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From a press release:

LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers, the 2009-10 Most Valuable Player presented by Kia Motors, and Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic, the 2009-10 NBA Defensive Player of the Year presented by Kia Motors, were unanimous selections to the 2009-10 All-NBA First Team, the NBA announced today. Joining James and Howard on the First Team are Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat.

[...]

Durant earns his first All-NBA First Team selection after becoming the youngest player (21 years and 197 days) to lead the league in scoring (30.1 ppg). His 756 free throws made was the sixth highest single-season total in NBA history and the highest since Michael Jordan made 833 in the 1986-87 season, while his .900 percentage from the line ranked sixth overall. Durant earned NBA Western Conference Player of the Month honors in April after scoring 30-plus points in seven consecutive games to close the regular season.

Very excellent for KD. Being named first team All-NBA is a HUGE honor. And one you’d expect for the league’s scoring champ, but probably not one you’d expect from a 21-year-old in his third year. Great things are a-coming. For shame though that no other Thunder player even got one vote. I figured Russell Westbrook would grab a handful. Oh well.

News Kevin Durant

The season is over and the team has left town.  Most of the guys have returned to their hometowns to get some quick quality time with their families before spending the Summer doing the plethora of events young, rich young men get involved doing. 

For some (Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Russell Westbrook) that will include playing basketball for the United States.  A couple (Nenad Krstic and Thabo Sefolosha) others will likely be playing for other countries.  The Thunder’s young  bench warmers (Mustafa Shakur, D.J. White, B.J. Mullens, Kyle Weaver, James Harden, and Serge Ibaka) are likely going to be playing in the summer leagues with the new draft picks.

What is the common thread?  They will all be working to improve so that next season they can try to take the next step toward making Oklahoma City a basketball dynasty.  So, expect several articles over the off season from me with opinions on how the individual players can make their games better.

Today I start with Nick Collison, who to be honest, is pretty much as polished as he’s going to become.  We know exactly what Nick is going to bring to the table night in and night out.  He will play scrappy defense, grab some rebounds, and most importantly, sacrifice his body to draw charges.  For me to make any suggestions about Nick needing to get stronger or make efforts to extend his shooting range is unrealistic.  He’s going to be 29 years old next season.  He is what he is.

That doesn’t mean Nick can’t get better.  Step one (also the final step):  Collison needs to follow through on his collossally great ideas.

This isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned this, and it won’t be the last, but just before training camp last year, Collison tweeted:

If i had a handlebar moustache then cut off the top leaving the sides and called the look the “absolute value stache” would it be cool?

Did he really need to ask?  Do it man!  That would be the douchiest facial hair in professional basketball, better than anything Adam Morrison would do even, so therefore it is of great importance that he make it happen.

Of course, what he described only worked because he was short on time before the season tipped off.  With a whole summer to work on his mustache, the sky is the limit.  So, after the jump, I have some inspiration for Nick to take with him as he relaxes with the fam in Seattle.

Read more…

Commentary

It’s been kind of a hectic morning for me, so I hope you can give me grace. Here’s an extremely abbreviated set of Bolts. Talk amonst yourself.

Kelly Dwyer dominates this season wrap-up column on the Thunder: ”Because this Thunder team is something special. Because, I’m sorry, it’s just not that good, but it plays so great. Jeff Green? This should be a seventh man on a 50-win team. And yet, save for the playoffs, he works. Nick Collison? He’s your highest-paid player entering the summer, he’s only played since 2004-05 and yet postseason announcers were acting as if he’d jumped tip during the Clinton administration. Serge Ibaka’s our hero and yet at best he’s the dirty work power forward alongside a great scoring center. Russell Westbrook has as many 4-11 games as he does Scottie Pippen-games, Harden’s an acquired taste, and Thabo Sefolosha can’t score on you. That’s right, you. And yet, they won. Over and over again. This team screams of championship potential, but individually it tops out at something far, far nastier. Read more…

Bolts

Nice to see Thabo get the credit he earned all season. He made the second team with 14 points (lowest total on the second team) and received three first team and eight second team votes.

Also receiving votes was Russell Westbrook, who got three second team votes, Kevin Durant who received one second team vote and Serge Ibaka who got one second team vote. Kind of cool. Until you see that Earl Watson also got one second team vote. Kind of taints it, you know?

News Thabo Sefolosha

Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images

This was Year 2 of the Thunder experience and I think we’d all agree this season went pretty well. But this is still a process. And there are things for all of us to take and consider as we move into the offseason. I came up with 15 things we learned about this team, city and organization.

1. Russell Westbrook is in fact, a point guard
I think this was our first and most important lesson from this season. If you still haven’t figured this out, then maybe this basketball fan-ship thing isn’t for you. Westbrook isn’t just a point guard, but he’s one of the bestpoint guards. How’s that for a leap? He went from project to star in really, just three months. The player we saw in November compared to the player that the Lakers feared more than any other were only similar because they both wore No. 0.

Westbrook began to develop a deadly mid-range game and once he extends out to a semi-consistent 3-point shot where at least has to be honored, he’ll be unguardable. No one will be able to stay in front of him and prevent his trek to the paint. He’ll drive, dish, score, pass, create – he’ll be one of the most dynamic offensive talents in the league. Someone described as LeBron but three inches shorter and 70 pounds lighter. I think that’s a pretty fair description when you really think about it. Westbrook is the kind of player that won’t averaged 10 assists-plus season in and season out. But he’s a threat to go 20-8-6 (points, assists, rebounds) for a good long while, all while he improves himself on the defensive end. Read more…

Commentary Season in Review

Berry Tramel with a nice column on George Shinn: ”But Shinn showed us how much fun pro basketball could be. His Hornets, not always a winner on the court in any of their three homes and not always a winner at the box office in Charlotte or New Orleans, always were an entertainment winner. Shinn showed Oklahomans that a night in an NBA arena was a night of merriment, no matter the score. From Hugo to the Honeybees to the video-screen antics, the Hornets provided a big bang for the mighty big bucks required of an NBA ticket.”

Jeff Green was added to the Team USA roster yesterday. Read more…

Bolts

This date could determine the future of this franchise more than any day before it (except for maybe Draft Day 2007, it’ll depend really) and after it. Why? Because this is the day where the rubber hits the road, the money is put where your mouth is, and every other cliched saying that is used when it’s time to just lay it all out on the line.

Or to put it more clearly, this is the first day that Kevin Durant can be extended, Jeff Green can be extended (cue all of the commenters revving up to chime in) and ALSO the day that free agents can officially begin contract negotiations with prospective teams.

So in a word, this is a HUGE day.

But how might this day affect the entire future of the franchise for the foreseeable future? Well, it really comes down to another cliche, brass tacks…

If I were Sam Presti—in fact, Mr. Presti, if you’re reading this and you’d like me to do this for you so you don’t have to, I’m on board—I would pretty much pull a Morey and be waiting at Durant’s front door at 12:01 am with a shiny briefcase of cold, hard cash in one hand and a contract and pen held up in the other. Read more…

Commentary

From a press release:

Oklahoma City Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced today that the team has exercised its third-year option for the 2011-12 season on Head Coach Scott Brooks.

“We look forward to our players continuing to benefit from Scott’s consistent focus on their development, selfless approach to his work, and commitment to our organizational vision,” said Presti.

Brooks was named Thunder head coach on April 14, 2009, becoming the 16th head coach in franchise history, after serving as interim head coach for the last 69 games of the 2008-09 regular season. Brooks was awarded the Red Auerbach Trophy as the 2009-10 NBA Coach of the Year after leading the Thunder to a 50-32 record in his first full season as head coach. The Thunder posted a 23-18 road record (tied for 6th best in the NBA this season) and finished as the eighth seed in the Western Conference. Under Brooks direction the Thunder led the NBA in blocked shots (5.9 blocks per game) and ranked 7th in defensive field goal percentage (44.8%).

“I am very excited to have the opportunity to continue to work with the Thunder organization and this great group of players,” said Brooks. “The support that my family and I have been given by this community has been overwhelming and we are thrilled to be a part of it.”

News Scott Brooks

Sam Presti met with the media yesterday. Here’s the fully transcribed Q&A.

John Rohde’s impressions: ”Exactly where does the Thunder stand in the free-agent market? Who is the Thunder eying, and at what cost? NBA teams are allowed to talk to eligible players and their agents beginning July 1. Thunder general manager Sam Presti is likely to come down with cauliflower ear due to overuse of his cell phone. Presti suffers from NBAOCD — National Basketball Association Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder — which I mean in the nicest way possible. “Everybody, for the most part, is talking to everybody. It’s part of the process,” Presti said during his 34-minute news conference Monday.” Read more…

Bolts

It seems odd to be discussing next season only three days after this historic season ended in fantastic form, however just like Kevin Durant said in the post-game huddle while being showered with a standing ovation from the Ford Center faithful, next year started the second Westbrook’s shot hit all iron and no netting and the clock showed zeros.

And since this team had such a successful season, the excitement for next year continues to grow exponentially which makes the events leading up to next season’s opening tip-off that much more considerable. So let’s have a quick look at what we all have to look forward to and should pay attention to in the upcoming months ahead of us when there’s no more Thunder basketball to watch and only about a month and some change of basketball left at all.

The NBA Draft — New York City, June 24th, 2010 – 7 p.m. to 12 a.m. ET

Boy does this seem a little anti-climactic in comparison to year’s past–which is pretty awesome when you stop and think about just how much of a jump this team took this past year with almost the exact same roster as the year before. But even though the Thunder will most likely not have a pick in the Top 10, barring some shocking trade as they just don’t have the assets or picks to warrant that type of swap without giving up a pretty vital piece of the core, there are plenty of interesting threads to keep an eye on moving forward in regards to the Draft because you may scoff at the idea of getting any kind of impact player with the 21st pick now, but that only means that you completely forgot about the 24th pick from the 2008 Draft who goes by the name of Serge Ibaka. Read more…

Commentary

A little site update: For this offseason, you can expect things to go on as normal. The season is 12 months long around here, not just seven or eight. You’ll still have your daily dose of links, plus there will be columns and other things. For instance, a lot of season wrap-up sort of stuff is on tap for this week. Then it’s the draft. Then free agency. Then summer league. Then… well, nothing. Then training camp. Then preseason. And then the season starts! See, it’s almost here already!

Greg Doyel of CBS Sports with a surprisingly uplifting column: ”Point being, Durant is the ideal young basketball star. Oklahoma City is the ideal young basketball fan base. With Russell Westbrook a superstar at this moment and Jeff Green an All-Star down the road, Durant has the supporting cast to win whatever he wants to win. That talent, and that crowd support, should attract better accompanying pieces than the Thunder have right now. It’s the perfect match, Durant and Oklahoma City. And you know that part earlier in the story where I said “this is not a plea to Durant to stay in Oklahoma City”? That was a lie. This is a plea. Stay in Oklahoma City, Durant. They deserve you — and you deserve them.” Read more…

Bolts

We all knew LeBron would win. The question was, who would finish second – Dwight Howard, Kobe or KD? And it turned out be the youngest scoring champion in NBA history, our very own Kevin Durant. To me, despite not winning, this is quite an honor for our main man. He’s just 21 years old and in his third year, but finished second for Most Valuable Player? That’s huge.

LeBron got 116 out of a possible 123 first place votes. Durant grabbed four first place votes.

News Kevin Durant

(Good morning afternoon Thunder fans. How are we today? Thanks for your support of DT. T-minus 183 days, approximately, until we do this all again.)

What a season. Man, that was fun. It was long – very, very long – but fun. The thing about last night’s standing ovation was that it was almost expected. I don’t think any person in the building had to think twice about it. You’ll notice some people start clapping right away. There was no, “Should we do this?” It was almost an impulse. We wanted to say thanks for an unbelievable year. Yeah, we lost. But that doesn’t mean we can’t all hang our heads high.

Other

Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images

BOX SCORE

The sea of blue roared. And roared. And roared.

The clock read zeroes and the Lakers had one more point on the board than the Thunder. 95-94.

And the crowd roared.

I honestly can’t sum that moment up in 1,500 words. Heck, I couldn’t do it in 150,000 words. This team, this season, this city – it was just a moment. I wrote months back that this season would likely be one that we all hold very near and dear to our hearts. And despite the fact it ended in heartache and heartbreak, I’m not sure how any season could ever top this. What we saw was a city embrace a team not just as something to root for, but as something we all felt part of. Read more…

Recap LA Lakers