Daily Thunder.com

UPDATE: It’s officially out now.

The schedule doesn’t “officially” come out for another hour, but due to a little snafu on NBA.com, we got the whole thing here. Of course, unless they change it between now and then. So keep that in mind. Just one nationally televised game (Dec. 16 at home against Dallas) which is disappointing, but there’s potential to get more picked up the more you win. Look it over and I’ll be back with a good little breakdown in a bit.

Wed, Oct 28  – Sacramento at Oklahoma City 8:00 PM ET
Fri, Oct 30 – Oklahoma City at Detroit 8:00 PM ET
Sun, Nov 01 – Portland at Oklahoma City 7:00 PM ET
Tue, Nov 03 – L.A. Lakers at Oklahoma City 8:00 PM ET
Fri, Nov 06 – Oklahoma City at Houston 8:30 PM ET

Sun, Nov 08 – Orlando at Oklahoma City 7:00 PM ET
Tue, Nov 10 – Oklahoma City at Sacramento 10:00 PM ET
Wed, Nov 11 – Oklahoma City at L.A. Clippers 10:30 PM ET
Sat, Nov 14 – Oklahoma City at San Antonio 8:30 PM ET
Sun, Nov 15 – L.A. Clippers at Oklahoma City 7:00 PM ET — – NBATV Read more…

News

From NewsOK.com:

The Thunder has signed veteran point guard Kevin Ollie. Terms of the deal are unclear, but the contract likely is a one-year deal for the 36-year-old journeyman.

Honestly I don’t really get it, but whatever. I’m sure it was for next to nothing (in NBA terms, of course) and I wouldn’t plan on Ollie being on the roster by year’s end. Over 12 seasons, Ollie has averaged 3.8 ppg and 2.3 apg. Last year in Minnesota he played in 50 games and averaged 4.0 ppg and 2.3 apg as a third string backup point guard. Which is exactly where he’ll be this year behind Russell Westbrook and Shaun Livingston. This will be the ninth NBA roster Ollie has been a part of. And unless he retires, I doubt it will be his last.

News Free Agency, Kevin Ollie

According to Darnell Mayberry, this deal is either DONE or close to it:

The Thunder has beefed up its frontcourt. Oklahoma City acquired reserve center Etan Thomas from Minnesota on Monday, sending reserve guards Damien Wilkins and Chucky Atkins to the Timberwolves in exchange for the 6-foot-10 Tulsa native.

The Thunder also will get Minnesota’s second-round pick in 2010 and a conditional 2010 second-round pick from the Wolves. Oklahoma City will now have five total draft picks in 2010, including its own first- and second-round picks and Phoenix’s unprotected first-round selections.

Another slick move by Presti and Co. First, Thomas is a native Oklahoman (Booker T. Washington), so he can fill the token Okie spot likely to be vacated by Desmond Mason. Second, his contract expires at the end of this year and he’s owed just over $7.3 million, so the Thunder keeps its cap flexibility. Third, no more Damien Wilkins and Chucky Atkins. Fourth, the Thunder now has five picks in next year’s draft (two first rounders, three second). Fifth, that’s an extra roster spot for OKC to work with. And sixth, at least someone is behind Nenad Krstic on the depth chart now.

The 31-year-old Thomas averaged 11.8 minutes per game last year in 26 games and putting up 3.1 points per game and 2.6 rebounds per game. Hard to say how much he’ll contribute or if he’ll have much of any impact, but don’t overlook the veteran leadership he can bring to young guys Serge Ibaka and Byron Mullens. Thomas has fought injuries for a lot of his career and I’m not thinking he’ll do a whole heck of a lot, but we thought the same thing when Malik Rose came to town and Rose had a very positive impact. So you never know. But it’s a good move because it opens up the roster without hurting the team’s cap situation.

I know what you’re thinking: Couldn’t we have gotten more out of the expiring contracts of Chucky and Damien? You’d think so, but all those two are going to do is go sit on somebody’s bench. While expiring deals are certainly valuable, you also want to get something in return that you can put on the floor and will produce. So thinking Wilkins and Atkins could be flipped at the deadline for an actually productive player wasn’t much more than a pipe dream. (And as reader JK quickly pointed out in the comments, Thomas’ $7.3M deal can be flipped much easier at the deadline than Wilkins and Atkins.)

News Chucky Atkins, Damien Wilkins, Etan Thomas

There were rumors this might happen today and now it’s official – Earl Watson has been bought out by Oklahoma City. From the official site:

The Oklahoma City Thunder waived guard Earl Watson it was announced today by Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti. The 8-year NBA veteran appeared in 68 games (18 starts) with Oklahoma City this past season and averaged 6.6 points, 5.8 assists and 2.7 rebounds in 26.1 minutes per contest.

Watson had said late last year that he didn’t expect to be back with team after he was benched for an extended period of time. He was owed $6.6 million for next season, making his expiring contract fairly valuable. But evidently Sam Presti decided the roster spot was more valuable and Watson’s trade value wasn’t worth holding on to him until the trade deadline. Terms of the buyout weren’t released, but obviously the Thunder’s saving some money, and I’d assume it’s a fairly good amount. You can also bet on Watson having something set up with another team shortly.

With young guys like Kyle Weaver, Byron Mullens, Robert Vaden, Serge Ibaka, D.J. White and Shaun Livingston all fighting for one last active roster spot, waiving Watson opens up some more room and more flexibility. Chucky Atkins’ contract is of the non-guaranteed variety and he could also be bought out (for around $970 thousand), clearing more room. Watson was likely to be stuck on the bench for most of the season playing behind Russell Westbrook and Livingston, so if OKC had ideas of trading him, his value could be dashed due to lack of playing time. A wise decision for Presti to open up a spot now so that the Thunder youth movement can press on.

News Earl Watson

Press release from the official site:

The Oklahoma City Thunder have signed guard James Harden, center Byron Mullens and forward Serge Ibaka to contracts, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti. Per team policy, terms of the deals were not disclosed.

As far as Ibaka’s deal goes, according the story we had earlier this week, it looks like a four-year, ballpark $4 million deal (around $1M per).

News

I’ve been working to get this as confirmed as possible, but according to this site, Serge Ibaka has signed a four-year deal to play with Oklahoma City, starting with next season:

“The young player from Congo Serge Ibaka will leave for the NBA next season. The 18-year-old, who spent this season in Spain with Manresa, is to sign with the Oklahoma City Thunder, which will have to pay the Catalan club 400 thousand Euros, as Ibaka has still two seasons left in his contract. The Thunder will have the 2.08m centre for the next four seasons for a total earning of around 4.5 million euros. Ibaka won the Spanish league’s dunk contest last year and averaged 7.1 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1 block in 31 games.”

The report comes from this article which appears to be much more credible, though I can’t read a word of it. But it appears that Ibaka will be on the roster for next year. Even more reason to believe the Thunder won’t do anything major in the free agent market this summer.

UPDATE: Thanks to reader Jacob, here is the second article translated.

News Serge Ibaka

The Orlando Pro Summer League kicks off tomorrow (or today, depending on when you’re reading this) and a lot of folks have been wondering when and/or where they can see the Thunder’s summer squad play.

The league runs from the 6th to the 10th and the Thunder will play every day for a total of five games. The games will be four 10-minute quarters, halftime is just eight minutes and teams are allowed two 30-second timeouts per half. Also, players are allotted 10 personal fouls. I have no idea why. Anyway, here’s the schedule. All times CST.

Monday, July 6th
Oklahoma City vs. Orlando – 4 p.m

Tuesday, July 7th
Oklahoma City vs. Indiana – 6 p.m.

Wednesday, July 8th
Oklahoma City vs. Boston – 4 p.m.

Thursday, July 9th
Oklahoma City vs. New Jersey/Philadelphia – 2 p.m.

Friday, July 10th
Utah vs. Oklahoma City – 10 a.m.

The Orlando Magic’s official site will be streaming every game, so you can see the games by clicking HERE. Box scores, game recaps and cumulative stats can also be found at the Magic’s official site. Also, winning matters about as much here as it does in your Saturday morning men’s league, so don’t take these games too seriously.

News Orlando Summer League

UPDATE: It’s official, Marc Stein reports. Gortat to Dallas. Sigh…

Restricted free-agent center Marcin Gortat was scheduled to fly to Dallas on Thursday after giving the Mavericks a verbal commitment to sign an offer sheet with them next week, according to NBA front-office sources. Sources told ESPN.com that the Mavericks are bringing Gortat to town to tour the area and the team’s facilities after extending him an offer believed to be worth Dallas’ full mid-level exception — which could translate to a five-year deal starting at roughly $5.6 million — in hopes of dissuading the Orlando Magic from matching the offer.

Read more…

News Gortat, Rubio

The Thunder has announced its rosters for both summer leagues. Oklahoma City is competing in two summer leagues, one in Orlando and one in Las Vegas. Nine Thunder players will play in the leagues, with a handful of non-roster players filling in as well.

From OKC:
Russell Westbrook (Orlando only)
Shaun Livingston
D.J. White
Kyle Weaver
Serge Ibaka
James Harden
DeVon Hardin
Robert Vaden
B.J. Mullens

Some familiar faces will fill out the rosters including former Sooner DeAngelo Alexander and former Cowboy Marcus Dove.

Non-roster invites:
DeAngelo Alexander, G, 6-4, 215, Charlotte (Orlando only)
Keith McLeod, G, 6-2, Bowling Green State (Vegas only)
Moses Ehambe, F, 6-6, 200, Oral Roberts
Doug Thomas, F, 6-8, 245, Iowa (Vegas only)
Marcus Dove, F, 6-9, 212, Oklahoma State (Vegas only)
Richard Roby, G, 6-6, 205, Colorado (Vegas only)
Kyle Hines, F, 6-6, 230, UNC Greensboro (Orlando only)

The Orlando Pro Summer League starts July 6th and runs through the 10th.The Vegas league starts the 10th and runs through the 19th.

News Summer League

Darnell Mayberry reports the Thunder are talking with Paul Millsap:

The Thunder has reached out to representatives for Paul Millsap, the Utah Jazz restricted free agent forward, according to a source with knowledge of negotiations. Oklahoma City entered into preliminary talks with Millsap’s camp about 30 minutes into the start of free agency late Tuesday night. Teams were permitted to begin negotiating with free agents at 11 p.m. Central Time.Early discussions between the Thunder and Millsap’s representatives have been described as positive, but there is nothing concrete between the two sides. A follow-up conversation could take place later Wednesday …

… The Thunder is one of over a half dozen teams that have shown interest in Millsap in the opening hours of free agency, including a handful of teams that weren’t expected to make a run at him because of a lack of salary cap space.

Yes, I guess that’s somewhat interesting news, but it’s nothing shocking. So Oklahoma City called to talk to Paul Millsap, one of the top free agents on the market. No offer sheet has been signed, no offer has been made, just the two parties are talking about possibly taking the next step. But you’ve got to start somewhere. It looks less and less likely tha Utah will attempt to match an offer on Millsap though with today’s signing of Eric Maynor to a $3.1 million contract. Add that to Kyle Korver and Carlos Boozer exercising their options and the Jazz don’t have a lot of coin to spare.

(One thing to point out about Millsap: He was taken with the 47th pick in the 2006 Draft and obviously was a steal. But it’s not like he’s some sure-thing, high-profile power forward. Sure he played well in Carlos Boozer’s steed last year (13.5 ppg, 8.6 rpg), but how can we be sure that D.J. White isn’t the next Paul Millsap? White had just seven games last year and I thought he looked pretty good. So before we go bananas and sign a guy that had a solid half season to a multi-year, mega-buck deal, I think we need to evaluate what we’ve already got. Of course, I’m sure Sam Presti has already done this, so the point is, I don’t see Millsap in Thunder blue unless the price is VERY right for Oklahoma City.)

UPDATE: Per Darnell again:

Add the Thunder to the list of teams interested in Gortat. I’m told OKC officials made contact with Gortat’s camp shortly after midnight.

Also, Robert Swift will finally play for Boston. Well, at least for the summer:

The Celtics also added free agent center Robert Swift to the roster. The former Oklahoma City/Seattle seven-footer, who joined the league straight out of high school, has always intrigued Ainge.

News Paul Millsap, Robert Swift

ESPN.com:

Damien Wilkins will be back with the Oklahoma City Thunder for another season. Wilkins’ agent, Mark Bartelstein, said in an e-mail Tuesday that the guard would not terminate the player option on his contract.

Wilkins averaged a career-low 5.3 points last season as he fell out of the rotation and played in only half of Oklahoma City’s 82 games. Before then, he had been a regular in the lineup during the franchise’s days in Seattle. He played in every game for the SuperSonics over a two-year span and averaged 9.2 points in 76 games in the team’s final season in Seattle. Wilkins indicated after the season that he planned to return.

Also, there’s a rumor floating that David Lee will sign an offer sheet with the Thunder:

A source told Ken Berger that he believes David Lee’s days as with the Knicks are over. Agent Mark Bartelstein will reportedly have Lee sign an offer sheet with the Grizzlies or Thunder that the Knicks will not be willing to match. “It’s a tough loss for New York, but they don’t want to screw up their 2010 plan,” the source said.

UPDATE: Daryl Morey, general manager of the Rockets, is courting Marcin Gortat… via Twitter.

“Meeting in a few w/ Gortat,” wrote the Rockets general manager. “Send a note to him NOW at rocketsfanslovegortat@gmail.com. He will receive. Show him how much we want him in Red!”

News Damien Wilkins, David Lee

The MidFirst Bank caravan thing had a stop today and gave fans a chance to get to meet the Thunder’s three new guys. And for your info, James Harden will wear No. 13, B.J. Byron Mullens will wear No. 23 and Robert Vaden No. 30.

(Thanks to Jacob Thompson again for the incredible picture.)

And here’s Sam Presti with James Harden today at the caravan:

Also, Sam Presti was on Tirico and Van Pelt yesterday and here’s that interview for your listening pleasure (h/t to J.G.).

News B.J. Mullens, James Harden, Robert Vaden

Russell Westbrook was just on Rome Is Burning (sporting a new little buzzhawk) and he talked about the draft tonight.

On OKC drafting Ricky Rubio: “It wouldn’t be a bad situation for me, but I’ll just leave it up to Oklahoma City and hopefully they make they right decisions.”

On being a point guard: “I feel like I’m a true 1. I’ve been playing point guard all my life and I’ve been trying to get better at it and learning different things especially in the NBA, point guard is a tough position.”

On what he wants to see the team do: “Whatever’s good for the team, I’m going to try my best to contribute to the team any way I can.”

On the “You trippin’” quote: “I don’t recall saying that. I don’t remember saying that at all.” (Though I will note, Westbrook had a huge smile and was laughing. Take that for what it’s worth.)

So, either someone grabbed Westbrook’s collar and told him he better speak right on Rome, or all those reports were hooey. It didn’t seem like he wasn’t speaking freely, but it’s unfair to speculate about what he may or may not have really been thinking.

Again, I’m sure he’s not super-psyched about the situation, but I get the feeling he’d get used to it. Especially when he can free-range and just roam the court and doesn’t have to worry about setting up teammates and running an offense. We’ll see. Just two hours left party people.

News Ricky Rubio, Russell Westbrook

Johnny Ludden, Yahoo Sports:

The Oklahoma City Thunder have hired a prestigious Barcelona law firm to assist them should they draft Spanish guard Ricky Rubio.

Rubio has a large buyout with Spanish team DKV Joventut Badalona, and Thunder officials are using the firm to brief them on the country’s contract law and procedures. Thunder GM Sam Presti met with Rubio and his agent this past weekend.

Rubio reportedly has made progress on lowering his buyout to $4 million, still a hefty cost, but he also reportedly could be allowed to make payments over several years.

Does that mean anything substantial? Have the Thunder and Rubio come to some sort of agreement? I really have no idea. All I know is that OKC appears ready to pick Ricky Rubio.

Plus, listen to the B.S. Report today to hear Simmons and Chad Ford talk about Rubio’s NBA readiness, the brilliance of Sam Presti and how the Thunder will be everybody’s favorite team if they take Rubio (fast forward to about 21 minutes in; h/t Dustin).

News Ricky Rubio

Sam Amick of the Sac Bee:

Just as the notion of Ricky Rubio in a Kings uniform is seeming less likely by the day, there is this unsurprising news: he is moving on.

A source with knowledge of the situation said Rubio was visited in Los Angeles today by the Oklahoma City Thunder, who have the No. 3 pick in the June 25 draft. This matters mostly because Rubio’s visit in Sacramento this week came with unspoken terms, an understanding of sorts that a Rubio promise on the Kings’ part could have stopped his American tour with just one concert. But that clearly never happened, and certainly not only because Rubio was unable to get on the floor Thursday when he fell ill.

Well wouldn’t you like to know how that went? I’m truly beginning to think Sam Presti has his targets narrowed to three or four. With under a week left, he’s surely got his guys he likes with option A, B and C. (And if you’re wondering who I think those may be, I’m thinking James Harden, Rubio and Stephen Curry. With of course the option to see a trade.)

Also, Outside the Lines had a great feature on Rubio Friday with Fran Fraschilla adding some excellent commentary on the Spanish point guard. Definitely worth a watch. Let me tell you, I have no idea what to really think of Rubio, but every time I see something like this, I get excited about him.

Oh and in case you didn’t see it, Hasheem Thabeet canceled his workout with the Grizzlies, citing a shoulder injury. Add another red flag to the previous 200 piled up on him. That means he hasn’t worked out for a single team before the draft and also didn’t work out at the combine. Yeah, that’s not exactly encouraging stuff from a potential top five pick. Just say no Presti. Just say no.

News Hasheem Thabeet, Ricky Rubio