Happy Thanksgiving, Daniel Orton and DeAndre Liggins. You’re going to the D-League.
The Thunder announced late on Thursday Liggins and Orton have been assigned to the Tulsa 66ers.
Liggins has appeared in four games for the Thunder, playing a total of 11 minutes. Orton has just played in one game, playing two minutes.
Both will be in uniform when the 66ers open their season Nov. 23rd versus the Texas Legends at the SpiritBank Event Center.
With the thunder and celts coming off tough games, and I would suggest the sports gambling strategy of wagering on the young Thunder to be able to defeat the Celtics at the Garden! Ill tell you why here and how to bet the laker game also here!! come by read and enjoy!! http://nbawagers.com/friday-night-hoops/
kevin martin and perkins for gasol
@THUNDERCATS then perkins kills himself and they trade is recinded, trading perkins to the lakers would be a bad idea, he hates them.
@f5alcon @THUNDERCATS Why would you even fathom doing that?
Sacrifice our experienced off the bench scoring for a kid that needs to learn the ropes of the league. This cant be a serious suggestion in that aspect.
@THUNDERCATS no.
pau
I love making fun of greg oden
http://goo.gl/OdX8D
loolololololol
Free Eric Maynor, Presti please trade him to a team whose coach will let him play his game and whose fan base truly appreciates his game.
@MaynorVCU way to troll yourselves:)
@MaynorVCU Hi OKCbaby (again)
@MaynorVCU lolol
@supreme35 @MaynorVCU LOL its too early for this...
#crying
@KeBron @supreme35 @MaynorVCU Won't Eric be a free agent after this season?
For that Lotto pick, Alex Len is sticking out to me. Neol might be a PF in the NBA. Seems kinda short to me
neither of them will learn anything in tulsa, guess its ok for game time.
@Lost Ones But isn't learning that comes along with the game time the whole point?
@Old Man Game @Lost Ones square is a rhombus rhombus not a square
today is the day, the dead shall walk again, forget halloween, theres more to fear today my friend,
for this friday is black, and filled with so called deals, grab what you need, then run for the hills,
Be careful today my daily thunder friends, keep your wits and resolve about you, as your will breaks and bends,
This friday of blackness, shall eventually end today, but all we can do for now, is pray, pray, pray
*little HEART warming black friday poem for you guys/gals today* be safe, and if you work retail like me, bring a machete or a katana, it helps.....sorta :P
Thabeet is playing because our front court is weaker than our swing positions. Also, it's possible the 28th pick in the draft is not fit to contribute right away. Just a thought.
@justin_mia our bench has issues on the defensive and offense end, something has to give sooner or later and not thabeet.
@justin_mia DTers hold too high expectation on rookies. It also doesn't help that a potential top 10 (maybe 5) talent fell all the way to us, but wasn't the whole point of Perry being "a great fit" for the thunder because he wasn't expected to contribute right away on a championship contending squad?
@MrRaysian @justin_mia And you know, I like the way PJ3 is handling his business. I watched him during the warmups for the second half the other night. He was taking shots with deliberation, not goofing around, seemed to be taking it very seriously. I think he's still engaged even though he isn't getting minutes.
I have Brandon Roy and Andrew Bynum on my fantasy team. LOL. :)
@S4TISF4CTION damn homie
@S4TISF4CTION Have you learned nothing from Presti?
@rednuht @S4TISF4CTION To be fair, Presti (and the team doctor) did turn down Tyson Chandler, who then went on to win a NBA championship, a DPOY, and an Olympic Gold Medal
@S4TISF4CTION @OKman @rednuht and younger, and proving to be a'lot more versatile.
@OKman @rednuht That's funny how Ibaka was 2nd in all of those things.
@OKman @rednuht @S4TISF4CTION It almost would have meant we would has passed on Serge Ibaka, who at this moment is proving to be a perfect fit for the Thunder. This team would look a'lot different had that trade gone down.
@rednuht Roy was a risk, but I got him cheap. I had no clue that Bynum would be out this long.
we have 9 guys under rotation and occasionally Perry being the 10th rotational player. there's only 240 minutes available. Who's minutes would u be willing to take off to give Perry or lamb some minutes? or any other player more minutes (Besides probably the most obvious answer of Perkins)
@MrRaysian Before the season I thought PJ3 could earn minutes at SF, but then the trade happened and scrambled all our set rotations. Now it seems like Thabo plays the backup 3 as often as anyone and as good as he's playing there's no way I'd go with PJ3 over him.
@MrRaysian Staying consistent with my remarks below I thought the minutes Thabeet is getting would go to PJ3. While Thabeet has done nothing to lose his minutes my argument is why develop a 15mpg back up center when we could be developing a future 30mpg versatile big man capable of playing three positions.
Another valid question is how many games does Eric Maynor get to round into form before Jackson gets an opportunity?
@MrRaysian The lineup with KD at the center has killer efficiency. I say bench all the 4s and 5s on the roster and just play wings.
#future
#positionlessNBA
@MrRaysian On a slightly more serious note, outside a trade or a serious commitment to small ball or "tall-skinny" ball, there just isn't any minutes. Wouldn't mind after playoff status is assured to play like 10 games of small ball or "tall-skinny" ball. That might be the best bet, but still highly unlikely.
@MrRaysian none.
Apologies if this has been discussed to death, but I am astounded by the fact that Hasheem Thabeet is getting playing time to start the season and that he's actually doing something with the minutes.
In a time where most teams are playing more an more small ball Brooks is going big with Thabeet. Perry Jones was a late but sought after draft selection with an amazing package of size, athleticism and skill. Jones outplayed Thabeet during the preseason and seemed poised for rotation minutes.
How can this be explained?
@rednuht center is our weakest position so we have to play thabeet to improve him.
we play small ball,but in west there are some good teams which play big
@shiki Center is Miami's weakest position so they moved their power forward to center full time and are favored to win the championship.
Aldrich was traded but it's not like he was carrying over a rotation spot from last season, he barely played. Mohammed was phased out after the Laker series in the playoffs.
Center is our weakest position and we are relying on what looked to be the weakest prospect (Thabeet) coming into the season to solve issues as our starting center continues to regress.
How important is it to develop Thabeet? Is his ceiling going to make a difference on this team or are we simply developing a back up center that plays an average of 15mpg until the playoffs?
@rednuht Cole Aldrich was traded, thereby opening a spot for HASHEEM to get some minutes. /shrug
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@MisterJohnsonOKC @Tronchaser I haven't found the time.
@rednuht I believe the thought is that Thabeet needs minutes to improve. He's not "young" anymore. So we might as well figure out if he's worth trying to develop. So far it's worked out. Perry and Lamb will get minutes when the coaches and Presti think they are ready to contribute (will probably require roster changes)
@rednuht I don't know. Perry seems to have had a hard time adjusting to actual NBA games and his very limited minures sure havent made it any easier for him.
@Old Man Game Perry was fine in preseason playing against NBA players at an NBA pace. It's not like every player that Perry was matched up in preseason was waived. Perry is also very athletic so it's not like he can't keep pace physically.
@Old Man Game @rednuht he does seem a bit outmatched when he gets 4 or 5 minutes of meaningful playing time. It might be more mental than it is physical. I've noticed his defense is the biggest aspect of his game that needs work. He usually gets beat off the dribble causing someone to rotate and the rotated guy's man gets an easy layup.
@rednuht I think the actual NBA games have been a different story though. Nothing he can't adjust to but he's had a deer in headlights look too often when he's been out there to consistently break into the lineup.
@rednuht because Perry doesn't play Centre. and the only two centres on this roster are Perk and Thabeet.
I'm always fascinated by how Presti uses Tulsa and how he fills out the roster in Tulsa. In some ways it is a mirror to how he's built the Thunder.
A look at the drafting of Westbrook, Jackson and even Maynor as a collection of combo guards with good to great size has been duplicated in Tulsa. Zabian Dowdell was dominating during Aldrich's rookie season and the first dleague player to get a call up that season. After Dowdell was Jerome Dyson who played two seasons with Tulsa and last year Dwight Buycks. None of these guys is a pure point guard or even a natural distributor. It has been written that Presti was largely responsible for the Spurs drafting Tony Parker, who also fits this profile.
Presti tabs shooters at scoring guard in Tulsa, from former second round pick Vaden to Brady Morningstar last year to Andy Rautins this year. At power forward and center Presti typically looks for physical players who don't need the ball in Ryan Reid and Marcus Lewis, much like Perkins, Aldrich and Thabeet. At small forward Presti has liked versatility, guys who can pass, score, rebound and defend. This role was epitomized in Tulsa by Larry Owens. All of these duplicate players are currently playing in Europe or Israel for living wages.
A look at the roster this season shows that Orton is currently the only active center. With 6-8 Will Creekmore also listed at center. Orton is going to start and play a lot of minutes. The interesting part will be how long he stays in Tulsa. Presti left Aldrich down for 8-10 games at a time and really only brought him back to OKC to keep his spirits up and keep him connected to the Thunder teammates. After his single preseason game half the board was proclaiming Orton the most refined offensive center in camp. It will be interesting to see what kind of production he has and how it results in team play considering the center position is such and afterthought in OKC.
There are approximately 20+ guys in the d'league with the physical profile of D'Andre Liggins. Liggins made the Thunder roster because he out hustled and out worked everyone else in camp. I watched Liggins play at Kentucky and he didn't show that same level of energy, so the question is has Liggins re-invented himself into a player who is looking to outwork everyone like Ben Wallace once did or was that energy a momentary burst. Nothing is going to test that resolve like life in the d'league.
@rednuht What do you work for the D League or something? Damn.
@duhsweetness No, I started studying Tulsa because I was fascinated by how Presti was building the Thunder and was looking for clues what he was going to do next.
If you look at the rest of the league, the 66er's are going to be one of the youngest and least experienced teams in the league. The team is only carrying two players over from last year, which is rare for Tulsa despite the high turnover league wide.
Another interesting roster note is that Rautins might see significant time at point guard with Tulsa as there is currently only one other point guard on the roster.
@rednuht @duhsweetness what are realistic expectations for Orton in Tulsa as far as stats?
@duhsweetness I imagine we'll all be watching Orton. If Tulsa makes Orton the first option on offense it will be very interesting to see our system tiered in that direction and what it might mean for how Presti looks at the center position on the Thunder.
@rednuht I was being incredulous to be complimentary. I fully expect write-ups from you throughout the D-League season.
@rednuht Good point about the guys playing in Europe. Just because a D league stint doesn't result in an NBA call up doesn't mean a player can't be helped by it ultimately if it makes them better.