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Cade Cunningham (OSU) 21 PTS & 10 REBS in College Debut vs UT Arlington – YouTube

Nice first game for Cade Cunningham at O State as he garnerd 21 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 assists in a Cowboys’ 75-68 win over UT Arlington.

He was the best player on the floor and will most likely be the best player on the floor every game in this his freshman college season.

I know for a fact Sam Presti coveted Marcus Smart during his days in Stillwater…so I would guess Sam Presti and his scouting staff will be in the seats at GI Arena many a time during this college basketball season.

I would guess Cade Cunningham is the player Sam Presti would want most to center his rebuild around if he can land him in the draft.

Cade is a 6’8″ silky smooth point guard who’s body frame should easily allow him to add some muscle for the NBA game.

Visualize a core of Cade, Lu Dort, SGA. Darius Bazely, and the Serb . Maybe Presti keeps Diallo as some sort of defensive specialist and you could see the start of the rebuild in Oklahoma City.

I would think Mike Boynton’s skill set as a young coach will be of benefit to Cade’s development this season. Boynton is a no nonsense old school point guard himself who demands every thing from his players….which is good.

I love Boynton. I actually had him on my short list for the Thunder head coaching job. I think he’d be a great young coach for the Thunder. I mean…tell me what the difference is between hiring a G League coach versus a young head coach from a Power 5 conference program. Boynton actually has had more media interaction than a G League coach.

As each game passes this season what I’ll be looking for is how Cade as the best player on the floor commands that role while making the players around him better every game moving forward.

I was also very impressed by the manner in which Cade stuck with his committment to O State after they were put on probation for the LaMont Evans situation.

I’m not all that down about the Thunder tanking. In fact…if they weren’t this season then I’d say Presti was being irresponsible as the GM.

I plan on making several treks myself to Stillwater to watch Cade this season once I feel a little better about the COVID situation. I just hope he gets to play a full season of games.

Simon & Garfunkel-America – YouTube

This is for my son Chris, my daughter-in-law Elaine, my one year-old grandson Robert who I’m guessing will be wearing his Bobby Orr jersey tomorrow at the dinner table…and my soon to be granddaughter Aubrey.

Wish we were making the trip to Denver this week-end, but we’re playing it very cautious with the COVID.

Our prayers and thoughts are with you.

We can’t wait to see you in a couple of weeks.

Have a peaceful Thanksgiving and I hope you enjoy the video. I thought of you guys watching it. I will be closely monitoring Janice’s spacing and mask wearing tomorrow.

Love, Mike

(38) Steven Adams And The Thunder Book Bus! – YouTube

This is sad watching all of this go down. Since Russell Westbrook was traded to Houston only one player from that team is still a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder. That player would be Hamidou Diallo.

Steven’s evolution in Oklahoma City captivated all of us. Such a different personna from what you usually get from the average NBA player.

If Steven could only shoot the three with some consistency he’d remain a very sought after NBA player. In his book he talks about shooting the threes in practice. We just never saw it in games though.

I hope he ends with Greg Poppovich at some point. He loves Pop and the way the great coach says what’s on his mind.

Not a coincidence Andre Roberson was Stevo’s best friend on the Thunder. Both great role guys who had challenges shooting free throws.

Steven has a charity golf tournament in New Zealand which benefits kids. He’s an interesting guy.

Steven along with Nick Collison, and Andre Roberson are three of my favorite players in the Thunder Era in Oklahoma City. All three role players. All three team glue guys. All three nice human beings who made being a Thunder fan a very fun experience.

Visualizing Steven in New Orleans will be interesting. Just imagining him taking in all the various cuisine options in and of itself could probably be a Bravo reality show. If he added Serge to the show it would be bigger than Tiger King. Serge can handle himself in a kitchen. I’ll put a Serge cooking video on here to prove it. BTW…Serge is probably my fourth favorite Thunder player.

I met Steven once and he was extremely jovial. He called me mate twice. Only time I was ever called mate in Oklahoma. I’ve been called other things, but never mate.

He wrote a book with a ghost writer titled My Life, My Fight which chronicled his life as a teenager growing up in New Zealand. It’s actually a very touching book which goes into Steven’s relationship with his father Sid who died from cancer when Steven was thirteen. A surprisingly good book which is actually very revealing in regards to some very tough obstacles Steven had to overcome as a young man. A nice little read if you ever get the chance.

Steven is in a contract year in New Orleans and his contract is not in line with what his market value will be at the end of the season so we’ll see where he ends up. But again…his tour of New Orleans in and of itself could be the second book. His third book could be a diary of his time with Pop.

I’ll never worry about Steven making new friends in New Orleans and becoming the talk of the local sports writers.

With Nick, Steven, and Andre all gone it will be a rebuilding year for me as a fan/blogger.

But as an NBA fan this comes with the game and you deal with it. But it does make you sit back and realize what an amazing array of good players we’ve had the privilege of watching in sleepy little backwards Oklahoma.

‘Our Country Deserves Better Than This’: Doug Jones Announces He Will Vote To Convict | MSNBC – YouTube

Joe Biden’s nominee for Attorney General will be a contentious confirmation hearing regardless of what happens in the Georgia senatorial runoff elections.

I’m assuming the nuclear process will be in play so Jones will need 51 votes even if the Dems win the senate majority in Georgia.

They can get to 51 with Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, and Susan Collins if they don’t win the seats in Georgia.

I actually called Doug Jones’ office right after gave this speech on the floor of the United States Senate and talked to one of his aides. I told him what Jones did was political suicide, but as an American I appreciated his tough decision to do the right thing. Not the easy thing…the right thing. Someone in Oklahoma needs to teach the uber meek faux Christian James Lankford how to do the tough thing now and again. Just saying.

It’s not always easy doing the right thing when it’s going to cause you personal retribution, but Doug Jones did the right thing. That was a wonderfully crafted speech. My dad would have loved that speech. It took some balls in a time in history when not many politicans display much if any courage.

John McCain if still living would probably vote yes for Doug Jones.

Joe Biden apparently has picked Janet Yellen to become the first woman to serve as the head of the U.S. Treasury in the 231 year-old history of the department.

She’s very much what I would describe as a pragmatic centrist. She’s smart as a whip. Restrained, but usually the smartest person in the room.

Yellen served as Fed Chair from 2014-2018 and was the first woman to break that glass ceiling. She was a member of Clinton’s Economic Advisory Council in the 90’s as well.

I think it’s very solid pick and apparently the markets agree as the Dow hit an all-time high this morning as Yellen has been picked to save the economy which Donald Trump has left behind in a ditch.

The next two quarters will be tough with negative GDP numbers looming since there has been virtually no presidential leadership in dealing with the spiraling COVID-19 crisis.

Unbashingly cheating on a golf course or sport f–king in a furniture store with Guliani don’t count as presidential leadership outside of the Trump base universe of cluelessness.

The transition began yesterday of course without Trump taking any involvement in actually you know being the POTUS as the COVID death total is now close to 260,000.

Be safe on Thanksgiving. Be smart and make prudent decisions. Try not to be too hard on your Trump relatives who literally sold their souls for individul monetary greed when they voted for the grifter punk Donald Trump.

If you want to point out to them what they did was the weakest most insidious decision in the history of the United States that’s your individual call.

I’m just going to pray for their souls and keep these thoughts to myself.

Be safe and live to make it to Christmas.

Gundy should quit coaching at O State. He’s at that Year 16 plateau burn out stage and quite frankly his teams are getting worse every year. His quarterbacks haven’t really done much of anything since Weeden’s magical 2011 season….and the irony there is Gundy almost buried Weeden behind Alex Cate the year before on the Thursday night game against Colorado.

With the weekly regression of Spencer Sanders …Gundy is on the cusp of completely ruining two black Texas high school quarterbacks who both won national high school player of the year honors. The other of course would be Bobby Reid.

I’m not on here hating on Gundy with a rant…in fact, I almost feel sorry for him. He can’t beat OU, his Mullet King mojo has worn thin, and Jim Traber is on his ass every Monday thru Friday on the Sports Animal.

Surely….Mike Gundy has socked enough money away to live his Mullet King lifestyle to the max out there at Karsten and on his rattlesnake ranch. Granted…Boone had Mesa Vista with a moat around a castle in West Texas, but Mullet you’re not Boone. Feel lucky for what you have.

Gundy was pitiful on Saturday night in Bedlam. PITIFUL. I wouldn’t play for him and not just because of the Trump birther shirt he got caught wearing this summer. He coaches like a complete pussy. No emotion with his players during the game. And that punt in the fourth quarter….OMG. Seriously…that was beyond feckless and feeble.

Does he need the money that much?

Mike Gundy…. you’ve done all your going to do at O State. Move on to something else. Become a United States senator like Tuberville did with those idiots in Alabama. Let some young coach with some fire in his belly coach in Stillwater. Let Jim Traber ream someone else’s ass for awhile.

Nothing is meant to last forever, buddy. Enjoy the song and think about what I just wrote.

Lynyrd Skynyrd “Sweet Home Alabama” (Live In Atlantic City) – Album OUT NOW! – YouTube

You’re so Vain – YouTube

I’m going to write my tribute to Steven Adams sometime tomorrow. Along with Nick Collison my two favorite Thunder players. I’m glad he’s leaving though. He needs to be either with Pop or Stevie Kerr. Stevo is far too introspective to play in a city which compares Donald Trump to Teddy Roosevelt. Sigh.

I think I’ll close the week-end off with this Carly Simon song. She was the first diva singer I had a serious crush on back in high school during the John Marshall days.

I guess You Tube has changed their video posting policy. I need to see if I circumvent the new policy.

This was brutal. I hope Boone wasn’t watching because he could only come to one conclusion after watching this football game…the conclusion would be except for the football season in 2011 his alma mater hasn’t really progressed all that much football-wise.

In Texas pool hall parlance I’ll go further and say it appears Boone pissed away somewhere between half a billion to a billion dollars trusting Mike Holder’s judgement in never going beyond Mike Gundy as his football coach.

O State was completely healthy coming into this game with no COVID scratches on their roster Saturday night.

This was clearly O State’s biggest game since perhaps that Bedlam game in 2011 when Brandon Weeden delivered the goods for Boone’s trust in Holder’s O State process.

But on this night… nine years later the ugly bare truth was exposed to anyone who watched this football game….O State with Mike Gundy isn’t a real threat to beat OU in a Bedlam football game anytime soon.

This was Gundy’s 16th Bedlam game as the head man and if you take away Bob Stoops’ insane repunt to Tyreke Hill in 2014…. the Mullet King now stands 1-15 combined against Bob Stoops and Lincoln Riley.

OU won 35-19 last season in Stillwater and this year’s margin of 41-13 is misleading. The game wasn’t this close. O State’s only touchdown on the night was enabled when Bookie Hadley-Riles took an inexcusable post play penalty to keep an O State drive alive. Other than that …OU’s defense virtually stuffed Mike Gundy’s offense.

OU’s improved defense with Ronnie Perkins back wreaking havoc held O State to 246 total yards of offense. The same Chuba Hubbard who outed his head coach as a Trump birther this past summer was held to 46 yards on 8 rushes.

Gundy’s two quarterbacks… Spencer Sanders and Shane Ellingsworth went a combined 15-40 throwing the ball. Tylan Wallace who like Hubbard probably should have gone pro last spring was not a factor with six catches on the night.

The much vaunted O State defense allowed OU to score on their first five posssessions of the football game as QB Spencer Rattler played with the calm and poise of Lincoln Riley’s next Heisman finalist come next college football season.

Rhamondre Stevenson bullied the O State defense with over a hundred yards rushing and was clearly the best running back on the field at Gaylord Family Stadium with 25,000 spirited fans in attendance.

It was a game which told a story of two programs with two different coaches going in completely different directions with their football seasons heading into Thanksgiving week-end.

Keep in mind this was supposed to be a transitional year of rebuild for OU with Spencer Rattler assuming the quarterback position as a redshirt freshman.

Right now OU appears to be the best team in the league with a defense which is actually not all that bad.

In closing…I hope Boone wasn’t watching because he got snookered. He didn’t get what he thought he was paying for back in the day. Sometimes athletic directors have to do unpleasant things like making a coaching change. Probably going to be tough attracting elite black high school football talent to Stillwater with a Trump birther running the program. Just a thought.

I wonder what Mike Holder is thinking this cloudy cold November morning the day after another predetermined Mike Gundy loss in Bedlam.

I’m thinking Boone’s thinking Holder should find a football coach who can beat OU once every third Bedlam game at the minimum if the peckerhead is going to demand top fifteen coaching money.

Otherwise… go back to paying Mullet King the Travis Ford money and be content not seriously contending for Big 12 championships let alone being a nationally elite program.

Today’s poll question was the very one I posed earlier this week on my blog. I know Michael better than he knows himself. We have some similarities in the way we think. He’s a lawyer and although I never took the bar I did graduate from the Bob Jackson School of Law. Plus, neither Michael or myself are ideologues. We’re not on the extreme batfuck crazy fringes of either party.

Today’s question was: Will Trump ever concede the election to Joe Biden?

I clearly wrote a piece earler this week in which I wrote…NO WAY IN HELL DOES THE GRIFTER PUNK CONCEDE THE ELECTION.

27,000 people responded to Michael’s question this morning. 95% voted no way in hell does the grifter punk concede.

One thing though…Trump knows this bullshit he’s promoting for the time being keeps the glaze off his soon to be impending legal problems in New York’s Southern District where they’ve been waiting for his presidential immunity to expire for four years.

The other thing is…Trump is probably deciding internally how to best monetize and grift the the 75 million or so suckers who voted for him and/or follow him on Twitter or watch him legitimize Sean Hannity’s $30 million a year salary on the Fox prime time slot.

Trump never seemed to even be president since that fell to Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham—so I’m thinking the 2024 hint to run is more to keep his base cash flowing everything Trump related.

Trump will do his rallies and will probably have one going on during Biden’s inauguration. He’ll have his own gig on Fox. Laura Ingram makes $10 million at Fox and the dimwit Tucker Carlson makes $15 million at Fox so one would think the Murdochs would in a sense give Trump the old spot once occupied by Bill O’Reilly for Sean Hannity-like money.

Plus all the books he can have someone write for him over the next three years especially the one where Hugo Chavez rigged the election in Michigan and Georgia for the Dems….that was sarcasm.

No way does Trump do the right thing for the country and concede.

No way… as in none.

We never saw Kelly Oubre Jr. play a game for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Instead…with Klay Thompson down again with another season ending injury–the Warriors needed a player.

In return–Sam Presti received a protected first round pick which will in all likihood translate into two second round picks for the Thunder. OKC also will get a $14.4 million TPE in exchange for Oubre.

Lest we not forget–the Thunder need to lose games this season if they want to draft someone like Cade Cunningham next summer. This is about losing games to ensure a top pick which could be a game changer for the franchise.

With Klay going down for a second straight season the Warriors will have some very serious issues to consider moving forward as well. The roster they have currently isn’t a top four team in the West. Plus…there’s as much wear on Steph’s body as their is on Klay’s. How quickly the Golden State Dream Team went poof into the San Francisco Bay air.

Presti is a smart dude. He knows every decison he’s now making needs to add value, economic flexibility, and long-term competiveness to the Oklahoma City franchise.

This in essence will be Oklahoma City in Seattle that first year before the Clay Bennett ownership group moved the team to the Southwest plains of Oklahoma. I wonder if the average Thunder fan even remembers Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis wearing Sonic green.

This will basically be a G League team with perhaps Al Horton and maybe Steven Adams finsihing the season. ‘Perhaps’ being a key word as we get near to the trade deadline.

There will be some tough moments for those who aren’t used to team building at the NBA level while the home team is in town.

Jim Traber says he understands…I really wonder if he understands. This is about losing to get better.

This is why its fortunate the toughest year of the process is going to come during Trump’s pandemic and the local fans’ focus on the team would have been diminished anyway.

Look how long it took Dallas with an excellent coach in Rick Carlisle to become relevant once Dirk wasn’t an elite game changer in his latter years.

Presti has to have a game changer at some point…and some luck with the draft. Someone like Portland needs to pick the next Grag Oden and allow a franchise centerpiece to fall Presti’s way.

Kelly Oubre we never saw you play for the Thunder, buddy. At 26 years of age you’re too old for the template Sam Presti is putting in place moving down the road.

It’s all about losing in Oklahoma City this NBA season.