Welcome to OKCThunderGround!

Umm, it’s a beautiful day in Deer Creek, Oklahoma with magnificent spring-like weather in mid February. The bass and crappie fishing is pre-maturely good of which I’ve taken part of already twice this week. So…here’s the thing, I saw this clip of the Trump Trekkie groupie taking the stage with Caligula Lite and at first it made me shake my head and utter a few F bombs. But at this point, what’s the point? He’s probably a decent guy. It is what it is. I just hope this guy didn’t pee in his pants as he left the stage. Maybe…when the smoke clears, he’ll be the Sean Spicer replacement.

This is my choice as the New Confederacy’s national anthem moving forward at the rallies.

It was a good week for Serge Ibaka as he was traded by the Orlando Magic to the Toronto Raptors for Terrence Ross and a draft pick. I’m happy for Serge because he goes from one of the worst teams in the league to one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference. Plus, Toronto is the perfect city for Serge with it’s beauty, culture, diversity, freedom of thought, cuisine, beautiful women, art, etc.

Serge will always be one of my favorite players to have donned a Thunder jersey and his contributions in Oklahoma City both on and off the court will be remembered with respect and affection. He always had a smile on his face and a positive word for everyone. Toronto will be an interesting team to watch moving forward and except for the Philly Sixers will now be my favorite team in the East. I’m happy for Serge–he deserved this opportunity.

Serge’s beginning in OKC.

Serge’s last exit interview in OKC.

Serge’s return, a career scoring night, and the game winner.

Donald Trump gave his first real press conference and to say the least it was illuminating. What I mean by this is that if any doubt remained our president is an unhinged pathological liar then all doubt was removed unless you’re one of the 35% Trump base with Build the Wall poms firmly in hand.

It was so Nixonian to the core. But of course, that 35% base could care less about things like Nixon and the truth. It is what it is…which will ultimately be sad for our country. Evidently, U.S Navy Seal Robert Harward wasn’t impressed by Trump’s ‘presentation’ and said pass to taking over for Michael Flynn. Smart guy—don’t taint your name and diminish your career to date. Just sit to the side and observe the train wreck.

So onward Trump rolls into Florida for a pep rally to escape the reality of governance and a remembrance of more innocent times when things were light, innocent, and fun. When all a reality television star had to do was say Build the Wall or Lock Her Up and get a symbiotic rush from his cult followers.

I know I’ve been tough on all you Trump supporters, but this is for you from me. Play if right before or during the pep rally tomorrow in Melbourne, Florida.

Another song for the rally in Florida. If only Trump could have Little Marco there in cheerleader garb singing this to the core. It kind
of has an Eisenhower feel about it, no?

Howard is friends with Donald Trump and let it be known recently he’s fairly certain Donald being president will be detrimental to not only our country, but to Trump as well. I couldn’t agree more with Howard. It’s so many things with Trump. The pathological lying, the need to win big, the obsession of Marco Rubio’s penis, the whole birther thing, the whole trophy wife thing, the inauguration crowd size, but more than anything it just seems likes he’s just this very insecure person who doesn’t have a dog and maybe never came to terms with certain things during puberty.

He never should have run for president. He doesn’t have time to be president. This interferes with his golf, shopping for furniture with married women, and sex chatting with bus bud Billy Bush. One month in and he looks miserable to me. He shouldn’t continue doing this just to prove the whole thing from that D.C. correspondents dinner when Obama destroyed him. Enough already, he gave it a month. It’s not working. If he’s not careful he’ll be right there with Kellyanne Conway in a mental ward by Month 2.

Yeah, I admit it…I love this. This whole thing says so much about our country and how racism hasn’t really changed all that much.

At some point one has to wonder if this is all premeditated chaos versus ignorant dysfunction. Everyday the world follows Trump into a new rabbit hole and is left trying to figure out what just happened. Nobody knows except maybe Trump, Bannon, and Kushner. Trump is using the GOP and the GOP is using Trump to get Gorsuch confirmed and the GOP tax cuts enacted. Otherwise, it looks like a game of Trump playing the country for a bunch of fools and laughing all the way through it so far. Gorsuch’s confirmation hearing date was announced today to begin on March 20th. It’s almost like reading a John Grisham novel of a Supreme Court nomination by a rogue president. But I doubt Grisham could even make up half of this writing fiction.

This is classic Trump spinning chaos and darting down the nearest rabbit hole.

I hope this turns out well for those who put their trust in Trump. I seriously do because I fear for some of you. Hopefully you’re in a good position.I hope so because this is a guy who thought the bust of the subprime mortgage bubble was a good thing… for him at least.

Never give a sucker a break and kick him when he’s down. Always remember–that’s Trump’s mantra. I hope that’s not the average Trump supporter when all this is over. You might want to pick up a copy of The Big Short, just saying.

I’m not going to sugarcoat this, without Russell Westbrook this Thunder squad would be abysmal at best and playing for lottery position. I don’t write this trying to be snarky, but rather to be honest. Clearly, this is the season of Westbrook in Oklahoma City, but without Westbrook this would have been a season of monumental bleakness in the reddest of red states.

The Thunder beat the NY Knicks by a 116-105 margin on Wednesday night inside Chesapeake Energy Arena. OKC improves to 32-25 on the season heading into the All-Star break. OKC doesn’t play another game for nine days and maybe during those nine days Sam Presti can do something as per his GM job description to give Westbrook some help. But know this, without Westbrook this assemblage of Sam Presti talent would have a record of something like 7-50. No hyperbole–none. At times when Westbrook leaves the floor, I turn my eyes away. I can’t watch.

On Wednesday night, Westbrook was once again brilliant as he notched his 27th triple double of the season in his personal quest of chasing Oscar Robertson. Westbrook’s line was spectacular—38 points, 14 rebounds, and 12 assists. It was an efficient line as well as Westbrook was 13-22 from the line and 3-5 from behind the arc. Good thing for Sam Presti and Billy Donovan that Westbrook didn’t sulk and demand a trade after Durant’s exit to Oakland on July 4th or else the only thing I’d be writing on this blog is what dumbass thing Donald Trump said on any given day. The fact Westbrook despises Trump as much as I do makes me wish I could sit down with him at some point and talk politics instead of Thunder basketball.

Anyway….. the Thunder were awful early in this game falling behind 13-2 for the most part because no one other than Westbrook could hit the Pacific Ocean with a basketball even if they were standing next to it. But things got better as Joff Lauvergne helped Westbrook a little and then it must have occurred to other Thunder players that for them to score isn’t against the rules or the Presti Doctrine. Visualize Walter Matthau and the Bad News Bears getting base hits and catching the ball all the sudden if you want.

Oladipo finally got going and actually finished the game with 21 points. Steven was okay, but nothing spectacular scoring 12 points and grabbing 8 rebounds….more is needed from Adams. Andre Roberson, who was 2-32 shooting threes in this last stretch of games, made a three point bucket from the top of the key which made me rub my eyes just to make sure this occurrence wasn’t a mirage. Roberson had a decent game with 10 points and 7 rebounds.

Jerami Grant had a nice game with 13 points and Joff Laurvergne had those 7 first half points which reminded Westbrook he wasn’t going to have to play the Knicks 1 on 5 all night long.

Key to this game was the fact the Knicks are a monumental failure this season considering their talent and it’s becoming apparent Phil Jackson as a GM isn’t all that much.

A bright spot for OKC was the fact they shot 12-23 from beyond the arc which is quite spectacular for these Bad News Bears minus Russell Westbrook.

Combined, Cam Payne and Enes Kanter didn’t contribute a single point for the second straight game. Pretty amazing OKC could win a game with this dynamic in place, but this season is all about Westbrook and how completely fortunate Oklahoma City fans are that they can still watch him play every night.

So now we’re at the All-Star break and this Thunder team is a miraculous 32-25. This sentence alone should be the only argument needed on Russell Westbrook’s behalf on why he should easily be the MVP choice at the break. Your Honor, I ask for a directed verdict, give this young man his trophy and make these other players practice their shooting.

When the Thunder resume play in nine days, they have a stretch of three very winnable home games in a row to start the goal achieving portion of the season. Maybe the Bad News Bears should hang around in Oklahoma City and practice with Billy Donovan. Maybe Sam Presti should do something GM-like and actually acquire a player can actually fucking score the basketball to help Westbrook.

But I’m not holding my breath. I’m just enjoying this Season of Westbrook and hoping maybe sometime we can compare notes on the Trump Doctrine.

Good for Mika and Joe.

Our Thunder season.

How ironic, here’s Michael Flynn on July 18th at the Republican National Convention imploring the almost entirely white crowd to lock up Hillary Clinton. Flynn went on to say ‘if he ever did one-tenth of what Hillary Clinton did he’d be in prison’. His words, not mine. Interesting, if that’s indeed the case Michael Flynn might need to get his ass lawyered up in a hurry. Amazing, Flynn was fired in 2014 for being recklessly subordinate to Barack Obama. And, of course, he and Donald Trump were a perfect match. A fired general with a chip on his shoulder and a rogue birther presidential nominee who wanted to stir the worst in people.

Michael Flynn lasted 24 days. Gong. Even by Watergate standards this is eye popping. TWENTY-FOUR DAYS. Even the worst of the Nixon accomplices made it three and a half years, but Michael Flynn… 24 days. At least he’s got a title for his book.

Of course, more will continue to unravel. Hard to imagine Trump didn’t know about Flynn’s activities with the Russians, and of course, one would expect Paul Manafort’s name to start surfacing again as the Russian trail with the Trump campaign itself starts to unravel under subpoena scrutiny at some point.

In closing, we should all follow Michael Flynn’s legal advice as gold and lock him up for a day. Maybe some humility would serve him well down the road.

And then there was this. Sigh.

It’s simply stunning how little Trump groupies actually comprehend U.S. history. I mean, this wasn’t that complex to see coming around the corner. Unless, you’re just a complete fucking dolt of the Ten Star variety how could any of this be a surprise? If you’re given a photo of Trump literally going down on Putin with Melania looking on will that start to move this in a different direction for you? I’m sorry for the F bombs, but as each day passes in this cesspool called the Trump presidency I can’t control myself.

One cupcake begats another cupcake it goes in some alien basketball universe proverb, okay— so I just made it up, but still. On the same night Michael Flynn resigned not even a month into the piece of shit presidency headed by Donald Trump, Sam Presti’s Thunder stank up the nation’s capitol even more with perhaps the most pathetic display of basketball in the Thunder era in Oklahoma City.

It must have been hard for former fired Thunder coach Scott Brooks not to rip off his shirt and show a huge cupcake painted on his chest, waggle his finger, and mouth the words to Sam Presti — ‘I told you so,’ but he didn’t. Scott Brooks has too much class to do such a thing. And, oh, by the way, Brooks’ Wizards have now won 11 out of their last 12 and are the hottest team in the NBA heading into the All-Star break. Good for Scott Brooks, he’s a nice man and a decent basketball coach.

Just to set the cupcake scoreboard clear before I hit paragraph #4, the other cupcake who now plays in Oakland was getting his ass beat as well as the Denver Nuggets mauled Charlie Bell’s Super Team by the identical 22 point margin the Thunder lost by in D.C. Call it Cupcake Karma, call it a Cupcake boomerang, call it whatever you want, but maybe sagacious Kendrick Perkins knew what he was talking about…cupcake wise.

God this sucks writing this recap. But somebody has to man the Thunder Underground and not just lap dance Sam Presti 24/7 like others do covering this team.

I didn’t really call Russell Westbrook a cupcake, but he did play his worst game of the season tonight. It was awful and it appeared he had nothing left in his gas tank, and with good reason, he’s carried Sam Presti and Billy Donovan all season long after they lost Kevin Durant in free agency. If you wanted a glimpse of what the Thunder might look like without Russell Westbrook’s heroics this season you got it tonight as Westbrook’s uber competitive soul couldn’t get up after the game in Oklahoma City on Saturday night. Call it a cupcake hangover per se, but Westbrook is entitled–his teammates, Donovan, and Sam Presti aren’t.

Russell Westbrook was -36 in 24 minutes of play in this basketball game. It was ugly to watch, but I don’t mean this to be an insult to Westbrook, but more to the point an accolade of how he’s carried this team to a winning mark heading in the All-Star break. I mean this to be an insult to Sam Presti, as in do your fucking job and get someone on your team who can score the ball consistently every night and be Westbrook’s second in command. That’s what I mean because if not it would be stupid of Westbrook to waste his entire pro career playing in Oklahoma City.

I actually like both Adams and Oladipo as players, but it’s becoming apparent neither are quite good enough to be the second best player on a team which wants to be a serious contender. Since there’s no way in hell I’d trade Steven Adams, maybe we’re at a point when some other type of trade needs to be made if one is out there to be made which can help this basketball team.

Granted, the Thunder have now played the Cavs, the Warriors, and the hottest team in the league in succession, but Russell Westbrook needs some help.

I’d like to close with at least one positive paragraph in this recap. I thought Joff Lauvergne had a nice game, his play was the lone bright spot I detected in this basketball game.

Somehow I want to close this Thunder/Presti recap recant with a dueling reference to the smoldering heap of shit dysfunction known as the Trump presidency.

Okay, Trump, in essence, just waived Michael Flynn. Which btw Barack Obama did as well back in 2014 when he canned Flynn’s reckless ass for subordination. Trump says he’s eyeing David Petreous as some sort of reclamation project. Don’t do that Little Donald or Sam Presti, what he did was far worse than what Crooked Hillary did with her emails. Maybe go for a solid two way guard in Milwaukee by the name of Kris Middleton and see what WTF happens when you add another honest two way player to the mix.

The end.