OKC Thunder 2014 - 2015

[OSUMom]

I have this mental image of Presti somewhere slowly banging his head against a wall.

[Laramie]

I have this mental image of Presti somewhere slowly banging his head against a wall.

Florida Evans (Esther Rolle), GOODTIMES: 1974-79

I'm sure Sam Presti is disturbed about the injuries. GM Presti is great about hiding his emotions...

[Klop]

I have this mental image of Presti somewhere slowly banging his head against a wall.

Is this the same Presti who traded away James Hardin?

[Urbanized]

Who is James Hardin?

[dankrutka]

Reggie Jackson and Jeremy Lamb were injured today in practice. Hopefully, both injuries are minor. If not, the Thunder could really dig themselves a hole that could be tough to get out of. I can't remember an NBA team having so many injuries during the preseason. Ugh.

[Anonymous.]

Officially the Thunder's roster has 9 players listed without injuries. This is going to be a slaughter. Russell is going to have to go HAAMF to win even half our games before December.

[dankrutka]

Officially the Thunder's roster has 9 players listed without injuries. This is going to be a slaughter. Russell is going to have to go HAAMF to win even half our games before December.

It's worth noting that two of those players (i.e., Telfair and Thomas) are probably not legitimate NBA players. So, we have 7 healthy NBA players and 2 of those are largely unproven (i.e., Jones and Roberson). Westbrook and Telfair are the only true guards. It's unreal. Our frontcourt should be okay though with Ibaka, Adams, Collison, and Perk.

[Laramie]

Just when you thought it couldn't get worse:

Practice Report: Two new injuries and Perk talking role | Daily Thunder.com

[HOT ROD]

Sorry if this has been mentioned already, but OKC Thunder will be on National TV 32 times this year (by my count, ESPN/2, NBATV, TNT, abc). I believe last year was a record 25, so this year's 32 blows that away. This includes 3 games on abc and all games televised against Clippers, Lakers, Cleveland, (and Spurs iirc).

So much for OKC being a small market (as if that is a negative), I believe no other team has 32 games nationally televised.

ps. I know last year we had more than 25 games, since OKC was broadcast on nearly all of the Tuesday Fan Nights where there was an OKC game. I suspect the total for last year was about 28 games. My 32 count for this year does not include any Fan Nights; so the total for this year could be higher.

[HOT ROD]

By my simple stare-and-count:

OKC Thunder - 32
LA Clippers - 31 (Steve B's clippers rule LA, LA land)
Cleveland - 29 (I could be one off here, CLE is harder to find. ...)
LA Lakers - 28
Chicago - 27
San Antonio - 24

abc games

OKC - 5 (3 in OKC)
Chicago - 5 (2 in Chi)
CLE - 4 (3 in CLE)
LA Clippers - 4 (1 in LA)
San Antonio - 2
LA Lakers - 2
Houston - 2
Miami - 2
GS - 1
NY - 1 (biggest market gets a 'token' home game [vs. CLE])

[Laramie]

This is the way I would break down (approximate numbers) the NBA market groups:

Big markets: (Pop. 10 million, TV households 3.5 million)
New York, Los Angeles, Chicago

Large markets: (Pop. 4 - 9 million, TV households 2 - 3 million .)
Dallas, Houston, Toronto, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston, Atlanta, Miami, San Francisco-Oakland, Phoenix, Detroit

Medium markets: (Pop. 2 - 4 million, TV households 1 - 2 million .
Minneapolis, Denver, Charlotte, Portland, San Antonio, Orlando, Sacramento, Cleveland, Indianapolis

Small markets: (Pop. 1 - 2 million, TV households 650,000 - 1 million .
Milwaukee, Memphis, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Salt Lake City.

Oklahoma City's population (1,319,677) & TV households (718,770) continues to climb; combined with Tulsa it brings us to approximately 1.24 million. There are some advantages with the market structure when you consider corporate support. NBA's revenue sharing plan is what keeps the 'Small markets' competitive.

Oklahoma is fortunate to have Tulsa's support with George Kaiser joining the ownership group and the Thunder season ticket sales in both Tulsa and Wichita areas.

Sources: List of Metropolitan Statistical Areas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/c...-DMA-Ranks.pdf

[Anonymous.]

Official starters for opener:

Westbrook, Ibaka, Roberson, Adams, Jones.

Is this the year Brooks wakes up!? No Perk starting is the greatest news this entire offseason.

[dankrutka]

Adams starting is very good news. I think this also means that Brooks will be more likely to use Perk more appropriately instead of sticking with Perk against small ball units (like in the 2012 Finals).

The bad news is that neither Jackson or Lamb are even making the 2 game road trip. If they're out for an extended period of time (particularly Reggie) then we could really, really struggle this first month.

[dankrutka]

Just looked at the schedule, and with our injuries, I think the Thunder is looking at a 1-5 start. I hope I'm wrong, but it's a brutal stretch to start the season. Of course, if Reggie is back for the home opener than I rescind this prediction.

The next 15 games are a lot easier, but we'll still need Reggie and Lamb back to start winning. Hopefully their injuries aren't serious.

[Laramie]

Some NBA teams have a tendency to get relaxed when they recognize that a home opponent is beat up with injuries.

We'll see how this plays out.

[Mel]

Lot of if's for the beginning of this season. Went from a clincher to a pincher.

[warreng88]

This will give a ton of playing time to Adams, Roberson and some of the other third teamers could get some valuable playing time as well. Honestly, for this game, I would have started Perk. He knows Aldridge's game a lot better than Adams and that is something that could help us. Adams could get in to foul trouble early which won't help us in the long run.

[Bellaboo]

This will give a ton of playing time to Adams, Roberson and some of the other third teamers could get some valuable playing time as well. Honestly, for this game, I would have started Perk. He knows Aldridge's game a lot better than Adams and that is something that could help us. Adams could get in to foul trouble early which won't help us in the long run.

I think Ibaka is the matchup on Aldridge ? They both play the 4.

[Laramie]

I think Ibaka is the matchup on Aldridge ? They both play the 4.

Agree!

The best thing Perkins can do for now is sit his hips on the bench; see if he can learn a few things from Adams.
Would hate to see Perkins sustain another injury with the way things have been going for the Thunder of late.

[dankrutka]

This will give a ton of playing time to Adams, Roberson and some of the other third teamers could get some valuable playing time as well. Honestly, for this game, I would have started Perk. He knows Aldridge's game a lot better than Adams and that is something that could help us. Adams could get in to foul trouble early which won't help us in the long run.

The problem is that a lot of guys that need playing time (e.g., Lamb, McGary, Morrow) are out and so guys who don't figure into long term plans (e.g., Telfair, Thomas) are going to get minutes that could kind of decrease the ability for guys to develop cohesion on the court. Again, a couple injuries was doable, but 6 injuries makes it hard for the the team to develop cohesion.

We'll see though: Roberson and PJIII should get some serious minutes for the first time.

[warreng88]

I think Ibaka is the matchup on Aldridge ? They both play the 4.

But Aldridge moves to center as well, like Ibaka when they play small.

[Teo9969]

I'm not expecting to do great over the first 5 games, and while an 0-7 start is not unreasonable given the competition, I really am expecting big things from Russ. I think Russ can win games for a team just like Kevin Durant and Lebron James can. We'll see…my expectation is probably 2-5 to start, with several losses that could just as well have been wins, but 5-2 would not surprise me in the least. There's still a lot of talent and one of the Top 5 NBA players on this team right now.

[Anonymous.]

Team did surprisingly well last night. Russell had a great game. Leading by 2 going into the 4th on the road of a season opener is nothing to be shamed.

Coach had Russ sit the end of the 3rd and most of the 4th for rest, so the Blazers got hot and poured them in. But all in all I would say that game showed some promise about coming out of the dark ages (beginning of this season) with a decent record.

[Laramie]

Team did surprisingly well last night. Russell had a great game. Leading by 2 going into the 4th on the road of a season opener is nothing to be shamed.

Coach had Russ sit the end of the 3rd and most of the 4th for rest, so the Blazers got hot and poured them in. But all in all I would say that game showed some promise about coming out of the dark ages (beginning of this season) with a decent record.

Encouraged by the play of the team and Russell Westbrook to get all involved. We will need more team chemistry, continuity & confidence.

[Filthy]

Team did surprisingly well last night. Russell had a great game. Leading by 2 going into the 4th on the road of a season opener is nothing to be shamed.

I agree that it was good that they lead the entire game, going into the 4th...however....int the NBA, its pretty much a given that you don't really start to dig deep, and play hard until the 4th quarter.