The AP reports: Rookie Bobby Brown scored 22 points and the Sacramento Kings beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 94-85 in a preseason game Friday night… Spencer Hawes had 21 points and seven rebounds for the Kings (1-1), while John Salmons had 16 points and Kevin Martin and Francisco Garcia both had eight. Shelden Williams added seven points and 11 rebounds. Jeff Green led Oklahoma City, formerly the Seattle SuperSonics, with 19 points, including eight in the fourth quarter when the Thunder pulled within one point. Damien Wilkins had 14 points, Desmond Mason scored 10 and Johan Petro added eight points and 10 rebounds.
Category: OKC Thunder Blog
OKC Thunder blog – Oklahoma City Thunder basketball blog
Oct 8: Wolves 88, Thunder 82
The AP reports: Rashad McCants scored 13 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter and Rodney Carney and Ryan Gomes hit consecutive 3s to help Minnesota spoil the Oklahoma City Thunder’s preseason debut with an 88-82 victory Wednesday night… Al Jefferson added 13 points and nine rebounds for the Wolves (2-0) and Corey Brewer finished with 11 points. Kevin Love and Carney each finished with 10. Damien Wilkins led the Thunder with 19 points, including a layup to tie the score at 78 with 3:04 to play. McCants fouled out on the play, but Wilkins missed the free throw. Wilcox added 17 points for the Thunder, Russell Westbrook had 13 and Kevin Durant finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.
Desmond Mason now jersey no.34
The Oklahoman (Darnell Mayberry) reports: Desmond Mason has a new number. No. 34. He’s worn 24 throughout his career. He could have had it with the Thunder with no current players wearing 24. So why the change? No. 34 was his college number, which he said he wanted when Seattle originally drafted him but was taken by Jelani McCoy.
Thunder sign regional TV deal
The Oklahoma City Thunder and Fox Sports Networks today announced that they have reached a multi-year agreement providing Fox with the regional television rights to Thunder Basketball. The announcement was made by Thunder Senior Vice President and Executive Producer Ken Adelson and Fox Sports Southwest Senior Vice President/General Manager Jon Heidtke.
In addition, Fox announced that its regional sports network currently serving the Oklahoma market (FSN Southwest, COX Ch 37 on basic cable in OKC) will be re-launched as “Fox Sports Oklahoma” in October to coincide with the start of the Thunder’s first season in Oklahoma City. The new network is an effort by Fox to more closely reflect the interests of the Oklahoma market and to strengthen its connection with local sports fans. Also, to emphasize the new TV partnership with Fox Sports, game broadcasts will be branded “FS Thunder” in its on-screen graphics.
During the 2008-09 season Fox Sports Oklahoma will carry 65 Thunder games. The rest of the Thunder schedule will be broadcast on a still-to-be named local partner. “Our fans will be able to watch every Thunder Basketball game on television, home and away,” Adelson said. The full season television schedule will be released in coming days.
This new partnership between Fox and the Thunder was forged to ensure that Thunder games would be widely available to fans throughout Oklahoma. Fox Sports Oklahoma will reach more than one million cable and satellite television homes throughout every TV market in Oklahoma.
“Fox Sports is the leader in regional sports television and we are proud and excited to partner with them,” Adelson said. “They are innovative, creative and offer state of the art production techniques. We have attained our goal of offering our fans a high quality, exciting, easily accessible TV broadcast.”
More than half of the Thunder games on Fox Sports Oklahoma will be in HD (high-definition) during the 2008-09 season, with additional HD broadcasts scheduled for the following season. For the Thunder broadcasts, Brian Davis is the play-by-play announcer and 14-year NBA veteran player Grant Long serves as Thunder analyst.
“This is an exciting time for Oklahoma sports fans and we’re thrilled to be on the ground floor as the Thunder’s new television partner,” Heidtke said. “We look forward to showcasing their games and helping to grow the team’s fan base throughout the state. We’re committed to building Fox Sports Oklahoma into the premier destination for local sports programming.”
Fox Sports Oklahoma will also offer additional Thunder programming such as THUNDER LIVE pre- and post-game shows and a weekly magazine show. In addition to Thunder telecasts, Fox Sports Oklahoma will offer a strong lineup of local sports programming, including select University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State football, basketball, and Olympic sports events, local coaches shows, and high school events beginning this year from the Oklahoma Secondary School Athletics Association. Fox Sports Oklahoma will also feature original programming and specials, such as In My Own Words, Under the Lights, and Spotlight, highlighting local athletes, coaches, and teams. Fox Sports Oklahoma will become the 17th regional sports network in the Fox Sports Networks family.
13 training camp signings reported here
Brad Ames of Priority Sports informs InsideHoops.com editor Jeff Lenchiner that the following players will be in the following training camps:
Eddie Gill: New Jersey
Trey Johnson: Phoenix
Ronald Dupree: Cleveland
Frank Robinson: Atlanta
Linton Johnson: Washington
Antywane Robinson: Philadelphia
Jared Reiner: Philadelphia.
Britton Johnsen: Utah
Matt Freije: Milwaukee
Luke Jackson: Portland
Rob Kurz: Golden State
Chris Alexander: Oklahoma City
Darryl Watkins: San Antonio
Thunder name TV broadcasters
Veteran sports play-by-play announcer Brian Davis and former NBA player Grant Long have been named the Oklahoma City Thunder’s television broadcast team, it was announced today by Thunder Senior Vice President and Executive Producer Ken Adelson.
“We’re excited to welcome Brian and Grant to the Thunder family,” Adelson said. “Both Brian and Grant will be important representatives for the Thunder in the Oklahoma City community and we look forward to our fans building a relationship with them. Brian brings a wealth of sports broadcasting experience and he has an excellent working knowledge of our team, and we feel very fortunate to have him. Grant has experience in the NBA both as a player and as a broadcaster. Thunder fans will enjoy his insight into the game. ”
Davis has called games at the professional level in four major league sports – football, as radio voice of the Seattle Seahawks (2000-2003); basketball and hockey with the Seattle SuperSonics and NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks; and as the television voice of Major League Soccer’s Chicago Fire. Davis comes to Oklahoma City from Seattle where last he worked for FSN Northwest and served as host to the Sonics’ pre-game, halftime and post-game shows. Several times over the last few seasons in Seattle, Davis was the main television play-by-play announcer for the Sonics. He also served as the play-by-play announcer for the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals preseason games from 2005-2007. In addition to his role on the Sonics telecasts, Davis was also the lead play-by-play announcer for FSN’s local and national Pac-10 football and basketball games and was the host of the weekly magazine programs Huskies All Access and Sonics All Access. In all, Davis participated in well over 100 events last year for FSN Northwest.
Long was the color analyst with the Atlanta Hawks broadcast team for two years and served as an analyst with Turner Broadcasting & FOX Network. The Eastern Michigan alum spent 14 seasons as a player in the NBA after being drafted 33rd overall in the 1988 NBA Draft by the Miami Heat. He also played for Atlanta, Detroit, Vancouver/Memphis and Boston. Long has spent the last two basketball seasons at his alma mater, working in the Player Development Department with the University.
The Thunder is currently in discussions with several potential TV partners.
Oklahoma City Thunder dance team
The Oklahoma City Thunder hosted final auditions for its 2008-09 dance team, Thursday night at Toby Keith’s “I Love This Bar and Grill” in Bricktown. With a process that started with over 180 women last Sunday, 41 competed for a place on the team, and judges narrowed the selection down to 20 talented dancers.
Dance team hopefuls performed in pairs on Thursday night in front of over 500 Thunder fans. Of the 41 dancers to make the squad, six come from Oklahoma City, three from Texas, and one from as far away as Springdale, AR.
Auditions were open to females over the age of 18, who were energetic, had dance experience and were interested in performing at Thunder home games.
Below is the 2008-09 Thunder dance team roster:
1. Katie, hometown Oklahoma City, OK
2. Jada, hometown Oklahoma City, OK
3. Shereka, hometown Muskogee, OK
4. Erica, hometown Midwest City, OK
5. Crystal, hometown Dallas, TX
6. Sheri, hometown Dallas, TX
7. Kimberly, hometown Norman, OK
8. Ashley, hometown Shawnee, OK
9. Hayley, hometown Springdale, AR
10. Riane, hometown Oklahoma City, OK
11. Lauren, hometown Oklahoma City, OK
12. Christhian, hometown Oklahoma City, OK
13. Lindsay, hometown Edmond, OK
14. Nicole, hometown Mustang, OK
15. Brittany, hometown Oklahoma City, OK
16. Amy, hometown Long View, TX
17. Brittany, hometown Edmond, OK
18. LaTeshia, hometown Moore, OK
19. Natalie, hometown Altus, OK
20. Megan, hometown McCloud, OK
Thunder re-sign Robert Swift
The Oklahoma City Thunder re-signed restricted free agent center Robert Swift it was announced today by the team’s General Manager Sam Presti. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“We are pleased to have Robert back with our organization,” Presti said. “We look forward to his contributions this season.”
Swift, the 12th overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft, has career averages of 1.8 points and 2.3 rebounds in 71 games with the club.
The 7-1, 270 lbs center averaged 18.8 points, 15.9 rebounds and 6.2 blocks per game as a senior at Bakersfield High School on his way to being named a McDonald’s All-American.
Thunder sell over 10,000 season tickets in 3 days
In three days of sales, the Oklahoma City Thunder has sold more than 10,000 season tickets for its first year in the Ford Center. The team says the lower level of the arena is now sold out. The only remaining season tickets are in the upper and club levels The available club level seats are good for one year since they will be removed during the Ford Center renovation.
The team encourages fans with Thursday appointments to come to the Ford Center at their scheduled times to see what is available among the approximately 3000 remaining seats.
InsideHoops.com editor says: That’s obviously really good. Though, I’d like to know how much cheaper the ticket plans are for OKC compared to those of other NBA cities. I’ll keep an eye out for that info and quote it for you. And if you happen to see it, toss me an email.
Thunder have huge first sales day
In its first day of season ticket sales, the Oklahoma City Thunder sold more than 6,300 season tickets. The team’s select-a-seat event hosted fans who were selected in random order based on an initial ticket request list. Monday’s sales also reflect significant support from corporate sponsors.
“The response has been fantastic. We are trying to accommodate as many fans as possible with the seats of their choice but demand is very high,” said team spokesman Dan Mahoney. Mahoney said the select-a-seat process continues Tuesday, starting at 8:00 a.m. for fans with randomly selected appointment times.
Mahoney said the team expects it will hit its limit on season tickets before the weeklong select-a-seat process is complete and will have to put fans on a waiting list. “We have set aside more than 4,000 seats for single game tickets, group sales and eight-game partial season ticket packages,” Mahoney said. “We have taken steps to make Thunder basketball games as accessible as possible for a wide variety of fans”
The team also is limiting fans to six tickets per account. Fans not able to purchase full season tickets will be placed on the list for the partial ticket plans. That will also put them on the waiting list for future full season tickets.
The Thunder opens its 2008-09 regular season on October 29 at home vs. the Milwaukee Bucks. The team’s preseason schedule includes an October 13 game vs. the Houston Rockets in Tulsa and an October 14 game vs. the LA Clippers at the Ford Center.