No More Sonic Booms, Thunder Claps Instead

Another team in the list. Another franchise to beat.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Formerly known as the Seattle Supersonics, the Oklahoma City Thunder did not come as a surprise to NBA fans. Six weeks before the official announcement, news has already leaked out regarding the team, including its logo and colors.

Sadly, the Green and Yellow of the former Supersonics mark is non-existent. NBA aficionados (most, if not all) find the Thunder log sucks. In some angles, yep, the OKC Thunder logo does suck.

Brandishing an Orange-Blue-White scheme, the OKC Thunder logo is based on the Oklahoma flag. Perhaps the people in Thunder’s creative department are just die-hard Oklahoma-loyalists? What’s wrong with that? Well, it could have been okay, until fellow Oklahomans (and a huge lot of them) professed their hatred for the new logo. It’s just un-NBA-ish.

But enough with the logo, here’s the official roster of the Oklahoma City Thunder for the NBA 2008-09 Season:

Nick Collison	6’9	PF
Ronald Dupree	6’7	SF
Kevin Durant	6’9	SF
Mickael Gelable	6’7	SG
Jeff Green	6’9	PF
Devon Hardin	6’11	C
Serge Ibaka	6’11	C
Desmond Mason	6’5	SF
Johan Petro	7’0	C
Mouhamed Sene	6’11	C
Joe Smith	6’10	PF
Robert Swift	7’0	C
Earl Watson	6’1	PG
Kyle Weaver	6’6	SG
Russell Westbrook	6’3	SG
D.J. White	6’9	PF
Damien Wilkins	6’6	SG

9 players of from the roster are 22 and below, with an average pay of $3 million dollars each. I’d say the OKC Thunder will be fielding fresh legs most of the time. Joe Smith, Desmond Mason, and Damien Wilkins are team’s most experienced players, aging 33, 30, and 29 respectively.

From their roster alone, a playoff appearance for this season is a long shot. Coach P.J. Carlesimo (yep, the one Latrell Sprewell almost choked to death 11 years ago) is the Thunder’s man at the helm.

A playoff spot is a long shot indeed.