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Scott Brooks: ‘This is where I wanted to be’

by Randy Renner on July 3, 2012 at 2:10 pm 121 Comments

Ronald Martinez/NBAE/Getty Images

Scotty Brooks has come a long way and so has his team. The matchup was just too good to give up on for either party and so today it was no wonder that both Brooks and his boss Thunder GM Sam Presti were all smiles.

“It’s an exciting day for our organization and for our team,” Presti told a room full of reporters and cameras, “We’re thrilled to have Scotty with us, he’s been an integral part of what’s happening here.”

In typical Brooks fashion he started with a joke, “yeah at the start of the season Sam told me, okay it’s NBA Finals or adios!”

Then he got serious, “I’m excited that we worked it out and I knew we would, this is where I wanted to be. This is the best situation for me, I couldn’t ask for a better place to coach and to live and I’m excited about the opportunity ahead of me.” Keep Reading…

Tuesday Bolts – 7.3.12

by Royce Young on July 3, 2012 at 10:26 am 344 Comments

Berry Tramel with a look at OKC’s future: “Let’s say the Thunder signs Harden and Ibaka, keeps a good roster together and goes a little over the cap. In summer 2016, if the Thunder has been over the cap for three years, and is $13 million over for 2015-16, the Thunder would be taxed $36.75 million. Did you catch that? Not only would the Thunder be spending big on salaries, it would have to write a check to the NBA for $36.75 million. From where does that money come? And here’s the sobering part. Busting the cap by $13 million probably isn’t enough. ESPN’s Tom Penn, an expert on NBA economics, said most league champions in recent years have been around $20 million over the cap. Maybe that will change when Mark Cuban and the Buss family and Micky Arison study that escalating tax. But whatever the case, this is a sobering summer for the Thunder.”

Holly MacKenzie for NBA.com on Perry Jones: “Things will also be different for Terri Jones and her family. The Jones family will experience a much more substantial kind of different, though. Earlier this season, in an ESPN feature written by Jason King, we learned some of the struggles that Jones and his family had survived. His mother’s health issues, bouncing around from one $70-a-week hotel to another, and trying to be strong for his family while continuing to pursue his hoop dream despite the distractions, Jones has had a path more rocky than most. Helping to smooth it out is a mother who has only ever asked her son to seek out his own happiness.” Keep Reading…

Death and Luxury Taxes: The Thunder’s complicated future

by Royce Young on July 2, 2012 at 12:23 pm 822 Comments

Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images

The free agent market is open which means that Sam Presti can now officially offer contract extensions to James Harden, Serge Ibaka and Eric Maynor. It means Thunder fans, and interested parties across the entire league, might finally start to get a hint as to how Oklahoma City plans to answer this big dilemma.

It’s been something people have been jabbering on about ad nauseum for quite some time now. Can the Thunder keep Harden and Ibaka? Who will the Thunder pick? How can you decide? Do the Thunder need King Solomon to choose? Or at the very least, Newman?

Even when the Thunder made an incredible trip to The Finals, sportswriters, talking heads and everyone else wanted to discuss OKC’s future instead of just enjoying the moment. The whole point of this silly game is to win a title, not plan for 2016, and yet with the Thunder four wins away from glory, people were talking salary cap and the luxury tax.

Here it is though, time to start making offers, time to start trying to lock it all up. The Thunder already have Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook on the books for the long-term. The plan all along for this team was to draft well, develop from within and build for a sustained run of success. In order to do that, retaining the players that led to previous successes would be necessary. Keep Reading…

Monday Bolts – 7.2.12

by Royce Young on July 2, 2012 at 11:20 am 68 Comments

Berry Tramel says Harden isn’t a sure thing to go to London: “If our projection is accurate, it will mark the first time that three sets of teammates — Westbrook and Durant, Paul and Griffin and Anthony and Chandler — have competed on the same summer Olympic team. We’ll find out the actual roster during a selection show Saturday at 6 p.m. on NBA TV. When the names are unveiled, don’t expect to hear Harden’s until 2016.”

A massive 2011 Perry Jones III feature from the New York Times: “There is a circularity to this, a kind of senselessness in which recruiting becomes a game within a game, divorced from the traditional goals associated with a team. Perry Jones III will most likely lead to some version of Perry Jones IV, Perry Jones V and so on — big-time prospects will be drawn to Baylor because it’s a basketball program that signs big-time prospects. Baylor made Jones a better player this season, but he is unlikely to ever become a mature college player, one who develops over time and grows alongside teammates. If he decides to leave Baylor after one season, some N.B.A. team will make him a high pick and an instant millionaire based solely on his potential. His first pro coaches, though, are likely to wish he had gained more experience in college. Tough enough for the Big 12 is not tough enough for professional basketball.” Keep Reading…

Saturday Morning Cartoons: It’s gametime, it’s gametime

by Royce Young on June 30, 2012 at 8:33 am 405 Comments

Happy offseason. Thank you for your support of Daily Thunder. Good draftin’.

Remember this intro? It was only like two years ago, but it kind of seems like it was 20. Ah, memories.

How does Perry Jones III impact the Thunder?

by Royce Young on June 29, 2012 at 1:40 pm 805 Comments

Sam Presti didn’t hide it when he spoke to reporters Thursday night.

“We didn’t enter this draft thinking that Perry Jones would be there at 28 for us,” he said.

Nobody really did. But there Perry Jones III was, largely because of a medical red flag that popped up days before the draft. Jones supposedly has a “meniscus issue.” What does that involve? Will it require surgery? Regardless, Presti said he didn’t have any reservations.

“[We] felt very comfortable making this selection at 28,” he said. “We looked at all the information that we had available, and we wouldn’t have selected him unless we felt comfortable with all the information.” Keep Reading…

Friday Bolts – 6.29.12

by Royce Young on June 29, 2012 at 11:12 am 300 Comments

Chad Ford of ESPN.com: “Jones slid on the draft board because of a concern about a knee issue. Teams were also concerned about his motor. But at this point in the draft he’s a no-brainer pick and a great get for the Thunder. He’s long and athletic and he should thrive in their system. Great pick at 28.”

Matt Moore of CBSSports.com: “Jones fell even harder than expected, to the very precipice of the first round. And all of a sudden, what would have been a terrible pick in the low teens is a great pick for Presti at 28. That’s how it goes. Jones gives the Thunder exactly what they need in the frontcourt, an athletic scorer, Serge Ibaka through the looking glass. Great pickup for OKC at such a low risk with this pick.” Keep Reading…

Pre-draft Primer: Five big questions for draft night:

by Royce Young on June 28, 2012 at 5:12 pm 1,347 Comments

Jennifer Pottheiser/NBAE/Getty Images

Time for the draft, which means time to over-analyze everything, and assume we all know much, much better than professionals that have poured over hours of tape, pay scouts thousands and have done one-on-one interviews. So fun.

For the Thunder, that means picking 28th, which means there isn’t a whole lot of excitement involved. Oklahoma City only owns that one pick. That said, the Thunder are always contenders to buy a second rounder or two if they like a player.

It might not be all that interesting for OKC, but that’s a good thing. The further down you pick, the better your season probably was. I think that’s science or something. Here are five questions heading the draft. Keep Reading…

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