Oklahoma City Blue

Oklahoma City Blue
League NBA G League
Founded 2001
History Asheville Altitude
2001–2005
Tulsa 66ers
2005–2014
Oklahoma City Blue
2014–present
Arena Cox Convention Center
Capacity 2,610
Location Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Team colors Blue, sunset, navy blue, yellow[1][2]
                   
General manager Jesse Gould
Head coach Mark Daigneault
Ownership Professional Basketball Club LLC
Affiliation(s) Oklahoma City Thunder
Championships 2 (2003, 2004)
Conference titles 2 (2004, 2017)
Division titles 3 (2003, 2017, 2018)
Website oklahomacity.gleague.nba.com

The Oklahoma City Blue are an NBA G League team based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and the minor league affiliate of the Oklahoma City Thunder. The franchise began as the Asheville Altitude in 2001, before moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2005 and becoming the Tulsa 66ers. After nine seasons in Tulsa, the franchise moved to Oklahoma City in 2014 and were subsequently renamed the Oklahoma City Blue.

Franchise history

Asheville Altitude

The Asheville Altitude were a founding team of the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) in 2001. They played at the Asheville Civic Center in Asheville, North Carolina, where they won back-to-back championships in 2004 and 2005.[3]

Tulsa 66ers

Southwest Basketball, LLC, headed by former Indiana Pacers general manager David Kahn, was awarded four National Basketball Development League franchises in March 2005. One of the Southwest Basketball franchises was for Tulsa. The Tulsa team agreed to play for three years at the Expo Square Pavilion.[4] Instead of the announced new franchise, the company purchased the Asheville Altitude in May 2005 and moved them to Tulsa.[3][5] Southwest had a name-the-team contest, which had 1,200 entries, with the winning name, the 66ers, announced on July 29, 2005.[4] The 66ers name comes from U.S. Route 66, which runs through state of Oklahoma and Tulsa and is a mile south of Expo Square Pavilion.[5] On August 2, 2005, the team named Joey Meyer as the team's first head coach.[4] For their inaugural season and under a new affiliation system, the 66ers were directly affiliated with four NBA teams: the Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks and New Orleans Hornets.[6]

For its second season, 2006–07, the team's assigned NBA affiliated teams the Bulls and the Pacers were dropped while the New York Knicks were added.[7] Local businessman Jono Helmerich's group purchased a 20% stake in the franchise from Southwest Basketball, while Helmerich was named team president on February 5, 2007.[4] For the 2007-2008 season, the Dallas Mavericks joined as the 66ers NBA affiliates while the Hornets were dropped.[8]

The 66ers indicated on February 12, 2008 that for the 2008-09 season that the team would start playing at the new SpiritBank Event Center in the suburb of Bixby.[4] Seattle SuperSonics and the Bucks were assigned on June 12, 2008 as NBA affiliates for the 2008-2009 season.[9] On July 31, 2008, the 66ers announced that Professional Basketball Club LLC (owner of the Oklahoma City Thunder) had purchased the 66ers, marking the third D-League team to be owned by an NBA team (the first two were the Los Angeles D-Fenders and the Austin Toros, owned by the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs, respectively).[10]

The one-season relationship with the arena ended with a lawsuit regarding more than $100,000 the team claimed it was owed. The 66ers filed a lawsuit seeking more than $200,000 in compensatory damages from SpiritBank Center's ownership group. The team subsequently moved to the Tulsa Convention Center in downtown Tulsa for the 2009–10 season.[11]

In April 2010, the Tulsa 66ers reached the playoffs for the first time. The team won two postseason series to reach the D-League finals. Facing the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the team lose the final by zero games to two games.[4]

For the 2010-2011 season, the 66ers coached by Nate Tibbetts set a team record of 33-17 while also having a 14-game winning streak. In the playoff, the team reaches the semifinals facing Iowa losing the series 0-2.[4]

In May 2012, the 66ers announced that they would return to the SpiritBank Event Center for the 2012–13 season.[12] Before September 2013 when the OKC Thunder add the station to its Thunder Radio Network, KAKC 1300 AM was already the 66ers' radio broadcasting partner.[13] Making the playoffs again, Tulsa won a first round series against Canton but was swept again in the semi-final this time by Rio Grande Valley.[4]

However, in June 2014, SpiritBank announced that it would no longer seek bookings or lease the arena space.[14] The 66ers played its last game at Sioux Falls for a 107-105 loss on April 5, 2014. The team finished 24-26 just short of making the playoffs.[4]

Oklahoma City Blue

After getting offers from four venues, Professional Basketball Club felt none were suitable so July 18, 2014 announced the 66ers would move to Oklahoma City starting with the 2014-2015 season.[15] With the move, the team was rebranded from the 66ers to the Blue.[16][17] In the 2016–17 season, the team was the regular season Western Conference champion with 34 wins, a franchise record.[18]

Season-by-season

Season Division Regular season Playoffs
Finish Wins Losses Pct.
Asheville Altitude
2001–026th2630.464
2002–037th2228.440
2003–041st2818.609Won Semifinals (Fayetteville) 116–111
Won NBDL Finals (Huntsville) 108–106
2004–052nd2721.563Won Semifinals (Huntsville) 90–86
Won NBDL Finals (Columbus) 90–67
Tulsa 66ers
2005–067th2424.500
2006–07Eastern4th2129.420
2007–08Southwestern3rd2624.520
2008–09Southwestern5th1535.300
2009–10Western5th2723.540Won First Round (Sioux Falls) 2–1
Won Semifinals (Iowa) 2–1
Lost D-League Finals (Rio Grande Valley) 0–2
2010–11Western3rd3317.660Won First Round (Texas) 2–1
Lost Semifinals (Iowa) 0–2
2011–12Western6th2327.460
2012–13Central3rd2723.540Won First Round (Canton) 2–1
Lost Semifinals (Rio Grande Valley) 0–2
2013–14Central5th2426.480
Oklahoma City Blue
2014–15Southwest2nd2822.560Lost First Round (Santa Cruz) 0–2
2015–16Southwest4th1931.380
2016–17Southwest1st3416.680Won First Round (Santa Cruz) 2–1
Lost Conf. Finals (Rio Grande Valley) 1–2[18]
2017–18Midwest1st2822.560Lost First Round (South Bay) 105–125
Regular season433415.5112001–2018
Playoffs1312.5202001–2017

Current roster

Oklahoma City Blue roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.No.NameHeightWeightDOB (YYYY-MM-DD)From
G – Burton, Deonte (TW) 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 250 lb (113 kg) 1994–01–31 Iowa State
C – Davis, Tyler (TW) 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 266 lb (121 kg) 1997–05–22 Texas A&M
G 20 Alford, Bryce 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1995–01–18 UCLA
F 9 Carrera, Michael 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1993–01–07 Venezuela
F 1 Cobbins, Mike 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1992–08–09 Oklahoma State
G 35 Dozier, PJ 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1996–10–25 South Carolina
G 25 Hamilton, Daniel 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1995–08–08 Connecticut
F 24 Morin, Yannis 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1993–08–31 France
F 31 Murphy, Erik 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 240 lb (109 kg) 1990–10–26 Florida
F 5 Thomas, Rashawn 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1994–08–15 Corpus Christi
G 3 Felix, Javan 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1994–07–28 Texas
F 11 Leon, Justin 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 206 lb (93 kg) 1995–07–29 Florida
G 22 Shakur, Mustafa 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1984–08–18 Arizona
F 13 Singh, Amjyot 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 229 lb (104 kg) 1992–01–27 India
Head coach
  • Mark Daigneault
Assistant coach(es)
  • David Akinyooye
  • Jarrell Christian
  • Taj Finger
  • Grant Gibbs
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • (NBA) On assignment from NBA affiliate
  • (TW) Two-way affiliate player
  • (I) Inactive
  • Injured

Roster
Last transaction: 2018–10–18

Head coaches

# Head coach Term Regular season Playoffs Achievements
GWLWin%GWLWin%
1Joey Meyer2005–081487177.480————
2Paul Woolpert2008–09501535.300————
3Nate Tibbetts2009–111006040.6001367.462
4Dale Osbourne2011–12502327.460————
5Darko Rajaković2012–141005149.510523.400
6Mark Daigneault2014–present20010991.545936.333

Affiliates

References

  1. ↑ "2017-18 Quick Facts" (PDF). 2017–18 Oklahoma City Blue Media Guide. NBA Media Ventures, LLC. November 6, 2017. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
  2. ↑ "Oklahoma City Blue Reproduction Guideline Sheet". NBA Properties, Inc. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Altitude leaving Asheville". Blue Ridge Now. May 4, 2005.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Lewis, Barry (July 19, 2014). "66ers in Tulsa: A timeline". Tulsa World. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  5. 1 2 "Tulsa 66ers set for 9th season". Tulsa Today. November 1, 2013.
  6. ↑ Tramel, Jimmie (September 20, 2005). "66ers get NBA parents". Tulsa World. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  7. ↑ Strain, Mike (June 9, 2006). "NBA D-league: 66ers get affiliates for 2006-07 season". Tulsa World. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  8. ↑ Staff, Tulsa Business (July 6, 2007). "66ers Announce 2007 NBA Affiliations". Tulsa World. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  9. ↑ Staff, Tulsa Business (June 12, 2008). "Tulsa 66ers Align With Seattle SuperSonics". Tulsa World. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  10. ↑ "Oklahoma City NBA group has purchased Tulsa 66ers basketball franchise". Tulsa World. July 31, 2008. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  11. ↑ "66ers moving to Convention Center". Tulsa World. August 14, 2009. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  12. ↑ "66ers Welcome". Bixby Breeze. GTR Newspapers. May 22, 2012. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  13. ↑ Reports, Staff (September 10, 2013). "Thunder gets new Tulsa radio affiliate". Tulsa World. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  14. ↑ Robert, Evatt (June 9, 2014). "Big events no longer scheduled at SpiritBank Event Center in Bixby". Tulsa World. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  15. ↑ "Thunder moving 66ers from Tulsa to Oklahoma City". Tulsa World. July 19, 2014. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  16. ↑ "Thunder Reveals New Name for Development Team". Oklahoma City Thunder. September 24, 2014. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  17. ↑ Mannix, Chris (November 7, 2014). "Thunder eye panic button, Paul Pierce reminisces and more". Sports Illustrated. Time, Inc. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  18. 1 2 Kemp, Adam (20 April 2017). "OKC Blue season ends after playoff loss to Vipers". NewsOK.com. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
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