• Kevin Durant’s rip move: heady play, necessary evil, or blight upon the league?
• Michael changes one of his answers from last week’s Thunder Lightning Round
• Dissension about what the Thunder need to do in the remaining eight games before the playoffs

If you are or know a fan with an interesting story, email us at hosts@okcthundercast.com. Be sure to include a brief story and contact information so we can schedule an interview.

But this bitterness is still gnawing at me, and why? Walking out of our 3 point loss to the Phoenix Suns, sure I felt disappointed but far from angry. After all, I had the privilege to watch a very well-played game. Even after a blowout loss to the Knicks last week I just shook my head and started looking forward to Christmas Day. It’s going to happen from time to time. What left such a bad taste in my mouth wasn’t our losing, it was the way the Mavericks handled winning.

The most striking moment for me came with 1:30 left in the 4th quarter. Westbrook had just driven to the basket and had been cleanly blocked by Tyson Chandler. On the way down RW landed awkwardly on his right elbow. While he lay writhing on the ground in pain, Chandler chooses that moment to leap in the air, beat his chest, and gesture provocatively at the Thunder fans sitting near the baseline. So rather than showing any sort of concern for the fallen competitor, or at least keeping a respectful distance, he performs a long and unseemly series of self-congratulatory gesticulation right next to an injured player. Not at other players or the Thunder bench, not even at the cameras, but directly in the faces of the fans.

Allow your mind to freeze on that mental image for a moment as we remember this same Tyson Chandler, who first came to Oklahoma City in 2006 after being traded to the New Orleans Hornets. He himself has told stories of the warm and neighborly way every member of the community tried to help Tyson and his family feel at home. This is the same Tyson Chandler who 2 years later was actually traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder, only to be turned away at the last moment by a medically questionable toe. This is the same Tyson Chandler for whom I heard genuine applause as he took the floor for the Mavericks back in November and during introductions last night. Considering this, you can see how at that moment my mind was wracked with the question: how did it come to this? How had a once fond relationship become so antagonistic?

The answer, I believe, starts at the very top of the Mavericks organization with a presumptuous attitude that trickles all the way down to the players on the hardwood. For further evidence, you can resume your mental playback to the moment that Jason Terry egged on a rightly disapproving crowd with sarcastic arm motions and an insincere smile. Or perhaps the very last second of the game when Caron Butler spiked the ball at midcourt with so much force, you might have thought he had never won a basketball game before. Are you seeing the same pattern I am?

If the San Antonio Spurs are a model for the Thunder organization, then let the Mavericks be our antithesis. Here are a few other hallmarks of Maverick-brand basketball that we would do well to avoid. The owner, Mark Cuban, can regularly be seen and heard bemoaning referee calls right from the sidelines. He resorts to name-calling other owners in the public arena, demonstrating that he can’t even control himself much less a basketball franchise. Ultimately, the man is the embodiment of the universal truth that you can have everything in the world and still be a total loser. And that’s not name-calling. Be honest, if Mark Cuban was just another guy who worked at your office, would you accept his friend request? Mmm-hmmm, thought so.

Harder to measure is his meddlesome impact on the front office, which seems to prefer an assembly of overpaid hired guns year after year, but has found far more success in the regular season than in the playoffs. From all of this derives a culture of cockiness that, at least last night, seemed to reach the characters of the players themselves.

This is to take nothing away from the Mavericks’ performance last night. And they won without their best player, who I hope is able to play again in time for our January 6th rematch because he makes the game better. My central point is that the Thunder, and all of us as Thunder fans, need to learn through reverse example. We don’t want an ownership like their ownership. We don’t want management like their management, and we certainly don’t want our players to act anything like their players acted. Thank goodness for bad toes.

Any question of “Is there a rivalry” is now settled. There has always been a rivalry between the proud and the humble. These two organizations represent diametrically opposed philosophies of winning, as different as night is from day. One is built on community, commitment, and teamwork. The other on narcissism, disrespect, and underperformance. Both can produce winning teams, but only one affords that organization the respect of this NBA fan.

So if that’s what they want to represent, so be it. After all, you can only control yourself and I can’t make the decisions for them. Yeah, I’d dearly like to see us beat them on January 6th. Even sweeter would be to bounce them out of the playoffs in the first round for the 3rd time in 4 years. But who knows what will happen? Maybe the Mavericks will reach the finals this year. Or maybe they’re chances will disappear faster than you can Dwayne Wade. But no matter what happens on the basketball court this year or any other, I’ve found another reason to be grateful this holiday season. That reason? I’m not a Dallas Mavericks fan.

Phew. I do feel better.

Also in this episode, we wonder if fast-paced basketball is becoming the Thunder’s style?

Also, we discuss whether or not the ten close games the Thunder have played are a good or bad sign.

Also, Michael makes a controversial promise that neither Blayne nor Brent can get on board with.

Plus, your OKC ThunderCast hosts reveal inside information about the naming rights of the OKC Arena (the facility formerly known as the Ford Center).

Finally, we try to answer the question everyone seems to be asking after consecutive losses to the Jazz and Clippers — what’s wrong with the Thunder?

They also discuss likes and annoyances from new presentations at the Ford Oklahoma City Arena.

And Blayne asks, does the red river rivalry extend all the way to the Texas Rangers?

For those who have read the article, here is a link to the Thunder’s first podcast–in all it’s abysmal hilarity–referenced in the article.

In this show, recorded during the draft, your favorite Thunder podcast trio share their immediate reaction to the exciting twists and turns of draft night, try to deduce the method in the apparent madness, and speculate on the Thunder’s involvement in this summer’s free agent frenzy.

As the regular season wound down, I was watching the Western conference playoff standings closely hoping the Thunder would draw the Suns or Mavericks in the first round. I just felt that we matched up better against them, and that our style would give them the most problems. And that’s true; we do match up better. Especially based on what we saw from the Spurs-Mavs series, I think we could have advanced as the 7th seed. But as the 6 games with the Lakers unfolded, I realized that I was wrong to lament our draw of the 8th seed. Because it wasn’t bad luck; it may turn out to be the best thing that could have happened to the Thunder in their first taste of the postseason.

Why you ask? Please allow me to illustrate with an example. When I was but a lad, I passed many an hour playing Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64 with 3, yes THREE, friends all at one time! When I played the game alone, I took the normal approach. I started on Easy difficulty, finished the game, then played on Medium, and so on. Eventually I reached the Hard difficulty level, but by that time I’d already seen every level at least twice, and the game wasn’t as fun when I couldn’t just take out a room full of baddies with nothing but a handgun and the ability to run laterally. By contrast, a friend of mine got the game and just started playing on Hard without hesitation. Sure, it was tedious and difficult, and sometimes not even fun. After all, dying 20 times on the first level isn’t my idea of a good time. But in multiplayer, who do you think dominated the game? It was always my friend who only knew two outcomes to any conflict: to make rapid, accurate shots or die.

I’m sure you believe, as I do, that our Thunder team is only going to get better. In fact, Let’s suppose they will improve year-over-year for the next 3 to 5 years. Then that means that this team was actually the weakest it’s going to be over the next 4 years. Secondly, remember that our expectations for this team soared from 30 to 40 to 50 wins in a matter of a few weeks. Unless you actually came into this season expecting the Thunder to win the championship, then you should consider everything that happens in the playoffs to be serendipitous surprise.

With that in mind, I contend that rather than regretting our match up with the Lakers, the worst thing that could have happened is if we had missed our chance to play them at our weakest. Having advantageous match ups is great because you can play directly to your strengths and expect victory. However, that doesn’t challenge you to find the limits of your capability. I don’t think any other team would have pushed us so hard. I believe the absolute worst outcome of the playoffs would have been losing to Dallas in the first round, say because Nowitski happened to outgun Durant 4 times out of 7 in spite of sloppy defense by the Mavericks. We might have left that experience saying, “Boy, we just need to keep doing what we’re doing, just doing it better.” But we would have remained completely in the dark about where our weaknesses are at this critical time in our development.

Simply put, we want to be the best. That means we have to beat the best. And, I say, if you’re gonna lose, lose to the best. Let’s take a look at just a few of the extremely valuable lessons we got to learn this year as a result of this matchup. First the good stuff.

First of all, we found out that we can win in the playoffs. As Cubs fans, Michael and I have endured watching them lose 8 consecutive playoff games dating back to 2003, and we can tell you, it’s excruciating. What a relief to have a home town team not burdened with psychological baggage, but full of unlimited potential. This team is anything but cursed, in fact, we’re blessed. As we stated on this show in Episode 31, we can beat anyone, but we confirmed that we can beat anybody even when it counts. People didn’t give us a chance, but they were wrong. We had a chance, and a very good one, to the surprise of everyone but us.

We also learned a lot about our incredible fan base. The loudest in the NBA, and wildest and craziest in the country. The national TV announcers could not say enough about the atmosphere in the Ford Center, the city, and really the entire state. Also, I just want to award an honorary Thunder Clap to all of you fans at game 6, who stood and cheered both teams after the game. At a moment when, I admit, I would have felt like sending a jumbo pretzel flying at Pau Gasol, you sent exactly the right message: that we appreciate them not just for their amazing talents, but we admire their character, and the professional work ethic they bring every day to their passion, which also happens to be their career. I hope every player who saw that got that message loud and clear, and I hope some may have a better understanding of what a privilege it is to be part of the Oklahoma City Thunder organization.

But those lessons learned were hardly the most valuable. The old saying goes, “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”, but if there is a basketball corollary, it would be “Know your strengths well, but your weaknesses even better.”

We all know that KD is the real deal, and has all the tools to be a hall of fame player. He’s so good, in fact, it’s hard to see what he does wrong sometimes. But nasty defense from Kobe and Artest showed us that he still has room to improve when creating off of the dribble and hitting shots close to the basket when drawing contact. We also learned that he had become too reliant on foul shooting to be productive; against a capable defender who wasn’t often forced to foul him, he struggled. But he was so successful with catch-and-shoot moves and drawing fouls that he rarely actually had to drive to the bucket and finish. He’s going to have no problem learning to do this more. In fact, when he does, he’s going to be downright scary.

We learned that Green is a clutch but streaky scorer, which cuts both ways as a strength and weakness. He knows how to hit big shots, and how to step up when the team is really struggling. He scored 6 straight points in Game 3 when we needed him. But other times he tends to sit back. He either needs to step up to be involved all the time or we need to find a legitimate third scoring option if we will overcome a team like the Lakers.

We confirmed that we are not as strong under the basket as the Lakers. Saying this, I have to give tremendous kudos to Krstic, Collison, and Ibaka, who were given an arduous task and performed it very well. And I’m not down on these guys at all. In fact, I’m glad to have all of them. But none of them, at this point, represent an offensive low post presence. Just loads of hustle and scrappy play which seems to energize the whole team. They all need to keep working on that area.

To go with our weaknesses inside, we also need to improve from the outside. In this series, we shot under 30% in 3 of the 6 games We need our starters and bench players to have at least 5 quality 3 point shooters on the team if it will ever be a legitimate path to victory for our team like it was for the Lakers who hit 12 in game 6.

We learned that Westbrook is already mature enough to excel in the playoffs, and he’s putting things together into an amazing whole. But he needs to find ways to get every guy on the floor involved and not just KD. We have to run better offensive plays, and play less of a two man game when we need a basket. Also, his late game management needs work. This is one of those talents that doesn’t come instinctually to many, so he should really lean on coach Brooks and Mo Cheeks to help him achieve his full potential as a point guard.

Also, though he did an excellent job, coach and the players need to figure out their strategy for using time outs appropriately based on the complete game situation.

Finally, the team showed youth and inexperience, but not because they played poorly. At times in the series that played very well. I say they showed youth because they played so very differently at home and on the road. They never seemed to get their own rhythm and swagger without the energy of a crowd to reflect and relax them.

So all in all, sure, we could have played some other team in the first round and maybe even beat them. It would have felt great, but it might have been a step back rather than a potentially great leap forward to the real goal: winning the NBA championship. Let’s get all those advantageous match ups in the years when we actually SHOULD be vying for the title. When that time comes, an eighth seed and a first round exit will be a big disappointment. For this season, we were there to do our best, to learn, and to find out what we are made of. And that’s exactly what playing the Lakers allowed us to accomplish.

Plus we got a great chant out of the experience. Jazz fans, feel free to call us if you need any help with the rhythm.

What are your thoughts on this season? We’d love to hear from you any time at (405) 428-3865 or hosts@okcthundercast.com. Also leave your comments at our favorite Thunder Blog, Welcome to Loud City. Let the Thunder roll!

Last week, Blayne talked about the dream season the Thunder, and we fans, have enjoyed. Winning 50 games and earning the eighth seed in the playoffs, following last year’s forgettable season, is a miraculous accomplishment. Blayne pointed to a number of contributors: scoring leader Kevin Durant; Coach of the Year Scott Brooks; phenomenal rookies James Harden and Serge Ibaka; and many more. But I contend that the Thunder are still playing in late April primarily because of Westbrook’s improvement.

I have been one of Westbrook’s most ardent critics. I have maintained that Russ has lacked the most important skill of a good point guard, running an offense. Early in the season we released episode 32, Key Factors to Success, where we discussed what would make or break the Thunder’s season. Brent wanted to see a better three-point percentage, Blayne attributed wins defensive energy, and I pointed out that when Westbrook plays as a point guard, classified by his assist-to-turnover ratio, we win. Conversely, when he acts more as a shooting guard, we lose. I pointed out that assist-to-turnover ratio had the second highest correlation to the Thunder winning games, behind three-point shooting. This demonstrated the importance of having a player who can coordinate an offense and find open looks for his teammates. If Westbrook could act as a leader of the team, make more intelligent decisions with the ball, and take fewer sloppy shots, the Thunder would win far more games.

I worried that Westbrook was not retaining the lessons he was learning from previous games. It seemed that he would focus on being our point guard for the first half of games, but then revert to last season’s habits in the second half. When he would find a shooting groove, he would rush down the court with the ball and immediately attack the basket or take a quick three-point shot, rather than setting up an offense. Even after missing three or four attempts in a row, he would continue to press; either not believing his streak went cold or trying to regain the hot hand.

In the five months since that episode was recorded, I have had a complete turn-around. Russell Westbrook is the reason the Thunder have made it to the playoffs. Westbrook has embraced his role on the team and taken his responsibility as a playmaker seriously.

The primary statistic used to quantify playmaking is assists. Westbrook is an attacker by nature, and it has taken him a season and a half to subdue his instincts and develop into a pass-first leader. One criticism of Westbrook last year was his lazy, lobbing passing, but this season his passes have become sharp and accurate, many of them in tight quarters. The evidence of his improvement? Last season, Westbrook only averaged 5.3 assists per game. This season, he has made 217 more assists, to increase his per game mark to 8.0.

More importantly, the team as a whole has improved their offensive efficiency. We went from being 24th in the league in scoring to 14th. Certainly, Durant’s 30 points per game has an influence on that measure, but the staggering offensive improvement cannot be the work of one man alone. I assert that it is Westbrook’s growth and maturity as a leader that has had most significantly improved our offensive rating.

The second complaint about Westbrook was his shot selection. As I said earlier, Westbrook seemed to press himself into bad shots, including many ill-advised three-pointers. Throughout last season, and through the first two months of this season, he averaged 1.8 three-point attempts per game, making only 27% of them. New Year’s marked a turning point in his philosophy. We will never know if coach forbad him to jack threes or if he came to this understanding himself, but since New Year’s, he’s averaging only a half a three-pointer per game. He’s learned that three-point shooting is not the best way from him to contribute to the team.

Further defeating the poor shooting complaint is his development of the beautiful drive, stop, elevate, and shoot from the elbow. Mixed with his innate attacking ability and his new-found passing skills, this shot makes Westbrook a tough defensive assignment. Most point guards cannot leap as high as Westbrook, so developing a mid-range jumper was a key to his evolution.

Game Score is my favorite statistic in basketball. It is an aggregate measure of all box-score statistics into one number that is in the same scale as points. For example, a player may only score 10 points in a game, but rebounds, assists, and avoiding missed shots could make his performance equivalent to 20 points. Conversely, a player could score 30 points, but his turnovers and too many missed free throws could evaluate to the equivalent of 20 points. Game Score is a good measure of the overall contribution a player makes on the court and is further evidence of Westbrook’s development. He has improved his game score from 11.0 last season to 13.2 this season, meaning he is contributing the equivalent of an extra two points per game.

With all his improvements, there is still room for Westbrook to grow. An important measure of a point guard is his ability to maintain possession and protect the basketball. By turning the ball over, you are giving your opponent an easy stop and a chance to score. Furthermore, many turnovers result in fast-breaks, which have an above-average rate of scoring. Last season, Westbrook had more turnovers than anyone in the league. 274 times he gave the opponent an easy, extra possession. That’s 3.3 turnovers per game. I’ve heard many Westbrook supporters say that he has cut down on his turnovers this year, but that is just wrong. His turnovers per game this season? 3.3, exactly the same as his rookie campaign.

Westbrook has won the hearts of all Thunder fans, including me. His exciting and dynamic play not only shows up in box scores, but also in the hoarse voices of fans streaming from the Ford Center. During game four of the 2010 NBA Playoffs, the ESPN announcer quipped, these guys are going to be pretty good when they grow up. We should count ourselves lucky to be witnessing the evolution of what could one day be not just an elite point guard in the league, but perhaps the elite point guard.

I want to close by apologizing to Westbrook, Coach Brooks, and Sam Presti for all the negative things I have said in previous podcasts. Clearly, Presti and Brooks know a lot more about developing players than I do. Westbrook has earned my admiration as man who is willing to take on new challenges and fight through difficult times. George Patton once said, “Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.” Westbrook has accepted the gauntlet, and he has provided us all with the exhilaration of victory.

Until next time, fans. Enjoy our playoff run, BEAT LA, and let the Thunder roll!

In this podcast, we discuss and debate how to balance each player’s needs with what’s best for the team in the immediate and long term.

In this episode, the Thunder Troika discuss the situation, explain what really happened during the last lockout in 1995, and pose a couple of questions regarding the lockout’s impact on the Thunder.

Here is Julie Davis’s letter to the NBRA that Brent mentions in the show. It is a worthwhile read for all fans of the game.

PS – This is who fans of Rubio thought they were chanting for.

Photo courtesy of hearly on photobucket.

Dear Diary –

What a crazy dream last night! I just had to write it down before I forgot it. There I was having a normal, quiet evening home doing some laundry and working on my collection of homemade Thunder bobble heads. It’s amazing what you can accomplish with parts from an old walkman, some old GI Joes, and a little creativity. The Thunder probably don’t appreciate how much time every personnel move they make costs me. But hey, it’s a business, and if it means spending a few extra nights repainting jerseys, tensioning springs, and performing head transplants, then I do it to make the team better.

Anyway, I was just putting the finishing touches on Ron Adams’ glasses when I realized that the game was about to start. So I got my trusty foam finger, hastily brewed hot chamomile chai tea, and plopped down in my favorite bean bag chair to watch the Nuggets take on the Thunder in OKC for the last time this season.

Well I guess that chai must have calmed me down a little too much because I think I fell asleep somewhere in the third quarter. I began to have the strangest dream. I was in the Ford Center on January 2nd , the first time the Nuggets came to OKC, and my brain was reliving the entire game play by play. I said to my brain, “Stop it! You already know how this is going to turn out! Why can’t you ever dream about normal things like screwing in light bulbs or crossword puzzles?” But my brain just kept on dreaming, like the knob on my mental TV was broken or something.

So there was the game coming down to the wire. KD made a great shot to give the Thunder a lead late in the 4th! I whooped and hollered my raucous applause, jumping and gyrating wildly. Then an unbelievable heart-breaking shot from Carmello Anthony to give the Nuggets the lead brought all that crushing down to earth. I railed at the sky. I cursed the fates. I swore I would never eat another Caramello! (I considered swearing off nuggets in general but felt this would be too sweeping.) I seriously don’t know why my brain got so into this dream since it already knew the ending. I guess it’s like watching ESPN classic or “The Never Ending Story” again (btw – that movie totally ends. Big disappointment.)

For all I knew, I could have been reliving the first game but for one small difference: In this dream, Anthony’s shot wasn’t the last one, we had one more. So my hopes revived, and I thought maybe this dream didn’t have to be just like the memory. The crowd and I rose as one. The ball moved swiftly from player to player. Suddenly, Durant was streaking off a screen. The ball is in his hands, he’s gliding gracefully away from the basket as he releases a high, arcing rainbow of a 3-point shot. The shot that will win the game. The shot that will swish through the net and send us out on the streets celebrating an amazing Thunder victory! And as the ball reached the basket… I woke up.

It was already morning. I guess I had been right there in my beanbag all night, foam finger and everything. I’m pretty sure that was the first time I’ve slept with it on. So I got up and made a bowl of honey buzzers (yum!) and started to write in you, my Dear Diary. Ha! I just realized that I still haven’t taken off my foam finger! Let me tell you it does not do any favors for your penmanship. It sort of feels like an extension of my body. But seeing it again reminds me that I should get online and see how the Thunder game finished last night…

Michael predicted that the Thunder would score 400 points this week. So far he’s on pace for clairvoyance as the Thunder have so far scored 208 points (helped by an extra 5 minutes of play last night). The Thunder still have to go on the road against Utah, so we’ll see where they stand after the last game of January on Friday night. Brent and Blayne both disagreed with this prediction.

Blayne predicted a 3-1 record this week, and is also looking pretty smart right now. The Thunder are 2-0 so far (welcome back win streak!) and the most likely outcome of any two games is to split them. Playing a very tough Utah team on the road and a very weak Sacramento team makes this outcome seem even more likely. Michael and I both disagreed with this prediction (for the record, I think they’re going 4-0!)

For me, I predicted that the Thunder would not finish the week with the worst record in the NBA, and that’s looking pretty solid as well, as Washington is stuck at 9 wins while Sacramento and the Clippers have 10. They will all have to do well and the Thunder will have to under-perform to derail the prediction at this point. Blayne is on board with this one; Michael conservatively disagreed.

You can hear our predictions every week at the end of the show. We always have a good time inventing games and making competitions out of just about anything. Be on the lookout for some new games we are currently cooking up not just for us but also for you to play. We will try them on the air, then post the official rules here on our site so you can play them at home.

Do you have a prediction of your own you’d like to make? Just click the “Leave a Comment” link below! Happy prognostication!

No, “Nenad” is not the name for the ambivalent gesture where you simultaneously shake and nod your head. Nenad Krstic (pronounced, we believe, Nay-Nod Cur-Stitch) is a 7-foot 260-lb Center from Serbia who has played 6 professional years of basketball in the NBA and European leagues. He was the 24th overall draft pick in 2002 by the New Jersey Nets but didn’t play for them until the 2004-2005 season. He started to pay immediate dividends for the Nets and was named All-Rookie second team. He also averaged 18.3 points and 7.5 rebounds a game in New Jersey’s first round playoff match-up with Miami.

Krstic continued his torrid pace of improvement until the fateful day of December 22, 2006 when he tore his ACL. The remainder of the season was spent in rehab, and Nenad even kept a blog going during his rehab. When he returned for the 07-08 season, however, he just didn’t show the same prowess or athleticism he had before the injury. When his playing time with the Nets was all-but eliminated, he signed a contract before this season with a Russian team. In the NBA, he was still a restricted free agent with the Nets, and that’s why they had the right to match the contract.

So that’s Krstic’s career in a nutshell, but what does that mean for the Thunder? Due to his absence from the league, the largest questions loom around his physical and mental conditioning. He came into the league as a rookie brimming with confidence and ability and continued to move up. But his injury dealt a blow to his psyche. We believe he has the ability, but the larger question is does he believe it? We should also consider the process of not only relocation, but immigration. He will be making many adjustments off the court, not the least of which is a new country.

We agree with Thunder GM Sam Presti here that the Thunder are getting too little nor expecting too much. Presti spoke at the signing press conference about Krstic’s need to get back into basketball shape. The fact that we signed him after only seven games, and he’s apparently not fully in shape, tells me that the Thunder aren’t expecting miracles. Look for him to come into some games off the bench for a few minutes at a time.

So now we have two big men whose careers have been radically shaped by injury, Krstic and Robert Swift. When they are both healthy, Brooks will have another weapon in his arsenal. It doesn’t mean we’re going to start constantly pounding the ball inside, but it’s useful to keep teams honest. The greatest benefit may yet be the freeing up of Collison, Wilcox, and Joe Smith to play in the forward positions where they feel most comfortable and can help on defense rather than be the last line of defense. But mark our words, there will likely be vast stretches of time where only Krstic or Swift is available to play. When this is the case, we’ll be much the same team we are now: scrappy but sub-par.

The most positive byline here is that the Thunder ownership sees room for improvement and wants to improve where it can without sacrificing future position. We can agree we look great in 2 years, but that doesn’t mean this year has to be a race to the bottom. Also on the upside, Krstic is young (25) and has a lot to prove. He may yet turn out to be part of the Thunder’s long-term strategy, but he’s certainly no hindrance in the short term. We credit the Presti and the front office for the “heads up play” of nabbing Krstic off the below-the-radar market for a low-risk, high-return deal.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nenad_Krsti%C4%87

• We will develop a mascot with a creative name and theme.

With this season firmly in the rebuilding category, the total game experience represents much of the attraction for fans, especially for those with kids. A mascot will provide a lasting, consistent point of connection between the Thunder and fans of all generations.

• We will stick with a plan.

The players should resolve to stick with a game plan, and strive to return to it when off track. No more games where we find a successful strategy in the first quarter, but then spend a fourth quarter trying to use something else to succeed.

• We will not implore the fans to chant “DEFENSE” every time the opposition has possession.

Let’s just chant defense at the pivotal times, when the players really need us. Chanting defense is fun and engaging, but when overused becomes tedious.

• We will limit our turnovers to 17 per night.

We understand that turnovers happen–you didn’t see that defender lurking or your man spins when you thought he would cut. No big deal. Just focus on limiting them to this threshold, and when the last 5 minutes roll around, we have a much better chance of being in the game.

• We will keep our hearts in the game.

The team should work hard to avoid accusations of playing without heart and hustle.

• We will pass the ball at least once before taking a shot.

A player dribbling the ball will occasionally be faster than an unencumbered defender, but a thrown ball should always be faster. We’ll get more opportunities if we work as a team.

• We will work fundamentals.

The Thunder will benefit from keeping a mental thread on the basics: free-throw shooting, ball handling, passing, and rebounding.

• We will score an average of five more points in the first 6:00 of the 3rd quarter.

This segment of the game really plagued us in the early going of the season, and it will rear its ugly head from time to time with today’s team. Making this resolution means putting our foot down on this achilles heel.

• We will succeed at the easy stuff.

When we have a fast-break with a two-on-one or three-on-two advantage, it can never result in a turnover again. We must score more layups than we bounce too hard off the glass. We must knock down open jump shots. We must take steals to our end of the floor, not lose them right away at half-court. Much of this game is incredibly difficult. But when it comes to the comparatively easy stuff, we should resolve to succeed more often than not.

• We will not high-five our teammates when we miss the first of two free-throws.

How about after you make that free throw?

• We will start over.

Don’t focus on either the losses or wins from the past. Just think about the next game, and give maximum effort for that 48 minutes.

• We will keep inviting the fans

Keep working to mature the game environment and presentation. Keep coming up with promotions and rewards for one of the best fan bases in the league.

So there are our thoughts. What about you? If you have resolutions you would like to see added to the list, send us an email. Auld lang syne, everyone.

In case you missed it, I can only say that the team we’ve been watching play tough games on the road finally came home on Friday, getting a big advantage in the 1st quarter and maintaining it until the 4th. They let a 9-point lead slip away in the final quarter, but through aggressive and persistent defense, the Thunder kept the ballgame tied until Durant untied it with a picturesque 3-pointer. He hopped back down the court pounding his chest as though his were not the only heart inside. And from there our play makers sealed the deal. Hit-the-deck hustle from Collison. Fatal free throws from Westbrook. And an electrifying Jeff Green dunk that immediately sent the crowd into a raucous frenzy.

Yes, the game was incredible, and we all hope for many more home wins like that one. But even more encouraging was the great rebounding and defense the Thunder played throughout the night. Not falling to their traditional weakness to a scoring big man, the Thunder kept Chris Bosh in check and managed to out-rebound the Raptors late in the game to end with a 6-board advantage. We saw more blocked shots, double-teams, and guys coming over to help on defense. It just seemed like there was a fire in the team’s belly to not let the opposition score. Even the crazy-haired, off the bench three-point shooting guy (every other team has one, right?) couldn’t stop us this time!

If we continue to play defense like we did that night, then we won’t be the kind of team to challenge the 76er’s dubious record. We are going to start winning a lot more ball games. We won’t need the amazing 4th quarter comeback that falls short. Instead those late points become untying points and nails in the coffin.

So not only is this a feeling to savor at this moment, we can also be encouraged by the other signs of life the Thunder showed on Friday. That level of play would at least allow us to be competitive against the Cavaliers on Sunday, even if another Christmas miracle may be too much to ask. Naw, I’ll still ask. Go Thunder!

Brent, Blayne, and Michael discuss the continuing struggles of the Thunder and reveal the three ways to lose a basketball game.

Notes:  Michael, Blayne, and Brent review their observations of the Thunder from the games in Charlotte, Orlando, and Miami.  We discuss how the Thunder’s style differs from teams with a superstar and clear up the confusion at center.  We also introduce a new predictions segment in which the Thunder Troika pit their clairvoyance one against the other.

Notes: The Thunder Troika review this week’s amazing games, which included a valiant effort, a heart-breaker, and the Thunder’s second win.

Losing is always tough, but losing at the buzzer seems to be even tougher.  I asked Michael if he thought it was better to lose by 2 or 20.  His response:  winning by 2.  And he’s right. It’s difficult to watch losing at all much less at this 5-win pace. It takes on a strange feeling of permanence.

However, we have to realize that losing by 2 is progress over losing by 20. Our point differentials in the last 4 games under coach Brooks have shown vast improvement. Yeah, it’s more painful to watch, but think about why that is. The answer is hope. It’s what we’ve lacked for this first month, and I certainly feel a little more alive every time that fleeting feeling appears.

We Thunder fans have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season, including the fact that this isn’t permanent. Every day is a new day in the NBA and there’s a lot of season left to play. November’s almost over and we still have the opportunity to end on a high note tonight in Memphis.

Consider the old investment adage:  buy low and sell high. If you’re like me, you’ve bought into this team on the high of the excitement generated by the team’s relocation and rebranding. But you’ve since watched the market value of this investment plummet to near junk status. This can happen, and many of you have seen it happen with more than just emotional invesments. But the sage investment advice applies here as well. Be patient, don’t pull out now.  It’s the short-sighted investor who sells out of fear or shame.  We may think this is a testing time for the team, but it’s also for the fans. You don’t have to skip around whistling and smillng giddily. But you were there for our first last-second loss. Stick around and be there for our first buzzer-beating win.

Notes: The Thunder Threesome discusses the Hornets’ return to OKC, as well as the departure of PJ Carlisemo, the promotion of Scott Brooks, and more fan expectations.

Notes:  Brent and Blayne riff on the players’ new sound effects, and some of the positive contributions we’ve received coming of the bench, and look ahead to the Thunder’s home-and-away with the Hornets.