Tuesday Bolts – 11.10.09
John Hollinger has come out with Future Power Rankings where he basically has a formula to predict the 
heirarchy of power in the league in 2011, 2012 and 2013. The Thunder are sitting fourth (Insider): “One area in which they didn’t fare as well, however, was in the market category. Oklahoma City is the smallest NBA market and plagued by some wild weather, two factors that combine to put it well off the radar for most prospective free agents. But there’s hope: The Thunder have an excited fan base, and Oklahoma City might look like a pretty good destination if the Thunder start winning big.”
More on Jeff Green’s improvement: “At any rate, as you scan down the list at #18 in the league is Jeff Green. He has a defensive rating of 96. That means for every 100 hundred possessions he’s surrendering 96 points. If we narrow the search to only include forwards, he jumps to #10 in the league. If we limit it to just the PF spot, he jumps to #6 in the league. At any rate, the point is to illustrate how valuable Jeff Green is to the Thunder, particularly on defense.”
Etan Thomas, blogging for HoopsHype: “Why does the NBA, an almost 80 percent African-American league, constantly uses terms that reference slavery? Why are the CEO’s of the teams called owners? Why do they use the term “property” of a certain team when referring to a player’s employment? Why is the term trading block utilized? Why all the references to slavery, and why hasn’t anyone up until this point objected to this?”
OKC up to 14 in Marc Stein’s power rankings: “It’s just Stan Van Gundy venting after a loss without Rashard and Vince, but I imagine OKC folks will enjoy reading it: “The Thunder are much better than us right now. They would have [won] if we had everybody.” Yes, we do enjoy reading that.
Sitting at No. 16 in SI’s: “Kevin Durant may have lost a duel with Kobe in an OT loss to the Lakers last week, but the third-year forward continues to impress opponents around the league. “The shot quality is much better at this point,” Rockets forward Shane Battier told the Houston Chronicle. “That’s what’s going to make him an elite, elite player, to be able to score without the volume of shots. I think he can do it. When you see his progression, it’s scary.” We’ll have to take his word for it; Durant has connected on only 19.2 percent of his three-point attempts and 42.1 percent overall. But after hammering Orlando by 28 on Sunday, who’s complaining?”
No. 15 on Dime: “Imagine when Kevin Durant finds his stroke. He’s averaging 24 points a night but is only hitting 19% of his threes.”
And No. 15 on NBA.com: “Tuesday’s OT loss to the Lakers was a heartbreaker for the Thunder, but they made up for it with Sunday’s blowout of the Magic. The next two weeks will be telling, as they play seven of their next nine on the road, where they were 8-33 last season.”
HoopsWorld on OKC’s unsung hero: “So far, that dimension has helped the Thunder immensely as they seek to realize the tremendous potential they are widely believed to possess. It’s early, but the team has played well, and their 3-3 record represents a vast improvement over last season. Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Jeff Green deserve the lion’s share of the credit for their success, but Thabo Sefolosha is equally deserving. His defense is a crucial element of OKC’s defensive scheme.”
John Rhode on the Thunder’s near big week: ”Was this Brooks’ favorite Thunder win? “It’s up there,” admitted a smiling Brooks, who cited the two wins over San Antonio and his first victory as interim head coach at Memphis on Nov. 29, 2008. Amazingly, had the Thunder made one more shot in regulation in a 101-98 overtime loss against the Lakers, it would have beaten both participants in last year’s NBA Finals in back-to-back home games over a span of five days. “That would have been fun, huh?” Brooks said. “That would have been a good week.” The Thunder’s NBA Finals near-sweep also raised Durant’s eyebrows. “That would have been pretty cool,” Durant said. Westbrook said he was excited about what transpired Sunday, but not overwhelmed. “Yeah, we won,” Westbrook said. “It wasn’t like the championship or nothing like that.” Teams get to marinate in championships.
The comments on Etan’s HoopsHype article aren’t very kind. I guess I can see why more athletes hide their political leanings.
I think Etan really does believe all the things he is saying, but also trying to be a bit controversal to get some attention/reactions. Some of the things are decent points, but who really thinks of million dollar athletes slaves to rich white men who ‘own’ them? Trying not to get political here because a lot of things he says can be taken that way, so I’ll just stop here.
I think that’s actually a pretty good point he makes. I don’t think we use terms like “owener” and “trade block” as a way to be intentionally racist, but it’s hard to deny that they are strange terms to use. Why not use C.E.O.? Everyone else does, just not athletics.
I don’t think he’s necessarily calling for this to change, but he’s definitely trying to get people to at least think about it. Discuss it some. At the least, not ignore it. Which… has happened now that he’s put it out there.
Etan Thomas does know the NHL exists right… 90% caucasian, uses the same terms… because these are terms all professional sports use. Dumbest thing I’ve read in a while, good thing he’s playing well for us.
God, sometimes i hate the internet so much (present company excluded). How hard can it be for people to grasp the concept of “points of discussion”?
Is it racist to refer to “owners” and the “trading block”? No, probably not, but instead of saying “well, that’s an interesting point,” everyone freaks out “WELL IM NOT RACIST I HAVE A BLACK FRIEND.”
The point isn’t that Thomas believes everything he typed, the point is to open your mind and think a little. If you disagree for an actual reason, state it, BECAUSE THAT’S HOW A CONVERSATION WORKS.
Sorry, I just get tired of white people dismissing anything a black person says about race cause their afraid it will make them look racist to actually think for a minute. And I’m equally sick of being unable to mention politics in any form or fashion without straight party-line idiots freaking out.
As long as Etan throws elbows for the Thunder I don’t care what he writes about. Plus, he sorta has a point about the language, even if it is a bit like the billiards analogy (white ball knocking off all the colored balls… with the black ball last).
If you go looking for something to be mad about, you will probably find it. But that’s okay, I get it.
@Lefty
I thought owners were called owners because they, well, own the teams. If i’m not mistaken ceos usually run publicly traded companies.
We’re not going to talk about Etan Thomas all day are we?
What about Green’s D rating, or the fact that they called Thabo “unsung?” (beg to differ)
Or what about the future power rankings? 4? Really? Heck yes!!
btw, this hasn’t really been an ignored subject. I remember a couple years ago some guy wrote a book about this (million dollar slaves I think) that was widely lambasted as asinine and ridiculous.
SEX…. okay not really. But come on people, I work in politics all day and come here to get a break from it. This sucks.
@chris Exactly! and if its not publicly traded then they are small business owners. Maybe I dont get it, but what does the “trading block” refer to?
Etan Thomas should be cut for his dumbass use of the race card.
So I’m back from my visit to OKC!
Unexpected blowout was pretty awesome, and my wife and I went to Mickey Mantle’s after the game and saw half the team there! Durant, Westbrook, Green and Harden were all there in the bar, sitting in the corner, drinking what looked like shirley temple’s, haha. Durant had a pink drink, no joke. I congratulated Harden on his sweet pass through Gortat’s legs, but he wasn’t very receptive so I left it at that.
Overall, it was a really nice trip to OKC. We stayed at the Sheraton, thanks to Priceline, though the Colcord would have been our preferred had it not cost so much. Bricktown was cool, we ate at Toby Keith’s and saw a lot of teenagers making out in dark corners around the river, haha. Even went to the Banjo Museum. OKC is a cool town, though… getting kicked out of Mickey Mantle’s at 10:30 was a little lame and Bricktown could have been called Ghosttown after about 9:30 on Sunday night. So… some of OKC’s rep as a sleepy town is definitely deserved.
We were generally impressed, though.
@Anonymous My bad, didnt mean to be Anonymous
@spike
Very cool. Glad you had a good time.
So there were players, under 21, sitting at the bar!?!?! OHHHH!!!!
Mickey Mantle’s is spiffy. Very upper class.
@Bryan
I think Thabo is definitely unsung. What’s more unsung than a defensive-minded player at a scoring position on a team that won 23-games a year ago in the smallest market in the league?
Especially considering the franchise’s own disposition toward not promoting individuals and the fact that he’s not american and had no chance to build his name up through the college ranks.
WHAT IM SAYING IS VIVA LA THABO. o
Fair enough.
I was just saying, don’t dismiss what he’s saying just because he feels differently than you. He obviously feels strongly about this, and if so, we should let him say his piece.
I like Etan, and it’s definitely not the “dumbest thing I’ve read in a while”. Far from it. But, OK. I’ll concede the owner thing. At least from a purely semantic point of view.
And yeah, Jeff Green is awesome, right?
@dylan
Okay… unsung outside of those who know squat about basketball and the Thunder…lol. I think he deserves nice praise among those who follow the team.
I would actually say that green is more unsung… esp here at home
I think next weeks power rankings we could crack the top 10, no reason why we cant go 3-1 or 4-0 this week.
I think what Etan said makes sense. I also am not going to try and persecute him for saying things that are on his mind. It’s not the end of the world it’s not like he’s trying to revolt against the NBA he’s just blogging, cool out people.
@Royce
Yeah, we dropped way too much money there, hah. Westbrook didn’t actually make it inside the bar, I think he was in the restaurant, and Harden was within like 3 feet of the door at all times, sitting on a couch right there. It was funny, because they do kind of act like kids, haha…
But what was written was illogical making it pretty hard to have a good discussion about. I see you’re point, but if you are trying to start a discussion about race, it’s worth while to have a valid point when you do so. So yes, I do disagree with his point, because every North American sport DESPITE of race uses those terms to describe CEO’s, trades, ect.
Anywho, how about Jeff Green’s D?
Look, nobody is persecuting Etan or saying he shouldn’t voice his opinions. When you write a post in a public forum you are inviting criticism. That’s why they have these here message boards.
I kinda regret jumping into this topic tho. Fact is, most of Etan’s posts are just provocative and without substance and don’t deserve any serious rebuttal.
Besides, this is just distracting us all from the REAL exploitation in pro sports, the MLB FARM SYSTEM! which is CLEARLY based on the southern plantation model. Think about it folks, just think about it.
When they say OKC is the smallest market does that just include the OKC metro area or all of Oklahoma? I remember hearing that the we have season ticket holders from every county in the state and a bunch from Tulsa. It’s hard for me to believe we have fewer potential fans than, say, Sacramento, which I imagine probably competes with G State and LA for fans.
When they “market” a lot of it has to do with television market size. OKC has one of the smallest TV markets because most areas outside of the state get their TV from the Dallas, KC and Chicago markets. The Dallas and Chicago TV markets extend pretty far and include a lot of additional cities, even some in Oklahoma. The Chicago market extends into most of the Midwest, as does St. Louis.
sorry…. when the SAY “market…..”
Like most teams in california sacramento is bigger than the moon when they win; forgotten about when they lose.
Gosh, funny. I love that 1 of Etan’s 12 questions was about racism, but that’s the only one anyone talks about. Moreover, they are all asked as questions. Besides his obvious support of Obama, nothing else was explicitly stated as his firm belief. He was asking questions to make you think, nothing more. If someone thinking turns into an internal conflict over race (again, only one of the twelve), perhaps that person should ponder more about themselves than Etan.
But anyway, I loved the Green defensive rating thing. While I’m not sure his play in person looks as good as his numbers, it can’t be denied that he’s playing much more like a stretch PF than an out of position SF. Huge difference, and should not be understated. That said, maybe Toronto would take a straight Green for Bosh trade now (couldn’t help myself).
OKC is a small market, yes, and a good deal of that has to do with the media side still growing for the Thunder. Though, even with that we weren’t ranked last by Hollinger (future power rankings rated us 23rd). There is more to your market than the number of “local viewers.” Winning, star players, great management, financial support: it all matters. And it’s not so terrible a thing to start near the bottom. It’s the second year in OKC. You can’t count the Hornets years because OKC knew it wasn’t keeping the team and wasn’t attempting to really ingrain the product in the area. In time, it will all sort itself out. We will never be New York or LA, but we could easily be San Antonio or Dallas.
Smart thoughts?? Well said my friend.
the thing with market size is it is easy to make it say whatever you want, small with just oklahoma city limits, not even metro and we are tiny, or you can do where we draw fans from and its the entire state, plus kansas, missouri and arkansas
@Lefty
C.E.Os do not own their companies. Owners usually own at least 51%. If trading block is a slavery term, I am all for cutting it loose.
Sorry, commented before reading all the responses, a little late to dinner.
I think I have market envy.
This is something that need be said I look at this blog every day.I ignore most dumb things that are said about race. First I’m federal law enforcement officer and a 10 year military Vet and a black man. My grandfather’s grandfather was a slave in North Carolina. In America we
have the freedom of speech you can basically say what you want to say
as long as you are willing to except the back lash. Those word may mean something different to me than to you and that’s okay.Because Me and others risk our life everyday so you can say what you want to say smart or dumb.
Lastly if you want to guarantee that our guys will not sign back with us
and I do mean us because I read your comments everyday so I feel like family.Back to what I was saying, forget the small market ,the weather
If Okc get the rep as a bunch of rednecks with close minds you can forget It game over. Like I said you can say what you want to say as long as you can take what comes next. Remember Durant respects Etan a lot more than us.
WE DO NOT HAVE TO AGREE WITH EACH OTHER BUT WE DO HAVE TO GIVE RESPECT!!!!! Peace!!!
@Big G
Thanks for reading and the comment.
But I’m not too sure I’ve seen any comments, especially dumb ones, about race in the past. Forgive me if there have been, but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t let something like that slip by.
@Big G
…
When you post something like this I think it would be wise if you quoted what “disrespectful” post you are responding too. Because I’ve read up and down this entire thread and haven’t found what you’re talking about.
Seems more like you’re saying that we can’t disagree with any celebrity who happens to be temporarily calling OKC home for fear of them leaving. I guess that makes sense since musicians, actors, and athletes are the best option for us to take our moral authority from concerning politics, race, and religion.
First
First of all your post speaks to what I am trying to say. It was not just this post. It was other post like the hair post.I personally am not that up tight about most of those thing.But it was not just the post there self but the tone that came from them.When I was speaking for dumb thing I was speaking about a minority of statements.But what I was trying to say is it does not take a majority of statement to get that rep I was talking about.I do not think the statements racist just dumb and that’s my opinion ,you told me your opinion,the article was Etans opinion and that’s okay.That’s all I have to say about that.In Forest Gump voice
ARE YOU READY FOR BASKETBALL!!!!!!!!!!!
WE DO NOT HAVE TO AGREE WITH EACH OTHER BUT WE DO HAVE TO GIVE RESPECT!!!!! Peace!!!
@Big G
Tone is impossible to tell when it comes to blogs and written opinions that aren’t told as stories. Any perceived “tone” is likely ones own hidden over-sensitivity/bias towards a particular subject; unless a statement is blatantly ill-willed or condescending.
@Big G
Any “tone” you perceived from this thread or the hair thing is what you read into it and not what was actually there.
@dylan
There is no harm in challenging the rhetoric we use as a society. Some words and phrases from our past have managed to flow into our mainstream consciousness without check. The phrase “Trading Block” may sound harmless to a white person whose ancestors were not traded publicly but it is a painful phrase to those who have. Etan is simply bringing attention to the phrase. Why get so bent out of shape?
Am I the only one who sees 4 and is sad? Here I thought we’d be considered number 1! I guess after we extend our guys and win more, cats will want to play here and then all will be mute as far as “market” (whatever that means!!!) is concerned. In the days where we can have Obama girl come outta nowhere or the Numa Numa guy or Chocolate Rain, and these people become integral to pop culture from obscurity, it is unfathamable to me that a star player cannot “market” himself from anywhere!
Slaves were humans who were reduced to commodities. They were part of the economic system, and as such were referred to using economic language. Terms like “owner” and “trading block” did not originate with slavery and do not refer to slavery, and it’s either myopic or ignorant to insist that they do.
While OKC certainly has its share of racist rednecks, I honestly don’t think we are significantly ahead or behind the national curve on that score. My only real concern about Etan’s observations about “owners” and “trading blocks” in the NBA (which I think read too much into the topic, but are entirely his right expound upon)is that some loud mouthed moron with a microphone (Yes Trabes, I’m talking about you) will take up the issue and make the whole state look like the sort of morons that would keep electing Jim Inhoffe to the U.S. Senate. OK, maybe that was a bad example.
I’m a moron, eh? Thanks Steve.
There are a lot of phrases that are probably not PC if we follow their histories such as “gettin’ gyped”. What matters is what they mean to the people in the present.
@Wmar
Dylan was vehemently opposed to those commentators that rebuked Etan for simply posing a question to an audience so I’m not sure why you directed that comment to dylan.
@Steve H
Now, I don’t if this means anything to you, but OKC is just north of the area that is generally denoted as southern, dialectally speaking (har har). IMO, OKC and Tulsa are just as progressive as the the rest of the Midwest when it comes to race relations (which is a great deal better than the South). This is not represented in our politics but only a fool would try to divide races based on political alignment.
@Floppy Punch!
I’m not sure where to begin with this one. I’ll put numbers in fron of ‘em so it looks more organized.
1) This is a basketball, not a political site, and side-tracking into that morass is a really bad idea (and yet, I went there anyway).
2) I have consistantly enjoyed the comments of he (or she) who goes by the handle of “Floppu Punch!”, and cannot reconcile in my own mind such insightful, often humorous commentary with a sub-par intelligence.
3) I have any number of kind, intelligent, conservative republican friends with whom I vehemently disagree on any number of political issues.
4) Jim Inhoffe is a bonafide moron, and I am genuinely embarassed when his name comes up in national broadcasts, because it is invariably linked to some comment that he has made that should make anyone paying attention in their 8th grade science class cringe and roll their eyes.
Not an apology exactly, but sincerely the best I have to offer.
@Steve H
I’m not actually offended. I can take a punch and throw a few. I just don’t want to fight that fight here. I was just letting you know where that elbow landed, so maybe you wouldn’t swing quite so wide next time.
Note to self: don’t post political crap ever again.
@Floppy Punch!
Message recieved