For the Thunder, it’s all about winning and such and such, but if you’re like me, you have an eye turned to the box score every night. You’re looking at KD’s shooting percentage, Westbrook’s turnovers, Ibaka’s blocks, Perk’s rebounds and Royal Ivey’s HER (Handshake Efficiency Rating).
Russell Westbrook already put it simply when asked about his individual goals for the season. “Make my team win,” he said. But every player has a bar set for himself and if they don’t, the fans sure do. We have our own mini set of expectations outside of the win-loss column. We want our players to perform well, have good seasons and meet the bar set for success. So let’s go through this player-by-player and try and define a successful season. Read more…
Zach Lowe of SI.com has OKC has a favorite: “The Thunder are healthy, young and deep, and they morphed from a mediocre defensive team into a top-five-level club on that end once they flipped Jeff Green for Kendrick Perkins last season, and Perkins finally looks to have recovered from reconstructive knee surgery. They were a top-five offensive team all season despite all the hand-wringing over Russell Westbrook’s shot selection, and they should be again this season, assuming everyone develops as expected. Last season’s crunch-time struggles against the Grizzlies and Mavericks should push the coaching staff to add more screening and off-ball action into the Thunder’s offense. With apologies to Dallas, this is the team to beat in the Western Conference. Miami and Oklahoma City were two of just three teams to finish among the league’s top 10 in both points scored and allowed per possession last season. Any Finals matchup other than Heat-Thunder will be a minor surprise.”
I don’t pretend to be an expert. Or maybe I do. I don’t really know. Regardless of that, anyone can make predictions, expert or not. Anyone can say things like, “I think the Thunder will win the West” or “I think Kevin Durant will have a five dollar footlong for lunch tomorrow.”
I’m not here to do that. I’m here to make 35 statements, but not with any wavering conviction. Statements made with a nonsensical, possibly irrational amount of confidence. Statements that will more than likely be mostly incorrect by the end of the season, but by then you’ll have forgotten this and if you try and search for it, I will have deleted it and deny that I ever said that.
So here are 35 statements made with extreme confidence. And possible stupidity. Read more…
Kevin Durant is the first recipient of the new “Rose Rule” and because of that, will receive an extra $14,860,519 over the span of his five-year extension. He also earns an extra $2,584,438 this season, which actually puts the Thunder OVER the cap.
Rob Mahoney of the NYT on KD’s new Dirk move: “He’s looking for resources, and for people who – whether they’re cognizant of it or not – can teach him. Durant didn’t need a workout session and photo op with Hakeem Olajuwon or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but a heavy dose of film and hours in the gym for quiet implementation. And though Durant would be the first to tell you that this is only the beginning of his work with Nowitzki’s particular fade, he’s taken a step in developing an unorthodox post game.” Read more…
The Thunder beat the Mavericks 87-83 in the second and final preseason tuneup. Here are a few thoughts:
1. Color me impressed by Reggie Jackson. He got early minutes tonight and while his first shot barely hit the backboard, he stepped up with his second and drained it. He wasn’t shy to make plays and twice created opportunities on fast breaks. Good handle, smart passing and he clearly understood his role on the floor. I’m not sure if he’s going to be able to actually crack the rotation this season, but he’s definitely a quality bench piece to have going forward. You can see why Sam Presti liked him so much.
2. Cole Aldrich might beat out Nazr Mohammed at some point in the rotation. He looks 100 percent better. He doesn’t have near the offensive game Mohammed has, but defensively Aldrich is active everywhere. He never stops challenging shots and tries to rebound everything. And he even showed off a legit sky hook (and made it!) late in the fourth. Read more…
Mavericks (0-1) vs. Thunder (1-0)
TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37, 722 HD)
Online Stream: Here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 7:00 CT
I would expect Scott Brooks to play his starters a bit more than the 24 minutes or under that he did in the first game. But at the same time, it’s just preseason and the team is coming off a good training camp where everyone is pretty much in shape already. The Thunder have things to iron out, but not quite like some other teams that are still trying to learn each others’ names.
In the same spirit as last year’s look at five things I wanted to see, on-and-off-the-court, from the Thunder last season, let’s look at five things that would be nice to see from the standpoint of the Thunder fan experience and also “for basketball reasons.”
Of last year’s five things, a buzzer beater, ended up being a rather memorable part of the 2010-11 season. Some other wishes remain, first and foremost a wish to see the Thunder wear black socks and shoes with the home whites sometimes, are still out there. And I’ll definitely still take more variety on commercials for local games.
But 2011-12 is a new season with new challenges and frontiers. Here’s five more for this year: Read more…
Chad Ford of ESPN.com gave OKC a B- for the offseason: “The Thunder tend to be overly conservative during the offseason. In their case, it’s a virtue. Too many teams panic and believe they have to spend all of their money or the offseason is a failure. GM Sam Presti waits and waits and waits for the right deal to come to him. When it does (like the Celtics offering him Kendrick Perkins for Jeff Green at the trade deadline) he pounces. The truth is that there wasn’t a lot for Presti to do this summer. He has a team that is my pick to be the best team in the West this season and possibly for the next five years. Kevin Durant is locked up. Russell Westbrook will be shortly. Their supporting group of James Harden, Serge Ibaka, Nick Collison and Eric Maynor is strong. Their only major addition is rookie Reggie Jackson, who has enormous talent and slipped in the draft because of injury issues. If he blossoms the way some NBA scouts think he could, he could be one of the steals of the draft.”
Each season is about moments. It’s about the stories. The themes. And the 2011-12 season is going to have plenty of all of that.
Any time a team is picked to be a favorite, there’s a lot to talk about. From little things like player relationships to big things like starting lineup and rotations, the Thunder’s 66-game season is going to be packed with stuff. Here are the top 10 as I see them.
10. Serge Ibaka. What does Air Congo have ready for the 2011-12 season? He gets to start from day one, has been working in the post while in Spain and looks stronger than ever. Could Ibaka averaged four blocks a game? Could he be a double-double guy? Could he maybe sneak into the All-Star talk? Ibaka is a constant man of mystery because his ceiling is still sky high. He’s got to do little things better, but the Thunder have definitely figured out the power forward position. Read more…
The Thunder announced Monday that center Byron Mullens along with cash considerations have been dealt to Charlotte for a future 2013 second-round pick.
“While we believe that Byron will be a productive player in this league, it became apparent that in the near future it would be difficult for him to continue his development and have the opportunity to make a significant impact on our club because of the current make-up of our roster,” Sam Presti said in a release. “This trade allows us the opportunity to create both future financial and roster flexibility while providing us with an additional draft pick in 2013.”
Mullens appeared in just 26 games during two seasons with the Thunder and averaged 1.5 and 1.3 rebounds. He really spent most of his time traveling between Tulsa and Oklahoma City as he was sent down to the D-League quite a bit.
Mullens was acquired on draft night for the rights to Roddy Beaubois. As you can see, the Mullens experiment is one of the very few blemishes on Sam Presti’s otherwise stellar resume. Read more…
It’s season preview week here at DT. You know why? Because the real season kicks off in just six days. So get ready for some stuff to read previewing the season. Hence, season preview.
Beckley Mason of HoopSpeak on how to get KD open: “The Thunder and Kevin Durant are lucky to be at a point where enormous improvements are a thing of the past–Durant led the league in scoring and the Thunder had a top 5 offense in terms of efficiency. Neither has peaked, but small refinements are what make a top 10 team or player into the best one. This is one such adjustment that can make the Thunder and Durant more complete and dangerous come playoff time.” Read more…
In almost all cases, it’s a little difficult to take anything of large value from a preseason game, but this season is a bit different. Mainly because there are only two warmup games before the the real deal on Christmas Day.
The final score and result doesn’t matter (Oklahoma City won 106-92), but with this being the first time the Thunder have taken the floor against another team since the Game 5 loss in Dallas last season, there we five big things to take from Sunday’s exhibition against the Mavs.
1. Transition offense. Maybe it was just a product of the flow of the game, but it really seemed like the Thunder wanted to run in the first half. Every rebound OKC was looking to break and the transition game looked really solid. One play I loved: Russell Westbrook had a halfcourt bounce pass to KD for an easy layup. Perfect decision by Westbrook and great vision to see it. Read more…
Thunder (0-0) vs. Mavericks (0-0)
TV: NBATV (Cox 256, 726 HD)
Online Stream: N/A
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 6:30 CT
Of note: Tonight’s starting five is Westbrook, Sefolosha, Durant, Ibaka and Perkins. Scott Brooks said he expects to play most of his roster tonight and no one more than 24 minutes.
What Western Conference teams concern you against the Thunder? In this preseason edition of TGR, Joel and Brad discuss how the Thunder matches up against their Western Conference foes. We also go over the major moves in the NBA and how they effect the Thunder.
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Good Saturday. Thank you for your support of DT. They’re playin’ bas-ket-ballllllll.
Last night’s intrasquad scrimmage was pretty good. Perk looked awesome, Russell Westbrook had the jets firing on all engines and KD showed a little post game. Nothing too much to take from it by any means, but it was definitely good to see the boys in blue back on the floor. Via @probeeCTS, here’s a little video from the scrimmage.
Rocky Widner/NBAE/Getty Images
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What Western Conference teams concern you against the Thunder? In this preseason edition of TGR, Joel and Brad discuss how the Thunder matches up against their Western Conference foes. We also go over the major moves in the NBA and how they effect the Thunder.
