OKC Thunder 2014 - 2015

[FighttheGoodFight]

Looks like Anthony Morrow is a target for OKC (Anthony Morrow Stats, News, Videos, Highlights, Pictures, Bio - New Orleans Pelicans - ESPN)

Mike Miller is looking like a long shot.

Gasol is waiting until the big free agents sign. It looks like if a star goes to LA he will resign.

Source: DailyThunder (Royce Young)

[Easy180]

Something tells me KD and Westbrook ain't gonna be pleased if Morrow is the best that we get.

[dankrutka]

Media reports are differing on whether OKC is still in the Pau Gasol race, but these comments are interesting concerning perceptions (and to some degree, realities) of OKC in general:

During Gasol's meeting with Brooks, according to a league source, the 13-year veteran peppered Brooks with questions about the quality of life in Oklahoma City and wondered aloud about leaving a culturally diverse city like Los Angeles for middle America.

Oklahoma City Thunder's Scott Brooks meets with Pau Gasol - ESPN Los Angeles

[Dustin]

Media reports are differing on whether OKC is still in the Pau Gasol race, but these comments are interesting concerning perceptions (and to some degree, realities) of OKC in general:



Oklahoma City Thunder's Scott Brooks meets with Pau Gasol - ESPN Los Angeles

I was just about to post this.

[adaniel]

Thats pretty weak considering he played for Memphis. Um what do you think the middle of the country is like? We are all on our tractors or something?

I thought this guy was trying to win championships? You can always stay in LA as a resident ya know....

EDIT: There seems to be conflicting stories on this. Yahoo Sports still says Thunder and Bulls are favorites. So nothing seems to be set in stone yet.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...ing-veteran-pf

[Jake]

Dude played in Memphis for 6 years. He knows what the middle of the country is like.

[warreng88]

Dude played in Memphis for 6 years. He knows what the middle of the country is like.

Yeah, but he spent the last two years of his contract trying to get out of there to a larger market. I have a feeling if LA doesn't get Melo or LeBron, Pau will go to Chicago.

[dankrutka]

Yeah, but he spent the last two years of his contract trying to get out of there to a larger market. I have a feeling if LA doesn't get Melo or LeBron, Pau will go to Chicago.

But that's assuming Chicago doesn't get Melo. Then they likely couldn't afford Pau.

[dankrutka]

Mitch McGary has really looked good so far in summer league:



He's a pretty crafty big man.

[dankrutka]

Media reports are differing on whether OKC is still in the Pau Gasol race, but these comments are interesting concerning perceptions (and to some degree, realities) of OKC in general:



Oklahoma City Thunder's Scott Brooks meets with Pau Gasol - ESPN Los Angeles

I was thinking about this a bit more and...

I wonder what parts of OKC the organization and/or realtors direct players towards. Early on, I heard that the players were all directed towards the more suburban and less diverse north parts of OKC and also Edmond. OKC is a very suburban city, but the urban core has really seen a ton of growth over the last decade. There's far more youth, diversity, and stuff to do if you live in Deep Deuce than Edmond. I wonder if this message gets across to players, draftees, free agents. I know KD moved from a McMansion in north OKC to a condo in Deep Deuce recently. Where do other players live?

[Urbanized]

Serge lives in Deep Deuce. KD leased a place in DD before buying at The Hill, and spent most of his time there rather than the house in Gaillardia. Pau is familiar with downtown OKC after playing several times a year here for nearly a decade. I personally have had a conversation with him walking down Mickey Mantle alone one afternoon a couple of years ago.

The whole "not sure he would want to move to middle America thing" is probably a creation of LA media. Obviously OKC is not LA when it comes to cultural diversity, but few places are. The bigoted coastal media, fans and whoever else like to think that we are just a bunch of cowboys, rednecks, farmers, whatever, but it was interesting during the Sonics-to-OKC saga that the league pointed out OKC would be far from the least-racially-diverse city in the NBA, and Seattle surprisingly (or not?) had less diversity than we do, in that regard.

During the season teams travel all over the country, and spend time in great cities in the U.S.. During the off-season (more than half a year) players can live anywhere in the world that they want to. It's really easy; at his age he should be motivated by two things: money, and another ring, and not necessarily in that order. If those aren't the things driving him, who needs him? I doubt the location is the stumbling block national media wants to make it out to be.

[adaniel]

I was thinking about this a bit more and...

I wonder what parts of OKC the organization and/or realtors direct players towards. Early on, I heard that the players were all directed towards the more suburban and less diverse north parts of OKC and also Edmond. OKC is a very suburban city, but the urban core has really seen a ton of growth over the last decade. There's far more youth, diversity, and stuff to do if you live in Deep Deuce than Edmond. I wonder if this message gets across to players, draftees, free agents. I know KD moved from a McMansion in north OKC to a condo in Deep Deuce recently. Where do other players live?

While I would be really suprised if this were the case in this situation, you bring up a very good point. Urbanized hit up all that I am familiar with, I also know that Thabo Sefolosha lived in Crown Heights.

Edmond/North OKC are nice enough and something of a safe bet to take someone from out of town. Also, the majority of the white collar workforce in the metro area live in these places so there is a natural familiarity for people doing the showing. Likewise, I lost count of how many people I met who were new to the area and in their 20s or early 30s who were looking in Edmond because someone at their job, church, school, etc. told them it was "nice."

While most people in OKC probably support downtown, for the vast majority of people, that probably consist of little more than a Thunder game or date night in Bricktown before they hit Broadway/35/Hefner Pkwy back to their suburban home. Urban living is too new here for most people to wrap their head around it.

I tend to agree with Urbanized on this somewhat that this really is not passing the smell test and seems like people in LA trying to trump their own horn a bit. Especially considering this is going against what other media outlets are reporting.

[dankrutka]

I agree that the diversity/culture point is probably an LA media thing. There's an frighteningly accepted minimization of people in middle America by people on the coasts.

I'll never forget when I was backpacking Europe that a guy from New Jersey was baffled that I had the same shoes as him. Seriously. He didn't think we had access to the same types of shoes in Oklahoma. And, we just had some regular ol' New Balances.

[PWitty]

I'm sure Pau's buddy Serge could answer any questions he has about life in OKC. From the looks of his Twitter account, Serge seems to be back in Spain almost the entire off-season every year. It's not like the players are required to setup a permanent home in the city they play in and never leave. I have a hard time believing that an NBA veteran is going to spend a large chunk of his face-to-face interview "peppering" an interested team's head coach about life in the city. If he was really that concerned about it then I'm sure KD and Russ discussed it with him when they met.

That line more than anything smells of an angry fanbase (the LA media) upset that they may lose their second best player (maybe top player depending on Kobe's recovery) after the dismal season the team just had.

[ljbab728]

Speaking of Serge, for those who haven't "seen enough" of Serge recently, there is this.

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[OKCJapan]

One analyst said that OKC would have to build a new opera house to convince Pau to come to OKC. Please forgive me for not knowing, since I have been in Japan for the past 6 years, But isn't there an opera house In OKC?

[Bellaboo]

Pau lived in Memphis for several seasons, and the last I heard his parents still live there. It's not like he's not familiar with middle America.

[dankrutka]

One analyst said that OKC would have to build a new opera house to convince Pau to come to OKC. Please forgive me for not knowing, since I have been in Japan for the past 6 years, But isn't there an opera house In OKC?

People are just kind of joking about this. Apparently, Pau is quite the cultured person (i.e., opera, wine tastings, classical music) and there is a concern OKC doesn't have the scene. I don't think this is really what his decision is coming down to, and it's all based on one sentence in an ESPNLA article by writers who likely couldn't imagine anyone choosing to live in OKC over LA.

[Bellaboo]

One analyst said that OKC would have to build a new opera house to convince Pau to come to OKC. Please forgive me for not knowing, since I have been in Japan for the past 6 years, But isn't there an opera house In OKC?

I heard this guy and it was just a joke so the Thunder could sign him.... He said OKC needed to build a new opera house quick so they would have a chance to sign him.

[warreng88]

People are just kind of joking about this. Apparently, Pau is quite the cultured person (i.e., opera, wine tastings, classical music) and there is a concern OKC doesn't have the scene. I don't think this is really what his decision is coming down to, and it's all based on one sentence in an ESPNLA article by writers who likely couldn't imagine anyone choosing to live in OKC over LA.

The Civic center has plenty of shows going on there, lots of them opera. There are a ton of Oklahoma wine tasting places. The Philharmonic is absolutely amazing. The problem is, none of these things are talked about in the media because it seems like the focus in OKC has either been on sports (Thunder, OU, OSU) or food.

[dankrutka]

I agree. We all know OKC has plenty of cultural amenities, but national perception will continue to lag behind. But, of course, OKC will also never have the same general quality or quantity of amenities as LA... But very few cities do.

[adaniel]

Well this is interesting. I will admit I was wrong about C. Anthony.

Report: Carmelo Anthony to re-sign with New York Knicks, 'believes in Phil' | News OK

No Carmelo in LA makes Gasol in OKC much more likely.

[FighttheGoodFight]

Mike Miller's price is rising.

OKC, CLE, MEM all looking to spend about 4-4.5mil on him

[Urbanized]

...it's all based on one sentence in an ESPNLA article by writers who likely couldn't imagine anyone choosing to live in OKC over LA.

It's a combination of arrogance and willful ignorance/bigotry. It is no different than Seattle's assumption that "we can play hardball/no-ball on an arena deal because THERE IS NO WAY ON EARTH an NBA team would move from our cosmopolitan city to a **** burg like OKC." Well, there WAS. They are making assumptions based on ignorance and emotion rather than grounding them in business and sound reasoning. Probably only two other cities in the league have cultural amenities matching LA. Are we lower on the totem pole in that regard? Absolutely. There is really no arguing that fact.

But, just like it made more business sense to relocate the third mouth to feed with a bad arena deal to a city where they would instantly be first to the table and have a plum arena deal, OKC gives a player a better path (right now) to a ring. After that, it is going to be all about the Benjamins. ESPECIALLY for an aging veteran. Dollars and rings. Not necessarily in that order. This is a BUSINESS. Sure, franchise/community/teammate loyalty probably still gives the Lakers the inside track, but this "cultural amenities" horse**** is a wishful concoction of LA media.

[Laramie]

Report: Carmelo Anthony to announce Thursday he'll re-sign with New York Knicks

"A person close to Anthony told The News on Wednesday that barring a last minute change of heart Anthony will re-sign with the Knicks after "agonizing over this" for the past week."

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Will this increase the Thunder's chances on Pau Gasol?

"Oklahoma City looks oh-so pretty... ...as I get my kicks on Route 66." --Nat King Cole.