First thunder, then lightning … then kaboom
Just in case you might not have been paying close enough attention to the recent goings-on with the remnants of the former SuperSonics franchise …
| Date | Opponent | Result | Highlights | Top Scorer/Rebounder/Assists | |
| Jan 2 | vs Denver | L 120-122 | Durant 33/Durant 9/Watson 7 | ||
| Jan 6 | vs New York | W 107-99 | Green 27/Durant 12/Westbrook 9 | ||
| Jan 7 | at Minnesota | L 87-129 | Collison 17/Collison 10/Westbrook 12 | ||
| Jan 9 | vs Houston | L 96-98 | Durant 27/Collison 10/Westbrook 6 | ||
| Jan 10 | at Chicago | W 109-98 | Durant 28/Westbrook 12/Watson 11 | ||
| Jan 12 | at New Jersey | L 99-103 | Durant 26/Green 10/Watson 9 | ||
| Jan 14 | vs Utah | W 114-93 | Green 23/Krstic 11/Westbrook 7 | ||
| Jan 16 | vs Detroit | W 89-79 | Durant 32/Green 14/Westbrook 6 | ||
| Jan 18 | vs Miami | L 94-104 | Durant 31/Westbrook 8/Watson 6 | ||
| Jan 21 | at Golden State | W 122-121 | Westbrook 30/Durant 12/Westbrook 7 | ||
* Schedule of Games for the Oklahoma City Thunder
… know that there’s been a significant corner turned by this team since the beginning of the new year.
After opening the season with 29 losses in their first 33 games [a .138 Winning %] … which cost PJ Carlesimo his job … the Thunder have played .500 basketball for the last 10 games [5-5], accruing solid victories over the Knicks, Bulls, Jazz, Pistons & Warriors, and three tough losses against the Nuggets, Rockets and Nets.
Thus far, Sam Presti [GM] is doing a solid job putting together the foundation blocks for a team that should be a legit contender in the Western Conference within the next 3 seasons.
Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are going to be marquee NBA players for years to come; while Jeff Green is the sort of multi-dimensional non-nonsense Glue Guy which every High End team has in its principal rotation playing major minutes.
When they then add another solid player [or two] through this summer’s NBA Draft Lottery, the Thunder will be in fine position heading toward the 2010-2011 campaign with 4/5ths of their eventual Starting Line-up in place … young, athletic and highly talented.
After making the decisions to:
1. Not re-sign Rashard Lewis;
2. Trade away Ray Allen; and, eventually,
3. Relocate their entire operation;
it is difficult to imagine how things could possibly end up turning out any better than this for the despicable owner of the team [Clay Bennett] who stole the franchise away from the tremendous NBA fans in Seattle.
Tags: Clay Bennett, Jeff Green, Kevin Durant, PJ Carlesimo, Russell Westbrook, Sam Presti
January 28th, 2009 at 12:09 am
“tremendous NBA fans in Seattle”
Are you kidding me?! What was there average attendance last year? I bet not even close to the 18,400+ the thunder are averaging in OKC. If seattle had supported their team, but going to games, the team would have made money instead of losing money and would have stayed in seattle. It’s their own fault they lost the team. That, and the city/state who wouldn’t help fund a stadium.
January 28th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Leah,
Thanks for your comment.
IMO, the Sonics franchise was not moved from Seattle because of low attendance figures. From what I understnad, their owner simply wanted a “better deal” from the city as far as the team’s lease agreement was concerned and given the opportunity for the franchise owner to realize more profits from the building of a new arena paid for by the local/municipal government.
Blaming Sonics fans for the theivery and profiteering of Clay Bennett, in this case, is wholly mis-directed.