I know this means nothing to virtually all of you, but this is the guy who introduced me to the blogosphere, and, quite frankly, inspired me to start blogging. His last post is one of his best, and I hope you take the time to look.
My Comment to him:
You know, I’ll always miss Atma playing hardball on the Warriors. Whereas some guys will always say things are great and praise every move, when Atma sees something wrong, he tells you. He gets a LOT of flak, but you’ve gotta respect a man who does things like that. The era really did end with Baron leaving and Monta injury. Some of the guys are still there, but you just can’t have it without Jason Richardson, and the demi-god Adonal Foyle.
This blog was the first sports blog I ever went to, and I still try to visit every day. Atma has worked consistently to make this place fun to be at. He’s endured a lot of hard times, and had a lot of good times. Man, is it hard for me to see him go.
But I could only see this coming. Keeping up a blog is a lot of work, and he wasn’t just keeping up a blog, he was building a community. He consistently said that when this stopped being fun, he would leave. I think that time has finally come, what with the dark days of the Warriors re-emerging and lots of nasty comments.
Well, it’s been a long ride Atma. I respect what you’ve done, thank you for all the help you’ve given me over the years, and wish you luck in the future.
Yep, you guessed it, the uniforms have been unveiled.
They don't seem too bad at first glance....but they do have a few fatal flaws.
First of all, who wants that stupid mini text on the players butt crack? That's been a huge trend in recent uniforms, and it's really stupid. I mean, are we going to look there FOR the team name? I just don't get it. Isn't the sides enough? Anyway, it's safe to say that I WILL NOT buy these shorts.
Second of all, the logos are extremely reminiscent of the 90s Pistons uniforms. Royce says otherwise, calling them "New York Knickish". While they do look so if you look at it on that drawing he has on his site, if you look at the actual thing, they look moreso Pistons to me. But of course, the Pistons uniforms were much more outlandish, cartoony, and just plain cool. These look sort of bland an generic, just like....the logo! Whaddaya know!
Third of all, the fronts of both uniforms are just a little bit too bland and noisy. The white uniforms have orange tracing around them for some god-knows-why reason. Combining it with the white and yellow doesn't turn out too well in my opinion. The road uniforms also suffer from problems, as it just looks like they slapped Oklahoma, City, and the numbers on there with absolutely no regard for style.
In conclusion, after a second look, these uniforms are pretty poor. They have some positive points on the colouring, but the uniforms are eternally marred by their use of butt crack logo and their overall genericness.
okluschen note: To me, it seems as if Thunder is just a formality for this team and if they didn't have to have a team name, we wouldn't have one. Everything the team does seems to be distant from Thunder. If you're going to choose a name like the Thunder, show me some clouds or bolts or something! In the logo and the uniforms, they seem to be going conservative in their selections, as not to piss off anyone. However, in doing this, they've managed to offend everyone! Give us something to be proud of, please. It doesn't need to be good even, Oklahomans will take to whatever. But give us something that isn't plain jane generic.
Via TheSportsAnimal.com: In news that comes as no surprise, the Thunder have announced that they will televise their games on Fox Sports Net. Furthermore, in news that comes as total surprise, Fox Sports Net will create a new network, Fox Sports Net Oklahoma, to cater to local interests. This replaces the old network covering Oklahoma, Fox Sports Net Southwest.
During Thunder games, the new network will be labeled as Fox Sports Thunder. It will have pre and post game shows (aptly named Thunder LIVE), along with a weekly magazine show.
Besides Thunder games, the piece says it will show OU, OSU, and "Olympic" events. They say that they'll even have some shows specializing in local sports.
So, what does this mean for you? Is it good news?
Well, first of all, yes, this is fabulous news. If fact, the news probably is all we could ask for. I was kind of hoping that we'd get to our roots and have the games broadcast locally on the CW or Channel 43, but Fox Sports Net is just as good. I have no doubts that it will be much better than Cox would be, as it makes the games available to more customers without NBA League Pass.
The creation of a new network is even better news. If they had attempted to stick us on Fox Sports Southwest, Thunder games would spend a lot of time on FSN+, which people have to pay for. As a longtime Warriors fan who watches games on Fox Sports Net Bay Area, believe me, it's a very bad thing. If you'd look through the comments on several Golden State of Mind game threads, you'd find a bunch of super pissed off fans, who didn't like the fact that they got replaced by Sharks hockey.
But, the question remains. Outside of Thunder stuff, why would you watch this network? I mean, OU and OSU football and basketball are already contracted out, except on rare occasions when the games are on all FSN affiliates. I can tell you right now, there's not going to be much worthwhile. Most of the programs will be cookie cutter national crap that no one watches.
Still, this is a very small complaint, given that we're getting a whole new network and maximum coverage. 65 games will be covered, with over half of them in HD. Absolutely meaningless to HD-less people like me, but I've heard from other fans that non-HD on an HDTV really, really sucks.
Stay tuned for more info from media day as soon as we can bring it to you!
OKluschens Note: This really sucks for Mavericks fans in the state, who will no longer be able to get most of the season without League Pass. Same for anyone else who relied on anything in FSN Southwest. Nevertheless, this is a lot better than just tacking on games to FSN Southwest.
Well, at least it wasn't the teams fault this time.
Presumably, someone on the development team for NBA2K9 decided to post a video with the Thunder jerseys in it. The NBA probably required the Thunder to give it to 2K Sports early, so it could be in the video game.
This image, from NBA Live 09, shows another variation on the uniforms. This one looks like it was from an Alpha though, as the scoreline is formatted poorly and the graphics look like they're from NBA Live '99.
Only time will tell, but if I had to guess, I'd lean towards the video being a more realistic representation of the uniforms. We'll all see on Monday's Media day.
Side Note: Did anyone see the super slick presentation in NBA 2K9? Damn! The first game to include actual video since NBA 2K6, and the way everything is done makes me feel like I'm actually watching TV. The line between TV and Video games continues to become more and more blurred....
EDIT: New Photos, Via Thunderworld. Looks like the uniforms are pretty much confirmed. These unis are the same as the 2K version, except from NBA Live 09.
For those of you that don't subscribe to Sporting News Today, quit reading and do it now. It's awesome. It's basically a digital newspaper delivered to your email every stinking morning and it's FREE.
Today they have a great interview with Thunder star Kevin Durant. He talks about the new look, the new team, his goals and what it's like in OKC. A really great read. (Click it to make it bigger. That's what she said.)
A few interesting things he said:
1. "Your team name is supposed to make people afraid. People are afraid of Thunder." I hate to disagree there Kevin, but who's really afraid of thunder besides six-year-olds? "What was that, dad?" "Nothing son, just thunder. It's only a sound. It can't hurt you." Remember that conversation when you were a kid? Also, who's afraid of the Lakers? Or Mavericks? Or Spurs? Oooh, the Spurs. Are those really terrifying names that intimate opponents before they step on the floor?
2. "I talked to Chris Paul about [Oklahoma City], and it seems like a good, quiet kind of place, a family-oriented kind of place. And he said the fans are great, they're unbelievable. It sounds like it is almost a college atmosphere when you get to game night." Darn night KD. People around the country make fun of OKC about being a small town. They think we have teepees and ride horses to work. But that's fine because if they actually knew what it was like, they'd all be moving here in a heartbeat. Low crime, virtually no traffic, great jobs, great economy, extremely low cost of living, wonderful people and great schools. I think I've said too much.
3. Q: How about the chances of seeing the Thunder in the playoffs? "Oh man, it's way too early to think about that. We still need to jell together, to get better as a group, as a family. Let me think about training camp before the playoffs. Ask me in the middle of the season about the playoffs, and maybe I can give you a real answer."Translation. And the reason he'd rather be asked in the middle of the season is because by then the Thunder will be 12-29 and no one in their right mind will be asking about the playoffs.
It's not like this is something new. Oklahomans have dealt with ticket scalping with OU and OSU - well, OU football. But now it's big league scalping for a big league city. Two seats in the upper deck, row G at $2,499.00?!? That's $1,679.00 over face value. That's beyond disgusting. A regular $10 upper "Loud City" deck seat is turned into a $30 ticket.
Scalpers are the lowest of the low. The scum of the sports world - well, maybe even the scum of the world. These greedy little money lovers come in, scoop up the ticket with no intention of using it and then rape us true fans by hiking the price.
I've had this debate with numerous friends. And I've actually convinced a few how wrong it is. At OU, we have this game we play in Dallas every year against a team from Texas. Students run and buy up tickets but in my estimation, only about 40 percent actually go to the game. The remaining 60 percent snatch up a ticket, charge it to their parents bursar account, toss the ticket up on Ebay and reap some major reward to go buy more beer and doritos. While some super Sooner that can just afford the $95 face value price misses out because he had to work all day and couldn't get to the box office. Now the ticket is 500 yammers and the true Sooner is hung out to dry.
Let me put it this way. Metallica released a new CD last week. You're a HUGE Metallica fan. You've been looking forward to Death Magnetic for months. (Go get it, it's good.) When the disc dropped last week, you had to work. But after you got off you were running straight to Best Buy to pick up your brand new copy. You've been thinking about it all day. The clock strikes five and you hit up BB. You run in and don't see it anywhere. You turn around and there's a guy behind you with 50 copies in his cart. You're a little stunned. The guy is wearing a Fall Out Boy shirt and eyeliner. He clearly wants nothing to do with Metallica.
He says to you, "Hey you want one of my copies?"
You say, "Yeah! Thanks!"
He grabs one, holds it out and says, "I like you. Just make it an even 75."
"What? But it's only $9.99. You don't even want the thing!"
"I don't care. I got here first. Now make it 80."
Now save your spit because I realize there are more places to buy the CD and whatnot, but you see my point. See how ridiculous that sounds? Best Buy and the record company determine the price of the CD, not some dude that just got there before you did. We yell and complain about gas gouging, but we let ticket scalping go. Some morons just claim, "Hey, that's capitalism." Well no, capitalism is having a market that determines the set price of the ticket in the first place. The market determines the price not some jerk trying to make a buck. Wal-Mart and Target compete for consumers so they set prices based on each other. The Thunder set its prices based on the rest of the league. Scalpers aren't competing with anyone. They just want to stuff their pockets.
So my plead is, don't buy scalped tickets. JUST DON'T DO IT. And for the love of Mohamed Sene, don't scalp a ticket. If you buy one and can't go/realize this team is going to totally blow, sell it - for what you bought it for.
Or I will find you. And when I do... I'll probably just tell you, you suck.
The guys here at Blue Blitz have been gracious enough to extend me a spot here to help contribute to making this the premier blog for all things Thunder basketball.
Just to let you know who I am and what I'm about. My name is Royce and I'm a senior at the University of Oklahoma and I'm about to get my degree in journalism. I've written for the Oklahoma Daily, OU's student newspaper and one of the best ones in the country, for the last three years. I've covered the 2007-08 Sooner football team and many other sports around campus - enough to where I've got some 225 clips. I wrote a weekly sports column for the last few years and also a "Campus Watch" column for thesportingnews.com.
I "retired" from the Daily and after spending about two months not writing about sports and letting everyone hear my opinion, I needed an outlet. Or I was going to explode. So thankfully, this blog thing is going and even if the only person reading what I write is my mom, it's worth it.
So anyway, I'll be contributing my very best material here to Blue Blitz, bringing you hundreds of zingers and hilarious Thunder basketball anecdotes. If you're reading one of my columns and you think to yourself, This guy's ripping off Bill Simmons - I probably am. I only wish I could write with that kind of ability.
I'm going to be publishing ALL of my columns at another blog - one that encompasses the entire Oklahoma sports scene - tentatively called The Daily 405 (you have no idea how hard it is to come up with a decent blog name until you try is. Makes you appreciate the good ones like With Leather and Kissing Suzy Kolber). It will have more than just Thunder ball there. But those columns will be there too. It's a work in progress and we'll see how much time I have, so bear with me.
I'll be writing previews, post gamers and a bunch of other stuff. So go ahead and subscribe to this blog and tell all your friends, because if you love the Thunder, this will be the place to be.
The Daily Oklahoman reports that the team uniforms will be revealed next Monday. No words on if there will be an event yet, but the uniforms will probably be white at home, and sky blue on the road. Given all of the sky blue banners at the Season Ticket purchasing ceremonies, I'm not surprised.
Toby Rowland, sports anchor for KWTV and morning radio host on KREF, is not being let out of his contract with KREF in order to accept the position of sideline reporter for the OKC Thunder, according to the Oklahoman.
What a cowardly thing to do by KREF. Yeah, he's the only reason anyone listens to this station. Still, how can you hold someone back from an oppurtunity like this?!?! According to Rowland, "One of the things I've been most disappointed in is I have been approached on more than one occasion over the past few years by other radio stations with more lucrative offers. I have turned them away because of a sense of loyalty to The Ref. They were the one that gave me my first show. It's dissapointing that they wouldn't kind of give back the kindness here."
It's a shame that things have to develop this way. Sideline reporter would be a great oppurtunity for Toby and I'm sure he would have done a great job with it. Now he's screwed to being the best host on the third best sports talk station in the area.
Brian Davis and Grant Long have been named play-by-play and colour commentators for the TV broadcasts of the Thunder.
It says to tune into the Sports Animal, but they're talking about the Rider Cup (ugh.)
I've done a quick search, and it says that both are former basketball players.
Brian Davis was a member of the 1991 and 1992 back to back Duke national championship teams. He was selected 48th overall in the 1992 NBA Draft. For one season, he went to Europe to play with Gheorghe Muresan on Elan Vernais Pau-Orthez. The next season, he had an average season with the Timberwolves before dropping out of basketball altogether. He co-owns a company developing a upscale community in Durham, North Carolina called "West Village". The other owners are none other than Christian Laettner and some Duke graduate named Tom Niemann, and the company is called "Blue Devil Ventures". They have donated 2 millions to Dukes basketball program (as if they needed it) and have reportedly tried to buy the Memphis Grizzlies and D.C. United. Why he would want to start doing Thunder play-by-play is anyones guess. He seems like a Duke guy more than anything.
Grant Long is a former journeyman Power Forward for the Heat, Hawks, Pistons, Grizzlies, and Celtics who was known for his defense and rebounding. Now that I think about it, I sort of remember him....but not really. What would make him come to Oklahoma City to do broadcasts?
Still, from the look of that photo, he has some Slammin' shades.
Brian Grant was just on the Sports Animal.
Basically, he was with FSN in the Pacific Northwest. He's also done some Pac 10 basketball and football, along with some Chicago Fire play-by-play. He says he's really excited to be here, and excited about how much fun he'll have. Grant Long got on the phone, and professed that he grew up in a small town, so he's not worried about moving from a big city to Oklahoma City.
Well, I can't say that I'm not a little disappointed. I'm sure these guys are great announcers, but I would've preferred if we could've had someone local who's been doing if for years, like a Bob Barry Sr. and Al Eschbach combination. It will take some getting used to, but hopefully these guys will prove to be great announcers. And please, please don't let them be massive homers. Un-biased commentary is golden (shoutout to Bob Fitzgerald and Jim Barnett, Warriors announcers).
Apparently, earlier everybody thought that Brent Price was getting the job. That would have been extremely cool, especially since Mark Price (his brother) was my favourite basketball player pre-Adonal Foyle.
Reguardless, a big welcome to Brian Davis and Grant Long!
EDIT: This is the WRONG Brian Davis. He is actually an old white guy who used to fill in on SuperSonics broadcasts. Thanks to Joe at thunderguru.com for the correction.
The newly dubed Oklahoma "City" RedHawks unveiled their new logo yesterday. If you thought Thunder sucks, check this out:
Two Oklahoma City embarrassments in less time than it takes Jason White to "run" 50 yards. What must people across the nation be thinking? Well, normally, no one would even be aware of a AAA team changing it's logo. However, the timing of this event, may give us some unwanted exposure. The news comes a day before the AAA championship game. Of course, it would have to be covered by ESPN, and of course, it would have to be held in OKC!
Personally, I find the new secondary logo to be decent, though it is somewhat reminiscent of Miami(OH) (coincidentally, also the RedHawks). The primary logo is a disgrace though. What's with logos that don't represent their teams?
It all started a few years back when Blazers officials decided it was a good idea to change the Blazers logo to feature the new capital dome. Seriously? If they were the Capitals, or the Senators, or the Governors, or the Domes, this would be an acceptable logo. But they aren't...they're the Blazers. You know, fire, streaking speed, not unnecessary architectural feats.
Then of course, came the notorious Thunder logo. This has been covered plenty by this blog and everywhere else in the nation, so I'll save you another tirade and not say anything about "that thing."
Now, we have...this...
I think Aristotle once said, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." This is obviously a ploy to sell more RedHawk gear by Scott Pruitt, perhaps trying to make up for potential lost income that will be brought upon by the Thunder in advance. If that's the case, I don't think Scott should be worried. As long as there's dollar beer night, the RedHawks will sell seats.
The NFL isn't even through it's second week yet and most college football teams haven't even started conference play, so what better time for NBA Preview magazines to start hitting the shelves!
My favorite sports prediction magazine (Athlon, I've bought all of their college preview magazines for the past 5 seasons) has recently released their NBA preview, so I thought I would share it with you.
First of all, as you can see from the cover, they had to go to print before the release of the actual logo. This results in almost all of the OKC pictures in the mag being from summer league play when they were wearing those generic black unis, except for one of Nick Collison, who's doning a Sonics jersey.
They don't have anything out of the ordinary to say about the Thunder. They spent the entire Thunder intro recapping the story of how they moved from Seattle, a story that I'm sure we're all sick of by now. They also grade all the teams' scoring, defense, rebounding, athleticism, coaching, and intangibles on a scale of 1 to 10. The Thunder got a 2 in scoring (up from 1 last season), a 4 in defense, a 6 in rebounding, a 5 in athleticism, a 4 in coaching, and a 4 in intangibles (up from 1 last season). I can't really argue with any of these. The Thunder are far from being any sort of scoring threat and though in the future I think this will be a fine defensive team, for now 4 is probably about right. This also came before they traded for Mason and Smith, so defense probably would get a boost if they had known about that.
The folks as Athlon also picked OKC to not finish in last in their division, better than some might have hoped. They have the T-Wolves (new jerseys and all) finishing below them. I also found it funny that Russell Westbrook was named our top offseason addition in the magazine, by far one of the more pathetic list of transactions in the magazine. Again though, this was pre-trade.
Athlon seems to be optimistic about the future of the team. They say that, "The Thunder will have one of the most vocal crowds in the NBA, giving them a first-rate home-court advantage" and "Have patience Thunder fans, and a lot of it...Endure the present knowing you will only enjoy the future."
Athlon has the NBA playoffs as follows: Eastern Teams- Boston* Cleveland Detroit* Miami Orlando* Philadelphia Toronto Washington Boston over Philly in Eastern finals *-indicates division championship
Western Teams- Dallas Houston Los Angeles Lakers* New Orleans* Phoenix Portland San Antonio Utah* New Orleans over Lakers in Western finals *-indicates division championship
New Orleans Hornets over Boston Celtics in NBA Finals
After hours of deliberation and logo making, we have decided on a new name and logo....
From the proprietors of The Oklahoma City NBA Sports Blog....To the Max!!!!, we bring you....
Blue Blitz!
Our new logo and colour scheme have been introduced. I know it's bad, but it's nothing compared to the teams ACTUAL logo. Then again, it's no Tony.psd work either.
I was in favour of naming it Hellblau Blitz (German for Light Blue Flash/Bolt/Lightning), but OKluschen reminded me that nobody will know what Hellblau means, and Light Blue Blitz or Oklahoma Blue Blitz didn't have the same ring. Thunder Asunder was also considered, but asunder means "apart or scattered", and that has no relevence to basketball, and it generally has a negative connotation.
If anyone has a better name, or if you are a great logo designer, email us at NBAOKC@gmail.com. Otherwise, we're gonna stick with this.
Coming up: My Season Ticket Buying Experience....
(At least it's better than Oklahoma City BBalls new logo!)
I signed up for my tickets the DAY AFTER signups were taken. But, to "be fair", the team decided to randomly scramble the people who signed up from the beginning and some date like a month later. So, basically, some dude who didn't even know that the NBA wasn't coming to Oklahoma City until a month later might be enjoying his season tickets right now.
So basically, when I go to get my tickets on FRIDAY, I'm going to be stuck with a crappy 6 game plan somewhere at the top of section 301. Great. Thanks a lot, Thunder.
Of course, there's absolutely NOTHING I can do about this, and I am VERY spoiled. But I don't even know if my heart is going to be in this the rest of this season. I'm tired of stinky ownership. But of course, this is a fact of life, and I just have to deal with the fact that the NBA is a business.
My couch is a much better seat, anyway.
And when we have about 11 wins riding into the All-Star break, I can get my tickets for free.
We here at the Oklahoma City NBA Sports Blog....to the Max!!!! have always been against Oklahoma City being named the Thunder. Why? Well, there's many reasons, but one is because we'd be stealing the name of the Warriors mascot, Thunder.
I guess Thunder had it coming, but it's always sad to lose a mascot in the NBA family. Thunder was one of the more unique ones, as he wasn't an animal per se, but he was a blue X-man with slammin' shades. If you are truly going away, as a long time Warriors fan, I'd like to say: I'll miss you, Thunder. You were a great....mascot. Man, I'm gonna miss that guy.
Slammin'!!!! I'm the guy in the Sonics Jersey, "Zebulun Benbrook". Starts at about 2:20. You might have to refresh the page....several times....to see it.
As you all know, Zorgon was on the field reporting for us at Leadership Square. As you also know, he attended the press conference wearing an old Seattle Supersonics jersey. After the epic and now infamous unveiling of the logo, Zorgon bumped into the Thunder's head coach, P.J. Carlesimo...
Here is how it went down (paraphraded, again): P.J.: (Pat on back) We need to get you a number 35 jersey Zorgon: (not knowing who it was) Oh, yeah. P.J.: (Walking away) Zorgon: (now realizing who it was) Oh, hey, I loved you when you coached for the Warriors! P.J.: Thanks.
Also, Zorgon had the priviledge of speaking briefly with Channel 4's Bob Barry Jr... BBJ: I'm lovin the jersey, I'm tellin' you. Zorgon: Yeah, thanks.
Zorgon was also interviewd briefly by the Oklahoman, "a guy with a moustache" according for Zorgon, so be on the look-out for that.
Apparently a lot of people are walking around with OKC logo shirts now, kind of like those "Oklahoma City" shirts people were wearing per-logo, or so I hear.
This is terrible. This logo has nothing to do with Thunder. Quite frankly, I'm Thunder-shocked. The blue is the same color as the state flag. Like I was telling Zorgon earlier, its not bad for a uncreative, unoriginal, generic, unNba logo. Oh well, it isn't the logo that makes the team, its what happens on the court that matters. Who am I kidding, this is the worst thing thats happened in Oklahoma since Dairy Queen pulled out of the state. As Zorgon said, (paraphrasing) "they could spent years at their desks reviewing all the sports logos in history and they couldn't find anything as good as that" (sarcasm). I mean really, we waited months and months...for OKC and a basketball?!?!?!
Worst case scenario.
Apparently, one of the reasons it took so long was because every team had to approve the color scheme. God, I'm glad Bud Selig is ok with Oklahoma flag blue and Oklahoma dirt orange-red.
Unless it's part of some huge hoax that Clay Bennett is planning or we're in the twilight zone, the Oklahoma City Thunder Logo Leak WAS true. Anyone else throwing up or crying yet?
If this is an elaborate hoax, it would be awesome. But if not, the Thunder have done a notoriously horrible job in keeping the logo secret.
Reguardless, I'm about to jet to the ceremony, and OKLuschen will update you with any further developments.
Today at 5 PM, the NBA OKC name will be announced!
Just wanted to give everyone a run down of the places to check: 1. The actual unveiling will be at Leadership Square (211 N.Robinson) in Oklahoma City. It says that the unveiling will be at 5PM, but it doesn't say when you really should be there. It's also your first opportunity to purchase team gear. I'll be there, and I should (hopefully) be holding up a "SIGN ADONAL FOYLE" sign, and a Sonics jersey (not in protest). Why? Because Adonal Foyle is the greatest player of all time, why else? Stop by and say hi if you want.
I'll be on the phone with Okluschen during the unveiling (which will probably be the first place that will show the logo), and he'll put it up on the blog ASAP.
2. The Team's Official Website should have the logo up at 5PM, but the site will most likely be highly trafficed by not only OKC fans, but interested fans nationwide. Also, the team might be slow to update the site, since they want the "official" unveiling to be first. If you're still thinking of checking it, the site is fully Flash oriented (not HTML), so it takes longer to load. Still, it would be one of the places to check.
3. Your Local News. 4,5, and 9 all have newscasts at 5, and will most likely have reporters on the scene. Hurricane Gustav is gone now, but KOCO still might have a whole lot of reporters in New Orleans, along with their news chopper. So I'd probably recommend going with 4 or 9. 4 might be a better choice because they went with 2 sports stories over Hurricane Gustav on Saturday. Not nessessarily a good thing, but it does mean you might get the logo information faster.
4. WWLS the Sports Animal will probably have the info, but it will really only be useful for the name, and not the logo. You can't really see anything on the radio.
5. The Oklahoma City NBA Sports Blog....to the Max!!!! It's a great place, and we'll have all info up as soon as possible. Semi-live blog coverage.
Lastly, we will have our new blog name announced tomorrow (Thursday), and a new design hopefully in place by Friday or so. Stay tuned for more developments, and lets hope that they don't copy off of the Golden State Warriors' Mascot!
Our link to the Thunder forums really put our blog on the map. The story was linked to 6 times, hyped up 26 times (and down once :-(), and commented on once (on Blogger, 3 times). We even go linked by places like the Fanhouse and SLAM Magazine! (Thanks, Tom Ziller!) As a result of this, the story has launched our blog (at least temporarily) into the Top 50 NBA blogs on the internet! That's right, top 50! 8 away from Golden State of Mind!
Well, just wanted to give a big Thank You to everyone who hyped us up, and, rest assured, we have much, much more to come. We're all looking forward to Wednesday!
And, before you ask, we DID call the local news stations. I called 4 and 5, Okluschen called 9 and 25. 4 asked for my name and forwarded it. On the newscast they said "all signs are indicating that it will be Thunder" but there was no mention of our story. 5 actually looked at it, was impressed, took down my name and number, and never called me back. It was never on a newscast, but Mark Rodgers got on the Radio and said that he had seen the logo on the internet (without acknowledging us, lol). 9 didn't even take a name. 25 had a phone tree, and the sports guy looked at it, but according to Okluschen he "didn't seem impressed". And, just for kicks, I emailed KSBI 52, but they haven't emailed me back yet. We checked the newscasts, but none showed our story. Go figure.
UPDATE: Wow, I thought that the story was dead, but apparently it's heart is still beating! We got linked on Deadspin, AND SI.coms Extra Mustard! It's got 37 hypes! Due to the freshness of hypage, the story has leapfrogged Sarah Palin! I'm still in shock.
On a side note, my Top NBA Players 35 and Older article has 9 hypes and rising, putting it right behind the logo leak! Again, thanks to everybody for all of the support. I can't wait until the real logo comes out, and I also cant wait until the new Ballhype Blog rankings are generated! Update 2: We got mentioned on the NewsOK NBA in OKC Blog Sponsored by John Holt Chevrolet!!!!
I've always liked old guys, so recently I thought it would only be fair to rank some of the older guys around the league, and see how the "team" of them would do in the real NBA. I'll probably be ranking them by general skill. It will also recognize the people who have been balling in the NBA for so, so long. Much respect to them.
The cutoff is that you must be born on or before Dec. 31st, 1973. This may seem arbitrary, but it makes it a whole lot easier to sort through the Yahoo! Rosters.
All players who are still officially on NBA rosters and have not officially filed retirement papers are eligible. (Comeon, I gotta make this fun!)
3 Players Ranked for each position (to make a 15 man roster), and I'll list Honourable Mentions along the way.
Centers- Starter- Shaquille O'Neal
Making a decision between these big men was really, really hard. 2-3 years ago, this decision would have been pie. But the fact still remains that Shaq can rebound much, much better than the other two. True, his defense is about equal and his scoring, which used to be better, has gone down to their level. But if you look at the rbounds this guys got last year, he's a monster. As Shaq himself would say, "I'm the baddest 36 year old on the planet, and I'm looking forward to another 10 years of my NBA career".
Backup- Dikembe Motumbo Dikembe probably won't play this season, but he's still eligible according to the rules above. He was a benchwarmer for a while, but when Yao got injured, this guy exploded and filled the 7'6" hole remarkably well, leading the team to a #5 playoff seed appearance. Still, his 43 year old body would probably not be able to take a full 82 game schedule at peak performance. So, he'd get light minutes in a backup role.
Benchwarmer- Alonzo Mourning I know, the words "benchwarmer" and "Alonzo Mourning" should never, ever go together. But he's only 3rd on the Depth Chart of this team....technically. With these big men so old, fatigue and injures are a large factor. Everyone is basically a hair apart, and they'll help each other out a lot and play naught-equal minutes. Still, Alonzo gets 3rd because he retired as a backup to Shaq. It's not GREAT reasoning, but I had to have something!
Honourable Mentions- There are no other Over-35 Centers in the NBA. Imagine that.
Power Forwards- Starter- P.J. Brown
Okay, P.J. took a half season, but the dude is hardly missing a step. His 12 foot jumper isn't near what it used to be, but his defense is still among the best in the league. Pair him with any of the 3 Centers above, and nobody's daring to enter your lane. He could probably have another full season if he wanted, and he's pretty well ahead of the #2 PF on this list.
Backup- Kurt Thomas He used to be an average Power Forward, but now he's kinda below average. In the pack of his career, he shot 3s sometimes. He's fallen below the radar as of late, and this journeyman will most likely have a quiet retirement.
Benchwarmer- Robert Horry Put this guy as the 12th man and bring him in for the last few seconds of the game. He's a respectable player, but he's only in the NBA because A. He's a big man who can Shoot 3s B. He's Mr.Clutch C. He's on the Spurs, also known as the NBA retirement club. (Indeed, they have the most players on this list at 5).
Honourable Mention- Theo Ratliff The last time I saw this guy playing basketball, Allen Iverson was playing Kobe Bryant in the NBA finals. What was he doing back then, you ask? He was taking up space on the 76ers roster, of course. Ever since then, I've only seen him on the injury list of Team X, taking up 20 zillion dollars in salary cap space. If he could walk without crutches, he could've probably been a valuable shot-blocker on the team.
Small Forwards- Starter- Grant Hill
Some might make an argument for Bruce Bowen (Spurs fans), but to me it's pretty obvious that Grant Hill is the better player. He may fly above the rim like he used to, but the dude has turned into such a fantastic team and defensive player that it almost doesn't matter. Always finding the open man and never missing a defensive assignment. And, if you want him to score, he can do that occasionally too.
Backup- Bruce Bowen A great guy off the court. A serial killer on the court. In two sentences, that's Bruce Bowen. If you see interviews with him or if you happened to see him on the street, you'd think that he's a pretty nice guy. If you see him play at opposing NBA arenas, you'd think that he was Timothy McVeigh. He plays an increbily dirty, ruthless style of defense that always drives the opposing team and the referees crazy. An asset to our team, but not an asset to our PR.
Benchwarmer- Eric Piatkowski If you're a newer NBA fan, you're probably thinking, "Who the hell is Eric Piatkowski?" If you're an older NBA fan, you're probably thinking, "Why the hell is Eric Piatkowski still in the NBA?" If you're Doctor Who, you're probably not thinking about the NBA at all. Reguardless, he is easily the weakest link on the roster,and would probably be cut to make room for another guard.
Honourable Mentions- There are no other Over-35 Small Forwards in the NBA.
Shooting Guards- Starter- Michael Finley
Eddie Jones would have been here not too long ago, but he has taken a big dip recently in his production, while Michael Finley has stayed largely the same. Not at his former All-Star High-Flying level, but still a darn-good scorer. And, if you look up and down this lineup, a darn-good scorer is exactly what this team needs.
Backup- Eddie Jones He's Michael Finley, but a little bit worse. He did badly in Dallas last year, but his overall talent is probably better than his stats are showing.
Benchwarmer- Brent Barry He almost plays the same role here as he does on the Spurs. Come off the bench occasionally, hit some 3s.
Honourable Mention- Lindsey Hunter The eternal Piston used to be a pretty decent player, but his minutes are slowly disintegrating. Played in only 28 games last season with an average of 9 minutes, so he easily misses this list.
Point Guards- Starter- Jason Kidd
This team is stacked with Point Guards. It's really easy to argue that any of them deserve 2nd place, but Jason Kidd is the easy pick for first. Arguably the only All-Star on this list, and is still treated as such by his team.
Backup- Bobby Jackson Okay, this decision might spark come controversy (as if there's some big controversy over these lists). But this team needs scoring, and that's what Showtime brings to the table.
Benchwarmer- Darrell Armstrong An unselfish and extremely defensively tough Point Guard. In his late 30s he still manages to be a high-energy player, and looks like he has 4 lungs (Bob Cousy only had 3). You gotta respect that in a guy.
Honourable Mention #1- Sam Cassell Probably the best guy to be left out of this team. Performed exceptionally, even last year somewhat. But, that's only on paper. If you watch this guy on the floor, he's extremely selfish and likes to force shots. Kind of like pretending he's a young Allen Iverson. Proof here. I just don't think he would help the team out much. But if you go by sheer talent, he's probably 2nd best. Lastly, any blurb about Sam Cassell wouldn't be complete without giving him props for taking the title of the NBAs ugliest man from Jeff Hornacek. Next up? Greg Oden.
Honourable Mention #2- Damon Stoudamire Production has been way down over the last couple years, as he was left to rot in Memphis. He signed on to the Spurs as a last grab for glory, I guess. He can still help them out a bit though.
Honourable Mention #3- Eric Snow That's right, Eric Snow is still in the NBA, hanging around on the Cavaliers. Back in the day, he wasn't much better than Piatkowski.
So, how would the team do?
Well, first off, it's obvious that the team doesn't have a lot of sheer talent. But what it doesn't have in talent it makes up for in sheer depth and defense. They have so many former stars that one of them is bound to step up and have a great day.
Still, scoring is a big problem. O'Neal and P.J. Brown are defenders, while Grant Hill and Jason Kidd are mainly passers. This leaves all of the scoring on Finley, which is a bad sign post 2003. Still, Jackson, Thomas, and Jones could come off of the bench for scoring support without giving up too much D.
This team would be formidable, but by no means excellent. I'd wager about 45-50 wins, with a 1st round upset and maybe, just maybe, a Conference Championship.
How many wins do you think they'd get? How would they do in the playoffs? Vote in the poll and/or post a comment below.
Highest NBA Ranking: 9 Highest Overall Ranking: 71
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