Nenad Krstic, left, played for the New Jersey Nets last season, but was most recently on the court with the Russian League team Triumph from Lyubertsy. Krstic could see his first action with the Thunder tonight against the New York Knicks. AP photo
Nenad Krstic is officially a member of the Thunder after having his work visa approved Monday.
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And with a new team comes a new nickname.
Krstic, the 7-foot center who was signed Dec. 30, is no longer affectionately referred to as "Curly” as he was during his four seasons with the New Jersey Nets. Thunder players have taken to the nickname "Krispy.”
While the nickname is more of a play off Krstic’s last name, it could carry a double meaning for how crisp Krstic has been in his first week of practice.
"He’s looking good,” Desmond Mason said of Krstic, who could make his Thunder debut tonight against the New York Knicks.
"He’s a skilled basketball player. I’ve played him before, and he can definitely shoot the heck out of the ball and has some great moves around the basket. So I’m excited for him to get on the floor and see what he’s going to bring to us. I think he’s going to be an asset to this team.”
Thunder coach Scott Brooks did not say whether he would use Krstic tonight against New York at the Ford Center. Brooks has said since last Tuesday that he wants to ease in Krstic and allow him to learn the playbook and adapt to his new teammates.
"He’s still blending in,” Brooks said. "He’s doing a good job of fitting in, and the guys are doing a good job of accepting the way he plays. He’s a good piece for us. He knows how to play...He’s a smart player. He makes good decisions with the ball. He’s not just a shooter, he can be a playmaker at his spot.”
Brooks has praised Krstic’s basketball IQ in recent days, saying he has picked up the team’s offensive sets quickly and said his conditioning is better than he expected.
"He’s coming along,” Brooks said. "You can tell the kid knows how to play. He understands positions, he understands sets. He’s been in the NBA, so it’s not like he’s coming over for the first time and learning how to play the NBA way. He’s going to help us a lot.”
Krstic’s work ethic has also stood out. He developed a reputation as a hard worker in New Jersey, when he breezed through the Nets’ training camp two-a-days as a rookie. Krstic first showed the Thunder how hard he works last Tuesday, when he stayed at the team’s practice facility after his introductory press conference and worked out with coaches and the team’s support staff.
"It’s either he’s a hard worker or he’s fooling all of us,” Brooks said. "But we like to think he’s a hard worker and this is who he is.
"Most guys come into a new situation and put their best foot forward. But he appears, just from talking to him, like this is what he does.”
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"If Bennett sold the team and all its best players to an owner from Montana and they were moving next year would you support them the same way?"----NOPE !! The okies would whine, cry and generally have fits that somebody was picking on them, that they weren't being given a "fair shake", that somebody was out to get them, and scream bloody murder, probably going as far as trying to have the Governor and Mayor Mick file injunctions, you name it, all to get them to keep the dunder in okaysee. But, since it benefitted the okies to have Clay break the lease in Seattle and generally act like a cheating conniving (typical) okie, it's all good....
Wow you all go on and on, Seattle lost its team, OKC has them now. Seattle will get a new one soon as it's one of the largest cities in the country so no big deal. I say this because i'm from Seattle and now live in Tulsa. So I have mixed feelings all in all. Truthfully if ownership hadn't purposly tanked the team by trading off its playoff contending team for outcasts and draftpicks they would of kept a fan base in Seattle and not been moved. But on the other hand they would have alot more wins right now as well. So remember to look at it from both points of views before you bash the Seattle guys. If Bennett sold the team and all its best players to an owner from Montana and they were moving next year would you support them the same way? Not like they have alot to sell lol. So you have to understand why they had the attendance they had the last 2 years. First Rashad and then Ray, ouch. That would be like trading Durant this year and then westbrook, Green and the rights to the #1 pick in the draft for Stephon Marbury. http://promo.realestate.yahoo.com/americas-most-and-least-favorite-cities.html shows that Seattle is one of the top cities in the county to live and work in so no matter how much people here hate it, its still a great city. So is OKC for that matter, just not to the the same size and degree. So quit wasting your time bashing each other. According to the stats and history it takes any team that loses less than 20 games 4 years to become good enough to even be a 500 team so if your gonna blame anyone. Blame the ownership that got rid of your best players and the fact that they had TONS of cap space and could't attract any players? It wasn't the fans fault in any city, my guess is it was the ownerships mistakes...
You have to love a website that thinks because you refresh the screen several minutes after a post.....you want to post it again.....the same family that brings this incompetence brings us the Dunder Blunder
This is my once every few weeks visit to the posts…not much has changed. I wanted to see what the consensus was for Krstic but found the same mental midgets like Paul in Yukon and Phillip in OKC. Are they for real? I get the sense they sit in front of the computer all day in a darkened corner of a musty home full of circa 1975 Levitz’s furniture, watching porn and then hitting the schoolyards for recess. Just my opinion, call me crazy. Can we get back to the Thunder now?
Greg, Panama City, Panama - Jan 6, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Dear Thunder fans, Philip is a loser. The team is ours now. Philip can't hardly live knowing that his team moved so now he gets a big bag of cheese puffs and sits at his computer and does nothing but get on newsok.com and writes usless stupid comments on anything reguarding the Thunder. I laugh at him and people alike. One day, the Thunder will win a championship, and Philip will still talk crap because Seattle will still have no team. I laugh at the thought of this!
Dear Thunder fans,
Philip is a loser. The team is ours now. Philip can't hardly live knowing that his team moved so now he gets a big bag of cheese puffs and sits at his computer and does nothing but get on newsok.com and writes usless stupid comments on anything reguarding the Thunder. I laugh at him and people alike. One day, the Thunder will win a championship, and Philip will still talk crap because Seattle will still have no team. I laugh at the thought of this!
You have to love a website that thinks because you refresh the screen several minutes after a post.....you want to post it again.....the same family that brings this incompetence brings us the Dunder Blunder
To: Yukon Paul, bitter Seattle fans, other negative posters, et al
Do you have a life? Consider visiting Dr. Kevorkian... Please.... God, it gets old to listen to your constant whining and complaining. If you don't like OKC or Oklahoma or the Thunder, please leave. Nobody making you stay here. By going to Seattle, you will increase the IQ of both places...
I clearly no nothing about bassaball but with my lack of education, I clearly no nothing about most things. That has never stopped me from rambling on constantly in that annoying Ted Kennedy kind of whine.
Guys,, guys, this is not a competition between cities, which one is more the laughing stock of the country, or which city is "better" than the other. Both cities are laughing stocks ye'all. Both places suck. Everythink everyone says is true! OKC is full of dumb, fat people, and seatlle is full of gay's who can't get anything done. We both lose and the players are caught in the middle.
Guys,, guys, this is not a competition between cities, which one is more the laughing stock of the country, or which city is "better" than the other. Both cities are laughing stocks ye'all. Both places suck. Everythink everyone says is true! OKC is full of dumb, fat people, and seatlle is full of gay's who can't get anything done. We both lose and the players are caught in the middle.
I clearly no nothing about bassaball but with my lack of education, I clearly no nothing about most things. That has never stopped me from rambling on constantly in that annoying Ted Kennedy kind of whine.
And the beat goes on. "Seattle is developing a national reputation for what it can't do. It can't keep a basketball team, can't fix its arena, can't build a light rail system, can't remove its snow."
And the beat goes on. "Seattle is developing a national reputation for what it can't do. It can't keep a basketball team, can't fix its arena, can't build a light rail system, can't remove its snow."
"Jill, you must be bitter like me. sonics 0-0 NEXT!!!! :(" Yeah, Seattle doesn't even have a team & they still have almost as many wins as the Blunder!
I clearly no nothing about bassaball but with my lack of education, I clearly no nothing about most things. That has never stopped me from rambling on constantly in that annoying Ted Kennedy kind of whine.
Fake Paul, Oklahoma City - Jan 6, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Wow- Seattle's journalist actually write about whats going on, even if it's not what we want to hear. Imaging that, journalists that don't just write fluff. If OKC ever becomes a big league city, the Oklahoman will get real jouranlists.
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New York Knicks at Thunder
Time: 7 tonight
Arena: Ford Center.
Television: FOX Sports Oklahoma (Cox 37)
Radio: WWLS 98.1-FM, WWLS 640-AM.
Probable starters
Thunder (4-30)
Pos.
Player
Ht.
Pts.
Reb.
Ast
G
Russell Westbrook
6-3
13.7
4.1
4.5
G
Desmond Mason
6-5
7.6
4.0
1.1
F
Kevin Durant
6-9
23.8
5.8
2.3
F
Jeff Green
6-9
16.2
6.1
2.1
C
Robert Swift
6-10
3.4
4.6
0.5
Knicks (13-19)
Pos.
Player
Ht.
Pts.
Reb.
Ast
G
Chris Duhon
6-1
11.8
4.0
8.3
G
Quentin Richardson
6-6
11.7
5.3
1.7
F
Wilson Chandler
6-8
14.7
5.8
1.9
F
Jared Jeffries
6-11
5.6
4.5
1.3
C
David Lee
6-9
14.8
11.0
1.9
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Philip is a loser. The team is ours now. Philip can't hardly live knowing that his team moved so now he gets a big bag of cheese puffs and sits at his computer and does nothing but get on newsok.com and writes usless stupid comments on anything reguarding the Thunder. I laugh at him and people alike. One day, the Thunder will win a championship, and Philip will still talk crap because Seattle will still have no team. I laugh at the thought of this!
Do you have a life? Consider visiting Dr. Kevorkian... Please.... God, it gets old to listen to your constant whining and complaining. If you don't like OKC or Oklahoma or the Thunder, please leave. Nobody making you stay here. By going to Seattle, you will increase the IQ of both places...