Change their name to the Whimper
Posted on Saturday, January 24th, 2009 at 1:14 am by Big Chris
OKC that is. I haven’t watched more than maybe 3 minutes of the Whimper play this year, and all three of those minutes were painful, not just because they stole my team. But I saw tonight on ESPN.com that Kevin Durant went for 46 points (wouldn’t that rile up AK1984!?!) and the Whimper still lost. So sad.
But the funniest thing comes at the bottom of the recap, and I quote:
Reserve G Chucky Atkins, who hasn’t played in eight games since joining the Thunder in a trade from Denver on Jan. 7, ate popcorn out of a large bucket and shared his snack with teammates while the game was in progress. The bucket was hidden by a towel.
You just can’t make that stuff up folks!
January 24th, 2009 at 6:57 am
Who’s at the bottom of this list?
http://www.82games.com/0809/ONSORT6.HTM
Well, I’ll let y’all take it from here.
January 24th, 2009 at 8:31 am
So the “Shared” History is being brought to life with Durant’s free throw record. To hear Haywood, Sikma mentioned in a Thunder article is depressing!!
http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=290123012
January 24th, 2009 at 8:33 am
Good to see the Thunder players are engaged in the game. When they should be supporting and learning from the bench they are focused on grubbing on Popcorn!! Clay should be proud of the squad he has built with the wifey’s money!
January 24th, 2009 at 10:39 am
The Thunder suck now… but …. they actually have the framework for a great opportunity to become a strong team.
1. KD is the truth - on his way to becoming one of the top 10 players in the league - maybe top 5. This is usually a crucial piece to becoming a consistent 50+ win team each year that is competative in the playoffs.
2. R. Westbrook and Jeff Green seem to be showing potential to becoming solid NBA starters. Hard to say what their ceiling is but both look to be realistically capable of growing into solid starters or players that could be part of a solid 8-player rotation.
3. They have loads of #1 draft picks coming up - 3 this year including their own which likely will be in the top 5. they have the Suns #1 in 2010.
4. They have tons of cap room coming up this summer and in 2010. Yes they will need to spend big $$$ to re-sign Durrant (TRY - This will be a key for them - who knows what KD will do?) But the point is - they have no problematic contacts that go beyond next season. Most expire this summer and Watson & Atkins contracts expire after next season. Collison’s is longer but he is not grossly overpaid.
Presti will have his chance to turn this team into a winner. The foundation and opportunity is present right now.
January 24th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Doesn’t Atkins’ contract end after this year?
January 24th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Nevermind
January 24th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
the popcorn would be better if they were 3-47(Esp if he were passing it around. It’s still good though.
January 24th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Why no word on the event last night?
January 24th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
I wonder if Atkins cut a hole in the bottom of the popcorn, dropped his shorts, then put it over his lap before offering to his teammate. Might be a good way to get shipped out asap. Maybe he tried that stunt on George Karl.
January 24th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Sorry-I didn’t realize he WAS sharing the popcorn!!!!
January 24th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Last night was fun, Softy was a riot on stage. Wish I could have stayed longer.
January 24th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
I’ve had Popcorn at STAPLES CENTER a couple years ago at a Clippers game, it was Delicious!
January 24th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Can’t say that I blame him. Gotta do something to stay awake during the game.
January 24th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
I remember in Dennis Ericksons last year with the Hawks a couple players chowing on hotdogs on the sideline during a preseason game…did they offer any to Scott Brooks??
January 24th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Wasn’t the great Rick Mirer involved in the hotdog caper?
January 25th, 2009 at 8:59 am
I attended the OKC-Clips game at Staples, sitting 15 rows up behind the hoop clad in my bright green, Reebok “Seattle” shooting shirt. During pre-game, two of our former Sonics noticed and pointed up to me; so, I got the feeling that they don’t see this kind of thing very often. . . the Portland game will blow them away!
I agree with everything JJ said above. . . the “piss poor, selfish chucker with the flawed skill set” dominated this NBA game like few 20 yr. olds ever have. With a few more muscular lbs., greater focus on the defensive end and a little more talent surrounding him. . . the sky is the limit for Durant.
I believe free agents will use OKC’s “boy wonder genius” to extort more cash from the teams they desire to sign with. S.Presti will have to trade for his desired talent while those players have newer, long-term deals. Like Milw. & Minn., OKC will never be a destination situation.
In S.Presti, OKC should trust.
January 25th, 2009 at 11:16 am
“Who’s at the bottom of this list?
http://www.82games.com/0809/ONSORT6.HTM
Well, I’ll let y’all take it from here.”
Durant was the starting small forward for OKC and scored 46 points. Ricky Davis was the starting forward for LA Clippers and scored one point.
Most telling line of the night. Durant minus 7 . . . Davis plus 8.
Who had the better game?
January 25th, 2009 at 11:38 am
I assume the first two minutes you watched were from the Carlesimo era, and you didn’t watch one minute of the previous game, where Durant, Westbrook and Green scored 83 of 122 points, the team scored 72 in the first half and Green hit a buzzer beater to win the game by one point. There’s a lot less whimpering going on, even if that fact pains everyone here. This team has a lot of upside, although this year is still going to have games where Whimper might be an appropriate name, but your observations are currently inaccurate at best.
January 25th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Kindda puts a new wrinkle on the Atkins diet.
DBF’s (@1:56) version suggests yet still an added twist to the Atkins diet.
Too bad they won’t re sign Jerome James to ride the pine alongside Chucky A.
January 25th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
D_G is correct. . . the “piss poor” K.Durant is getting it done at 20 yrs. of age. . . he of the “flawed skill set” and all. 46, 15 & 26 FTA’s looked like a pretty good “skill set” in-person at Staples?
Glad to see that AK changed his name to “Defense Wins Championships” because now he shares the same vision as his favorite NBA exec. . . the “Boy Wonder Genius”.
January 25th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
I look at that LA Clipper’s game and all I see is that the Whimpers get outscored when KD is on the floor . . .
Outscored by a group of Clippers players that could not be signed onto any other team in the real NBA. Gordon and perhaps Thorton are possible exceptions to this rule . . . they are in fact good enough to sit on the bench and eat popcorn on a real NBA team.
The question is, if Durant is the only superstar in the game when the L.A. Second Stringers play the Oklahoma Whimpers why is that the Oklahoma manages to outscore LA only when Durant is not playing???????
January 25th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
D_G. . . I can only say that had K.Durant not played vs. the lowly Clips, the Blunder would have lost by 20+ pts. He was THAT important to the offense; simular to Ray Allen’s “effect” as a Supe.
January 25th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Regardless of 20 year old KD’s currrent liabilities, he has the potential to become the type of impact player who leads teams to championships.
January 25th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
The smell of hot dogs wafting down from the stands was simply irresistible to the hungry players – Free safety and defensive captain Eugene Robinson, quarterback Rick Mirer, and defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy were fined for violating team rules. During the third quarter of a pre-season game in San Francisco, the three players were caught eating hot dogs while standing on the Seahawks’ sideline. The three had seen action in the first half of the game and were not slated to return. If not for the presence of network television cameras, they might have been able to consume the hot dogs without being detected. The cameras, however, caught the players “trying furtively to eat the hot dogs.”
January 26th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Chucky Atkins, I love you.
January 26th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Hey I was at my local coffee shop and saw a poster. Guess who they found to fill several of the Sonics dates. It’s the Rat City Roller Girls. This is too perfect.