Category Archives: Random Thoughts

Random Thoughts

“I’m coming!” – The two words that galvanized a franchise.

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westbrook durant

“I’m coming! I’m coming!” A simple exchange in what was basically a blowout in February, set the stage for what we’ve seen this offseason from the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder could not do anything when Kevin Durant left them on July 4th, 2016. By the time he made his decision, most of the top notch free agents were already off the board. Instead, the Thunder strategized from that point forward and hoped opportunities would arise from a turbulent NBA landscape. And arise they did.

The summer of 2016 basically set the stage for what happened in Oklahoma City this offseason. When every team was infused with an extra 20 million, moves were made that were almost immediately regretted once the ink dried on those contracts. Finding an extra $20 million in your team’s salary cap is like finding $1000 in between your couch cushions. Some people will make wise decisions with that extra money. But others will treat it like house money and YOLO the hell out of it. Many teams made bad decisions that summer that eventually led to their salary caps being tied up for the next 2-4 seasons. Continue reading “I’m coming!” – The two words that galvanized a franchise. →

Recapping Thunder Media Day

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Alex Roig – NTTB

Media days can sometimes be an exercise in repetition. The same 2-3 questions can be rinsed, washed, and repeated for every player. What do you expect your role to be this season? What do you think about “latest talking point in the country”? What are the team expectations?

You can probably fill an entire article just with the answers from those 3 questions alone. The difficult part is trying to cut through all that player-speak and listen in to what the real themes are for the team. For the Oklahoma City Thunder, the one theme that consistently permeated throughout the entire day was winning.

But every team heads into the season talking about winning. Even those teams looking at an entire season of ineptitude find ways to think of sunshine and rainbows before the season starts. The Thunder’s talk of winning felt different though. It was talked about with brazen confidence. And for good reason, too. The brand new Big 3 of Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony gives the Thunder a collection of players they’ve never had since they moved to the Great Plains.  Continue reading Recapping Thunder Media Day →

NTTB Rank: 11-8

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Player Rankings: 20-16 | 15-12

I have one amendment to an earlier list.

20. Rashawn Thomas

YEAR TEAM MIN FG% 3PT FG% FT% REBS ASTS STLS BLKS PTS
16-17 TAMCC 33.7 .524 .378 .721 9.0 2.7 1.6 2.0 22.5

rashawn thomas

Earlier this summer, it was reported the Thunder had agreed to a partially-guaranteed deal with Thomas. My thinking was that it was just for summer league and possibly for the G-League when it came time for that. But it still stuck in my head whether he would be with the Thunder during training camp or not. So I decided to ask the source, himself. Continue reading NTTB Rank: 11-8 →

NTTB Rank: 20-16

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It’s that time of year again. With about 35 days until the season starts, it’s time to start ranking players. Sports Illustrated has started their Top 100 list. ESPN has followed suit. But ranking 100 players is just too much for me. Especially, since I mainly just focus on one team.

I’ve decided to do an Oklahoma City Thunder players ranking based on the 20 or so players that are currently involved with the franchise. This first installment will look at players ranked 16-20. These will likely be a combination of training camp invitees, 2-way players, and/or under-performing veterans.

20. Unsigned Training Camp Invitee

Technically, the Thunder still have one more spot available for their 20 man training camp roster. There are still plenty of unsigned free agents looking for a chance to make a roster. For every run of the mill training camp invite that ends up getting cut, you sometimes ends up with a player like Lance Thomas that works on his game and takes advantage of the training camp opportunity to earn a roster spot. Continue reading NTTB Rank: 20-16 →

All-Time Oklahoma City Thunder team for 2K18

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thunder youngRecently, 2K released their All-Time Teams for all 30 of the teams in the league. While many teams have their own history, the Oklahoma City Thunder are still having to share their history with the Seattle Supersonics. When their released their all-time team for the Thunder, the team featured 4 Thunder players and 11 Sonics players.

Here’s a look at the team:

Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t disagree with anything on that list. The Sonics had a long, storied history in their 41 years in the Pacific Northwest. They won a championship in 1979 and their list of players includes several Hall of Famers. (On a side note: Why the hell is Shawn Kemp not in the Hall of Fame. He was one of the best PF’s in the league in the 90’s, averaged a double-double for six consecutive seasons, is a 6x All-Star, and a 3x 2nd Team All-NBA. What more does a man need on his resumé?) Continue reading All-Time Oklahoma City Thunder team for 2K18 →

What does a regular Westbrook MVP season look like?

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USP NBA: OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER AT MEMPHIS GRIZZLIE S BKN MEM OKC USA TNRecently, Bovada, the online gambling site based out of Las Vegas, released their NBA MVP odds for next season. Leading that list was current league MVP Russell Westbrook, at 7/2 odds. Former league MVP and Westbrook’s former teammate, Kevin Durant, was second with 9/2 odds.

The fact that Bovada would have Westbrook listed as their leader for MVP odds seems  a litte strange to me. Not in the fact that Westbrook doesn’t have the credentials to be an MVP-worthy candidate. That, he definitely does. But in the fact that, with the Oklahoma City Thunder’s moves this offseason, an MVP season for Westbrook this year will look completely different than the MVP season from last year. Continue reading What does a regular Westbrook MVP season look like? →

Scheduling Conflicts: Why hasn’t Russell Westbrook signed his extension?

Offseason Beat, Random Thoughts,
Russ camp
Alex Roig – NTTB

With each day that passes, the fan base of the Oklahoma City Thunder grows a little more worried that Russell Westbrook hasn’t signed his Designated Veteran Player Extension (DPE). Now that Stephen Curry, James Harden, and John Wall have all extended their contracts using the DPE, Westbrook is the only one left that has the eligibility to sign that type of extension this off-season. The extension, which could pay him as much as $229.5 million over the next 6 seasons, to include this upcoming season, would be the richest contract in sports history in terms of average per year.

The fact that Westbrook hasn’t rushed over to Thunder headquarters and signed the contract yet has given many in the fan base a little bit of pause. Why would someone leave that much money on the table for that long? If any of us were in that position, we would’ve signed the contract at 11:00:01 pm CST on June 30th (remember, the NBA operates out of the Eastern Standard Time Zone, so free agency began at midnight on the East Coast, but 11 pm in Oklahoma).

That’s the problem, sometimes, in thinking like a fan. We tend to look at the fortune and the fame, and forget that athletes are people too. And like many of us, their schedules are sometimes so chock-full of commitments, that it makes it difficult to do something as simple as signing a piece of paper. I know, I know. Making a 5-year commitment to anything should never be compared to just signing a piece of paper. But in essence, that’s all Westbrook has to do to ensure his future. Continue reading Scheduling Conflicts: Why hasn’t Russell Westbrook signed his extension? →

Sam Presti: Putting back the Jenga pieces

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Alex Roig – NTTB

Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti has had himself quite the off-season. From acquiring Paul George to signing Patrick Patterson and Raymond Felton to cap-friendly contracts, Presti has gone from the man that let Kevin Durant walk for nothing to the man most likely to win Executive of the Year at next years’s NBA Awards.

But if we rewind back to July 4th, 2016, the state of the organization was on much more treacherous footing. One of the pillars of the franchise, Durant, chose to defect to the team’s biggest rival instead of re-signing with the team. Another pillar, Serge Ibaka, was traded two weeks prior to garner younger assets. And the team’s lone remaining superstar, Russell Westbrook, was coming up on the final year of his contract. From the outside looking in, this felt like the end of a memorable, yet disappointing run from a group of young superstars who were drafted together and rose up to prominence, likely a little too fast for their own good.

That was the feeling during the press conference Presti had the evening following Durant’s departure. The questions ranged from, “when did you know Durant was signing with the Warriors?” to “are you now going to trade Russell Westbrook?”. It was the first time I’d ever seen Presti a little rattled during a press conference. (And by rattled, I mean Presti stumbled over like five words over a 45 minutes presser.) Continue reading Sam Presti: Putting back the Jenga pieces →

Introducing the Future King

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baby russ

Noah Russell Westbrook is officially one month old. The Westbrooks finally felt comfortable enough to unleash Noah onto the world’s eyes. With his fists clenched, Noah wasn’t happy about it. Already following in his father’s footsteps.

Even his attire was Russell-like.

Time To Move On…

Offseason Beat, Random Thoughts
Kevin Durant
Ben Margot – AP Photo

On July 4th, 2016, Kevin Durant took a calculated risk. He weighed the pros and the cons of his different options, and made a decision. His choice to join the Golden State Warriors was viewed negatively by many around the league, but after winning his first title yesterday, he can look back on his decision and smile, knowing he made the right choice.

Durant can finally sit at that table. The Table of Champions. Any time someone talks about what it’s like to win a championship, Durant can now slam his hand down on the table like he has the winning domino and show them the bling that is the secret password to gain entrance into the vaunted club. Continue reading Time To Move On… →