A Q&A session with guard Damien Wilkins: “How do you view your individual performance so far this preseason? I’m not surprised by it. But it’s not about me, it’s about the team and us trying to get better as a team. So far we really haven’t shown we’re improving as far as the game goes. We’ve got to start translating our efforts from practice over into the games. Once we start doing that, I’ll feel better about anything I’m doing.”
- Could the Thunder play more games in Tulsa? “It’s been discussed on our end,” said team chairman Clay Bennett. “We’re very willing to pursue that. We’ll do what the market wants us to do. We view Tulsa as a very important part of this endeavor. If there is support for multiple games we’d very much like to play in Tulsa.”
- Not exactly Thunder news, but kind of. Gary Payton is getting involved to bring the NBA back to Seattle. “Former Sonics guard Gary Payton was at Qwest Field to raise the 12th Man flag before Sunday’s kickoff, then later told reporters he is trying to get a group together to bring an NBA franchise back to Seattle by 2011.” I am all for it. For one, I hate the way this whole thing went down and I hate that Seattle lost the Sonics. It wasn’t right, but that doesn’t mean that OKC shouldn’t be excited about the new team. And also, it will take some of the nasty spew away from OKC if Seattle gets a team back.
- The Tulsa World previews tonight’s game: “The Oklahoma City Thunder will play its first game on state soil and will face the Houston Rockets at the BOK Center. It will be the first basketball game played inside Tulsa’s new downtown arena. Get used to seeing the NBA in town more often.”
- Jimmie Tramel of the Tulsa World: “Oklahoma hit the jackpot when Chris Paul was a resident. During the Hornets’ two-year stay in Oklahoma City, the point guard handled himself in a first-class manner, picking up a Henry P. Iba Citizen Athlete Award and giving fans every reason to believe they were watching a budding superstar. Now it appears the state’s new basketball franchise hit a jackpot, this one going by the name of Kevin Durant.”
