****Official 2012/2013 Oklahoma City Thunder Basketball Thread****

[blangtang]

Here's something new I came across, about the Harden trade options apparently:

Wizards owner Ted Leonsis refuted a recent report that he refused to trade for then-Thunder G James Harden because Harden's contract demands would have put the team in the luxury tax.

The reported trade would have sent Bradley Beal and Chris Singleton to OKC for Harden, who eventually landed in Houston and signed a five-year, $80 million contract. Leonsis took to his own blog after the report surfaced, writing, "That is simply not true. First, we would not have gone into the luxury tax – that is simple math. Second, economics were not a factor." Leonsis, also owner of the NHL's Capitals, cited their financials and previous big Wizards contracts as proof of his willingness to spend money. Gilbert Arenas wholeheartedly agrees with that last part.
Source: TedsTake.com
Dec 15 - 9:38 AM

K-Mart seems to be fitting okay into the Harden role of last year, but I'm not too familiar with how Beal and Singleton play.

[SoonerBoy18]

Our next 4 are tough! San Antonio, @ Atlanta (who would have thought, but they have won the last 2 meetings with us), @ Minnesota, and @ Miami

[dankrutka]

K-Mart seems to be fitting okay into the Harden role of last year, but I'm not too familiar with how Beal and Singleton play.

This would have been a far worse trade. I don't think Presti would have done it. There would have been some other asset involved. NBA GMs discuss trades all the time, and sometimes talks are very informal. I bet that's what this was. Just preliminary talks that never went far...

[dankrutka]

Our next 4 are tough! San Antonio, @ Atlanta (who would have thought, but they have won the last 2 meetings with us), @ Minnesota, and @ Miami

Yep. This will be a good early season test to see where the team is right now.

[Bellaboo]

KD is so fast executing his part of the lob from Russell it's hard for anyone to stop. Man is he quick for a big guy.

Enjoy -

Russell Westbrook Kevin Durant backdoor lob - YouTube

[BoulderSooner]

Here's something new I came across, about the Harden trade options apparently:

Wizards owner Ted Leonsis refuted a recent report that he refused to trade for then-Thunder G James Harden because Harden's contract demands would have put the team in the luxury tax.

The reported trade would have sent Bradley Beal and Chris Singleton to OKC for Harden, who eventually landed in Houston and signed a five-year, $80 million contract. Leonsis took to his own blog after the report surfaced, writing, "That is simply not true. First, we would not have gone into the luxury tax – that is simple math. Second, economics were not a factor." Leonsis, also owner of the NHL's Capitals, cited their financials and previous big Wizards contracts as proof of his willingness to spend money. Gilbert Arenas wholeheartedly agrees with that last part.
Source: TedsTake.com
Dec 15 - 9:38 AM

K-Mart seems to be fitting okay into the Harden role of last year, but I'm not too familiar with how Beal and Singleton play.

the odds of this trade are 0 and the story is note even accurate ..

[Teo9969]

So, if OKC pulls off the next two (@ATL, @MIN), which will be no easy task mind you, then they will be headed into a Christmas Day battle @Miami with a chance to tie the longest winning streak in franchise history. Not that the game needs any more hype than it will get...but that's just one more byline to be had.

[Bellaboo]

We lost to ATL in the third game of the year. They were short Josh Smith and we were not playing together at all early in the year. I hope we play well tonight and beat them by 10. It's also a 6:30 pm CST start time.

[OKCisOK4me]

Yep. Will be interesting to see how the game goes tonight. Working til 8 though so I'll be listening to it on the radio.

[Bill Robertson]

Our next 4 are tough! San Antonio, @ Atlanta (who would have thought, but they have won the last 2 meetings with us), @ Minnesota, and @ Miami

Yep. This will be a good early season test to see where the team is right now.

I agree it is a good test. And halfway through I would say the Thunder are passing with flying colors!

[OKCisOK4me]

As noted on the radio broadcast last night, we've won 12 straight against Minnesota and we're sitting on 12 consecutive victories. Do we go 13 for 13 tonight?

[Teo9969]

I mean, on paper we should. The Thunder choose to win or to lose this game...it's not really up to Minnesota. Considering that they have 4 days rest between the end of the game and @Miami, I think they play as hard as they need to to win. Let's just hope the shots are falling.

(As an aside, KD is shooting more efficiently on the road than he is at home...by a noticeable margin).

[OKCisOK4me]

Too bad we have these games back to back. I'd rather they play on Friday and then have 3 days off. So many days off could ruin their momentum.

[Bellaboo]

It's My F'n House !

Yes, KD, it is....................

Kevin Durant stuffs Josh Smith and then draws and-1 dunk on him - YouTube

[SoonerBoy18]

Nothing gets better than when we are playing on TNT, or ABC, I am so eager to see what Earnie, Kenny, Shaq, and Charles Barkley has to say about our 12 game win streak on Inside the NBA tonight =)

[OKCisOK4me]

Wonderful jinx...cause they won't be mentioning a thing about it after we lose this game. We'll be looking to start fresh off in Miami!

[SoonerBoy18]

Now I done lost count at how many games Thunder done started off slow! It all started when they let Sacramento comeback with 5, What is happening??!

[ljbab728]

They "done" started off with a 22 - 6 record is what's happening. In the NBA the wins and losses are all that matter.

[Dustin]

This was a fun one to watch! That OT buzzer beater will haunt me for the rest of my life...

[dankrutka]

Now I done lost count at how many games Thunder done started off slow! It all started when they let Sacramento comeback with 5, What is happening??!

The starting lineup, while improved this season, is not that good as a unit. Brooks need to get more efficient line-ups out there more instead of playing Perkins AND Ibaka to finish the Heat game. It's ridiculous he hasn't figured out that we can't stay big when they go small. It doesn't work.

[OKCisOK4me]

Wasn't it about this time last year when the talk about our team was this:

What are the chances we will reach 30 wins before 10 losses???

[Teo9969]

The starting lineup, while improved this season, is not that good as a unit. Brooks need to get more efficient line-ups out there more instead of playing Perkins AND Ibaka to finish the Heat game. It's ridiculous he hasn't figured out that we can't stay big when they go small. It doesn't work.

The starting lineup is +51 on the season or the 10th best +/- 5 man lineup in the NBA. Only three of those lineups ahead of OKC have spent more than 300 minutes on the floor together (Thunder with the second most at 483).

And we don't do well against them playing small because Lebron and Bosh eat us alive. We can't play the matchup game with Miami. We have to find a way to get our bigs more involved on the offensive end. If we are going to beat Miami in a 7 game series, at least 2 of them need to look like this:

Miami Heat vs. Oklahoma City Thunder - Box Score - March 25, 2012 - ESPN

[Teo9969]

Wasn't it about this time last year when the talk about our team was this:

What are the chances we will reach 30 wins before 10 losses???

That's reasonable to think. We were at 22 - 6 Last year, 28 games in. We're now 23-6 compared to 22-7 last year.

[OKCisOK4me]

That's reasonable to think. We were at 22 - 6 Last year, 28 games in. We're now 23-6 compared to 22-7 last year.

Our next 11 games are

Phoenix (win)
Brooklyn (winnable)
Philadelphia (win)
@ Toronto (winnable)
@ Washington (winnable)
Minnesota (not a guaranteed win lol)
@ Lakers (probably a loss since they're playing better now)
@ Portland (winnable)
@ Phoenix (winnable)
Denver (win)
@ Dallas (probably a regulation win for Cuban's Contenders)

So based on my opinion, I see us having a solid chance of winning 3 games based on the competition and the fact that they're home games. The others are all toss-ups because we haven't seen our guys play much on the road, other than against inferior teams and even inferior teams have beaten us on the road. If they play like they did against Houston last night, then they'll get to 30 wins easily.

My guess after this 11 game stretch....30 wins with 9 losses... That game in Dallas will be their 10th loss.

[Bellaboo]

Dallas sucks................that's an easy win for us.