Thunder 102, Kings 89
So what did we learn about this year’s Thunder squad after one game?
If Wednesday night’s season opener taught us anything it was that this team can be pretty good when it plays hard for 48 minutes. The 102-89 win over Sacramento proved that the things the organization has preached since moving here in July of last year — teamwork, energy, effort, commitment and patience — can indeed pay off.
“It was a good start,” said coach Scott Brooks. “I thought we played some pretty good basketball.”
The Thunder has become a more confident group. That was perhaps the biggest revelation on opening night. You can see the progression in almost everything the players do, everything they say.
Kevin Durant was spotted at his locker before the game, slouched in his office-style chair with his long legs stretched out. He seemed calm, prepared for anything that was about to come his way. Less than an hour before tip-off, he looked every bit as at ease as he claimed to be only a day earlier, on the eve of his third NBA season.
And after the wire-to-wire win, the Thunder’s dressing room was far from festive. Players hardly flashed smiles, let alone celebrated the opening victory. Media members filled the room with more noise than the guys who had just put on the show. It was almost a surreal scene considering it was one that rarely played out after big-time wins last year.
“It’s an encouraging start,” said Nick Collison, “but there’s 81 more games.”
The ROY Race Minus Blake Griffin
James Harden (pictured above in the bow tie) rejected the notion that he’s got a better shot at Rookie of the Year now that L.A. Clippers rookie and No. 1 overall pick Blake Griffin could miss up to six weeks with a knee injury. The Thunder’s No. 3 overall pick out of Arizona State said the 2009 draft class still is too deep, too talented to get overly confident just because Griffin will miss a chunk of the season.
“Obviously Blake’s a tremendous player,” Harden said. “I hope he recovers very well. But we have a great class. Jonny Flynn over there (in Minnesota), Tyreke Evans, who we’re playing against (tonight) has a chance, Brandon Jennings, Stephen Curry. It goes down the line. These are some great players who are put in positions to play and help their teammates win games. So it’s up for a hunt.”
But how will Griffin’s near two-month absence impact the Rookie of the Year race?
Of this year’s 30 first-round picks, 21 are set to make their debuts tonight. Four of them will be in the Ford Center for tonight’s season opener against Sacramento. Top five picks Harden and Evans will get a heavy dose of minutes. Sacramento forward Omri Casspi, the No. 23 overall pick, will make history when he checks into the game for the first time and becomes the first Israeli to play in the NBA. And Byron Mullens, the No. 24 pick will be on the Thunder’s bench as well.
Griffin isn’t out of contention for the award. But he’ll have to make up ground in a hurry when he returns. That could be rather difficult considering Griffin is on a Clippers team with a talented frontcourt and he’ll be experiencing his rookie growing pains more than a month later than everyone else in contention.
So with Griffin out of the picture for now, what largely was considered a two-man race might be about to blossom into free-for-all between seven main competitors. Here they are, listed in order of most likely to win it.
The Scene At Shootaround
I’ve been MIA lately, I know. Had to focus my attention on this little nifty thing we do before every season called a special section. I got a little bogged down with that on top of the regular load. But it gives me great pleasure to say that weight has been lifted off my shoulders, and our Thunder special section will hit newsstands and your front porch or driveway this Sunday. So let’s get back into the swing of things here shall we?
TINKERING WITH THE ROTATION
Thunder coach Scott Brooks at this morning’s shootaround sounded like he is done throwing out funky lineups and wacky rotations. I expect Brooks to play what mostly will be his main rotation in tonight’s preseason finale against Sacramento. But Brooks said he and the coaching staff are still trying to figure out who fits best with each other while giving different players an opportunity to adjust to playing with different teammates.
“It’s good for our team,” Brooks said. “It’s good to build chemistry on the floor. You’re going to be put in a position where you have to play with different guys…You try to figure out what a guy does with different guys. The game is impacted by who you’re playing with.”
DEJA VU
Rarely in the NBA will a team open the regular season against the same team it ended the preseason against. But that’s the position the Thunder and Kings are in this year. Cleveland and Boston have also managed to pull the scheduling quirk.
Brooks, however, said tonight’s game shouldn’t have any bearing on Wednesday’s season opener. Because of exhaustive scouting departments, he said, NBA teams, don’t have anything left to hide.
“We know what they’re going to run and they know what we’re going to run,” Brooks said. “We have to do a great job of executing it and using effort in our execution.”
Brooks did say Wednesday’s packages will be different than tonight’s because he plans to implement more wrinkles in the final few days of practice before the two teams meet again. He called the next five days of practice “pretty important for us.”
A FRIEND TURNED FOE
Perhaps a more significant advantage than the Kings’ ability to pick up on the Thunder’s strategy early is the presence of former Thunder forward Desmond Mason on Sacramento’s roster. Brooks expects Mason to share secrets with his new teammates. All players do once they change teams. Mike Harris informed Jeff Green of Houston players’ tendencies at the scorer’s table just before tip-off Monday.
“One of the things our coaches do when we have guys that play with other teams is (go over) their personnel’s tendencies,” Brooks admitted. “I think it’s important to listen to the players. They know, they feel it, they see it on the court. They experience it. So you always tap into their knowledge. And I’m sure Sacramento is going to be no different. Desmond knows what Kevin Durant does and how he does it. The bottom line is it takes five guys to make an offense work and it takes the same five guys to make a defense work.”
Grizzlies 99, Thunder 91
MEMPHIS — I’ve got good news and bad news from Memphis. Which one do you want first?
Let’s start with the bad.
The Thunder lost 99-91 to the Grizzlies on Wednesday night the same way it dropped a good majority of its games last season — late-game turnovers, poor decision-making, porous defense and deer-in-the-headlights looks from players on offense down the stretch.
The good news is this was Game 1 of the preseason, and this time the unit that fell prey to the same mistakes we saw so many nights last season won’t all be on the floor when the games matter three weeks from tonight.
The Grizzlies outscored the Thunder 19-9 in the final 7 1/2 minutes. OKC had as many turnovers (four) as field goals in those final minutes. Memphis rookie Sam Young took over like he was still a man among boys at Pitt, scoring 15 of his game-high 22 points in the final period. He attempted 16 free throws, 10 in the fourth quarter.
But the result is secondary since two rookies (Byron Mullens and James Harden), two sophomores (Kyle Weaver and D.J. White) and three role players (Shaun Livingston, Etan Thomas and Ryan Bowen) were the only ones that played the fourth quarter.
The main guys looked good.
Russell Westbrook orchestrated the offense almost perfectly. He finished with a game-high 10 assists and could have had more had his buddies made more shots. Westbrook didn’t force anything all game and, as a result, turned the ball over only twice. And one was an illegal screen. Because he looked for his teammates all night, he only took four shots, missing them all and scoring just five points. But his development was on display. His leadership, too. He jumped off the bench in the first half after the Grizzlies had two consecutive run outs and yelled, “Somebody’s gotta get back!” In addition to that, he helped hold Mike Conley in check and didn’t let the speedy point guard cause problems by weaving his way into the lane all night. Westbrook’s overall performance was hands down the most encouraging thing about the opener. He’s answering the question of whether he’s ready to lead this team each time he steps on the floor in a competitive environment. It’s way too early to declare that he is. But the better question might soon become is he ready to be consistent as the leader?
Kevin Durant Saying (And Doing) All The Right Things
Kevin Durant’s evolving maturity and leadership was on full display Tuesday, 10 minutes after the conclusion of an Oklahoma City Thunder practice and roughly two hours before the team boarded a flight to Memphis for its preseason opener against the Grizzlies.
It started with a scene that we’ve quickly grown accustomed to seeing inside the team’s training center on N. Lincoln Blvd. No. 35, in his sweat-drenched blue mesh jersey, lingered on the far end of the practice court with assistant coach Brian Keefe. The two worked their way around the arc, starting in the far right corner before slowly working their way to the opposite side. Durant took passes and drilled on jab steps and step ins, set shots and pull-ups, fadeaways and free throws.
Twenty minutes later, he walked over to a group of media members before he could catch his breath. That’s when he followed up on his actions by saying all the right things. He sounded like a veteran, confident, poised, focused and prepared to embark on his third NBA season. At one point he even stopped and chuckled when he caught himself referring to rookie big men Serge Ibaka and Byron Mullens, both one year younger than he, as “The young guys.”
If Oklahoma City is to climb the Western Conference standings this season, Durant will be the catalyst. In his 6 1/2 minute interview with reporters, Durant gave the impression that he’s ready to accept the challenge and lead the charge. He talked about how the team is playing harder now than it did at this point last season. How this preseason schedule is important to build confidence and not take steps back. How, above all, all he wants to do is get better.
(Note: I also asked Durant a few lighthearted, reader-submitted questions. Thanks to @Bbingham526 and @BryanNix for submitting good questions via Twitter.)
Q: What have you learned about your going into tonight’s preseason opener?
A: We play hard. We play harder than we did last year around this time. Guys are playing together and buying into what we want to do on both ends of the floor. So I’m excited to be a part of this team and I can’t wait to start playing.
Q: What’s the vibe like with some of the rookies who are going into their first preseason game?
A: We’re all excited. I can speak for everybody when I say we’re tired of playing against each other every day. We want to go out and show it in the game. So we’re excited. We’ve just got to do the things we’ve been working on.
Q: What is the team trying to get out of the preseason?
A: We just want to get better each and every game. Work on what we’ve been doing in training camp and try to get our wind, try to get in some game shape. It’s tougher to get in game shape here in practice. So we want to get some reps up and have fun.
Training Camp Roster Almost Finalized
Former Tulsa standout Michael Ruffin is one of several free agents who have received an invitation to the Thunder’s training camp, which opens Tuesday.
NBA Fanhouse first reported that the Thunder will sign Ruffin and Ryan Bowen, two nine-year veteran power forwards, to non-guaranteed contracts. The Oklahoman has also learned that Tre Kelley and Mike Harris are among at least two other players who are expected to join Ruffin and Bowen in training camp.
Harris, a 6-foot-6, 240-pound forward, played at Rice and had a brief stint with Houston at the end of last season. Kelley is a 6-foot point guard who was a three-year starter at South Carolina.
Oklahoma City has 14 guaranteed contracts, and the quartet is expected to fight for the final roster spot throughout October’s preseason schedule.
Ruffin, Bowen and Harris are all known as hard workers who could add beef to the Thunder’s frontcourt in emergency situations and provide a high level of competition in practice. The Thunder is set to enter the season with a solid rotation of Jeff Green, Nick Collison, Nenad Krstic and Etan Thomas at the power forward and center positions.
But there is only young, inexperienced talent after that in D.J. White, Serge Ibaka and Byron Mullens. Those three have played a combined seven NBA games — all by White — and each is expected to see significant time in the D-League.
-DM-
Breaking Down The Etan Thomas Trade
It’s official.
The Thunder has acquired Etan Thomas and two 2010 second-round picks from Minnesota in exchange for Damien Wilkins and Chucky Atkins.
On one hand, the deal could be viewed simply as three aging reserves and two second-round picks swapping places. But this trade holds much more significance for the Thunder in both the short and long term.
Just last week I touched on how the Thunder’s post play remains the weakest link. Young guns D.J. White, Serge Ibaka and Byron Mullens aren’t ready to contribute consistent minutes next season and the addition of Thomas now means they don’t have to.
Oklahoma City is now looking at a steady power forward/center rotation of Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic as the starters and Nick Collison and Etan Thomas as their backups. Roles should be clearly defined in 2009-10 as opposed to the uncertain responsibilities surrounding Thunder bigs Collison, Green, Chris Wilcox, Joe Smith, Robert Swift and Johan Petro at the start of last season.
But more than that, the Thunder has brought in the type of player it lacked — a tough-minded, physical presence who rebounds, defends and blocks shots like his career depends on it. Collison is as close as it gets on the Thunder, but he lacks Thomas’ athletic gifts, shot-blocking skills and physical prowess in the post. Not only does Thomas fill that void, but he can now serve as a mentor to players like Mullens, Ibaka and White. If the Thunder stood pat and you looked around the locker room come October there wouldn’t have been any name plates above cubicles that you honestly could have said would make the young bigs better. They needed someone to challenge them every day by punishing them on the practice court and demonstrating healthy habits on game days.
The Thunder also landed two more second-round picks from Minnesota in next year’s draft. One is Minnesota’s and the other will be the lesser of the eventual second-round slotting between Houston, Portland and Chicago. It bumps Oklahoma City’s total number of draft picks to five in 2010. The Thunder has its own first-rounder as well as Phoenix’s unprotected first-round selection. And OKC likely will retain its own second-round pick rather than having to send the conditional pick to Dallas as agreed to in the draft-night deal for Mullens.
