Thunder wonderings: Preseason game 1 and road unis that make a statement
By Mike Sherman
Sports Editor
Remember all the folks who told us Oklahoma City was delusional to think it was getting an NBA team? Remember those who laughed when we thought the Hornets might stay? Remember when we were told that Mr. Microsoft, Mr. Coffee and Slade Gorton and all those superior intellects, millionaires and “revealing emails” were going to force Clay Bennett’s group to sell the team?
None of that, none of those people, mattered on Wednesday night when Oklahoma City’s — that’s right, OKLAHOMA CITY’S — NBA team made its debut in Billings, Mont.
The Oklahoma City Thunder might not be scheduling any ring ceremonies or NBA championship parades in this decade. But this preseason game was no small thing. It marked the first time a major league team that belongs to and in this city — and this city alone — ever took the court.
Here’s what one life-long basketball lover — someone who has been following the NBA since he was a wee lad watching the Wes Unseld battle Willis Reed in the Baltimore Civic Center — thought about what I saw from the preseason game KSBI broadcast from Billings, Mont.
– Loved the road unis. LOVE THEM. The look like the New York Knicks’ roadies and that’s a good thing. The “Oklahoma City” on the front might be crowded, but hey, you’ve got to fly the flag. I heard some folks say the “OKC” would have looked better. I might have even been one of them. If I was, I was wrong.
Spelling it out is a political statement. This team is representing the city and the taxpayers who made its presence here possible. And the ownership group is broadcasting that to the world and every NBA city the Thunder visits by wearing “Oklahoma City” across the franchise’s chest. It’s a sign of appreciation, respect and gratitude. Good call, Clay.
– These guys won’t be the Phoenix Suns, but I’ve got a hunch that they’re more suited to a fast-paced, open-court style of play. 1) Westbrook looks born to play that way and playing fast could smooth out some of his rookie mistakes (6 turnovers). 2) The guy is a defensive force and can cut off passing lanes, which leads to steals, which lead lead to layups; 2) The Thunder has lots of young legs, and you need to play to your advantages; 3) There was a concern about Westbrook’s natural playmaking skills at point guard and those skills are less important in the open court; 4) The Thunder can develop low-post scoring, but currently lacks a consistent threat there, making half-court sets something of a struggle.
Of course, the goal of every team is to shoot layups. But the Thunder’s current best bet to get them is to force tempo and turnovers.
– I’m going to be accused of harping on the Russell Westbrook should start point, but this isn’t major league baseball where you worry about a rookie prospect’s confidence if you promote him too quickly through the system. This is the NBA and high draft picks play a lot and play soon in this league. If this team was trying to win an NBA title, starting the veteran makes sense, but it’s not.
Some of my colleagues at The Oklahoman say we should leave it up to the Thunder coaches and GM Sam Presti to decide who starts. Clay Bennett agrees with them because he hired those guys and not me, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t offer opinions and observations.
My eyes tell me that Westbrook has what it takes to be good in this league. How good? Why wait to find out? Start now.
– The Thunder roster is better than the one the Hornets brought to town in 2005. I’ll make my point in a more in-depth way in an upcoming blog, but our beat writer Darnell Mayberry advanced my cause tonight during our live chat during the game when, after Damien Wilkins hit a 3-pointer in the second half, I asked him who was better: Wilkins or Rasual Butler. Darnell said Wilkins because he’s more versatile. They’re in very similar roles with the opportunity to play similar minutes. It goes deeper than that, of course, and I’ll break it down in a future blog.
– Our NBA/Thunder writer Mike Baldwin is right: No need to overanalyze the preseason opener, but I left impressed by Nick Collison. He does a lot of things well. Unfortunately, if one of the three 7-footers doesn’t get healthy and start contributing, Nick is going to guard a lot of centers and that’s got a chance to wear him down. But he had a lot of nice passes and heady plays Wednesday night. Of course, Kansas fans knew all that, but his game has translated well — not tremendously, but well — to the NBA. I keep hearing folks in Oklahoma complain that Collinson has said he’d rather have stayed in Seattle and has made those feeling known. Give him a break. If you were from Iowa, went to college in Lawrence, Kan. and got a chance to live next to the Pacific Ocean for three or four years, you wouldn’t be too hepped up to head back to the Plains yourself.
– My interest in the NBA is, of course, greater than my expertise in it. But watching these games is a great way for all of us to learn. And no matter how complicated some try to make it, if we watch the game, and keep our mind and ears open, we all can learn a lot quickly. This is not the NFL or even college football, where you’ve got to watch game film with Bob Stoops or Mike Leach or Ron Jaworski to have any idea about what an offense or defense is really trying to do. The beat writers and broadcasters who are around the team every day are good guides, but so are your eyes.
My eyes tell me Russell Westbrook is going to be a ballplayer.
== MS
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Comments
Mike, you are lame.. Your city and your corrupt owner stole a historic NBA franchise from Seattle. BTW I am not from there nor am I a Supersonics fan.
For Shame Mike, For Shame
“My interest in the NBA is, of course, greater than my expertise in it. But watching these games is a great way for all of us to learn. And no matter how complicated some try to make it, if we watch the game, and keep our mind and ears open, we all can learn a lot quickly. This is not the NFL or even college football, where you’ve got to watch game film with Bob Stoops or Mike Leach or Ron Jaworski to have any idea about what an offense or defense is really trying to do. The beat writers and broadcasters who are around the team every day are good guides, but so are your eyes.
My eyes tell me Russell Westbrook is going to be a ballplayer.”
Agreed. He looked like the most athletic player on either team to my untrained (but learning and watchful) eye.
I am a 30 year old lifelong resident and I can’t express how much it meant to see Oklahoma City on the uniforms. Even with all the excitement around town, the tickets sold and all the talk it still felt surreal and I don’t think it’s completely sunk in to me that we are in the NBA. Unbelievable.
Your team? That’s ridiculous.
Worst post I have ever read in a while. Have fun with a team that’s gonna suck, and a team which doesn’t really belong to you.
Mike, your grammar and basketball lingo are both terrible. Hopefully OKC gets an actual basketball person to write future blogs, columns, etc..
Your prose stinks as much as your team
Your team? You mean the historic franchise your city stole from Seattle?
I think it is hilarious that Americans pay for the NBA to come to their city? Why do taxpayers continue to subsidize billionaires who could build their own stadium many times over? Why is it that you can’t get healthcare? why is it you are bailing out rich Wall Street execs? why is it you are paying for a stadium with your tax dollars and then paying exorbitant ticket price to see crappy basketball? boggles my mind?
Everyone treats David Stern and Clay Bennett like they are some kind of deities. When all they really are two rich guys soaking taxpayers to make themselves rich. Wake up you lemmings, you are subsidizing some of the most wealthy individuals in the United States? Hello, anyone home……
Folks:
For clarification, I never said “our team.” It certainly is not my team. Clay Bennett and his ownership group owns the team. But the taxpayers who support it are shareholders. These taxpayers voted to support this team. They had a choice to vote no, and if they had there would not have been a team in Oklahoma City. They had the same choice Seattle had. One city said yes, the other said no.
Bill: I’ll keep working on the grammar and basketball knowledge. I played the game and have followed it for 30 years, but I’m not Red Auerbach, Sam Smith or Marc Stein. I do, however, love the game and love to discuss it.
David Stern and Clay are not deities. They are businessmen, and apparently pretty successful businessmen.
– MS
Wow, get your facts straight. The taxpayers and in the state of Washington were not given a chance to vote to “support this team.” Bennett wanted the taxpayers to fund a $500 million dollar arena, not upgrade the existing one (like in OKC). Their lame idea didn’t get out of the state legislature! Enjoy your team, but get off your damn high and mighty horse that you somehow earned it!
They may be pretty successful businessmen, but you are a pretty successful “yes” man for the team..
keep eating the cornbread..
how much money is your new NBA franchise paying you?
Its a good thing that your road uni’s look like the Knick’s? Do you Oklahoman’s have anything original? You have to steal an historic NBA franchise just to get a pro sports team, then you rip off the uniforms of another one. The one attempt OKC has made at originality, the Thunder logo, looks like some cheap pre-made graphic they found in a print shop.
Coming from a life-long Sonics hater, you’re delusional to think that your team is something to be proud of. The citizens of OKC should be ashamed of Mr. Bennett’s representation of his city and the people in it. Supporting him only makes you look like as much of a snake as he is.
I agree with you about Westbrook looking like the real deal, Mike and I think you’re right about throwing him in to the fire just like they did with Durant last year.
I also agree with you about the road uni’s. I thought they looked great and I like the fact that people seeing highlights all over the world will see the words Oklahoma City spelled out.
What a wonderful time to be a sports fan in Oklahoma. All three of our major universities are undefeated in football, OU is picked first in the preseason Big 12 basketball poll and an NBA team based in and representing our city is beginning their first season.
From a sports standpoint, life doesn’t get much better,
Memphis was one very proud to have an NBA franchise. If the Thunder play the same way they did in Seattle for the last 8 years….. I am curious as to how many fans will actually care about the Thunder. Okalahoma is a football state and no NBA team will ever change that!
You’re team, what a joke. You stole our team which we’ve had since 1967. It’s like a thief who stole a car going around town showing off his new car. Just remember the biblical principal…”what you sow you also reap.” Or in laymans terms…what goes around comes around. Let’s see how you support “your” team after years of losing. Last year we had the worst team in the league with an a thief for an owner and yet Key Arena was still 75 to 80 percent full. The “Sonics” will always be Seattles team. The “OK City Thunder” is an imposter.
Good luck Mr. Bennett at keeping any of the young talent in OKC. I think most if not all of any players would rather live in Seattle than in OKC. I can’t believe as smart as David Stern is he would think the former Sonic franchise will thrive in OKC better than in Seattle. This is one of his biggest blunders ever in his history as commissioner and I can’t wait to see it’s results. Most of you if not all of you already know what those results are going to be in 5-10 years. BAD.
Just get it over with and return the franchise to Seattle and no one will laugh later.
so you steal a team from another city and you’re the happiest person in the world. if it takes lying, thieving and complete immorality to get what you want, then do it, huh? that’s what made our country great, good for you mike. what a guy, what a town.
so it’s not just clay bennett that is a scumball in okc, the current runs deep apparently…
Seattle is getting exactly what they deserve.
The Sonics are gone. The Mariners suck. The Seahawks suck. UW sucks. WSU sucks. Seattle is like a black hole for sports.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch. Isn’t Karma a b!tch.
Oklahoma City Thunder? What a thunderous load of crap. You country bumpkin hicks don’t deserve the Sonics.
Man, there are a lot of haters out there! Seems to me that David Stern told Seattle what would happen years before Clay bought the team. How many years did they have to take care of the situation?
Hey…I’m gonna enjoy the Thunder and not even think twice!
Great in-game blog last night too!
Mike,
Keep blogging and informing your readership. Oklahoma is behind you and the Thunder. This franchise will be successful.
Mike, you have no humility, tact or self-awareness. You and your blog are a microcosm of what is wrong with America. I bet you consider yourself a Christian, too. You provide pitifully bad commentary on basketball, and your newspaper and the team you stole are a pitiful commentary on the state of sports in America. Kudos.
Small town Okies….worst blog post I have read in a long time. Dude, you are a joke like your ownership. You will continue to get hate-mail because you are acting just like the Palin-McCain ticket…very little facts while slamming people. Why mock the Seattle fans with your backwoods barbs? Focus on basketball and keep the politics out.
To the readers who have posted the hate mail…keep it coming. Ok City derserves to be punished and it will come down to them luring NO talent and losing their own when free agency comes along. Bennett-idict Arnold will get his in the end when he is judged by our higher power.
The Oklahoman couldn’t find someone who actually knew something about basketball to write this blog? And what is with the Seatlle gibes? Give me a break. Even people down here (Australia) are well aware that your city stole ‘your’ franchise from the wonderful city of Seattle. Enjoy watching a mediocre team for the next decade or two, Durant will bolt at the first chance and what other free agent will sign on to play in a hick mid-western town? Couple that with the bad karma that comes from stealing the Sonics from a true basketball town like Seattle and you’ve got no chance. You’ll basically be the second coming of the Memphis Grizzlies. Enjoy.
Mike,
Nice job. And don’t worry about the folks that spew hate over a computer screen. Not worth it.
And to all you folks who seem to think losing a basketball team is equivalent to some kind of major disaster…you haven’t lived very long. Life happens. Deal with it, and move on.
“OKLAHOMA CITY’S” team? Yeah, that’s something to be proud of for many years to come. Like Russia used to be proud of their Poland. Of all the things you could say, that’s about the least thoughtful. When I was 10, I was pretty damn proud of al the candy I stole, too. It was MINE.
Enjoy the team, but don’t kid yourself how it got there and who it cost.
OKC Fans-
You are bandwagoners of another city’s misfortunate loss. the end. Noone cares about you and your prick of an owner.
LOL!! You have to love these trolls. Their own forums are as quiet as Key Arena. Just listening to them makes me want to run grab something at Starbucks just to say, “Thanks Howard.”
I agree that the road uniforms look decent (and appropriately spell out Oklahoma City). Considering the “C” name choice and the “F” logo design/colors, was expecting MUCH worse. But, why don’t the home uniforms spell it out too? Yes, we know who we are but wasn’t part of the whole point of getting an NBA team was to lift Oklahoma City into the Big Leagues in the eyes of the rest of the country? When they are playing at home, all the viewers around the country and world are going to see is “Thunder”. Need to make the home and away uniforms the same (just change the color).
I think you Oklahomans are only starting to realize how slimy the situation is. The entire basketball nation despises what Clay Clay and Aubrey engineered. If you think these “trolls” are bad, you obviously haven’t been paying attention. You’re like the woman that slept her way to the top. You may be up there now, but everyone talks behind your back.
Go take a shower and clean yourselves. The entire nation despises your team now.
This whole thread is hilarious, I was laughing out loud at some of the comments. There’s no loser like a seattle loser.
The Seahawks, UW and WSU are a combined 2-13. The Mariners are the worst team in baseball.
Washington…..taking SUCK to whole new level.
Look,
All trolling aside, isn’t the tone of this piece really unbecoming of the sports editor of a good-sized regional daily like this one, especially in light of the way this team was acquired?
Given the links you posted Mike, I can’t believe you are completely ignorant of the manner in which Bennett and McLendon brought this team to your city. You know that they are liars, that they were utterly disingenuous from the git-go and that their goal was always to spirit a franchise away from a well-established market and fanbase.
“Successful businessmen,” indeed. Mission accomplished.
So knowing just how slimy Bennett and his crew are, wouldn’t a man in your position want to adopt a more conciliatory posture? Wouldn’t you want to distance yourself from them, at least a little?
I guess not. I guess they’re your guys, and they bought you a present, and that’s all that matters to you. Never mind where the present came from. That would require a certain level of reflection and self-examination.
Enjoy the team.
Thanks, PNW, we will.
At least there is a bit of reflection and self-examination coming out of Seattle. Like this column in Seattle Sports Online:
“No one is more to blame than Seattle voters. Those are the people who overwhelmingly passed Initiative 91, which was designed to stop tax-payer funded subsidies for professional sports teams. Yes, Howard Schultz sold to out-of-towners. Yes, Bennett was not truthful. But this vote happened in November of 2006. Voters said no, constricting future options for KeyArena renovation or any other sports-related development.”
major league baseball logo
(Blogger now has backlinks – very similar to the trackback feature in Movable Type. This enables authors to keep track of who is linking
Has the love affair already died? OKC has already had consecutive home games fail to sellout, and that’s at discount ticket prices compared to the rest of the league. Not to mention the many ticket giveaways that are common for NBA teams.
OKC here is a great look at the future pride of your beloved Thunder:
“Was Rome built in a day? Were the World Champion Boston Celtics built in a single offseason? Er, wait. Don’t answer that last one. But why not be optimistic? You can look at FedExForum as 15/16ths empty if you like. I choose to see it as is 1/16th filled. It was stunning, though, to see just how empty — I mean, partially filled — the place was, even given the understanding that the entire metro area has either given up on or become alienated from the Grizzlies. Yes, it was an exhibition game. Yes, it conflicted with Yom Kippur. You still don’t expect to walk into an NBA arena 10 minutes before the opening tip to find hundreds of people in the lower bowl.
Mighty nice team you stole from Seattle, 1 win so far? BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I saw on ESPN how tough sports are in Seattle right now, that may be so but it still beats by a universe living in dusty Oklahoma, are you kidding me? Take the Thunder (the clap would be a great nickname…) and enjoy your loss after loss after loss…
One last thing, how’s Aubrey feeling after that 1.1B dollar margin call, want to sell your stake in your team yet? I know some business folks that would give you pennies on the dollar for your team, the Clappers.
“They had the same choice Seattle had. One city said yes, the other said no.”
Please tell me Clay and Stern have a gun to your head to write that. It’s the only logical way someone could say Seattle and OKC had the same choice. I’m embarrassed for OKC residents who truly believe that.
~400 mil from Washington residents just 10 years after 75 mil from Washington residents = 121 million from Oklahoma residents?
I don’t blame you fro enjoying the team and being excited, but just accept it, Seattle was raped by the league. It’s tools like you that spread crap to the nice residents of OKC so they don’t actually know what happened.
And if you talk about Key Arena being too small you are right. But guess what, the SONICS asked for the arena to be so small in order to prevent an NHL team from moving in and competing for revenue. We built Key Arena from the ground up in 1996. It was called a renovation because we salvaged 4 support columns from the Seattle Coliseum and built an entirely new arena around them. They played in Tacoma for a season because the old arena was completely demolished to the ground and the new Key Arena was built in its place.
10 years later the NBA allows the Sonics to leave on the basis of the arena being too small.
If you truly believe it’s Seattle’s fault the team is gone then I truly feel sorry for you. It’s true, ignorance is bliss.
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Mike, I could not agree with your Blog comments more. I cannot come close to explaining what it feels like to have a NBA team representing my home State. I currently live in the Washington, DC area and I am pumped about my team. My wife and I will be in the stands on opening night (bought season tickets). I predict many years from now dthis generation of kids who have grown up with NBA basketball will wonder “what was all the fuss”, but natives like me realize and appreciate the huge economic, emotional, and entertainment boost this team is and will continue to have on the entire State. Go Thunder!!