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Bill Russell won nine championships in eleven seasons with good players around him every season. Michael won six championships with Scottie Pippen. Kareem won six rings with good players around him both at Milwaukee and with the Lakers. Same thing with Kobe as he won five championships in his storied career, but always with good players around him.

So I’ve come to the conclusion there’s no reason for Kevin Durant to leave the Warriors especially since the national narrative has changed after witnessing the meltdown in Oklahoma City these past two seasons where Russell Westbrook and Paul George won a combined three post season games in eleven played.

The national narrative is now strong that Kevin Durant was smart to leave the culture in Oklahoma City.

Why should he have stayed? Why was any of this on Durant and why shouldn’t it be on Sam Presti and Russell Westbrook instead for not doing the things to end a failed culture in Oklahoma City?

Kevin Durant should stay put and keep winning rings. If he stays healthy—who knows–maybe he could make a run at Bill Russell?

He lives in a great city which hates Donald Trump and has a coach who speaks his mind. Not that basketball decisions should be based on your fanbase hating Donald Trump or David Duke or some other knuckleheads you’ll find in a Trump region. But when you’re at that level in your profession…why play in front of a fanbase which by a 70% margin voted for a racist when you can win historically big in front of people who have a little more ‘openness’ in the way they view the world. If I were a black star there’s no way I’d play in a Trump state. No way. Hell-if I were Durant the next time I played inside the Peake I’d wear a black glove and go all Carlos and Smith on them.

Study the history of Bill Russell with racism in Boston during his career there. Bill Russell was permanently scarred and bitter about how he was treated in Boston. He wouldn’t even allow his jersey retirement ceremony to be held openly in front of the fans…only in private. Think I’m kidding…read Gary Pomerantz’s great book The Last Pass and read for yourself.

There’s no reason for Durant to go play anywhere else now unless he just wants to experience another city for the sake of experiencing another city.

Given the thirty cities in the NBA right now…I can’t think of what city other than San Francisco that could possibly be.

Russell Westbrook and Sam Presti have made sure his legacy won’t be tarnished for leaving the Thunder to head to the Warriors. I can’t imagine Durant will ever be booed again in Oklahoma City or called Cup Cake even by the fat slob with the horn and no shirt under the basket.

Kevin Durant isn’t second anymore. He’s the best player in the world on the best team in one of the world’s best cities.

Kevin Durant should stay right where he is and chase Michael, Bill Russell, Kobe, and Kareem for his rightful place in the top ten of the Pantheon.

Why leave?

It was a big night of sports with both Boston and Colorado evening their Stanley Cup semi-final series with critical wins.

On the NBA front, Joel Embiid led the Philadelphia 76’ers to a 2-1 series lead 116-95 with a 116-95 win in the ECSF.

The ramifications of Toronto not advancing would seem to be that Kawhi Leonard would then join Jerry West and the Steve Ballmer LA Clipper operation.

The hockey was great…the basketball was so-so. But still if you’re a real NBA fan you’re still watching even though the overall playoff television ratings are down.

William Barr might have a problem as in it appears he might have committed perjury.

I haven’t written too much on the Mueller Report or the letter because I think we need to hear from Bob Mueller himself before coming to our own conclusions.

So here’s this chubby retired guy named William Barr who was appointed AG back in ’91 by Bush 41 and served thru the first year of Bill Clinton’s first term.

Fast forward.

I’m to assume he got bored eating too much in retirement and all the sudden out of boredom decided to write a nineteen page piece on why a sitting POTUS, even the grifter con artist Donald Trump, cannot be indicted no matter what he does.

And then as Trump finally gets rid of the completely unqualified Jeff Sessions as his AG–Donald Trump and William Barr somehow become one in the political swamp known as the Trump White House.

So unless you have the brain of Lindsey Graham or have attended Trump rallies in Oklahoma, West Virginia or Alabama and still have your MAGA ball cap still on… you might have taken notice when Kamala Harris basically destroyed William Barr on cross examination during this recent Senate hearing.

This is what lawyers live for. This cross examination by Kamala Harris was like a hockey player getting a hat trick or basketball player getting a triple double.

This was textbook. Watch the video from the first question to the last question. She never once allowed Barr to completely answer a question and completely took him apart by never allowing him to draw out an answer or get into a comfort zone of any kind.

This was a TKO. He couldn’t even answer the first question and didn’t.

Bob Mueller, do you swear to tell the truth and the whole truth?

I think we have a moment coming.

As the Thunder season has mercifully ended without any known deaths at this point, I’d like to pivot just a bit and include a new weekly segment on my blog called My Smerconish Question of the Week.

Like Michael Smerconish—I’m a former Republican who left the party disturbed by the way the party was headed towards the rogue right guardrails. We’re both now Independents. He’s a lawyer and I thought about becoming a lawyer. So–I have some things in common with Michael Smerconish and his show on Saturday morning is the only cable political show I’ll watch any longer. Fox is complete trash and the cheerleading on MSNBC isn’t much better.

Because of the Trump stuff I do on my blog…I get quite a few private messages on some of my comments in regards to Donald Trump.

I think what I’d like to do is pick one question a week and reply to it on here as we head into the 2020 presidential campaign.

Heidi from Newark, NJ asks:

Q: Mike, I enjoy your blog. If you had to pick between Donald Trump and Bush 43 who would you pick and why?

A: Heidi, thank you for the great question. I was a harsh critic of George W Bush during his eight years in the White House and thought the decision to invade Iraq was one of the worst decisions in American history ever made by a sitting president of the United States.

However…my views on W have softened and a big part of that happened when I read his touching memoir titled ’41’ in which he told from his perspective the life his father lived and why he loved his father so much.

I have to admit—the book changed the way I looked at W. I still think the decision to invade Iraq was horrible, but given what we see every day from Donald Trump–there’s no comparison at all from my view. I like both of his daughters and I’ve always been a fan of Laura Bush who was actually a Eugene McCarthy supporter back when they met and fell in love.

Even though I never voted for W, he’s a guy I could sit down with and enjoy having a beer with and talk about some things and feel that at least there was a decent human being on the other side of the conversation.

So…in answering your question, if I was voting and had to pick between Donald Trump and W…I’d vote for Bush.

Thanks for the question.

I think if you read my blog you know I won’t be voting for Donald Trump. It’s not that I’m a liberal given the fact I was a registered Republican from 1976-2000, but more to the point, it’s just the simple fact I have no respect for Donald Trump as a human being. He shouldn’t be the leader of the greatest democracy in the history of the world.

It has nothing to do with ideology because I’m pretty vanilla ideology-wise. I’ve been an Independent since 2000, yet in my presidential voting record I’ve voted for more Republicans than Democrats.

I could vote for Bill Weld the former GOP governor from Massachusetts, but I would think his chances of unseating our pussy grabbing prez are slim and none. Melania would like him because he’s never been a bully on the internet or on a bus with Billy Bush–but I’m guessing even she and the biblical Mike Pence will vote for Donald Trump.

Michael Bennet is a sitting Democratic senator from Colorado who has served since 2009 in the Senate. He’s a lawyer and attended Yale Law School.

His resume includes a tenure as Director of the Anschutz Investment Company. If the name Phillip Anschutz rings a bell it should because Anschutz’s company bought the Daily Oklahoman from the Gaylord family before recently unloading it to a New York group called Gates Media Company. If you still read the Daily Oklahoman you’ll notice the paper is pretty much down to nothing–so I’m not exactly sure what Gates Media does with newspapers after they acquire one and strip them down to basically nothing.

Anyway, Bennet also served as the chief of staff to then Denver mayor John Hickenlooper, who by the way is also running for president.

Bennet also served as Superintendent of the Denver School System which is good because I’m guessing that’s where my wife and I will end up at some point in retirement or at least in Crested Butte. The diva lab Pauli can’t wait.

Michael Bennet’s chances are slim, but he’s still getting my early endorsement in the 2020 presidential race.

But I want to be fair on here and give both sides equal time and coverage — so here’s something for the Trump supporters who put the marginal tax rates above anything else in their presidential considerations.

Great skiing and trout fishing. Hiking and biking galore. Plus, golf balls travel forever. I should gain thirty yards off the tee. Some great restaurants and the best Italian place I’ve ever eaten at called Michael’s Garlic right on the Gunnison River. I can assure you… once the word gets out to these little annoying dogs on the streets that Pauli is in town—-these little yappers will not bother us on the sidewalks of Crested Butte ever again.

I started in Game 1 of the first round rooting for Terry Stotts and the Blazers and there’s no reason to stop just yet.

On Wednesday night in the very same Pepsi Arena in which my son, my daughter-in-law and my grandson watched their first Colorado Av playoff game the night before—the Portland Trailblazers pretty much led wire to wire in drawing even at one game apiece in the Western Conference Semifinals.

I find it odd a Portland Trailblazer fan now writes on his own Oklahoma City Thunder blog, but when the home team goes all in punk stupid…sometimes you gotta go with the flow of things.

Portland was alpha mentally tough in this game. It was a game where Damian Lillard only shot 5-17 from the field and scored but 14 points. But the Blazers showed their heart with five other players scoring in double figures.

My new favorite NBA player CJ McCollum, led Portland with 20 points and was the No. 1 star of the game. Former Thunder center Enes Kanter continued his magical playoff run with 15 points and Terry Stotts somehow found a way to keep him on the floor 31 minutes. Yes…that was a dig at the Thunder’s SEC college coach.

Mo Harkless only played 12 minutes after turning an ankle, but not to worry—Al Farouq Amini scored 11 points while Rodney Hood and Zach Collins both came off the bench and played huge for Stotts in a critical road game.

Portland grabbed home court advantage and is going home for Game 3 and Game 4 before what will be a rowdy home crowd in Rip City.

Could these Blazers be magical? No one saw the iconic Jack Ramsey-Bill Walton team coming as they did in ’77 bringing home a world championship to the Northwest.

Portland has the two star guards, a nice supporting cast, possibly the best bench in the West and Terry Stotts.

Why not?

I’m the perfect guy for this because as a kid consumed with playing baseball, basketball and football growing up—the Sixers were my team. It started with Wilt then went thru Hal Greer, Billy Cunningham, Bobby Jones, Caldwell Jones, Dr. J, Moses Malone, Maurice Cheeks, Andrew Toney, Charles Barkley and Allen Iverson.

I was never a Celtics or Lakers fan growing up. I’m still not. Jack Ramsey was my favorite coach, then it was Billy Cunningham after his Hall of Fame playing days came to an end.

For some reason, as a kid from Oklahoma, I fell in love with the Sixers and stayed in love with them even thru their bleakest days before Sam Hinkie, the OU business grad of all people, became the general manager and started the death march referred to as The Process.

At some point there will be an ESPN 30/30 film made on comparing Russell Westbrook to Allen Iverson. Is the comparison fair? Is this how it will end for Russell Westbrook?

I hope not.

I hope Russell Westbrook is left off Team USA this summer and he spends a great deal of time with his family to slow down and be with his children. If I were him…I wouldn’t touch a basketball for six weeks. I’d get away from basketball and think about what I want not only for my basketball legacy, but my human legacy to be when basketball is over.

I’d call Berry Tramel and have lunch with him at some point. I’d assure Paul George that I can change my game when I come back. I’d call each of my returning teammates and start the process of team building with specific goals for a redemption season next year in Oklahoma City if that is possible.

I’d smell the roses and remind my parents of how much I respect what they did for me.

But what I would not do is go full blown Allen Iverson.

This was pretty much the lead in the San Francisco Chronicle following the Warriors’ 115-109 win over the whiny Houston Rockets on Tuesday night in Oracle.

As much as the NBA world has come to detest Kevin Durant going to the Warriors—you have to give him credit…he knew what he was doing.

Even with DeMarcus Cousins done for the season it mattered little to Warriors coach Steve Kerr who like Pop could never coach in a place like Oklahoma City because the coach in Oklahoma City can’t publicly be his own man and say serious adult things on the state of our country to the local Oklahoma media, let alone on why his point guard won’t listen to him.

With Cousins done for the season…Steve Kerr went heavy with his Hamptons Five lineup of Durant, Curry, Klay, Andre Iguodala and used Draymond Green as his center to take Clint Capela.

This is the beauty of having five all-stars, two regular season MVPs and two NBA Finals MVPs as well. Don’t ever forget Andre was the Finals MVP when the Warriors won their first title over LeBron.

Then of course, Jerry West made a phone call to Kevin Durant where he explained why Kevin Durant would never win anything in Oklahoma City alongside Russell Westbrook.

In fairness to Kevin Durant—did you really expect him to write this in his Players Tribune farewell on July 4th? That would have created even more outrage than what he got for escaping Oklahoma City in his free agency year.

I do hope though Kevin Durant leaves the Warriors after this third title and explores some other basketball option. I’ve always thought it would help Kevin Durant as an overall man to be with Pop. But we’ll see as it appears he’s going to the Knicks.

This Colin Cowherd piece was excellent and I’ve been saving it to see what Sam Presti was going to say. I mean, heck, this piece even has something by Low Energy Royce Young where it sounds like the writer isn’t fourteen years of age and an assistant coach at a U10 YMCA rec league. Good for Low Energy Royce Young…. you just had a flash of genius experience. Go get a Dippy Topped ice cream cone with Little Nick Gallo and call it a month.

Thank you, Colin Cowherd for being the adult in the room.

Here’s the thing, Russell Westbrook has the knees of a forty year-old matched with the emotional maturity of a twenty year-old. This isn’t going to work. It didn’t even work in 2012 in the NBA Finals when Harden was still around to be the point guard co-pilot.

This was good. Spot on. Bottom line…Russell Westbrook needs to change his game while Sam Presti and Billy Donovan quit enabling this immature losing culture to continue.

The First Rule of Coaching is timeless:

Player makes the coach.

You’ll notice the San Antonio Spurs with the best coach in NBA history in the collective bargaining era aren’t anything special without Timmy Duncan in his prime being the face of the franchise in the Alamo City.

I would also hope the local scribes who cover the Thunder would take notice the Thunder aren’t all that much without No. 35 making Russell Westbrook appear to be a point guard who can take an NBA team to at the minimum a division championship and perhaps a second round appearance in the NBA post season tournament.

So really what has Sam Presti done in Oklahoma City once Kevin Durant decided nothing was going to change with the Thunder in relation to the way Russell Westbrook plays the point guard position?

In these three years since the Hamptons—the Thunder have won 47, 48, and 49 regular season games. They have not won an outright Northwest Division championship. They have been the No. 6, the No. 4, and the No. 6 seeds in the rugged Western Conference. They are 4-12 in post season games when as real sports people know is when the real NBA season separates the pretenders from the contenders.

The Thunder with Presti making the decisions did not opt for a gradual rebuild after the Durant escape from Oklahoma. The best trade Presti ever made was to trade Serge Ibaka for Victor Oladipo, Domas Sabonis and Ersan Ilyasova who was later traded for the rights to Jerami Grant. This was a great trade. This was the trade which if left alone would have produced three young players all on rookie scale contracts who would have been the obvious core of the Thunder moving forward.

Imagine if you will the Thunder right now with Oladipo, Adams, Sabonis, Grant, and Ferguson as the starting core with some 6th man later acquired who could score the ball.

This isn’t a championship team, but at least it’s not a farcical joke bordering on the Little Miss Sunshine version of an NBA team with acute dysfunctional disorder.

This would actually be a young team one could like and somewhat respect.

Instead–Presti and Clay Bennett pushed all their chips in the middle for Carmelo Anthony and then made the trade for Paul George. Only problem is—they still had a point guard who to date has proved he can’t win anything without Kevin Durant carrying his lunch pail for him.

Paul George is a ball player. I’d roll with Paul George because he’s an honest two way player on both ends of the floor. In fact–after Durant’s escape from Oklahoma Crazy … Paul George was the player at the top of my list to replace Kevin Durant.

But we’ve witnessed to date that is Paul George is not enough to mitigate the absurdly high usage Russell Westbrook who turned into Frankenstein during the Oscar Roberson triple double season when every bad habit he previously had was stoked even more by Sam Presti and his decision making.