The Thunder picked 21-year old point guard Eric Bledsoe out of Kentucky. He played in 37 games (35 starts) in his only year with the Wildcats and he averaged 11.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game. The Thunder turned around and traded Bledsoe to the Clippers for a future first round pick. As bad as the Clippers usually are this trade could turn out really well for the Thunder down the road.

The Thunder have acquired 21-year old center Cole Aldrich (who was picked 11th overall) and 32-year old small forward Morris Peterson from the Hornets for the #21 and #26 overall picks in the NBA Draft. Aldrich is a legit center at 6′11″, 245 pounds and he plays a big man’s game. Aldrich played in 36 games (all starts) for Kansas last season and he averaged 11.3 points, 9.8 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 3.5 blocked shots per game. He played in 111 games (71 starts) in his three years with the Jayhawks and he averaged 9.4 points, 7.7 rebounds, 0.6 assists and 2.3 blocked shots per game. It will be interesting to see how much the Thunder use Aldrich as a rookie as they could certainly use his defense and rebounding. Morris Peterson was attached to this deal so the Thunder took him to get Aldrich. Peterson played in 46 games (39 starts) for the Hornets last season and he averaged 21.2 minutes, 7.1 points, 2.7 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. He has now played in 707 games (487 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 27.4 minutes, 10.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. Peterson will come off the bench for the Thunder in 2010-11 providing them with some outside shooting.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have acquired 23-year old shooting guard Daequan Cook and the #18 overall pick from the Heat for the #32 overall pick. Cook played in 45 games (3 starts) for the Heat last season and he averaged 15.4 minutes, 5.0 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game. Cook has now played in 179 games (26 starts) in his three years in the NBA and he is averaging 22.2 minutes, 8.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. He is only a 36.8% shooter from the floor but he is a good three point shooter hitting 35.8%. The Thunder took advantage of the Heat’s need for more salary cap space as the Thunder now has three first round picks tonight.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have the #21, #26, #32 and #51 picks heading into tomorrow night’s NBA Draft and I think they will be thinking big. I would not be surprised one bit if the Thunder used all of the picks on power forwards and centers. Jeff Green and Nick Collison could also be on the trading block tomorrow night which could give the Thunder even more picks. They are getting close to doing some real damage in the NBA Playoffs so look for them to try to muscle up tomorrow night.

21-year old point guard Russell Westbrook stepped up last season and he is without a doubt the second best player on the team behind Kevin Durant. Westbrook played in 82 games (all starts) for the Thunder last season and he averaged 34.3 minutes, 16.1 points, 4.8 rebounds, 8.0 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He has now played in 164 games (146 starts) in his two years for the Thunder and he is averaging 33.4 minutes, 15.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 1.3 steals per game. Westbrook is already one of the better point guards in the league and he’s still only 21 years old which should be scary news for the Western Conference.