Author: Mike

The Lakers are in town tonight with another head coach. Former Golden State assistant Luke Walton now has the task of rebuilding the Lakers to some level of respectability. It’s always about players. First rule of coaching…Players Make the Coach. Lakers should once again finish near the bottom of the West and will stay there until they bring in a free agent like say Russell Westbrook who can change the current culture of losing.

But then again all the talking heads were sure Durant and Westbrook were going to the Lakers together after this season–and of course we all saw how that went. Duke rookie Brandon Ingram should be fun to watch along with some other young Lakers. OKC isn’t good enough to take anything for granted so it should be a fun game as most of the games should be this season.

What’s going on with this person? He made his decision. He left. It’s the weakest thing I’ve seen in any of the four major sports from a superstar in my lifetime. Russell Westbrook has moved on. Sam Presti has moved on. Clay Bennett has moved on. Even the Thunder fanbase has moved on although they’re going to boo the living shit out of Durant when he makes his first appearance in Oklahoma City in February.

What gives? Go back and look at all the beautiful things Durant said about Westbrook in his then epic MVP acceptance speech. Who was that person in relation to this douchebag we see today?

Which Durant is the real Kevin Durant? Which one is the person versus the crafted brand created by his handlers?

Behind Russell Westbrook’s first official triple double of the season–the OKC Thunder battled back from an eighteen point first half deficit to win a 113-110 OT thriller in the season home opener at Chesapeake Energy Arena on Friday night.

A Westbrook driving twisting layup with seven seconds left in OT was the game winner and an Andre Roberson block of a Devin Booker shot was the savior.

This was not the Westbrook of Wednesday night in Philly when he was prudent with his ball distribution. Adams, Kanter, Ilyasova, and Sabonis didn’t see much of the ball. This was pure Kobe/Westbrook. If you’re a white geek millennial who writes dumbass nonsense on various basketball blog message boards and you never really saw Kobe in his prime you saw him Friday night wearing # O for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Westbrook was simply audacious. Kobe, Phil, and Jerry Buss would be proud. Officially–Westbrook’s triple double read 51-13-10. Kobebrook was 17-44 from the field playing 45 minutes. The Chesapeake Energy Arena used to be Kevin Durant’s building. No more. Russell Westbrook now owns the building and the state of Oklahoma. If Westbrook wanted to be the GOP presidential canidate over Trump or the simpleton Ted Cruz it would be his if he so chose.

Consider this…. Oklahoma City had 13 assists and 22 turnovers as a team and still won this basketball game.

Victor Oladipo had a nice bounce back game scoring 21 points while showing glimpses of why Sam Presti traded Serge Ibaka this past summer. Officially–the OKC starting backcourt combined for 72 points on Friday night.

I think it would be fair to say after two games Russell Westbrook is on everyone’s MVP short list. In two games he’s averaged 41.5 points. Maybe Kevin Durant should tweet some bullshit apology about holding Russell back all these years.

Granted…I’m almost certain Billy Donovan would rather see more of the Russell Westbrook we saw on Wednesday night in Philly per ball distribution, but there will be nights like this as this season unfolds before our lucky eyes as NBA basketball purists.

My Three Stars of the Game are 1 Russell Westbrook, 2 Andre Roberson, and 3 Victor Oladipo.

OKC improves to 2-0 on the season and will host Luke Walton’s LA Lakers on Sunday evening inside the Peake.

Behind what was essentially a Russell Westbrook triple double, the OKC Thunder won the season opener over an energized Sixer team on Wednesday night in Philly. It didn’t come easy though as the Thunder found themselves trailing by six entering the fourth period on Joel Embiid Night before a playoff-like crowd on the road. But behind Westbrook, Enes Kanter, and others the Thunder won the fourth period by a 34-22 count in claiming their first win in the post Kevin Durant era in Oklahoma City.

Any road win is a good one in the NBA, but this win was essential as the Thunder overcame Joel Embiid’s professional debut and a raccous crowd to get this season on the right first step without Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka.

For the most part I thought OKC was pretty good on the night. Russell Westbrook was superb. He basically tripled doubled at 32,12,9. His court management was exactly what this young team will need through the course of the season. He steered his team, but didn’t bully his usage to an overbearing extent. He was just about right in getting other players involved.

Steven Adams scored 16 points while grabbing 5 rebounds, but more importantly he was involved offensively to the point where he attempted 16 shots. Adams was solid, but you almost feel certain his level will amp up even higher in coming games.

Victor Oladipo struggled–no way around it. Oladipo went 4-16 from the field and was 0-5 from three point range. He finished with 10 points and did redeem himself in the fourth period with two big buckets as the Thunder rallied to win the game.

Enes Kanter was excellent in the fourth period. He had a solid night going for 17 points and 12 rebounds in 24 minutes of play.

Domas Sabonis actually started the game, thus becoming the first ever Thunder player to start as a rookie. He looked a bit nervous initially, but settled in and gave Billy Donovan solid minutes. Sabonis will become a core player as time moves along.

Ersan Ilyasova was good. He hit two big threes, had ten points overall, drew two charges, and was decent defensively. I liked what I saw from him as he fit into the Westbrook flow and will give Donovan two solid stretch four options.

Andre Roberson didn’t do much for me. He scored one point, didn’t attempt a three, and missed on several opportunities around the basket. But scoring isn’t Roberson’s thing so I won’t dwell on it. If he scores more than six points in a game it’s a bonus.

Alex Abrines played 13 minutes and hit a big three in the fourth period. Kyle Singler hit his first three then missed his next four, but his hair looks better this season. Backup point guard Semaj Christon played and was decent from my perspective. In all ten players saw the floor for the Thunder on opening night.

I’d give the Thunder a B on their report card. I’d have Westbrook, Kanter, and Adams as my three stars of the game in that order. I was impressed with Sabonis and Ilyasova as stretch fours, and okay with Christon as the backup point guard. Abrines was about what I expected. Oladipo had a tough shooting night. His integration alongside Westbrook has to become smoother for the Thunder to become a top four team in the West.

But anytime a young team can go on the road and win in a playoff like atmosphere you take it as a positive, an incremental step forward, and then get ready to host Phoenix on Friday night in the season home opener.

I think this is a very good discussion on the Durant-Westbrook dynamic and their broken relationship. I pretty much agree with everything Skip and Shannon say in the discussion.

It is what it is, but enough of the pettiness from Kevin Durant. You were an unrestricted free agent. You exercised your right within the rules of the NBA. You earned the right. But shut up with the little girl bullshit in reference to Westbrook, Donovan, and Presti. You went 10-31 with two of the worst late game turnovers in NBA history in Game 6. You then moved to the team which benefitted from your horrible performance in Game 6.You didn’t go to San Antonio, Miami, LA, Boston or even your hometown Wizards with Scott Brooks. You took what you and your handlers perceived was the best hand to beat LeBron James and win a championship. Just admit it once openly on the record and be done with it.

The much awaited debut of Kevin Durant’s AAU Super Team in Oakland left much to be desired as the San Antonio Spurs destroyed the Golden State Warriors by a 129-100 count on Tuesday night inside Oracle Arena.

Durant was actually decent as he led the Warriors with a 27 point night. The rest of his new team in a word…sucked. Golden State looked awkward, confused, and thoroughly outcoached by one Gregg Popovich. It wasn’t just that Curry, Thompson, Green, and other Warriors were off, more to the point they looked nothing like the team which won 73 games last regular season.

The Warriors turned the ball over sixteen times and gave up 129 points at home in their much awaited ‘super team’ opener. All summer we’ve had to listen to Kevin Durant’s immature references to Russell Westbrook, Billy Donovan, or the OKC Thunder culture in general so it’s more than ironic his new super team looked this bad on the national stage in their debut. I won’t go any further.

I’ll circle this though, teams have bad shooting nights–it happens. But with ZaZa Pachulia as the Warriors’ new rim protector the Spurs did whatever they wanted near the rim whenever they wanted to do it. Andrew Bogut wasn’t an All-Star, but he clearly was better than ZaZa Pachulia.

Granted–it’s only one game out of eighty-two, but what the Warriors showed on Tuesday night is that winning an NBA championship with ZaZa Pachulia as their starting center might be challenging.

In closing–Kawhi Leonard led the Spurs with a career 35 point night and showed why he’s the second best overall player in the NBA only behind LeBron James.

Maybe Durant will end up a Spur after this season exercising his option year. If Nike and his handlers tell him to do it–maybe we’ll see Durant playing with Leonard next season.

Hope Jerry West and Ron Adams tucked Kevin Durant in and kissed him on the forehead when they told him his bedtime story tonight.

Hey–KD, Steven Adams is in Oklahoma City, ZaZa Pachulia is in Oakland.

Just sayin’.

The Thunder waived Mitch McGary and Ronnie Price yesterday while keeping Semaj Christon as the third point guard. This pares the Thunder roster to fifteen the day before opening night. A very, very young roster. It’s imperative Westbrook and Adams stay healthy.

So who will be OKC’s top eight players as the season begins. I’d go 1 Russell Westbrook, 2 Steven Adams, 3 Victor Oladipo, 4 Andre Roberson, 5 Enes Kanter, 6 Domantus Sabonis, 7 Ersan Ilyasova, and 8 Cam Payne.

Until Cam Payne returns from his foot injury to fill backup point guard minutes Russell Westbrook will have to log especially heavy minutes.

Victor Oladipo has to find his comfort zone as Westbrook’s backcourt partner and define himself as the team’s third best player for this team to become one which hangs onto a fourth, fifth, or sixth seeding position.

I don’t watch NBA preseason games, but my guess is the new player to watch beyond the top three will be Domantus Sabonis. He’s a young player who should at some point give the Thunder another solid two way big man to go along with Adams. He’s smart, has good hands, nice feet, is tough,does everything relatively well, and isn’t a liability on either end of the floor. He should become a solid piece in the Thunder’s future moving forward.

You look at this current Thunder roster of fifteen players and it just seems to me that Sam Presti at some point in this season will be making a trade which shores up the roster a bit more. Oladipo’s level of play being the key as I see it. Can Oladipo become a consistent third piece to fit alongside with Westbrook and Adams is probably the most pressing unknown as we begin the season tomorrow night.

As we prepare to begin the season maybe a quick glance back at Durant and Westbrook’s last post game presser together as teammates. Game 7—Thunder lose at Golden State, Warriors advance to NBA Finals.

Time for the DT regular season bracket sheet.

1 Golden State Warriors
2 San Antonio Spurs
3 LA Clippers
4 Oklahoma City Thunder
5 Portland Trailblazers
6 Houston Rockets
7 Memphis Grizzlies
8 Utah Jazz
9 Dallas Mavericks
10 New Orleans Pelicans
11 Minnesota Timberwolves
12 Denver Nuggets
13 Sacramento Kings
14 Phoenix Suns
15 LA Lakers

With all the talk of the Westbrook-Oladipo backcourt potential, we can’t lose sight of perhaps the league’s most potentially deadly pick and roll combo in Westbrook and Adams. How far Steven Adams can take his game offensively this season is a major Thunder storyline in itself. Maybe the biggest storyline of all.