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Hard to believe but here the Oklahoma City Thunder are but with only one member left standing from their original Fab Five which Sam Presti drafted piece by piece to make the team a championship contender in a few short years. It makes you fully understand the challenge of sustaining a high level franchise in a small market especially during a time when there’s such an influx of television money escalating the salary cap with little sanity attached.

Sam Presti has a formidable challenge in front of him with Kevin Durant leaving for the Warriors. Only Russell Westbrook and Nick Collison remain from the 2012 core of OKC’s Finals team. Collison is set to step down from playing after next season and I think most would agree it will be tough to keep Russell Westbrook long term.

Jeff Green is a journeyman vet with the Clippers and has had a nice career, but not a stellar one. He was the first to go being sent to the Celtics in the trade which brought Kendrick Perkins to Oklahoma City.

James Harden was next to go in the infamous trade which sent The Beard to the Rockets in exchange for basically what turned out to be Jeremy Lamb and Steven Adams with some other pieces attached.

Serge Ibaka just recently was dealt to Orlando in exchange for Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova, and Domantus Sabonis.

The face of the franchise in Kevin Durant has now moved on to the newest super team in the NBA in Oakland.

And like those Fab Five teams at Michigan at the collegiate level OKC’s Fab Five never won a championship as well. More to the point, unlike that Michigan team which did return to the NCAA Championship Game, the Thunder’s Fab Five never again returned to the NBA Finals.

With Durant’s departure the dream of Oklahoma City ever returning to the NBA Finals is pretty much over. More to the point, Sam Presti will have to roll up his sleeves and pull every rabbit out of his hat to sustain the Thunder as a playoff contender albeit a championship contender.

As I see the Thunder down the immediate road I see a nice young core of Adams, Oladipo, Kanter, Payne, and Sabonis. Maybe Dion Waiters will be retained, maybe not. A team more like the Utah Jazz and the Portland Trailblazers in terms of Western Conference pecking order. If Westbrook would stay, perhaps a notch or two higher.

From Day 1, Sam Presti’s mantra in Oklahoma City has been to maintain sustainability and to date he’s done an incredible job as the Thunder have been the fourth winningest franchise in all of professional sports.

I hope people don’t blame Presti for what has transpired because he’s done a marvelous job in Oklahoma City. I’m of the firm belief even if he kept James Harden this story evolves pretty much the same way except possibly with more ego and trashing like we’ve seen this week in the Howard Beck piece directed at Russell Westbrook.

Again, it’s more of an indictment of the times and our culture than what Sam Presti did or didn’t do.

I hope Presti stays in Oklahoma City long term. He better or else Clay Bennett and his other owners could be in a much tighter spot than they are now.

Oklahoma City as an NBA city will have to come to terms with what just happened from 2009 to the present isn’t likely to happen again. Generational players like Kevin Durant don’t just fall into your lap everyday. Just think what would have happened in Oklahoma City if the Portland Trailblazers  hadn’t selected Greg Oden as the No. 1 pick over Kevin Durant. Think about feeling cheated then.

Oklahoma City was not in anyway cheated. It was a glorious ride for a small market city which made four Western Conference Finals in the past six years.

Who would have ever thought in their wildest dream Hurricane Katrina could have started a chain of events which would put Oklahoma City in the center of the NBA universe for almost an entire decade.

Books will be written. I would suspect an ESPN 30/30 movie will be made.

In no way do I feel cheated. Quite the opposite, I feel like the basketball gods woke me up and whispered into my ear one night, “Enjoy the ride, Michael from Deer Creek, Oklahoma. Enjoy the ride.”

And I made sure I did every step of the way because things like this were never meant to be permanent or a given. But more of a blessing.

I’m good and can’t wait to see what kind of players Steven, Victor, and Cam turn out to be in the next several years.

Life is nothing more than an evolution of rotating cycles. The Thunder’s new cycle pretty much begins now. It won’t be as glorious. The bandwagon jumpers will bitch and moan, but for those of us who love hoops we’ll be okay.

Mike Jackson

 

What we hoped would happen in Oklahoma City.

Literally seems like a lifetime ago watching them in 2012. There was still innocence. Still a hope the Oklahoma City Thunder was the next NBA dynasty on the horizon. Watching this makes you realize it doesn’t take very long for things to change from within a team in a big way and go wrong. People in Oklahoma City never seemed to appreciate how truly difficult it is to get an NBA Finals and then win it all. If this doesn’t put a lump in your throat you’re not really a Thunder fan.

Very good piece by Berry Tramel over at newsoksports on this very thought. Please take the time to read it. Did KD mislead, fool, or lie to us to make us think he’d never leave Oklahoma City like Dirk and Tim Duncan have never left their original teams?

And the answer is no.

Kevin Durant never openly lied during this season as best as I can remember. For the most part I thought he handled the free agency relatively well.

But here’s where I have to take Kevin Durant to task. He claimed he wasn’t at all like LeBron James and seemed to say it as if he operated at a higher plane than the greatest athletic brand living. This is where I take Durant to task.

He’s exactly like LeBron James. There’s no difference whatsoever except LeBron has more girth, could play tight end in the NFL, has three rings, and is clearly recognized as the best overall player in the game today.

That’s the only difference. Both are as much corporate brands as much as they are ball players.

I thought Durant might be different because of the MVP speech and several other signs during the years where it appeared he could be another Tim Duncan or Dirk. But that’s on me and anyone else who read something between the lines which was obviously never there to begin with.

Kevin Durant is the very same age as my son. I’m familiar with this generation. Not all of them are knuckleheads. My son has changed a little over the past eight years as he’s finished college, embarked on a professional career, and married a young woman any father in law would be thrilled to call his daughter.

People change. Especially young guys going through the maturation process.

Like my son, Kevin Durant has grown into another stage of adulthood.

To Durant’s credit he evidently did call Sam Presti before that ridiculous statement was released on the Players’ Tribune. That wins some consolation points with me and unless Sam Presti is lying it did with him as well.

My suggestion to Durant would have been to have made a brief personal statement in person instead of the Players’ Tribune release. Durant now has the look of a human who’s now run more by agents, handlers, and leeches other than his own inner feelings. It would have been nice to see some human emotion like we saw at the MVP speech instead of the spinning from his handlers to stabilize his brand.

We should never be shocked at what happens in sports in today’s culture. Our sports heroes our just a mere reflection of how shallow and superficial we’ve become as a culture. How screwed up we are. Kids don’t read books. They watch reality television and follow idiots on twitter. Teddy Roosevelt isn’t the Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump is.

Words of advice–don’t put athletes on a pedestal they don’t belong to be standing on in the first place because almost every time you’ll get your heart broken.

So like Tramel wrote in his piece none of us should really be mad at what just transpired. It’s almost exclusively on us for holding out the innocent hope Kevin Durant would be our Dirk or our Tim Duncan and be a little deeper than his generational peers. I know for a fact I’d look at Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay and think to myself, ‘if Rodgers can stay a Packer, why can’t KD remain a Thunderer.’ Never once did Durant make a comparison to Aaron Rodgers and small markets to this extent.

Kevin Durant never promised us any of this.

We just hoped it would be so and that’s squarely on us.

Thanks for the great piece, Tramel.

Mike Jackson

Day after July Fourth in Oklahoma City and a very depressed feel in the city today. I’m fine. I’ve moved forward just like Presti suggested in his Farewell to KD–OKC Chamber of Commerce presser. Does Sam Pesti ever say fuck? Just once I’d like him to drop an F bomb in front of his Prestettes. Just once.

I don’t hang with jersey burning knuckleheads or jock sniffing tweaking twitterheads so none of that came my way today. My advice would be if you avoid these types in general you significantly add more meaning to your life whether the local sports hero stays or goes.

Only one thing pissed me off today. The piece by Howard Beck which uses an unnamed source from the Durant entourage which in detail says the reason he left is Russell Westbrook.

Here’s what I say to that—if Kevin Durant left because of Westbrook then he should have manned up on Derek Jeter’s Players’ Tribune and written it there and then himself. The only thing I hate worse than some politician’s bullshit is a jock who has groupies who give bullshit quotes without giving their name.

And btw, why does a guy who plays basketball for a living need an entourage?

I find this somewhat disturbing. Why does Kevin Durant need an entourage? It’s not like the guy is Ali or Ghandi. He went to college one year at the University of Texas and shoots a basketball really well. Get rid of the lifeless groupies, KD.

But other than this, it was a fine transitional day in Oklahoma City. I’ve moved forward. I even spent time trying to figure how Presti can keep Russell and add Blake Griffin on down the road. I’m working the cap numbers trying to make the math work.

At some point, if you want to beat a super team–you gotta load up yourself or you’ll be left behind–so let’s be proactive, positive, and figure out a way to beat the Oakland All-Star team.

LET’S GO THUNDER!

Let me just do this for my own catharsis of sorts. Kevin Durant is now officially a member of the Oakland All-Stars who play out of Oracle. Admit it—even though it sucks what they just did, in one fell swoop on the Fourth of July they rendered the entire Western Conference pretty much irrelevant. You have to admire the audacity of it all.

But these years in OKC were a gas, no doubt.

Good luck, Kevin.

Done. Poof.

I’m good.

A very tough Fourth of July in the state of Oklahoma. The face of the city has left to play on an All-Star team based in Oakland. But let’s be big boys here, this is our culture and the world we live in regarding professional sports in America. This was not about money with Durant from my view. To me, it was more about he and his handlers calibrating his best chance to win some NBA championships and I’m sure Jerry West was brilliant using his career as a Laker to connect with Kevin Durant concerning this. I like Jerry West so you’re never going to hear me trash him.

None of us really have the right to judge Kevin Durant because in a better, more fair world the team which plays in Oklahoma City probably never should have been removed from Seattle. Oklahoma City has proven itself a great NBA city and will now need to rise to the occasion. But trust me when I write this–this is what makes Oklahomans special as people. Their inner toughness to overcome adversity. Oklahoma is a tough ass place to live and the people who live here reflect that very mental toughness. Plus, there is an inherit fairness in the people which will translate into most of us realizing how fortunate we were to have Kevin Durant here for the time he was. The people are what make Oklahoma special and this comes from a guy born in the glamour city of San Diego.

Having written that I still think what he just did is one of the weakest ass things I’ve seen in sport in my fifty-eight years, but it’s not my life and it wasn’t my decision. It’s Kevin Durant’s life and the best of luck to him as he finds himself as a young man taking on the journey of life. I hope people on both sides of this don’t end up embarrassing themselves on social media.

So—what should Sam Presti do now? I think the first thing might need to do is have a talk with Russell Westbrook and politely ask what his chances are of staying on in OKC beyond this season?

If Westbrook answers that he’s probably gone at the conclusion of this season then Presti cannot do what he just with Durant and allow the Thunder to not get any players and draft picks in return. This cannot happen again.

Cap space doesn’t mean that much in OKC because star players are not coming here thru free agency. The team has to be rebuilt through the draft and shrewd deals like we just saw with the Oladipo-Sabonis trade with two players still on rookie scale contracts who can be retained in restricted free agency.

I’m still excited about watching Steven Adams, Enes Kanter, Victor Oladipo, Cam Payne, Domantus Sabonis and possibly Dion Waiters evolve as players. If Westbrook leaves they are now the core of the Thunder. Think back to that last regular season game at San Antonio and that will be our Thunder… and who knows maybe Westbrook might stay, but I wouldn’t bet my life on it.

This might sound crazy, but I actually loved that first year the Thunder were here going 23-59 as we watched Durant, Green, Westbrook, Harden, and Ibaka adjust to the NBA game. So I’ll be okay. But Russell Westbrook needs to let Sam Presti know what he’s going to do. I don’t think that’s an unreasonable request at all.

Moving forward.

I played this earlier in the season as well and think it might be good to play it again for some perspective. I’ll be completely honest–I think what Kevin Durant did today was one of the weakest things I’ve ever seen by a generational player in his prime in any of the four major league sports. Kevin Durant was 12 minutes away from eliminating the team he joined today. Twelve minutes.

The team he’s leaving was loaded and generally going to be one of the top three teams picked by Vegas to win the crown in 2016-17. Steven Adams was emerging as a unique star and the addition of Victor Oladipo would have solved the two guard problem.

I will never hate Kevin Durant for leaving OKC, but by the same token I’ll never view him the same. It’s not that he’s leaving Oklahoma City which bothers me, it’s more to the point he’s going to the team which he should have just eliminated in Game 6 in Oklahoma City.

I can’t recall off the top of my head anything like this before from a generational player in his prime in any of the major four sports.

I know sports journalists covering the Thunder in OKC aren’t allowed to ever ask tough questions, but at some point when did Kevin Durant decide he could only grow as a player and a man playing for the Golden Warriors. Was it before, during, or after the meltdown in Game 6?

I think it’s a fair question, but I don’t think we have a writer in OKC who will ever ask it.

I truly hate the way this went down today. He could have gone to any team in the league other than the Cavs or Warriors and he would have had me as a fan for life.

Now—he’s just another pro athlete who’s pretty much like so many other bores playing pro sports.

How sad.

 

 

I played this earlier in the season, but I’m going to play it again because I believe the Jerry West phone call to Kevin Durant played a part in the decision. If ever there was a player who understands championship legacy it’s West who was only able to beat the Celtics the one time for an NBA ring. I would absolutely love to read the transcript of that conversation. Maybe Jeter can pull this off and put something on his forum with genuine insight and candor. Please watch this you’ll enjoy. BTW…I love Jerry West and read his book. Interesting dude. So competitive from within. Kevin will learn something from Jerry West and probably within a week or two I won’t be snarky towards Kevin. But I feel entitled to the week or two. Fair enough? This will haunt me because I love Oladipo as a player.