It’s official: Tyson Chandler to OKC for Wilcox, Smith and Hardin

Nevermind.....looks like we're not getting Chandler after all. I knew Bennett and Presti weren't as good as we thought. They're just lucky idiots. Seriously......FUCK GOD!

Getting Chandler was huge for the Thunder. We already have a great young 3 to build around with Durant, Green, and Westbrook. Now we add TC to mix and the future looks bright. Anybody that thinks Tyson Chandler is overrated doesn't know basketball. The guy is a straight up difference maker, and he's a big reason why the Hornets were so good last year. The way I see it, we were just reclaiming a piece of our own property when we brought Tyson back. We bought him for the Hornets in the first place, along with Peja. We deserve alot of credit for that team making tremendous strides.......us and some guy called CP3 of course. Obviously, it's gonna be a tough adjustment at first for Chandler becuz he was in such a great situation playing with Paul and West, but there's no way that playing with Durant, Green, and Westbrook won't put a smile on his face soon enough. He already knows that he'll have a chance to be a part of something special here too. Besides, he and Chris Paul will be reunited in a couple of years anyway. Welcome home TC....CP3, we'll see you soon buddy.

Hey guys!

Im just a spaniard who weirdly ended in this page.

Just wanted to tell you that, although Ricky Rubio is really great, it is widely known in Spain hes not moving until, at least, 2010.

See you!

@Matt
Good points (oops, no pun intended), especially on Teague and Curry. I'd be happy with either of those guys. I'm not sure about Rubio, but that's mostly because he's young and from all reports a brash leader, and I wonder about the chemistry with our guys. Also, is he actually going to be available this year?

I guess if we're going all-out run&gun then Curry or Teague would be optimal, but I still think Collison would be good value, especially if he's still around towards the end of the 1st round. He is a super smart player who can take over at the end of games if necessary and gets to the line, along with playing a little defense.

Pretty much, here are the PGs of interest in this draft for us.

Rubio- He's a pure point from Spain, who made a bit of a name for himself with his inspired play against Team USA as a 17 year old in the Olympics. Still needs to develop physically, but who doesn't at 17? He's the leader in the clubhouse to be the first point off the board.

Jrue Holiday- I'll be honest, I've watched a lot of this kid and I'm not very high on him. He strikes me as a poor man's Russell Westbrook, whom I ADORED in college. I think he'll probably take another year of seasoning before he comes out. Not a big fan of college guards who don't average double digits at the top of the first round.

Jeff Teague- I really like his fit for this team. He's a winner, just like the core 3 stars on the team. He makes big shots. He's something of a tweener at the point, but then again, so is Westbrook. I don't really view the Thunder as ever really being run by a "true point guard" so to speak. Between Teague, Westbrook, Durant and Green, there will always be more than enough ball handling and decision making on the floor. He fits in with the ultra-athletic core of the Thunder very well.

Steph Curry- While I am slightly hesitant about him, the emphasis is on SLIGHTLY. I view him as a nearly perfect fit for the offense. He's capable of playing the point, as he's showed this season at Davidson. (Assists doubled from 2.9 to 5.8 this season, a very nice mark from a college guard who LEADS THE COUNTRY in scoring.) However, we also know that he is incredibly comfortable off the ball, and certainly won't mind sharing ballhandling opportunities with Russell. This is important, because I think Westbrook needs the ball in his hands a bit to be as effective as he can be. Curry's jumper, as anyone who has ever seen him can attest to is simply........BUTTER! When Curry, Westbrook, Durant and Green are all on the court, the team will be sporting 4 extremely dangerous threats from 3 point land (as Westbrook's shot continues to develop). It will be nearly impossible to guard. Yes, Curry will be something of a defensive liability, but he's actually got very quick hands, and will cause some steals. We should also have lockdown defenders manning the other 4 spots on the court, so I'm not sure just how huge of a problem this would be.

@John
Ricky Rubio is a much better PG prospect than Jennings, imo. As long as we're outside the top 2 picks, I don't think anyone would question his value at that point of the draft. He's actually reasonable even at #2, only if we win the lottery would I be deterred from drafting him.

Holy dot, yall are acting like a bunch of sissies.

@mcmokken
Having watched both of them (Harden & Roy) play several times in person, I'd say that he's not likely to be the next Roy. I don't think he'll ever be that good, but I think he has about as much potential as Westbrook, and he is a similar player - great at driving to the hoop, great defense, good physical tools, weak jump shooting, so-so decision making / passing. All the problems Re: RW as PG/SG will apply to Harden. We'd be better served by grabbing a true PG in the draft, someone like Darren Collison or Ty Lawson. I guess maybe the problem that way is that there isn't a PG that should be drafted as high as we will probably pick. Maybe Brandon Jennings but I'm wary of that guy.

@dork

You ever hear of a guy named James Harden?

He's quite possibly the next Brandon Roy.

Sam Presti has a gift for selecting players I love to be on his team. Loved Jeff Green in college, loved Durant, Chandler has long been one of my favorite players in the NBA. I started following the Thunder because of Durant but I'm slowly turning into a legitimate huge thunder fan.

It is ridiculous how well Chandler is going to fit in. From everything I've read and heard, he likes playing defense, rebounding and blocking shots and hates the pressure of having to score and having to live up to his high draft pick through scoring. Marcus Camby 2.0. Could that fit in any freaking better with the Thunder? I'm grinning over here just thinking about how this team is going to play together. And Presti did it without losing anything. Wow.

Is it stealing when you buy a house the bank foreclosed on CB? NOLA made a business move and we happen to be flush with cash and have bigs to spare!

@okiefunk
that would make it less weird... but really... any Elton John reference is weird...lol

WOW! First we steal a team and now a player for the team! When are we changing our name to the Oklahoma City Horse thieves?

@AD --not as weird if I am a chick?

@daniel --You could just tell what a great guy Tyson was while he played here with NOLA...

The real Thunder fans will always remember the...

3 and FREAK'N 29!!!!

I had a picture of Royce just sitting around all day in his Hugh Hefner robe blogging about his life and the Thunder...

Now... That would be the life.

I've been "Thunder" since opening night when my husband brought home a t-shirt for me. Thunder born and Thunder bred!!!

@Brian:
"Whoever starts liking the Thunder now are all the bandwagoners"

Damn straight! I was "Thunder"... when "Thunder wasn't cool!"

@Dooney
HAHA!

TC that is, TC has a blog on NBA.com and tells those stories, not Royce.

I run this here blog, do a bit of freelancing and I work part-time for OU's College of Continuing Education's PR department.

He has a blog on NBA.com and he just tells stories about what he does for fun and about raising his kids with his wife... I'm looking forward to him joining the team.

Royce: What do you do now that you're out of college?

Plus... Isnt he a big-time family man?... I think I heard that somewhere

daniel :
ok, fellow bball nerds… does anyone know about Tyson’s personality? Will he get along with the other kids? Will he be happy in OKC?

I've actually spoken to him a couple of times through covering Hornets games for the OU Daily. Trust me, he fits right in. One game he was out and was in a suit and he shook everybody's hand that wanted to, had a huge smile and was extremely friendly.

He's a true professional that works hard and is very nice. Like AD said, he'll fit right in. And I honestly think the locker room that OKC has created leads to players fitting in like that.

@daniel
Chandler is a great guy and an even better teammate... He'll fit in perfectly with Durant and the boys

okiefunk :Why am I suddenly humming Elton John’s “Can you feel the love tonight?” lol

Ok... that's alittle weird and disturbing... but, today I'm cool with that...lol

ok, fellow bball nerds... does anyone know about Tyson's personality? Will he get along with the other kids? Will he be happy in OKC?

If Tyson is healthy and pans out... man, this could be huge!

The parts are really starting to fall together. Sweet. This isn't just "rebuilding", this is "rebuilding on steroids" (sorry ARod).

Dang, we're getting too good too fast! I mean, we don't want to go 82-0 next season - we gotta let some of those other team win a few too!

;)

This is just one more piece to the puzzle. We are now a SG/PG (depending on your thoughts of Russ) away from being a real playoff contender next year!

like, Wows-ville!!!!!

Exactly what I was wondering in my pre-game thing. We've got Krstic off the bench and... that's it. We might see Green or Durant at the five and maybe little Swift. I think Sene is back in uniform so who knows.

Also, is it me or is this as awesome as I think this is that the trade is creating so much buzz around the league and around Oklahoma City!?

I love it that I am receiving emails and phone calls about this trade...

Question: If Smith and Wilcox are members of the Hornets and Chandler won't be suiting up... who plays tonight? Does Swift get back in the rotation?

Basically, I look at it as OKC just signed Tyson Chandler to a 2-year contract for $11 million per. Which I see as a fantastic deal considering the Thunder unloaded two guys that weren't doing a whole heck of a lot.

Royce :You have serious short-term memory issues Sam or did you just pull a John Kerry on us?
Just two days ago, you said this about the then rumored deal:

Sam :I have to admit that would be a fantastic deal for OKC. Takes them out of the running for a big free agent signing this summer, but Chandler is probably better than any FA they would have been able to sign.

Now you’re laughing at Presti? Weird.

BUSTED!!

While, he's taking it a bit too far, Sam could be onto something.

This summer, with the economy in the tank and the salary cap / luxury tax bearing down, the market could be very soft for top-flight talent. Paul Milsap may be had for just 7m per year, or maybe less. Shaun Marion might struggle to even get the MLE.

However, the flip side of Chandler's 12m is that it is only for two years. It expires right about the time that KD and Uncle Jeff are going to need some substantial raises. Milsap/Milsap equivalent wouldn't have fit our salary structure nearly so neatly.

You have serious short-term memory issues Sam or did you just pull a John Kerry on us?

Just two days ago, you said this about the then rumored deal:

Sam :
I have to admit that would be a fantastic deal for OKC. Takes them out of the running for a big free agent signing this summer, but Chandler is probably better than any FA they would have been able to sign.

Now you're laughing at Presti? Weird.

He's not injury rpone btw, he played 79 games last season. Once his ankle heals he will be fine. also, your tlaking about signing a veteran "a la" smith, joe smith dosent even come off the bench for us, Why would we commit $6m to another play like him. BTW OKC is still under the cap so we can sign still sign our draft picks comfortably and get a good player with the MLE.

He's just mad that we are suddenly set for the future!!!!!!!!!! Who needs double digit points from a center when you have KD averaging 25 Westbrook avg. 15 and Green 15. Come on now. Chandler was brought in to swat every player that ever SMELLED the paint, not to put up points. He's just jealous.....and bitter.

Obviously Chandler is better than Joe Smith and Wilcox. But only a complete NBA neophyte would view a trade simply from the perspective of "which team got the better player(s)." Presti just committed himself to an 8 PPG, 8 RPG, 1 BPG guy for $12mm for the next two seasons. I think he could have done better if he held off until this summer and spent that money on two journeymen at $6mm apiece. A sharpshooting SG and a veteran PF/C (a la Joe Smith) would make this team much better than an injury-prone one dimensional C like Chandler. Just my two cents.

Why the bitter-beer face Sam? Just curious...

@Sam

You're probably right Sam. We should have kept Wilcox and Smith, who are both way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way better than Chandler.

Anyone know how many times in his career Tyson has averaged double digit points? ONE. Anyone know how many times he has averaged over 2 blocks? ZERO. Anyone know how big his contract is? Hahahahaha nice move, Presti.

Why am I suddenly humming Elton John's "Can you feel the love tonight?" lol

Whoah.

Anyone know when Chandler's foot is supposed to be 100%?

Wow, what a trade. To keep all those picks and get a 26 year old center...amazing work by Presti.

Presti... you are a stud. (I heart Presti)

Hoooray!!! Much as I would love to be the loudest one screaming welcome back Chandler tonight, I betcha dollars to Mardi Gras beads that Sir Tyson will be watching this one from the hotel room! Tooooo weird to come and sit on either bench I bet....

I love it!

Might be a little awkward for Chandler at tonight's game. Who's bench will he be required to sit by?