Month: January 2019

The loveable Oklahoma City Thunder lost their third straight game since their semi historic win in Portland not that long ago. So much for that win being any type of a harbinger of change as per the Thunder’s chances of doing anything special this season. We should have known better. The Baker Mayfield Cleveland Browns have a better chance of winning the Super Bowl than the Thunder do of ever winning an NBA championship in the next four years. Don’t write that off as crazy talk regardless of what you think about Browns ownership.

Last night’s thrilling double overtime loss marks the halfway point in the NBA season. The Thunder finish the first half of the season at 25-16. Given the toughness of the second half schedule for the Thunder it would appear another 44-47 win season is on the horizon in spite of all the feel good jibe in regards to what Sam Presti did this off season with the roster. If this team goes anything much beyond 22-19 in the back half I’ll be pleasantly surprised. And for the second straight year the Thunder will probably top the list of NBA underachievers in line with payroll and luxury tax implications.

Nick Gallo and Royce Young will spin it otherwise, but it is what it is unless you live in some house where the master bedroom is wallpapered in Thunder logos and you drink your orange juice out of a Rumble sippy cup.

How this could happen two years in a row even after the departure of Carmelo Anthony is either really bad luck or an indictment of Russell Westbrook. Or perhaps an indication Sam Presti and Billy Donovan as a team isn’t exactly like pairing Greg Popovich with R.C. Buford.

I’ll say this for Thunder ownership–they are extremely supportive of the franchise and their patience with the Billy Donovan experiment is admirable. I just don’t think you win a ring with Ward Cleaver being your coach. But that’s just me.

Again, if they’re not gonna sweat any of this…why should anyone else?

I mean, all things considered it’s still better than not having a team. But, I mean, if 45 wins and a first round exit is the ‘sustainable barrier’ then you’d think they could do this spending far less money and taking that freed capital to build an aqua marine park in Bricktown per MAPS 6. I’d love to be the person in charge with naming the dolphins if it ever comes to that. Since I met OKC mayor David Holt on a flight back from Denver…I might drop him a note on all of this. I know his kids would love the dolphins and seals. Then I’d have three Bricktown options in this order…1 Dodger games, 2 the dolphins, and 3 the underachieving yet lovable NBA team. Color me MAPS.

I’d name my three star dolphins Wild Thing, Cupcake II, and Harden. Hopefully, Wild Thing would occasionally allow Cupcake to eat some of the fish rewards offered by the handlers. Harden will take care of himself.

But enough of that.

LaMarcus Aldridge dropped 56 points on this Thunder team which we were led to believe was the second coming of Jerry Tarkanian’s UNLV teams which won back to backs in the day. I don’t think so. Because in the end as I’ve written on here before you can’t play the Phoenix Suns eighty-two times in one NBA season.

I watched this game while I was reading another Gary Pomerantz book. This one is ‘Wilt’ which chronicles the life of Wilt Chamberlain and his historic 100 point game in 1962 in a game played in Hershey, Pennsylvania. What a great book! Pomerantz is one helluva writer. How fitting I was reading this as LaMarcus Aldridge was dropping 56 points on the Thunder. It wasn’t Wilt like, but maybe more in line with something Elgin Baylor might have done.

On a positive note…Nerlen Noels didn’t hurt his neck or spine in that horrific fall against the T Wolves the other night. Given the defense I witnessed on Thursday night when the Thunder allowed the Spurs to shoot over 80% from beyond the arc Nerlen needs to get back as soon as possible.

Popovich has to be smiling to himself. He lost Kawhi. He lost his young point guard Murray to injury and his team still hung 156 points on a team with the highest payroll in the league.

And that’s how I’ll close this.

The Thunder host the Spurs on Saturday inside the Peake.

I think he would as a senior graduate transfer. Hurts was ranked near the top of his high school class nationally as far as dual threat quarterbacks along with Kyler Murray when Murray ultimately chose Texas A&M, thus sending Hurts to Alabama.

I don’t think Lincoln Riley would have that much trouble making the offense fit his very strong running skills with the OU offense.

Jalen Hurts is a Texas high school kid and like Kyler Murray has a father who was instrumental in his development. Jalen graduated on Dec. 15th and is eligible for one additional season of play under the graduate transfer rule. OU would seem an obvious match with what Lincoln Riley has done with both Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray.

He’s obviously a team guy and with him at QB it might somewhat alleviate OU’s rebuild this coming season on the offensive line. Otherwise…OU is loaded. Plus, having an offense which could stay on the field longer might help Alex Grinch with his defense.

I say yes to Jalen Hurts coming to OU.

As a Thunder blogger/observer I had the date December 10 circled as when I guessed the Thunder would start their trek back to a realistic mean of what they are as a Western Conference contender. Up to that point the Thunder had feasted on the NBA’s easiest schedule coming out of the gate going 16-8. Since then the schedule has gotten tougher and the Thunder are 9-7. If only the Thunder had taken care of business against the Wizards and T Wolves at home they’d be a fairly impressive 11-5 for the stretch. But such are numbers and trends in the NBA as the Thunder sit at 25-15 and pretty much what I think they are….a No. 4 or so seed in the West.

It is exhausting following this team at times. They seem to be bent on their own demise or lack of achievement despite how much cash ownership throws the way of the roster. They find and create ways to lose games against lesser teams like the Wizards and Wolves.

Take this loss for example. Terrance Ferguson had his best game of the season going 4-4 for 12 points and a team high +12, but yet he never saw the floor in the fourth period as Andrew Wiggins was going off for 40 points against his favorite team to play against in the Thunder. Explain to me how that makes any sense whatsoever. It makes none. It makes as much sense as extending Billy Donovan’s option year without seeing how this team does in March and April.

Ferguson had his best game as a starter, Adams was solid, Westbrook was decent, Paul George was okay…and yet the Thunder for the second straight game at home wilted against a sub .500 team. Homes games against .500 teams this year are precious commodities. Ones which should be valued given how tough the Thunder’s final 14 games of the regular season will be. Yet, in Thunderland there never appears to be all that much urgency. If you get outrebounded or out hustled on defense it’s not that big of a deal. Like I wrote earlier…these guys are like an extension of MAPS in that the team is the baseball park or the river. The people in OKC I guess are just glad to have an NBA team regardless of how they perform in relation to their payroll. I’m not paying for it so I’m not sweating it either.

Interesting to see Nick Collison back at the Peake for this game and with it the announcement he’s been hired in some capacity to help with the team. Here’s a suggestion for Sam Presti… groom Nick Collison to be your next head coach. Groom someone who might throw a chair or say something to the team when they’re loafing or underachieving or not visualizing the big picture goals for the team come early May. I know, shit like this doesn’t happen in the Age of Millenialism, but that’s what I would do if Nick Collison has any interest.

I would hope or assume or pray that Presti and ownership do not equate this level of payroll with this type of performance on the whole as acceptable. So much for the rainbows and butterflies feeling in Portland. Save the money and install a water park with dolphins in Bricktown instead. At least get something in return for your money and see if you can win 45 games a year with $20 million less a year in payroll.

In closing, Nerlen Noels took a brutal shot to his head when he fell after confronting Andrew Wiggins at the rim. It was awful. I hope he’s okay this morning. My prayers are with him. But really, that play was just a microcosm of the game with Wiggins conquering the passive Thunder for the second time in a two week span on the loser’s floor.

The indifferent Thunder play the surging San Antonio Spurs next. I feel some Pop on the fall of Rome motivating me more than the play of the Thunder.

Andrew Wiggins obviously loves playing in the Peake. Maybe it’s the lighting or the Thunder Girls or the fact he played his college hoops in somewhat near Lawrence, Kansas. OKC can’t even beat this guy when Carmelo makes a shot. I wonder what Wiggins would do if he played 41 games a season inside the Peake.

This really shouldn’t have stunned anybody Clemson won this football game. But it was the margin and the fact Alabama waved a surrender flag early in the fourth quarter which might indicate there is a new program atop the world of college football. It was an execution of sorts carried out by Dabo Swinney’s Clemson Tigers on both sides of the ball as his team made every play that mattered in beating Nick Saban’s dynasty Crimson Tide by a count of 44-16.

And consider this…it was carried out by a true freshman quarterback by the name of Trevor Lawrence who will at the minimum be back two more college football seasons wearing Clemson orange.

Alabama had no answers for Clemson on either side of the football or on special teams as well as they missed an extra point and panicked with a fake field goal on the first possession of the second half trailing 31-16.

In reality… that was the game. It was over there and then. From that point forward it was just Clemson torturing Saban until he went all Roberto Duran and said ‘no mas’ by inserting Jalen Hurts early in the fourth period. It was a good thing ESPN wasn’t doing those family shots of Tua’s parents during this game as is it would have been deemed as cruel and unusual punishment.

In the age of the playoff which has now been in place for five years the scoreboard reads…Clemson two championships, Alabama two championships, and Ohio State one championship.

This was not a pretty ending to this bowl season for the SEC. Instead it was a train wreck. First there was the unmasking of UGA and the Georgia Bulldogs by a four loss Texas team in the Sugar Bowl. Then this. Keep this in mind…neither game was close as Texas went into a prevent defense late in the game which made the score look closer than it was. Both Georgia and Alabama were beaten by teams which were more physical than they were on the two given nights.

Does this change the face of college football moving forward?

Not really. It does give us some relief from making Alabama the presumptive champion every year. It gives college football the appearance that a championship game without Alabama could be a possibility next season. It shows there is a roadmap to beating Alabama in the playoff era since Clemson has now done it in two of the last three seasons and Georgia should have done it twice.

But beyond that…I don’t see huge changes on the horizon. The talent level of the top football programs in the country reside in the South. This is a talent thing…as in which states produce the most NFL players per capita population. Google it if you doubt me.

These players come from the South. They reside in Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas. It’s a southern thing. It’s the culture.

So while Alabama did go down in flames last night in northern California of all places, I’d say right now next year’s Final Four will still be dominated by the same teams next season. Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, and Texas all return their starting quarterbacks next season and that might be a starting point to preview next year’s Final Four the morning after Clemson’s dismantling of Alabama.

Following perhaps one of the Thunder’s best games in the Billy Donovan era in Portland on Friday, the Thunder were humiliated at home by former coach Scott Brooks and his decimated Wizards by a count of 116-98. Brutal. That would be the word to describe the effort by the Thunder against a team which was missing three starters and was ten games below .500. If you took a poll, the Wizards would be this season’s most disappointing team in the East. Yet, they just strolled into the Peake on Sunday night and did what they wanted against the listless seemingly exhausted Thunder.

I’d have to call it the Thunder’s worst game of the season because this wasn’t just about not making shots. This loss was because the Thunder showed little effort and were beaten on the boards, on the bench, and by never showing any real sustained interest in the game.

Are you kidding? Your former head coach who you fired walks into your arena with a wounded team and just basically kicks your ass when you’re trying to keep pace with the Nuggets and the Warriors.

It’s an 82 game marathon and everybody has bad games, but this was a regrettable performance. This is a microcosm of the Thunder in the Billy Donovan era, just when you think it might be different his team didn’t seem to care. This was just basically a no effort and no focus deal.

I’m sure Scott Brooks appreciates the gesture of goodwill from his former city.

What else do you really say after a performance like this one.

Another team in disarray visits the Peake on Tuesday in the Timberwolves who just fired their coach and team president. These same Timberwolves beat the Thunder on Dec. 23rd by a 114-112 count. Maybe the Thunder care…maybe they don’t. Who would know?

I did quite a bit of binge reading during December and I’m on my last book of what I call winter in Oklahoma. I saved this book for last because I wanted it fresh on my mind as our country navigates thru Donald Trump’s virtual reality experience of being POTUS. I wanted something inspirational. So far two chapters in and I’m enjoying the book through the prism of Michelle Obama’s eyes.

For a person who always appeared very closely guarded about her views she opens up on what it was like to be the first ever African American First Lady. My guess is right now if Michelle Obama wanted to be the Democratic nominee for POTUS in 2020 she’d end up being the nominee. In recent public opinion polls both she and her husband rank as the two most popular people the country. Which is refreshing given what we see at times coming from the Trump White House.

I noticed back in November our own Russell Westbrook met Michelle Obama in Denver and did a little promo with her on the book. Of course…as I’ve written on here Denver at some point will probably be my second home of sorts. But here’s the thing, Michelle Obama’s book is not only the No. 1 current bestseller in Denver…but in Oklahoma City as well. I know this for a fact because a young lady at Barnes & Noble told me they literally cannot keep the book in stock. Damn…what’s going in what used to be regressive Oklahoma City…first Kendra Horn-now this.

Is something happening in Oklahoma City.

I sat next to a woman at a recent party and she confided to me in private how ashamed she was that she voted for Trump. It was like she was giving her confessional of sorts. Her eyes were almost moist.

I didn’t cut her any slack and said, “You don’t like paying taxes and you for some reason couldn’t live with Merritt Garland.”

She nodded then said, “I thought he would grow up at some point.”

I replied, “He’s not growing up. It’s who he is. He’s likes grabbing pussy and saying stupid things. Maybe when his parents sent him off to private military school as punishment it stunted his brain or something.”

She smiled weakly and nodded then said, “But he went to Wharton.”

“My dog could go to Wharton. Pauli would be bored after a week. Gimme a break.”

So–if you’re a Deplorable and you need some cleansing you might want to pick up a copy of Michelle Obama’s No. 1 bestseller ‘Becoming.”

Watching Westbrook last night gave me hope. Guarded hope for sure, but still…some hope. Where would I rank Westbrook currently in my Point Guard Pantheon? Should I hold it against him he doesn’t have a ring? Does Westbrook winning a ring put him in my top ten?

Yes…I do hold it against Westbrook for not winning a ring to date. He played alongside Durant and even Harden for a time. He now has Paul George at his side. This isn’t on Sam Presti or Clay Bennett at this point…this is Russell Westbrook’s bridge to cross, so to speak. Another thing, I want to see more defense from Westbrook and less triple doubles. I want to see the complete player who I know is there waiting to emerge. Kind of like Ovechkin.

So here’s my current Point Guard Pantheon:

1 Magic Johnson
2 Isiah Thomas
3 Bob Cousy
4 Walt Frazier
5 Oscar Robertson
6 John Stockton
7 Steve Nash
8 Jason Kidd
9 Gary Payton
10 Nate Archibald

Honorable mentioned:

11 Steph Curry
12 Tony Parker
13 Kyrie Irving
14 Maurice Cheeks
15 Russell Westbrook
16 Pete Maravich
17 Kevin Johnson
18 Chris Paul
19 Allen Iverson
20 Mark Jackson

I thought it was perhaps one of the best games the Thunder has played since their run to the Western Conference Finals in 2016. Sam Presti had to be pleased because what we’re seeing now in Oklahoma City are Russell Westbrook and Paul George flexing their superstar muscles in a seamless manner. The team we saw tonight in Portland didn’t look like a first round choker. Instead, it looked more like a team which in the end could possibly get beyond the first round and make the Western Conference semi-finals.

Paul George was magnificent scoring 37 points, but I didn’t think he was the Thunder’s best player in Portland. For me, this was vintage Westbrook playing with poise and calibrating his decision making as a championship point guard should do. It was beautiful. If Steven Adams and Paul George had made some shots during the last few minutes the game wouldn’t have been this close. Westbrook did his job. He deferred just enough.

Combined, Westbrook and Paul George scored 68 of the Thunder’s points. They were lethal, timely, and seamless. They appear to have an understanding on how they want to go about this. They no longer have to wait for Carmelo to lug his fat ass down the court and take his 18 shots a game. Those shots now go to Dennis Schroeder who I currently have in the lead for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award.

As far as MVP…right now I’m going 1 Harden, 2 Kawhi, 3 The Mad Greek, 4 Paul George, and 5 LeBron. Without LeBron the Lakers are still shit, with him they’re a top four team in the West. What is it exactly Adam Walton is doing over there?

I don’t have Westbrook on my short list just yet, but he could get there if he bottles his shot selection and decision making like he did in Portland where the Thunder won for the first time since 2014.

Nerlens Noel was once again excellent and I thought his second half play elevated him to my No. 3 Star of the Game. OKC has never had a big like Noels coming off the bench in their existence. I don’t know how much it will take to keep Noels, but what I’d do is take the money Presti was going to give Abrines and a good part of Andre’s money and keep Nerlens if possible as a versatile defensive specialist.

Of note also was a huge blocked shot at the rim by Jerami Grant with just over two minutes remaining. That play alone has Jerami as my No. 4 Star of the Game. It’s hard not to love Jerami Grant. I see Harvey when I see Jerami… and quite frankly Harvey is one of my favorite OU players of all-time.

Diallo and Nader not scoring in this game doesn’t concern me a bit because this was a road game and you expect your stars to deliver the goods on the road in a playoff-like setting. This was a play-off like setting.

Patrick Patterson is fine. I don’t worry about him either.

When Russell Westbrook plays like this the Thunder are a different animal. Maybe even a dangerous one.

But to get where Sam Presti wants them to get they need not only be dangerous, but very smart—and for the most part the Thunder were a smart team in Portland on Friday night.

Smart teams with talent advance, dumb ones don’t. This isn’t complex.

The Thunder host Scott Brooks on Sunday night inside the Peake.

This is as good as anything I’ve read or seen pertaining to our country right now. Popovich doesn’t live in a blue state or a blue market like Toronto or Denver or San Francisco. He coaches in Texas. He could have just kept his mouth shut and not put himself in the spotlight like others in the NBA in certain red markets have done… as in Oklahoma City to name one. But he didn’t take the easy path.

He said what he honestly thinks.

It has nothing to do with politics. Absolutely nothing. It has to do with what kind of country you want to live in. Do you have any values whatsoever other than not paying taxes at a certain rate? I don’t have a daughter. Just a son. And if I ever heard or observed my son acting like Donald Trump… as a man I would deem myself as an utterly failed father. I cannot fathom how any father of a daughter in this country could vote for or support ‘this person’ we currently have in the White House. This thought is beyond my grasp.

With all due respect to George Will and Maureen Dowd—this is better than anything either one of them has written to date on our current Gilded Age revisited.

For sure I watched Kawhi’s return to Sam Antonio last night like most of the basketball world. Not much of a game with the Spurs rolling from wire to wire. How ironic DeMar DeRozan notched the first triple double of his career on this night of all nights. The Raptors are a nice team–I have no idea if they have enough to beat the eventual champion of the West, but for sure they’re a nice team. You know how I feel about the city of Toronto. Wouldn’t it be something if Denver played Toronto in this year’s NBA Finals in my year of total disgust for what certain segments of white America have embraced with the presidency of Donald Trump.

I love Popovich. If I were an NBA player he’d be the guy I’d want to play for. He was an Air Force guy. I married into an Air Force family. He loves history. I love history. We’d have so much to talk about. I find it sad it ended like it did for Kawhi Leonard in San Antonio as it did. Que sera.

The fans shouldn’t have booed though, much like the fans in Oklahoma City shouldn’t boo Cupcake as well. I find it distasteful. This is not what either city should be about. I love both cities and in case you didn’t notice OKC’s own Kendra Horn was right there sitting with Nancy Pelosi’s grandchildren upon her historic day yesterday. It’s time for the fans in Oklahoma City to let the Kevin Durant thing go. I mean, there’s no way in hell I would name a street after h Cupcake, but the booing needs to stop. The Paul George trade couldn’t have turned out any better. Serge probably has a cooking show in Toronto. Paul George is playing the best ball of his life. The kid are making us proud in Indiana. Cupcake has his two rings. Life moves along. Time should heal hard feelings. Again, I wouldn’t boo Cake, but the booing needs to stop. He’s an iconic generational player and Kevin Durant did some very nice things during his time in Oklahoma City. Our city should be beyond this at this point in its evolution.

Steven Adams just adores Popovich. It was a prevalent theme in his book. Look at this interview and see how much fun the press guys are having talking to Pop. This needs to be the next step in OKC for our media. As in growing up and being able to conduct some interesting pressers.

If OKC were to play these Spurs in the first round that might be an interesting matchup. I’d take the Thunder in six games, but secretly a part of me would be rooting for Pop.