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Oklahoma City sells out NBA season tickets (AP)

Season tickets for Oklahoma City's new NBA franchise have sold out in just five days. Chairman Clay Bennett says the last of approximately 13,000 Thunder season tickets were sold Friday, and the team has put names on a waiting list for games at the Ford Center. About 4,000 seats have been withheld for single-game, group and partial-season ticket sales.

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It's Sunday which means it's time to take a look at what the wonderful world of the NBA taught us this week.

Preseason Predictions

As the season inches closer and closer, all the shifting and maneuvering of the summer begins to become more tangible as pundits from four corners begin making forecasts on the upcoming campaign. For the most part, the well has dried up for most offseason transactions, although a move here or there may still be in works.

Kevin Durant to Play for OKC Thunder Despite Sucky Logo

The team formerly known as the Seattle Supersonics debuted their new team name and logo last night. To no one's surprise, the team name is the Oklahoma City Thunder, but I'm not sure anyone expected the logo to be completely awful.

It looks like they got it for $99 off a TemplateMonster.com. I'd love to support Kevin Durant, but I'm not wearing anything with that on it.

Read more design thoughts on the OKC Thunder logo at BevoSports.com

Oklahoma’s Thunderous New Identity

The worst-kept secret in the history of professional basketball is out the bag. Oklahoma City has been placed under a Thunderstorm Warning until further notice.

 

For you trivia-crazed maniacs, the date was Sept. 3, 2008. It was the day where Oklahoma City’s professional basketball franchise became the Thunder.

 

Oklahoma City’s primary color is sky blue, resembling the state flag. The sunset on its logo is red and orange. As Clay Bennett—the man responsible for gift-wrapping the state of Oklahoma a professional sports identity—said, “Not too red. Not too orange.”

 

His comment caused a small chuckle amongst the audience in downtown Oklahoma City and those watching at home in what was formerly known as the Sooner State. Those outside the Thunder State probably missed the joke entirely.

 

Oklahoma City is more than ready for its moment in the sun as a professional sports town. It has always been amongst the upper-echelon of collegiate sports cities, thanks in part of having two major Division I-A universities within its borders. Its graduation to the professional ranks will be a seamless transition.

 

Oklahoma football will always be king in these parts. Oklahoma State basketball has an elite tradition—one of the better ones in college basketball. Despite its land divided by crimson and orange and its love for amateur athletics, there is room on the plate for one more suitor in Oklahoma—albeit one of the professional variety.

 

The city opened its arms and hearts for the Hornets when they were unfortunately displaced by Hurricane Katrina. In an untimely yet coincidental fashion, as Gustav rumbled through Louisiana, Oklahoma City inherited a team of its own without reaping the benefits of the tragedies elsewhere.

 

You still can’t help but feel for Seattle for losing the SuperSonics. There were no right answers in how the move went down. You can’t blame Bennett for wanting to make money from his investment. On the other hand, you can’t blame Seattle for wanting to hold on to professional basketball. Through all the finger pointing, email accusations, and name calling, Sept. 3 is the where both cities can have closure.

 

Even though Thunder sounds a little strange at the moment, NBA fans will eventually get used to it. The younger NBA fan base knows the franchise in Washington as the Wizards, not the Bullets. If you rewind even further, the most old-school of hoops fans will remember the same franchise Chicago Packers in the early 1960s. The Clippers were originally known as the Braves. The Kings were the Royals. Etc, etc.

 

Seattle deserves to keep its World Championship and its nickname at home for when—not if—another franchise comes to town. Seattle won’t be without a franchise for long. In a dozen or so years, this whole debacle and verbal spat between Oklahoma City and Seattle will be forgotten.

 

For today and for years beyond, Oklahoma City has a new identity. The entire of state Oklahoma wins. For the time being, it will not be about wins and losses on the basketball court for the Thunder. Basketball junkies from Oklahoma could care less about who is on the roster for now.

 

The thirst for winning will come eventually. Right now, wins are not important.

 

It took Oklahoma’s capitol city just 10 months over a century to gets its degree in college sports, moving on to more globally-prominent things. Its 100 years of excellence in college sports and its loyal fan base has prepared Oklahoma well.

 

For Oklahoma, it was well-worth the wait.

Rumors: Ginobili’s Ankle and Future

RUMOR HAS IT…

Thunder Will Create Excitement, But Fans Must Have Patience With Young Team

The Oklahoma City franchise has officially been named the Thunder and finally the three-year quest of the NBA to get a team to Oklahoma is complete.

 

Getting a team in Oklahoma City was the No. 1 priority on Commissioner David Stern’s agenda after the New Orleans Hornets moved there because of Hurricane Katrina.

 

The fans were much more supportive for the Hornets than anyone could have imagined and Stern’s light-bulb started clicking. If the fans can support some NBA team that isn’t even theirs better than the city that it currently belongs to, then Oklahoma City should sell out with its own team.

 

This team should definitely test that theory.

 

Eleven of the team’s 15 players have three years of NBA experience or less. However, this team is stocked for the future with high draft picks.

 

Joe Smith will likely lead the Thunder as their team captain, but the one who is going to lead the team in scoring is second year player Kevin Durant. Needless to say, Oklahoma City should not be expecting a playoff team for a long time, but GM Sam Presti knows what he is doing.

 

Presti is well known for his terrific scouting job—getting some great international players—although this team is not going to be doing as much international stockpiling as the Spurs.

 

Instead, he is going to invest in young talent that should give the Thunder a great team five years down the road.

 

When the former Seattle Sonics traded Ray Allen to the Celtics for Jeff Green, Presti was unofficially beginning the rebuilding project. That’s probably the last thing Oklahoma City fans want to hear, considering how much taxpayer money is going into the team, but when this team becomes more experienced, the Thunder will compete with some of the best teams in the Western Conference.

 

The team has many similarities to the Hornets, who were one of the worst teams in the league until Chris Paul became one of the NBA’s best point guards. There is little doubt that Kevin Durant will also become a superstar and make the players around him better.

 

Many fans will see players like Mouhamed Sene and Johan Petro on the bench and wonder why the Thunder would invest so many draft picks on so many unproven big men. There is a strong possibility that neither pan out, but it’s a risk the Thunder can take as Joe Smith, Jeff Green, and Nick Collison are likely going to get the most playing time of Oklahoma City’s big men.

 

In fact, the Thunder might be one of the tallest teams in the league with six players who are at least 6’10.” While the Thunder stockpiled big men, the guard play looked like it was going nowhere until they drafted Russell Westbrook—the point guard of the future—to pair with Durant to lead the team in scoring.

 

As a Chicago Bulls fan, I sympathize with the Oklahoma City fans because we once went down some painful years on our way to becoming a playoff team, and it looks like we’ll be going down that road again.

 

Yet, as frustrating as it is to watch a young team make mistakes, it’s just as exciting to watch your team battling to make a run down 18 in the fourth quarter, trying to at least make the game close.

 

This has allowed some surprising upsets. For instance, a few years ago, the eighth-seeded Bulls played the No. 1 seed, Miami Heat, who were expected to sweep. The Bulls hung in, taking the series to six games. Miami pulled away, but it at least gave the fans some momentum going into the following season.

 

I’m sure Oklahoma fans can’t wait for this season to start, but they are going to need to have patience with a team this young. It should be a fun team to watch, but they are going to be in the lottery for a long time.

 

This article is also at Hoops 4 Life. You can find it here.

A Terrible Day for Seattle Sports: Sonics Renamed Thunder

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