Month: February 2018

I was a double major in college with a history/business double program. I love sports, I love history, and I love reading about smart business people. Nancy Koehn is the head of the Harvard Business department. She was on Morning Joe earlier today promoting her new book…Forged in Crisis.

The Dow has now shed almost 3,000 points from its 52 week high of 26,600 in less than two weeks. Obviously, there will always be some volatility in the markets, but even more so when you have a spoiled fourth grader running the United States along with new Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuenchin and brand new Fed Chairman Jerome Powell who just assumed the chair this week from Janet Yellen.

Here’s a video of Nancy Koehn explaining leadership from a financial perspective in relation to current time using history as a reference. Maybe all of these millionaires on the Thunder payroll should start reading Nancy Koehn. Just saying.

I’m sitting here at the laptop thinking and wondering what’s the right thing to write after what I just witnessed. I’m not a bad person. I’m really not even a rogue blogger. I’m genuinely a nice dude, but even nice dudes can only witness so much shitass basketball in half of an NBA season.

Before I say a few things about Billy Donovan and his ‘team’, I want to write several positive things about Russell Westbrook first though. Thank you for staying. Because if you hadn’t stayed no one in Oklahoma City would have any reason to watch or attend NBA games. I think at times some have taken you for granted, but this blogger hasn’t. So seriously…as a passionate basketball fan–thank you.

Oh, boy. I can at this point moving forward with this recap be grateful my mother doesn’t read my blog. When I was a kid playing sports there was a time my mother caught me talking shit to an opponent after a baseball game. She grabbed me and told me if I couldn’t say something nice, then keep it to to myself. But I think given the level of this Thunder performance she would grant me an exception on this game.

Okay, Luke Walton was missing Lonzo Ball, Jordan Clarkson, and Larry Nance. From my perspective, Ball and Clarkson are/were two of the Lakers top three players before the trade today. Billy Donovan was missing Westbrook, Carmelo, and Andre. Not to be disrespectful to Carmelo and Andre, but as we all saw on Tuesday night in Oakland…they weren’t missed in that ballgame against the reigning world champs.

Even without Westbrook, there was still Paul George, Steven Adams, Jerami Grant, and you would hope enough from your role players to if not win this game against an equally decimated Laker team, at the least make it watchable and competitive.

But what I just witnessed was an absolute competitive disgrace. No competitive heart. None. Nada. Nothing. Putting my mother aside, I’m calling this a disgrace. When you play sports, you know there are going to be certain times when it’s not your night, but you at least want to summon within you the competitive fire to compete. None of that was present on Thursday night from the Thunder and then I see Billy Donovan smiling and hugging Luke Walton after the game.

I guess I’m just old school. I guess that’s why I can’t come to terms with how a douchebag like Donald Trump became POTUS. I feel like Tommy Lee Jones right now in that final scene from No Country for Old Men. But I’ll write this before I get off my blog tonight…if I were a one of the Thunder players minus Paul George, Jerami Grant, and perhaps Nick Collison—I’d be taking a very hard, deep look in the mirror tomorrow morning. I seriously would. I’d think of something one of my parents told me as a kid about competing.

As far as Billy Donovan. I think he’s probably a wonderful husband, a marvelous father, and was an excellent coach at Florida. He’s just doesn’t do all that much for me though because I’m an emotion and fire guy—and he does nothing to inspire me as a fan of the Thunder.

In closing, I think all Thunder fans should realize how grateful they should be Russell Westbrook is still around to carry the Thunder on his back night in and night out.

As I’ve written numerous times in here, the NBA is a star driven league and the No. 1 Rule of Coaching is player makes the coach.

Given from what I saw from Billy Donovan tonight he took it to another level. I won’t write more. My mother wouldn’t want me to.

Recap over. I made an honest effort not to write the word fuck two hundred times. Give me that.

Thunder host the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday evening.

Hope you play, Russell.

Back on November 22nd the Thunder basically toyed with the world champion Warriors by a 108-91 count. It was brutal. So you figured the Warriors would be waiting for the Thunder with some sort of message to send to the attention deficit disorder Thunder who apparently only get stoked to play the handful of teams in this league who have a chance to win the championship.

But none of that mattered from a Golden State viewpoint as it appeared none of that buoyant one for all attitude with the Warriors showing their adoration of Kevin Durant and his mother joining an already championship level team was there. None of that feel was in the building. None. It seemed phony anyway. As if Durant’s handlers suggested to Steve Kerr it would be a good thing to do.

The only feel in the building was that Russell Westbrook proved when he fucking cares he’s most likely the best basketball player in the world on these nights when he cares enough to play defense. The second feeling I got was that Paul George when he wants to show it is the best two way player in the world given that LeBron has lost himself with all that that shit he created in Cleveland. The third feeling I got was one I already knew, that being, that Carmelo isn’t really the third piece in OKC’s Big Three–that would be Steven Adams. Don’t get me wrong, Carmelo is a nice piece if you were paying him about $12 million less a year, but at this point in Carmelo’s career, he’s more like Ray Allen was in his last years with the Heat.

So, we all know who the OKC Big Three are moving forward as if we already didn’t know for those of us who watch every game. We now know on the open record.

We also now know now that while we love Andre Roberson and his heart, there’s no excuse for this Thunder team to mentally loaf. We saw with our own two eyes what Josh Huestis can do in subbing the Andre role. We saw that Jerami Grant can be a flat out hoss when Billy Donovan feeds him the minutes. We saw that frilly Alex Abrines can actually defend a little and might actually warrant a role on this team beyond specialist. We saw what Pat Patterson can do defensively given a bunch of Carmelo’s minutes after the ankle sprain occurred. We saw all of these things with our own two eyes. What we didn’t see was rookie Terrance Ferguson set foot on the floor until the game’s final two minutes.

So, really, unless Sam Presti can pick up some aged vet like Tony Allen on the cheap, Sam Presti doesn’t need to trade pieces to the Orlando Magic in the hope he could get Jonathan Simmons in return.

The reason he doesn’t need to do this is that even without Andre Roberson–it’s apparent Billy Donovan has enough on his roster already. Consider this, against the teams in this league who have a chance to win the O’Brien Trophy…OKC is now 5-1..with the only loss coming to the Celtics when the Thunder went full attention deficient disorder in the second half thinking they had the game won. I don’t view the Spurs as a legit contender as presently constructed so that’s why I don’t include that loss to the Spurs in this conversation.

What I take out of this game is that Josh Huestis should be starting in place of Andre. Pat Patterson should take about five of Carmelo’s minutes, and maybe I was too hard on Alex Abrines in that he actually defended pretty well against the Warriors. This would mean Terrance as a rookie should go back to being the tenth player in the rotation. The floater with less minutes and a reduced role.

It also showed me when Billy Donovan shortens his bench to nine players the Thunder are much more viable.

The final insult to the Warriors on this dismal night was when Draymond Green got ejected for basically being the punk he is. At this point, I just kind of laughed. It’s not like it evoked all that much emotion in me. I’m guessing Westbrook laughed as well.

It was Russell Westbrook and Paul George’s night on the national TNT telecast. It was their night to show what they can be when they really bring their games to the arena. Paul George scored 38 points and had six steals. Russell Westbrook scored 34 points, grabbed 9 boards, and dished out 9 assists. On this night with all those Oakland All-Stars who made the NBA All-Star Game…Westbrook and Paul George showed the world what they don’t know.

But what they also showed the world is that when they want to the heart is there, just maybe not the focus on nights when they’re playing teams not at their level.

Unfortunately, the Thunder now have to play the Lakers on Thursday night in LA. Who would have thought looking at February from January that the two games against the Warriors would be easier for the Thunder than the games against the youthful Lakers. Who would have known?

Billy Donovan, do something daring in the Laker game, start Huestis again and start Patterson to defend Julius Randle and see what happens.

It’s like I never jumped up and fist pumped during this win over the Warriors. In fact, I was cussing the Thunder for a great portion of this game for not playing at this level more often. It genuinely pisses me off as a blogger I have to dog them so much for their apathy.

But it is what it is. Hope Paul George’s family is sitting front row for the Lakers game. Maybe that’ll get Westbrook and George stoked.

I just read this incredible novel by a French female author entitled The Heart. It’s about a young man in France who goes into a vegetative state after a car accident, and the chain of events which eventually lead to his heart being transplanted into an older person. Great book and beautifully written.

So—I’m sitting here thinking about this Thunder team and the way they play without Andre Roberson…as in heartless except for that rousing win over the Sixers where they showed some heart. It seems astounding to me a defensive role player could singularly hold the key to the Thunder’s heart, but maybe he did and Sam Presti knew it.

Obviously, Russell Westbrook is the league’s reigning MVP, obviously Paul George is one of the best two way players in the league, obviously Carmelo Anthony is headed to the Basketball Hall of Fame, and obviously Steven Adams is one of the better centers in the league…so why is the Thunder having so much trouble adjusting to real NBA life without Andre Roberson.

I read and hear this nonsense about how the Thunder now have no one who can defend the three. Bullshit. I’m calling bullshit.

Paul George can’t defend NBA wing players? Russell Westbrook can’t stay with his man? Steven Adams can’t hang on the boards with an aging Brooks Lopez? Carmelo Anthony can’t hang with Julius Randle? Josh Huestis can’t come into a game for something like 16 minutes a game and give his team a defensive energy spark? Alex Abrines and Terrance Ferguson can’t come into a game for limited minutes and give their team an offensive or energy spark? Pat Patterson can’t come into a game as a seasoned vet and give his team something tangible every night? Ray Felton can’t play like he was before Roberson’s injury? You’re telling me these guys as highly paid professionals can’t step on the floor and do their jobs for forty-eight minutes?

You’ll notice I didn’t mention Jerami Grant. That’s because he’s played well and actually has a look like he cares.

So…here the Thunder sit losers of four straight against four teams they should have beaten given each team was missing a star player. The Thunder didn’t lose a star, they apparently did lose Andre Roberson’s heart though.

And when you’re playing the sharp shooting Warriors in their building without your best defender and your heart it gives a fan/blogger like me some serious concern.

I wonder what Billy Donovan ever says to these guys behind closed doors. He seems so gentle with these NBA multi-millionaires. He seems daunted by the task of suggesting his team doesn’t play hard for 48 minutes. He doesn’t seem equal to the task.

So…I’ll say it for him to his team. Start playing with a chip on your shoulder and some competitive urgency. Show me some heart.

Thunder at the Warriors tonight…some sense of heart would be nice.

Before I even get to the Thunder, I have some Russians on my ass in my comments section giving me shit about some of the things I’ve written recently in regards to Caligula and his puppet Comrade Devin Nunes. I in no way am going to hit the approve button in that if I do and decide to run for POTUS in 2020 and somehow win in part because of Hillary’s email account six years ago — this could be construed as collusion. Unlike with the idiot son Don Jr., Jeff Sessions, Michael Flynn, Carter Paige, George Papo, Gates, and Manafort…these Russians won’t be meeting with me. Not happening.

So…now on to the Thunder–our heartless basketball team.

Billy Duffy. That’s his name according to the internet profile I punched. He’s Andre Roberson’s agent. This is what I will say after watching the gutless Thunder lose two home games in a row to the Pelicans and Lakers this week-end.

Billy Duffy, as in he needs to get Andre a redo on his recent contract which pays him $10 million a year even though he can’t make a free throw.

Apparently, what Billy Duffy has here is a client who’s being grotesquely underpaid at $10 million per given what Westbrook, Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony are making this season.

What Billy Duffy has in his hands is apparently the team MVP given that ever since his injury the Thunder have played like the biggest collection of pussies I’ve ever witnessed on a basketball court.

When I wrote that the team pulled together when Andre was on the floor in Detroit…I clearly misread the situation. The situation being the rest of the team realized Andre Roberson would no longer be there to do their grunt work for them.

Now…Andre does have his contractors such as Jim Traber and the newsok mindless fool Joel, but I think most of us knew Andre was valuable.

But this valuable? As in they might not be able to beat Baylor or Iowa State valuable?

So–I’m not even going to go thru a cute recap like some millennial/Gen X’er as the Royce Youngs and Erik Hornes and Daily Thunder children of the fog might feel the need to do after the embarrassing loss to the Lakers yesterday… There’s no need to because unless you’re a complete idiot like some on the Fox Thunder telecast crew…the storyline is pretty obvious unless one is a dunce.

The storyline being — Clay Bennett has an overpaid, underachieving, jelly roll soft, entitled basketball team in Oklahoma City with a college coach being paid six million who has no idea whatsoever to say to his millionaires who aren’t playing hard.

The Thunder in Oakland on Tuesday night to play the Golden State Warriors.

Good luck with that, Clay Bennett.

A great game and a great story for Nick Foles. Tom Brady was indeed magnificent in throwing for the most yards ever in an NFL post season game, but in the end it was Nick Foles’ moment. It’s still Carson Wentz’s team, but this is Nick Foles Super Bowl Championship. His moment, his legacy to the city of Philadelphia. It’s why you play, coach, and watch sports–to be a part of something which moves you as a human. The halftime show was total shit, almost as bad as a Fox telecast of a Thunder game, so I turned that down and read, but otherwise an epic Super Bowl for the ages. Belichick needs to get some help for his defense. They had trouble getting off the field. But, again, it was a night for Nick Foles to stamp his place in NFL history. Great game.

The trade deadline is on Thursday and Sam Presti needs to make a trade because his $130 million dollar team plays like a piece of entitled junk without Andre Roberson doing the dirty work. You’ll notice when you watch the Super Bowl today that Tom Brady has offensive linemen who allow him to be magnificent. Same thing here with the Thunder. Sam Presti lost his Big Dog grinder when Andre went down.

Tom Brady can’t throw when he’s on his back. Know what I mean?

This is the personification of team building. You have a star caste system and then you have grinders. Nick Collison was a glorious grinder in his day. Why else do you think Sam Presti was smart enough to resign Andre for $10 million a year on his new contract.

Here’s the thing, Clay Bennett and his ownership group didn’t put together a $130 million dollar roster to lose in the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs. They put a team together to try and beat the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors. Period. If you’re going deep into the luxury tax to the tune of $20 something million then you make a move to salvage your investment. To show Paul George you’re serious about winning in Oklahoma City. To show Jerry West you’re tired of coming in second place.

Remember when Kevin Durant told the world he was tired of coming in second place on that Sixty Minutes interview. well…he meant it. Clay Bennett is a hedge fund guy amongst other things. I wish he would read my blog, because this is what I would do.BTW…I think Sam Presti is an extremely smart dude.

Avery Bradley for the Clippers would be fine, but he’s an unrestricted free agent and you have to assume Andre might not be ready to go next October. You have to hedge your position assuming Andre may or may not be himself for more than a year at the minimum. That’s a serious injury especially for a role where he’s has to put so much pressure on his wheels.

No way do I trade Jerami Grant. He stays. Jerami Grant now is the Thunder’s most versatile defender and can defend the 3, the 4, or the 5 depending if Billy Donovan is playing big or small. Jerami stays.

I’d like to keep Terrance Ferguson if possible. Terrance needs some serious work in the weight room though. Look at Andre’s body when he was a rookie and look at it now. Night and day, same with Steven Adams.

The trade I would make is Alex Abrines and Josh Huestis for Johnathan Simmons over there at Orlando. The salaries almost match. Presti got Oladipo, Sabonis, and Ilyasova for Ibaka by dealing with the Magic. Of course, Sam Presti’s Emerson College buddy Rob Hennigan was fired as the GM in Orlando, but the Magic are very much in the hunt for the worst record in the NBA this season. Maybe they’d be interested in Alex Abrines and Josh Huestis. I believe Simmons doesn’t become a free agent till the conclusion of the 2018-19 season. so, in essence you’re getting your guy now and hedging your position for next season if Andre can’t go.

The Magic might want Terrance Ferguson. This is where Clay Bennett and Sam Presti have to make a decision. But like I wrote, the future is now for Oklahoma City. Not two years from now, but now if they want to show Paul George he could win a championship in Oklahoma City. Tough decision. But that’s what GM’s get paid for. Know this though, OKC isn’t coming close to beating Houston or Golden State with what we’ve seen from the Thunder in these four games without Andre. They wouldn’t beat the Spurs or the Wolves as well. So, in reality I think Sam Presti knows what he has to do as much as it might hurt. Which means Terrance Ferguson is in play.

From Orlando’s standpoint, they would get two players for one. And make this clear, Ferguson or Abrines and Huestis will be much more effective players in the far less talented Eastern Conference. What Blake Griffin might notice is that Detroit isn’t California from a dream vacation destination, but night in and night out the opposition isn’t nearly as talented and guys like Ferguson, Abrines, and Huestis should be more effective and valuable in the East. Think of it kind of like playing linebacker in the SEC vs. the Big 12. See Oladipo and Sabonis in Indiana. They’re groovin’. It’s all about ‘your’ value in your competition pool.

So when you watch the Super Bowl this evening take notice of all those New England players on the O line and jot down their names because they’re the ones who enable Tom Brady to be magnificent.

And yet our collective U.S. village has two idiots, three if you include Ted Cruz, but for the sake of this argument, just Donald Trump and Devin Nunes. How in the world did two fucking idiots like these two knuckleheads ascend do the Presidency and Chairman of the Intel Committee ? It’s like the Peter Principle doused with steroids. How did these two hapless fucks find each other at this point in our history? I’m thinking about running for POTUS in 2020. Because if these morons can reach these heights—then why not? Seriously…why not?

Great presser. I’ve come to savor Brady like a fine wine. I’d never heard the dog bite story before. I’ll go New England 23 – Philadelphia 20.

No DeMarcus Cousins. Absent also were Omar Asik, Jameer Nelson, and Tony Allen given they were traded to the Chicago Bulls. The Pelicans were playing with ten suited players on the road against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

And, yet, in the end it was the New Orleans Pelicans coasting to an easy 114-100 win over a Thunder team which showed little heart and mental toughness even if it was on the second night of a back to back. Tough teams fight thru back to backs. Tough teams don’t cave at home against a shorthanded team which was missing one of its two best players. Mentally tough teams fight thru things like this and accomplish goals in the goal achieving portion of the season.

Tough teams don’t cave in the aftermath of losing Andre Roberson. Tough teams have resolve.

Maybe Andre Roberson was the only mental toughness thread holding this basketball team together?

Maybe.

Oklahoma City fans can say what they want about Kevin Durant, but the Durant Era in Oklahoma City was marked with teams which played hard after a loss. Played hard as if they had something to prove. This basketball team doesn’t possess that trait. This team seems to feel they’re entitled. I’m tired of writing this.

The Thunder are now 1-3 without Andre Roberson and quite frankly look lost. This is a roster which has three future NBA Hall of Famers and an elite center in Steven Adams…and yet they can’t quite seem to figure the puzzle out without Andre Roberson. As a group they can’t seem to come to terms with the notion defense, effort, and grit do kind of matter.

But then again…neither can their coach.

I have no idea whatsoever what Billy Donovan is doing with his basketball team. Even Scott Brooks knew the axiom, it all starts with defense. All championship coaches know this. It all starts with defense. Period. And yet, we’ve now seen Alex Abrines play 52 minutes in these last two Thunder losses.

I’m not blaming Alex Abrines. I’m not doing that. It’s not his fault. It’s clearly Billy Donovan’s fault unless Sam Presti is telling him to do this. I’m blaming him. This won’t be the template for replacing Andre Roberson and any good high school high coach should know this. You don’t need another scorer with the Big Four, what you need are blue collar guys like Jerami Grant and Josh Huestis or Johnathon Simmons or someone else busting their asses doing the dirty work that Andre Roberson previously did night in and night out.

That’s what you need.

And to be fair, Russell Westbrook has looked really bad these last two games. Ignore the stats, Russell Westbrook in these last two games has imploded at the end of both games. Alex Abrines isn’t why OKC is 1-3 without Andre, from my view it’s on Russell Westbrook and Billy Donovan. If your superstar and your coach can’t bring their A games to the arena then your chances of success are greatly diminished.

I’m glad I had Anthony Davis on my NBA All-Star team to play the Warriors in that he absolutely torched the jelly roll soft Thunder to the tune of 43 points and 10 rebounds. E’twaun Moore is a nice player. He’s not one of those guys most fans know, but I remember him from his days at Purdue and on this night he scored 25 points and was the second best player on the court. Nice basketball player.

I have no rants left in me for this team or coach. I won’t make excuses for them like the Fox crew does or the young writers at newsok. You have a coach being paid $6 million a year and a roster being paid $130 million a year. You would hope some professional mental toughness could present itself without Andre Roberson there providing it.

I hope these guys realize that next Tuesday the basketball world will be watching when then they travel to Oakland to play the Warriors.

Because if we see the same Thunder we’ve seen in this 1-3 stretch so far without Andre, it will be ugly. Golden State will find that open man who gets wide open as a result of either Terrance Ferguson or Alex Abrines losing their man off the dribble. Golden State will break this Thunder defense without Andre Roberson and it could be ugly.

So.. if I’m Billy Donovan–my team is watching film tomorrow and my coaching staff is huddling up and figuring out the Alex Abrines Era in Oklahoma City isn’t going to be the answer to replacing Andre Roberson. That’s just not going to happen.

The Thunder host the Lakers on Sunday in the early afternoon ABC game.