Daily Thunder.com

Darnell Mayberry on how the Spurs and Thunder are the same but different: “Perhaps no dynasty in NBA history has been considered boring like San Antonio. The Spurs, for whatever reason, just haven’t moved the needle in America’s heart despite fielding some of the best and brightest players the league has ever seen. Meanwhile, in Oklahoma City, the Thunder is a league darling and seemingly America’s sweetheart. No matter how you judge it, be it jersey sales or ticket sales, television viewers or butts in the seats, the Thunder is one of the most popular teams today. And the admiration is only growing. It’s a surprising development coming from such a small market.”

From Elias: “Kevin Durant had a team high 31 points and Russell Westbrook dished out 13 assists to lead the Thunder to their 10th consecutive victory on Friday night. Durant has led the team in scoring and Westbrook has been the high assists man in each of Oklahoma City’s wins during the streak. Only one other team in NBA history has won ten consecutive games with one player leading them in scoring and another leading in assists (outright or tied) in each game. In 1994-95, the Jazz won 13 straight games with Karl Malone leading the team in points and John Stockton posting the most assists in every game during the streak.” Keep Reading…

Darnell Mayberry with a great piece on OKC’s rotation: “The Thunder has had only minimal minutes to offer first- and second-year players since becoming a league heavyweight. But Brooks’ reluctance to award even those minutes to his younger players through the years, dating to D.J. White four seasons ago, continues to raise two popular questions: what does the Thunder have buried on its bench and why exactly aren’t those players playing outside of garbage time? To many, they have become a perplexing pair of questions for a fan base that’s been bombarded with analysts annually acclaiming the team’s young bloods. For the first time since taking over as head coach, Brooks on Thursday spoke candidly about his philosophy regarding his rotations, providing details and insight into the decisions he’s made since 2008.”

Berry Tramel on changing names: “The whole concept of name changes is relevant to the NBA, especially with the Hornets in town Wednesday. The name that forever will be remembered in Oklahoma City is about to go bye-bye. Or at least East. The Hornets plan to change their name to the New Orleans Pelicans. It’s sound theory. If you can’t change your backcourt, change your name and get everyone’s mind off the backcourt. If Chris Paul and David West still were sending New Orleans into the second round of the NBA playoffs, like they did in 2008, then nobody would even think to change the name. But CP3 and West are long gone, and so soon will be the Hornet name birthed by George Shinn back in Charlotte.” Keep Reading…