Author: Mike

I have to admit I watched almost all of the Thunder’s 85-83 win over the Clippers with my index finger atop the back buttom on my remote going back and forth between the Thunder-Clippers and the Cubs-Indians. Lucky for me, both of the teams I wanted to win did so.

OKC won it’s fourth straight out of the gate and now remain as the only unbeaten team in the West heading into Oracle tonight. Actually, I’m not all that amped about tonight because I finally heard something authentic and honest come from the lips of Kevin Durant which touched me almost as much as his 2013-14 MVP speech. What Durant said was that basically, unlike Russell, he’s still trying to find himself as a human being and that in a sense he envies Russell for the relationships he has with his wife, both of his parents, his brother, and close friends. I couldn’t agree more with Kevin. That’s a significant step forward. I completely respect him for saying that instead of some of the other nonsense he’s said of late.

As far as the win over the Clippers–Westbrook was once again magnificent even though his 35-6-5 line was somewhat pedestrian compared to Week 1. No other Thunder player scored in double figures. Oladipo scored nine points and was the second leading scorer.

Steven Adams and Enes Kanter both had double figure rebounding nights. But this was a game about Westbrook hitting key baskets when it mattered and the Thunder playing some great team defense. On the night, the Clippers shot 39.1% from the field. More to that point, Blake Griffin and Chris Paul went a combined 11-32 from the field.

Three things stood out to me about this game. Samaj Christon, Joffery Lauvernge, and Jerami Grant were all solid and will continue to play significant roles moving forward. Plus the fact, Billy Donovan now has three guys who can play the point in Westbrook, Oladipo, and Christon. So why is there really need to keep Cam Payne moving forward?

Jerami Grant doesn’t shoot any better than Andre Roberson, but I love his defense and raw athleticism. OKC now has four perimeter defenders in Westbrook, Oladipo, Roberson, and Grant who should be able to somewhat match up with the Warriors. The dilemma with the Warriors is how to go small with them. Sam Presti has now given Billy Donovan his own small lineup of Westbrook, Adams, Oladipo, Roberson, and Grant. But again–OKC now has four guys who can defend on the perimeter. The Thunder have never really had this as a team. And, yes, BTW…defense wins championships. You can never have enough guys who can defend.

As far as tonight, I have no idea what will happen. I’m not all that much into the Westbrook-Durant narrative at this point. I’ve completely moved forward with all that. I’ll never boo Kevin Durant even though he did disappoint me. It’s his life, not ours. It was his decision–not ours. Instead I’ll remember the good things about Durant and how he touched all of our lives in Oklahoma City for almost an entire decade. Having written that though–I clearly hope we beat his ass tonight.

LET’S GO THUNDER!

Congrats to the Cubs, Bill Murray, and their fans.

Lots of speculation on a deal bringing Rudy Gay to Oklahoma City. We’ll see.

Sam Presti is a busy dude right now. After signing both Adams and Oladipo to four year extensions and not getting one done with Andre Roberson he has now traded Ersan Ilyasova and a protected 2020 first round pick to the Sixers for Jerami Grant and a TPE. Thus, Ersan Ilyasova’s career as a stretch four in OKC lasted three games.

Grant is 6’9″ and basically an athletic forward who can defend multiple front court positions and unlike both Roberson and Singler can defend power forwards if needed. Like Andre Roberson, he’s limited offensively. First and foremost this puts the Thunder $7.1 million under the salary cap and for the Thunder this will perhaps enable them to pursue Rudy Gay once Cameron Payne’s health situation is clarified.

The most glaring weakness of OKC currently is three point shooting. It would appear Presti will be making another deal once Cameron Payne is given a clean slate of health.

Short term, OKC did nothing which makes them better immediately. But it would appear Sam Presti will be pulling another trigger in the not too distant future to shore up OKC’s small forward offensive woes and give Westbrook some more help on that end of the floor.

Jerami Grant–Syracuse

A very good week for the OKC Thunder got even better on Monday when it was reported both Steven Adams and Victor Oladipo signed four year extensions with the Thunder. Adams reportedly will sign a four year deal at $100 million while Oladipo reportedly will sign a four year deal at $84 million. Both extensions will prevent the players from becoming restricted free agents this summer which would have required the Thunder to match other teams’ offers this summer.

Simply put—this gives OKC a very promising core of Westbrook, Adams, and Oladipo. Andre Roberson will become a restricted free agent this summer. Domas Sabonis is in the first year of his rookie scale contract. Enes Kanter is in the second year of his four year deal. Cam Payne and Josh Huestis are both rookie scale players. New backup point guard Semaj Christon is a rookie scale player as well. Kyle Singler is in the second year of his four year deal which will probably look like a rookie scale contract value wise once the new CBA goes into effect in 2017.

Thus, Presti has a core of Westbrook, Adams, and Oladipo surrounded by a second tier of young players in Roberson, Kanter, Payne, Sabonis, Christon, Singler, and Huestis. Plus, their first round pick this summer.

If the Thunder feel they need to go after a max offer free agent this summer they’ll need to shed around $29 million in payroll. Which to me would mean the shedding salary starting point would begin with Enes Kanter’s $17.8 million on the books.

Of the free agents available this summer the one who would most fit the Thunder in my estimation would be Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans. He would be a seamless fit with his size and skill set I would think. Imagine a starting five of Westbrook, Davis, Adams, Oladipo, and Andre Roberson. I’m almost certain that would garner Jerry West’s attention.

So–while in a sense we’ll all be looking back somewhat to the Durant years when OKC visits the Warriors on Thursday–what Sam Presti has done since July 4th is rebuild the Thunder with a core of talented young players which makes the NBA future burn fairly bright in Oklahoma City if Russell Westbrook ultimately decides to make LA his summer home only.

This is kind of where we thought the Thunder season would be heading with dual storylines of Russell Westbrook chasing an MVP, but not sure if his supporting cast would be good enough for the Thunder to get to the 50 win plateau. It will be one of the dominant national storylines every bit as compelling as what the Warriors do this season with the addition of Kevin Durant.

If you’re an NBA junkie it doesn’t get much better. Westbrook’s season could conceivably be historical. Jerry Lucas was a very skilled power forward in the 70’s so that doesn’t translate to the player Russell Westbrook has become. But there are parts of Westbrook which are Kobe, Magic, Michael, and Oscar Robertson.

No doubt this young Thunder team will have pockets of games where they struggle, but the Westbrook storyline of chasing a season of a triple double average and an MVP will be compelling if you love NBA hoops. As Steven Adams and Victor Oladipo go Westbrook’s chances of chasing history should go as well.

With around five minutes left in the fourth period, Nick Young hit a three which brought the Lakers to within 95-91. Not long after the Young basket, Russell Westbrook completely took over the next three minutes or so in a display of basketball which has him No. 1 on my MVP list one week into this young regular season. Kawhi Leonard would be my No. 2 and LeBron would be my No. 3.

Back to the Laker game. After Westbrook flexed his muscles in those ‘pivotal’ minutes the final score read OKC Thunder 113-LA Lakers 96. You’d have to live in Oklahoma to know the exhilaration this first week of the season has provided. It’s been a special week for a city which had a gut punch of a year in 2016 on multiple fronts.

After Kevin Durant’s weak dick exit memo on the Players’ Tribune on July 4th, not many, including me, thought we’d have an opportunity to be a part of something historically special like this. Many, again myself included, were working the Westbrook to Boston trade for Marcus Smart, Jae Crowder, and two first round picks. Thank god, Sam Presti and Russell Westbrook saw things in a different light.

What Oklahoma City is experiencing instead is perhaps history in the making as Russell Westbrook chases an NBA regular season MVP. In the history of the NBA–only three other players have started a season with two triple doubles in their first three games. They would be Magic Johnson, Jerry Lucas, and Oscar Robertson. I’m fairly certain the millennials won’t know who Jerry Lucas was or that he played for the NY Knicks so I’ll try and find a youtube suitable for the Daily Thunder youngsters/millenials.

LeBron James has 43 career triple doubles, Russell Westbrook now has 39. I wonder if he’ll demand Presti trade him to the Warriors at the deadline so he can win a ring. Just kidding…kind of.

In essence, Westbrook is one assist away in the Philly game from triple doubling all three games this week. What we’ve seen in each game was a slightly different nuance of Westbrook. Against Phoenix–it was pure Kobe audacity with 51 points on 44 shots. Tonight–it was Westbrook’s most efficient game of the season to date. 33-12-16 with an 11-21 night from the field. It was Westbrook at his best as the Thunder went from 13 assists in the Phoenix game to 29 helpers versus the Lakers tonight. The ball moved, it didn’t stick so much. Simple game. Jerry West and Kevin Durant would be proud.

My three stars would be 1 Westbrook, 2 Steven Adams, 3 tie Victor Oladipo and Enes Kanter.

Adams double doubled with 14 and 12. Kanter scored 16 points with an efficient 8-11 shooting night. Oladipo hit the 20 point plateau for the second straight game while continuing to show glimpses of what Thunder Nation hopes will come in more consistent incremental intervals as this season moves along.

So here the Thunder stand 3-0 one week into a young 82 game marathon of a season. None of the three wins came against a team which will be playing an 83rd game this basketball season, but it matters none. Because for the first time since July 4th there’s a sense of hope in the streets of Oklahoma City. A sense of renewed love for our Thunder. A sense of hope the basketball gods are going to right the crime which transpired on July 4th. Heck…I might even hang my Thunder flag out of my truck window this week. Seriously.

The schedule gets tougher in a big way this week with a road back to back against the Clippers and Durant’s Warriors. Two very tough games. Then a home Saturday game against the Timberwolves.

But there’s hope, love, and a sense of karma boomerang. The Thunder are still relevant and it’s all because of Russell Westbrook.

For the Daily Thunder millennials