Daily Thunder.com

Check, check it – Joe Smith – I mean – JOE BEAST, has released his debut rap album. Making a guest appearance is Desmond Mason on and be sure to listen closely to Murda Kapital/Lucifer: “Keep thunder like Kevin Durant and the fire gone…” or something like that. All I know is that he mentioned KD by name. DJ Switch, a local DJ helped Smith on the album and evidently it’s getting airplay here in OKC – though I wouldn’t know because my dial rarely moves away from 98.1. You can download the whole thing for free at or preview it at his Myspace. You got to love the cover Just Died In Your Arms Tonight.

Empty the Bench looks at the seven teams in the West that didn’t make the playoffs: “They have an exciting core of youngsters-Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, and Russell Westbrook-who all can do a little of everything. They lost 14 games by 5 points or less, which should drop as this group gains more experience. Without anyone on the team averaging more than 6.9 rebounds, the Thunder were still seventh in the league with a +1.41 rebounding differential. Starters Nenad Krstic (center) and Thabo Sefolosha (guard-forward) weren’t present for a combined 95 games. Can wunderkind point guard Shaun Livingston continue his solid play in the summer league and actually play a full regular season?”

Joe and I both talked to Hoop China. Don’t worry, they translated it for us. Also, it looks like they interviewed Berry Tramel and Mike Baldwin as well: “I think if the Thunder can get Tony Parker, Chauncey Billups or Derrick Rose for next to nothing, then fine, let’s kick Westbrook to the curb. But otherwise, I don’t understand the questions about Westbrook.You’ve got a rookie point guard, who is only 20 years old, and didn’t get toplay much point in the past, who averages 15 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists a game for a bad team. He’s wonderfully athletic, and everyone thinks he will become a defensive stopper. He’s a penetrator deluxe. His flaws are that his decision-making is still shaky and he’s not a great shooter. There are about 29 NBA teams that hope the Thunder listens to the skeptics and moves Westbrook off the point.” Keep Reading…

This stupid thing called “the playoffs” is kind of going on now, so everybody is distracted and not writing as much “Watch out for the Thunder next year!” articles. I mean, come on! Sixers vs. Magic or Kevin Durant’s offseason workout regimen? Give the people what they want!

BallerBlogger’s final grades: “Thunder: C-After firing the dunce P.J. Carlesimo, and hiring Scott Brooks, the Thunder actually started to resemble a basketball team. Kevin Durant’s shooting stroke is golden, and Jeff Green is a lengthy, athletic sidekick. If Russell Westbrook ever develops, the Thunder will have quite an impressive threesome. Finding a defensive-minded shooting guard is a necessity, as is losing the notion that Robert Swift is a reliable NBA center. There’s certainly more growing pains to go through, but give the Thunder a couple more seasons and they’ll begin taking the West by storm.”

Again, Paul Woolpert out as 66ers head coach: “Woolpert arrived in Tulsa after winning three CBA championships with the Yakima Sun Kings of the CBA, where he finished as the fifth winningest coach in CBA history.  The 66ers are owned by the Oklahoma City Thunder, and as such, I’d assume Woolpert wasn’t in charge of many basketball decisions other than coaching.  If that is indeed the case, this would seemingly be a personality conflict, as Woolpert’s known to be a bit of a hot head – ejection from his first D-League game included.”

The Painted Area’s awards: “Russell Westbrook would have been on this list for much of the season, but from March 22 on, he averaged a putrid 12.4 ppg on .346 FG% shooting, as OKC stumbled home to a 4-9 record after showing some promise midseason.” Keep Reading…

Now that the season is over, I am already thinking about how this team might look come training camp in October. The particulars of course can not be known until they happen, but I thought it might be time to look at the odds  of our four free agents coming back for next season or not.

I don’t have any special insight on these matters, I just thought I would examine the salary implications, the fit, and the intangibles surrounding each player and the team going forward.

Desmond Mason : odds for returning 30%

Desmond is in a unique situation in that he’s stated publicly that he would like to be back, and he has connection with the fans from his playing days at Oklahoma State and with the relocated Hornets. He seems to be a positive influence in the locker room, and despite his puny offensive production, the Thunder played some of their best basketball of the season in January with Des in the starting lineup. Des replaced Damien Wilkins as a starter  for the Dec. 19th game against the Toronto Raptors. Prior to that game the team had lost 8 straight. As you may remember the Thunder got the win against the struggling Raptors that night. Over the next 6 or so weeks the team had some of it’s best success, but a closer look reveals there is more to the story.

Mason started 18 games during that stretch and the team was 8-10, which was a revelation for the team at the time.  But during those 18 games, the Thunder also had it’s easiest schedule of the season. In those 18 games with Desmond as a starter, 10 of the teams we matched up against were sub .500 at the time, and 11 of the games were at home.  It should also be noted that in the run up to that win against Toronto, the Thunder had been very competitive, almost getting wins despite Brooks experimenting with Wilcox in the starting lineup for 5 games and Petro for three; so there was  a ton of roster changes during this time. Also, after the win against Toronto with Des as the starter, the Thunder lost five consecutive games. Keep Reading…

Over at the team site Chris Silva has some bullet highlights from a  post season interview with Sam Presti.  There’s a lot of stuff in there and it’s worth the read, but here is my favorite part:

The Thunder will participate in both the Orlando and Las Vegas Summer Leagues. Westbrook will play only in Orlando. Serge Ibaka and DeVon Hardin, whose rights are owned by OKC, will probably play in both leagues. Shaun Livingston, D.J. White and Kyle Weaver will also play this summer.

Awesome! Both summer leagues are the bigger, better alternative to the low budget less expensive Rocky Mountain Revue that the previous owners always ran the Sonics through. The Vegas league especially is a pretty big deal. Last summer it had 21 NBA  teams participate. The Orlando had 6 teams (one of which was OKC-before they were the Thunder) and Westbrook and Green were first teamers.  There will be plenty of coverage of our young guys there and our two new draft picks. You can read the rest of the article here.

It’s just one short month plus one day until the draft lottery (May 19).  I think our luckiest player should go and represent us when the ping pong balls come out of the hopper. After Jeff Green’s game winner bank shot against GSW,  and his missed free throw putback for the win against Sacramento, Green should be there with a truck load of OU colored rabbits feet.