Daily Thunder.com

The 66ers are suing the arena that they played in last year: “The ownership group of the 66ers — a minor league 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…

Scott Howard-Cooper writes about the search for the next Russell Westbrook: “The Thunder’s Russell Westbrook has 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…

According to this formula devised by Roland Beech of 82Games.com, the No. 3 pick is historically more productive than the No. 2. Oh yeah, that’s right, OKC picks third!: “First up is a simple, what should you expect, performance-wise from a given pick number? If you have say the 5th pick in the draft, what are your chances on average of landing a star player? … Keep in mind the stats are career per game averages so lower than the peak performance years of a player. Moreover, there is also some bias in that using recent years some of the current players may well spike up their career ‘standing’ with more years under the belt.”

Well this is cool – Joe Smith says he misses Oklahoma City: “It’s a testament to the franchise, it’s a testament to the guys in the locker room, my teammates down there, the direction of the organization … I grew really close to those guys down there,” Smith tells HOOPSWORLD. “That’s why it was a tough decision. Our record wasn’t right, wasn’t what we expected, but inside that locker room we had a good group, a tight group, and we really enjoyed being around each other. That’s always a tough situation to be in.” First and foremost, Smith knows he was witnessing something special as he watched Kevin Durant grow into a young NBA superstar. “KD’s a heck of a player,” says Smith. “Just being around him for the short time I was around him, seeing his work ethic, and how bad he wants to get better – he’s a heck of a talent. He brings a lot to the table on both ends of the floor, so the sky’s the limit for him. One day I think he’s going to be in a position to put his team in the playoffs and get a few runs at a championship.” Read the whole thing. Really great stuff.

Chad Ford’s second mock and he still has Rubio in OKC: “This is a tougher one. I’m told the Thunder like Rubio and that Rubio wouldn’t object to being in Oklahoma City. So from the Thunder’s point of view, the issue is how well Rubio would fit on the roster. Some in Oklahoma City see Russell Westbrook as the point guard of the future and aren’t sure how he’d fare without the ball in his hands. If Rubio is off the board, this could be a tough decision between Thabeet and James Harden. But Thunder GM Sam Presti is an opportunist. If he can get a couple of good assets in return for the No. 3 pick, he won’t be afraid to pull the trigger.” Keep Reading…