Author: Mike

Sam Presti—I hope you have your game face on because this is an extremely important night for the future of NBA basketball in Oklahoma City.

This is where you either have a really good night or the concept of sustainability takes a hit in a market where the margin for error is very thin.

You guys screwed around and won those games against Boston and the LA Clippers in the last 25 games of the tank and that’s regrettable, but this is where you earn your ownership equity in the Thunder.

OKC is at 6, 16, and 18 in the first round with three picks in the second round. I’m sure like me you realize the Big 12 while unraveling as a football league became the best basketball conference in the country these past three seasons.

In our very backyard Texas high school basketball has become something very special.

My top six picks are 1 Cade Cunningham, 2 Evan Mobley, 3 Jalen Suggs, 4 Jalen Green, 5 Davion Mitchell, and 6 James Bouknight. I have Cory Kispert at either 10 or 11. Let’s keep that in mind

Giannis was the 15th pick in his class. Khris Middleton was the 41st player in his draft and Jrue was a non-lottery pick as well. My point? Value for teams building to be contenders doesn’t have to come from the lottery picks exclusively.

I would assume we’re keeping Shai who was the 11th player taken in his class.

I don’t think Troy Weaver is in any way parting with Cade so I see that as not on the table. But I think everything else is on the table including Evan Mobley and Jalen Suggs who would both be great fits with Shai.

Let’s see if we could intimidate either the Cleveland Cavaliers or Orlando Magic while they’re on the clock. Never give a sucker an even break and kick him when he’s down. Just saying.

‘We’ need a contemporary NBA center. Evan Mobley could be special. I’m assuming you’re with me on that. If you can’t get him then maybe you tilt the table to get Jalen Suggs to be the running mate with Shai and Lu in the OKC backcourt. If it takes too much to get Jalen Suggs then go with the kid from UConn James Bouknight… I’m actually fine with his game.

‘We’ need the next Duncan Robinson. I would see that as possibly Cory Kispert from Gonzaga who probably won’t go til the 10th or 11th pick. I’d see if I could bundle 16 and 18 and go get get him. With Muscala heading out we need the next Duncan Robinson.

I’d use one of our second round picks to acquire sleeper big Jericho Sims from Texas. I’m sure you have several foreign players in mind…we’ll see how that goes. Another big who could shoot would be nice. Hopefully, the Serbian Express has gained some weight this summer.

If you have to deal Ty Jerome at some point in the night then I’d fill his spot with Austin Reaves with a second round pick. I wonder how little it would take to acquire Tyler Herro given how his season ended? Buy low, sell high. Let’s buy Tyler Herro low if we can. I would think Tyler Herro would be in a very motivated state of mind just about now. Can we imagine Tyler Herro and Austin Reaves on the same NBA roster? If nothing else we’d have the All NBA White Boy Smirk Team.

Sam Presti…I’m ready to go. I hope you’re ready to go as well. This is a very big night for the future of NBA hoops in Oklahoma City.

Bob Stoops, the same Bob Stoops who repunted to Tyreke Hill in 2014 wrote a spot on column in The Oklahoman. I would suggest Doug Gottlieb and the other Oklahoma State people read the piece.

Jim Traber doesn’t need to read the piece because he agrees with me and is way more adamant on why O State is in the position it now finds itself in with OU and Texas moving on to the SEC hopefully as soon as next season.

Which I believe will happen because West Virginia should be the next domino to fall in the Big 12.

This is nothing more than the free market separating the strong from the weak.

The markets decide your viability. Ask the former Big 8 and Southwest Conference about market viability. Poof…gone, just like the Big 12 is going to be sometime in the near future.

I would guesstimate around 85% of the O State season ticket holders are adamant supply side trickle down Donald Trump faux fiscal conservative advocates. Maybe even 90%. I would also guess both Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden would be booed at a football game inside of T Boone Pickens Stadium.

So what am I missing here?

At what point in Stillwater do free market economic practices attract these Donald Trump free market advocates?

Socialism much…President Kayse and Doug Gottlieb.

Stewart Mandel of The Athletic wrote a piece in which he checked the top thirty television rated games from this current version of the Big 12. You know what his research revealed?

It revealed that out of the top thirty television rated games from this Big 12 that 26 out of the 30 involved either OU or Texas.

That’s why it might have been prescient for Team Mullet in the last decade or so to have been playing Auburn, Michigan, LSU, Oregon and other legit teams instead of of Tulsa, Missouri State, and Stephen F Austin.

O State…this is called your brand footprint on the market and Oklahoma State while perhaps having a legit Top 25 team or so marketed their program with little if any vision or acumen.

I actually love the mullet…just so you know. In fact…what I think Gundy should do at this point to attract attention from PAC 12 viewers this season is to grow that mullet to his ass and paint his sideburns orange and black in an effort to get the Cowboys to the East Division of the PAC 12.

But in reality—this is just basic free market Econ 101 and how ironic it is that in Stillwater, Oklahoma of all places we’ve discovered Bernie Sanders should be the Prez for this sleepy hardcore right college community.

Actually…I kind of envy you guys. You gotta remember I was born a United States Navy kid back in the day in San Diego. That must be where I got my extreme ultra left wing John McCain view of the world in which we live. Fight On, Cowboys. Show me something.

I was just driving home for an early break from work and former Eddie Sutton transfer Doug Gottlieb was on the air with Mark Rodgers on the Sports Animal.

I know there is a lot of emotion on this SEC deal for the O State people because they in essence aren’t going to have OU and Texas subsidizing their university’s athletic program much longer.

But Doug Gottlieb…get a grip.

Texas could care less about anybody but themselves, but to say OU stabbed O State in the back is absurd delusional stupidity. David Boren could have easily moved the Sooners to the SEC back when Nebraska, Colorado, and Texas A&M left the conference. The A&M Chancellor literally begged the Sooners to make the jump to the SEC and take the spot Missouri now occupies.

Instead…OU stayed and carried this piece of junk bond football league and made O State’s marketablility whatever it is today.

OU begged the other schools to expand to twevle teams but ADs like the ultra cheap Mike Holder didn’t want want to dilute the TV payout shares from ten to twelve.

OU was on board with Louisville and if the parasitic ADs like Holder were serious about making the Big 12 a legit league– Bob Bowlsby who by the way was AD at Stanford at one point in his career would have only had to find one more team to make the league whole again. My choice would have been Cincy to pair West Virginia with a regional partner in the league.

I love Big 12 hoops—so it’s not like I’m not losing something in all of this as well.

Others in this state begged O State to play a nationally relevant non schedule to upgrade their national brand.

But again no go from Holder and his chosen one Mullet King.

So you know what Doug Gottlieb…cry me a river.

You see… I think in the end this is going to be good for O State guys like you and Mike Gundy who apparently never grew up from their college days and could assimilate into real everyday living. The enabling by OU is going to come to an end. It’s time to grow up.

Since Kirby Holcutt the AD at Texas Tech used to be involved at Stanford and was recently on the College Football Selection Committee….what I would suggest is that Kirby and President Kayse go meet with the PAC 12 and see if Colorado, Utah, and both Arizona schools would be interested in absorbing O State and Texas Tech into that PAC 12 divison….or vice versa by those four coming to the Big 12.

I’d also challenge my football coach to show the rest of the football world that his program is worthy of being in any league by beating the Sooners on November 27th inside of Boone Pickens Satdium.

And here’s the real irony for you Doug Gottlieb…if O State had been invited…my guess is Gundy would be hesitant about making the move because he’d have to play real opponents every week instead of playing in a league in which half of the teams should be in the AAC.

If I were you I’d do some thinking before ever going on the Mark Rodgers Show again and talking delusional nonsense. You sounded like a Little League mother who’s baby didn’t make the traveling team.

On a sidenote…Mark Rodgers you were extremely weak on your show today. Extremely weak. If you’re going to host guests on the air…then at some point please inject some truth into the interview. I find it amazing you haven’t become a regular contributor at the Daily Thunder.

My friend, Little Doug Gottlieb chewed you up and spit you out and you just sat there.

Very sad.

What a great day in Oklahoma. Our football team is going home to a conference where you can hit and tackle the other team. Then…right after the announcement….the skies literally darkened and monsoonal storms came on a day when there was only a ten per cent chance of rain.

We had almost 3″ of precip out here in my official rain gauge.

I can’t believe the storms weren’t related to the fact we as OU fans no longer have to feel responsible for Oklahoma State football fans in any shape, form, or fashion.

It is over. This is all on Mullet King’s legacy check list at this point moving forward. Even Boone is off the hook at this point. Boone….Sooner Nation feels your pain. It’s not your fault.

And you know what…at the end of the day…if the best you can be is the best team in the AAC…there’s nothing wrong with that.

Find, discover, and embrace your inner peace.

You know how I love Sting medleys with him singing to buxom European women in Italy and Germany.

The perfect After Dark fit for me on a perfect college football day.

The perfect way to end the day.

I haven’t blogged in almost a week since I basically nailed the last four games of the NBA Finals.

I don’t know if Dan Patrick takes the week off following the NBA Finals, but Mike Jackson does just to stay mentally fresh.

This SEC story broke last week in a story from the Houston Chronicle in which a Texas A&M sypathizer made it be known the Sooners and Horns are headed for the SEC.

I’m a Sooner fan. I bleed Crimson. I went to my first Sooner game in 1965 with Bob in Norman. It was a Bedlam game actually. It turned out to be Gomer Jones’ last game as the Sooners head coach after the Sooners lost 17-16 that day and ended their year with a dismal 3-7 record. They hung Gomer in effigy from one of the windows of a nearby frat house after the loss.

Turns out a guy named Jim McKenzie became the Sooners’ next head coach and brought two assistants along with him named Chuck Fairbanks and Barry Switzer.

The rest is Sooner history/lore and I’ve been a Sooner ever since even though I never attended one single class at OU. I have two degrees from UCO and one degree from O State, but from the day Jim McKenzie’s Sooners beat Texas in 1966 I became a Sooner football crazie.

I bleed crimson.

It’s not that I disdain O State football, it’s just more of a case of indifference with me. They never did anything for me as a fan. I mean … how can you have Barry Sanders, Thurman Thomas, and Hart Lee Dykes and not beat OU one single game?

Trump doesn’t like POWs who get captured. I don’t like football teams who can’t ring the bell every now and then. At least I’m honest about it. O State never won enough for me when it mattered. I like winning..it’s fun.

So today OU and Texas made it official. They have smartened up and decided the Big 12 is long-term loser in the rapidly ever evolving landscape of college football finance.

Let’s use this poker analogy…the SEC is a full house with aces over kings while the Big 12 is a pair of jacks. Which cards are you gonna play new O State Prez Kayse Shrum? Hopefully, you answered aces over kings. I’m going to ignore some of your earlier comments from last week and assume you’re smarter than how you came across last week.

I love women. I think they’re smarter than men generally. Not even close. But you were awful with some of those statements. Instead…you should be openly challenging your head coach and fan base this is the time to step out from OU’s shadow and be great. Great setbacks are the genesis from which great accomplishments occur. Kind of like when Gomer went 3-7 in 1965.. This is that time.

OU ABSOLUTELY DID THE RIGHT THING. If they had done differently it would be fiduciary malpractice. David Boren…bless his heart—thankfully wasn’t part of this decision.

OU is a football blueblood whoch should be sitting at the opposite end of the big SEC poker table from Alabama. This is where the Sooners belong. OU is a football school of royalty. OU’s economic survival is related to its fixture as a football blueblood. OU in no way is O State’s designated hand holder or baby sitter.

Maybe if Mullet King had taken some of Boone’s savvy advice and upgraded O State’s abysmal non-conference scheduling they’d be headed for the same SEC pod as OU, Missouri, and Arkansas.

Maybe. But I’m not on here this evening to denigrate Mullet King. Boone has passed. Holder has retired. This is Mike Gundy’s moment to show if he has what it takes to lead a football program from the abyss of a $38 million cash flow shortfall to college football greatness.

Tramel wrote just a superb piece today on how this is actually a blessing in disguise for O State football if they could land in the PAC 12’s Eastern Division.

The blessing is that Mike Gundy at 1-15 versus OU minus the repunt by Big Game Bob doesn’t haven’t to coach against the Sooners ever again unless Kayse Shrum is stupid enough to make her school play the Sooners again.

President Kayse…play Texas or Auburn or maybe Michigan State, but pass on the Sooners. It’s a curse which transcends the legal tenets of cruel and unusual punishment. Don’t make Mike Gundy ever again play the Sooners.

Hold his hand and build him up.

Or maybe beat the Sooners in Stillwater on November 27th in what could be the last ever Bedlam game.

There needs to be a profound attitude change at O State in their football program regardless of which conference OU is a member. I don’t know if Boone ever did this with Gundy, but maybe this would be the time.

Winning begats confidence. Confidence begats greatness. Dream big instead of just dreaming 8-4. Dream big.

Since the Thunder might actually be tanking again this season…I’m making it official … I’m adopting the Milwaukee Bucks and giving them a song at the same time.

Kind of like someone in St. Louis did with the song Gloria the year the Blues won the Cup.

I mean..in reality when I gave the Bucks Livin’ On A Prayer before Game 4 it to me changed the entire flow of the NBA Finals.

So Sam Presti…tank away, bruh. Mikey Jackson isn’t screwing around with you this coming season waiting till late December to figure out WTF you’re doing with the once proud Thunder basketball program.

Even at this point if you acquire Tyler Herro…I can’t take you seriously any longer.

Let’s repeat like the ’94-’95 Houston Rockets since that’s who these Bucks with Greek Freak somewhat remind me of after last night.

LET’S GO BUCKS!

Of course…maybe if I were given some direct responsibilty in the personnel decisions heading into the NBA Draft on July 29th I could possibly soften my position. Mr. Presti… Call me if you want to become relevant again the Northwest Divsion. I don’t do the on my knees thing like Little Nick Gallo and Royce Young.

What have you got to lose?

I’m happy for Giannis and the city of Milwaukee. This was a very cool night…especially for Giannis and Khris Middleton.

I’ll write more about the game tomorrow night.

What a great night for the NBA and both Milwaukee and Phoenix.

The Phoenix Suns have nothing to regret. They gave what they had. Sometimes the other guy is just a little better.

I don’t mean to be snarky, but Jalen Rose said something tonight after the game which stuck with me when he said there are two kinds of NBA championship rings. The one Giannis just won is the one which means a little more.

Giannis stuck with his city, his organization, his coach and his teammates—and there should be something to be said for that.

So here we are tomorrow evening in Milwaukee with the Bucks on the cusp of claiming the Larry O’Brien Trophy in recognition of world basketball superiority.

Vegas has Milwaukee at home as a five point favorite. That’s exactly where I would have it. If Giannis was a dependable free throw shooter I’d probably have the Bucks at -6.5 or -7… but he’s not reliable from the charity line.

That’s a wild card which hasn’t come into play yet in these Finals, but it lurks right beneath the surface of basketball reality.

Otherwise…Giannis has shown the world he is ready to assume the mantle as the Chosen One to supplant LeBron. His defense, rebounding, passing, and offensive instincts have all come into place.

No one can guard him…he’s the Greek Freak. Imagine if he could just saunter up to the free throwline and hit 10 of 12 every game like the wispy cupcake Kevin Durant.

But Giannis didn’t leave his team to go play with Steph and Klay to win two token rings…so this blogger admires his determination to bring the city of Milwaukee a championship just before Aaron Rodgers leaves town to play for a coach who believes in him.

The Buck star trifecta of Giannis, Jrue, and Khris were sublime in Game 5 on the road in what was a quasi elimination game for the Bucks the other way. The three stars responded with a combined 88 points and Jrue Holiday either by scoring or assisting accouted for 58 points.

Plus, Connaughton, Bobby Portis, and PJ Tucker ON THE ROAD gave Coach B more than he probably was counting on from his bench playing inside of Walkingstick Arena. His team clicked on every clylinder except for Giannis shooting free throws.

Chris Paul, bless his heart, said it best to Rachael Nichols after Game 4 when he said, “All these feel good storylines won’t ever be remembered if we don’t win the series.”

Good for CP3 for being so forthright. He’s exactly right. This is about winning and making winning plays on the biggest stage under the brightest lights.

I’ve been so reliably prescient lately I have to pinch myself to not be overconfident. But I like the Bucks and I like them to win by five on a push.

Play this again for your team in the locker room Coach B. It fits them. You have a group of really good guys who deserve this moment.

I think I’ll play my favorite Cranberries song/video and fall asleep. It’s a shame they didn’t have this song in Four Weddings and A Funeral.

And this is for Chris Paul who is really a nice guy. His brother almost leased the house across the street from us back in the Katrina days. Chris—just to prove you don’t have to win the game to experience a happy ending. Good luck, buddy.

I’m whipped. The emotional tumult of covering these NBA Finals has worn me a little thin coupled with the recent Oklahoma weather.

This song always puts me to sleep within five minutes.

It’s such a peaceful melody.

Anyway…embrace the journey and go win Monday in whatever it is you do on Mondays.

Peace.

It was supposed to be a night of legacy reckoning for Chris Paul. That never happened because Chris Paul didn’t even have the ball in his hands on the game’s most critical possession with the Suns one point down with the ball under the thirty second mark.

Devin Booker had the ball and what transpired will become NBA lore if the Bucks go on to win the series in Game 6 on Tuesday in Milwaukee.

Booker drove the lane was halted by both Giannis and PJ Tucker. Jrue Holiday trailing Devin Booker then stole the ball and fed the Greek Freak for a transition dunk which gave the Bucks enough air to preserve an iconic 123-119 Game 5 road win over the Phoenix Suns.

Milwaukee has their road win.

On the night… Jrue, Khris Middleton, and Giannis combined for 88 points.

But this was Jrue Holiday’s night. This was his game. He was the best player on the floor.

Jrue hit his first shot from the left elbow on the Bucks’ first possession and his confidence never waivered even after he committed his second foul in the first period.

This was Jrue Holiday Night on ABC with the basketball world seeing in the season’s biggest game so far what Jrue Holiday is all about as a basketball player.

Jrue finished with 27 points and 13 assists and had a team best +14 rating. His 13 assists led to 31 points for the Bucks. So on the night while being the best defensive guard on the floor… Jrue was responsible for 58 of Milwaukee’s points in a road game with the lights shining the brightest.

Jrue Holiday…you just rang the proverbial bell at Mikey Jackson’s underground blog.

I’ve been babbling about you all season being the most important player to switch teams and you made me look good.

Top shelf.

I love what you said about your father giving you advice between games in these Finals.

Job well done.

Like Jrue said in the post game presser the Bucks have now won three straight against the Suns and with the exception Greek Freak’s free throw shooting look to be in a groove as a team. I don’t think Milwaukee really cares all that much about Chris Paul’s legacy at this point.

They just want to win the championship in front of their own fans in their arena and in Deer District on Tuesday night.

Just don’t let up. And I’m also pretty sure Jrue’s father has said some things in private to his son about Chris Paul’s game in relation to Jrue’s overall game.

This isn’t complex. Phoenix has no one who can guard Giannis or Khris straight up. The only defense they have right now is the free throwline when Giannis goes to the line. BTW..otherwise I thought Giannis played superb in Game 5. His decision making and interior passing were as good as I’ve ever seen with him. Make your free throws…kid and you’ll be going to Walt Disney or something with a ring.