Daily Thunder.com

Serge Ibaka checks in 43rd in CBSSports.com’s Elite 100: Matt Moore: “The runner-up to the Defensive Player of the Year and the fourth member of Oklahoma City’s Big Four is simultaneously overrated and underrated, both in the league, and here. Ibaka’s defense comes with a dazzling array of blocks and showy moments of physical aggression, but comes with a price. When the goaltends aren’t putting points on the board for the other guys, his overzealous rotations are leaving his man open for a dunk, often when the primary defender is contesting the layup well enough to prevent a score in the first place. His rebounding is good-to-great, but that doesn’t make up for some of his missed rotations and what he lacks in court awareness. All of these things, though, can be fiex and are part of the natural development process. There’s every reason to believe, that in a short time, “Iblocka” will be the defender he’s made out to be.”

Hollis Thompson: “My strength is I can score. I love to score. I love to play for my team. I can do a lot of things. And I’ve got weaknesses in all areas. I can get better in all areas. So I’m looking forward to playing basketball and getting better.” Keep Reading…

Don Nelson: “I got a kick out of Miami winning it all,” Nelson said by phone from his home in Maui. “They didn’t use their big lineup all that much. They really matched up and caused problems for Oklahoma City. I thought Erik (Spoelstra) did a great job coaching.”

Peter Keating of ESPN the Mag on OKC being the top franchise: “Like other teams that always rank near the top of our Ultimate Standings — the Spurs and Packers, Angels and Red Wings — the Oklahoma City Thunder deliver lots of wins, amped by hugely enjoyable game days, at reasonable prices. They’re also incredibly young. At 23, Kevin Durant is actually the oldest of the four players who led the Thunder in minutes last season, highlighting the fact that this club has established its long-term commitment to fans in just a handful of seasons. And they’re easy to love at a distance too. In our fan voting, Oklahoma City not only was No. 1 in the NBA in having a fan-friendly environment but ranked first among all teams in engaging fans through social media and in connecting fans to information online or via mobile devices. In the 43rd-largest metro area in the U.S., but with fans all over the middle of the country, the Thunder have more than 1.5 million Facebook fans and, according to Social Media Today, lead the NBA in Twitter engagement. So yes, the Thunder’s owners were wrong to abandon Seattle the way they did four years ago. But in the here and now, through geographical necessity, smart management and hellaciously fun play, Oklahoma City is doing a better job than any other sports franchise of turning fans into family.” Keep Reading…

Nick Gallo of the team’s site on Nick Collison’s trip: “The consummate team player and positive locker room force wasn’t done giving back after that trip, and in fact, he had the chance to join three of his Thunder teammates in Africa. Collison hopped back on a plane to meet up with Thabo Sefolosha, Serge Ibaka and Cole Aldrich in Johannesburg, South Africa to work with the NBA and FIBA’s Basketball Without Borders program. While in South Africa, the Thunder quartet, led by Sefolosha, whose father is South African and the Congolese Ibaka, helped lead a youth basketball camp, build houses with Habitat for Humanity and open four new basketball courts for the Alexandra Township community. It was a wonderful display of selflessness by the four Thunder players who just got finished with a condensed NBA season and a long NBA Playoff run. The fact that the four of them, all from different backgrounds, were able to join together to make an impact as teammates was very special.”

Perk checked in 94th in CBSSports.com’s top 100 players: “Perkins needs to live up to his reputation as a Dwight-Stopper this season to reclaim some of the clout he had when traded to OKC. Perkins struggled through the playoffs but it was discovered later that he had a groin injury which severely limited him. He still was a huge part of the Thunder’s win over San Antonio, but in a league that continues to shift more and more towards small ball and versatility, Perkins’ old-school center approach loses its value.” Keep Reading…

Henry Abbott of TrueHoop with a lovely piece: “This is a big part of what David Thorpe teaches his NBA clients, and it’s something I find myself thinking about often. It goes something like this: It may appear that NBA games are won with big moments when everybody is looking — dunking over people, blocking shots, hitting a momentous jumper. And once in a while that does happen. But the reality is that many more careers and games turn on getting things right in the millions of small moments when nobody is looking. The big moments will always dominate the Hollywood version of events. But in real life, if you want to do the most you can to get the best possible results, it’s a long game of putting together one solid day of training after another.”

Bob McAdoo: “We got to get there but I still feel OKC is the team to beat in the West,” the Hall of Famer said. “Everyone’s talking about how they got better but I still think (OKC) is the team to beat. They’re still young and got experience of a championship series.” Keep Reading…