If nothing else, Hoosier fans will at least be able to catch White in action this coming Sunday, as his Tulsa 66ers take on Fort Wayne at Allen Country War Memorial Stadium. Just watch out for the Nightmare Ant, D.J.

With the season coming to a close here and the Thunder sitting at 20-50, hopefully White will get some playing time before season’s end.

Thanks to Hoosiergirl for the tip.

But fear not, Hoosier fans, as D.J. was cleared by doctors Monday to resume full-contact drills. White will be a member of the D-League’s Tulsa 66ers. According to Ridiculous Upside, White is joining a bit of a talented roster in Tulsa, so hopefully he finds his way into a starter’s role in an effort to make it onto the Thunder’s roster as early as next season.

Best of luck, D.J.

Oklahoma City Thunder rookie forward D.J. White will undergo surgery to remove a benign growth from his jaw and will miss at least four to six months, the team announced Thursday.

Team physicians will perform the procedure next week and, as a part of the operation, doctors will take a bone graft from the 6-9 White’s hip to mend the bone in his jaw.

Not that surgery is ever good news, but let’s be thankful that the growth is benign and hope that D.J. makes a full recovery. He probably wouldn’t have gotten much clock for the Thunder this season, but the young man must be disappointed to have his NBA career kick off this way. Get well soon, D.J.

Surely you recognize these two fine looking gentleman (and Russell Westbrook of UCLA). Although he won’t wear the No. 23 this upcoming season (Marcus Camby pulled seniority), new Clipper Eric Gordon posed for the rookie photo shoot wearing the number he wore in Bloomington. I’m not quite sure how he got talked into that pose, but the look on his face leads me to believe he wasn’t too happy about it. D.J., on the other hand, looks thrilled. I’m really going to miss that kid.

{HT: Basketblog}

Editor’s Note: Don’t forget to submit your list of the top 10 Indiana players of all-time.

• Clippers glad to have Eric Gordon (Los Angeles Times)
• Clippers select Eric Gordon (Clippers.com)
• IU’s Eric Gordon picked 7th by LA Clippers (Indianapolis Star)
• Gordon goes to L.A., but won’t go Hollywood (Indianaplis Star)
• Clippers get their man in Gordon (Pasadena Star-News)
• Pistons deal White to Sonics (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
• The “D.J. White is a Piston” post (Detroit Bad Boys)
• Don’t assume Pistons blew their draft (Detroit Free Press)
• Pistons take White, trade him (The Detroit News)
• Sonics land White in trade with Detroit (Seattle Times blog)
• Sonics add D.J. White (Supersonicsoul)

If you were to say we expected even a tenth of this stuff to go down, we would not have believed you. (This is how these things always go, it seems.) But hey, it was fun to cover and blog about. Sure: we would have loved for IU to storm their way to the Final Four, for Eric Gordon, D.J. White and Kelvin Sampson to cut down the nets in San Antonio, but things do not always go as we would have hoped.

Without confirming with E — though I know I don’t need to — the reason this site has garnered any amount of success is because of Big A. The guy lives and breathes this blog and he churns out the posts day in and day out. Myself and E are tied up with other writing endeavors outside of the real jobs (I’m also incredibly lazy); without Big A this site ceases to exist.

Lastly, we want to thank each and everyone of you. Without the comments, the visits, the feedback and the tips, we wouldn’t be nearly as enthused about the site, and what the future holds for it. To the commenters who have been here since the start, (hi Kelin and Jamie!) we thank you. To those that joined along the way and have made a community out of this place, we thank you.  We hope we’ve done a good job with year one; we look forward to year two.

Go Hoosiers.

The Wizards have some experience with Hoosiers, drafting Jared Jeffries in 2003 and Calbert Cheaney in 1993. Where does DJ fall on the list of Indiana greats in relation to Jeffries and Cheaney?

ITH: Tough to say. If you go by statistics, Cheaney is the all-time leading scorer at both IU and in the Big Ten. He played on some fantastic teams in the early 90s as well. Jeffries doesn’t have the numbers Cheaney does, but he only played two years before going pro. I think White’s legacy at IU is a strong one regardless of where he matches up with those two.. He had to endure, not one, but two coaching changes during his tenure. No one deserves that. Even after fellow Alabama native Mike Davis got peaced, he stayed loyal to IU. And last year, when IU was firing on all cylinders and looked poised to make a deep run in the tournament until the Sampson debacle came crashing down and effectively killed the season, White stayed strong and played well. Not the same could be said for everyone on the squad.

He was fiercely loyal in times of adversity. Indiana basketball fans love him for that.

You can read the entire Q & A here.

Anyhow, Chad Ford had this to say about our boy D.J. and his draft stock:

It was surprising that White skipped the Orlando predraft camp, but it appears that move isn’t hurting him. He has worked out for the Nets, Magic and Wizards and has more than held his own against some of the more heralded big men prospects in the draft — Darrell Arthur and Marreese Speights.

He measures well at 6-foot-9 in shoes with a 7-foot-2 wingspan, and he’s tested very well in some of the athletic drills. And while talk of a four-year senior being hot is odd these days, remember that White is still just 21 years old — only a few months older than O.J. Mayo.

Perhaps D.J. to Detroit at 29 was selling him a bit short. Although White could still end up in the early second round, Washington (18), New Jersey (21) and Orlando (22) could all give him a serious look. If he goes that high in a draft this stockpiled with talent, Mr. White will be doing very well for himself. That’s why they tell you to stay in school, kids!