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Kevin Durant was named a starter to the Western Conference All-Star team Thursday night as the NBA announced the starters live on TNT.

Durant was the second-leading vote-getter in the West behind Kobe Bryant.

KD is the league’s current leading scorer and reigning scoring champ and is the second youngest starter behind Derrick Rose (who is just six days younger).  At just 22, Durant is probably just now starting a very, very long run as an All-Star starter. A lot of people wondered that if in small-town Oklahoma City that he’d gain the national recognition needed to become a big-name star, but evidently that wasn’t a problem.

This is something we need to get used to, but it’s really, really cool that our guy is going to be starting on the big stage. Well deserved, KD.

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According to the Los Angeles Times, Serge Ibaka will be a participant in this year’s dunk contest during All-Star Weekend. He’ll be joining Blake Griffin, JaVale McGee and Brandon Jennings.

I’m as shocked as you are? Ibaka? Seriously? If anyone was going to dunk from this team, I think we all expected Russell Westbrook.

Ibaka certainly has hops, but he’s more of a direct, straight line power finisher. There’s not a ton of sizzle to his dunks. He jumps high and throws down hard. I just can’t picture him getting overly creative and coming up with something that really wows people. I’m sure he’ll bring Westbrook or KD out as a helper at some point which will be cool though.

Actually here’s an idea: Russell Westbrook throws a pass to Ibaka and he finishes it, then Westbrook holds up a sign that says “TRIPLE-DOUBLE.” Good one, right?

Ibaka won a dunk contest in Europe a few years ago with a pretty sweet free throw line dunk. (Here’s a link to the video of that contest.)

Don’t get me wrong, I’m fired up about seeing the Air Congo as part of the dunk contest. I just didn’t see it coming. At all.

An official announcement is to be made Thursday on TNT.

News

So much for that so-called slow start. Kevin Durant has been named the Western Conference Player of the Month for December, the NBA announced Monday.

LeBron James and Dwyane Wade shared the honor in the East.

Durant averaged a league-high 29.4 points as the Thunder went 11-5, tops in the Northwest Division. Durant shot .517 from the field, .411 from beyond the arc and .850 from the free throw line. On Christmas Day, Durant netted a season-high 44 points to go along with seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals as the Thunder defeated Denver 114-106.

Durant has won the player of the month award in the West one other time, taking it home in April 2010 last season.

Other nominees for Western Conference Players of the Month were Dallas Dirk Nowitzki, Golden State’s Monta Ellis, Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge, San Antonio’s Tony Parker and Utah’s Deron Williams.

Last December was when Durant started his scoring reign of terror where he scored 25 points or more in 29 straight games. In Dec. 2009, KD averaged 29.7 ppg on 49.3 percent shooting and 38.6 percent from 3. So it looks like Durant is almost exactly on the same pace he was last season. And if his team keeps up the winning pace and Durant plays the winter months of 2011 like he did in 2010, he may be getting a bigger award at the end of the year.

News Kevin Durant

Over the past couple months, we’ve been treated a healthy number of videos and tweets from Kevin Durant’s new “neighbor,” Mathias Murphy. From the beginning it was fairly obvious this was a plot from Nike to draw up some viral chatter and I think was fairly successful.

“Murphy” gathered more than 11,000 followers on Twitter, piled up over 4.5 million video views on YouTube, had around 6,500 YouTube subscribers and posted around 50 videos total.

The most viewed video was KD showing off his custom van. It gathered over 2.3 million views and was linked all over the Internet.

What started out as some kind of weird thing to try and show how normal Durant is turned into a rather enjoyable series of videos showing off KD’s stuff, his personality and also giving some insight into what makes KD, KD.

Durant’s team has been one of the absolute best at fully embracing the power of social media channels and this campaign just showcased how deft they are. Not only did they get passed all over the place, but through Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, KD’s profile and visibility got raised just a little bit more.

It may have been something intended to just sell more sneakers, but I thought it was all pretty well done.

News

Last season, it felt like a huge deal that Kevin Durant was an All-Star. This season, he’s well on his way to being a starter.

The first returns for the 2011 All-Star Teams are in and KD is second-leading vote getter in the West, period (470,881 votes). He’s only behind Kobe Bryant (722,682). But Durant leads all Western forwards, that includes Pau Gasol, Carmelo Anthony, Dirk Nowitzki and Tim Duncan. Pretty impressive.

Russell Westbrook got a solid number of votes as he ranks seventh among Western guards. Westbrook (140,519 votes) trails Kobe, Chris Paul, Manu Ginobili, Steve Nash, Deron Williams and Jason Kidd.

The Thunder’s other All-Star candidates are Thabo Sefolosha and Jeff Green, and they aren’t, um, on the voting returns.

Remember, you can vote daily so be sure to stuff the box for KD and Russ (and Jeff and Thabo).

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UPDATE: The team has officially announced Aldrich has been recalled.

It looks like Thunder rookie Cole Aldrich has been recalled by the team. Aldrich tweeted Monday morning, “Airport. Heading to Chicago to get back with the fellahs.”

There hasn’t been an official release yet, but I assume Aldrich isn’t pranking everybody. He spent almost two weeks in Tulsa and appeared in five games for the 66ers. In 27.4 minutes a game, he averaged 7.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game.

Aldrich saw some much needed floor time in Tulsa and was sent down to develop some of his offensive game while also hopefully using the time to grasp some of the Thunder’s offensive and defensive system. It might not be the last time Aldrich is sent to Tulsa this season.

But with D.J. White out with an ankle sprain and Nick Collison sitting out of Sunday’s game against Golden State, the Thunder is probably looking to rebuild some depth on the front line. Aldrich might not see any immediate playing time, but he’s back with the team and at least available.

News Cole Aldrich

On Wednesday, an earthquake struck the central Serbian town of Kraljevo. It is a town of 60,000 people and the hometown of Nenad Krstic. There was severe damage in the community, including the specific area where Nenad grew up.

To support Nenad and his hometown, the Thunder will be matching funds raised at tomorrow night’s game for the earthquake relief effort of the International Red Cross. The Thunder will be asking fans to contribute and have a special raffle to raise funds.

Krstic is donating the jersey he wears in tomorrow night’s game. Following the game, he will sign it and personally present it to the raffle winner. The raffle will take place at the Thunder Community Foundation’s auction area outside Section 111 beginning when doors open at 4:30 pm through the end of the third quarter.

So here’s an opportunity to step and lend support if you feel compelled. Throw a chair Nenad’s way and give his home country a hand.

News Nenad Krstic

Well all knew it probably wouldn’t happen. But with Sam Presti, you never can tell. However, Jeff Green won’t be getting a contract extension before Nov. 1 meaning that he’ll become a restricted free agent next summer.

The two sides had quality negotiations and good talks, but as the time got closer to actually hammer out something specific, it kind of all fell apart.

“Signing a player to an extension is certainly a positive, but has become more unique,” Presti told The Oklahoman. “We explored the concept and had positive dialogue, but we will have to re-visit the discussions in the future. As we have consistently stated, drafting Jeff in 2007 and watching his development over the last three seasons has furthered our appreciation for his team-driven contributions on and off the floor.”

Green said he’s happy this out in the open so now he can move on and hopefully will stop getting questions on it.

So how’s this sit with you? Do you think Green should’ve been extended? Is this smart? My feeling is that it’s a very Presti-ish move not to extend Green because with the new CBA coming and the potential for players in Green’s salary bracket to get their money dropped significantly, Oklahoma City might be saving some good money here. Plus, now Jeff Green has got to prove his worth, something he really hasn’t done yet. Monetary motivation is always a good thing. Read more…

Commentary, News Jeff Green

The Thunder has waived their final two training camp invites in Jerome Dyson and Elijah Millsap, the team announced. That puts the roster at 15.

Dyson saw action in two games this preseason for Oklahoma City, averaging 4.5 points and 1.0 rebound in 6.5 minutes. Millsap appeared in four games for the Thunder, averaging 3.5 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.0 assist in 12.5 minutes.

Millsap made somewhat of an impression on the staff and is potentially going to be signed by the 66ers for a longer look. But that’s only if another NBA team doesn’t have their eye on him for a 15th roster spot. Millsap is a stellar defender and a high-character worker.

Dyson is a talented guard that’s battled injuries throughout his career and a lingering injury limited him with the Thunder. Word is the Thunder likes his ability and he could find a spot on the Tulsa roster as well.

With the roster now at 15, the Thunder is pretty much set for the regular season.

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As was expected, the Thunder has waived both Demond “Tweety” Carter and Longar Longar, the team announced today.

Neither player made much of an impression nor were the afforded much of the opportunity to. Carter saw his only action last night putting up four points in four minutes and Longar appeared in one game for about a minute and a half.

Obviously both guys were nothing more than training camp players that were there to balance out the roster.

The Thunder roster now stands at 17. Which of course means Jerome Dyson and Elijah Millsap will almost definitely be next, but the team has decided to let both try and make a little more of a lasting impression in the final three preseason games. There’s some chatter about Millsap maybe playing for the 66ers as the team appears to like him.

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Who would’ve thought in just three years, the league’s smallest market team would become one of its most reliable money-makers?

Sports Business Journal has a report out that the NBA will begin the season with over $100 million in season ticket revenue. And already, there have been more full season tickets sold than all of last year. There have been over 50,000 full season tickets sold, a 40 percent increase from last year. And who said the Heat were bad for the league?

But one of the teams right in the thick of it? Our own little Thunder:

League officials would not disclose which team ranks the highest in new full-season-ticket sales, but the five teams with the highest number of new full sales are the Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder and Orlando Magic.

The Heat, Bulls and Knicks all benefited from the free agency race for LeBron James that was ultimately won by Miami. The Thunder got a boost from its playoff appearance last season led by Kevin Durant. The Magic’s full-season-sales run is led by the opening of its new arena this fall.

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Rob Hennigan

The Thunder announced today via a release that they have restructured the front office to compensate for the departure of Rich Cho.

Troy Weaver was promoted to VP/Assistant General Manager, Rob Hennigan to Assistant General Manager/Player Personnel, Paul Rivers to Director of Minor League Operations and Basketball Technology and Brandon Barnett to Director of Minor League Scouting and Manager of Minor League Operations. The team added Michael Winger as Assistant General Manager/Legal and Administration and David Vanterpool as Pro Scout.

“We are pleased to continue to promote from within our organization while also bringing in new people who will enhance and compliment our current staff” said Presti. “The promotions for Troy, Rob, Paul and Brandon are well deserved. They are selfless workers who are extremely committed to our organization.” Presti added, “We are fortunate to have the opportunity to also add people such as Michael and David to our team; both will enhance our organization and help us grow in a positive direction.”

Weaver, who enters his third season with the Thunder organization, spent the previous two seasons as Assistant General Manager focusing on roster development and day-to-day basketball operations. Weaver joined the Thunder after spending four seasons in the Utah Jazz front office. The Maryland native began his career as a coach and spent nine seasons as a collegiate coach with Syracuse University, University of New Mexico and University of Pittsburgh before moving to the NBA. Read more…

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Say goodbye to the Ford Center. The Thunder has announced they are in negotiations for new naming rights for the downtown arena.

The Oklahoma City Thunder has begun the process of negotiating with potential new naming rights partners for the Ford Center arena, team officials announced today. The original naming rights contract allowed the team to terminate the existing agreement should an NBA franchise come to Oklahoma City.

The Thunder entered into discussions with the current naming rights partner, the Oklahoma Ford Dealers, but a new agreement could not be reached. As a result, the Thunder has now officially terminated the existing naming rights agreement and entered into a period of negotiations with other potential partners.

Of course first one would have to think about the big corporations here in Oklahoma City. Big Thunder sponsors Devon Energy, Sandridge or Chesapeake have to be early contenders. Or maybe AT&T, as it owns naming rights to the baseball park in Bricktown. Or what about Sonic, which is based out of Oklahoma City. Oh wait, that’s probably not a good one.

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FIBA announced its punishment for the Greece-Serbia brawl today and it appears our boy Nenad Krstic has gotten off relatively easy. He was handed a three-game ban, with a fine that comes to about $44,000.

The other three involved got two games with no fine.

I’d say it’s a pretty fair punishment in the sense that Krstic got more than everyone else, plus this doesn’t prevent him from playing in the World Championships. While the fight was definitely a bad thing, it wasn’t THAT bad. Other than toss the chair at the end, Krstic didn’t do anything worse than others. I’m not justifying by any means because the fight was embarrassing for Krstic, his country and the Thunder, but it’s not something that should warrant a massive suspension. I saw some calling for a year ban for Krstic which is just ridiculous. Three games is pretty light, but FIBA hasn’t historically come down that hard on these type of things.

Fights happen a lot in Europe. I remember a game between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos being canceled because of fear for fan rioting and player fighting. Baseball brawls, hockey fights, basketball pushing contests… it’s nothing all that new. If you look back at the 1970′s and 80′s in the NBA, there were fights darn near every game. Players like Larry Bird, Dr. J, Magic Johnson – they all fought.

So in the end, Krstic gets a punishment that pretty much fits the crime. He still gets to play at least two games and he’s a little lighter in the wallet.

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By now you’ve probably heard that Rajon Rondo was cut/removed his name due to family matters. (Heh, family matters.) And if you’re sharp and on the ball, by Rondo being cut, that means that both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are on Team USA’s final 12-man roster that will be competing in Turkey next week.

Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty

Westbrook made an extremely strong case for himself in Team USA’s last two scrimmages, showcasing his hustle, athleticism and knack for heady plays. The indication is, by the way Coach K used him against Spain is that Westbrook will be used as a defensive stopper against the crafty guards from both Spain and Greece.

Most thought the final spot would come down between Stephen Curry and Eric Gordon, with Westbrook possibly getting the axe because the U.S. didn’t likely want to point guards that weren’t great shooters. Rondo, who started every exhibition before getting a DNP against Spain, was thought to be a lock. But honestly, Westbrook just outperformed Rondo. Some saw indifference in Rondo while he was on the floor, while Westbrook was as active and hungry as he always is.

One thing that I think is great about Westbrook’s emergence on Team USA, is that Thunder fans are getting a good look at Russ’s ability next to his peers. When you watch Derrick Rose, Rondo, Chauncey Billups, Curry and Westbrook all rotating in and out, there’s not any dropoff when Russ runs the show. Plus, when you watch a guy like Rose defend and then see Westbrook check the same guy, you can kind of appreciate Westbrook’s defense a bit more as well.

As far as rotations and how much playing time Westbrook will see, I’m guessing not a ton. He’ll like be the third point guard behind Rose and Billups but could be the second option if Billups plays primarily off the ball. Heck, Westbrook has seen a good chunk of time at the 2, so he might be ahead of Curry and Gordon there as well.

In any event, two Thunder players are on the U.S. roster, which will make the World Championships that much more interesting for OKC fans.

Commentary, News Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Team USA