OKC Thunder Blog – Page 82 – NBA Blog

Hornets will trade Cole Aldrich draft rights, Morris Peterson to Thunder

The New Orleans Hornets selected Cole Aldrich with the 11th pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. The Hornets are in negotiations in trading Aldrich and guard Morris Peterson in exchange for multiple draft picks. We will not be able to complete a trade until after the moratorium period concludes on July 8.

The full trade specifics will be updated at a later time. Multiple media outlets report that the Oklahoma City Thunder are the not-yet-named team New Orleans is trading with.

“The concept that we liked was the idea of being able to add two players,” said General Manager Jeff Bower. “We thought that multiple picks was something that we wanted to pursue, particularly, with the opportunity to add two different types of players. We felt it does present us with those options, should the deal be finalized.”

New Orleans originally selected Kansas’ Aldrich at the 11th slot. An early entry candidate for the 2010 Draft, Aldrich averaged 11.3 points and 9.8 rebounds as a junior, registering 15 double-doubles. He owns the Kansas school record for blocks in a season (125) and second on the career blocked shots list.

Peterson holds career averages of 10.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 27.4 minutes in 707 games (487 starts) with Toronto and New Orleans. Last season he played in 43 games (39 starts) for the Hornets, averaging 7.1 points, 2.7 rebounds and 0.9 points in 21.2 minutes per game.

Thunder, Heat trade Daequan Cook, draft picks

The Oklahoma City Thunder announced today that the team has acquired the 18th overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft and guard Daequan Cook from the Miami Heat in exchange for the 32nd pick in the 2010 NBA Draft.

According to the Associated Press, “the deal announced by the Heat on Wednesday clears about $3.4 million in salary cap space as Miami gets ready for next week’s start of free agency.”

“We are pleased to add Daequan Cook to the Thunder roster,” said Sam Presti, Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager. “He will add depth and shooting to our backcourt.”

The Thunder now holds the 18th, 21st, 26th and 51st picks in tomorrow’s NBA Draft.

The 23-year old Cook is a three-year NBA veteran and holds career averages of 8.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. He has appeared in 179 NBA games (26 starts) all with the Heat. Cook won the 2009 Foot Locker Three-Point shootout during the NBA All-Star weekend in Phoenix. The 6-5 guard has shot 35.8% from behind the arc for his career.

The Ohio State product was originally drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 21st overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft and was traded to Miami along with a second round pick and cash considerations.

Kevin Durant named cover athlete for NBA ELITE 11

Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman reports:

Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant will grace the cover of NBA ELITE 11, the EA SPORTS videogame formerly known as NBA LIVE.

An action shot of Durant dribbling while donning a white Thunder jersey appears on the cover of the game. It is the second time in Durant’s career that he’s been featured as a cover athlete for a mainstream videogame. He appeared on the cover of NCAA March Madness 08 as well, sporting his Texas Longhorns’ No. 35 jersey. Durant becomes only the third player in EA SPORTS history to be featured on an NCAA and an NBA licensed product.

“I’ve always been a fan of EA Sports,” Durant said in a release. “This has been an exciting year for me and the team, and capping it off with being on the cover of NBA ELITE 11 is cool.”

Cavs-Celtics Game 6 had huge TV rating

The AP reports:

The Boston Celtics’ series-clinching victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals is the second-most watched basketball game ever aired on ESPN.

The broadcast Thursday night drew a 6.6 rating on the cable network and averaged 6,552,000 households and 8,983,000 viewers. Only Game 4 of last year’s Western Conference finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets did better on ESPN, earning a 6.9 rating.

InsideHoops.com Says: It was the biggest game of the entire year, in both the regular season and playoffs.

Nick Collison has right knee surgery

Oklahoma City Thunder forward/center Nick Collison underwent successful arthroscopic surgery yesterday on his right knee.

The seven-year veteran averaged 5.9 points and 5.1 rebounds in 75 games this season for the Thunder.

Collison will begin rehabilitation immediately and is expected to resume his off-season training later this summer.

Ryan Bowen joins U of Iowa basketball staff

KCRG.com reports:

University of Iowa Head Basketball Coach Fran McCaffery announced Wednesday that he has added former Hawkeye and NBA player Ryan Bowen to his basketball staff. Bowen will serve as the team’s video coordinator and administrative assistant.

“I couldn’t be more excited to be joining the Iowa basketball staff,” said Bowen. “I’m extremely thankful to Coach McCaffery for giving me this opportunity and I’m eager to get started. I had a great time as a student-athlete at Iowa, and look forward to once again being a part of the Hawkeye family.”

“I’m very excited to have Ryan Bowen be part of our staff,” McCaffery said. “I remember watching Ryan play in high school, and followed his career at Iowa and the NBA. There isn’t a harder working basketball player that understands the game than Ryan Bowen. I talked to Jeff Van Gundy, Jeff Bower and John MacLeod and each one raved about his character, work ethic and knowledge of the game. He’s going to make a great impact here at Iowa, just like he did when he was a player.”

Thunder exercise third year option on coach Scott Brooks

Oklahoma City Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti announced today that the team has exercised its third-year option for the 2011-12 season on Head Coach Scott Brooks.

”We look forward to our players continuing to benefit from Scott’s consistent focus on their development, selfless approach to his work, and commitment to our organizational vision,” said Presti.

Brooks was named Thunder head coach on April 14, 2009, becoming the 16th head coach in franchise history, after serving as interim head coach for the last 69 games of the 2008-09 regular season.

Brooks was awarded the Red Auerbach Trophy as the 2009-10 NBA Coach of the Year after leading the Thunder to a 50-32 record in his first full season as head coach. The Thunder posted a 23-18 road record (tied for 6th best in the NBA this season) and finished as the eighth seed in the Western Conference. Under Brooks direction the Thunder led the NBA in blocked shots (5.9 blocks per game) and ranked 7th in defensive field goal percentage (44.8%).

“I am very excited to have the opportunity to continue to work with the Thunder organization and this great group of players,” said Brooks. “The support that my family and I have been given by this community has been overwhelming and we are thrilled to be a part of it.”

LeBron James wins second straight MVP award

LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers is the winner of the Maurice Podoloff Trophy as the 2009-10 NBA Most Valuable Player, the NBA announced today.

James, who also earned the honor last season, totaled 1,205 points including 116 first place votes, from a panel of 122 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada and the first ever NBA MVP fan vote. Players were awarded 10 points for each first-place vote, seven points for each second-place vote, five for third, three for fourth and one for each fifth-place vote received.

Rounding out the top five in voting for this season’s award are Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant (609 points), the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant (599 points), Orlando’s Dwight Howard (478) and Miami’s Dwyane Wade (119).

More info and full voting results here.

Ron Artest defended Kevin Durant nicely

Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register reports:

Ron Artest just played his Western Conference championship series and won it. He won’t have to work this hard to earn his keep again until the Lakers face the other elite scorer in the league: Cleveland’s LeBron James.

The Lakers might not play any team that tough the rest of the way through the West, either. With that in mind, what Artest just did for them is even more meaningful.

To understand just how great a series Artest had on defense, look at Kevin Durant’s stats: 35 percent field-goal shooting after 47.6 percent in the regular season. Durant’s assist-to-turnover ratio was 14-to-22.

This is a guy who went more than two months of the regular season (29 consecutive games) never scoring fewer than 25 points, something no one has done since Michael Jordan in 1986-87. It’s no coincidence that in the two games in this series the Lakers won comfortably, Durant couldn’t reach 25.

Game 6: Gasol tip-in helps Lakers eliminate Thunder

The AP reports:

Pau Gasol tipped in a missed jumper by Kobe Bryant with a half-second left and the Los Angeles Lakers survived a late comeback effort by Oklahoma City and eliminated the Thunder 95-94 in Game 6 of the first-round playoff series on Friday night…

Gasol pumped both fists after the basket, and the Lakers moved on when Russell Westbrook missed a desperation 3-pointer at the final buzzer.

Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 26 points on a dreadful 5-for-23 shooting night. Westbrook had 21 points and nine assists.

Bryant scored 32 points and Gasol had nine points and 18 rebounds, scoring his only basket of the second half at the end…

Bryant almost single-handedly kept Los Angeles out front with 16 points in a dazzling third quarter—until it came to an early end for him when he picked up his fourth foul while guarding Westbrook.