Category: OKC Thunder Blog

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Paul George undergoes knee surgery

OKC Thunder forward Paul George underwent a left knee scope today, the team says.

George will likely be out of action six to eight weeks before returning to normal offseason activities.

In 79 games (all starts) this past NBA season, George had averages of 21.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.04 steals in 36.6 minutes per game. A five-time NBA All-Star, George hit a career-best 244 three-point field goals during the 2017-18 season, and became one of just five players (Larry Bird, Hersey Hawkins, Michael Jordan and Stephen Curry the others) in the past 30 years to average 20+ points on better than 40.0 percent three-point shooting to go along with 2+ steals.

Alex Abrines undergoes surgery

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Alex Abrines has undergone surgery to fix a sports hernia. The procedure was performed by Dr. William Meyers of the Vincera Institute in Philadelphia, Pa.

In the 2017-18 NBA season, Abrines played in 75 games (eight starts) for the Thunder, averaging 4.7 points per outing while shooting .380 percent from three-point range (84-221 3FGs) to go along with 1.5 rebounds in 15.1 minutes.

Abrines will likely miss around six weeks before he returns to regular offseason activities.

Thunder will keep coach Billy Donovan

The Thunder have a huge upcoming summer. Both Paul George and Carmelo Anthony could stay or go. The team also needs to decide what’s best, and who makes a proper fit around Russell Westbrook. One thing they have already decided is, they do have the right coach for the job. Here’s the Oklahoman reporting:

Billy Donovan, who is 150-96 in three seasons as the Thunder’s head coach, will return for a fourth, Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti said Wednesday at his postseason news conference.

Presti’s hope is that Donovan, who’s faced significant roster turnover in his first two offseasons with OKC, will “be able to work with the same core of a team that has a baseline that we’ve established.”

In his hourlong meeting with the media, Presti said the organization is “disappointed” with the 2017-18 season, which ended with loss in six games to the Utah Jazz in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.

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Ricky Rubio brushes off Russell Westbrook comments

Now this is fun. Jazz point guard Ricky Rubio has a monster game Game 3 in his team’s win against the Thunder. Russell Westbrook struggled. And Westbrook was quite vocal that Game 4 will be a totally different story. Here’s the Deseret News with Rubio’s reaction to what Russ said:

So, when Oklahoma City Thunder star Russell Westbrook ended Saturday’s press conference with his ballsy statement, Utah Jazz guard Ricky Rubio was certainly aware of the comments.

“He made some shots,” Westbrook said of Rubio. “Too comfortable, but I’ma shut that (expletive) off next game, though. Guarantee that.”

However, the Spanish floor general is focused on the team for Game 4, not any individual matchups with the reigning MVP. Tonight’s game is set for 8:30 p.m. on TNT.

“He makes a big deal,” Rubio said. “Of course, they lost Game 2 and Game 3, of course they’re going to come ready, not just him, we expect the whole team to come ready back and be physical, and we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing in the last couple games. We made adjustments and go for the game.”

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Russell Westbrook triple-doubles usually mean a Thunder win

Last season, the Thunder was 33-9 when Westbrook posted a triple double and 13-25 when he didn’t. This season, the Thunder is 19-5 when Westbrook posts a triple double and 25-28 when he doesn’t.

So over two seasons, OKC is 52-14 when Westbrook posts a triple double and 38-53 when he doesn’t. Which is absurd, a team depending on a solitary player to produce at that kind of production level to be successful.

And that script certainly played out Tuesday night in Golden State’s 111-107 victory over the Thunder.

Westbrook didn’t have a triple double. Through no fault of his own. Westbrook had 44 points on 15-of-26 shooting, 16 rebounds and six assists.

— The Oklahoman

Pelicans vs Thunder Sunday is hugely important matchup

It doesn’t take a long glance at the standings to know what’s on the line.

No, it’s not quite do-or-die, but it’s awful close.

The New Orleans Pelicans matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder is the most important game of the season to date, and if the past two months of jockeying felt urgent, Game 77 of the season might as well be Game 7 in the playoffs.

At 5 p.m. Sunday in the Smoothie King Center, the stakes are clear.

A win would not only leapfrog the eighth-placed Pelicans ahead of the Thunder in the standings, it would provide the added advantage of jumping a team who it holds a tiebreaker advantage against. Currently, New Orleans owns the tiebreaker against none of its peers in the Western Conference jumble.

— The Advocate

Russell Westbrook having another monster season

Russell Westbrook has some big-name players alongside him in OKC this season, but he’s still been a one-man wrecking crew, and again flirting with a triple-double as a season average, after accomplishing that incredible task last season. For more on his 2017-18 campaign, here’s the Oklahoman reporting:

But even as Oklahoma City seeks to extend its six-game winning streak in Boston on Tuesday after an attention-grabbing triumph at Toronto on Sunday, Westbrook is a forgotten man in the MVP conversation. There’s talk about Anthony Davis and LeBron James and DeMar DeRozan and Kyrie Irving and Damian Lillard belonging on the ballot with Harden. Those guys deserve a spot in the MVP discourse. All of them are having great seasons.

But so is Westbrook.

He could average a triple double again this season.

Yes, the seemingly unattainable height that he scaled last season is reachable once again. Only Oscar Robertson and Westbrook have ever averaged a triple double for a season, and no one has ever done it twice much less in back-to-back seasons.

But with less than a month left in the regular season, the possibility grows by the day.

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Thunder sign Corey Brewer

The OKC Thunder signed free agent guard/forward Corey Brewer today.

According to the Norman Transcript, it is a minimum-salary contract.

Brewer (6-9, 186) has appeared in 765 career games (291 starts) and registered career averages of 8.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.24 steals in 23.2 minutes with Minnesota, Dallas, Denver, Houston and most recently the Los Angeles Lakers. The 11-year NBA veteran holds the sixth-best steal-to-turnover ratio off the bench in NBA history (1.10) and ranks sixth among active players in steal percentage (2.68).

More from the Norman Transcript: “The Thunder have been on the lookout for a wing ever since starting shooting guard Andre Roberson suffered a season-ending knee injury Jan. 27. Brewer struggled to find playing time with the 27-34 Lakers, averaging 3.7 points while shooting 45 percent from the field and 18 percent from 3-point land in 12.9 minutes a game, but he fits the body type and style Oklahoma City values. ”

The 2011 NBA Champion was originally drafted 7th overall by Minnesota in the 2007 NBA Draft and this season has appeared in 54 games (two starts) with the Lakers, averaging 3.7 points and 1.7 rebounds in 12.9 minutes per game.

In three years at the University of Florida, Brewer helped guide the Gators to two National Championships (2006 and 2007), appearing in 108 games (106 starts) and averaging 11.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.63 steals in 27.2 minutes. The Tennessee native was also named NCAA Most Outstanding Player in 2007 and was selected to the NCAA All-Tournament Team in 2006 and 2007.

Paul George says he is happy being with OKC

Is Paul George’s long-term future with OKC? Or elsewhere, like perhaps in Los Angeles? That will remain a lingering question, certainly through the summer. Here’s the Norman Transcript reporting:

Paul George feels “a real brotherhood” with Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony, he told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols in a sit-down interview, which aired Sunday.

Talk of the Los Angeles Lakers has surrounded the five-time All-Star, who will become a free agent at the end of this season. The Lakers are not only George’s hometown team. He also requested to be traded there when he informed the Indiana Pacers he would not be re-signing come 2018 free agency.

George has, however, been complimentary of the Oklahoma City Thunder since the team traded for him over the summer.

“I obviously would’ve loved to go home. That was ideal when it was that time,” George told Nichols. “But now, being here and playing alongside Russ, playing alongside Melo, I feel a real brotherhood with those guys. If we’re here right now, then where can we be next year? Where can we be the year after that?”

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Thunder giving up many 3-points lately

The Thunder defense is clearly not as good with Andre Roberson out. Here’s the Norman Transcript reporting on what’s been going on:

The Thunder have been allowing a bunch of 3-pointers all season, a reaction to personnel changes over the summer and to a 2016-17 defense which gave up a higher percentage of its field-goals allowed at the rim than any other team. The Thunder help more aggressively from the weak side now in an attempt to take away driving lanes. When the strategy isn’t executed well, it’s prone to allowing easier 3s.

The issues have become more exaggerated of late.

“I think it’s just player movement,” Paul George said. “That’s the element of defense that we’re struggling at, understanding guys are moving and causing us to move around.”

The Thunder have allowed 31.5 3-pointers per game over their past eight, up from their seasonal average. Even worse, opponents are making 12.9 of those a game, good for nearly 41 percent. The makes and the percentage are the NBA’s second-worst and fourth-worst figures, respectively, over that time.

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