Thursday Bolts – 8.5.10

Britt Robson of SI grades the Northwest and gives the Thunder an A-: “The value of Presti’s front-office acumen was on full display during the June draft, when he turned four draft picks outside the top 20 into center Cole Aldrich — exactly the kind of unsung banger the Thunder will need in certain matchups down low — and outside marksmen Morris Peterson (career 37.4 percent from three-point range) and Daequan Cook (35.8 percent) to help remedy the team’s 25th-ranked three-point offense. (Not to mention three other decent, long-shot hopefuls drafted by OKC and the acquisition of a future first-round pick from the Clippers.)”

The best dunk contest in the world is coming soon. It looks… awesome.

This is a couple days old, but Fox Sports Southwest is now the sole broadcaster of Thunder games. So that means no more games on KSBI. Which of course is kind of awkward, seeing as KSBI made such a huge deal to rebrand itself as “Thunder TV” a a couple years ago.

Dime looking more at the Wade or Durant debate: “Personally, I believe Durant is the future face of the NBA, but right now, the 21-year-old is still a notch below Wade. Until Durant can at least lead his team to a significant playoff run — like Wade has done multiple times — Wade still has the nod on him. And while Durant is the best scorer in the NBA and one of its best shooters, Wade has a better all-around game, playing stellar defense and distributing the rock good enough to be a point guard. Durant gets buckets all night, but Wade will win games by making a block or a steal, getting a rebound, or handing off an assist, plus knocking down a game-winner.”

I actually like this shirt. Pretty cool.

Larry Johnson is reportedly close to joining the Ron Adams, Tom Thibadeau staff in Chicago. So naturally, it made me think of Grandmama:

Kyle Weaver tweeted yesterday: “Contrary to media sources, I have not signed with any team yet but have my options open at this point…”

KD has a response to Steve Francis’ claims: “Steve Francis I  appreciate you n what you did to pave the way for guys comin out the DMV  area but let us youngins do what we do. jus support.”