2017 Nick Collison Exit Interview

I’ve come to love and respect Russell Westbrook, but Nick has been my favorite Thunder player since Season 1 in Oklahoma City. He’s smart, tough, skilled, and the total team player. It very much heartened me to hear Nick is going to keep playing next year. I agree with him in that he still has enough to have a positive impact on this team in pockets of play, plus his teaching and leadership skills. Nick Collison has always been my favorite interview to listen to of all Thunder players. If you listen closely, you’ll always learn a new thing or two about the game when Nick is speaking. Always. Very ironic for me that a hated Kansas Jayhawk has become one of my favorite basketball players of all-time.

If I Were Sam Presti

Assuming Russell Westbrook stays this is what I would do to build my team for the future. I wouldn’t go after another superstar per se. Blake Griffin and Paul George wouldn’t be in my template for this Thunder team at this point.

I’d do to some extent what Morey has done in Houston with Harden. I’d build the team around Russell Westbrook with a supporting cast which highlights his abilities.

First thing I’d do is trade Enes Kanter and see if I could get a functional two way shooting guard for him. Just a solid player, heady player.

Second thing I’d do is try and resign Taj Gibson and hopefully have my core stable of bigs next season be Adams, Gibson, and Sabonis.

Then, I come to terms with the Andre Roberson situation. If another team’s offer exceeds $7 million a year, then I have to let him walk even as much as I love his defense and intangibles. If that happens, then I simply insert Jerami Grant into the starting rotation. A starting five of Westbrook, Oladipo, Adams, Gibson, and Grant would be for the first time in Thunder history be a combination of five honest two way players.

The bench is next. The combo/hybrid guard I get for Kanter would be my Sixth Man. I’d join him with Sabonis, McDermott, Abrines—-and maybe a vet backup guard who can score some.

If Nick Collison wants to come back as a player/coach for say a million a year—I’d be totally good with it.

I’m not sure what I’d do with Kyle Singler in that I’m not sure what you could get if anything get in return.

For the time being, I’d keep Semaj and Huestis, but I wouldn’t put my trust in either of them being rotation players.

Houston basically plays with eight guys. They just won 55 games with only one real star player—James Harden. They made their team better by picking up Lou Williams, Eric Gordon, and Ryan Anderson. None of these three are what I’d describe as stars. Just solid contributing vet players.

So–the first two things I’d do if I were Presti would be to resign Gibson, then trade Kanter for a hybrid guard. Market forces will dictate the Roberson decision so that’s just a wait and see type thing.

Build the team around Russell, but just give him some more offensive help. I would expect marked improvement from Sabonis, Abrines, and McDermott next season—so I think that’s pretty much the way I’d go. But what Presti can get in return for Kanter needs to be a decent player who can stay on the floor against the likes of the Warriors and Rockets.

Sam Presti, get to work, buddy.

Final Westbrook Post Game Presser of the Season

The team is doing their exit interviews today. This was Westbrook’s post game presser last night. Moving forward, I have no idea whatsoever what Russell Westbrook’s thoughts are on his future in Oklahoma City. He’s contractually obligated for next season, then he has an option out clause the following season.

Sam Presti has some significant work in front of him to make this team better next season. Taj Gibson is an unrestricted free agent. Andre Roberson is a restricted free agent. Enes Kanter probably needs to be part of some type of deal which brings an honest two way swing player to the Thunder. There’s some major adjustments which need to be made to make this team more than just Russell Westbrook.

Somebody needs to emerge as consistent second and third offensive weapons. I mean, ask yourself, who was OKC’s second best player this season? I can’t answer it because I didn’t see one on a consistent basis.

But I have no idea whatsoever what Russell Westbrook feels about his long term future in OKC. I would think he’d like to play on a serious contender, but OKC is not a contender as presently constructed.

It should be a very interesting off season for Sam Presti.

Houston Ends Thunder’s Season in Game 5

The Thunder’s season ended in Houston last night as the Rockets had just enough offense from the free throw line to wear down OKC by a 105-99 count. That magical number of 115 for Houston really didn’t come into play on this night as the Rockets were a miserable 6-35 shooting threes, but as was the case in this series in pretty much all five games, Houston lived on the free throw line…most notably James Harden and Lou Williams.

Russell Westbrook was once again heroic with a 47 point, 11 rebound, 9 assist night. As was the case this entire season, Westbrook put Sam Presti, Billy Donovan, Clay Bennett, Berry Tramel, WWLS, his teammates, and this city on his back and carried them as far as he could. The problem is none of the people around him I just mentioned performed their various jobs as well as Westbrook did for 87 basketball games this season.

Here’s the most telling thing about this series in hindsight. At the trade deadline, Daryl Morey added Lou Williams to his team as a backup point guard, whereas Sam Presti picked up Norris Cole from China. Seriously, think about just that before you try and figure out why OKC wasn’t good enough to go beyond five games in this series.

Think about this as well, Morey went out and got Mike D’Antoni to coach this Rocket team and taylor it to James Harden, whereas Sam Presti fired Scott Brooks to bring on board a college coach with no previous NBA coaching experience. And right here in these two paragraphs is a major part to why Houston is advancing and the Thunder’s season is done.

And it’s funny to date I haven’t read anything by Berry Tramel on any of this because if he wrote anything truthful like this his wormy ass would probably be taking some major heat.

The thing is, without Westbrook, this team would have won something like maybe 22-24 games. And without Westbrook, the writers at the Daily Oklahoman and the pundits at WWLS would have had very little to write about or talk about other than why Baker Mayfield has gotten two major character passes from the local media and an enormous video pass by the Daily Oklahoman, and yet somehow Westbrook is a bad dude because he thinks Tramel is a phony. Let’s at this point call me the objective adult in the room.

Now, let’s go back to that question Tramel asked of Steven Adams. In essence, why do the Thunder play so poorly when Russell’s not on the floor?

And here’s the answer… ‘We’re not very good. That’s the answer, mate. Russell is all we’ve got. Myself and Victor for whatever reasons massively underachieved offensively. My mate, Enes, is an acute defensive liability who not’s playable against either the Rockets or the Warriors. And Andre can’t hit the rim with a free throw. Dude, we weren’t good enough. That’s it, mate.”

In a nutshell, that’s pretty much it. Sam Presti didn’t put enough around Westbrook and Billy Donovan had a very rough bench management series against the Rockets.

That’s it. Those are the answers to this season of basketball in Oklahoma City. That’s what Russell Westbrook didn’t allow Steven Adams to say.

As a fan and a blogger, I was completely captivated by Westbrook and his historic season. Without Westbrook, I can’t imagine what I would have even written about on here. Me, I was coming off a summer where my father passed away from pancreatic cancer in late August. It was tough. My father and I actually attended Game 6 together. It was the last sporting event my father attended. I’ll never forget my father’s reaction to Durant’s decision on July 4th. Good thing for Kevin Durant he didn’t have to meet with my father the tough ass trial lawyer in the aftermath. It would have been brutal, truly brutal.

But Westbrook hung around and signed the extension. He didn’t have to do it, but he did and as a result we all got something truly special to be a part of and enjoy as a city. Something to get our minds off the tragic death of Aubrey McClendon. Something to get our minds off the reality of $50 dollar West Texas crude prices. Something our city and state could rally around. And that’s the beauty of sport in that it can bring people together.

So, as I sit here winding this up, I want to make sure Russell Westbrook understands how much this blogger appreciated the ride. It was wonderful and I know you and you’re wife have a son on the way. You’ll love the journey.

Have a nice summer, Russell Westbrook…and thanks.

For Berry Tramel, dude this is for you. You should be better than this by now. Seriously. Grow up. The world could use another adult.

Berry Tramel on the Dan Patrick Show

This was interesting. Oh, big surprise after Berry Tramel once again injected himself into a Thunder story on somewhat of a national scale—here he is doing the Dan Patrick Show yesterday describing in chilling narrative how Westbrook is an intimidating control freak. Keep in mind, this is the very same Berry Tramel who injected himself into the national spotlight several years ago during a playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies when he wrote a story about Kevin Durant calling him Mr. Unreliable. The Durant Camp was furious and demanded an apology—and I believe got one of sorts. Also, keep in mind, this is the very same Berry Tramel who called Kevin Durant a douchebag as recently as this past September or so. Pretty much like I did.

So please understand this, I could care less what Berry Tramel thinks about a multitude of subjects. I once heard him say George W Bush is the greatest president of all-time in U.S. history, so kind of right there and then that kind of sent up a red flag for me. This is the same Berry Tramel who when he was sports editor hired Jenni Carlson as a sports columnist. Sigh. So–it’s not like I put a tremendous amount of value on what he thinks. But here we are again with Berry Tramel injecting himself as the story during a playoff series instead of the teams, the players, and the coaches.

I have news for Berry Tramel, LeBron James appears to be a bit of a control freak. Michael Jordan perhaps was a bit of a control freak. Kobe Bryant was a control freak. Judging by Dwayne Wade’s exit from Miami–he might be a bit of a control freak. Gregg Popovich might be a control freak. Generally speaking, strong willed, strong personality types have strong demeanors. However, I agree with Tramel on one thing in that I don’t think Durant is a control freak. Far from it, I think Durant is somewhat of a personality type who just seeks affirmation and is kind of insecure about himself in a way…almost the polar opposite of Westbrook.

So—I just hope Berry Tramel is okay and not in need of medication or some off time in light of how Russell abused him in that Sunday presser. Pray for Berry Tramel today if you can. He needs your love.

Random Game 4 Thoughts

I’m better now. A good night’s sleep will do that for you. No seething. I picked Houston to win this series in either five or six games, five looks more likely right now, so it’s not like I’m sitting here shocked by where we are headed into Tuesday night in Houston.

The reason I picked Houston is because I think they have a better overall top eight players than OKC, because I believe Mike D’Antoni is a more ‘seasoned’ NBA coach than Bill Donovan, and of course Houston has home court advantage in the series. Plus, again back to the 115 number thing, I thought this would be almost as tough of a matchup for OKC as playing the Golden State Warriors because like the Warriors, the Rockets are a team of shooters who almost always at some point in a game go on a spurt or two.

The math at this point agrees with me, OKC is now a combined 2-10 versus the Rockets and Warriors this basketball season. These are the two worst matchups for the Thunder simply because of the manner in which Sam Presti has constructed this ball team. This is not a team constructed to beat either the Warriors or the Rockets. Against the rest of the league, OKC would pretty much have a chance, maybe even against LeBron, but not against these two teams.

But having written that, the last three games have all been nailbiters, and OKC could have won all three with perhaps a different approach to the backup point guard position and those minutes when Westbrook isn’t on the floor. In that regard, Tramel’s question was fair, but the person to ask that question of is either Billy Donovan or Sam Presti, not Steven Adams with Russell Westbrook sitting next to him.

I think it’s a very fair question, Tramel just asked the wrong witness so to speak. But if you watch the Donovan presser, Tramel asked it there and then so I agree with Westbrook in that Tramel was fishing for a response on the national stage. The response Westbrook gave confirmed how much Russell Westbrook has grown as a young man since he told Tramel he didn’t like him back in 2013. I’m sure the two Grumpy Old Men– Tramel and Traber– will ravage Westbrook on WWLS later today, but that’s their call and their show. Personally— I think they should be much more focused on Baker Mayfield’s antics, but it’s their show.

Billy Donovan has had a tough series bench management wise. This backup point guard issue has been there all season, not just this series. I assumed once we got to the playoffs the North Edmond Youth Soccer League coaching philosophy would take a backseat to big boy ball. I assumed Billy Donovan would roll with nine players and have either Westbrook or Oladipo manning the point guard minutes. It never crossed my mind he would actually flow with Semaj Christon for the first two games, but that’s exactly what he did and then he did it again with Norris Cole. There’s a reason Norris Cole was playing in China, know what I mean. And there’s a reason Semaj Christon has been in street clothes the past two games.

The Andre Roberson free throw shooting thing hurt me to watch because I like Roberson as a player other than the fact he can’t shoot free throws. He’s 2-17 in this series from the line. Even DeAndre Jordan doesn’t do that. But I’m not going to rip Roberson, he shouldn’t have been put in that situation. That’s why you have a coach…and coaches have to make tough calls in various settings based on what’s best for their teams. I was actually surprised D’Antoni didn’t do this in Games 2 & 3, but this was the pivotal game in the series and D’Antoni did exactly what he should have done…the best thing for his ball club.

I don’t want to rip on the Thunder for the simple reason they went 47-35 this basketball season. They represented this city with class and have given us as fans a reason to be excited about the team and the future if Westbrook decides to stay. But if Westbrook does stay, Sam Presti has some work to be done in tooling this team to be more competitive with Golden State and Houston. Billy Donovan needs to become more of a pro coach than a college coach. OKC has some things to address. But if Westbrook stays, the future is promising and interesting for sure.

But for now, it’s Game 5 in Houston on Tuesday night as the Thunder tries to avoid having their first season without Durant ended by James Harden and Company. It felt odd writing that sentence.

Billy Donovan Game 4 Post Game Presser After 113-109 Loss

OKC lost a very tough 113-109 game to the Houston Rockets this afternoon. The Thunder now trail the series 3-1 and their season could conceivably end on Tuesday in Houston. There’s a great deal to write about, the game, Billy Donovan’s decisions, the bench Sam Presti has on this roster, and Barry Tramel’s trolling of Russell Westbrook. BTW, on that one, I thought Russell handled it perfectly. Anyway, this is one of those times where I need 24 hours to compose myself, mostly on the decisions of Billy Donovan. I need to cool off and make sure what I write is fair. But right now–I’m still seething. I just don’t want to seethe excessively. I’ll just do the pressers for now and hope sleep brings me some tranquility.

Tramel seeking love from Russell back in 2013. I’m sure none of this had anything to do with what we saw today.

It made me think of this from last year. I just hope this doesn’t mean Russell will be joining the Warriors on July 4th.

Billy Donovan on the James Harden Free Throw Scam

I agree completely with Billy Donovan on this. At the end of the first half on Friday night, Houston had taken 18 free throws to 7 for the Thunder. Complete bullshit and I said as much to the two black dudes wearing the Harden jerseys. The calls were complete bullshit for the most part. In this league, a defender is not even allowed to perspire within two feet of Harden without getting a whistle. I know Westbrook gets to the line quite a bit, but the zebras thing with Harden has gotten totally out of control.

This is a big part of how Houston plays and what they do. I’m hopeful the zebras clean this up today and we see more basketball and less of Harden’s ass parked on the free throw line.

Thunder Hold On To Win Game 3, 115-113

For the second straight game, the winning team scored a 115 points. For the third straight game in this series, the winning team scored 115 points or more, and for the first time in this series the Oklahoma City Thunder scored 115 points and it was just enough as a James Harden three came up a little short on the game’s last possession.

I stress ‘115 points’ in my first paragraph because that’s the number of points this Houston team averages per game. And on this night, it was the Thunder standing at the 115 threshold. Including the first two Rocket wins in this series, Houston had won five straight versus the Thunder and crossed the 115 marker four of the five games. It’s what they do, who they are, or more importantly what Mike D’Antoni’s teams were in Phoenix when he coached the Suns to two Western Conference Finals.

As an opponent, you have to score with these guys because no matter what you do they’re going find their offensive spurts somewhere in those 48 minutes of frenetic shooting or with James Harden’s ass parked at the free throw line. There’s a specific reason to what D’Antoni teams do–it’s not complex. But you have to score with them. Defensively, they’re nothing special. Kind of like those teams Billy Tubbs had at OU with the exception of the ’88 team–which was special defensively.

Billy Donovan did better this game, but he can still do even better in mixing and matching though, especially at the end of the third quarter. He was wise in keeping Sabonis, Singler, and Semaj near the Thunder bench area for the duration of this basketball game. What Donovan needs is a combination of decent defense and the chance to score somewhere around 115 points. I know most Oklahomans don’t buy into climate change, but this is a math and science thing. It’s more about the math. D’Antoni knows this and he relishes in it. He did it with Steve Nash, he’s doing it with James Harden. If ever a player and a coach were a match it’s Harden and D’Antoni.

Much like in Game 2, it appeared Donovan’s end of third period lineup would cost the Thunder another double digit lead. It almost did, but Doug McDermott nailed a corner three and Enes Kanter made a two to keep the working margin at six points. I was seething in the stands before those two made buckets. Literally seething.

Unlike in the fourth period of Game 2, when Westbrook returned to the floor, he stayed within himself remembering he had teammates on the floor with him. As a team, OKC stepped up in this game and the Thunder’s two late biggest baskets were made by Jerami Grant and Steven Adams as the Thunder had just enough offense in them to hold off Harden and his Rockets.

Westbrook triple doubled at 32 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists. It was evidence again of why he should be the league’s MVP winner for the regular season.

But on this night at home, he got some offensive help from some of his teammates. Taj Gibson scored 20 points on 10-13 shooting. Oladipo chipped in 12 points on a 5-8 shooting night. Andre Roberson had his third straight double digit scoring game of the series with 12 and is averaging 14 points a game in the series. Abrines hit two threes and had eight points. McDermott had two threes including the big one while Westbrook was sitting. Norris Cole had a three and five points. Adams and Jerami Grant did their usual blue collar things and hits those huge late buckets. As a team, the Thunder were 9-19 shooting threes. It was a collection of things from the league MVP and his blue collar teammates who on this night brought their lunchpails with them to the arena.

And at the end of the day, that’s exactly what this Oklahoma City team is…Westbrook and his blue collar mates. On those nights when his teammates can give him some support, they’re a nice little team. On those other nights, not so much.

But on this special night at Chesapeake Energy Arena, the good team showed up and their home fans were appreciative of the effort.

But again….115 is the in house working number. Does this bunch have enough in them offensively to get near the 115 marker to win three of the next four games in this series is the question? Mike D’Antoni thinks not.

It was a great night for me. I went to the game with my brother and his wife. I wanted to make sure Russell Westbrook knows how much this fan has appreciated the season. I was the official leader of the MVP chants in Section 101. It was a gas.

I sat near two black guys from Houston who were both wearing Harden jerseys. Big physical guys who both looked like Mr. T. I told them I still loved Harden, but that I hope he loses this series. One of them flipped me his complimentary Thunder T-shirt and said, “That’s cool, you take this. I don’t wear Thunder shit.” We talked briefly after the game and there was this understanding. We both were good. It was that kind of night.

Game 4 in Oklahoma City on Sunday afternoon on the ABC matinee game.

Harden is still loved in OKC. Some of the fans around me heard what I said about my Harden shirt and pretty much said the same thing. Harden will always be loved here, the douchebag in Oakland, not so much. Anyway, great interview by Harden.

Billy Donovan, Please Shorten the Damn Bench

When you get to the playoffs, usually a coach shortens his rotation to eight or nine players, but yet in a pivotal Game 2–Billy Donovan had twelve players seeing action in a game in which OKC’s bench was worse than brutal.

OKC is stretching it big time to go with nine players, twelve is bordering on coaching malpractice. That stretch at the end of the third period never should have happened. If your bench is so pathetic you can’t go two minutes or so without giving up a 9-0 run, then call a timeout to give Westbrook a rest, do it twice if you have to, but you cannot under any circumstances just spot a team a nine point spurt ending the third period.

This isn’t the North Edmond Mother’s Youth Soccer League. That’s for meaningless end of regular season games. In post season, you go with your best eight or nine players and double or in some cases triple shift them to create mismatch advantages, which btw is exactly what Mike D’Antoni is doing so far in this series against Billy Donovan. Like a ruthless Little League coach waiting with baited breath to see either Kanter, Singler, Christon, or Sabonis touch the floor, D’Antoni waits with baited breath for Westbrook and his better teammates to leave the floor.

This is not complex. This doesn’t require being a metrics savant. Go with your best eight or nine and live with it. If Russell Westbrook has to play 46 minutes then that’s the way this rolls. But enough of the North Edmond Everyone Plays bullshit. OKC’s season is literally on the line tonight.

The nine I’d go with are Westbrook, Roberson, Grant, Oladipo, Adams, Gibson, McDermott, Abrines, and Collison (depending on foul trouble). I’m tired of watching Bambi basketball. I feel certain Russell Westbrook and his agent probably share the same sentiment.

Give your team a chance. Go with your best players, if that’s not good enough, then live with the results and either go fishing or hit the golf courses. But this bullshit with this team playing twelve players in the post season is beyond absurd.

Rant over.