Tag Archives: Oklahoma City Thunder

Daily Thunder Rumblings – 11 July 2017

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img_4133-5If you haven’t already checked it out, we have released the inaugural episode of the NTTB podcast. You can check it out here. Here are the Rumblings…

Brett Dawson says ex-NBA stars are intrigued by the Westbrook-George pairing: “Because no matter what role he’s playing — fan, analyst, future front-office official — Billups is pumped for the pairing of Westbrook with small forward Paul George, the four-time All-Star the Thunder acquired this month in a trade with the Indiana Pacers. “I love it, man,” Billups said. “Two of my favorite players in the league. Two two-way players. Two players that really want to win. I think it’s gonna be really exciting.”

Austin Sternlicht of Thunderous Intentions looks at if this version of the Thunder is its deepest ever: “General Manager Sam Presti has done an incredible job this summer making sure this team has enough manpower down the roster to compete with the elite Western Conference teams. He essentially replaced Domantas Sabonis and Victor Oladipo with Paul George and Patrick Patterson. On Friday evening, he signed veteran point guard Raymond Felton to a one year deal. The backup point guard position was specifically a disaster for the Thunder last season. Semaj Christon and Norris Cole simply were not able to meet the demands of even a below average backup point guard.” Continue reading Daily Thunder Rumblings – 11 July 2017 →

NTTB Podcast (Episode 1) – The Sam Presti Appreciation podcast

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On the inaugural episode of the NTTB podcast, we (Alex and Anthony) discuss the following topics:

  • How the podcast came to be
  • Sam Presti’s best week ever!
  • An in-depth look at the 4 transactions that have shaped this offseason for the Thunder
  • Will Nick Collison be back with the Thunder?
  • And a review of some of the moves around the league

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).

Also, we will eventually get the pod up on ITunes, so please leave a review on there anytime you want and tell your friends about us. Thunder Up!

 

Daily Thunder Rumblings – 10 July 2017

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The beginning of another week. Hope your Monday goes great. Here’s today’s edition of DTR.

Erik Horne looks at where Paul George is from (not LA), and looks at how that might affect his future decisions: “George isn’t technically from Los Angeles. Drive an hour north of L.A. through the San Gabriel Mountains and you’ll roll into the high desert of Palmdale and its 154,000 residents. It’s where George sprouted from 6-foot-1 as a freshman to 6-foot-8 in his final days at Pete Knight High School. It’s where George was called “Paul Paul” long before he was PG-13.”

The tipping ordeal for Andre Roberson was met with some friendly ribbing from teammates Steven Adams and Enes Kanter. Continue reading Daily Thunder Rumblings – 10 July 2017 →

Thunder sign Raymond Felton

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raymond felton

The Oklahoma City Thunder signed free agent point guard Raymond Felton to a one year deal on Friday. According to Fred Katz of the Norman Transcript, the deal is for the veteran minimum, which is around $2.3 million.

The 12-year vet played for the Los Angeles Clippers last year, primarily as Chris Paul’s back-up. He played in 80 games, starting in 11 of them. He averaged 6.7 points and 2.4 assists on 43% shooting from the field and 32% shooting from deep. Felton was a key stabilizing figure in the Clippers’ locker room, during a season that saw both Paul and Blake Griffin go down with significant injuries.

This will be the 7th team Felton has played for in his career. He will almost assuredly slide into the back-up point guard spot ahead of 2nd year player Semaj Christon, who’s team option the Thunder have yet to pick up. The Thunder have until July 15th to pick up Christon’s option. With this signing, the Thunder have 12 guaranteed contracts totaling about $125 million. The luxury tax line for the 2017-18 season sits at $119 million.

Daily Thunder Rumblings – 07 July 2017

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Happy Friday to all! Here are today’s edition of DTR.

Brad Botkin of CBS Sports looks at how quickly OKC has recovered from Kevin Durant’s departure: “Look what happened to the Cavs when LeBron James left for Miami. Kevin Garnett left Minnesota for Boston in 2007, and the Wolves, after making eight straight playoff appearances with K.G., haven’t finished higher than 10th in the West since. Yet here are the Thunder, barely more than a year after Durant’s departure, again ready to launch a two-superstar attack on the NBA with the addition of Paul George next to Russell Westbrook. Indeed, it has been a home run offseason for OKC, which also added Patrick Patterson on a three-year, $16.4 million bargain before re-signing Andre Roberson to a three-year, $30 million deal Wednesday.”

After re-signing Roberson, Oklahoma City may enter this upcoming season as the best defensive team in the league: “OKC was already in the top 10 for defensive rating last season, and that was before adding George and Patterson. The Thunder have now become one of the biggest winners this offseason, with a much-improved roster from last year. They’ve made moves to be a strong contender in the West, and have formed a defense strong enough to at least challenge the high-powered Warriors. The question now becomes whether their offense can keep up. We know about Westbrook and George’s offensive strengths, but Roberson is a liability on that side of the ball.” Continue reading Daily Thunder Rumblings – 07 July 2017 →

Seven things from Summer League

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Charlotte Hornets v Oklahoma City Thunder

With Thursday’s loss in the 3rd place game, the Oklahoma City Thunder finished out the 2017 Orlando Pro Summer League with a record of 2-3. After winning their first 2 games of summer league, the Thunder went on to drop their next three to finish in the fourth position of the 8-team league.

There honestly isn’t much that can be gleaned from this year’s summer league team. When you are a perennial playoff team, summer leagues are usually to see what you have in the cupboard, as the main dishes of the team usually don’t have to play summer league. Of the 13 players who were available to play for the Thunder, only about five have realistic chances of playing in the league.

Here are seven things from summer league: Continue reading Seven things from Summer League →

Daily Thunder Rumblings – 06 July 2017

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Happy the Thunder re-signed Andre Roberson. I was beginning to get worried that would be a long, drawn out situation. Instead, Roberson wanted to come back to OKC and OKC always longed to bring Roberson back. I guess $10 million was the middle ground. Here are the Rumblings for this Thursday.

Royce Young and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN team up to talk about the Roberson extension: “Roberson’s market was a tough one to gauge in the NBA because of his specialist role as a defensive stopper. After turning down an extension in October, Roberson didn’t garner the kind of interest he expected this offseason. His offensive issues are well-known, highlighted by his struggles at the free throw line during this past postseason, when he hit only 3-of-21 free throws and was a target of intentional fouling.”

Erik Horne looks at the trade market for Enes Kanter: “The NBA is trending small at the expense of the traditional big man. It’s not that Kanter isn’t effective. He was one of the most efficient offensive threats in the NBA last season, averaging 24.3 points and 11.3 rebounds per 36 minutes.” Continue reading Daily Thunder Rumblings – 06 July 2017 →

Daily Thunder Rumblings – 03 July 2017

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We’ll just call these Rumblings the Paul George edition. Here’s Monday’s edition of DTR.

Tuesday will mark a dubious anniversary for Thunder fans. But Sunday marked a not so fun anniversary for Sonics fans: “Sunday is the ninth anniversary of the settlement that allowed the owners of the Seattle SuperSonics to move the NBA franchise to Oklahoma City. Renamed the Thunder, the franchise has been among the NBA’s most successful since 2008-09, its first season playing in Oklahoma City. The Thunder had a 23-59 record in their first season but have been above .500 every season since. Beginning with the 2009-10 season, the Thunder have a .653 win percentage, second to only the San Antonio Spurs’ .725 win percentage in that time.”

Taj Gibson signed with Minnesota on Sunday. Here’s what his exit means to the Thunder: “Not long ago, the Thunder was stacked at power forward. Suddenly, it looks like a position of need. Free-agent Taj Gibson agreed to a two-year deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday that The Vertical was reported for $28 million.” Continue reading Daily Thunder Rumblings – 03 July 2017 →

Paul George traded to the Thunder

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Sarah Phipps – The Oklahoman

Just as I was about to release a primer for the Oklahoma City Thunder’s foray into this summer’s free agency, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN dropped this bomb:

It was just 12 days ago that George put out the feelers that he wanted out of Indiana and was not going to re-sign with the Pacers when his contract expired after the 2017-18 season. I wrote about the Thunder’s chances of obtaining George when the statement came out. He included in his statement that he had an eye towards signing in his native Los Angeles when he became a free agent. That statement was released a full three days before the draft. The timing of the statement was no accident.  Continue reading Paul George traded to the Thunder →

Daily Thunder Rumblings – 30 June 2017

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Happy Friday to all. Here is the DTR on eve of the madness we all know as free agency. At 11:01 PM CST tonight, the Thunder should have somehow acquired Blake Griffin, Paul George, and Kristaps Porzingis, right? That’s how NBA free agency works, right?

Semaj Christon and Taj Gibson made the list of buzzer-beaters for the 2016-17 season.

Well if Blake Griffin and his injured toe don’t work in OKC, maybe Rudy Gay and his surgically repaired Achilles tendon will: “The Thunder tried to acquire Gay last October in a deal which would have send Cameron Payne and other pieces to Sacramento. That was before Gay tore his Achilles after playing only 30 games. Gay declined a player option worth $14.2 million for 2017-18. With career averages of 18.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 34.2 percent from 3-point range, Gay figures to command a higher salary when free agency open Saturday.”

Andrew Schlecht of Daily Thunder looks at Gay’s fit with the Thunder: “Will Gay accept a role? If he is a starter at either forward position, will he be satisfied spotting up? He could allow Westbrook to be off-ball some, but it would be more of a  “your turn, my turn” than the motion offense that Billy Donovan wants. The truth is, if the Thunder can’t make a major splash, Rudy Gay is not a terrible option. The ideal situation would be Gay signing for a small dollar amount within one of the exceptions, and agreeing to come off the bench. This would allow the Thunder to move on from Enes Kanter without giving up any bench scoring. Gay could also close games at the power forward position. If he gets his touches earlier in the game, he would probably be fine spotting up in closeout situations.”

As July 1st approaches, a sobering reality comes into view if Westbrook declines to sign the Designated Player Veteran Exception: “Russell Westbrook called his teammates to the stage Monday night in New York. So up trotted Nick Collison, Victor Oladipo, Andre Roberson, Taj Gibson and Enes Kanter to stand in solidarity as Westbrook delivered his MVP speech. Irony oozed in Basketball City. The brotherhood was evident. So was the likelihood that the band is about to break up. Of Westbrook’s five teammates on stage, one (Kanter) is on the trading block and three others (Collison, Roberson, Gibson) are free agents, with none better than 50-50 of staying in Oklahoma City.”

Tim Bontemps looks at three small-market stars who could be on the move come the start of free agency: “But when Westbrook was asked a few minutes later about the potential of signing an extension with the Thunder, he did everything he could to avoid an answer. “Man, tonight is so important for me, and obviously with the contract and stuff coming up, it’s not really on my mind at the moment, honestly,” Westbrook said. “I’m just overwhelmed with a tremendous amount of blessings I’ve been able to get to be able to get this award. “Man, I’m just thinking about tonight, and then after that, I’ll move on.” Not the most reassuring of answers for a Thunder fan.”

When you have a good GM, openings will lead to rumors: “This does bring up an interesting scenario though. The past ten years (yes Presti was there for one Seattle season) SuperSonics/Thunder fans (yes there are a few of us out there) have been blessed with a young, intelligent General Manager. Unlike players, GM’s don’t switch teams unless they are 1) fired from one job or 2) one of the best GM’s in the game. It just so happens Presti falls in Category #2. So now the Big Fish of the NBA want in on Oklahoma City’s biggest off-the-court advantage.”

Mountain Dew unveils the triple-double breasted suit to honor the MVP.

An art teacher in the OKC school district celebrated Westbrook’s MVP win in a way only an art teacher would appreciate.

The HBO show Vice looks at the Enes Kanter situation against Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. 

According to Yahoo Sports, the Thunder have been interested in Blake Griffin for months: “It’s a shame for the Thunder they backed off their plan to sign Griffin last summer, signing Steven Adams and Victor Oladipo to contract extensions, only to resume it a few months later. Letting Adams and Oladipo hit unrestricted free agency would have given Oklahoma City an additional $22,514,699 in cap flexibility while maintaining Adams’ and Oladipo’s Bird Rights. That alone wouldn’t have been enough to offer Griffin a max salary, but dumping Enes Kanter, Kyle Singler and either Doug McDermott or Domantas Sabonis would’ve projected to get the Thunder there. In that scenario, Oklahoma City could have also exceeded the cap to re-sign Adams and Oladipo after inking Griffin.”