Today's Poll - "Thunder"

He’s skunky, he has the OKC funk on him that will never wash off. Besides, you don’t date your friend’s ex.

Especially if they can contend in the next few years, and they have a few nice pieces in place already. But even if they don’t contend in the next few years, they will be fine because those rich guys can wait 10 years for a contender, no problem. – Elgin

Their market is to small, at least in Seattle they had a loyal fan base to count on here. With the economy the way it is I dont see them lasting 5 yrs. Maybe the will be a gypsy team traveling the world.

Boone Pickens. nuff said.

They have a great young nucleus in Durant/Green/Westbrook and the fans will come out to see those guys play. If they lose Durant, then they might be in trouble, but I don’t think they will.

This Thunder team will win ~35 games next year and be above .500 the following year. Book it.

There’s no question they’ll be gone. They won’t be able to trade cause no one will want to play for them, they’re broke, their team sucks, their jersey sucks, pack it on back to Seattle

I hope they fold in the next 10 years but fear it’s too bright an attraction to not draw in all of them Okies. They’ll improve, they’re attendance will be stead any they’ll stick around unfortunately.

They could lose all of their young talent and be a lottery team for ten years but I’ll bet they last longer than Memphis and it is the Grizzlies that will be losing their identity when Seattle picks them up in 3-4 years..

       My grandparents were Okies who moved to Portland
in the 20’s. My grandpa was a six shooter carrying, pool
sharking Okie from Miskokie. Upon arriving in Portland
he became a “paper hanger’; old school for interior decorator.
Wow, what a complete 180.
      In any regard, K-Bone may have skillz, but it’s still EARLY !
We’ll see how that 6’9”, 165 lb frame holds up to the years of
tough defenders and banging that’s coming. Will NBA teams
adapt to his gunning when OKC gets better ? Will he involve his
teammates when he’s doubled consistantly ? Is he going to be the
11 rebound a game player he was in college (and some BE’s predicted
would translate to the NBA) ? I loved Westbrook and wanted him in the
draft because of his committment to D and extreme athletic skills. He’s
a good running mate to K-Bone, since he dosen’t need shots, but I
prefer our unselfish TEAM to gunners who crave shot attempts ! We just
need to “Move the ball and move people”, as Snapper always said. It
would also help if we hiked up our collective shorts and played some
DEFENSE !

if they put a good product out. The NBA has a good business model of putting teams in markets without much major league competition from other sports. Portland, obviously, and San Antonio come to mind. Sac too, when they were good.

That said, financially, I still think it was a bonehead move to move the team. Oklahoma will NEVER be Seattle in terms of corporate sponsorship, TV market, mechandise sales, etc…all things that cost up the value of a team.

By the way, both Portland and OKC are “small markets” comparared to NY, LA, and Chicago, but Portland is not comparable to OKC. OKC’s metro area population is 1.2 mil, Portland is 2.2 mil. Plus we picked up a few fans from Seattle. I bet Dallas still pulls some of the market from OKC as well.

McClendon had to sell 94% of his holdings in the company he runs….and is selling off his prized win collection. Yeah….no impact from the recession.

According to the Mortgage bankers assoc., Oklahoma has 2.12% of its homes in foreclosure. That’s about 60% higher than in Oregon and 80% higher than Washington. Sure….no recession problems in OK.

Bennett is as believable about the impact of hte recession on OKC as he is when he says he did everything possible to keep the Sonics in Seattle.

The small market only show in town for the NBA is a working model. Blazers and the Spurs are the prime examples.

You can take one look at that poll and understand that the hatred for a transplanted franchise is still in full effect. It happens anytime a team moves from one city to another. P

Everyone see’s the success this season (Attendance) as a flash in the pants, and that it won’t last. Outside of one game, Thunder fans have packed the house, 18,000+ each night. The only night the Thunder drew a smaller crowd (5000) was because of a horrendous ice storm that made it extremely difficult to drive down the street, let alone across town/state to get to the game.

Anyway, my point is that the fans here are supporting the team, and this isn’t our first go round. We supported a team that wasn’t even ours for two years before this, so really this is the third year of success for fans in the OKC market.

1) The NBA can’t move them that soon to the Seattle fiasco. The NBA needs the Thunder to work in OKC, and so Stern & Co. will keep them there.

2) Small markets work with a single NBA team, we’ve proven it, San Antonio has proven it, Utah has proven it, etc etc. They will continue to be supported by the fans, provided the economy doesn’t die.

3) This team will get better, with or without Durant. He’ll help, but they will still get better. Presti is no slouch, he is a very very good GM.

They’ll be staying. The bigger question is whether or not they will still be part of the “Northwest Division,” or there’s going to be some kind of realignment.