With just two games over the span of two weeks, it’s been a time of rest and recovery for the Tulsa 66ers. Now the schedule goes from low-key to fast-paced.
Starting with a home game on Springfield on Thursday night, Tulsa will play eight games in a 12-day span. It’s a stretch that will test a 17-14 Tulsa team that currently sits six games out of first place in the West Conference. Two of those games are against the Austin Toros, a team that sits ahead of Tulsa in the standings.
“Every game is important, but home games are extremely critical right now,” said Tulsa head coach Nate Tibbetts, who will watch his team play five of the upcoming eight games at the Tulsa Convention Center, including a home-and-home with Austin. “The break has been good for us. It’s given us a chance to focus on film and work in the weight room. It’s also given us time to really work on the basics and get healthier.” Read more…
Commentary
Tulsa 66ers
The 66ers have been playing pretty good basketball lately. Tulsa has won four of its last five, including two wins this past week over the Reno Bighorns and Sioux Falls Skyforce. 
66ers 100, Skyforce 95: A big fourth quarter did the trick for Tulsa, as the 66ers outscored the Bighorns 29-19 in the final frame before being outscored 76-71 in the previous three. D.J. White has been very good in his short stint with Tulsa so far. Against Reno, White had 22 points (10-12 shooting), nine rebounds and three blocks in 40 minutes. Mustafa Shakur added 19 points and seven assists, Byron Mullens 16 points and eight rebounds and Zabian Dowdell had 25 on 10-11 shooting. USC product Desmon Farmer had 34 for the Bighorns in a losing effort. DeVon Hardin did not play.
66ers 126, Skyforce 100: Cecil Brown led the way for Tulsa with 24 (8-11 from the floor, 4-5 from 3), Larry Owens added 20 and D.J. White had 17 and 10 as the 66ers rolled Sioux Falls. Maybe the most impressive thing was that the 66ers shot 60.3 percent from the floor and went 13-23 from deep. Keith Brumbaugh had 30 and Reggie Williams 31 for the Skyforce.
Tulsa takes on the Skyforce again today at 4:00 CST (which you can watch here) and then plays the Flash Tuesday and then the Thunderbirds Thursday.
Commentary
Tulsa 66ers
The 66ers had a fairly nice week, going 2-1 with two wins over Rio Grande Valley. They also made a roster move, trading for leaper Deron Washington, in a deal that sent Keith Clark to the L.A. Defenders.
Sunday: Tulsa lost in Maine against the Red Claws, 87-82. The 66ers were outscored 26-12 in the third and 21-13 in the fourth (47-25 for the half) after leading 57-40 at the half. Mustafa Shakur had 21 points and seven assists, Byron Mullens 19 points and six rebounds and three blocks and Larry Owens added 16.
Friday: Four players combined for 83 of Tulsa’s 108 points as the Sixers rolled Rio Grande Valley 108-90 at home. Moses Ehambe had 18, Shakur 16 points and eight assists, Cecil Brown 22 and Owens 27. In his first game, Deron Washington scored just one point in 18 minutes of run. Latavious Williams led Tulsa on the boards pulling down eight. Byron Mullens did not play as he was rehabbing a minor ankle injury.
Saturday: The 66ers improved to 6-5 with a sweep of the Vipers, who came in at 6-1 before taking on the Sixers. This one went to overtime, as Tulsa clawed back from an 11-point fourth quarter deficit, outscoring the Vipers 22-11 in the final frame to force OT. Shakur had 13 points, six assists, Larry Owens 19, Washington 11, DeVon Hardin (who was released and then re-signed) had seven points and 10 boards. Latavious Williams scored six and had seven rebounds. Mullens did not play.
News
Tulsa 66ers
A quick look at Oklahoma City’s D-League affiliate, the Tulsa 66ers:
Thursday: Tulsa took on the Springfield Armor, a squad that features former Oklahoma State Cowboy JamesOn Curry as its leading scorer. The 66ers won 90-74, behind 20 points from Larry Owens and 23 from Cecil Brown. Mustafa Shakur had 10 points and 11 assists in the win and Byron Mullens added 14 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. DeVon Hardin had six points and seven rebounds and Latavious Williams added six and seven in just 11 minutes.
Saturday: The 66ers used a big third quarter to win their second straight, 98-91. Shakur led the way with 27 points (all in the second half), six assists and five rebounds. Byron Mullens added 19 points and six boards, Latavious Williams 10 points and seven rebounds and DeVon Hardin with four points and nine boards. (Video Highlights)
Thunder Player Recap
- Mullens averaged 16.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg and 1.5 bpg for the week. He’s averaging 16.0 ppg and 10.1 rpg for the season.
- Hardin 5.0 ppg, 8.0 rpg and 2.0 bpg for the week and is averaging 6.8 ppg and 7.3 rpg on the year.
Next week Tulsa has three games, starting with a road tilt against the Maine Red Claws Sunday. The week wraps up with two home games against Rio Grande Valley Friday and Saturday. Remember, you can watch all games for free on the D-League’s official site.
News
Tulsa 66ers
A quick recap of what’s going on with Oklahoma City’s D-League affiliate, the Tulsa 66ers.
Tuesday: Tulsa fell 89-72 to the Austin Toros. Byron Mullens had 11 points 
and five boards in 37 minutes, Larry Owens added 13 and Mustafa Shakur led the team with 19 points, six rebounds and four assists. However, Shakur had seven turnovers. Alonzo Gee had 25 for the Toros.
Wednesday: As often happens in the D-League, the 66ers turned around and rematched the Toros a night later in Austin and Tulsa won a thriller 92-90. Shakur led the way with 26 points on 11-16 shooting and dished out four assists. DeVon Hardin had nine points and six rebounds, Mullens 14 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks and Cecil Brown added 19. Shakur knocked down the game-winner with 1.4 seconds left to secure Tulsa’s second win. Read more…
Recap
Tulsa 66ers
The 66ers play tonight and currently, just one current player on the Thunder roster is in Tulsa. You can watch the game (and every game hereafter actually) for free on NBA.com. So if you’ve got absolutely NOTHING to do tonight, sit home and watch Byron Mullens hoist ill-advised 20-footers for a while. 
A little about the current 66er roster: Former Sooner Keith Clark, former Cowboy Byron Eaton and former ORU Golden Eagles Larry Owens, Yemi Ogunoye, Marcus Lewis and Moses Ehambe are the locals on the roster. Always nice to keep some recognizable faces on the D-League rosters to help with interest. So if you’re an ORU fan, tune in.
So far Tulsa is 0-2 with losses against Iowa and the Utah Flash. Tulsa takes on Utah again tonight. Latavious Williams scored 17 in the opener, but followed that up with a none spot last night. Mustafa Shakur scored 14 and 13 in the 66ers first two games. Byron Mullens scored 14 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in his only game with the club.
Tonight’s tip is at 7:00 CST.
Other
Tulsa 66ers
By J.G. Marking 
Special to Daily Thunder
NBA history was made last night as the Tulsa 66ers selected power forward Latavious Williams with the 16th overall pick in the NBA’s Developmental League Draft, as Williams will become the first player to ever go straight from high school to the D-League (Dan Shanoff was kind enough to write a post for TrueHoop about just how historical the Latavious Williams jump from high school to D-League is.)
History-making aside, what are the chances that Williams can develop into a legitimate NBA player who can challenge for a roster spot when he’s taken in the NBA Draft in June 2010? Wait, what? Oh, that’s right, there is a little issue with the rules of this history-making event because a player can’t be taken in the NBA draft unless he is 19 years old and, unless he is an international player, he must be one year past his high school class graduation (remember Brandon Jennings?), thus, the 66ers (and thereby the Thunder) could get to watch Williams develop and stun the D-League with his talent, only to watch him get drafted by another team.
But is Latavious Williams a legitimate NBA prospect? Well he was one of the most highly touted recruits from two recruiting classes (you’ll understand that after the jump), let’s have a look… Read more…
Commentary
D-League, Latavious Williams, Tulsa 66ers
Jim Brylewski, President of the Tulsa 66ers, was kind enough to give me a few minutes to ask him about the state of the 66ers and the relationship between them and the Thunder. Among many interesting things, one is that the 66ers will be unveiling a new logo and new colors to match the Thunder within the month, Brylewski said. But there’s lots of good info like the advantages of having a D-League team so close, the way the franchises integrate between each other and how the 66er franchise sees itself within the Thunder organization. 
Daily Thunder: How big was it for the 66ers to move to downtown Tulsa?
Jim Brylewski: For us right now, the growth of downtown Tulsa, by April every team will be playing in downtown Tulsa. So we think it’s instrumental to the growth of the city and we think there’s some synergy now for everybody to be playing essentially within blocks of each other.
DT: And the team is playing in the… Civic Center?
JB: We’re playing in the Tulsa Convention Center. It is in the process of being renovated and will be completed by early November.
DT: Are there any aspirations to ever move to the BOK Center?
JB: Right now, from a financial standpoint, what the other teams pay in rent is not feasible from a cost standpoint.
DT: The Thunder made a slick move when it purchased its own D-League franchise. Why do you think other teams haven’t done this?
JB: I don’t know. I think that Houston just entered into an agreement where they’re handling the basketball operation in Rio Grande Valley. It’s a slow approach but I think once some of the other NBA teams see the value from a developmental standpoint that you’ll see that grow. I think that initial expense may hold back some. But from a developmental standpoint, but for us on the basketball side, if Shaun Livingston pans out the way that it looks like he’s going to, that’s the value of the franchise. So I think once other NBA franchises see that and see the benefit, that you’ll see it slowly turn that way. Read more…
Interview
Jim Brylewski, Tulsa 66ers
