Posts Tagged ‘D.J. White’
After a short stint in Tulsa, D.J. White once again will make a short drive back to Oklahoma City to rejoin the Thunder. I hope he likes the Turner Turnpike.
During his most recent stint with the 66ers, White appeared in four games, averaging 23.0 points while shooting 58.7 percent from the field, 11.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.0 steals in 40.0 minutes per game. The 6-9 forward scored 20 or more points three times and notched three double-doubles.
(Also, off-topic and someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I was looking over D-League player assisnment rules and they say an NBA team can send down no more than two NBA roster players at a time. And the Thunder had Kyle Weaver, Byron Mullens and D.J. White all in Tulsa at the same time. Again, I may be revealing some ignorance here, but I’m curious as to if the rule has been changed but just not updated on the site. Maybe it’s because Kyle Weaver was rehabbing an injury and there’s a clause for that. But again, I don’t know.
UPDATE: It’s because OKC is the sole affiliate of the 66ers, so there’s only one team sending players down to the team. It would have been nice if that were defined in the rules.)
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D.J. White
I hate when players have rotten luck. Last year it was the tumor on his jaw. Now after playing really well in the D-League and maybe having a small shot to get some playing time with Nick Collison’s concussion, D.J. White busts a thumb in practice and has to get surgery. From the press release:
Oklahoma City Thunder forward D.J. White is expected to miss six to eight weeks following surgery to repair a fractured right thumb. The Thunder say White had surgery Thursday. White was injured in practice Tuesday.
White is averaging 4.8 points and 1.9 rebounds in eight games this season. He had not played in a Thunder game for over a month, and spent about two weeks in the NBA D-League during that time.
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D.J. White
We took a look at a list of goals for the entire Thunder team a couple weeks ago. But let’s get detailed. Let’s get specific. I’m going to dig in and hit on some individual goals for a few players that would define a successful season. So what meters for success should we set for Nick Collison and D.J. White?

Nick Collison
Restore his numbers to his previous two seasons. Last year was a down year for Collison. And before he got it going in March and April, it was a really down year. He got his numbers close to his career average by the end of it (8.2 ppg, 6.9 rpg) but for a while he was a around 5.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg. He did shoot a higher percentage from the field than ever (56 percent) which was very nice, but he also took two less shots a game. The ironic thing is that his PER finished right in line with his two best years of 2006-2008, but yet his numbers were down. Collison needs to be the rebounding force on this team and having a guy lead your entire team with just 6.9 a game is kind of stinky.
Seven rebounds a game. Likewise, he needs to get this number up. I put it at seven because I’m not sure how many minutes he’ll get with Ibaka and White now competing for time. But he’s always been a solid player and productive when he’s on the floor. He’s the worker on the team and the little plays he makes are surely appreciated. But depending on the improvements of Kevin Durant and Jeff Green in the rebounding area, 6.9 boards a game isn’t great and shouldn’t lead a team. Read more…
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D.J. White, Nick Collison