Monday Bolts – 6.21.10

Kevin Seraphin is meeting with five teams, with one being the Thunder. The others are Milwaukee, Toronto, Atlanta and Washington.

The Oklahoma City Thunder franchise ranked 13th in ESPN’s franchise rankings: “The franchise also loses points, of course, for the jarring 2008 relocation to Oklahoma City. While things look brighter with the addition of Kevin Durant, the recent history wasn’t good pre-Oklahoma: The Sonics made the playoffs only three times in their final decade in Seattle after Karl left.”

Will the Lakers three-peat? The LA Times had a couple writers discuss it: “Yes, this title was tougher. But Tim Duncan is a year older, the Oklahoma City Thunder are a year or two too young and Kobe lives for history. He should get it in the form of his second three-peat, matching his idol, good ol’ MJ … In the West, the Oklahoma City Thunder are the team of the future. But for one more year at least, the Lakers should be the class of the conference.”

I joined the excellent Thunderground podcast for a good long talk about the draft, the Thunder’s national perception and last night’s episode of Design Star. Actually, I’m kidding about the first two. We only talked about Design Star.

Sidney Crosby was Sporting News’s top athlete under 25, but Kevin Durant came in third, behind Dwight Howard.

SN also has OKC taking Daniel Orton at 21: “Orton has denied getting a promise from the Thunder, but his workout cancellations certainly have the scent of a promise.”

Bill Plaschke counts down the top 10 Laker moments of the postseason. Number nine: “It’s hard to believe that the Lakers actually faced a pivotal Game 5 in that first round against the Thunder. It is not hard to believe that Bryant set the tone by agreeing to guard hot Russell Westbrook, then knocking him to the floor on the game’s first out-of-bounds play. I can still see Westbrook’s dazed eyes, which were reflected in his teammates, who did not make a field goal until midway through the first quarter, trailing, 10-0, before they could breathe, eventually losing by 24.”

Harvard’s talented Jeremy Lin worked out with the Thunder. Could be an interesting low-risk fit at 51. I’m already kicking myself that I didn’t have him on the big board.

Ziller with a nice profile on Tibor Pleiss: “Pleiss, nicknamed The Octopus, is a true 7-footer with great rebounding and shotblocking numbers in the Bundesliga. (He finished second in the league in blocks per game.) Unlike a certain other tall German player, Dirk Nowitzki, Pleiss isn’t a dead-eye shooter quite yet, but DX reports his mid-range game is improving and he has soft hands. He joined the German men’s national team for Eurobasket last summer, but made only spot appearances. He’ll turn 21 in November. He seems like one of the draft’s prime stash opportunities, and the fact that Pleiss declared for the draft and stayed in even when he had the opportunity to pull out is promising: he apparently wants to be in the NBA. Of course, Minnesota wishes staying in the draft meant you wanted to play in the NBA so that they could have Ricky Rubio running the point in Summer League, but I digress.”

A big list of center prospects that could fit OKC.

Daniel Orton talks about his Thunder workout: “I thought my Thunder workout went well. I shot the ball well. Didn’t perform my best in the one-on-one session but passed well in two-on-two and really enjoyed myself being around the Thunder staff. There are rumors that the Thunder have promised me something and they haven’t. I discontinued my workouts for other reasons. I have to say though, the Thunder staff is a very positive and energetic staff; they were fun to be around and interesting to talk to. I want to thank them for everything, especially my experience with them here in Oklahoma. As far as questions about my knee, my knee has been X-rayed, MRI-ed and everything checked out perfectly fine.”