Oklahoma City Thunder Preview: "New York Movie"

Josh Spilker is back to help us finish off these (now belated) Ed Hopper NBA previews. Feel free to add your thoughts on the 2010 Thunder in our comments section.It's dark, except for the screen. Its glow glints from bright to mauve to Oklahoma brown. In the audience darkness, a bounce, always bouncing, he can't stop it, can't control it, no, he doesn't have restless leg syndrome, or so he's been told from three different specialists. He is just energetic, excited, anxious even. He prefers anxious. Specifically, anxious tonight, the big screen in the big city. He prefers flat Oklahoma, the skies of Texas. Moving west from the Maryland hood was the best move he ever made. Sure, he could've followed Melo to a big time school, but he preferred to be overshadowed by other pursuits in Texas and Oklahoma. Gave him time for his craft. Time to develop. Time to shine on his terms. Everyone just thinks he's a tall dude. They have no idea what a Thunder is, anyway.

"Excuse me, excuse me, pardon me." He has to move out.

Always so polite, so his mom tells everyone who asks about Kevin. "Sweet Kev, sweet sweet Kev," she says, showing off the five diamond rings on her fingers. "Sweet Kev knows how to take care of his momma," she says. What she doesn't know, what he doesn't tell her, is how those are bribes to stay far, far away. He is a silent assassin. A cat burglar who knows all the back alleys and backways. He just gets nervous in the spotlight, such as here in New York.

"Yo, Kev, where you going man, the big show is just starting." It's James. Kevin loves James. The guy who has enough suave and panache to persuade Kevin, to move Kevin, both in silliness and in seriousness. James is older, but Kevin is richer. James is serious, but Kevin is more talented. James is funnier, but Kevin is goofier. They get along. Not like Russell always trying to fit in. Not like Green, burdened by the weight of falling short. James, Kevin feels, is like himself. Deeply underrated, out to prove the world different with sly grins and a whimsical personality that belies a deep desire to succeed. James too, Kevin reckons, is a silent assassin. Kevin is glad James is here.

"I know," Kevin says, "I know." Kevin is afraid to admit he's a little scared. He doesn't like to see himself as part of the big event, the big premiere. He saw the starring roles by Kobe, by LeBron, even Dwight last year. He doesn't know how they did it, how they put up with it. The movie posters, the trailers, the magazine covers, the early nods as an awards winner before the movie has even been shown. Kevin plays it cool, he laughs it off, he doesn't like being on the coastal towns, they know so much and are so smart with so many questions. He likes Oklahoma, where Kevin can be Kevin and no one knows he's a big-time star.

Out in the lobby, he can hear the first waves of sound. The feature film starring Kevin Durant has started. And all he wants to do is bite a nail. Just let him bite one glorious nail. He deserves that much, right? Just one bad habit?