Daily Thunder.com

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…

FreeDarko will be coming out with a new book in time for the 2010-11 season. Color me freaking stoked. If you haven’t read The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac, well, then you should read it. I can’t wait for it to get made into a movie. I hear Michael Bay is directing.

Hey everybody, Tyson Chandler just had ankle surgery. Oh yeah, and another surgery on his TOE: “The New Orleans Hornets say center Tyson Chandler and forward James Posey both had successful surgeries for their injuries. Team spokesman Dennis Rogers said late Tuesday that Chandler had a procedure on his left ankle to relieve inflammation and another on his left toe.” Well well well…

I saw Taken last weekend (pretty good movie – not a ton of substance, but if you like broken arms, really fast hand-to-hand combat moves and deadly gun shots, it’s for you) but I couldn’t help but think about how much Scott Brooks like Liam Neeson. I think someone pointed that out last week in the comments, so the entire movie I sat there thinking, “Man, he DOES look a lot like Scott Brooks.” And therefore I told my brother-in-law this every other scene.

The LA Times Ted Green on a potential Clippers trade: “Entertaining almost anything except a change in ownership is almost always a very bad thing for them and probably a very good thing for Blake Griffin, who, if he’s lucky, will escape Don T’s Inferno. This presumably means the Clips are talking to people, NBA people, and that in turn means The Donald is listening to what these other teams have to say … Everyone knows the Clippers can screw up a two-car funeral, but there is one way they won’t/can’t mess this up. If the league wants Oklahoma homeboy Griffin to stay put and play for Oklahoma City, the Clippers have to get Kevin Durant and nothing less than Kevin Durant in return for that number one No. 1. Next to LeBron James, Durant is the next great scorer in the league, and he would score a lot of points for the Clippers, albeit many of them meaningless.” Kevin Durant for Blake Griffin? That’s a wee bit steep, isn’t it? Keep Reading…

Boy this speculation is driving me nuts. Now Darnell Mayberry is on the Blake Griffin trade wagon: “That would make Rubio available to the Thunder at No. 3 and open the door for a swap with the Clippers for Griffin. And you can forget about packaging Jeff Green or Russell Westbrook to land Griffin, although any potential negotiating by L.A. is sure to start there. But Thunder general manager Sam Presti likely wouldn’t part with Green or Westbrook and the No. 3, and history suggests he might not have to. Let’s revisit the 1993 draft. There was a power forward named Chris Webber who declared following his sophomore season. He was the consensus No. 1 pick out of Michigan and went first overall to the Orlando Magic. A point guard prodigy named Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway was also available. The Golden State Warriors were able to select him third overall only because the Philadelphia 76ers, with the No. 2 pick, went gaga over a 7-foot-5 center out of BYU named Shawn Bradley. The Magic and Warriors swapped selections, with Golden State also giving up three future first-round picks for Webber’s services. The Thunder sits in position to do the same with two potential lottery picks to offer next year, its own and Phoenix’s. OKC could also throw in its 2011 first-round pick and still avoid mortgaging its future by building a core that includes Westbrook, Green, Griffin and Kevin Durant.”

You know, all that doesn’t sound that far-fetched. If Sam Presti can somehow move to get Blake Griffin, while not giving up a piece of the core, then consider him a wizard. If things go as planned, next year’s and the year after that’s first round picks shouldn’t be all that valuable. In fact, Phoenix’s pick might be the most valuable of all. This next month is going to be fun – or torture, depending on your perspective.

OKC has reportedly worked out Vladamir Dasic, and 48 Minutes of Hell looks at the intriguing prospect: “Vladimir Dasic’s reported skill set makes my head spin. A basic report would tell us that Dasic is a 6′10 combo forward with legit 3 skills. DX has him at 225 lbs, but I’ve been told he is closer to 240. He has three point potential, looks comfortable on the perimeter, and can create his own shot. Good, good and good.” Keep Reading…

Just two three  new articles to highlight this morning, both each of them have the Spanish prodigy as the main course.

Draftexpress again tantalizes us with some very high placed “anonymous source” in the know: “The bottom line here is that Ricky has a large buyout—5.75 million Euros, both for this year and the year after. Depending on the team that selects him, he’s going to make a decision on whether he comes over or not. If he’s not satisfied, there is a very real possibility that he doesn’t come. His buyout is going to cost him a lot of money, and if it doesn’t make sense for him, he won’t do it. He is going to have to pay for the privilege of playing in the NBA”
According to the source, Rubio’s decision is going to come down to two things: winning and the role he’ll play for the team that picks him. The size of the market of the team that drafts him is apparently irrelevant, since his appeal will be on a global scale, reaching far past his team’s city limits. 

With that in mind, it appears that the Memphis Grizzlies will have to make a very strong sales pitch to Rubio for him to move off his initial stance of not wanting to play for them.

And then we have a nice breakdown over at Truehoop, where the author takes an in-depth look at what Ricky Rubio might be in the NBA at the outset: “I can’t find a single NBA scout or front-office person who is worried about his inability to finish — his age is more than a good enough excuse. Also helping his cause, he gets to the line like, and makes free throws nicely. He also has that improving 3-point shot.

But it’s worth noting that in the NBA, this kind of production tends to get you benched, or your coach fired.”

And out of the Memphis Commericial appeal via Truehoop, a little thing from the owner of the Grizzlies about Rubio and Thabeet: “Heisley — who thought about flying to Madrid with Wallace and Hollins — dismissed reports that he prefers UConn’s Hasheem Thabeet to Rubio. And he said that if the Grizzlies decide Rubio is the guy, they’ll take him no matter what his agent says.”

“We’re going to take the best player,” he said. “Everybody in the league should know that by now.”