Just ask D Williams.
Thabo can't guard ALL point guards - and he already has a job, guarding the great twos of the league - Wes Mathews was a non factor, so he switched over with no problem - besides that, Thabo usually rests when Harden comes in . . .
Will Conroy would be a very good PU at PG.
Not sure what you're talking about, Brendan Haywood's been the starter in Washington since he was drafted practically. Eddie Jordan ruined his career with strange rotations, limiting Haywood to ~25 minutes a game or less. Eddie Jordan leaves and now with the minutes Haywood is producing more #'s obviously. Aside from the injury concerns, he's been pretty consistent over a long period, unlike a guy like Sam Dalembert who really did have one freak season.
I would love to see Antonio Daniels back for a reasonable price, but as someone noted, he would just be stopgap unless we plan on cutting loose with Livingston and or Ollie.
wit h6:00 mins left camby already has 20 rebs, thats the kind of guy the thunder need to pick up.
@justin
No, I wasn't being sarcastic, although what I said is probably incorrect, as you said. I am simply hesitant about a thirty year-old center who had one career year and got a starting job because of it, and also happens to be coming back from a knee injury. He seems to be an illusion to me, kind of like Sam Dalembert, although I don't watch many Wizards games, so I could very easily be wrong.
why would Presti waive Bowen right now the day before thanksgiving? Either he has a sign/trade in the works or Bowen pissed someone off.
@Kev
He wouldn't have to guard the other PG- Thabo does that quite nicely. Just ask D Williams.
@Vega
LOL Etan Thomas can't hold Brendan Haywood's jock strap. Haywood's an automatic double double with a couple blocks when he gets the minutes, he's only 30 without a lot of minutes on the odometer.
I'm bad at detecting the dry wit sarcasm of this place at times, so I'm hoping it's another case of flying over the top of my head on this one. Haywood is 10x the player Etan Thomas is.
@James
I agree with you there. We need a message board.
@f5alcon
There is no way that Bosh, Boozer, Yao, LeBron, D-Wade, or Dirk would ever come here. Even thinking about them coming here is a waste. You may rather have a big name free agent, but they would rather have New York, Miami, or Chicago.
I've seen lots of people say that we could draft a big. Great. What bigs that could immediately contribute on the NBA level will be available in the late lotto or early non-lotto? Solomon Alabi? Jerome Jordan? DeMarcus Cousins? All of those guys are projects. We might as well stick with Mullens if all that is available when we pick is projects. What we need is a more established center who is young enough to be considered a core piece, unlike Jermaine O'Neal, Z, or Camby. (I'm not even considering Pryzbilla. Portland will almost certainly keep him.) Gortat fits that quite well, and while I'm not totally sold on him, he would be way better than one of the guys available in the draft, and when you consider that we probably wouldn't have to give up anything but Collison and someone like Livingston, Vaden, or DeVon Hardin, Gortat becomes even more appealing.
@dylan
DeAndre is the heir to Camby. No way LAC gives him up, although I would like to have him.
Is there an actual topical message board on this site? The dialogue is great. The best of anything Thunder I have seen, but if you want to discuss something on your mind and have it seen, you have to bring it up under whatever article is on top at the time which changes the topic numerous times under each article. Plus when the next article is written, even if the topic is a good one, it falls off the front page. Would be nice to have the option of both discussing the articles and discussing a topic that may not be relevant to the article, and that doesn't fall off the page when the next article is written.
DEANDRE JORDAN
@justin
We've already got a Brendan Haywood. His name is Etan Thomas.
@justin
Hey now, you had people agree with you. :)
I will continue my campaign for Brendan Haywood even if nobody agrees with me!
Harden guarded pg's early in the year several times effectively when coach Brooks thought he was overwhelmed guarding 2's (Kevin Martin and Kobe). He can hold his own against most pg's in the league
Vega :
And another thing. Everyone talks about the big free agent class of next year. I’ve looked through the list of upcoming FAs, and I can’t find any that I would really love to sign. People toss around names like Boozer and Bosh, but neither are very realistic. Other than possibly a few bench players, there aren’t any that require loads of cap space to sign that would fit in OKC. Personally, I think that Presti is hoarding cap-space to make a big trade for a Biedrins or a Gortat, and because he wants as much room as possible to re-sign Durant, Green, and Westbrook. I am not expecting a big free agent signing, in fact, I would be very surprised if one happened.
We can resign our own players over the cap, we have to use or lose that cap space on a FA or trade,we cant save it for later. biedrins is hurt and has an injury history and gortat is unproven. We can always draft our need at center. Id rather have a big name FA or 2 middle tier ones, even if it is at a position we are decent at or doesnt fir perfectly we can always trade them away.
Some of our desirability for FAs will depend on how we do this year, if we make the playoffs they could see us as a possible contender and want to sign here. Any big name scorer will like it because they wont get double teamed with durant on the floor. If we pitched it right lebron and wade and Yao would have to give us a look, any one of them+durant would be an unstoppable offense, we couldnt pass a chance at them, if they pass on us, then the 2nd tier would open ,nowitzski,bosh,boozer, which none of them fit but are all star level players that would give us a big man scoring option.
Really what id like to see is 2 lower tier players
Marcus camby, joel przybilla,jermaine oneal, Zydrunas Ilgauskas as a pickup at C and mike miller, kyle korver, raja bell, as a 3 pt gunner
So since the 10 day signing period hasnt started yet does that mean we can only sign someone to a year minimum?
A lot of people are assuming that Harden can play point . . .
offensively - no question - but I think he is not quick enough to guard points - hence the Bowen waiving . . . agree with others that some D-league guy will soon be in the fold . . .
@justin
Daniels wants consistent playing time, something he will definitely not get here when Ollie, Livingston, and Weaver are healthy.
I'd really like to see Antonio Daniels back.
@Taz
Sorry for the repeat. Your comment wasn't up when I refreshed before adding mine.
I think we're looking at a short-term PG signing. Yes, Harden could run the point - and I wouldn't mind seeing it for a bit - and you can swing KD to the 2 and Jeff to the 3, but the Thunder Seem to really be focused on ESPN being here Friday night. If you have too many people playing positions they're not used to playing regularly, it's a recipe for trouble.
justin :
Too bad AI retired
I'm not thinking AI is a Presti type of guy ;)
@justin
Haha. Good riddance.
Can't sign 10-day contracts until Jan. 5 according to Darnell Mayberry's blog post
Too bad AI retired :)
Jax Raging Bile Duct :
I expect a 10 day contract on a random guy. D League player most likely.
From what Mayberry is saying, according to the collective bargaining agreement, 10-day contracts can't happen till Jan 5th.
And another thing. Everyone talks about the big free agent class of next year. I've looked through the list of upcoming FAs, and I can't find any that I would really love to sign. People toss around names like Boozer and Bosh, but neither are very realistic. Other than possibly a few bench players, there aren't any that require loads of cap space to sign that would fit in OKC. Personally, I think that Presti is hoarding cap-space to make a big trade for a Biedrins or a Gortat, and because he wants as much room as possible to re-sign Durant, Green, and Westbrook. I am not expecting a big free agent signing, in fact, I would be very surprised if one happened.
@Keith
If those teams wanted to move some players, it's much more likely to happen later in the year when more teams know where they are. It's tough to gauge accurate value only 12-15 games into the season.
Still, even then it's unlikely Sam Presti will make a major move this season. Smaller trades like the Thabo trade or perhaps a trade involving Nick Collison to free up salary next season are most likely. With all the cap space + the free agent class upcoming, it's probably safer to just wait to make any big acquisitions.
@Keith
New Orleans has been playing well, and the rumors of the team being blown up were greatly exaggerated to begin with. They won't be trading anyone anytime soon.
Washington doesn't have anyone we would want, except for JaVale McGee, who is going to be a major part of their future moving forward. Unless they can find takers for Gilbert, Butler, and Jamison, they probably won't do anything.
Minnesota is actually in great position. Unless they want to trade Al Jefferson, they don't have anyone to trade.
David Lee has a mere one year deal, and I don't think it would be worth it to take Jared Jeffries without signing Lee to an extension prior to him becoming a free agent, something that probably won't happen.
No freaking way that Philly trades Speights. He's the future of that team. No way.
Normally, I wouldn't ever say that a talented young team would trade a rising young center who is a sleeper All-Star candidate. But the Grizzlies are no ordinary team. If we take Jaric, they might do it, although Jaric and Z-Bo both come off the books right when Gasol will need a big extension, so they will have money available when they need to re-sign him, but who knows.
okafor not on the block
"First it was reported that center Emeka Okafor was on the block and then another report came that pretty much the whole team was on the block except for Chris Paul(notes). Neither story was apparently true, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
Team execs tell the paper that nobody on the team is getting moved right now. When the February trading deadline comes, things could be a lot different but the team apparently wants to stick with this group for a little bit and see what it can do."
@Steve H
Gortat isn't eligible to be traded until December 15th.
@justin
Then again, it's about this point that teams are figuring out where they stand (and whether or not their team is worth the money). Also, though it wouldn't be immediate, the Dec 15th date when last summer's free agents can be traded is quickly approaching.
Looking at the standings, there are several teams that are either known for being cheap, paying too much for a bad team, or just looking to unload players.
Memphis (always cheap, have Gasol)
Washington (paying waaaay too much for a team that wasn't even good before Arenas was hurt)
New Orleans (not even close to the team they thought they were, have Okafor and CP3)
Minnesota (need to commit to rebuilding, have Sessions)
New York (will do just about anything to shed salary, have David Lee)
Philadelphia (locked into two horrible frontcourt contracts, could give up Speights to drop one)
I expect a 10 day contract on a random guy. D League player most likely.
Just found the answer to my question. Yes the offense and D are the same.
@Vega
That actually would make sense. Somebody ridiculously cheap with a pulse that could be counted on to bring the ball past half-court without turning it over just in case either Russell or James gets knocked out of action. Hope you are wrong and Presti has Biedrins-or Okafor- or Gortat lined up to join the roster in a blockbuster trade, but My money is now on D-League filler.
Sometimes blog administrators don't like message boards or perhaps it is not ESPN affiliate standard or approved. If you don't get a reply and a number of folks still really want a message board maybe someone sets one up (often they can be free) or folks agree on which existing one to "use".
Running a blog with comments and a message board has more flexibility but from past experience at a Sonics site if one dominates the other may suffer to the point that it is really one option that the vast majority use. I am not a major partisan but if the message board were around I might use it when if I wanted to go off the main topics or edit or add info later.
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