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

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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?

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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? →

Daily Thunder Rumblings – 25 July 2017

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img_4133-5If this off-season goes on for any longer, the Thunder will be rumored to be acquiring Michael Jordan from the Charlotte Hornets. Here are today’s Rumblings…

Soooo, Carmelo Anthony and the Thunder reportedly have have mutual interests: “For all that Melo has said about wanting to live in big cities and command large markets, this is a plausible possibility. The Knicks, now under Steve Mills and Scott Perry, could be asking for a lot in Melo deals with Houston or Cleveland. Just a week ago, Melo was all but wearing Rockets red, but after a change of leadership in New York the momentum on such a deal seems to have slowed. It’s probably a good sign for the Knicks as they try to either keep Melo or maximize his value in a trade.”

How Carmelo could fit with the Thunder: “Getting Anthony to OKC would have some of the same issues of the Blake Griffin trade that never happened. Even with questions about fit, Anthony would be a potentially lethal addition to the Thunder offense. Before Griffin, an Oklahoma City native, decided to re-sign a max contract with the Los Angeles Clippers, any deal he was involved in would have had to have been a sign-and-trade in which he’d said “send me to OKC.” Like Griffin, an Anthony trade hinges on the desire to play in Oklahoma City.” Continue reading Daily Thunder Rumblings – 25 July 2017 →

NTTB Podcast (Episode 3) – The Thunder Award Show

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IMG_4109On Episode 3 of the NTTB podcast, we discuss the following topics:

  • The Dakari Johnson and Yannis Morin signings
  • The Ins and Outs of the new Nike uniforms
  • Thunder Award Show
  • How Steven Adams will play with the Thunder’s new personnel
  • How much would you offer for Kyle Singler
  • And some Kyrie Irving talk

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 – 24 July 2017

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img_4133-5Hello, new week. Don’t be mean. Here is Monday’s edition of DTR…

Fred Katz looks at how the Ronnie Price signing and subsequent cutting will come back to haunt us this season: “The Thunder signed Price to a two-year, $5 million deal last summer, thinking they’d bring in the at-the-time 11-year veteran to be the team’s third-string point guard behind Russell Westbrook and Cameron Payne. The market didn’t dictate giving a second year to Price. It didn’t demand handing a desired third-stringer more than the minimum, either. But Presti had longed for Price for a while. In many ways, Price is the exact type of player Presti tries to keep around in Oklahoma City. He defends hard. He knows the league and the game. He’s extraordinarily bright. Just about anyone who’s played with him describes him as a tier-one teammate. He could probably lock down a coaching job tomorrow if he wanted to stop playing.”

The Thunder pre-preseason team bonding begins in Los Angeles this week: “Paul George certainly isn’t immune to hard work. Every summer George has worked to improve and expand his game. He’s come back from the horrific leg fracture of 2014 which would have ended many players careers. The fact he’s back on track showcasing marked improvements speaks to his work ethic and talent. Sporting a different uniform on a new team, George looks to write his next chapter. For George this season can’t help but feel strange since he’s spent each of his 7 years as a pro with one franchise.  And, with all due respect to George Hill, Lance Stephenson and Roy Hibbert ,George has never had a player of Russell Westbrook’s ilk to share the NBA court with.” Continue reading Daily Thunder Rumblings – 24 July 2017 →

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? →

Thunder sign Yannis Morin

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After signing Dakari Johnson yesterday, the Oklahoma City Thunder have now signed 24 year old French big man Yannis Morin. The news was first reported by international website Sportando. 

Morin is an athletic 6’11” PF/C who can develop into a prototypical big man for the pace and space NBA. He moves well without the ball and can even float out to 3-point territory to space the floor. He’ll initially to be a rim runner, but he has good mechanics on his shot and may develop into a pick and pop option. He’s a little on the light side and may need some time in the weight room before he has an impact in the NBA. 

Morin played with Le Havre of the French Pro B League last season averaging 6.8 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. He played with the Thunder in this recent summer league, appearing in 4 games. Morin was scheduled to play with Chalons-Reims of the LNB Pro A league next season, but opted out of his deal to join the Thunder. 

According to Steve Kyler of BasketballInsiders.com, the thinking is that this might be a 2-way contract to allow Morin to develop in the G-League with the OKC Blue. 

Here’s a highlight of Moran to get to know him a little.