Follow the Thunder on Twitter. When it reaches 1,500 followers, they’re giving away things from players’ lockers. 
Dibs on Robert Swift’s game worn jersey!
Speaking of, evidently Kevin Durant has officially stepped into Twitteronia. I assume it’s real since he’s being “followed” by the official Thunder twitter. His first tweet? “Eating breakfast.” Man, this should be awesome. UPDATE! I asked KD if he was going to be like Shaq and have people chasing him all over Penn Square Mall and he said, “haha. No, no. I won’t be like Shaq.” Correspondence with Kevin Durant! I’m a real journalist!!! WOOO!!!!
Let me say that last night’s Chicago-Boston game was one of the best I’ve ever watched. It was one of those games where you could just feel the awesomeness of it. You had Ray Allen going for 51. The scuffle in the first half. Rajon Rondo with 19 assists and ZERO turnovers. John Salmons and Derrick Rose combining for 53. Allen’s dagger three in overtime and then another coldblooded jumper in the third overtime. Joakim Noah’s unreal fast break dunk and-1. Everything about it was awesome. Derrick Rose’s block on Rondo. It was one of those games where you knew it was going on ESPN Classic tomorrow morning at the end of regulation. Didn’t matter what happened in OT. But the fact that they played three more unbelievable periods cemented it as one of the best ever. It was the NBA’s answer to Syracuse-UCONN. But with better players and more on the line. What. A. Game.
P.J. Carlesimo has some praise for Scott Brooks: “I thought Scotty (Brooks) and the staff did an excellent job. I thought the team continued to get better and better as the year went on, which is something that you always hope for. It happened last year, too, in Seattle. … The difference in Kevin Durant, and the individual improvement in some of the players is so dramatic. It’s primarily Kevin and how hard he worked, but it’s also Brian Keefe, the assistant who spent a lot of time working with him, and Scotty came along. I think Jeff Green has continued to improve. Russell Westbrook had an excellent rookie year. Some of the moves the team made have been really good. Most of the moves last year were salary cap moves, or moves to position themselves for the draft or free agency. Getting (Nenad) Krstic and (Thabo) Sefolosha are moves that will help the team on the floor right now and in the future.” Keep Reading…
that concerns about Chandler’s long-term health are no longer exclusive to the Thunder. I’ve heard the suggestion more than once in recent days that the Hornets — if they can find a team interested in stealing the 26-year-old from a team desperate to shed long-term salary obligations — might not be able to do better than Denver did last summer when it dumped Marcus Camby’s contract to the Los Angeles Clippers. The Nuggets, remember, gave Camby away for the mere option of trading second-round picks in 2010, agreeing to such a marginal return because the Clips had the cap space and willingness to absorb Camby’s contract.” Well, well, well. (h/t to JG for the heads up) 
player do you think is most comparable to yourself? George Gervin: I guess I would say Kevin Durant because he is long, he can put the ball on the floor, and he can shoot from anywhere.”
place vote. My ballot looked like this: 1. Derrick Rose 2. Russell Westbrook 3. Brook Lopez 4. Kevin Love 5. O.J. Mayo.
Ben Gordon might not, but Richard Hamilton would
I’m not much for trade rumors and trade mongering. You could sit around all day and say, “OK, how about 2012′s unprotected first rounder, the rights to DeVon Hardin and Chucky Atkins’ expiring contract for Chris Paul. Come on, the Hornets would have to do this.” It kind of gets old. It’s just hypothesizing about trades that will almost never, ever, ever happen. But sometimes it’s fun. And sometimes, it makes complete sense.
So with the word on the street being that the Pistons want to break up their trio of Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and Rasheed Wallace, I think you’ve got to look at options. I mentioned back in - heck, I don’t know when I mentioned it – but I mentioned sometime how much I like Hamilton’s game for this team (I also said I sort of liked Grant Hill, but to a lesser degree). Quality defender, smart offensive player, great veteran leader that still has some gas in the tank and most importantly, fills the dead body slot at two-guard.
The Pistons just recently signed Hamilton to a five-year, $55 million contract. I don’t really like how big that number is and I definitely don’t like the length of the contract considering Rip is 31 with nine years and 742 games on his odometer. I think at some point within the next five years, Hamilton will have one, maybe two seasons of where he misses 20-30 games with some nagging injuries. The most he’s missed during his career was 15 this year. But the fact is, RIGHT NOW, Hamilton is still an excellent shooting guard. He’s 6-7 and has averaged at least 17 points a game since his second season. And while I wrote about Ben Gordon’s gunner mentality and how that doesn’t work because he’s a 16 shot a game guy and at least 1,000 shots a season, Hamilton does almost the exact same thing averaging 15.6 shots a game and took 1,043 this season.
So what makes him work? Keep Reading…