Go Durant! Go Thunder!

Q: How goes the move?

A: Pretty good, actually. I’m loving Oklahoma City. I was just telling that to my teammates last night at dinner. It’s a great town. It’s quiet, the people are nice, the fans are unbelievable, and that’s what we need as a team. It goes a long way with us that the fans are there every day, whether we are winning or losing. I’m glad we made the move.

Q: How was your offseason? What parts of your game did you concentrate on?

A: I continued to work on my post game and my defense, guarding guys like Jeff Green, T.J. Ford and D.J. Augustin every day.

Q: Were you surprised when you first came into the league with the strength and power of the players?

A: I knew it was going to be just like that. These are grown men.

Q: Did you work on getting stronger in the offseason?

A: Of course. That’s a big point of emphasis for me.

Q: Coach P.J. Carlesimo likes to talk about what kind of player you will be when you grow into that lanky frame of yours, when you get at least some of the size and strength of someone like LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony. What kind of player do you want to be five years from now?

A: I want to be that kind of player right now. But I don’t think I will ever get as big as a LeBron or Carmelo.

Q: Do you see yourself eventually becoming more of a low-post player?

A: That’s what I envision myself being once I get bigger and fill out a little more. We played against Rashard Lewis the other day, and he plays the four now after playing the three early in his career. I would like to do that, and I think I would help the team a lot by playing the four. But right now I like the position I’m at, playing the two and three.

Q: What was it like playing for the U.S. Select team against the U.S. Olympic team this summer?

A: It made me a lot better. Every day they really got after it. … I learned that I can play better defense and that I could play some four down the line. P.J. was our coach, and he just wanted me to do specific things to help them out, as far as getting them ready to play teams in the Olympics.

Q: Is being on the U.S. team in 2012 a goal of yours?

A: After watching them win a gold this summer, I told myself that was a goal I wanted to get to. If I continue to work and get better, hopefully they will take notice and I will be on that team.

Durant scored a team-high 23 points after sitting out Wednesday’s game against Orlando with a sprained left ankle. The Thunder, however, couldn’t overcome the Knicks’ duo of guard Jamal Crawford and Zach Randolph, who scored 29 points apiece to help the Knicks lead by as many as 30 points.

Durant said his ankle was “a little sore” but added he definitely would play tonight at Philadelphia.

“I’m going to go for sure,” Durant said after the game. “It feels pretty good right now, so I’ll be alright.”

Thunder rookie guard Russell Westbrook recorded his first double-double with 19 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, all career-highs. Jeff Green finished with 16 points, Nick Collison scored a season-high 14 and Desmond Mason added 11 points off the bench.

• 80 games
• 34.4 minutes per game
• 43.0% from the field
• 28.8% from 3 pt
• 87.3% from free throw line
• 4.4 rebounds per game
• 2.4 assists per game
• 2.9 turnovers per game
• 1.0 steals per game
• 20.3 points per game

20.3 points per game is pretty successful for a rookie. Sure, his assist/turnover ration MUST get better, and we feel he can be a much better rebounder. He shot the ball fairly well for a rookie. All in all, we see alot of positives from our boy. Can you say future hall of famer? We hope!

Go get them Kevin!

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Now the Sonics are trying to make that deal look sweet compared to what could be coming.

Seattle’s oldest professional sports franchise, with 41 years in town, is seeking to break the final two years of its lease at KeyArena by paying the city a sum of no more than $10 million — $5.1 million for the 2008-09 season and $4.9 million for 2009-2010 — which the team believes would satisfy the rental agreement with the arena.

That is one of the new key assertions in the trial brief filed for the team’s upcoming court battle with the city of Seattle.

The Sonics’ brief states they lost $30 million this past season when they were 20-62, their worst record. It also asserts the team’s dispute with the city is a garden variety tenant-landlord impasse that should not require “specific performance.”

The city, which also filed its brief Wednesday, argues the lease explicitly requires “specific performance” — that is, the Sonics need to play in KeyArena until 2010.

U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman is presiding over the non-jury trial that is scheduled to begin Monday and wrap up June 26. Pechman issued a statement Thursday that she will not issue a verdict on the final day. She will first take time to finish a written verdict, which she will read in open court on a date to be announced.

“Leases are generally not specifically enforceable,” reads the first sentence of the Sonics’ trial brief. “Damages in the form of rent make the landlord whole.”

The city counters in its brief that if the Sonics leave early, it will lose intangible benefits, such as civic pride, that can’t be quantified or paid off like rent. And “specific performance” is required within the team’s arena lease with Seattle, signed in 1994, which Bennett’s Professional Basketball Club LLC agreed to honor when it bought the team in 2006. The lease is effective through the 2009-2010 season.

“The obligations of the parties to this Agreement are unique in nature; this Agreement may be specifically enforced by either party,” states Section 27, paragraph L of the lease.

Steve Calandrillo, a contract law professor at the University of Washington Law School, said the judge will have to balance the general rule that courts don’t usually grant “specific performance” — meaning they don’t force parties to fulfill contract obligations against their will — with the language of the Sonics’ lease.

“What it all comes down to is, is specific performance available?” he said. “The Sonics are making a compelling case that in lease disputes, specific performance is not appropriate. But the city of Seattle also has the compelling response that the lease calls for specific performance, which is rare.”

The Sonics’ brief states the team’s partnership with the city of Seattle is broken beyond repair.

“The facts show it is time to end the relationship, not continue it by force. Both parties will be worse off financially with forced performance,” the brief said.

In a deposition taken in April, Bennett testified he and his co-owners would lose between $61 million and $65 million if forced to play in Seattle for two “lame-duck” seasons. Bennett said the Sonics would make $18.8 million should the court allow the team to play in his hometown beginning this fall.

“While the city relies on the interests of the public at large, the public is not a party to the lease. As nonparties, their interests are legally irrelevant,” the team’s brief states.

“The great majority of the public has a yawning indifference to the Sonics’ departure,” the brief adds.

While attendance decreased last season to 28th in the league, the team still officially drew an average of 13,355 fans per game — 78 percent of capacity in the NBA’s smallest venue.

The Sonics’ brief says the actual in-house attendance per game was 9,146 last season. The team says that 28 percent of ticket holders paid for a seat but didn’t go to the game.

“In other words, nearly one-third of those who paid for a ticket did not attend,” the brief states. “This is, unfortunately, compelling evidence of the level of disinterest.”

The decrease in attendance came after the Sonics traded Ray Allen, their only All-Star now playing in the NBA finals for Boston, and let second-leading scorer Rashard Lewis go to Orlando in a sign-and-trade deal. Seattle fans were left with Kevin Durant, the eventual rookie of the year, and players who were inexperienced, injured or fading with expiring contracts.

The brief also warned that if Pechman rules against the Sonics, she will be creating more work for her court.

“If forced to stay, the PBC may be forced to drastically alter its business methods,” the team said. “There is little doubt that this would involve the court in a challenge to the team’s business methods.”

The team reiterated its belief the city is trying through “forced bleeding” to push Bennett into selling to more Seattle-friendly investors — such as previously interested Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, who is mentioned by name later in the brief.

The brief also reminded the court that the Sonics under Bennett’s ownership will leave Seattle after the lease expires in 2010 anyway, since the NBA has already approved the team’s move to Oklahoma City.

Durant says: “Man, if some of my teachers could hear me talking like this they would get a kick out of this,” he said. “But I’m not going to lie. I miss school. When I left, I was glad that I didn’t have to go to class anymore and study hall, but I kind of miss it a little bit.”

He then goes on to say: “Even though I love the game, I can’t play forever and you can’t do nothing without the degree,” he said. “So I got to get it sooner or later. It’s going to take awhile, but I’d rather it take awhile than not having one.”

Kevin plans to begin his class June 5th, 2008.