Oklahoma City Blue

Oklahoma City Blue
Oklahoma City Blue logo
League	NBA Development League
Founded	2001
History	Asheville Altitude 2001–2005 Tulsa 66ers 2005–2014 Oklahoma City Blue 2014–present
Arena	Cox Convention Center
Arena Capacity	2,610
Location	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Team colors	Dark blue, blue, red, yellow
Head coach	Jarell Christian
Ownership	Professional Basketball Club LLC
Affiliation(s)	Oklahoma City Thunder
Championships	2 (2003, 2004)
Website	www.nba.com/dleague/oklahomacity/

The Oklahoma City Blue is an NBA Development 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 relocating to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2005 and becoming the Tulsa 66ers. After nine seasons in Tulsa, the franchise were moved to Oklahoma City in 2014 by the Oklahoma City Thunder and were subsequently renamed the Oklahoma City Blue.

Franchise history

File:Tulsa 66ers logo.svg

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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.

Following the 2004–05 season, the Asheville Altitude were purchased by Southwest Basketball, LLC. The group moved the franchise to Tulsa, Oklahoma and were renamed the 66ers in honor of U.S. Route 66, which runs through Tulsa and the state of Oklahoma. For their inaugural season, the 66ers were directly affiliated with four NBA teams: the Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks and New Orleans Hornets.

On July 31, 2008, the 66ers announced that Clayton Bennett of the Professional Basketball Club LLC (owner of the Oklahoma City Thunder) had agreed in principle to purchase 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).

After three seasons of playing at the Expo Square Pavilion in Tulsa, for the 2008–09 season, the team moved to the brand-new SpiritBank Event Center in nearby Bixby, but retained the Tulsa 66ers name. The one-season relationship with the arena ended with a lawsuit regarding more than $100,000 the team claimed it 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.

In May 2012, the 66ers announced that they would return to the SpiritBank Event Center for the 2012–13 season. However, in June 2014, SpiritBank announced that it would no longer seek bookings or lease the arena space.

In July 2014, the 66ers relocated to the Oklahoma City, and in September 2014, they were renamed the Oklahoma City Blue for the 2014–15 season.

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
Tulsa 66ers
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
Regular season			371	377	.496	2001–2016
Playoffs			12	8	.600	2001–2016

Current roster

Oklahoma City Blue roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY–MM–DD) From G 23 Buycks, Dwight 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1989–03–06 Marquette F 25 Carlton, James 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1992–10–19 Howard F 20 Cobbins, Michael 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1992–08–09 Oklahoma State C 44 Johnson, Dakari 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 255 lb (116 kg) 1995–09–22 Kentucky F 13 Miller, Dane 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1990–05–10 Rutgers G/F 1 Moungoro, Boubacar 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1994–09–20 IMG Academy HS (FL) G 2 Pargo, Jannero 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1979–02–22 Arkansas G 10 Teague, Marquis 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1993–02–28 Kentucky G 5 Tokoto, J. P. 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1993–09–15 North Carolina F 31 Woods, Kameron 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1993–04–22 Butler F 7 Zanna, Talib 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1990–01–10 Pittsburgh F/C 4 Zubčić, Tomislav 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1990–01–17 Croatia	Head coach Jarell Christian Assistant coach(es) David Akinyooye Travon Bryant Royal Ivey Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended (NBA) On assignment from NBA affiliate (I) Inactive Injured Roster • Transactions Last transaction: 2016–04–02

Affiliates

• Chicago Bulls (2005–2006)
• Dallas Mavericks (2007–2008)
• Indiana Pacers (2005–2006)
• Milwaukee Bucks (2005–2008)
• New Orleans Hornets (2005–2007)
• New York Knicks (2006–2008)
• Oklahoma City Thunder (2008–present)

External links

• Official team website
• 2015–16 team media guide