Category Archives: Offseason Beat

A look at Thunder happenings during the offseason.

Daily Thunder Rumblings – 01 August 2017

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img_4133-5It’s the first of the month, wake up, wake up, wake up…..Here are the Rumblings for Tuesday.

Is Oklahoma City on the cusp of being the next superteam: “James will once again be a free agent in 2018, and we’ve learned our lesson: Be prepared for anything. It’s time to start sketching the free agency possibilities now and try to map out where the next superteams will be. So, who is most likely to assemble the next powerhouse to challenge the reigning-champ Golden State Warriors? Joining up with ESPN’s Bobby Marks with an eye toward 2018 free agency, we look at the three primary models to building a superteam. This list looks beyond current contenders Cleveland, Houston and Oklahoma City — each of whom already has at least two superstars — to the next generation of potential superteams.”

An article looking at Dakari Johnson being a worthwhile investment: “For starters, Johnson has been developing nicely in the Thunder’s pipeline. He has played three seasons in the Summer League with Oklahoma City and in two G-League seasons. Each year he has shown growth and development, especially offensively. Playing for some loaded Kentucky teams, Johnson never had much of a chance to showcase his talents and flourish. But once he joined the Thunder’s organization, that changed. Johnson increased his scoring output from 12.3 points per game in his first season with the Oklahoma City Blue of the G League to 18.5 per game this past season.” Continue reading Daily Thunder Rumblings – 01 August 2017 →

Daily Thunder Rumblings – 31 July 2017

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img_4133-5Hello new week. Let’s get this thing going. Here is Monday’s edition of DTR…

The Thunder signed UCLA guard Bryce Alford. The deal is likely a training camp invite.

Russell Westbrook was rumored to be playing in the Drew League against former teammate James Harden. Instead, he was at Disney Land with his new teammate, Noah Westbrook: “Westbrook even brought baby Noah, who despite being a few months old has been a major part of the Westbrook family’s travels this offseason. Westbrook took his newborn son to Paris back in June. Westbrook was reportedly supposed to play in the Drew League on Sunday night against a team which featured Chris Paul and James Harden. If Westbrook has enough energy to play pickup basketball after a day at a hot amusement park, he truly has a non-stop motor.” Continue reading Daily Thunder Rumblings – 31 July 2017 →

NTTB Podcast (Episode 4) – A New Hope

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IMG_4109On Episode 4 of the NTTB podcast, we discuss the following topics:

  • The Carmelo Anthony rumors
  • New Uniforms
  • Doug McDermott’s frustration
  • Thunder’s unofficial workout in LA
  • Westbrook working out with LeBron James in Vegas
  • Terrance Ferguson’s FIBA clearance and signing
  • And Western Conference snubs

Thank you for listening. We will be doing a podcast once a week. If you have any Thunder or NBA related questions, make sure you hit us up on Twitter (@alexroig_NTTB or @Montero_A13).

We are on Itunes under the NTTB Podcast. Make sure you leave us a 5-star review if you can. As always, Thunder Up!

Daily Thunder Rumblings – 28 July 2017

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img_4133-5Hello, Friday. Thank you for getting here. On to the weekend. Here are the Rumblings…

When in the presence of teammates and a hot mic, you will get roasted for your (recent) past trangressions.

Fred Katz looks at if Russell Westbrook can take a step back next season: “Russell Westbrook made sure last season went his way. He may not have that control this year. Westbrook and four-time All-Star Paul George, whom the Oklahoma City Thunder traded for earlier in the month, will have to learn to coexist. And the two may have only one year to do it. Both are looking at the possibility of becoming free agents in 2018. It’s possible no one else understands Westbrook, the player, better than longtime Thunder veteran Nick Collison, who has been his teammate all 10 years of the reigning MVP’s career. And with Westbrook coming off a season during which he governed a team’s offense as much as any individual ever, Collison is confident his point guard can scale back the workload with a different roster around him.” Continue reading Daily Thunder Rumblings – 28 July 2017 →

Thunder sign Terrance Ferguson

Draft, News, Offseason Beat,

Australian Basketball Challenge

As reported by Shams Charania of the Vertical, the Oklahoma City Thunder have signed Terrance Ferguson to a standard 4 year contract. As the 21st pick, Ferguson’s baseline salary is $1,487,500 for the first year. He can earn upwards of $1,785,000 (120% of his baseline salary) or as low as $1,190,000 (80% of his baseline salary).

Ferguson last played for the Adelaide 36ers in Australia. He played in 30 games (17 starts) and averaged 4.6 points and 1.1 rebounds while shooting 38% from the field and 31% from deep.

Apparently, Ferguson received clearance from FIBA on July 14th, but the Thunder and Ferguson likely kept it quiet until they were ready to sign Ferguson. With this signing, the Thunder now have 15 guaranteed contracts.

Terrance Ferguson gains clearance from FIBA. Why hasn’t he signed yet?

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ferguson
Alex Roig – NTTB

The long-standing national nightmare is over with. It was once thought that a protracted stand-off would lead to sanctions and eventually war. But cooler heads prevailed and Terrance Ferguson was finally granted clearance from FIBA. That clearance will allow Ferguson to sign his rookie contract. Every other first rounder from the 2017 Draft has already signed their contracts.

But this is where it gets weird. According to Fred Katz of the Norman Transcript, Ferguson has been cleared since July 14th. So why hasn’t he signed his contract? There could be several theories as to why Ferguson has yet to put pen to paper.  Continue reading Terrance Ferguson gains clearance from FIBA. Why hasn’t he signed yet? →

Daily Thunder Rumblings – 27 July 2017

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img_4133-5Those new uni’s look nice. Wonder what the other two uniforms will look like? Here are the Rumblings for this Thursday.

Fred Katz looks at the unsigned contracts of Russell Westbrook and Terrance Ferguson: “Yet, the reigning MVP has made the Thunder wait almost a month, already. And it could end up being longer — maybe forever, though the organization remains cautiously optimistic about the prospects of Westbrook signing for the long term before the start of the season. The reasons for the Thunder’s optimism along with the ones for Westbrook making the organization wait are still unclear. Yet, they’re consistent with the past. Westbrook waited a month last summer to sign an extension that was effectively for one season. And that was during a time when putting off re-signing tangibly affected the organization. The Thunder had to stay under the salary cap last summer to account for the raise in Westbrook’s 2016-17 salary after renegotiating it. Because of that, the team wasn’t able to bring in free agents and had to let former OKC guard Dion Waiters walk to the Miami Heat.” Continue reading Daily Thunder Rumblings – 27 July 2017 →

The Thunder officially introduce their new uniforms

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The SnapChat account for the Oklahoma City Thunder gave a preview of what the new Nike jerseys will look like. The two jerseys pictured were what used to be known as the home whites and the road blues. The home whites will now be known as the Association Edition jerseys, while the road blues will now be known as the Icon Edition jerseys.

This upcoming season, the home team will choose what jersey they will be wearing and the road team will then have to wear a contrasting jersey. The home and away aspect of the jerseys will be going away.

As far as the jerseys go, if you have seen the screen capture of the upcoming NBA 2K18 game with Paul George, then you have already seen what the Association uniform will look like. Here’s the Thunder’s SnapChat via UpTheThunder.

Each team will have four jerseys to choose from. The Player’s Mindset jersey and the Community jersey will be unveiled at a later date. Nike will officially take over as the NBA’s outfitter on October 1st, 2017.

Daily Thunder Rumblings – 26 July 2017

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img_4133-5Middle of the week. Let’s push through. Here are the rumblings for this Wednesday.

Russell Westbrook is organizing workouts in Los Angeles for his teammates.

Brett Dawson looks at the Thunder players who can’t be traded this off-season: “The Thunder might not be finished making personnel moves this summer. But there are some restrictions on the ones it can make. A report from The Ringer’s Bill Simmons on Monday said that the Thunder and Carmelo Anthony were “circling each other,” and that sparked a fresh round of fan-made trade proposals for ways to bring Anthony to Oklahoma City. What some armchair general managers seemed not to understand, though, is that not every player on the Thunder roster is eligible to be traded. The NBA’s collective bargaining agreement puts some limitations on the movement of newly signed players.”

Berry Tramel tries to figure out what Kyrie Irving wants and questions whether Russell Westbrook wants the same: “Reminds me of an Olympic epiphany I had during the 1996 Atlanta Games. I talked to boxers who wanted a gold medal so they could buy their mom a house, and I talked to gymnasts whose parents had mortgaged their house to fund a gold-medal odyssey. Durant at least hadn’t experienced the other side of the hardwood. He’d always been the face of the Thunder. Sure, Russell Westbrook was a worthy sidekick and often endured the blame for OKC shortcomings. But there was no question; the Thunder was Durant, and Durant was the Thunder. Durant was at least trying something new with Golden State.” Continue reading Daily Thunder Rumblings – 26 July 2017 →

Carmelo Anthony and the Thunder have a mutual interest. Is it realistic?

News, Offseason Beat, Trade Talk, , ,

anthony westbrook

At around 11 am on Monday, Bill Simmons of The Ringer decided to drop this little tidbit on the masses:

First off, what the hell does circling each other mean? I remember when I was in 5th grade, I got into a little tiff with another guy on the playground during recess and we connected at the shoulders and kept circling around talking trash to each other until our friends intervened. You know the whole, “Do something!”, “No, you do something!” type elementary brawl. So is that what the Thunder and Anthony are doing? I doubt it.

Instead, I think this is just a case of someone within the Syracuse inner circle putting out that Weaver and Anthony have spoken and the Thunder are interested if Anthony is interested. Nothing more, nothing less. If anything, I think this is more of a play by people in Anthony’s camp to leverage Houston into actually getting the deal done. Continue reading Carmelo Anthony and the Thunder have a mutual interest. Is it realistic? →