November down, December now: What should we expect?

yup alex those shirts about kd where pretty tight

Mullens didn't mind lettin' Hardin take all the post up opportunities did he?

@Durantula
Nice....

@MartzMimic
Yeah I guess I wanted it too much. Devon Hardin and Mullens playing right now online.

@GAP
Sneak an extra game in there? :)

I think we're 8-7, 7-8 depending on which way the ball bounces.

sorry 8-7

Although we might get up for that Laker game and show the world that that game there was a fluke, so 9-8

I would have to say 8-8 month

Mmmmm... I think our team emerges from the Houston loss and will strike down upon the NBA with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy the Broingtons:

Dec. 2 – Philadelphia W
Dec. 4 – Boston W
Dec. 7 – Golden State W
Dec. 11 – at Memphis W
Dec. 13 – Cleveland W
Dec. 14 – at Denver W
Dec. 16 – Dallas W
Dec. 18 – Detroit W
Dec. 19 – at Houston W
Dec. 22 – at L.A. Lakers W
Dec. 23 – at Phoenix W
Dec. 26 – Charlotte W
Dec. 28 – at New Jersey W
Dec. 29 – at Washington W
Dec. 31 – Utah W

15-0 December.

@justin
I agree with you. I am fine with Wilks as a third guard and a replacement for Ollie. And also that Livngston never really thrilled me as a point guard. Ollie is just what we needed (big props to Presti) and his 4 week absence will be a shame.

he will sign with the sixers tomorrow

@cpt.c-note

bench? Bench? BENCH? I don't play off no *&^% BENCH!...

and that is why AI will be done after this season... AI the new TO of the NBA

Then again...I'd like to rout for him and his points off the bench...

@Dan2
There's no way that Presti and co would want AI at THIS stage of his career. I thought the same thing, at first, then realized this with our recent history in making moves.

What if we added Allen Iverson? We have the cap space, he would be cheap, and if he is willing to be a backup, then it could fit, although he doesn't play the greatest defense. A.I has to be an upgrade to Mike Wilks and Livingston.

*Toddler ;>

I think we go 7-8
We beat some lesser teams, still have problems with back-to-backs, and the "top teams" take advantage of our youth/possible injuries to starters.(not trying to jinx us, but its gonna happen at some point.) This would leave us at 16-16, and on pace to go .500!
Not too shabby, me thinks...

Dec. 2 – Philadelphia W
Dec. 4 – Boston L
Dec. 7 – Golden State W
Dec. 11 – at Memphis W
Dec. 13 – Cleveland L
Dec. 14 – at Denver L
Dec. 16 – Dallas L
Dec. 18 – Detroit W
Dec. 19 – at Houston L
Dec. 22 – at L.A. Lakers L
Dec. 23 – at Phoenix L
Dec. 26 – Charlotte W
Dec. 28 – at New Jersey W
Dec. 29 – at Washington L
Dec. 31 – Utah W

btw...
I got to Tree & Leaf around 4:30 with my 20 month old baby girl,(maybe toddle sizes next time?), just in time to get my "NWA-Krisic" tee and, of course, my official "Zombie Sonics" Tee!! (both in my size, to!)
I'll be representing on Friday vs. The Celtics. But first things first...BEAT THE 76ERS!! GO THUNDER!!!

I think we go 6-9

Dec. 2 – Philadelphia W
Dec. 4 – Boston L
Dec. 7 – Golden State W
Dec. 11 – at Memphis L
Dec. 13 – Cleveland L
Dec. 14 – at Denver W
Dec. 16 – Dallas L
Dec. 18 – Detroit L
Dec. 19 – at Houston W
Dec. 22 – at L.A. Lakers L
Dec. 23 – at Phoenix L
Dec. 26 – Charlotte L
Dec. 28 – at New Jersey W
Dec. 29 – at Washington W
Dec. 31 – Utah L

15-17 to end the year not bad.

HAHAHA anyone seen Collisons pic on his twitter? http://twitter.com/account/profile_image/nickcollison4?hreflang=en

Royce :@J.G
.
You’re such a buzzkill. Next you’re going to tell me the Thunder’s not going to win an NBA title this year. Go ahead. Go ahead and tell me that.

haha, its possible, the 1999 knicks went to finals as the 8th seed

Let me know what you guys think of this shirt design "Nicknames"...I did a couple different colors http://img162.yfrog.com/i/nicknamesblacka.pdf/
http://img49.yfrog.com/i/nicknamesfilled.pdf/
http://img160.yfrog.com/i/nicknamesunfilled.pdf/

@Royce
....gulp....

@J.G.
You're such a buzzkill. Next you're going to tell me the Thunder's not going to win an NBA title this year. Go ahead. Go ahead and tell me that.

Well now I just sound like a downer, people. Thanks. :)

i hope to have 15 wins at least by jan, 20 wins is my stretch goal, which is basically all the teams with losing records and half the games against the better teams.

Mike Wilks is an adequate Kevin Ollie replacement. Shaun Livingston's career appears to be done, at least at point guard. I don't think I saw him play any point guard in in summer or preseason. I'd rather have Mike Wilks in there, really. They seem to want Livingston to play more as a swing man.

It'll be an accomplishment to be at .500 going into January. I don't think this is really a tough month, though. Seven of the fifteen games are against teams under .500, and another of the home games is against Utah who aren't that strong this season. I think we match up well against Dallas, also.

I think the growth of Ibaka and White could really determine how far we go this year, much more so if Collison and Kristic keep getting injured.

I think the injuries were a big part to loosing to Houston, we were leading at half time, tied going into the 4th, but they crushed us in the 4th, I think partly due to fatigue and a complete lack of veteran leadership off the bench, I don't consider Mike Wilks as being decent veteran like Ollie. We had 2 true rookies, Ibaka and Harden, and White is kind of a rookie with so little experience last year, coming off the bench. We really really needed some classic Collison grit off the bench. I think it can be small minutes here and there by Collison and Ollie that prevents big runs, even if they aren't a part of big thunder runs, they keep our opponet's bench in check. Landry had the same game this time around, 21 10, but Collison usually has 6-9 rebounds, which wasn't replaced by Ibaka or White.

@Royce
Agreed. It's just hard to imagine them winning any tail-ends of their back-to-backs against Denver, Houston, Phoenix, or Washington unless the bench gets healthy fast or another significant acquisition is made. It's not out of doubt in the team's talent that some cloudier predictions could be made. I think their success this month rest more on the shoulders of Brooks and perhaps Presti than on Durant and co.

@Royce
I'd agree that they're not huge game-changers, but I fear that they're significant enough to be able to turn close games the other way. Collison alone affects the outcome of games with his rebounding and gritty post play down low (pretty sure he would have made a dent into the Rockets rebound-a-thon), but even if he plays he is still not the Collison from last year.

The loss of the entire backup PG rotation is the biggest "uh-oh" to me because, if RW starts having a horrible game, does anyone take him out to replace him with Wilks? And when Wilks is in the game, he doesn't really contribute offensively all that much, and his size makes him a defensive liability. And this is no offense to him at all because I love how hard he plays, but it's just the reality of having to play a career third string point guard as your key pg reserve.

And even if Livingston gets back, he hasn't looked like the Livingston from last year at all.

Tack on the daunting nature of this month (3 game road trip, 4 back-to-backs like you said) and a glaring lack of depth at the point and post positions if anyone else gets hurt...and that just spells 6-9 to me. Obviously I hope I'm wrong, because if they can somehow head into January at 17-15, then they WILL make the playoffs as the rest of the way is straight downhill.

By the way, I tried to be as sensible as I could in judging this. But I also didn't want to sell this group short just to err on the side of caution. I think they can win some games this month, I really do.

@J.G.
Well I suppose those factor in, but I feel like they aren't HUGE game-changing injuries. You might see it differently. Collison will play tomorrow so that's good, but Weaver being out really doesn't bother me a ton because this record was built mostly without him. Of course, all three of Ollie, Livingston and Weaver being out kind of hurts though.

@Royce
Weaver being out 4 months when he was looking like a contributor and Collison still being banged up and not 100% from the ankle injury in addition to the latest set back, on top of Ollie and Livingston.

Long-time reader, first-time poster here. I grew up in Oklahoma and now spend a few evenings a week chasing down Thunder games from various locales in Northwest Arkansas. It's been a great first month. And while it seems somewhat reasonable to be optimistic about the upcoming stretch of tough games due to the Thunder's tendency to rise up/stoop down to the competition, most of these good teams have good coaching, and, as was pointed out in an earlier thread, the Thunder seem to be (potentially) figure-outable. When you factor in the inevitable wear of fatigue on an injury-depleted squad and the forgettable fact their they're SO young, a lot of late-game meltdowns could be on the way. It wouldn't be a big deal really, and it wouldn't necessarily keep them out of the playoffs, but December could be disappointing.

P.S. Ordered a Zombie Sonics shirt for myself and a Beard shirt for my girlfriend at 8:00 this morning. We're both big fans of the blog, and we'll be representing at the Cavs game December 13.

@J.G.
Which injuries? Ollie and Livingston?

Is there any chance we pick up a guard that can really contribute instead of Wilks? He doesn't seem like he is going to contribute much...

Royce, did we factor injuries into these predictions?

I won't just be excited if they go 17-15 with the current lineup of available players, I'll be outright ecstatic...if not borderline shocked in need of a paper bag.