Thursday Bolts – 12.10.08

• This is a bit old, but I came across a revised opinion from Uni Watch on Oklahoma City’s jerseys: “Uni Watch was originally less than impressed with the Thunder’s uniforms. And yes, the team name is awful and the logo is a joke. But you know what? But you know what? That home uni looks pretty dang good out on the court. The colors pop, the type is sharp, and the whole thing looks crisp and clean, even from the back and sides. If this uni had already been in the league for a dozen years, we’d be praising it as a minor classic of no-nonsense design. Unfortunately, the road uni has major problems. For starters, the chest insignia is way too plain and top-heavy. Second, check out the side view and compare it to side views of the Knicks, Wizards and Bobcats. Notice a pattern? Finally, why would you use the color of a clear blue sky for a team named after stormy weather? Uni Watch suggests a hasty retreat to the drawing board.”

• Found via TrueHoop and it has nothing Thunder related, but it’s just some really good basketball breakdown: “One of the most memorable lessons George taught me in High School was how to play defense at the end of a game. His exact rules or explanation may differ, but my interpretation was basically to stick to your normal defensive fundamental strategy on the final play of the game. There is a reason that you are NOT taught to trap every possession, to go for every steal, or to try to block every shot. That reason is that it does not work a majority of the time, and it can often lead to fouls or even easier buckets from the other team.”

• Some interesting thoughts from Brian Robinson of SonicsCentral.com: “Frankly I just don’t know who would break first. When I look at the situation I can honestly say it would be more horrendous than I had really imagined. I’m thinking crowds of 2,000, losses in excess of $50M. The players union would have seen their worst case scenario come true and would be bitter at everybody, the league, me, the city, you name it. The owners and players would probably be able to point at this specific market as a cause of reduction to next years salary cap. I truly think the situation would have been untenable.” Brian is right. In a twisted way for Seattle fans, it’s probably better the team left rather than spending a few lame duck seasons there. It could have been truly detrimental to the city’s chances of returning the NBA and the image of the city would have been tarnished completely.

• Russell Westbrook is skying up the Rookie Watch rankings: “Westbrook is really coming on as a player, using his jets to fly around the court and hit midrange jumpers (something he struggled with earlier this season). The downside to his recent success is the attention he’s getting from defenses. In his past four games, he has 19 turnovers. He’ll learn to make easier plays and start anticipating blitzes and stunts as he uses ball screens.”
• Ball Don’t Lie behind the box score: “I got the feeling that Marc Iavaroni saved his job last night, then I remembered that Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley might not be all that interested in paying for an extended from an interim coach for the second time in three seasons. Either way, the Grizzlies were on pace to get blown out by the Thunder early on, but rallied for the win.”

• Another installment of “Peace, Love and Thunderstanding” from the Lost Ogle: “Since the Thunder are such a torturous team to watch play – and an even more torturous team to analyze – I decided that it would be boring to write (or expect you to read) about the team’s failures in my first crack at Peace, Love and Thunderstanding.  Instead, I figured it would be fun to list some ways that Thunder management could possibly make the home games more enjoyable, thus improving the Thunder experience.”

• David Stern made an appearance on Bill Simmons’ B.S. Report’s 100 episode. Of the topics discussed, the situation in Seattle (about 17 minutes in): “BS: My one problem is that those guys bought the team with the intent to move it. It seemed pretty obvious from the get-go that they weren’t genuinely interested in keeping the team there. Stern: That’s not what their actions in my view confirm at all. BS: You investigated this? Yes. They spent lots of money with plans and lobbying and doing all the things that the ownership before them had done, but they did even more and it wasn’t to be. And in fact the actual economic opportunity in Seattle with a new building was far larger than any other city that they could have moved to.”

Let’s listen to Coach Brooks and Company try and put together sentences after another excruciating loss: