{"id":4266,"date":"2017-04-13T16:01:39","date_gmt":"2017-04-13T21:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/?p=4266"},"modified":"2017-07-08T12:34:35","modified_gmt":"2017-07-08T17:34:35","slug":"nick-collison-is-mr-thunder-as-career-comes-to-a-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/?p=4266","title":{"rendered":"Nick Collison IS Mr. Thunder as career comes to a close…….."},"content":{"rendered":"

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Last night the longest\u00a0tenured player\u00a0of the Seattle\/Oklahoma City National Basketball Association franchise probably played his last regular season game. His eight minutes of highly competitive play against the Denver Nuggets in the Chesapeake Energy Arena signaled the end of his thirteenth regular\u00a0season as a Sonic\/Thunder for the former Kansas University All-American.\u00a0 A native of\u00a0Iowa where he played for his high school coaching father, Collison went on to be the\u00a0National Player-of-the Year\u00a0for the Jayhawks\u00a0i Lawrence, was drafted by the Seattle Sonics and moved to Oklahoma\u00a0City to play for the\u00a0Thunder for the past nine years.\u00a0 One of only a handful of NBA players in\u00a0the past\u00a0fifteen years\u00a0that stuck with the same franchise for his career, Collison has not made is final decision on\u00a0his future in basketball.\u00a0 Sources say he will end his career\u00a0in the game an retire to his off-season home in Seattle where his family lives year round.\u00a0 Collison has been an effective\u00a0post player in his time in the\u00a0Association, highlighted with\u00a0a\u00a0“Finals” appearance in 2012 when the Thunder lost to the Miami Heat in\u00a0five games.<\/p>\n

It is conceivable\u00a0seeing\u00a0Collison,\u00a036, \u00a0living out his life never having anything to do with work (basketball) again.\u00a0 Caring\u00a0for his family and being a great father as he grows into his middle years might be enough. If he did come back into the NBA,\u00a0one might think\u00a0it would be when and if Seattle gets a team in the Association, as it probably will in the future.\u00a0\u00a0 Collison’s love of the Thunder and his organization, the fans of the team on Reno Street, and his total dedication to his craft, Collison’s number should be retired by OKC, being on the first squad wearing the blue.\u00a0 Collison is as loved in OKC as any have been, including Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant.\u00a0 \u00a0Nick Collison is\u00a0Mr. Thunder in his value to the “Thunder\u00a0Way”.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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    Last night the longest\u00a0tenured player\u00a0of the Seattle\/Oklahoma City National Basketball Association franchise probably…<\/p>\n

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