Scott Brooks on “Twitting“: “Twitting? What is it?’” Oklahoma City interim coach Scott Brooks said the other day. “So 
you ‘tweet’ on Twitter? I don’t anticipate myself ever doing that. I guess I’m not around the guys in the locker room enough to see it.”
The Lost Ogle thinks we should say bye to Blake. And makes the point that Oklahoma State fans that are rooting against the Thunder winning the lottery because that means a Sooner would join the team, should stop. Is that really happening? Because that’s, uh, really stupid. Clark makes a comparison too: “As I said before, I initially bought the Boozer link and once mentioned it to Patrick. Then, Patrick came up with a much better player to view Griffin in light of: Amar’e Stoudamire. The Suns’ power forward/center is practically who Blake was cloned from. Stoudamire has the strength and the athleticism to overpower, run past or jump over any defender who has the misfortune of being assigned to him.” Fran Fraschilla agrees with you. And so do I.
Another vote for KD for Most Improved: “I still vote for Kevin Durant for most improved; making the jump from pretty good to almost great is a bigger deal to me than whoever doubled their numbers because their minutes went up significantly. The difference between champions and playoff teams is that champions are led by men who play with that attitude, that ‘I’m King of the World and I’m gonna crush you’re a@#!’ demeanor. Durant has been showing that this season, and it’s going to serve him well when he has a good team around him. Some might want to give it to Paul Milsap, but he really just got more minutes to do what he was already capable of doing. Rajon Rondo has definitely gotten better, but how much of that is due to his teammates? Devin Harris got consistent minutes and more shot opportunities, but I don’t know that he is a better player than he was a year ago. Durant has showed a real change in the quality of his performance, one that transcends minutes and shots.”
Talking Rookie of the Year: “However, should Rose’s inspired play and emergence as a point guard of the future be the only factors? The media hands out the ROY award and, honestly, I don’t have the faith in them to not simply skim the candidates list, spy “Rose, Derrick,” and auto vote him or have their intern/lackey vote for him. Rose –to most media types– is probably the most household of rookies this season; yet, Russell Westbrook has been steadily and silently dominating teams all season long in the forgotten NBA outpost of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.”
Why are people so obsessed with this so-called “wall” for rookies? Can a guy not have a couple off nights? Scott Brooks doesn’t buy it: Thunder interim coach Scott Brooks doesn’t buy into the theory rookies inevitably hit a wall during an 82-game grind. But whatever the reasons, Thunder rookie point guard Russell Westbrook’s stats have slipped the past two weeks, severely hampering his chances of winning Rookie of the Year. Best known for his athleticism and defense, Westbrook is shooting 35.1 percent the past seven games, 31.9 percent the past five. ”All guys have shooting slumps,” Brooks said. “He hasn’t shot the ball well but he’s done other things we like that he’s improving on. He’s making his teammates better. He’s passing the ball. He makes his free throws, rebounds and is playing good defense.”
Raptors Republic previewing tonight’s game: “That’s what Kevin Durant’s doing season and to think that Leo said the guy has bad shot-selection. To put this in a Raptors perspective consider that Bosh’s best season as a Raptor came in 06-07 when he averaged 22.6/10.7 in his fourth year. Durant appears to be well on his way to surpassing those marks on a consistent basis and is headed for stardom. So when you’re dreaming up Bosh trade-scenarios this summer just leave him out of it because there’s no way OKC is parting with him. There are two players that I would love to see on the Raptors: Monta Ellis and Jeff Green. Green had a bad rookie season coming out of Georgetown last year and might’ve been had in the summer. This year’s he’s upped his scoring by 7 points, his rebounding by 2, his 3-pt shooting by a whopping 13% and his FG% by 2. The athletic 17/7 forward is a great sidekick to Durant and it’s going to be hard to pry him away from OKC but then again, Bosh’s lure could be high.”
Earl Watson looks at the bright side as he uses his time off to work on his jumpshot: “My hand is starting to feel better and I’m getting more comfortable,” Watson said. “The doctor said it takes a full year to heal completely with any break and it’s actually getting closer. I can tell the difference in my shot. I can tell the difference with the way the ball fits in my hand. It was getting better the last couple of games before the DNPs. So it’s just a growth and for me that’s exciting.”
[...] The Thunder managed to keep the turnovers down to 11, but shooting was off — 41.7 percent — and treys, three of 13, were few and far between. And they didn’t come close to their usual board dominance, pulling in only 37 rebounds. The OKC bench was good for 42 points, though 21 of those came from Nick Collison; Kevin Durant, who logged 37 minutes, about five less than usual, managed only 18 points, and no one else had more than 11. Damien Wilkins, though, had something to prove: in less than four minutes of garbage time he rattled off 8 points, missing only one shot. Even Robert Swift came out to play, though Earl Watson remains glued to the bench. [...]