Thursday Bolts – 8.27.09

Nick Collison loves us!: “Good day in okc.Good workout @ practice facility w/ByronMullens &Serge Ibaka then had

successful day o house hunting.Btw weather is flawless.”

HoopsWorld’s second list of most influential in basketball: “Sam Presti, General Manager, Oklahoma City Thunder – Presti has become the model for the next generation of basketball executive. There is not anyone in the industry who does not want to do business with Presti; he is honest and he takes extreme care of his players and staff. Presti has an eye for talent that is almost unmatched. If he can turn Oklahoma City into a perennial playoff contender, he may be able to write his own ticket for the next 15 years.”

Investors in Tulsa get more time to explore WNBA possibilities: “Oklahoma City businessmen Bill Cameron and David Box looked at ease during a Wednesday afternoon press conference despite the task that is ahead of them – landing a deal to bring a WNBA team to Tulsa. The Women’s National Basketball Association extended the Sept. 1 deadline, giving the investment group several more weeks to secure funding to bring a WNBA team to Tulsa in time for the 2010 season. Though the duo seemed pleased with the deadline extension, Cameron said there are still hurdles to clear. Currently the investment group has made 75 percent of its goal to score a WNBA team for Tulsa.”

Dan Shanoff has something to say: “What I learned from Barry Farms: Kevin Durant bolting OKC for DC in 2012 is the new LeBron bolting Cleveland for NYC in 2010. Mark it down.” MLive looks at early storylines, one being that Kevin Durant should be including with the NBA’s best: “Unlike the other superstars in the league, Durant has organically grown into the 25 points/game beast he is. Both Kobe and Wade came into the league with the benefit of Shaq around them early, and LeBron got drafted onto a misfit Cleveland team where he had no choice but to be the best player. General Manger Sam Presti had a choice when he drafted Durant onto a Seattle team that held the rights for Rashard Lewis and still (for a second) had Ray Allen. He could assimilate him into the current team, instantly making the Sonics playoff contenders for years to come or strip the team naked and give his superstar space to grow.” Some guy on Bleacher Report has developed a theory that the Nike Hyperizers commercial with KD is secretly a tribute to Seattle. You know, the green shirt, the YELLOW lettering, Rashard Lewis is in the commercial, at one point KD says it’s 80 degrees, which about what the weather is like in Seattle… it’s all right there. Makes perfect sense to me. Not a stretch there at all. I mean, YELLOW lettering? GREEN shirt? I can’t believe I didn’t notice it before. Evidently, KD is going to China for a few days representing the NBA soon. The new mega-scoreboard is in place inside the Ford Center:

Vince Thomas of NBA.com looking at NBA players and Twitter: “Soon after the Beasley story broke, Kevin Durant, who grew up in a neighboring Maryland county, tweeted: “Man let my brother Mike Beasley learn from his mistakes … he gon be str8 … stop judgin him …” That was an unsolicited, naked, visceral response to what he saw happening to a friend and peer.”

I see this type of story at least once a week, but truthfully, it never gets old. I like reading about how good we’ll be in a few years.

The groundbreaking is going on in Edmond right now for the new practice facility. It is officially titled the Integris Health Thunder Development Center. Sam Presti, Clay Bennett, the Mayor and other important people are there.