Thursday Bolts - 12.4.08

• David Berri takes on my Russell Westbrook column: "Beyond the issue of how good Westbrook has been is the question of how good Westbrook will be in the future. It’s certainly true that if Westbrook starts to hit his shots that his value will rise. And that might happen in the future. Then again, it’s also possible it won’t happen. Although we don’t know if (or when) Westbrook will become a “good” player, we should all be able to agree that a player shooting 35% from the field is not having a particularly good season so far." Mr. Berri is far and away smarter than I and in a backward way, I'm flattered he even read what I wrote. One thing I want to say to defend myself a little: I didn't say all Russell needed was a jumper and he'd be an All-Star now. I said if he develops a nice mid-range game, he is an "All-Star waiting to happen." There's no denying it - per 48, Westbrook and Rose are very similar. Westbrook is averaging close to 13 a game, almost three steals and is approaching five assists. I realize shooting percentage is not just something to pass over, but regardless, I think that's a pretty good rookie season for a guy that was at his senior prom three years ago.
• Ball Don't Lie, Behind the Boxscore: "Kevin Durant (9-12 shooting, 24 points) continues to improve game by game, but in the end Chris Wilcox (5-11 shooting, five rebounds, 12 points, three turnovers and six fouls) was probably more trouble than he was worth. Because he hustled and gave effort every so often, his game looked a lot better than it actually was. Oklahoma City shot 54.5 percent, but you're not going to get a lot of wins when your two point guards combine for nine turnovers in about 57 minutes."
• As we all are, Empty the Bench is happy the see Kevin Durant move to the three: "The Durantula had been manning the off-guard slot in an effort to protect him from the more physical style of NBA forwards. It was probably a good decision last season as the rail-thin swingman had a lot of trouble banging with the bigger pros on both ends, but Durant is showing that he was ready to make the transition to his natural small forward position. Get ready to see more of that complete player we saw in his lone season at Texas as a result."
• Forbes ranks NBA franchises based on worth and OKC's stock is rising: "Meanwhile, Oklahoma City Thunder owner Clay Bennett resurrected the team formerly known as the Seattle SuperSonics, trading in a half-empty arena with a crummy lease in Seattle for a sold-out building in Oklahoma City where he keeps all of the revenues. The value of the Thunder is $300 million, 12% more than last year."
• And the Thunderguru's game recap: "We had very little problem scoring tonight (we shot 55% from the field and 63% on three pointers), but we couldn’t stop the Cats from scoring. Then when we did make a couple of rare stops, we followed it up with Desmond Mason shooting a 16 foot airball with under 2:00. A bit later, we had Westbrook bricking a pull up jumper. We’ve got three guys stroking their jumpers tonight in Joe Smith, Durant and Green, but we’ve got these two guys shooting jumpers in crunch time? Puuuhleeezzz!"
• The Lost Ogle's third installment of "Peace, Love & Thunderstanding" (apparently they aren't Thunderworld readers): "If the Thunder win a game and no one was there to see it, did it really happen? That’s the question the team answered on Saturday of this past week. While everyone in this state was watching a football game, the Thunder played the Memphis Grizzlies in Tennessee. Everyone in Memphis apparently had something better to do, because only 11,000 supposedly showed up to watch. Based on eye-witness accounts, that number had to be fudged."

Tuesday Bolts

• Mike Baldwin on Joe Smith bringing much needed experience: "You talk to any guy in the league and Joe Smith is a guy everyone wants on their team,” said point guard Earl Watson. "He brings experience which you can’t replace. He brings toughness. He brings a dimension in the paint ... "He’s a guy who can pick and pop (a shot) which is so vital in the NBA. He can guard anyone in the league. He’s tremendous. He’s so versatile it’s hard to put into words what he brings to your team.”

• The Thunder will technically just be an expansion team as records will be separated: "Will Kevin Durant’s rookie season become nothing more than a footnote in Thunder history? Most likely. Thunder officials will keep separate records. Points. Rebounds. Assists. Everything. In next year’s media guide there will be a Thunder records section and a Sonics record section. It’s the right thing to do."

• The good people over at OKCThunderFans.com weigh in on coach P.J. Carlesimo: User, The_Mont: "I think he'll be a bridge to the next head coach, however I'm starting this season with a blank slate for the whole team. P.J. may be a better assistant coach, but he's done, and said, all the right things so far during his short stay in Oklahoma City. In my opinion, the jury is still out. Byron Scott spoiled us (not only with putting a competitive team on the court, but he also always spoke of Oklahoma City glowingly) for two years, and that's hard to compete with. I know several of us grew frustrated of his head games with the players, not to mention the infamous "Dog House," but last season is an indication that with a healthy team, his methods produce winners."

• And good man Jeff Clark at CelticsBlog.com has circled the wagons and is heading up a comprehensive team preview for all teams. So far the Atlantic Division has been wrapped. Get to know your opponents.

Boston Celtics
Jeff Clark: CelticsBlog.com
Jim Weeks: Green Bandwagon
FLCeltsFan: LOY's Place
John Karalis: Red's Army
Dustin Chapman: Celtics 24/7

New Jersey Nets
Dennis Velasco: About Basketball

New York Knicks
Joey: Straight Bangin'
Seth Rosenthal: Posting and Toasting

Philadelphia 76ers
Dannie & Pete: Recliner GM
Jon Burkett: Passion and Pride

Toronto Raptors
Franchise: RaptorsHQ.com
Ryan McNeill: Hoops Addict
Cuzzy: Cuzoogle

Wednesday Thunderbolts

• I just couldn't let this go (caution: heavy cursing inside and turn your speakers down). An awesome, awesome (and by awesome, you know what I mean) YouTube rant about the new Thunder jerseys. Holy cow, it's good. Better (or should I say worse?) rant - the eruption of Mount Gundy, Lee Elia's head exploding or MadThad0890's on the Thunder? And in case you were thinking about doing it, save your time: I counted - he said Thunder 46 times.

• Speaking of Mike Gundy, Jenni Carlson of the Oklahoman on the team growing together: "The franchise and the face are going to grow up together. 'For him to come here early in his career ... ,' Thunder point guard Earl Watson said, '20 years from now, 30 years from now, you think of the Thunder being in Oklahoma City, you're going to have to think of Kevin Durant.' This is a youngster who has not only the ability but also the personality to be a superstar. Look at what happened a year ago. He played for a dreadful team but still won the NBA Rookie of the Year. He landed on the West Coast but still emerged a marketing darling."

• He put it up yesterday, but there was a lot going on with the unis. Be sure to check out Part 7: Power Forward, of Joe's Thunder position-by-position breakdown. "[Head coach P.J. Carlesimo] essentially started some combination of [Kurt] Thomas, [Nick] Collison and [Chris] Wilcox at the PF and Center spot on most nights, interspersed with a few shots of Robert Swift before injuries and Johan Petro. In the end, Kurt Thomas was mercifully traded to a contender before the deadline, Wilcox got hurt and Nick Collison proved why he is one of the most underrated front court players in the game today. The big men for the Thunder this coming season will be the same crew less Kurt Thomas but with the addition of first round pick D.J. White and Joe Smith, both are also Power Forwards. As a whole, the Power Forward position was the second most effective and efficient position for us. Shooting guard was slightly better."

• ESPN the Magazine's Chad Nielsen on Serge Ibaka's impressive dunking: "I didn't drive to Zaragoza at 170 km/hr to backseat-judge a dunk competition. I came for one reason. (Okay, two reasons. After a week fighting traffic and soccer club bureaucracies in Barcelona, I was stoked to rent a Citroen C5 and hit the road. But it took 45 minutes to rent the car and Zaragoza was about 60km further than I was led to believe. So I had to rush a bit.) No, I came to see the kind of hops that legends are made of—legends like Serge Ibaka."

• Joe Smith, Man on the Move via Ball Don't Lie: "Joe Smith is an Oklahoma City Thunder, now; but if you'd forgotten that he'd been traded to the team over the summer, you're forgiven. He kind of flies low on the radar. Hell, I had to look the trade up. It was a three-way deal. However, if you failed to assume that Smith had been traded during the offseason, you're still on the hook. After all, the man's been in the league since 1995, he's played for nine teams, and two of the nine twice. So 11 teams, really, and all pretty much with the same haircut. Same jumper, too. Always there, always the same."

• John Klein of The Tulsa World: "Yet, just like the team, the questions on media day eventually got down to what will be most important in a couple of years. What type of team will this be? When can the Thunder realistically expect to be competitive in the NBA? For the first couple of years, that won't matter. Folks are going to jam the place excitedly. In 2-3 years, they may want to see some wins."

• John Hollinger's breakdown is coming later today. When it's up, I'll make sure you see it. It's going to be sweet.
  

• From the official site, photos and video from the first day of practice of training camp.

The Thunder will be mascot-less

At least for a few months, according to The Oklahoman.

“There will not be a mascot at the start of the season,” said team spokesman Dan Mahoney. “It might not be ready until the second half of the season, maybe even after the All-Star break (in February). We’re going to take some time to develop it. We want to make sure it’s the right mascot and the design is right. We’re putting a lot of time and thought into it. You don’t get a second chance to do this. You can’t buy an NBA mascot costume off the rack.”

Oh Lord. I can hear the jokes and one-liners coming in waves after that quote. With the entire sports world hating the logo, most of it hating the name and about half hating the jerseys, I can only imagine the zingers that are to come from that. I think we can only handle a few unveilings at a time anyway. I don't think the state of Oklahoma can handle another public perception disaster anyway. If they had to rush into a mascot like they did with the name, the logo and the jerseys who knows what we would get?

A fat guy with "Thunder" written across his chest with two cardboard lightning bolts in each hand? A really offensive Indian that runs around with its bare butt exposed swinging a bloody tomahawk?

I say just let the Sooner Schooner double as the mascot. It's already one of the most loved, recognizable ones anyway. I'm sure David Boren wouldn't mind - especially if the Thunder would let some of Boren's prized National Merit scholars drive it.

Tuesday Thunderbolts: Uni reaction

• Ball Don't Lie says the new unis look like someone we've seen before... where have we heard that? "These could have been a lot worse, especially after the tragedy that is the team's logo, but we can't help but shake a sneaking suspicion that we've seen these new Oklahoma City Thunder uniforms before. Like, on Patrick Ewing." One comment left said simply, "Bennett keeps stealing." I don't care who you are, that's funny. And if you're super-sensitive to anything negative about the team, be sure to steer clear of the comments.

• Uni Watch: "These things are so generic, they might as well just have “Basketball Team” printed on the front and then they could have a cameo scene in Repo Man. It’s not like they’re ugly, mind you. Au contraire, the colors are reasonably pleasing, the road jersey typography would look pretty cool on a 1960s NCAA team, and the whole package is admirably gewgaw-free. But for an NBA team rebranding itself? It’s tempting to call it a joke, except jokes are funny. This is just sad."

• Newsok.com's "OKC N' Style" breaks down the new threads. (And here's her written story too.) This has to be one of the worst/most awkward things ever done, ever. The lady has absolutely no knowledge of NBA uniforms (and she even admits that, so why is she discussing this?) and even says at one point how much of "an attention getter" white is and how good of a choice it was. As if the team chose white. For those scoring at home, white is pretty much every home team's uni color - except in rare cases like the Lakers. Leave it up to Newsok to take something as anti-gay as professional sports and turn it into something that feels a little gay by breaking down color schemes and what kind of emotions sky blue puts off. I'm trying not to really comment on these media hits, but I couldn't help it with this. Come on lady.

• Via Realgm.com's message boards: "Personally, I think they look really good. Not being sarcastic at all," and "Their white jerseys aren't as bad as I thought at first, not bad at all really though resembling some other teams. The road though, I'll admit the colors are ok but wow, that's way too much text for a jersey." Within the four pages, the consensus was pretty much divided evenly between "gross," "good" and "they're alright." And seems like everyone's got a comparison - there were comparisons to the Warriors, the Knicks, the Bobcats, the Nuggets, the T-Wolves and even the Hornets in there. So does that mean pretty much every NBA team looks like every other NBA team? Doesn't seem like OKC is the only culprit there if everyone else looks like each other too.

• Chris Littmann of Sportingnews.com: "Honestly, these uniforms remind me of the Memphis Grizzlies' duds. Pretty plain, similar colors and no huge logo or anything on the front." If I hear someone compare the jerseys to the Celtics', then I'm cashing it in.

• Zorgon from Blue Blitz: "Third of all, the fronts of both uniforms are just a little bit too bland and noisy. The white uniforms have orange tracing around them for some god-knows-why reason. Combining it with the white and yellow doesn't turn out too well in my opinion. The road uniforms also suffer from problems, as it just looks like they slapped Oklahoma, City, and the numbers on there with absolutely no regard for style. In conclusion, after a second look, these uniforms are pretty poor. They have some positive points on the colouring, but the uniforms are eternally marred by their use of butt crack logo and their overall genericness."

• Bend It Like Bennett: "Now on to the road unis. I think the offical name for the color is "Expansion Team Blue". She kinda lost me for a minute there because I'm no color expert myself, and the discussion becomes very dense and theoretical, but I'll try to break it down. Blue is 'dependable' like the sky, because the sky won't fall, even though sometimes times get tough, and also it's very loyal. That's so weird because whenever I think about this franchise, "stability" and "loyalty" are the two words I think of. But also blue is "powerful" like a bright blue Oklahoma sky with fluffy white nimbus clouds where some of them look like animals, and so you're feeling all loyal and stable and then suddenly you see the red-orange trim and you're energized."

• One quick note from me, via The Thunderworld: I know I've already expressed how I feel, but I just want to say it again. I semi-like the new uniforms. They are streamlined and an attempt at being classy. If you want, start busting out every other team's jersey and take a peak. The Thunder is right along with everyone. There's no overbearing font, no overzealous picture - just who they are and what they are. Simple and sleek. Now, like I said also, I'm mainly giving them the benefit of the doubt because of what they were working with. I wasn't a fan of the name, the logo or the colors, so that would make it tough to be a fan of the jerseys. But as for being too generic and too simple, I just don't agree there. That's what the world's best uniforms are. The nickname Thunder was a little controversial so I'm very glad the team didn't run with it and start putting storm clouds and lightning bolts everywhere. The team is named Thunder but this is really about Oklahoma City. That's where the focus should be and I think that's where it is. Right now, OKC is on top of every sports' fan's hit-list. We're the punchline to every joke. It's gotten the point where anything the Thunder does, sucks. Whether it actually sucks or not, everyone automatically thinks it will. They could go 60-22 and win the West and everyone would still think the team sucks. Just the way it is right now. But it will pass.

For those calling it too generic, are these too generic?



I don't mean the uniform crusader here because I'm not really a fan either, but I just wonder if OKC is getting a fair shake. Did I just compare the unis to the Celtics? Well, I guess I'm done here.

Also, judging by this picture, the trim is most definitely dark blue. Glad to have that cleared up.

Jerseys unveiled

They're here. On the official website, you can see Earl Watson, Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and Nick Collison modeling them. And here's a video of them modeling as well. I must say, Jeff Green, Heidi Klum would be impressed.

There's not too much to complain about, except for the black in the stripes. They are extremely New York Knick-looking, which is fine, seeing as the Knicks have classic unis. Come to think of it, they're really New York Knick-looking.

It's a relief to not see the logo on the jersey displayed prominately. I must say, my initial reaction is "Well, that's not so bad." And I think that will be the overall reaction. The logo appears to have been a bust, but the duds don't look like they'll be a dud. They're very safe and neutral. Nothing outlandish. No huge font or huge picture across the front. It's clear they went for a streamlined and classy look.

Like I said in another post, I wanted "Oklahoma City" to be over and under the number. I also was hoping for the neck-line stripe and lines down the side to be orange-white-blue. No black. Where did the black come from? So now there's five colors? Blue, orange/red, yellow, dark blue and now black? Geez. The baselines on the Ford Center court will probably be green just for good measure. The sidebar is orange-blue-white but the neck has black. Lose the black.

My initial reaction is 7/10.The score is that high because I have to take into account what they had to work with - a crappy logo and a pretty weird color scheme. We all know that within five years the jerseys will change, along with the logo too. I have to say the road jerseys are better than the home though. I dig the Oklahoma City font and I just love seeing Oklahoma City on a professional sports jersey. Also, kudos for not using the block letter "OKC" that was on the logo in a big, bold way on the front of the jersey. They worked with what they had and made the most out of it. It's not exactly how I would have designed them, but I don't think anyone will be snickering when we take the floor against them.

EDIT: One comment pointed out that it may be the dark "Thunder" blue that's lining the trim. If that's so, then I'd be much more happy with the unis. I watched the video much more closely and on the zoom-in on Collison, I do think that may be blue too. Once I get my hands on one, I'll know for sure. And I agree, who else can't wait for digusting alternate jersey night at the Thunderdome? There could be some crazy uni combinations with all four/five colors.

(Also, random thought: How long until we can have throwback night in OKC? The Lakers toss out those sweet old school Minneapolis jerseys from time-to-time and everyone loves them. So when do we get to trot out some old school Seattle SuperSonics jerseys? Boy, that would really set some people off...)

Monday Thunderbolts

• Fox Sports Net to air 65 Thunder games this year. On a revamped network, Oklahoma fans will be able to watch their favorite team for most of the season. The remaining Thunder games are expected to air on an Oklahoma City over-the-air station, but a deal has not been announced. Replacing Fox Sports Net Southwest will be Fox Sports Net Oklahoma. More than half of the telecasts will be available in HD. FS Oklahoma will launch with the first Thunder telecast in October and will be available statewide as a replacement for FSN Southwest. The date of the launch has not been set.

• Steve Aschburner of SI.com answers some burning questions about the Western Conference: "Will the Thunder's toughest challenge come on or off the court? Ripping this franchise away from Seattle after four proud and mostly fun decades caused all sorts of emotional trauma -- in Seattle. But you know how modern athletes and coaches are, millionaire mercenaries happy to love the ones they're with, as long as the fat checks cash. This should be expansion without stretch marks, marrying a team that is more advanced than any inaugural edition to a market that has shed its NBA training wheels. But they shouldn't let any happy honeymoon get in the way of an urgency to improve. Young as this club is, NBA players have finite careers, and building blocks in Rookie of the Year Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and first-round pick Russell Westbrook need to be full-fledged contributors while guys such as Nick Collison, Damien Wilkins, Chris Wilcox and Desmond Mason still are in their prime, bringing quality and depth to the roster."

• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: "But the recent history of rookie point guards suggests Thunder fans should also have tempered expectations for this year's No. 4 overall pick. In the last 10 NBA seasons, only five rookie point guards have averaged at least 12 points and six assists: Chris Paul in 2005-06, Kirk Hinrich in 2003-04, Steve Francis in 1999-00 and Mike Bibby and Jason Williams in 1998-99. Not Baron Davis. Not Gilbert Arenas. Not Deron Williams. Not Tony Parker."

• How many wins will the Thunder have this season? The consensus at Oklahoma City Thunder Forum looks to be about 20-25 wins. User ThunderBoomer says, "Based upon the home court advantage that was evidenced by the Hornets that should work toward the Thunder's advantage. I know that it may very well be the most difficult division in the most difficult conference, however I really think that this team won 20 last year, they should be able to build on that with at least 5 more wins. I think 25 wins is probable and I will be pleased. 30 wins will be awesome. 20 wins would be okay, but it would show that we still have some building."

• Curious about every single stat of every single player with incredible, in-depth breakdowns of each player including how many threads are in their socks and how that may affect their mid-range jumper? Check out Thunderguru's awesome Thunder position-by-position breakdown. If you still don't know this team after that, then there's no helping you. Joe says, "My problem with [Jeff] Green offensively is twofold: 1) He’s attempting to become a jumpshooting Small Forward and he hasn’t proven to be good at it. 2) I didn’t see any noticeable improvement in his game last year. I’ve read at least five different stories about this team in the last week where they talk about Green’s strong finish to the season. It kind of makes me mad when people take a cursory look at the stats, haven’t seen him play more than a handful of times yet see fit to comment on his game as if knowledgeable. Yes, Jeff Green’s overall statline increased in April as opposed to January, but not because of improved play. His numbers went up because he got more minutes and he attempted more shots."

• Thunder Rumblings provides a link to some ridiculous dunks from 2008 Thunder draftee, Serge Ibaka as he competed in a slam-sunk contest in Spain last week.

• Uniforms, of course to be revealed any minute. Anyone else really looking forward to Uni Watch's breakdown of the new duds? And also, we'll have as much coverage as we can provide from media day news.
  

NBA Live '09/NBA 2K9 leaks Thunder jersey

Well, that is if you think they will actually look like that.


Via Oklahoma City Thunder Forum and the Oklahoman's Thunder Rumblings, comes NBA Live 2009's version of OKC's home jerseys (picture) and NBA 2K9's (video). I posted about a week ago that it was confirmed that the Thunder would be in NBA 2K9, but we weren't sure about Live. Well, obviously Live has made the update.



One thing of interesting note from the 2K9 video - the announcer had the cut-in robot voice when he said, "The Chicago Bulls will take on...(voice inflection change, jump cut in sound) and the OKLA-homa CI-ty squad. So "Thunder" didn't make it in for the announcers to say - or did it? About three minutes in, Kevin Harlan says, "The THUNDER will bring out some reserves." So it's in there. Whatever. Also, the court looks super bland. Hopefully that's not what it will actually look like. Surely the logo will be at mid-court like that, but the lanes and baselines look so boring. They look like we snuck into the Pepsi Center and pried the Nuggets' lane right up and trucked it into the Thunderdome.


The Thunder will actually reveal the real jerseys Monday. No telling if they will be anything like the ones on the game. Live's jersey and 2K9's are basically the exact same - does that mean the actual duds will look like that or did both gaming companies just come together to have a unified look? I guess we'll know Monday. Here's to hoping they don't use that Microsoft Word '97 font for "Thunder" like they have on the games. I really want to see "Oklahoma City" on one of the jerseys - I'd prefer both - because it could look good with the player's number in the middle and "Oklahoma" and top with "City" underneath. But they never do what I want.

Sucks that Darnell Mayberry beat me to this because I've been stalking NBA Live '09 and 2K9 updates to try and catch a leak. But I was at the OU game tonight so I missed it. Oh well. That's why he makes the big bucks. That and his extremely awkward NewsOK video commentaries. And DM says on Thunder Rumblings, "[The uniforms] looks pretty sweet to me." They could be brown burlap sacks with duct tape spelling out "Thunder" across the front with cowboy boots for shoes and Darnell Mayberry would say they "look pretty sweet." Not saying the game's jerseys looked bad but they definitely weren't anything spectacular.

John Lucas III signed by Thunder

Yes, that's the former Oklahoma State point guard. According to the Oklahoman, he'll be in training camp. He's been in the league (with the Houston Rockets) for a few years and it looks like he's got a real shot at making the team. The Thunder has 14 roster spots filled (with Lucas) and the league maximum you can carry into the regular season is 15.

One key note: the Thunder reserved the right to waive Lucas before the start of the regular season. So he by no means has made the team.

This means there's two former Pokes on the roster (Desmond Mason being the other). Is this like a strategy by team management to get fans excited? Bring in all the former state college standouts, see what they can do and make Okies get all nostalgic? I'm waiting for Nate Erdman and Ernie Abercrombie's chance. Or what about Shay Seals? I heard Franz Steyn and Randy Rutherford were also available. Oh, what's that? All those guys either sucked big time or don't play basketball anymore? Ok, well just give me Jabari Brown and Maurice Baker. I could go on for days with these old school names.

But in all seriousness, when you're other two point guards are Earl Watson and super-unproven rookie Russell Westbrook, having a good security blanket like Lucas is definitely a good idea.

Also according to the Oklahoman, the Thunder will bring in power forward rookie Derrick Byers (Vanderbilt) and Chris Alexander, 7-1 center from Iowa State.

Kevin Durant's Q&A with Sporting News Today

For those of you that don't subscribe to Sporting News Today, quit reading and do it now. It's awesome. It's basically a digital newspaper delivered to your email every stinking morning and it's FREE.

Today they have a great interview with Thunder star Kevin Durant. He talks about the new look, the new team, his goals and what it's like in OKC. A really great read. (Click it to make it bigger. That's what she said.)

A few interesting things he said:

1. "Your team name is supposed to make people afraid. People are afraid of Thunder." I hate to disagree there Kevin, but who's really afraid of thunder besides six-year-olds? "What was that, dad?" "Nothing son, just thunder. It's only a sound. It can't hurt you." Remember that conversation when you were a kid? Also, who's afraid of the Lakers? Or Mavericks? Or Spurs? Oooh, the Spurs. Are those really terrifying names that intimate opponents before they step on the floor?

2. "I talked to Chris Paul about it, and it seems like a good, quiet kind of place, a family-oriented kind of place. And he said the fans are great, they're unbelievable. It sounds like it is almost a college atmosphere when you get to game night." Darn night KD. People around the country make fun of OKC about being a small town. They think we have teepees and ride horses to work. But that's fine because if they actually knew what it was like, they'd all be moving here in a heartbeat. Low crime, virtually no traffic, great jobs, great economy, extremely low cost of living, wonderful people and great schools. I think I've said too much.

3. Q: How about the chances of seeing the Thunder in the playoffs? "Oh man, it's way too early to think about that. We still need to jell together, to get better as a group, as a family. Let me think about training camp before the playoffs. Ask me in the middle of the season about the playoffs, and maybe I can give you a real answer." Translation. And the reason he'd rather be asked in the middle of the season is because by then the Thunder will be 12-29 and no one in their right mind will be asking about the playoffs.

Toby Rowland-gate

For those that aren't aware, evidently the lamest sports talk radio station in Oklahoma, KREF, has prevented KWTV-9 reporter/anchor Toby Rowland out if his contract to become the Thunder's new sideline reporter.

Rowland told The Oklahoman he was "crushed" and his lawyer said he may consider filing a lawsuit against "The Ref" to let him out of his contract. Talk about an awkward Monday morning meeting at The Ref.

The thing is, The Ref can't afford to let Rowland go. It's not like he's some amazing talent that is drawing in thousands of listeners, but when you're other two "star" anchors are Myron Patton and Rusty Olsen, Rowland might as well be Colin Cowherd. Nothing against Rusty as I have covered numerous events with him and he's a genuinely nice person - just a little weird. And as for Patton, I've never really had much contact with him but the one image that sticks out to me was at one Bob Stoops presser, Patton was sitting on the floor Indian-style. For some reason I found that really strange.

But to hold a guy back like that is weak sauce. Really weak. The reason Rowland got into this business was to go up the ladder: To land an all-time awesome gig and what would be better than being the sideline reporter for a professional franchise in your hometown. I'm sure when he was a junior reporter he wasn't thinking, "Boy, I want to do a morning radio show for the third best sports talk radio station in Oklahoma City on some AM dial that no one even knows exists!"

But what are you going to do. Rowland may get another shot later down the line, but hopefully the Thunder settles on a decent sideline reporter.
Seeing as that job is oh-so-important.

THUNDER ANNOUNCER BRIAN DAVIS: Let's go down to Toby with a sideline update.
TOBY: Yeah, Kevin Durant looks really tired right now. I'm standing right here next to him and he's like sweating and drinking Gatorade and stuff. Oh, everyone can just see that on TV? Oh. Uh... well, lots of action here! - back to you guys.

I have a major gripe about sideline reporters, but I'll save that for another day.