An excellent, excellent story about how detailed oriented this Thunder organization is, passed along by reader Nix:
So I mentioned the other day in a thread that I won a prize from the Thunder’s Twitter page. I ended up winning one of those MASSIVE player banners that hung in the Ford Center. You know, the ones with the player’s face, number, & name. The only problem was that it was Chucky Atkins’ banner. Bamboozled.
I’m good friends with the owner of Buffalo Wild Wings so I asked him if he’d trade the banner for food. I told him it was Chucky’s and he replied, “Kevin Durant’s would have gotten you food for a year, Chucky’s might get you lunch.”
Well had that convo with Ed via Twitter. A thunder rep apparently saw our convo back and forth and he ended up tracking me down and saying, “I saw you didn’t seem to like the Chucky Atkins banner, would you prefer a jersey or Thabo’s shoes?”
Of course I was shocked because I wasn’t upset or anything. I was actually just happy to have one. Turns out I went by today and they took me to the Thunder shop and let me pick out whatever I wanted. KD Swingman jersey baby! Value: $100. It’s just a great organization.
How outstanding is that? With this story, the story from HoopsWorld this week about being in the playoffs and the Joe Smith story about missing OKC, it just shows you that these guys are building something special. Little things like that show how much attention to detail this organization pays attention to. They are 100 percent committed to doing things the right way. From big things like player development and scouting, all the way down to the tiniest things like prize giveaways and free agent mini-camps.
It may seem small and may seem like it’s no big deal, but it’s not like this is an isolated incident. This Thunder organization is just committed to doing things properly. OKC is rumored to be “very interested” in like six players in this draft, because they have scouted them so much. Again, that says something right there. When you stick to doing things right, it’s trickles down (or up, whichever way you want to look at it) and effects everything in a positive way.
Like I said in the Bolts, how long has it been since you’ve seen an OKC bashing story (knock on wood)? I know it’s been a while for me, and I look. We knew this organization could and would win people over. But because it’s doing things the right way, it’s happened sooner than later. Needless to say, I’m extremely proud to call the Thunder my team.
I'd give my eye teeth for a pair of KD1s in the Thunder colorways. You can find the black/orange/blue, white/red and white/silver pretty easy - even the orange ones from All-Star weekend - but the Thunder colorways Durant wore at home are hard to come by.
@Brian
"Thabo’s shoes? I bet that they don’t smell bad after 82 games"
Swiss cheese?
We need to get Chris Silva on this pronto. This is the kind of stuff we're supposed to know.
@Jax Raging Bile Duct
Maybe someone on here who tweets can contact RW, KD or Nick.
Someone definitely has to take a poll of NBA players then and see how often they change their shoes.
@Jax Raging Bile Duct
I hope not. Blisters much?
Surely they follow the athlete's code of "Never wear brand new shoes for a game. You have to break those puppies in."
I thought players had a new pair of shoes for every game.
@Nix
Yeah, kind of hard to get stoked about random stinky shoes. I understand the way you went. Probably a good decision.
@Brian
Well I wanted something I would actually use. I'm not a memorabilla kind of guy. The only reason I would have taken them would be to sell them. I actually felt bad when he called me because I sounded ungrateful. So selling the shoes would just make me feel worse.
Haha, I wondered the same thing.
That's amazing.
Why didn't Nix want Thabo's shoes? I bet that they don't smell bad after 82 games :P