Oklahoma City Blue

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Oklahoma City Blue
Oklahoma City Blue logo
LeagueNBA G League
Founded2001
HistoryAsheville Altitude
2001–2005
Tulsa 66ers
2005–2014
Oklahoma City Blue
2014–present
ArenaPaycom Center
LocationOklahoma City, Oklahoma
Team colorsBlue, sunset, navy blue, yellow[1][2]
       
General managerNazr Mohammed
Head coachGrant Gibbs
OwnershipProfessional Basketball Club LLC
Affiliation(s)Oklahoma City Thunder
Championships2 (2003, 2004)
Conference titles2 (2004, 2017)
Division titles4 (2003, 2017, 2018, 2019)
Websiteoklahomacity.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, less than a mile north 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 2007–08 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] The Seattle SuperSonics and the Bucks were assigned on June 12, 2008, as NBA affiliates for the 2008–09 season.[9] On July 31, 2008, the 66ers announced that Professional Basketball Club LLC, owner of the Oklahoma City Thunder (formally the Seattle SuperSonics), 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 2010–11 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 reached the semifinals and faced off with Iowa before 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 and announced the 66ers would move to Oklahoma City and play in the Cox Convention Center across the street from the Chesapeake Energy Arena where the parent club Oklahoma City Thunder plays starting with the 2014–15 season. The team's front offices are located in the Chesapeake Energy Arena along with the rest of the front office staff of the parent club Oklahoma City Thunder.[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]

In 2021, the Cox Convention Center was leased to a film production company and the arena was closed to become Prairie Surf Studios.[19] The Blue then moved into their parent team's home arena, the Paycom Center (then recently renamed from Chesapeake Energy Arena) in 2021.[20]

Season-by-season[]

Season Division Regular season Playoffs
Finish Wins Losses Pct.
Asheville Altitude
2001–02 6th 26 30 .464
2002–03 7th 22 28 .440
2003–04 1st 28 18 .609 Won Semifinals (Fayetteville) 116–111
Won NBDL Finals (Huntsville) 108–106
2004–05 2nd 27 21 .563 Won Semifinals (Huntsville) 90–86
Won NBDL Finals (Columbus) 90–67
Tulsa 66ers
2005–06 7th 24 24 .500
2006–07 Eastern 4th 21 29 .420
2007–08 Southwestern 3rd 26 24 .520
2008–09 Southwestern 5th 15 35 .300
2009–10 Western 5th 27 23 .540 Won First Round (Sioux Falls) 2–1
Won Semifinals (Iowa) 2–1
Lost D-League Finals (Rio Grande Valley) 0–2
2010–11 Western 3rd 33 17 .660 Won First Round (Texas) 2–1
Lost Semifinals (Iowa) 0–2
2011–12 Western 6th 23 27 .460
2012–13 Central 3rd 27 23 .540 Won First Round (Canton) 2–1
Lost Semifinals (Rio Grande Valley) 0–2
2013–14 Central 5th 24 26 .480
Oklahoma City Blue
2014–15 Southwest 2nd 28 22 .560 Lost First Round (Santa Cruz) 0–2
2015–16 Southwest 4th 19 31 .380
2016–17 Southwest 1st 34 16 .680 Won First Round (Santa Cruz) 2–1
Lost Conf. Finals (Rio Grande Valley) 1–2[18]
2017–18 Midwest 1st 28 22 .560 Lost First Round (South Bay) 105–125
2018–19 Midwest 1st 34 16 .680 Won First Round (Salt Lake City) 118–113
Lost Conf. Semifinal (Santa Cruz) 102–117
2019–20 Midwest 3rd 20 22 .476 Season cancelled by COVID-19 pandemic
2020–21 — 9th 8 7 .533
Regular season 495 460 .518 2001–2021
Playoffs 14 13 .519 2001–2021

Current roster[]

Oklahoma City Blue roster
  • v
  • t
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY-MM-DD) From
G 25 Edwards, Rob 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1997–01–20 Arizona State
G/F 35 Frazier, Melvin 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1996–08–30 Tulane
G/F 6 Gbinije, Michael 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1992-06-05 Syracuse
F 14 Hoard, Jaylen 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 216 lb (98 kg) 1999–03–30 Wake Forest
G/F 32 Hopson, Scotty 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 204 lb (93 kg) 1989–08–08 Tennessee
G 13 Jaworski, Justin 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1999–06–21 Lafayette
G 24 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1994–08–28 Central Oklahoma
C 30 Sarr, Olivier 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 240 lb (109 kg) 1999–02–20 Kentucky
G 5 Simpson, Zavier 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1997–02–11 Michigan
G 43 Waters, Lindy 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1997–07–28 Oklahoma State
G 8 Watson, Paul (TW) 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1994–12–30 Fresno State
G 21 Wiggins, Aaron (TW) 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1999–01–02 Maryland
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
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 Injured

Roster
Last transaction: December 22, 2021

Head coaches[]

# Head coach Term Regular season Playoffs Achievements
G W L Win% G W L Win%
1 Joey Meyer 2005–2008 148 71 77 .480 — — — —
2 Paul Woolpert 2008–2009 50 15 35 .300 — — — —
3 2009–2011 100 60 40 .600 13 6 7 .462
4 2011–2012 50 23 27 .460 — — — —
5 Darko Rajaković 2012–2014 100 51 49 .510 5 2 3 .400
6 Mark Daigneault 2014–2019 250 143 107 .572 11 4 7 .364
7 Grant Gibbs 2019–present 57 28 29 .491 — — — —

NBA affiliates[]

Asheville Altitude[]

  • None

Tulsa 66ers[]

Oklahoma City Blue[]

References[]

  1. ^ "2018-19 Quick Facts" (PDF). 2018–19 Oklahoma City Blue Media Guide. NBA Media Ventures, LLC. November 7, 2018. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  2. ^ "Oklahoma City Blue Reproduction Guideline Sheet". NBA Properties, Inc. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Altitude leaving Asheville". Blue Ridge Now. May 4, 2005.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Barry (July 19, 2014). "66ers in Tulsa: A timeline". Tulsa World. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  5. ^ a b "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 June 6, 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. ^ Staff Reports (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. ^ a b Kemp, Adam (April 20, 2017). "OKC Blue season ends after playoff loss to Vipers". NewsOK.com. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  19. ^ "Lease approved: OKC's Cox Center now in the movie business". The Oklahoman. December 9, 2020.
  20. ^ "Oklahoma City Blue Announces 2021-22 Regular-Season Schedule". OKC Blue. September 14, 2021.

External links[]

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