Opening Night Redux

Here's a few photos from Opening Night 2008. More to come.

So what of the Basketball?

Indeed, lost amidst all the hoopla which included Commissioner Stern, Mayor Mick and, lest we forget, a pregame concert from C+C Music Factory (Yes they are still alive and, surprisingly, available) and the National Anthem and halftime performance from OKC's very own Graham Colton there was a basketball game.

It wasn't pretty but there was one. Rather than give a recap the likes of which you can read at such notable places as here, here and here I'll just break it down Halloween list style with what I liked and what I disliked. We'll start with what I liked because I'm trying to stay positive as much as possible.

Treats (besides the Thunder Girls):

• Nick Collison's hustle. He grabbed some offensive boards, chased down loose balls and pretty well scrapped and clawed any time he was on the floor. More than anyone else he did the little things to help the team that don't show up on the stat sheet.



• The energy of Chris Wilcox, Desmond Mason, Russell Westbrook and Collison. Interestingly, all but Collison came off the bench. Wilcox led the team in points and boards with 15 and 7 respectively. Mason had some really nice plays and knocked down some shots. Westbrook continues to improve and will get more minutes sooner than later (please, hopefully).



• The 4th quarter comeback which was sparked by a humongous Mason dunk (not the "Wave" as some blockhead caller on KREF intimated).

Tricks (deep breath):

• The shooting or lack thereof. The first quarter was particularly atrocious. It's possible that it was just nerves. Wilcox seems to think this might have been partially to blame. One three-pointer the whole game. What?



• The rebounding or lack thereof. On one possession the Bucks had three offensive boards before getting an easy layup. It hurts, it stings and is unacceptable on virtually all levels of basketball.



• Kevin Durant's 0-point 3-personal foul first half. I can definitely see some of the nerves coming into play here and I seriously doubt we ever see this again. But you have to admit, it stunk like a stale fart.



• Getting lit up by Andrew Bogut. "Lit up" and "Andrew Bogut" go together like turds and punchbowls.



• The lack of a floor general. More than anything I believe this will be the most difficult to remedy. Who is going to set other guys up for this team? I hope Earl Watson. Because as much as I like Westbrook he's a shoot first point guard at this point. KD also desperately needs someone to set him up as well.

It would be foolish to think that one game will define this season. But the Thunder have plenty to work on obviously. After watching the Rockets depants the Mavericks in Dallas last night it will be interesting to see if there are any improvements come Saturday night in Houston.

Welcome to the NBA

Great great night for Oklahoma and Oklahoma City. Everything was over the top and beyond the loftiest of expectations. I snapped some photos and recorded the player introductions and will post those shortly.

There has been all this negative talk (I would link but it would probably crash the Internet) about how this city and market can't or won't support a team three years from now or how losing will dull the enjoyment and, hence, undercut fan support. One of the things that struck me last night was that this is really our 3rd season. We aren't NBA rookies. When the Hornets came to town we were awestruck by the effort that goes into the fan experience. This time around we expect it.

Not only were the fans not let down but I think it surpassed in some ways. I love the addition of a live band for instance. Or having a group of drummers (although it'd be cool if they replaced the piped in "defense" drum). The Thunder Girls are hotter and better than the Honeybees. My wife couldn't even make fun of them and that's one of the joys of going to the games for her. The lighting seems to be darker during the action, more like the Lakers at Staples. I personally like that. The intro was awesome and vastly exceeded anything the Hornets did.

There are some differences to be sure though and they are striking and have more to do with the basketball.

It is now obvious to even the most casual of OKC Hornets fans that Chris Paul is something special. He is going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer. When the Hornets were relocated and Paul was a rookie you could sense that he was special. He has court vision that absolutely flabbergasted me at the time. I would be sitting in the club level and he would see things at court level that weren't even there until his passes created it. I once saw him make a bounce pass from the left elbow of the 3-point line diagonally to the right elbow of the 3 point line at the opposite end of the court, through a defender and hit his target (can't remember who it was- probably Mason) in stride for a dunk. That's probably not in his career top 10 highlights. We got spoiled rotten without realizing it.

The Thunder will be lucky to ever have a point guard half as talented as CP3. That's no disrespect to Russell Westbrook who is easily one of the best players on the team today. But he's not really a point guard. Not in the CP3 sense. And this team will struggle for it. This team has no one who can create shots for other people. Kevin Durant would go lights out if somebody set him to abuse his man. You can just tell. Honestly, Westbrook could do the same thing. But I digress.

The other notable difference is the personalities of the two teams. CP3 not only is one of the top players in the game but his personality lights up the whole arena. You just want to like him, you can't help it. Those Hornets had PJ Brown also who is one of the most likable people in the NBA. In their second year they got Marc Jackson who owns horses and dreamt of being a cowboy.

The Thunder players and the OKC fans haven't quite connected on a personal level yet. The players, to their credit, are saying all the right things and they are getting active in the community. They do seem accessible and they all come across as really good guys. They are just soft spoken and it takes time.

The good news is we have the time now. They are here for good no matter what anyone says and this team is not on loan the way the Hornets were.

Thunder Love from NBA.com

Here's a nice article to whet the whistle on the afternoon before one of the biggest sporting events in Oklahoma history.

Oklahoma City ready to weather Thunder's growing pains

NBA Fan Night

This is actually a really cool idea by the NBA. Every Tuesday is Fan Night on NBATV. NBATV will show a game voted for by the fans. Voting for the games is done during the week prior. This is the only way the Thunder can hope to get additional games televised nationally. As it stands, the Thunder have one game televised nationally, Friday, November 21st against the Hornets. The Thunder have 11 games scheduled for Tuesday night this season and among them such notable opponents as the Lakers (twice), the Spurs (twice), the Suns, the Hornets and the Knicks. Obviously, the Knicks and Lakers are in the two largest markets so there's some opportunity here.

There are 3 games nominated each week so the Thunder won't always be an option but keep this link handy in case it ever happens. The link is also on the right of this page.

It's Game Day

He we are on the precipice of glory in OKC. We officially have made it. We are in the NBA. Listen, Oklahoma City is the biggest small town you will ever see. There is no six degrees of separation, it's more like three. Yet, historically there has always been a well marked line right down the center. On one side Sooners and on the other Cowboys. Households, streets, neighborhoods, offices. All are divided. The Thunder brings it all together. And yes it may sound hokey to an outsider or someone from a place where there's football, hockey, baseball and basketball to divide people's time and attention. But we are officially united in the professional ranks with one team to get behind. Our Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Oklahoman has good coverage on this. Berry Tramel, who annoys me with his folksy banter, pretty much reiterates what I just said.

So yesterday Mayor Mick declared it a, "Day of Thunder" in OKC. Today, the festivities start at 2pm. Reno will be closed off, there will be live music, face painting, sign making, BMX stunt riders and goodness knows what else. The line for walk up tickets also starts at 2pm with the first 75 people getting EZ chairs to sit and there will be drawings for free tickets.

Interestingly, I've been feeling like people have been breathlessly waiting to see how the "game experience" compares to the Hornets. And I still do. But, I was surprised to find myself to be somewhat relieved and excited to see that Loud City officially makes its return. I think it's a great move. As team officials say, the fans made Loud City and the Hornets named it, not vice-versa. Just so you know, Section 309 is in Loud City.

I'm also interested to see the drum line. Hopefully we're talking live drummers and not piped in beats to get the crowd clapping. I recently read something about the Atlanta Hawks have a live funk band that plays during games to keep the crowd going. Similarly a live drum line would be pretty slick I think.

The team has also put banners up for every team in the league which should help with the ambiance. The Fieldhouse in Indianapolis is a monument to basketball. The Ford Center, whilst multipurpose hopefully can be retrofitted to be similar.

Finally the court has been delivered. Although it appears there was some sort of snafu due to the team utilizing one kind of goal fitting and the court's three-point lines being painted at a distance meant for a different kind of goal. So, the Ford Center crew had to paint a new line on the court to be the correct distance. Not sure how best to rectify this but I'd be pissed if I were the Thunder. It sounds like an internal screwup unfortunately.

I'm going to try and head down straight from work tonight to see the festivities and I'll snap some pictures and post them here.

Go Thunder!

NBA.com Thunder Season Preview Video

Marc Fein and Eric Snow break down the Thunder for NBA TV. Check it out here.

And, a "Secret Scout" break the Thunder down as well here.

On The Oklahoman's Comparison of the Hornets and Thunder.

The NBA season kicks off tonight and we're one day away from the Thunder's debut. I can't believe it's finally here. I'm so proud of this city and hope we represent the team as well as they hopefully represent us. We're all in this together.

Here's an article from Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman comparing the first Hornets team to this first Thunder team.

I agree with everything except Bostjan Nachbar vs. Johan Petro being a Hornets advantage. Nachbar's stint was short lived and he was a sharpshooter. However, Petro is going to fill a huge void right away. He can run the floor, shoot and grab some boards. He was easily the best surprise of the preseason for the Thunder. I don't remember ever thinking, "Damn, I sure am glad the Hornets have Admiral Nachbar." That nickname was his single biggest redeeming feature. I also think that even though they weren't compared in the article, Petro is this team's David West. The 2005-2006 version of David West. Let's not get carried away.

I also would tend to disagree that Brandon Bass vs. DJ White is an advantage for the Thunder. We've never seen White take the court due to his jaw problem and we won't for months. And saying Bass was a wide-eyed rookie prone to mistakes, while true, is not really a valid argument given that he was at the very least a usable body. That alone makes him better than DJ at this point. White isn't even useful for a practice punching bag.

Hopefully this will change.