2008–09 Oklahoma City Thunder season

2008–09 Oklahoma City Thunder season
Head coach	P. J. Carlesimo (games 1-13, fired) Scott Brooks (interim, games 14-82)
General manager	Sam Presti
Owner(s)	Professional Basketball Club LLC (Clay Bennett, Chairman)
Arena	Ford Center
Results
Record	23–59 (.280)
Place	Division: 5th (Northwest) Conference: 13th (Western)
Playoff finish	DNQ
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
Television	Fox Sports Oklahoma, KSBI
Radio	WWLS-AM and FM

The Oklahoma City Thunder played its inaugural season in the 2008-09 NBA season. It was the team's first season in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma since the Seattle SuperSonics relocation was approved by league owners prior to settling a lawsuit. The team played at the Ford Center.

Oklahoma City hosted the New Orleans Hornets for two seasons, due to Hurricane Katrina's devastation along the Gulf Coast in August 2005.

Key dates

• June 26: The 2008 NBA Draft took place in New York City, New York.
• July 1: The free agency period started.
• July 2: The Seattle SuperSonics announced their immediate relocation to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
• September 3 The team announces name and colors.
• October 8 The Oklahoma City Thunder took the court for the first time in an 88-82 preseason loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves in Billings, Montana.
• October 29 The Oklahoma City Thunder played their first regular season game ever, hosting the Milwaukee Bucks.
• November 2 The Oklahoma City Thunder get their first win as an NBA franchise.
• November 22 P. J. Carlesimo is fired and replaced on an interim basis by Scott Brooks.
• November 28 The Thunder tie the franchise record for consecutive games lost at 14 with a 103-105 loss to the Timberwolves.
• November 29 Oklahoma City snaps 14-game losing streak.
• January 21 Jeff Green shoots Thunder's first buzzer beater to beat the Golden State Warriors 122-121.
• February 14 Kevin Durant wins All-Star Break H.O.R.S.E competition.
• April 15 The Thunder won over Los Angeles Clippers 126-85 to end 23-59 in their first season.
• April 15 Scott Brooks is named full-time coach of Thunder.

Offseason

• Oklahoma City rookies and other young professionals played in the first game of the Orlando summer league. Oklahoma City lost its summer league opener to the Indiana Pacers rookies by a score of 95-78. Earl Calloway scored 16 points and Andre Emmett had 15 for the Pacers, who scored the game's first eight points and never trailed. Jeff Green took the first shot in Oklahoma City's history and it bounced off the rim 43 seconds after tipoff. The first basket came 2:15 into the first quarter by D.J. White, who was drafted by Detroit, traded to Seattle and played in Oklahoma City.
• The Oklahoma City franchise released its season-ticket prices on Thursday, August 14. The franchise announced that there will be 3,400 seats available at $10 per game.
  • On average, ticket prices were about 36 per cent higher than they were for the 2007-08 Seattle SuperSonics season. The announcement also stated that the average ticket price would be US$47.51 while Seattle's average ticket price last season was $35. While last year's NBA average ticket price at $48.83, Oklahoma City's rates below the league average.
  • Season tickets went on sale on Monday, September 8. Chairman Clay Bennett announced that the last of the 13,000 season tickets available were sold on Friday, September 12, and the team started a waiting list for season tickets.

Pre-season

• The Oklahoma City Thunder made their debut in an 88-82 preseason loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on October 8, 2008.

First pre-season game

KSBI

October 8, 2008

Oklahoma City Thunder 82, Minnesota Timberwolves 88
Scoring by quarter: 13–24, 28–16, 22–20, 19–28
Pts: Damien Wilkins 19 Rebs: Kevin Durant, Johan Petro 7 each Asts: Earl Watson 4		Pts: Rashad McCants 15 Rebs: Al Jefferson 9 Asts: Mike Miller 5

Rimrock Auto Arena, Billings Attendance: 3,817 Referees: Leroy Richardson, David Jones, Eric Dalen

• Kevin Durant took and made the first shot in Oklahoma City history.
• The Thunder had their home debut on October 14, 2008 against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Draft picks

Main article: 2008 NBA Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College/Team
1	4	Russell Westbrook	PG	United States	UCLA
1	24	Serge Ibaka	PF	Republic of the Congo	CB L'Hospitalet
2	32	Walter Sharpe	SF	United States	UAB
2	46	Trent Plaisted (from Portland as part of the Sebastian Telfair trade via Boston as part of the Ray Allen trade, traded to Detroit)	PF	United States	BYU Jr.
2	50	DeVon Hardin	PF	United States	California
2	56	Sasha Kaun	C	Russia	Kansas

Roster

Oklahoma City Thunder 2008-09 roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Wt. From PG 13 Atkins, Chucky 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 160 lb (73 kg) South Florida PF 4 Collison, Nick 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 255 lb (116 kg) Kansas SF 35 Durant, Kevin 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Texas SF 22 Green, Jeff 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Georgetown C 51 Hill, Steven 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 248 lb (112 kg) Arkansas C 12 Krstić, Nenad 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 240 lb (109 kg) PG 14 Livingston, Shaun 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 182 lb (83 kg) SG 34 Mason, Desmond 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 224 lb (102 kg) Oklahoma State PF 9 Rose, Malik 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 250 lb (113 kg) Drexel SG 2 Sefolosha, Thabo 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 215 lb (98 kg) PF 31 Swift, Robert 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 245 lb (111 kg) PG 25 Watson, Earl 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 195 lb (88 kg) UCLA SG 5 Weaver, Kyle 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 201 lb (91 kg) Washington State PG 0 Westbrook, Russell 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 187 lb (85 kg) UCLA PF 3 White, D. J. 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 251 lb (114 kg) Indiana PF 21 Wilkins, Damien 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Georgia	Head coach P. J. Carlesimo (fired) Scott Brooks (UC Irvine) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Depth Chart

As of end of season:

Pos.	Starter	Bench	Reserve	Inactive
C	Nenad Krstic	Robert Swift		Steven Hill
PF	Nick Collison	Malik Rose	Desmond Mason	DJ White
SF	Jeff Green	Damien Wilkins
SG	Kevin Durant	Thabo Sefolosha		Shaun Livingston
PG	Russell Westbrook	Chucky Atkins	Earl Watson	Kyle Weaver

Regular season

The Ford Center, which seats 19,599 for basketball, was built in 2002 and has received public funding for renovation.

Standings

Northwest Division	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div	GP
y–Denver Nuggets	54	28	.659	—	33–8	21–20	12–4	82
x–Portland Trail Blazers	54	28	.659	—	34–7	20–21	11–5	82
x–Utah Jazz	48	34	.585	6	33–8	15–26	10–6	82
Minnesota Timberwolves	24	58	.293	30	11–30	13–28	3–13	82
Oklahoma City Thunder	23	59	.280	31	15–26	8–33	4–12	82

#	Western Conference
	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	c-Los Angeles Lakers	65	17	.793	—
2	y-Denver Nuggets	54	28	.659	11
3	y-San Antonio Spurs	54	28	.659	11
4	x-Portland Trail Blazers	54	28	.659	11
5	x-Houston Rockets	53	29	.646	12
6	x-Dallas Mavericks	50	32	.610	15
7	x-New Orleans Hornets	49	33	.598	16
8	x-Utah Jazz	48	34	.585	17
9	Phoenix Suns	46	36	.561	19
10	Golden State Warriors	29	53	.354	36
11	Minnesota Timberwolves	24	58	.293	41
12	Memphis Grizzlies	24	58	.293	41
13	Oklahoma City Thunder	23	59	.280	42
14	Los Angeles Clippers	19	63	.232	46
15	Sacramento Kings	17	65	.207	48

Player statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game

Season

Player	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Chucky Atkins*	18	0	16.6	.291	.250	.917	1.0	1.7	0.4	0.1	3.9
Nick Collison	71	40	25.8	.568	.000	.721	6.9	0.9	0.7	0.7	8.2
Kevin Durant	74	74	39.0	.476	.422	.863	6.5	2.8	1.3	0.7	25.3
Jeff Green	78	78	36.8	.446	.389	.788	6.7	2.0	1.0	0.4	16.5
Steven Hill	1	0	2.0	1.000	.000	.000	3.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.0
Nenad Krstić	46	29	24.8	.469	.000	.797	5.5	0.6	0.5	1.1	9.7
Shaun Livingston	8	1	23.8	.538	.000	1.000	3.3	2.0	0.6	0.3	7.8
Desmond Mason*	39	19	27.3	.435	.000	.541	4.0	1.2	0.4	0.8	7.5
Johan Petro*	22	12	15.5	.407	.000	.667	4.3	0.3	0.7	0.2	4.6
Malik Rose*	20	0	15.7	.378	.000	.800	3.3	1.3	0.5	0.1	5.0
Thabo Sefolosha*	23	22	31.1	.417	.243	.833	5.2	2.0	1.7	1.1	8.5
Mouhamed Sene*	5	0	4.6	.714	.000	.778	1.8	0.0	0.2	0.4	3.4
Joe Smith*	36	3	19.2	.454	.500	.704	4.5	0.7	0.3	0.7	6.6
Robert Swift	26	10	13.2	.521	.000	.750	3.4	0.3	0.2	0.7	3.3
Earl Watson	68	18	26.1	.384	.235	.755	2.7	5.8	0.7	0.2	6.6
Kyle Weaver	56	19	20.8	.459	.344	.707	2.3	1.8	0.8	0.4	5.3
Russell Westbrook	82	65	32.5	.398	.271	.815	4.9	5.3	1.3	0.2	15.3
D. J. White	7	0	18.6	.520	.000	.769	4.6	0.9	0.4	0.7	8.9
Chris Wilcox*	37	6	19.4	.485	.000	.598	5.3	0.9	0.5	0.3	8.4
Damien Wilkins	41	14	15.5	.362	.375	.804	1.7	0.9	0.5	0.2	5.3

* Statistics with Oklahoma City.

Awards and records

Awards

Week/Month

• Russell Westbrook was named Western Conference rookie of the month in December and February.

All-Star

• Russell Westbrook, Jeff Green and Kevin Durant played in the Rookie Challenge, where Durant was named MVP.
• Kevin Durant won the H–O–R–S–E Competition.

Season

• Russell Westbrook was selected to the All-Rookie 1st team.

Transactions

Trades

August 12, 2008	To Charlotte Bobcats 2nd Round Selection, 2009 NBA Draft		To Oklahoma City Thunder Kyle Weaver
August 13, 2008	To Milwaukee Bucks Luke Ridnour, Adrian Griffin		To Oklahoma City Thunder Desmond Mason
August 13, 2008	To Milwaukee Bucks Damon Jones	To Cleveland Cavaliers Mo Williams	To Oklahoma City Thunder Joe Smith
February 19, 2009	To New York Knicks Chris Wilcox		To Oklahoma City Thunder Malik Rose
February 19, 2009	To Chicago Bulls 1st Round Selection, 2009 NBA Draft		To Oklahoma City Thunder Thabo Sefolosha

Free Agents

Subtractions

Player Date left New team Mouhamed Sene February 19 See also Seattle SuperSonics relocation to Oklahoma City 2008–09 NBA season References