Daily Thunder.com

@crick
I will report back. James aka "Jam Dude" is a crazy artist/musician, so this should be interesting for all.

Professor James Harden Urkel

says that

physics favors our team

therefore...

Thunder Win!!!

Cpt. C-Note :@crick

I agree! I’m taking one of the dudes I jam with to his fist NBA game EVER today! It should be fun in Loud City…can you hear me?!!
btw…On the Raptor Republic blog, the “Rap” of the day was:
“No Bosh = No Chance! I’m watching the Olympics.”

awesome!

report back after the game, let us know what the "jam dude" thought about it

justin :
Jeff Green shoots poorly from mid range.. he could be a good PnR guy maybe, rolling to the basket, but I don’t think he’d be a good option on the PnP. Krstic is much better from 15-21 feet.

I think that if Green received the same wide open jumpers that Krstic gets then he will increase his percentages and of course the availability of the pump fake and roll to the basket is what would make the offense more dynamic.

yep, just

kick back, relax

and watch your favorite team

dine on some dinosaur

:)

@crick
I agree! I'm taking one of the dudes I jam with to his fist NBA game EVER today! It should be fun in Loud City...can you hear me?!!

btw...On the Raptor Republic blog, the "Rap" of the day was:
"No Bosh = No Chance! I'm watching the Olympics."

ok folks, it's Sunday...

the sun is out

. . .

the perfect time for

Oklahoma City Thunder

. . .

basketball!

Bosh has missed a lot of games for what was called a minor ankle sprain.

@t w

I wasn't saying anything about you asshole I just knew Justin was going to have a field day with that post. and do me a favor call me an idiot if we ever meet.....

According to Raptor Republic, Chris Bosh won't be making the trip to OKC. The writer was not thrilled about it either. He also had high praises for Thunder in his article as well.

Jeff Green shoots poorly from mid range.. he could be a good PnR guy maybe, rolling to the basket, but I don't think he'd be a good option on the PnP. Krstic is much better from 15-21 feet.

Wow. You all are probably like me and can watch Durant get buckets allllll day. Didn't realize how mesmerizing that montage would be.

While I agree that Green has not displayed All Star (even with the All Star being some what of a farce), he has yet to be put in a great position for individual stats. We feel like he needs to hold back on the 3 ball, yet he is constantly catching the ball behind the line. Inexplicably, our offense seems centered around Durant, Krstic and Westbrook making incredible plays to score while Green should be the focus for the PnP and they should move it down to the free throw line (none of our guys are in the post anyways so it shouldn't be so crowded that 18-20 footers are the only option). Also, I'm not saying that his back to the basket play is exceptional or even above average but it's probably a better option than having to drive from the 3 point line constantly.

@t w
If all Jeff Green needs is to be a little more fierce then he should really talk to Harden, that man knows his way around a closet.

Jeff isn't going to be an All Star at the forward position in the West for a couple reasons.

The first reason is that, unless OKC is winning 60+ games and competing for championships every year, they aren't going to have three All Stars in the game. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook will make the team way before Jeff Green does.

The second reason is that he's not productive enough. There are tons of productive forwards in the West and Green is near the bottom of most statistical measurements. Maybe he'll explode in the next couple years and become a 20-10 guy like some people fantasize, but he's 23 and he's played over 7000 NBA minutes. His skill set is unlikely to change much. Maybe there's a small chance the stars align and he puts up a solid first half in a season where OKC dominates like Detlef Schrempf (much more productive than Green, BTW) in 1997 for the Sonics. It's just an unlikely scenario.

Your an idiot dude , Jeff Green is a summertime personal trainer away from being an all-star, How many other 3rd year forwards can pack it on your head and then step back and hit the three, make a steal and throw the ally oop pass. Green and Harden and Ibaka are the ones that are gonna determine if this team wins a ring or becomes the yearly 7th seed playoff team that loses in the first round.@morgan

@Vega

I Don't think they screwed up their future when they signed the big 3. they just had to be prepared to not let any of their contracts expire. if they had been more active at the trade deadline who knows.

say they turn Ray allen into J Rich and Barbossa, then use house and their other expiring's (about 10 mill) for a big they would be in a much better place right now.

even a ray ray + other exp's to utah for Boozer, AK and Brewer helps both teams

justin :
Jeff Green a borderline All Star? In what alternate universe is this going to happen?

I knew Justin was going to be all over that one lol....i should be a fortune teller

@andrew
The Celtics may have won a championship with the Big Three, but they totally screwed up their long-term future in the process. They'll be really bad for a long time, starting in roughly two years.

In case you didn't notice people this is Greens third year, Gerald Wallace just made the all-star game in his 8th and he's 30. Green has plenty of time, a late bloomer. Not everyone is the child prodigy. I wouldn't trade Green for many players his age at his position. Just needs to get a little stronger and fierce and he can be an all-star.

Also, this summer would sure be a lot more interesting if Nenad's contract had a team option instead of a player option...

playing around on hoopshype and just realized that Garnett is owed 21 million for the 2011/12 season.. -chuckles to self-

Sheed is also owed around 6 million that year.. I am glad not to be a Celtics fan right now..

@justin
Jeff is a borderline all star in the sense that people around the league talk about him all the time. Durant is an All-Star and people talk about Jeff and Russ being his sidekicks. Jeff certainly has faults in his game, but he gets a lot of national credit for being part of such a quick rebuilding process. He'll probably never play in an All-Star game (unless he really steps up his game), but he'll always be on the ballot and he'll get a lot of talk - especially if the Thunder make a late playoff run.

@justin
He may be a good pick up for one of our backup roster spots. I dont know if he is starting quality but that size could be really valuable and he could turn out being a good player. I bet he has been coached well in Utah!

I was watching the Utah - Portland game the other day and I'm somewhat intrigued by Kyrylo Fesenko. This guy's a behemoth, 7'1" 300 pounds, sort of like the Anti-Mullens. I believe he's an unrestricted free agent in the offseason. Seems like a guy to maybe take a flyer on. He's big, not that slow, and doesn't mind mixing it up inside.

Jeff Green a borderline All Star? In what alternate universe is this going to happen?

Looks like this is the point where the Ray Allen for Jeff Green trade starts to pay off. Green is gonna be a border line all star for the next 8 years and Allens looking almost done. Thunders future is gonna depend on how much Harden and Ibaka develop.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32345200@N06/show/

latest additions to the Thunder slide show.

Sorry.. I have a lot of down time when working. :)

well damn who could have saw that coming lol

The penalty for exceeding the cap is the inability to improve your team without giving up other assets in a trade.. you can only go over the cap to resign your own players whose Bird Rights you own.

Take the Blazers for example. They'll be over the cap next season. They can't add anyone to their team to improve the team without trading someone else. We can pretty much add whoever we want either in free agency or a trade, since we will have considerable space.

@Anonymous

Well, Bird Rights allow you to re-sign your own players.. otherwise, you cannot go over the cap to sign someone. We can't sign Chris Bosh to a $16 million deal because we don't have his Bird Rights and lack the cap space to accomodate that salary. Bird Rights are in place so that teams have an advantage re-signing their own players (they allow for higher annual raises and longer deals, also). Being at or above the cap also limits what you can do in trades.

Hmmm .... then the " real " salary cap is luxury tax threshold. That would be the case if there is no penalty for exceeding the cap.

Why the heck did they even bother with a salary cap ?

So for example, this offseason we will have $12 million in cap space.. we can use all or part of that amount to acquire a player (either in free agency or trade). Then during the year we could extend both Kevin Durant and Jeff Green for the following season when their contracts expire, going over the cap to do so.

If the Thunder don't use their cap space they have this offseason, Kevin Durant and Jeff Green's salary would eat up all of it at that point. So OKC would not be able to sign any players until the following offseason when Nenad Krstic and Nick Collison expire (they will have less cap space then, however). So it's in our best interest to put the space to use before we extend Durant and Green.

The Washington Wizards signed point guard Shaun Livingston to a 10-day contract on Friday.

"He's a guy if he can get healthy again -- he doesn't have to get 100 -- he's got unbelievable basketball instincts, high IQ and can really pass the ball," head coach Flip Saunders told The Washington Post.

Livingston played earlier in the season with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Its pretty cool he is able to play somewhere this season!

Here's the deal about Bird Rights.. all they do is allow you to exceed the salary cap to re-sign your own free agents. That's all.

Exceeding the cap does not mean you pay the luxury tax.. the luxury tax is set based on basketball related income and other projections in July for the upcoming season. This season the salary cap was set at $57.7 million. The luxury tax threshold is $69.9 million. So teams with payroll between those two figures are over the cap but not paying any luxury tax. There is no luxury tax exemption.. you go over that figure, and you're paying dollar for dollar.

Anyway, this is why it's silly to save cap space for your own free agents.. you can sign a free agent with the cap space, then exceed the salary cap to re-sign your own free agents. As shown above, there's a considerable gap between the cap and the tax threshold.

their contracts will count against the cap and they will use up their cap space. if they pick up a free agent before signing green and durant then they will be able to go over the cap to sign the players but if they sign their existing players first then they could pick up a player at the mid level exception of like $5.5 million or so....lol i'm starting to confuse myself sorry

So , the exception would just exempt the team from the luxury tax ? There would no penalty for exceeding the cap, if I understand correctly.

Then why do we hear so much about the Thunder having to use all their cap space to sign Durant and Green ?

it counts against the cap but bird rights allows you to sign your players and go into the the luxury tax. every dollar the team exceeds the cap they pay one dollars tax to the league. so if the thunder go over the cap by $10 million to sign there players they pay an extra $10 million in luxury tax.

i'm sure i left something out and Justin will correct me but thats the jist of it

I got an off topic question about Bird Rights. When the Thunder resign Durant, will his salary not count against the salary cap because of Bird Rights ?

I found this " the Larry Bird exception allows teams to exceed the salary cap to re-sign their own free agents, at an amount up to the maximum salary. "

So would that not mean that they can exceed the salary cap by the full amount of Durant's salary ? Man, this stuff is confusing.

And what about Jeff Green ? And then Westbrook ? Will none of their salary count against the cap ?

@justin

How about against New Jersey?

Grrrr....i lost game 7 of the finals. chris bosh lit my ass up. i don't like him anymore

Very good video. It gives a sense of just how impressive that streak really was. Whoever YudeProductions is, nice job on your videos. You have a lot of creative talent.

Also, the only people who say that KD has no personality are the people who aren't paying attention. I think they'll be getting smaller in number in the not too distant future.

@morgan
Man man Morgan, you're funny as hell. :-)

Boston's old and busted.. see their meltdown against Cleveland the other day?

How in the world did The Nets win @ Boston?!! I did a triple take.

@morgan
Whoa, whoa, whoa, there...let's not get rash and blame beer for anything other than being 3.2 in Oklahoma! Can the Mayor fix that next, please!?

Yeah, the new intro wasn't as good as the absurdly dramatic orchestral music one they've been using.

i really like this vid especially with the public enemy in the background

@justin
Yeah, Holly Mackenzie reported on twitter that he's not making the roadtrip.

I missed the intro....it's the damn beers fault