Welcome to OKCThunderGround!

Since there’s not really all that much to do running a rogue Thunder blog in mid August unless I opt to write a meaningless piece on Kyle Singler’s off season (Erik Horne, newsoksports) or a going through the motions piece on how many games the Thunder will win next season (Royce Young, Daily Thunder) — I think what I’ll do instead is pretty much pivot with Donald Trump for the next few weeks and see what happens with this rogue presidential campaign of his.

I’m a political junkie and it’s always been a fantasy of mine to follow a presidential campaign. One of my favorite books of all-time is Losers by Michael Lewis of Moneyball, The Blindside, Liar’s Poker, and The Big Short fame.

If you love presidential politics Losers is a must read. Order it on Amazon and I assure you you’ll love it. The book was written by Michael Lewis as he followed the 1996 presidential election which pitted incumbent Bill Clinton against the GOP nominee Bob Dole. It’s actually my favorite book written by Lewis. Please read it if you get the chance. It makes what’s happening twenty years later in American presidential politics seem plausible.

Anyway, as Trump attempts to pivot and see if he can maintain at a level above an average fourth grader for longer than three days I think I’ll follow his campaign a bit. I’ll start tomorrow by going over his ‘almost’ statement of apology to America he ‘almost’ gave on Kellyanne Conway’s first day on the job as his new campaign manager.

I have no idea whatsoever what these other Thunder bloggers are doing, but I think I’ll cover the presidential election until we get to early October. If Presti makes a trade of any consequence I’ll pull off the campaign beat and write something Thundery. If Draymond gets Durant to marry him and shows Monica Wright how to get it done I’ll get it on here.

But for the time being, I’m on the Trump beat with Katie Tur of MSNBC. She looks like she could use some help.

Can this really be a surprise? Since the GOP convention we’ve witnessed the most abjectly unqualified presidential nominee in modern American political history attempt to ‘pivot’ and become a serious canidate. The reason he can’t pivot is simple. He’s not a serious canidate with any deep political ideology. Trump in essence is a New York Democrat running against another New York Democrat in Hillary Clinton. He’s not a conservative. He’s a fraud in a sense using the Republican Party to run a rogue presidential campaign. It’s the classic OPM (Other People’s Money) scam. His campaign is as laughable as having a degree from Trump University, yet in no way should any Clinton supporters become complacent because of the polls pre Labor Day.

He won the GOP nomination by bullying sixteen GOP canidates in the primary process. I would agree with Trump on one point, there’s no need for him to ‘pivot’ because he can’t. It’s not what he is. He’s not qualified for the position. So–in essence, don’t try to be something you can’t possibly be.Go back to being a flamethrower and see what happens.

Enter Stephen Bannon from breitbart.com. Steven Bannon of Sarah Palin adoration. If you’ve never read this website you might want to browse through it.

So in adding the Breitbart touch to the Trump campaign, it’s clear where this is all headed—the gutter. Good luck with this, America.

At some point you just don’t know what to say. Especially living in Oklahoma where real elections no longer take place. Where Sarah Palin would still probably garner sixty per-cent of the vote against either Teddy or Franklin Roosevelt. Where Lincoln, Reagan, or even Bush 41 would be viewed as squishy. But at some point doesn’t the check engine light come on….eventually? Maybe, hopefully.

I mean, what are you going to say as it appears Hillary Clinton could be headed for an Electoral College landslide election in November. This isn’t on Hillary Clinton. This isn’t on Wall Street. This isn’t even on the premise of a rigged general election.

This rests squarely on those who decided in the GOP primaries that it would be better to nominate a reality television persona over say someone who was the House Budget Chairman and a successful two term governor from Ohio who’s favorite ball player of all-time was Roberto Clemente. A man with an impeccable resume. A wife who wouldn’t have plagiarized Michelle Obama at the GOP Convention. A real life inspirational story of overcoming the deaths of his parents at an early age in life. A canidate who probably would have had Tom Ridge as his vice-presidential partner.

But no. You GOP primary voters opted to go with the Godfather of the Birther Conspiracy. The man who with a straight face insinuated Lyin’ Ted Cruz’s father was involved in the assassination of JFK. A guy who said sleeping with his own daughter would be pretty hot if indeed she wasn’t his oldest daughter… sigh. A man who probably thought long and hard about making Howard Stern his VP nominee.

A canidate repudiated even by his own party leaders.

And this is why when Hillary Clinton becomes the 45th president of the United States none of you should say one single word for the next four years.

Not one word.

.

Berry Tramel appears to be lost. I’ll need to play my Durant closure music for him one more time. He’s lost. Totally. The writer who along with now San Jose Mercury News scribe Anthony Slater gave us the Mr. Unreliable story several seasons ago in the Memphis series and who just recently called Durant a douchebag can’t decide if he wants to be aggressive or passive.

He wrote a piece telling his readers why they should applaud Durant in February when the Warriors come to OKC. Fortunately for them they weren’t buying any of that bullshit. A poll with four options accompanied the piece. Tramel’s suggestion wasn’t reflected in the results of the poll.

The option which won the poll was just remaining absolutely silent when Durant was announced for his opening lineup call.

I’m not a booer. Athletes aren’t boo worthy. Trump is, Durant isn’t. Lyin’ Ted Cruz is, Draymond Green isn’t. So if you want to boo go ahead–it’s your individual constitutional right. None of us should be telling others how to handle this.

I will admit to have called both Ron Artest and JR Smith cock roaches during heated playoff games, but I never booed either of them.

I won’t be booing nor applauding Durant in February at the Peake. I’ll be cheering Westbrook. Cheering Steven Adams. Urging Victor Oladipo to do great things.

But I will not be giving Kevin Durant any love. But if others want to it’s clearly their call.

When Al Horford left Atlanta for Boston this summer in free agency he actually paid to take space in the Atlanta paper and told the city of Atlanta how much he appreciated his time there. He didn’t diss a teammate. Didn’t diss his coach. And didn’t act like a douchebag in the aftermath.

So when Durant arrives with his Oakland AAU Super Team in February he won’t get anything from me.

Nothing.

For Berry Tramel. Move forward, buddy. It’s a grand glorious world out there.

Thanx for the edit, TC.

My father turned eighty-two years of age on Wednesday. This is for him, me, and fathers and sons everywhere.

When I heard Sam Presti made the Ibaka trade with Oladipo being one of three pieces coming OKC’s way I thought it was a great trade. What this should do for the Thunder is give them the best backcourt in the league save the Splash Brothers. But as far as rebounding, defensive versatility, physicality, and sheer athleticism the Thunder will have the best overall backcourt in basketball if the synergy works between Westbrook and Oladipo. Throw into the mix Andre Roberson’s defensive prowess and the eventual evolvement of Cam Payne and I can’t imagine anyone feeling sorry for the Thunder too long because of the departure of Durant to the AAU team in Oakland.

I’m very familiar with Oladipo because I watched him play quite a bit at Indiana. If you’re a true basketball fan and you’re not pumped of what Oladipo should bring to the Thunder then I don’t know what to say to you. This will be the most talented and deep the Thunder have ever been at the guard position and if you throw in Ronnie Price, Alex Abrines, and Anthony Morrow the depth goes far deeper than just Westbrook, Oladipo, Roberson, and Payne. Billy Donovan and Mo Cheeks should be salivating at what Sam Presti has put at their disposal as far as guard combinations.

Lest you’ve forgotten one of the best regular season games from last season here’s Victor triple-doubling in the double overtime thriller in late October.

Oklahomans especially should love this because these are the type of guards Eddie Sutton loved coaching. Big, fast, athletic, and tough guards who are able to defend multiple positions and dictate the flow of the game.

Welcome to Oklahoma City, Victor Oladipo. Hope you’re as jacked as some of us in OKC because we need to figure out how to become a good enough team to beat that AAU team in Oakland with the punk who loves kneeing and punching other men between their legs. Kerr might want to rethink that next time they play LeBron if you follow my drift. Anyway, welcome to OKC, Victor…home of the most passionate fans in the NBA.

Usually in early August I’m in a chill mode as far as the NBA season. OU football is usually on my mind, but not this August and OU has a team with enough talent to make the Final Four again.

It’s Thunder right now with me given the events of the past month, plus the excitement of seeing a team with Westbrook, Adams, Oladipo, Kanter, Payne, Roberson, Ilyasova, Abrines, Sabonis, and others begining the journey of becoming a contender.

There will be some tough moments, but there’s potential for this to become an interesting ball club especially with the addition of another swing player who can shoot and play some defense. Maybe he’s already on the roster.

Westbrook said in his presser he’s ready for the season to start and I believe him. The city will galvanize behind this team.

This should be a very physical team with a chip on their shoulder. Much to prove and incremental team improvement needed every month to become the type of team they want to become in April.

The Thunder will make the transition from finesse ball to blue collar pounding their opponent ball. But they’ll still have the most talented point guard in the league and probably the second most talented player in the league only behind LeBron James.

It would not be surprising at all if the MVP race ends up with Westbrook dueling one of the players from the Oakland AAU team for the trophy.

Storylines will be omnipresent.

There should be genuine hatred between the Thunder and the Oakland AAU team. I won’t be able to sit low at these games in fear of getting into a verbal exchange with Draymond Green and being removed from my seat by arena security. OKC won’t be tethered with high expectations. They’ll be an underdog, but an underdog with Russell Westbrook, Steven Adams, and Victor Oladipo. An underdog with a puncher’s chance if they do the little things the right way.

This should be a very fun season. Time to start training.

Yo, Russell. Let’s go, buddy.