Wednesday Bolts – Opening Edition

Berry Tramel: “Kevin Durant, out for 6-8 weeks with a fractured foot. Anthony Morrow, out 4-6 weeks with a sprained knee. Mitch McGary, out 5-7 weeks with a fractured foot. Grant Jerrett, recovering from ankle surgery. Now Reggie Jackson and Jeremy Lamb are questionable, Jackson with an ankle sprain and Lamb with a back ailment. I mean, we all believe Russell Westbrook can keep the Thunder in games all by his lonesome, but at some point, somebody has to inbound him the ball. Eventually, Pharaoh will let Charlton Heston’s people go, and the plagues will stop. But until then, we might have to live with Perry Jones playing some shooting guard and Sebastian Telfair being the sixth man.”

Tom Ziller of SB Nation with advice: “I’ve been guilty of this — I owe at least a portion of my career to bashing David Kahn. (I still think there’s a case for the avocado.) So consider this a call to action for myself: I hereby re-embrace basketball as something to appreciate as competitive art, not as an Excel spreadsheet and amateur debate society. I will use data and video and I will have opinions, but that’s not everything there is to the sport. When Josh Smith happens, I might groan and I might snark and I will most certainly laugh, but I will not scold. There is joy in this sport, and I will seek it out and embrace it. Because this is basketball, not a juco budget management class or intro to stats or an 82-game test of my sports knowledge. This should be fun, so dammit let’s make it fun again. Join me if you like. I’ll be over there giggling at J.R. Smith, gawking at DeMarcus Cousins and loving every second of the Russell Westbrook Experience.”

Mel Bracht of NewsOK: “Star power and consistency have made the Oklahoma City Thunder one of the top draws on national TV. Despite playing in the third-smallest market in the league, ranking No. 44 by Nielsen — larger than only No. 50 Memphis and No. 51 New Orleans — the Thunder rank fourth for national TV appearances since the start of the 2009 seasons on ESPN, TNT and ABC. Only the Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls have made more, according to the survey, which includes the upcoming 2014-2015 national broadcast schedule but omits NBA TV because of its flex scheduling.”

David Thorpe breaks down the Thunder without KD.

Mother Jones has a guide for “evil” NBA owners.

Zach Lowe of Grantland: “The Thunder have to avoid falling too far behind while Kevin Durant recovers from a broken foot, and pray Durant makes a complete recovery with no recurrences of the fracture. There is a perception that this team has stagnated — that the current mix of players and head coach is simply not good enough to get over the hump. There are real issues, especially with Scott Brooks, but if this team is healthy in May, it emphatically belongs in this group.”

Russell Westbrook is at No. 4 in NBArank.

Scott Brooks revealed his starting five, plus, no Jeremy Lamb or Reggie Jackson on this road trip. Yay.

Thrillist has a beer for every team:  “Any Thunder fan has to be feeling the blues right now, so a Blues Berry Ale seems like a perfect pre-game drink, especially since you can walk the half a mile to Loud City after you have a few. What is there to say about the Thunder? Durant is focused on keeping his scooter game tight instead of his shot, and Westbrook is the man of the house while he’s gone. It will probably be that way for a while. And who knows how he’ll look when he comes back? Might wanna get a growler of that blueberry beer, Thunder fans.”