Veteran forward Malik Rose, acquired from New York in a trade-deadline deal, considered his time in Oklahoma City a success from an individual standpoint but is unsure if he'll return for 2009-10. It's unlikely the Thunder will re-sign the 34-year-old Rose, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer and likely will consider joining a championship-caliber team next season.
"Right now I'm just happy with myself," Rose said. "I accomplished a lot of the things that I wanted to accomplish coming here. Before I got here I hadn't been on the court in about three years. I picked up a lot of weight. "So some of my goals after coming here were just to get my rhythm back and my timing back and my confidence back out on the court. And a lot of that has come. I've lost about 12 or 14 pounds since I've been here. It's just like a jumpstart to my summer. So if I can keep doing those things, getting myself back in shape and getting myself back in shape mentally, I see some big things in the future."
Thunder LOOKING FOR BETTER SHOWING IN SEASON FINALE
With nothing else to play for heading into tonight's season finale against the Los Angeles Clippers, coach Scott Brooks said the Thunder will "see what they're made of" following Monday's 30-point blowout loss at Portland.
"It's important that all of our guys take a look at themselves, myself included, and figure out what it's going to take to get these guys to compete and do it consistently," Brooks said. "The last couple of games haven't been up to par. We have to make sure we come out and play with better energy from the start."
Said Earl Watson, "It's the last game of the season so you want to go into that game and leave it all out on the court. You want to just play as hard as you can. We owe it to the city, ourselves, the fans, our teammates and everyone involved. So we just have to go in and play hard and get a 'W.'"
COLLISON'S THIGH DOING WELL
After returning from a two-game absence caused by a right thigh contusion, forward Nick Collison scored eight points with five rebounds and three blocked shots in 20 minutes off the bench Monday at Portland and said he should be a go against the Clippers.
"I felt pretty good," Collison said. "I felt really sore (Monday) at shoot-around. I didn't know how I was going to be, but adrenaline is a powerful drug. But once I was out there I felt pretty good. So I don't think it'll be an issue on Wednesday."
