This is just a quick poll to see what you guys think of what the Thunder did to their home floor over the off-season. The main visible change is in the lane. As you can see, our paint used to be wood coloured, with yellow trim and a blue free throw zone.

Now, our paint is all blue, and the free throw zone is all wood coloured. There is also a NBA Cares logo, not pictured below.

Personally, I'm not too big of a fan of the new paint, but I do understand its' changing for sponsorship reasons. Chesapeake Energy has blue in their logo, so they lit up their new arena like a blue flame and it only makes sense to paint the floor blue as well.

Still, I think there's more creative ways of going about it. Take the insane floor of the Charlotte Coliseum (home of the Hornets from 88-02), for example.

Okay, you don't have to get THAT crazy, but still, I think it's an improvement over unoriginality.

What are your thoughts? Vote in the poll, post a comment!

Today, SB Nation's NBA blogs are hosting an opportunity for fans to lend their voice to the current CBA situation. 

#NBAFanVoice Day: Speak Your Mind

If you are passionate about the NBA and want your voice heard in our virtual space, take some time to write in and your words will find a national audience. Our noble GM Zorgon took the time to do so, and we encourage you to follow suit. SB Nation will be publishing your posts today and tomorrow. So far, here are some other fans' passionate words:

• #NBAFanVoice: No More "What If's" - CelticsBlog
• Making the Fan's Voice Heard - Blazer's Edge
• ...But What If There's No Basketball? NBA Fan Voice! - Mavs Moneyball
• #NBAFanVoice Day: Waiting On The Next Move For The Pacers - Indy Cornrows
• No Games: One NBA Fan's Voice... | NBA
• #NBAFanVoice - Continuing Last Week's Lockout Discussion - At The Hive
• #NBAFanVoice: Summer Leagues Are Awful - Welcome to Loud City
• #NBAFanVoice: Fans true losers in NBA lockout - Liberty Ballers
• NBA Fan Voice: Make The Mavs' Championship Mean Something - From Our Editors - SBNation.com
• NBA Fan Voice: Proposing A New Salary Structure - From Our Editors - SBNation.com
• NBA fans got screwed a long time ago... - Denver Stiffs
• The NBA - It's FAN-tastic! - Bright Side Of The Sun
• NBA Fans Voice: The day I met the Big Three Celtics | Celtics Town | Boston Celtics blog | Celtics news

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Rick Reilly chimes in today on the upcoming NBA playoffs. In his piece, he pontificates, nay dreams, about how the playoffs will unfold, which includes this bold prediction about the Denver Nuggets:

NBA Playoffs: Predictions and Dreams | Rick Reilly

Denver Nuggets vs. Oklahoma City Thunder -- The Thunder, everybody's cool new kid in class, is about to get a wedgie in front of the whole playground. Since the Nuggets traded Melo on Feb. 21, they've been the third-winningest team in the league (.720). They have double-kick-start Tar Heel point guards who can drive, score or feed to six other scorers. Who you gonna guard on the last shot? Nuggets in 7, proving George Karl should've been Coach of the Year.

Did I dream that? So many points are scored at Oklahoma City Arena in Game 2, everybody gets eight tacos.

Since I am all about the low hanging fruit:

1. Since this specifically stated date of 2/21, the teams with the highest winning percentages are:
   1. Bulls (24-4, 0.857)
   2. Lakers (19-6, 0.760)
   3. Nuggets (18-7, 0.720)
   4. Thunder (20-8, 0.714)
2. The Thunder just beat the Nuggets in Denver (101-94), and in OKC (104-89), comprising two of the Nuggets' six losses. It is dubious as to whether Mr. Reilly even knew about these two games.
3. Playoff teams don't win playoff games with eight scorers. They win it with three main offensive weapons. Everyone else plays a supporting role. This is, without exception in at least 25 years, The Rule.
4. The Thunder just held the Nuggets to 13 and 18 points below their regular season average.
5. Rick Reilly wrote this piece one week after the trade.

With yesterday's win over Portland, the Thunder clinched a playoff berth and extended their Division lead over the Denver Nuggets to 4.5 games. It also put them 3.5 games behind Dallas for the third seed in the West. With 10 games to go, this pretty solidly cements the Thunder in the fourth seed. It's not impossible for the Thunder to fall or advance, but I will say that it is unlikely.

What would it take for the Thunder to fall?

Well, the only team that can make the Thunder fall down a seed at this point is the Denver Nuggets. Portland can technically catch up, but the Thunder own the tiebreaker with them and they are 6.5 games back, so they would have to run the table (or close to it) for the rest of their games, and the Thunder would have to go sub .500. The Nuggets, on the other hand, are only 4.5 games back. Essentially, the Thunder would have to go .500, and the Nuggets would have to run the table. It is possible, as the Nuggets have only four games against teams over .500 (with two of them against the Thunder), But the Thunder would have to lose against the Suns, Lakers, and Trail Blazers in order for this to happen. It is possible, but in all respects, it probably has a 15% chance of happening at most.

What would it take for the Thunder to move up?

The Thunder are 3.5 games behind the Dallas Mavericks, and 4.5 games behind the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers are in the midst of a month where they have had only one loss, but their last ten games are more difficult than most others. The possibility is there for the Thunder to catch up, but the Lakers would have to see something like a catastrophic injury for it to happen. The Mavericks, on the other hand, are much more catchable. In general, the Mavericks win the games they're supposed to, but haven't beaten a high profile opponent since December, when they beat the Thunder. So, it's highly possible, even likely that the Mavs will drop games to the Lakers, Portland, and Denver. But they have to lose at least one more game against an opponent like Phoenix, Houston, the David West-less Hornets or Golden State in order for the Thunder to pass them. Of course, any scenario requires the Thunder to run the table for the rest of the season. Though I'd like to think that this is going to happen, there's only a 20% or so chance of it happening at best.

Below: With the Thunder most likely being a four seed, who will their opponent be?

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Recently, Clark Matthews of TheLostOgle.com has posted a commentary on DailyThunder concerning the D-League and it's general development. A few days later, Scott Schroeder, the SBNation NBA D-League guru over at Ridiculous Upside, made a retort to his article. In a nutshell, Matthews explains the history of the D-League, why it's not working, and what the Thunder need to do to fix it. Schroeder talks about some of Matthews ideas and explains that the Thunder have been developing a very good farm team of their own in the 66ers. And while Schroeder does a great job of explaining what the Thunder are doing, I'm here to offer my own opinion on some other things that were said in the article by Matthews. And before you call me a hater, let me just say that I enjoy both DailyThunder and TheLostOgle.com, and I visit both sites.

In the past, the NBA had no real concern about developing players. When players had to prove a "financial hardship" to enter the league prior to exhausting their college eligibility, and Soviet rule kept players from defecting before they had passed their prime, the league used free methods of transitioning players from their parent’s (or government’s) oversight to a life of extravagant wealth. Then, about twenty years ago, the trend of players to quit school and start making money began. General Managers, not wanting to miss out on an elite talent, stopped emphasizing things like "preparedness" and "development," instead caring more about "potential" and "athleticism." The result was that a good number of players whose immaturity and inability to grow, that in the past would have become apparent when they clashed with their college coach, were drafted into the NBA and given multi-year guaranteed contracts. Even if some of those players could become valuable pieces, their development was stunted due to inability to get floor experience.

This paragraph jumps to far too many conclusions. The first point made about the NBA not being concerned with developing players in the past (60s and 70s) is mostly correct. Let's take the 1965 NBA Draft, for example. Every single player drafted in the first two rounds had gone to some type of college, and the vast majority had completed four years of play while there. In that era, when entering the NBA, players were expected to immediately contribute. They were given heavy minutes, and were cut by the wayside if they didn't live up to expectations. After as little as 1-2 years, players might find themselves on the street, and would often have to get a job after basketball.

Below: The real history and reason behind High School players going to the NBA, Matthews plans for helping NBA teams to utilize the D-League and why I disagree with them.

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After a string of relatively ho-hum Eastern Conference games, the Thunder are heading into the final five weeks of the season, and the waters are going to get testy. While the past two weeks have been filled with sub-.500 teams and easy wins (Darn you, Toronto!), the upcoming three weeks promise to be some of the most brutal of the season as the Thunder look to secure the fourth playoff seed in the West. Honestly, the only games that don't excite me on the schedule are the final two against Milwaukee and Sacramento. So, without further ado, look below for some predictions and insight into the upcoming games within the context of our new-look team.

Week One: The Northwest Division Strikes Back

3/23: Vs. Utah: Win

3/25: Vs. Minnesota: Win

3/27: Vs. Portland: Win

The Thunder have held a three or four game lead over Denver in the race for the Northwest Division lead for what seems like forever, but this three game stretch gives the rest of the division ample opportunity to catch up. Okay, so Portland is the only team that has a real chance of catching us, but the Thunder need to maintain a good division record to stay at the top in case of a tie, and a couple losses here would put the Thunder on par with Portland and Denver. Also, Portland has lost to us twice this season, so the team will need to win both matchups against the Thunder in order to have any chance of a tie breaker, giving them more incentive to win.

I'm going ahead and predicting all of these games as wins. Utah is reeling and hasn't beaten anyone better than the 76ers since Sloan left, and the Timberwolves are basically in the same boat. The Trailblazers do present a real challenge, especially with Gerald Wallace arriving on the team and Roy and Fernandez coming back from injury. But the game is at home, the Thunder's interior defense should be able to stop the onslaught of LaMarcus Aldridge, and the Blazers don't have an answer for Kevin Durant.

Below: Week Two: The Pacific Division and Week Three: The Final Stretch. Also, a prediction as to who the Thunder's first round opponent might be.

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This post is here to address one of my biggest pet peeves when people talk about the Thunder. The person who complains is always some random caller on the Sports Animal, some friend on Facebook, or some random fan I happen to meet in person. They like to say we're missing a big physical post presence down low (which is true). But then, when laying blame for not getting that presence, they criticize the Thunder for not taking DeJuan Blair.

And you know what? I can't take it anymore. Enough. Sure, I'm acting like a big jerk, but if I hear this stupid argument one more time, I'm going to explode.

Back in 2009, the Thunder had the third and the 25th pick in the NBA Draft. The third pick was James Harden, and given how he's played this year, most have been satisfied with that selection. Unfortunately for the Thunder, the 25th pick was used to select Rodrigue Beaubois, who was immediately swung for the 24th pick, B.J. Mullens.

And Thunder nation cried. No wait, actually, nobody was crying. Because nobody knew we had missed out. Personally, I was disappointed that we didn't stick with Rodrigue Beaubois, who has gone on to be a semi-successful bench scorer for the Mavericks. The most read Thunder Blogger, Royce Young, rated the pick a B-, and said it was "great value" for as low as Mullens went. He does admit that Mullens could be a bust though. SLAM online said that, "drafting him at 24 is a great move by the Thunder". The list goes on. In fact, most columns about the draft ignored the selection of Mullens, and talked about Harden instead.

When the 37th pick came up, the Spurs made the obvious choice by picking DeJuan Blair, a big man with lots of skill, but questionable injury problems. DeJuan Blair was considered a huge steal for the Spurs, even at draft time. But, had B.J. Mullens dropped to the 37th pick by some sort of oversight, the Spurs might have taken him instead. Both players had strings attached, and for valid reason. B.J. Mullens was an athletic big with questions on his transition to the NBA game, and DeJuan Blair was a NBA-Ready big man who had questions about his injury history. Given how Mullens draft stock was much higher and the fact that he had more potential, the Spurs might have actually drafted him instead of Blair. And everyone would have called it a huge steal.

Below: Five Things People Forget When Calling Out The Thunder's Error.

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I have a confession to make. I don't watch a lot of TV. You won't see me spending a lot of time watching shows, and you won't see me spend a lot of time listening to the NBA analysis that the national analysts give. I only watch ESPN for a specific event, NBATV became a TNT B-Crew a couple of years ago, and TNT itself is more of a comedy show than anything else. And, while I do find the show entertaining, the analysis the crew gives is iffy at best. Because, time and time again, Charles Barkley makes outrageous statements about the NBA that are mostly untrue.

But, I'm not going to sit here and argue about credentials, because while Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley have no management or coaching experience, I have zero NBA experience whatsoever, and am writing this column from my house, not an office. My argument here is strictly that the statements they make have little to no ground behind them.

Let's just go to Chuck's first statement, about the Thunder's lack of defense (clip here):

The Oklahoma City Thunder stink defensively. Kevin Durant got mad at me a couple of weeks ago (for saying this). They don’t play any defense and they don’t rebound the ball. That’s why they are not a legit contender. Until they learn to play defense and rebound the ball, they are just in the way.

Below: My Response, More Statements, More Analysis!

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