Loud Links: June 6, 2009

Loud Links are back for your mid-weekend Thunder edutainment. The Daily Oklahoman wonders if trading Allen and Lewis was really such a good idea.  Daily Thunder wonders if the Thunder would be better off without KD. Why is everyone named "Daily" something being so pessimistic? DraftExpress looks into more draft statistics. There is more info concerning Heytvelt, Curry, and our very own Malik Rose.

Should Presti Have Traded Ray Allen & Rashard Lewis? You Betcha. | Thunder Rumblings
The successes of the former franchise cornerstones has made it easy for folks to waive the "I-told-you-so" finger at Presti and team chairman Clay Bennett, who were accused of gutting the team with the intent to create fan apathy and split for OKC. Lenny Wilkens, a man who wore many hats with the Sonics franchise but departed as vice chairman, tells the Seattle Times he urged Bennett to not dismantle the team. Wilkens resigned shortly after both All-Stars were traded and cited a difference of opinion with ownership.

Season retrospective: So was Durant a team killer? | Daily Thunder.com - Where Thunder Happens
Oklahoma City played its best stretch with its star player sidelined with a bum ankle. Therefore, media folks had to bring up the inevitable "Is the Thunder better off without Durant?" questions and really, people are still talking about it. Reader J.G. emailed in and put all of that to bed. "You’re joking, right?" is what my first response would be to people who ask this question but after his injury and the Thunder’s team success in his absence, a lot of individuals posed this question and at first glance, it may have not seemed all that ridiculous. However on second glance, this notion is clearly based off of the misconception that the 5 of 6 game stretch that the Thunder went on while Durant (and Green for a bit) was hurt was their best of the season statistically.

DraftExpress: Josh Heytvelt
It’s been an interesting road for Gonzaga big man Josh Heytvelt. After being a relatively unheralded high school prospect, ranking behind players like David McClure and Mohammed Tangara, the power forward burst onto the national scene during his sophomore year, averaging close to a double-double. In the midst of his blossoming talent though, Heytvelt hit a series of bumps in the road including felony drug possession charges during his sophomore year and suffering a stress fracture in his right foot during his junior season.

DraftExpress: Breaking Down the NBA Draft Historically by Position, Class and Year
Deviating from the normal scouting approach to the draft, we take a step back to analyze how this year's class and those before it fit together demographically. After a few years off, we've recompiled our data to do another analysis of how the NBA draft looks on broad level hisorically. We performed a similar analysis in 2006 and a more in depth summary a little under two years ago. After taking some time to refine our data and let the NBA age limit begin to settle in, we've decided that its time to take another stab at identifying some underlying trends that could have some bearing on this draft and those in the future.

NBA PM: 2009 Draft Stocks Shifting - Basketball News & NBA Rumors -
You don't always have to get a franchise player. When Sam Presti pushed for Tony Parker we were high on Parker. I was the first one to put Parker on our prospect list and say you gotta go see this guy. Presti's the guy that pulled the trigger on him, so the credit goes to him. They got a franchise player with the 28th pick. Sometimes you just don't know. If you look at Darko Milicic and what he was doing in Serbia at the time of the draft, you were wowed by him. But you have to remember that 75% of this game is mental. You've got to know where to be, what to do, and you've got to have the confidence and understand how to play below the rim. That can be hard to gauge."

NBA Draft: The Rubio-Thabeet race is on | NewsOK.com
The Belmont Stakes is being held today, which makes me think back to the 1973 race when Secretariat won by a ridiculous 31 lengths — or roughly the same distance between Blake Griffin and everybody else in this month’s NBA Draft. The June 25 draft has been deemed a three-horse race. Griffin no doubt will win, but who will place, who will show and with which teams?

Drexel to Award 10 Honorary Degrees.
Malik Rose ’96, NBA basketball player with Oklahoma Thunder, 13-year veteran of the NBA including two championship teams and leader of two NCAA tournament teams at Drexel.

SportingNews.com - The Baseline - Stephen Curry interview and video
Q: How much has your dad (former NBA player Dell Curry) influenced your basketball career?

A: He’s meant so much. From the beginning, I’ve tried to follow his model in a lot of ways. I remember being 7 years old and going to his practices, throwing up NBA 3s and trying to be like my dad. In high school and college, I went to him for advice so many times.