McMaster…gone. Kelly…gone. Mattis to be gone in February. The generals can’t handle Caligula, but Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and the American Freedom Caucus can.
It is what it is.
More to the point, the continued dumbing down of America halfway thru the presidency of Donald Trump. I wonder what the markets will do tomorrow on the heels of what they’ve done this week?
We’ll find out if the markets are bullish on banana republics led by television reality people.
I have no idea why this is so difficult for Russell Westbrook to grasp. None. And this is what makes Westbrook vexing to the ultimate degree. It truly is. When you see this Russell Westbrook play like the one I witnessed in Sacramento on Wednesday night you realize you’re watching a generational player of the ages for the ages. The player we know he can be if only he’ll put the Wild Thing bullshit in the closet and leave it there. The Russell Westbrook who could lead a team to something come April when games start meaning something. This Russell Westbrook.
The Thunder won in Sacramento on Wednesday night by a score of 132-113. They did this without both Dennis Schroeder and Raymond Felton who were both suspended by the league because they got off their feet and somehow got quasi involved near the Thunder bench when Robin Lopez lost his mind after realizing his career has careened to this low point of playing for a team as bad as the Chicago Bulls circa 2018. Very weak and unfair by the NBA , but in the end it didn’t matter for the Thunder on this night.
Westbrook tripled doubled with a 19 point, 11 rebound, 17 assist night. For good measure he threw in six steals. I know Maurice Cheeks felt good watching this. I’m pretty sure Billy Donovan smiled to himself as well. I smoked a cigar on my back porch in the forest of Deer Creek. This wasn’t Wild Thing, this was the best player in the NBA on this night in Sacramento showing what he can do when he really wants to do it.
Paul George didn’t suck either in scoring 43 points on 27 shots as he closes in on winning the NBA Player of the Month for December. Paul George may not be Durant as far as generational offensive numbers, but like me he loves to fish and he’s a complete player on both ends of the floor. He’s blue collar to the core and right now he’s in the hunt for the MVP given the way he’s been playing this season.
Steven scored 20 points and added 23 rebounds against the Kings. In an age of NBA basketball where centers don’t seem to matter as much, Steven has evolved as perhaps into the best in the league at his position. In his book Steven says how hard in practice he works on the Euro step and his three point shooting. I’m ready to see a three point shot by Steven.
Jerami Grant scored 22 points on an uber efficient 9-11 shooting night. Since moving into the starter’s role his game has taken off while Patrick Patterson’s has dropped off the edge of the world. I hope for Patrick Patterson’s sake he doesn’t find himself sitting on a bench with Robin Lopez after the trade deadline. But then again, the Bulls don’t have anything Sam Presti could use right now.
Terrance Ferguson had one of his better nights as a modified version of Andre Roberson. Terrance had 14 points and is getting better every night. It’s starting to make sense. He needs some more upper body muscle but you can see where his game is going.
Alex Abrines went 3-7 shooting the three on this night and that’s exactly what Sam Presti needs from him on most nights. As in pulling his link on the chain and giving the Thunder an additional three point shooter they can count on coming out of the bullpen.
Diallo got a technical and had one of his less productive games, but I’m guessing he’ll snap back in Salt Lake on Saturday.
The Thunder improve to 20-10 and head to Salt Lake on Saturday night for a return visit to where their season ended in April last season. Those fans will be ready for Westbrook. Joe Ingles and Jae Crowder will be talking some shit I’m sure. Ricky Rubio will try to bring out Wild Thing from Russell Westbrook’s inner basketball closet.
We’ll see.
But on this mid December night in Sacramento there was no Wild Thing sighting, just the best point guard in the NBA along with Steph Curry showing us what he can be when he wants to be it.
When you really think this thru does it make any real difference. I don’t think so because Russell Westbrook and Paul George combined make around sixty million something dollars a year and they enjoy having Billy Donovan as their head coach. As well it’s obvious Sam Presti has a strong relationship with Billy Donovan so this doesn’t seem like a jaw dropper even if the Thunder exit the playoffs in the first round for the third straight season with what is right now the league’s highest payroll.
If you look at OKC’s schedule to date nothing has been validated because the schedule the Thunder has played so far has been the league’s easiest. So you would think this year’s performance has nothing to do with the decision to retain Billy Donovan for his fifth year as the Thunder head coach.
Here’s what I think…if you want to take the Thunder to the next level then you as a head coach will have to nuance some change in Russell Westbrook’s game. This will have to occur. To date except for maybe these past few games after the 1-12 clusterfuck in Denver… that hasn’t happened with Billy Donovan as the head coach. It appears though Westbrook is currently trying to play defense and limit his three point chucking addiction. Step I of Twelve Steps Basketball wise … Play some defense and stop chucking the dumbass threes.
I don’t own the team. It’s not my money. I have no skin in this game so if Clay Bennett and Company want to make Mike Gundy their basketball coach that’s their call. But make this clear I think Billy Donovan was an excellent college coach at Florida winning two NCAA titles at a non-basketball school per se. That’s not an easy thing to do. Those usually go to Duke, Kansas, North Carolina, and Villanova as of late. So winning two championships at Florida is a formidable thing.
I like Billy Donovan. If my son were a DI hoops player good enough to travel that path…then Billy Donovan would be at the top of my list as to who I’d want influencing my son’s life for four years as a young student-athlete.
Clay Bennett of late has a pretty good track record of helping to name head coaches in that he’s an alpha regent on the board at OU. I loved the Lon Kruger hire at OU even though I genuinely liked Jeff Capel. The manner in which Bob Stoops stepped down and Lincoln Riley was elevated to head coach is perhaps the smoothest transition I’ve ever witnessed from either a blueblood football or basketball program. So what I’m writing here is Clay Bennett has a very strong record of late in helping to make head coaching decisions at both OU and to a lesser degree with the Thunder.
I write lesser degree on Billy Donovan only because I’m still not sure if he can help Russell Westbrook contain his inner basketball demons. If I did let Donovan go…then my short list for his replacement would be headed by Nurse Ratched. I’m thinking at that point Nurse Ratched is the only living human who might help Russell Westbrook come to terms with his basketball decision making at times. But then again we all saw how that ended with McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) in the end.
In hindsight it’s really only fair because for any basketball coach to not lose his mind coaching Carmelo Anthony and Russell Westbrook on the same team for an entire basketball season should result in some sort of punitive damages settlement for the coach.
And that’s what I think this is in the end… a human/legal settlement of sorts for Billy Donovan getting thru this for four basketball seasons.
Billy Donovan 2010 University of Florida Presser on upcoming game with South Carolina:
Robin Lopez and Jerami Grant almost had a fight….psshhhh. Really? NBA players for the most part don’t fight. They wouldn’t last a week in the NHL. Nick Gallo would throw himself over Russell Westbrook in a motherly way as a human shield before it ever came to that. They don’t fight. OKC missed a glorious chance last night in that they could have been like Isiah’s Bad Boy Pistons. That actually would help the Thunder since they can’t shoot a basketball very well.
Billy Donovan should have turned them loose. Surely, Adam Silver wouldn’t suspend the entire team. Some fighting would be good for this team. Show Cupcake what’s in store for him down the road. What do you think Steph Curry and Cupcake would do?
As I think of Westbrook…I of course think of where his landing will be legacy wise when his career is over. Where will his spot in the Pantheon be?
Bob Cousy has Westbrook in his top five point guards. Period. Ring or no ring. I need to see a ring or at least a season where Westbrook is the primary point guard on a team which makes the NBA Finals. I watched the Thunder intently in 2012 when they made their run to the Finals. In actuality, I thought Harden was the Thunder’s point guard in those twelve wins which propelled OKC to the Finals.
I don’t have Westbrook in my top twenty players of all-time even though I have him as somewhere in my top five athletes to ever play in the NBA. I have him right there with Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron as pure athletic basketball players. What keeps Westbrook off my list legacy wise is to date his inability win in post season without Kevin Durant. That’s why I think this season very much has a place in determining Westbrook’s legacy. This Thunder team has much more talent than say the Dallas team in 2011 which finally gave Jason Kidd his championship season.
As I go thru this season watching Westbrook attempt to come to terms with this I’ll be very curious to see how it ends in April. Can Westbrook nuance enough change in his game to get the Thunder back to an NBA Finals? My guess is no, but I want to be open minded about this as possible. I never thought this possible of an athlete, but there might be too much ‘dog’ in Westbrook for his own ultimate good.
I don’t think Westbrook is selfish. That’s not it. It’s more that he has too much ‘dog’ in him to pull back off the throttle when pulling back on the throttle is the play.
We’ll see.
But for fun I’m going to think of nine other great point guards who haven’t or never did win an NBA ring.
Other than the almost fight between Robin Lopez and Jerami Grant there wasn’t much to watch inside Chesapeake Energy Arena on Monday night as the Thunder did what they wanted over a horrid Chicago Bulls team which will go down as one of the worst in Bulls history. Off the top of my head I can’t remember how many games the Bulls won during the season which eventually gave them the draft passage to Michael Jordan, but I know this Bulls team is horrific. One could possibly even make the argument that fired coach Fred Hoiberg’s Elite Eight Iowa State team had more pop than this Bulls team.
The final was 121-96 and for the grace of god the Thunder has ‘almost’ completed its run of games versus the worst four teams in the NBA this season in Phoenix, Cleveland, Chicago, and Atlanta.
No pun intended towards Wild Thing, but there’s no more cupcakes left on the OKC schedule minus one remaining games versus the Suns.
I have a very simple axiom in team sports, which states, numbers are relative as per to the level of competition you’re doing it against. That’s why to date I’ve been much more into Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray than Russell Westbrook and Paul George. The latter two are getting ready to get my undivided attention in about two weeks.
These games mean nothing except they do in fact mean something as far as the Western Conference seeding positions. Let’s put it this way the Thunder are 19-10 overall, but 9-8 versus teams in the West with three of those wins coming against the Suns. I would challenge even the trekkiest of the Daily Thunder trekkies or Russell Westbrook’s Stepford Wife Nick Gallo to dispute those numbers. It is what it is. I still feel good about having the Thunder pegged as the No. 4 team in the West for these two simple reasons:
1. I’d take LeBron over the Westbrook-Paul George combo even with LeBron’s current cast.
2. I’d take Harden, Chris Paul, Clint Capela, and Eric Gordon over Westbrook, George, Adams, and Dennis Schroder.
I’m not even bothering to list Steph and Klay because I would hope that’s obvious enough.
The questions with Oklahoma City are obviously simple, that being, does Russell Westbrook have it within himself to be a championship point guard? Can he avoid the meltdowns? Can he play within the group? Can he do these things against good teams with good players and good coaches consistently through three rounds and twelve wins? Can Sam Presti find a player to take the Alex Abrines spot on the roster and give the Thunder a dependable three point specialist?
Otherwise, I think Sam Presti has done all he can do for Russell Westbrook. This season isn’t on Sam Presti, this season will be a judgement of Russell Westbrook when the smoke has cleared.
Here’s how I see it. Durant left because he didn’t think he’d ever win a ring with Westbrook. He’s now won two with Steph and Klay in two tries…Cupcake or not.
Sam Presti then went to work. He traded Serge Ibaka for in essence what became Paul George and Jerami Grant. Absolutely brilliant. You can bitch all you want about the Harden deal, but there’s not a center in the league I’d trade Steven Adams for and I can’t see how Harden and Westbrook would have ever co-evolved.
Presti then made the horrible mistake of taking Carmelo, but made up for it by bringing in Dennis Schroeder. He literally stole a one year rental of Nerlens Noel and looks very smart with the addition of Hamidou Diallo. Terrence Ferguson is coming around, but again we haven’t seen enough of Ferguson against elite guards to know what he really is bringing to the Andre Roberson role.
Patterson and Abrines have been disappointing. For OKC to be special those two can’t both be inconsistent. That’s not on Presti, that’s on those two as well paid professionals. That’s why general managers make trades during a season. That’s why the Red Sox bolstered their bullpen. That’s why you have a trade deadline.
Sam Presti needs another dependable three point shooter to help Russell Westbrook’s decision making process easier. This will be on Presti.
The rest will basically be on Russell Westbrook. How does Westbrook want to go down in basketball history in the modern era?
Does he want to be an NBA point guard with a ring or go down along with Steve Nash, John Stockton, and Allen Iverson as a group of the four best NBA point guards never to win a championship?
Some great regular season career numbers. He could score the ball in the regular season with the Denver Nuggets. But he was a coach killer in Denver and in New York. A selfish player who unfortunately will be remembered in this manner despite being given two chances in OKC and Houston to redefine himself and his legacy.
It’s really sad when you think about Carmelo’s ending from a human standpoint. In the end he didn’t come to terms with himself as a player or how the game has evolved in the past ten years. I mean, could he even be taken seriously as an analyst at this point. I hope Carmelo finds peace within himself. What a shame.
It was a great sports night for me. It was dueling sporting events as LeBaker led his Browns and the city of Cleveland to a pulsating last play of the game 17-16 win over the Denver Broncos in Mile High Stadium. My son was there with a group of OU people and kept calling during the game in excitement.
So I asked, “What jersey are you wearing…Von Miller’s or LeBaker’s No. 6?”
He never would tell me. Some bullshit about hosting some oil and gas people. But I could detect in his voice this night belonged to Baker Mayfield and America’s team…the Cleveland Browns. With the win, Cleveland improves to 6-7-1 and has a date with the dysfunctional Bengals next week-end in Cleveland. I would think it will be standing room only as these (our) Browns are still in the hunt heading into Week 16 of an NFL season.
This isn’t a fluke no matter how much Jim Traber wishes it was. Cleveland is loaded with good young talent. John Dorsey is a proven GM. The last hurdle in Cleveland is for ownership to get out of the way and stay out of the way. In essence to become invisible ownership. To allow Dorsey to run the franchise. Now you can say you can’t overcome weak ownership. That is a valid argument. But as we’ve seen with the Steelers, the NY Giants, the Green Bay Packers, the 49’ers, and the Denver Broncos of late just having solid ownership doesn’t make you immune from going through down cycles. It’s a tough league. Albeit the Browns didn’t just down cycle before Baker…they basically died and stayed dead until this past summer’s draft.
There were Cleveland jerseys sprinkled throughout Mile High on Saturday night. It was in essence a playin game for the winner to stay alive in the race for a wild card berth. Cleveland won and it was on a night when Baker Mayfield wasn’t at his sharpest.
Big picture wise I had six wins for Cleveland this season to fight their way from out of the abyss. With a win over the dumpster fire Bengals next week they improve to 7-7-1 with a Game 16 remaining versus the Ravens in Baltimore.
I should invite Mark Rodgers to come over and watch the game with me. Winner moves on…loser has his season end.
I can’t wait.
On the Thunder front…Paul George continued his excellent play of late in leading the Thunder to a 110-94 win over the gradually descending Clippers. The Thunder improve to 18-10 and host the Bulls on Monday night. The Clips biggest drama will occur this trade deadline where we see how much cap space they create for this coming summer.
So… I wonder what the hottest jersey is in Oklahoma right now… Kyler Murray, NBA MVP candidate Paul George, or LeBaker Mayfield’s No. 6?
I know which one I was wearing Saturday night.
Jim Traber…get over yourself and put on that Baker Mayfield jersey. Have some fun with yourself for a change.
Baker talks big win in Mile High, Pepper’s huge sack, and Kobe Bryant. Note to Russell Westbrook… this is how as a star you conduct yourself with the local media. You’ll notice their wasn’t one jock sniffer question from a Nick Gallo type during the presser. Get rid of Nick Gallo and show the world you’ve transformed yourself into a real iconic sports figure like Kobe. You know, as in the player you idolized while growing up in LA. The fourth grade level shit has become a bore. Ascend, Russell… this comes from a fan.