The Thunder selected 22-year old forward Craig Brackens out of Iowa State with the 21st overall pick and they picked SG/SF Quincy Pondexter out of Washington with the 26th overall pick. They have shipped them both to the Hornets to complete the trade in which the Thunder acquired Cole Aldrich and Morris Peterson. Brackens played in 96 games (95 starts) in his three years in college and he averaged 16.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.0 blocked shot per game. Pondexter played in 136 games (102 starts) in college and he averaged 13.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. The Thunder gave up a couple of good looking young players for Cole Aldrich who will have some pressure on him to perform right away.

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.