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What we can learn from the Finals

by Royce Young on June 2, 2009 at 11:06 am 47 Comments

I know that right now, actual basketball being played on an actual court with actual NBA players is probably pretty far back in Thunder fans’ minds. I think the Thunder fan thought flow right now goes: “Draft-Draft-James Harden-Ricky Rubio-Food–Work–Draft-Sleep-Trades-Food-Draft-NBA Finals-Hasheem Thabeet.” Or something like that.

But the truth is, the Finals are what we all want. I may be totally crazy here, but I’d much rather have won a title than won the lottery. Heck, I’d rather have gotten swept in the Western quarterfinals than been in the lottery. But that’s me. I’d rather be playing than watching and wishing. The Finals are the reason we all care so much about free agency and the draft. Because you know, we want players that can help us get there.

Anyway, so with the Finals starting this week and I was thinking: What can Thunder fans and/or players take out of this? Here’s five things:

1. A superstar is needed, but the other four guys are just as important. Watch the way the Lakers maneuver with Kobe Bryant. He’s the unquestioned MAN of that team, but there’s a reason they are here and the Cavs are not. Those reasons are Andrew Bynum, Trevor Ariza, Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol. Kevin Durant is already a fantastic - I say FANTASTIC - player, but he can’t do it on his own. Nor could Russell Westbrook or Jeff Green. It’s got to be five guys working as one. Or at least three or four. Kobe doesn’t have to take every shot. He’s perfectly content scoring 18 on 6-11 shooting. He just waits and strikes when needed. Nobody does it better.

I remember some of my favorite basketball the Thunder played this season was while KD was out (don’t read anything into that). The team swung the ball side-to-side, made crisp cuts and moved the ball everywhere. It was beautiful basketball. They didn’t have the out of KD standing on the wing. They couldn’t just toss it to him and hope for the best. They all had to contribute. That’s the type of basketball is really takes to win, but insert a superstar player into the middle of it and you’ve got something special. It’s harder to figure out than you think though. The Magic understand Dwight Howard’s abilities and deficiencies and adjust accordingly. Same with the Lakers. You have to understand how everything works around your best player. Both these squads have that figured out pretty well. Keep Reading…

Tuesday Bolts – Big Whiskey Edition

by Royce Young on June 2, 2009 at 7:45 am 76 Comments

I don’t mean to impart on my own personal tastes on you fine people, but today my favorite band, Dave Matthews thunderbolt231 Band, releases a new album – Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King. And that’s not something that happens all that often either. I’m sure some people hate DMB and that’s fine – we all have our tastes. I’ve seen DMB 11 times and so it’s safe to say I enjoy their work. And I’m stoked about the new album, so if you don’t like it, soo-oorrrrry.

Malik Rose says the Thunder needs some nastiness: “On the flip side, practices were too fun. A little elbow or a little fight here or there in practice, being physical, pushing and shoving is good. But when you step off the court, it’s great to get back to being best friends, being close, hanging out and joking.” Some call it grit. During this year’s NBA playoffs, “nastiness” was a term used to describe the Houston Rockets’ and Denver Nuggets’ ability to go toe-to-toe with the highly favored Los Angeles Lakers. Call it what you want, but Rose, who won two NBA titles with the San Antonio Spurs, said developing toughness is essential.”

Designs for the Thunder’s new scoreboard were released and let me tell you – awesome. Just awesome. I don’t know if I’m more excited about next season because of the team, or because I get to see the new scoreboard: “It weighs 46,000 pounds, is 31 feet tall and 35 feet wide and features a dozen video panels as well as an LED ring. Indeed, the new Ford Center scoreboard will be one of the biggest and best in the NBA. After months of research, backing from Oklahoma City taxpayers and the underlying goal of upgrading the fan’s in-game experience, the Thunder on Monday unveiled designs for its new $3.9 million scoreboard that will be one of the leading scoreboards in NBA and NHL arenas.”

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Stephen Curry with Sporting News: “CL: What can you tell me about your interviews? Who wanted to talk to you? Who did you want to talk to? SC: I had teams like Houston, Washington and Oklahoma City; teams in need of a point guard. Of course the New York teams were there. A lot of teams that are planning to trade up and move up in the lottery wanted to talk to me to see how I felt about their team. Of the 14 teams, they’re all equally excited to get to know me a bit.” Keep Reading…

Monday Bolts – 6.1.09

by Royce Young on June 1, 2009 at 7:44 am 78 Comments

The 66ers are suing the arena that they played in last year: “The ownership group of the 66ers — a minor league thunderbolt23 professional basketball team affiliated with the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder — has filed a lawsuit in Tulsa County District Court against Home Ventures Inc., the SpiritBank Event Center’s owner and operator. The 66ers’ ownership group is led by Clay Bennett, who also owns the Thunder. The 66ers played one basketball season, 2008-09, in the Bixby arena but will have a new home next year. The 66ers claim that the SpiritBank center’s ownership group, led by President Tim Remy, owes more than $100,000 and hasn’t paid anything to the professional basketball franchise during its one year as a tenant in the arena. The 66ers seek more than $200,000 in compensatory damages.”

Evidently, the Thunder likes Ricky Rubio – shocking, I know: “What, then, will the Oklahoma City Thunder do with the third overall pick? The buzz being sent out by the team is that they might go shooting guard, and names like James Harden and DeMar DeRozan have been thrown out there for the media to feast upon. Yet while we’ve been in Chicago catching up with anyone and everyone in the NBA, we’ve learned that the Thunder are actually very seriously considering taking Ricky Rubio with the #3 and moving Russell Westbrook, who is a Brandon Roy type of point guard, over to his more natural position off the ball. Keep in mind that this is the time of misdirection and distraction. NBA general managers don’t want anyone to know who they really like, as that knowledge empowers a team above them to out-maneuver them by taking their player and then offering to trade him down for a lower pick and an additional asset. Most of the teams are just starting to truly understand who these players are, and this year more than any other in recent memory we’ll see June workouts influence who teams ultimately choose at the draft. If the draft were today, however, we’re assured that the Thunder would most likely go with Rubio, improving what is already the best young nucleus in the NBA.”

OKC likes Steph Curry a lot too, supposedly: “Oklahoma City has a Stephen Curry fixation. The Thunder attended all of Curry’s home games at Davidson this past season and is looking at him as a potential shooting guard. But they’ll almost certainly move down from the No. 3 pick if they decide to take him. Scouts are not only high on Curry’s shooting, but also think he can make players better around him. “When you look at that Davidson team, they barely had any other Division I players,” said one scout.” Keep Reading…

Thoughts from the playoffs

by Joe on May 31, 2009 at 5:00 pm 24 Comments

I’ve been watching the Orlando Magic now with some curiosity. I love the way they play. I’ve often thought that their style of play might produce a lot of wins during the regular season, but flame out in the playoffs. They have great fundamentals on both offense and defense, but they rely so heavily on the three point shot that I suspected the great defense of Boston (pre-Garnett injury) and Cleveland might force them out of their sets and the shots might not fall. But Orlando did a great job of doing what they do, and not letting their opponent derail them. I usually like the underdog, and I was glad to see them put away Cleveland and put an end to the Kobe/Lebron love-fest.

In so many ways the Magic are the anti-Thunder of 2008-2009. First, they have a Superman in the middle, and we have some Clark Kents. Not scrubs, but certainly not able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Secondly, their unbelievable reliance on the three ball, third, efficient offense despite the heavy three ball, and fourth, great perimeter defense backed up by said Superman. Keep Reading…

Saturday Morning Cartoons: A little playoff nostalgia

by Royce Young on May 30, 2009 at 7:30 am 50 Comments

Since the NBA Finals are right around the corner and we’ve gotten to the really, really good part of the playoffs, I caught myself watching lots of old playoff footage. And nothing brings me back to being 11 years old quite like this video. I can just picture my older brother Cody and I sitting in front of the TV in our Jordan jerseys, ready and waiting for the game to start. Then the lights go out, the Alan Parsons Project comes on and that iconic announcer voice blares over the PA. You know a team’s intro is good when the channel broadcasting the game forgoes commercials (and money) to air it. Ah, brings me back. Reminds me of why I like this game so much in the first place.

Ricky Rubio, hype and the great unknown

by Royce Young on May 29, 2009 at 1:06 pm 32 Comments

Really all you see streaking up the court is the hair. At least, it’s the first thing you notice. And to many, they see the hair, the flash and the crafty plays and they see someone else. Something bigger. They see something that makes them nickname this guy LaPistola. That’s right, the Spanish Pistol Pete, Ricky Rubio.

Rubio dashes across halfcourt and busts out his signature play, the fake-behind-the-back-wrap-around. It’s truly a fantastic play that not only brings you to your feet and makes you start clapping out of pure reaction, but also a slick play that helped score two points. But best of all, it’s sexy. It’s flashy. It just looks awesome. And because of plays like that, we’re lured into this young prospect and we don’t even really know why. We watch the mixtapes with the no-look lobs, the between-the-legs dishes and the behind-the-back-wrap-arounds. For the same reason people like And 1 Mixtapes, they like Ricky Rubio. He epitomizes the beauty of basketball. Nothing showcases how breathtaking the game can be like a perfectly executed pass. And because of this, we’ve fallen for this guy, yet we don’t really even know anything about him.

Henry Abbott had a tremendous breakdown of Ricky Rubio this week and it really hit my brain hard. Why are we all so high on this guy? Myself definitely included.

Driving home from the draft lottery late Tuesday I was a little overwhelmed by one thought:

I don’t know enough about Ricky Rubio. I must have heard 100 smart people sing his praises that night. He’s the one player with real buzz. A guard who is almost unassailed as the second best prospect in the 2009 NBA draft.

But what does he do? What are his NBA skills? On what basis do we believe he’s a truly special basketball player? Is he really good enough that he can be picked high without even working out against his contemporaries? What could I see Ricky Rubio do that would make clear how it is he’s a better bet than Brandon Jennings, Stephen Curry, Ty Lawson, Jonny Flynn, Jrue Holiday, Tyreke Evans, Darren Collison, Patrick Mills, Nick Calathes, Eric Maynor, Sergio Llull, A.J. Price, Nando de Colo and the like?

At the lottery, everybody said the same admiring things about his feel for the game, handle, vision, leadership … but sometimes these ideas leap from mind to mind without ever touching ground. I found myself looking around the room and wondering: How much have you even seen Rubio play? What kind of vetting has he had?

Read Henry’s breakdown. He’s basically saying everything I’m saying here, but much better. So if you want to just open a new tab and read Henry’s article and never read another word of this, I won’t be offended. Seriously, go right ahead. But today, Chad Ford dropped this little nugget that’s sure to get people chattering:

“Speaking of Rubio, I encountered a number of NBA GMs and scouts this week who were pretty skeptical about Rubio’s NBA future. They see him as an average athlete who can’t shoot well and who is turnover prone, and wonder aloud why he’s ranked so high.

A few GMs said Rubio isn’t in their top five. While I’ve heard doubts expressed before, the skepticism was expressed much more strongly this week by more execs. I’m going to keep digging. Maybe Henry Abbott struck a chord with his TrueHoop post on Rubio.

In any case, if Memphis and Oklahoma City decide against Rubio and don’t trade either of their picks to a team that wants to move up to get him, it’s hard to see the Sacramento Kings passing on Rubio at No. 4.”

Well then. You have to wonder how much of this is posturing. Maybe Donnie Walsh is saying this because he’s praying Rubio will drop all the way down to him. Maybe Geoff Petrie is running around saying, “Nah, he’s not that good. Seriously guys, he can’t even shoot!” but is lighting Spanish vigils each night before he goes to bed. You can never tell with these guys. They’re all playing the game and they all want their guy. So it may mean nothing and in fact, it probably does mean nothing. Keep Reading…

The Thunder just does things the right way

by Royce Young on May 29, 2009 at 8:28 am 11 Comments

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.

Friday Bolts – 5.29.09

by Royce Young on May 29, 2009 at 8:05 am 73 Comments

Scott Howard-Cooper writes about the search for the next Russell Westbrook: “The Thunder’s Russell Westbrook has thunderbolt2319 unavoidably become part of the 2009 draft conversation despite already having completed an encouraging rookie season. That’s nothing. Randy White, a 1989 first-rounder, is back in, too.Four weeks until the draft, and it is impossible to avoid the intersection of past and present in a sign that lottery teams are grabbing for any safety vest while staring at greater risk than usual. So, UCLA’s Jrue Holiday is eerily Russell Westbrook and Memphis’ Tyreke Evans is a little bit. And in breaking news, White didn’t work as the No. 8 pick 20 years ago.”

Jonathan Givony has some interesting info for us Thunder fans – he says OKC favors James Harden: “Most teams we’ve spoken to in Chicago are indicating that they believe Oklahoma City is indeed leaning towards picking Harden. They also believe the Thunder are not enamored with Rubio at all, as they are committed to developing Russell Westbrook at his natural position-point guard.”

Some have seen it already, but a fantastic HoopsWorld profile of Sam Presti: “After just one year with the Spurs, Presti was named the team’s special assistant which led to a defining moment in his career. Coach Gregg Popovich was unimpressed with a young guard, Tony Parker from France, that they had been working out. “You’re wasting my time,” said Popovich to Buford and Presti. “This kid is terrible.” Convinced that Parker had special skills, Presti put an eight-minute videotape together highlighting Parker’s talents which swayed Popovich to give him another look, ultimately leading to the decision to draft him with their 28th pick.” You don’t have to tell me he’s smart. I’m definitely on board with Sam.

Let me ask you guys this: What’s the last negative Oklahoma City story you saw? Because I look around pretty thoroughly each day and I haven’t seen one in a while. We all knew it would pass, but let me tell you, I’m sure glad it finally did. Now instead of Clay Bennett hate stories, we have Sam Presti is a genius and the Thunder is the team of the future stories. I love it. Keep Reading…

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