Tuesday Bolts – 5.11.10

I hope everyone is OK as well as your friends and family after yesterday’s events. Tornado time in Oklahoma is fairly crazy and yesterday was no exception. Twister was on Sunday afternoon on TBS and of course I watched it. I feel like there has to be some kind of connection here.

One Thunder fan wants to celebrate his 21st birthday with a “legal” James Harden: “My name is Forrest Bennett, and I am 13 days older than James Harden,  OKC Thunder’s bearded champion. I am willing to wait to have my 21st  birthday blowout until the 26th, when Mr. Harden turns 21. I live in Norman, so it won’t be difficult at all. Plus, I can definitely come to  OKC to party. I want to be there when James harden can finally walk into  a bar without getting kicked out.  James, you definitely want to do  this. I can bring a lot of ladies if you just bring your beard.”

Susan  Bible with an excellent analysis of what comes next for OKC: “The  chemistry among the Thunder players is just about as solid as it  gets, but you have to wonder what Presti meant when he said “we  can’t let emotion drive our decision,” in efforts to get better.   Despite the closeness of the group, the reality is that players are  moved around in the NBA.  If a big man deal presented itself, the  expendable ones may be Nenad Krstic or Nick Collison, both  of which hold value with their 2011 expiring contracts.”

David Aldridge on the new early entry rules: “But the new deadline creates questions. How is a kid supposed to make a good decision when he has far less information now than he would if he had another month of workouts and meetings with NBA teams? The likes of John Wall and Evan Turner know they’re going in the top five, but most college players don’t have that luxury. By the time the old deadline came around most early entries had gone through more than a dozen workouts, many times with their peers, and had a pretty good idea of where they were going in the Draft. Now, the decision-making process is compressed.”

KD’s opinion on Joe Johnson: “Yall think yall know basketball..joe johnson is a max contract guy…hes da truth.” And then he subsequently spent the next 20 tweets defending that position.

So LeBron wants to guard Rajon Rondo. I’m sure we all thought the same thing. So Kobe does it with Russell Westbrook, and now LeBron feels like he has to? I’m definitely reading into this too much, but this just strikes me as an ego move. “If Kobe can do it, so can I” sort of thing. It sometimes seems like LeBron has an ego that can overtake him. But again, I’m definitely reading into it too much.

The Oklahoman compiled its own version of The Friday Fan, with a bunch of great Thunder fan accounts and stories.

Mike Baldwin lays out some options Sam Presti has in this draft: “Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti has the option to package picks, possibly even include a player on the Thunder’s roster, to move up in the first round. Presti could use a pick on an international player such as Donatas Motiejunas (7-foot power forward from Lithuania) or Kevin Seraphin (6-10 power forward from France) and stash them overseas one season like he did with Serge Ibaka. Motiejunas, though, is projected as a late lottery pick around Nos. 14 or 15.”

Top 10 D-League dunks of the season. Latavious Williams checks in at 10.

Quality feature from Fanhouse on Tulsa Shock coach Nolan Richardson: “Is Nolan Richardson next to have success from men’s hoops to a women’s team? Richardson has taken over the Tulsa Shock, which moved from Detroit after the WNBA season ended last fall. He is remaking the team after three of its top players — Deanna Nolan, Cheryl Ford and Katie Smith — did not make the move from Detroit.”