Daily Thunder.com

The Thunder just released one of the most consistantly good players
they could have ever had. I watched him play for 4 years in memphis and he was always steady and contributed the most of any point guard we have ever had. Too bad! They never gave him a chance.

Gotta believe a nickname like 2staph Shakur has been suggested at some point in his life

Maynor doesn't get much burn so its hard to tell from his numbers how well he is doing. I know that Kevin Ollie has gotten a few minutes in recent weeks are these messages to Maynor? Does anyone have a take on this?

Not sure if this has been posted, a neat feature of Staf before the 2007 draft.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cTRyNDYgpI

due to all his foreign experience, he probably is one of the more experienced players on the team, kevin ollie 3rd PG replacement for next year maybe?

@DeWayne
It is rather awesome

@nick

Cracked is on my daily reading list. Generally good stuff on there. Reminds me of the early days of SomethingAwful.

his official Thunder player page:

Mustafa Shakur

love the missing number on the jersey!

@crick

Love that video, he seems like a class act. I hope he is successful here and can stick around.

from the official Thunder website:

Meet Mustafa Shakur

fresh out of practice, cause he's out of breath!

does anyone else think he looks like he could be Desmond Mason's little brother?

@Rhett
Nice. I enjoy Cracked greatly. Funny, and oftentimes I actually learn something interesting (along the lines of James Lipton and the Thundercats. Which sounds like a ridiculous band.)

@nick

Occasionally. I was checking it out again yesterday and came across the Lipton/Thundercats.

hey, Mustafa grew up in Wynnewood!

ok, not Wynnewood, Oklahoma but Wynnewood, Pennsylvania

(who knew such a distinctly named town would appear in two different states?)

@Rhett
You read Cracked?

If he gets to play, we can all yell "Mooooo" it'll sound like Boooo. I love that.

Royce :@crick

Yep that’s me.

kewl!

looks like you were prophetic on the call up

I go to that one too. That one is always crazy busy. Penn isn't quite so busy and I can alwasy get whatever machine/cardio equipment I want.

@MastrMatt

I'm at the other Aspen, on Rockwell. I'm asking them about a rowing machine the next time I go.

Aspen in the Penn Square mall has one. If you ever go in there and see 30 yr old, 6'0 250lb dude in there busting his tail to lose some pounds, that is probably me. Come say howdy. I really think I'm the only one who uses it. They are 8-900 bucks retail.

@crick

Yep that's me.

@MastrMatt

I remember the triathlon story. I've heard there is a push to get that thing cleaned up, but I don't keep up with those sorts of things.

My gym doesn't have an ERG. I wanna try it.

@Jax

My wife rows for her company in the corporate rowing league. She loves it. We are going to get an ERG maching (rowing machine). It is a GREAT workout. My gym has one and I think I'm the only person that uses it. My wife told me how to do it properly and will make for a very nice compliment to my runningm, especially considering I'm about to be on the shelf for a bit due to a stress fracture. I'm still running 2x a week until after the memorial 1/2 marathon, then I'm done for a while. Stupid foot.

You should totally give it a shot. Rowing on the machine is cool, but my wife LOVES getting out on the water. The river is disgusting, so make sure you don't fall in. She has seen mattresses and diapers in there. Gross. Plus, they did a little triathalon thing last summer and 25 or so of the 30+ competitors got sick from going in the water. If you get on a boat, make sure you stay in it.

sheesh, didn't even notice till after I posted that Royce had posted the video. Royce, is that you interviewing Shakur?

couple of youtube videos featuring Shakur:

Mustafa Shakur interview after the D-League All-Star game

the background noise on this is really loud, but you can still hear what he says. Comes across as real down-to-earth. Funny -- they ask about a possible callup.

recap of 66ers game

some good vid of Latavious Williams cleaning up in the paint. Shakur hits the game winning trey.

crick :
btw, you know you’re a Thunder fan when you can both spell and pronounce the name Thabo Sefolosha!

co-sign.

Just bought some tickets for Thunder/Pacers this weekend in Indy on Stubhub. Any other Thunder fans going?

this is old hat, but for those who've never seen it, or would like to re-visit it, how 'bout this espn commercial from earlier this year with Kevin Durant in a cameo:

Forgot - The NBA on ESPN

whatever happened to Baby Jane???

(ok, now I'm pushing it)

whatever happened to Ryan Bowen???

@crick

@j-mo
I hear what you guys are saying, but it seems like brooks could give some of these players more minutes.

whatever happened to Malik Rose???

@Rhett
If that is true it is the greatest fact.

I learned yesterday that James Lipton of Inside the Actors Studio wrote the theme song for the Thundercats cartoon.

@Thundercat

It all has to do with strategy for the Thunder's needs. I think the fact that Anderson's second 10-day contract was up has the most to do with it and they needed another body. I think the 10-day contract costs the Thunder the same, so it could be just another body to fill the slot until the team is back to normal. I'd love to see the Thunder blow someboday out on this road trip (Indy?) so we can see Mustafa play some minutes.

Thundercat :
I wonder what mullens is thinking. He was drafted 24th and now they are calling up players from the same team he is on.

I recall reading an article about the time Mullens went to Tulsa that said he had asked Presti to go to the 66ers to get some playing time.

In any event, he is in contact with Brooks and Presti all the time. Via phone and text-ing, plus they visit Tulsa regularly. Mullens was not dumped there or left in the lurch. They really are trying to work with him and develop him. Now... it may not work out, but that wouldn't be because he doesn't have the support of the organization.

I wonder what mullens is thinking. He was drafted 24th and now they are calling up players from the same team he is on.

I imagine that with 3 point guards on the roster and talk for a while of making Weaver a super sub who could even handle spot duty as a 3rd PG option I guess there was no real reason to call up Mustafa. Must suck for Tulsa fans to have Weaver, White and Shakur one week and lose all three the next... but that's part of the league set up... other teams are losing star players regularly now due to call ups.

From another angle, I think this is a good move just so that players playing in Tulsa can see that if you play well you will get called up (even if it is only for a 10 day contract as a practice player... that often is the first step to being called up by some other team). It musta been frustrating for a player playing as well as Mustafa to find out that the team looks outside the organization for a player (granted Anderson is a different type of player playing a diff position but still). OKC has a really special situation in the NBA regarding owning its own D-League team and it being situated 100 miles away! This can only help team spirit for the 66ers and establish an even closer sense of being part of the organization.

I'd love to have our resident D-league expert come and weigh in a bit. I'm very wary of any reasonable translation of D-league game to NBA game. Considering many of the D-league all stars aren't owned by any specific team, it seriously makes you wonder why there isn't a greater number of call-ups. While I'm not convinced the majority of GMs know what they're doing, I don't see any of them purposely limiting their options.

Why would Mustafa only now get a call-up when he's been one of the best in the D-league all year? Why did it take until the beginning of March for Reggie Williams (26 ppg, 58% FG, 41% 3pt) to find a backup role somewhere? Williams, by the way, is shooting 52 and 45% for the Warriors.

Something seems fishy.

Actually, the way Maynor's looked this year I wouldn't be surprised if Shakur could challenge him. Wouldn't take much, especially if he could knock down the three.. it's not like our offense with the second unit is complicated..

Mustafa Shakur is shooting 39.8% from three point range on 113 attempts in the D-League. Which is strange because as a Junior and Senior in college he only shot 34% from three point range on the college line.

He's a tweener though.. I don't think he's big enough to get minutes consistently for us at SG especially with the kind of switching defense we play. But if he can hit the three he could be an Eddie House type, for situational shooting.

btw, just watched this video of Serge:

Thunder Fit with Serge Ibaka

nothing amazing there, but it is the first time that I've ever heard Serge speak -- at all. Ok, he only says about three words in the video, but that's three more than I had heard from him before.

@DizzyDai
will probably be 2 10 day contracts same as anderson, otherwise we would have to keep him the rest of the season.

I think this is a great move. Perhaps he can hang around longer than Anderson.

There were 4 Sultans in the Ottoman empire named Mustafa. I think 'The Sultan'...I say we go with 'The Sultan' as a nickname

btw, you know you're a Thunder fan when you can both spell and pronounce the name Thabo Sefolosha!

Michael Schwartz :
I covered Staf in college. Unless he’s changed quite a bit don’t expect him to be a shooting guard because he couldn’t shoot his way out of a paper bag back in college. Good to see the guy get a chance though. He was rated ahead of Chris Paul coming out of high school, and let’s just say that didn’t exactly happen. Never thought I’d see Staf in the League at this point.

dude, you're raining on our Mustafa parade!

:(

if you combine him with Thabo, you get 'Mustafalosha'

;)

I covered Staf in college. Unless he's changed quite a bit don't expect him to be a shooting guard because he couldn't shoot his way out of a paper bag back in college. Good to see the guy get a chance though. He was rated ahead of Chris Paul coming out of high school, and let's just say that didn't exactly happen. Never thought I'd see Staf in the League at this point.

@crick
thought that myself.

http://www.freebase.com/view/guid/9202a8c04000641f...

Not nearly as cool a Pixar character as the king daddy lion--but still a great name! Can't wait to hear Davis and Long saying it! If he can shoot the 3 at all WELCOME!! Must admit, I have my hands full without following the D-league that closely, what with researching my DT bracket picks and obsessively building my secret Thunder Santoria shrine for the playoffs....