OKC Thunder Blog – Page 78 – NBA Blog

Opinion: Halfway through season, LeBron playing like MVP

At the start of the season, many in the basketball world figured that with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade playing on the same team, neither one would have a real shot at winning the 2010-11 NBA MVP award because their stats would be lowered. Chris Bosh being on the Heat as well factors into it as well, of course.

Yet now, in early February, LeBron is steadily emerging as the league favorite to capture the award again.

Chris Perkins of Fox Sports Florida reports:

Miami (38-14) is winning. That’s the biggest requirement for the MVP. The Heat is only a half-game behind Boston (38-13), which is almost the unanimous pick to win the Eastern Conference.

And James is producing. He’s averaging 26.4 points per game (second in the NBA), 7.3 rebounds and 7.3 assists. For his career he averages 27.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and 7.0 assists. So there’s been no big statistical sacrifice by joining Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to form Miami’s Big Three.

Plus, James has already won the Eastern Conference Player of the Month Award twice (actually, he shared it with Wade in January), and he has the NBA’s highest-scoring game of the season with his 51-point outburst at Orlando. James has made the Heat better and he’s made his teammates better.

The other MVP candidates? Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant, the league’s leading scorer at 29 ppg, is probably the favorite. Durant also averages 7.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.

If I had to vote today, I’d go with LeBron for sure, especially the way he’s on fire over his last 10 games.

Opinion: I support Kevin Durant participating in 3-point shootout

By Jeff Lenchiner

The participants for the 2011 NBA three-point shootout were announced today, and I was glad to see that Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant was included.

Currently the NBA’s leading scorer with a 29.0 points per game average, Durant is hitting just 34.7 percent of his threes. There are plenty of other players with a better percentage. But the vast majority of them are reserves who simply do not spark interest in the event. And many of them only hit threes at such a good rate because stars like Durant are drawing the defensive attention that clears space for them to get open outside looks.

If I have a choice of seeing Durant or a much lesser player who is in a supporting role on a team with a losing record, then give me Durant. I’m sure most fans around the world tuning in for the big weekend would agree.

Jeff Lenchiner is the editor of InsideHoops.com. Fans are discussing the participants in this forum topic.

Thunder assign Byron Mullens to D-League

Oklahoma City Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced today that the team has assigned center Byron Mullens to the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League.

In his first stint in Tulsa, Mullens appeared in one game, recording 19 points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block in 33 minutes.

This season, the center is averaging 1.3 points, 1.6 rebounds and 4.7 minutes in 12 games for Oklahoma City.

Mullens will be in uniform tomorrow night when the 66ers take on the Utah Flash at the Tulsa Convention Center.

Kevin Durant unleashes 43 points on Hornets

Behind a ridiculous 43 points from Kevin Durant, the Oklahoma City Thunder, playing at home, beat the New Orleans Hornets 104-93.

Durant was sensational. He shot 14-of-19, including 5-of-7 three-pointers, and hit 10-of-11 free throws to get his points. He also had 10 rebounds and five assists.

The AP reports:

The league’s scoring leader hit two free throws, a jumper and a 3-pointer from the right wing, and then a driving foul-line jumper that made it 98-84 with 5:44 to play.

“Durant hit some shots that there’s no defense for,” Hornets coach Monty Williams said. “Some of that stuff is the same thing Chris does, the same thing David does, and you can’t overcome that.

“What I didn’t like was I thought a couple of our guys put their heads down tonight and let that get to them, and I thought some of our bench guys didn’t compete.”

Durant scored 47 points at Minnesota and then 40 against Washington in back-to-back victories last week that both went past regulation, and he shot 14 for 19 from the field in his latest scoring outburst.

“Amazing,” Jeff Green said. “He’s been scoring the ball with ease, getting any kind of shot he wants. He’s been playing well, and hopefully it continues.”

The Thunder and Hornets are both dark horse teams who could pull off an upset or two in the postseason. They’re worth keeping an eye on. Especially OKC, with a guy like Durant on their side.

Thunder recall Cole Aldrich from D-League

Oklahoma City Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced today that the team has recalled center Cole Aldrich from the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League.

During his two assignments this season with the 66ers, Aldrich has appeared in 19 games (19 starts) and averaged 10.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocked shots in 29.2 minutes. Aldrich has recorded three consecutive double-doubles with Tulsa and the 66ers own a 15-4 mark this season with him in the lineup.

Aldrich has joined the Thunder in Oklahoma City for tonight’s 7:00 PM game against the New Orleans Hornets at the Oklahoma City Arena.

Kevin Durant gets mad at Chris Bosh

Sunday afternoon in Oklahoma City, the Thunder hosted the Miami Heat and came away with a 108-103 loss. After the game, Kevin Durant (7-of-20, 33 points, 10 rebounds and four steals) talked about why he got mad at Heat forward Chris Bosh (8-of-13, 20 points, seven rebounds).

The Chicago Tribune wire services report:

Durant says he was upset because Bosh got involved in his conversation with a teammate. Bosh says Durant was telling James Harden that next time, he should dunk on Bosh. Bosh had fouled Harden on the previous play to prevent a fast-break layup.

“I think he was telling Harden to dunk on me, or dunk the next one,” Bosh said before giving a cleaned-up version of the exchange. “I expressed that, ‘No, he’s not going to dunk that.’ And he expressed, ‘Yes, he is.’ It just kind of went back and forth.”

Both Durant and Bosh were called for technical fouls. It was Bosh’s second of the season and the first that will count against Durant, who also had one rescinded earlier this season.

“I’m no punk. I wasn’t even talking to him, first off. He decided to butt in and I’m not going to just let that slide, especially in our house,” Durant said. “Like I said, he’s not one of those guys that I look at and say, ‘Oh, he has a rap for talking back to guys or always getting into it.’

Durant, who while extremely competitive rarely tends to get heated, also said the following about Bosh: “There’s a lot of fake tough guys in this league and he’s one of them.”

Thunder assign Cole Aldrich to D-League

Oklahoma City Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced today that the team has assigned center Cole Aldrich to the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League for the second time this season.

In his first assignment with the 66ers, Aldrich saw action in five games (all starts) averaging 7.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 27.4 minutes per game.

Aldrich has appeared in seven games for Oklahoma City this season averaging 1.0 point and 1.9 rebounds in 7.9 minutes per contest.

He’ll be in uniform tonight when the 66ers take on the Toros at the Cedar Park Center in Austin, Texas.

InsideHoops.com editor says: Cole is tall.

Thunder recall Byron Mullens from D-League

Oklahoma City Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced today that the team has recalled center Byron Mullens from the Tulsa 66ers of the NBA Development League.

Mullens appeared in one game (one start) for the 66ers and recorded 19 points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block in 33 minutes.

Mullens will join the Thunder for tonight’s 6:00 PM game against the Cavaliers at the Oklahoma City Arena.

Thunder assign Byron Mullens to D-League

Oklahoma City center Byron Mullens was assigned to the Tulsa 66ers, the Thunder’s NBA Development League affiliate, it was announced today. The assignment marks the 18th time in the 2010-11 season an NBA player has been assigned to an NBA D-League affiliate, and it is the second assignment for Mullens, a second-year pro out of Ohio State.

Mullens (7-0, 275) has appeared in 18 games for the Thunder in the last two seasons, including five this year. He was first assigned to the 66ers last season, when he averaged 15.1 points and 7.5 rebounds in 27 games, earning All-NBA D-League Honorable Mention honors.

Oklahoma City acquired Mullens in a Draft-night deal with the Dallas Mavericks, who selected the early-entry candidate in the first round (24th overall) of the 2009 NBA Draft. A former McDonald’s All-American, Mullens averaged 8.8 points and 4.7 rebounds in 20.3 minutes in one season at Ohio State, and was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team.

Mullens joins the 66ers for the team’s back-to-back games at Sioux Falls on Friday, Dec. 10, and Saturday, Dec. 11.

NBA hopes to keep Hornets in New Orleans

January 20, 2010: Chris Paul and David West of the New Orleans Hornets in action against the Memphis Grizzlies during an NBA game in the New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, LA. Tyler Kaufman/CSM.

The AP reports:

The man picked by the NBA to oversee the Hornets after the league’s impending takeover of the franchise said Tuesday that his assignment is to make the club more attractive to a buyer who would keep the team in New Orleans.

Jac Sperling traveled to New Orleans to begin his role as the NBA’s administrator for what will be the first team owned by the league after the NBA board of governors’ anticipated approval of the purchase in the coming weeks.

Sperling, a sports attorney who is also vice chairman of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild, was born and raised in New Orleans. He was appointed by NBA Commissioner David Stern.

“I grew up here. [Stern] asked me to help,” Sperling said. “Read into that what you want, but I think the commissioner, he’s been very positive about this city going back to when the team was awarded in 2002, [then moving the team back from Oklahoma City] after Katrina … and also the awarding of the 2008 All-Star game.

“We’re in a difficult spot, yes, but I think his selection of me is a further indication of what is in his mind. He wants to try to make this asset more attractive so perhaps a local buyer will step up.”