Derek Fisher returns to Oklahoma City Thunder

Derek Fisher became the third point guard in the Oklahoma City Thunder line up. Derek Fisher won five NBA championship rings with the Los Angeles Lakers.

|
AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, FIle)
Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Derek Fisher (37) seen here last year during the NBA finals basketball series against the Miami Heat in Oklahoma City. The Thunder signed veteran Derek Fisher again on Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. (

The Oklahoma City Thunder signed veteran Derek Fisher on Monday, filling an opening for a third point guard that was created when Eric Maynor got traded to Portland.

Fisher joins Oklahoma City for the stretch run for the second straight season. He played in 20 regular-season games and then all 20 playoff games last season. He played briefly for the Dallas Mavericks this season, asking for his release in December after injuring his right knee.

Why bring Fisher back? " For a team that expects to make another deep playoff run, entering the postseason with only two lead guards would have been risky. Fisher also brings stability to the position in the event that Jackson, still in just his second season, struggles under the playoff spotlight," writes Darnell Mayberry, of the Oklahoman.

Fisher won five NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers before getting traded to Houston last season, then buying his way out of his contract with the Rockets.

Fisher is also the president of the NBA Players Association, which recently ousted longtime executive director Billy Hunter.

The Oklahoma City Thunder was helped to victory by some terrible Chicago shooting, beating the Bulls 102-72 on Sunday in a surprisingly one-sided contest.

Russell Westbrook scored 23 points and Kevin Durant had 19 points and 16 rebounds for Oklahoma City, which moved 6-1/2 games clear atop the Northwest Division.

The Thunder, who had allowed an average of 113 points over their previous four games, broke out of a rough defensive patch by limiting Chicago to 29.1 percent shooting. Midway through the third quarter, Chicago had missed 44 of its 55 shots.

O.C. led 61-39 at that point, and the margin reached 32 with both teams' starters sitting out the fourth quarter.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Derek Fisher returns to Oklahoma City Thunder
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2013/0226/Derek-Fisher-returns-to-Oklahoma-City-Thunder
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe