Welcome to the Oklahoma City Thunder Blog. This is the best place to come if you want find anything out about the Thunder.
This site will give you up to date information, including stats, scores, injury reports, and much more. If you need some insightful posts on which Thunder players are stepping up, or what they need to do to improve, we can give you that too.
Follow Kevin Durant and the Thunder all season long here at Thunderlocker.com
The Thunder have released veteran power forward Michael Ruffin. Ruffin was too far down on the depth chart for the Thunder to consider keeping him on the roster. It’s a good sign for the Thunder that they won’t be keeping a guy with Ruffin’s credentials on the roster to start the season.
32-year old power forward Mike Ruffin will be in training camp with the Thunder trying to make the roster. Ruffin played in 11 games (0 starts) for the Blazers last season and he averaged 3.2 minutes, 0.5 points and 1.0 rebound per game. He has now played in 414 games (58 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 14.4 minutes, 1.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game. Ruffin will have a good chance to make the roster of the Thunder because of his rebounding and defense.
The Oklahoma City Thunder didn’t make a big splash in free agency as they have only signed veteran point guard Kevin Ollie. They also only made 1 trade adding F/C Etan Thomas from the T-Wolves for Chucky Atkins and Damien Wilkins. The draft is where the Thunder made some headway. They got SG James Harden and C B.J. Mullens in the first round of the NBA Draft and they nabbed SG/SF Robert Vaden in the 2nd round. Harden should step right into the starting lineup beside Russell Westbrook.
OFF-SEASON GRADE FOR THE FRONT OFFICE SO FAR: B
The Thunder have signed 36-year old point guard Kevin Ollie. Ollie played in 50 games (21 starts) for the T-Wolves last season and he averaged 17.0 minutes, 4.0 points, 1.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. He has now played in 637 games (100 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 15.8 minutes, 3.8 points, 1.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. Ollie will be counted on to give Russell Westbrook a break next season and he should do a solid job as long as they don’t extend his minutes.
The Thunder have acquired 31-year old center Etan Thomas and two 2nd round picks in the 2010 NBA Draft for 29-year old SG/SF Damien Wilkins and 34-year old PG Chucky Atkins. Thomas played in 26 games (7 starts) for the Wizards last season and he averaged 11.8 minutes, 3.1 points, 2.5 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game. He has now played in 373 games (73 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 17.9 minutes, 6.0 points, 4.9 rebounds, 0.4 assists and 1.0 blocked shot per game. Damien Wilkins played in 41 games (14 starts) for the Thunder last season and he averaged 15.5 minutes, 5.3 points, 1.7 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. Atkins played in 32 games (0 starts) for the Thunder and Nuggets last season and he averaged 12.9 minutes, 3.1 points, 0.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. The Thunder did o.k. in this trade because they needed help along the frontline and Thomas should be able to give that to them.