Author: Mike

Yikes.

What else could you open with after watching a display like the one put on by the OKC’s Thunder in Atlanta on Tuesday night. I’m beyond cursing or banging my head on a keyboard. In the world of Thunder it wouldn’t surprise me if I hear sometime later this week Ward Cleaver is extended another five years beyond the extended year he just received sometime before XMas.

Again…yikes.

When your team at any level in any sport consistently doesn’t provide effort that should be a bit of the check engine light coming on especially when you don’t have Carmelo Anthony sitting in the backseat downing Ding Dongs this time around.

This is why when you have a weak written sports media in a market like Oklahoma City you don’t have much if any truth written when it needs to be written. Other than Tramel there apparently isn’t a sports journalist in the bunch. And to be blunt, this is why I keep my obscure blog going so as I can have something in the market I can read which is written by someone other than Tramel who knows what they’re writing about. Take that as you may.

If I did cover the Thunder on the legit and had a media pass in all likelihood Russell Westbrook would have my pass suspended or revoked within a week so he could continue having Nick Gallo and the like stroke his balls.

I was raised by a trial lawyer. A good one who graduated No. 1 in his class. I have no patience for bullshit either in person or by a group of millennials in this market who call themselves sports writers. As in none.

Let me start this way. The Atlanta Hawks were a Las Vegas home ten point underdog on Tuesday night versus the grossly overcompensated Thunder. The tanking Hawks not only somehow won this game, but they scored 142 points in doing so against a Thunder team which really didn’t seem to care except for twelve minutes in the third period. Therein lies a problem in that there are 48 minutes in an NBA game.

The Hawks scored 45 points not only in one period of play but they did it twice on Tuesday night. In NBA perspective consider on the same night the Warriors had their best ever period of offensive play in scoring 51 points against the Denver Nuggets. They did it once in regaining the lead in the West from the make believe Nuggets who won’t fall all that far though because every one still behind them has issues of their own. Circle the Thunder in red at the head of that list.

Trey Young. The National Player of the Year at OU last year had to be laughing to himself in his locker room after this complete clusterfuck debaucle. He had to be thinking to himself how in the world is it he was allowed to do whatever he wanted on the court in a game against the NBA team with the highest payroll when he couldn’t even beat Mike Boynton’s O State team last season in the back two thirds of the Big 12 season.

Herein lies the answer that Royce Young, Erik Horne, Maddie Lee, and Little Nick Gallo won’t be writing. The answer is that Mike Boynton’s talent challenged team last season actually exerted effort. That’s the answer. Defense and rebounding require effort…. even in the NBA’s regular season. Even in the NBA’s regular season you have to calibrate effort expended. But here’s what you don’t do…you don’t tank against a tanker.

Alex Ovechkin wouldn’t allow any part of this bullshit to take place. At least not the new Alex Ovechkin. Russell Westbrook isn’t Alex Ovechkin though that much appears to be certain at this point. Note to Russell…neither would Kobe or Michael in their prime either.

Maybe Russell Westbrook is just worn out from all the meaningless triple doubles in regular season play. Maybe the wardrobe demands are too much. Maybe he left it all at the Denver Airport with Michelle Obama. BTW…her book is excellent. Maybe she should coach the Thunder. She wouldn’t put up with this bullshit either. Again, this isn’t Billy Donovan’s team or in reality it isn’t even Clay Bennett’s team….it’s Russell Westbrook’s team and until he becomes sick to his stomach owning a team which for the second straight NBA season is the league’s biggest underachiever per payroll nothing is going to change in Oklahoma City as far as the Thunder go.

It is what it is.

This has nothing to do with shot charts or analytics.

It has to do with pride and heart.

And at this point in the Thunder’s season you have to question if either of those are in the Thunder locker room on a enough nights to be a legit contender in the West as the Death March rolls into April.

The Thunder host the Lakers on Thursday. If LeBron doesn’t play it is in essence another meaningless game which will tell us nothing we don’t already know.

Maybe this is what Sam Presti has in mind for Nick Collison.

As in having some heart in his team’s locker room now and again.

Obviously, as an OU fan — I’d like Jalen Hurts to come to OU to play his senior season. I think it would be a seamless fit for Jalen and the program as they have true freshman Spencer Rattler coming in, but not ready yet from a maturity standpoint to be the OU quarterback this season.

If Jalen comes to OU then I’d say OU would have the best QB in the conference by just a slight nod over Sam Ehlinger at Texas. Not much difference, but I’d give the edge to Jalen for what he’s done in the spotlight, plus he’s more evasive as a runner than Ehlinger. Throwing wise, they’re probably close. Intangible wise…they’re both excellent. You’d want both of these guys to be the face of your program.

Most think it’s a fifty-fifty chance between OU and Miami. I have no idea. It’s a wonderful story. He stayed the course at Alabama after being benched, earned his degree, and then made every play possible to save Alabama’s season against Georgia in the SEC Championship Game.

A storybook season, minus one chapter.

You fill in the chapter and tell me where the best chance of that happening is….. U of M or Oklahoma?

If Jimmy Johnson were at Miami, I’d say Miami. But Manny Diaz is there as a first year head coach while the best offensive coach in all of football is in Norman, Oklahoma.

It should be an interesting week for Jalen Hurts.

I’m a Jeff Capel fan. I loved it when Joe C hired Jeff Capel to become OU’s head basketball coach after Kelvin Sampson departed for Indiana. Joe C doesn’t make bad coaching hires at Oklahoma in either basketball or football. Look at the track record. It is stunning and when Joe C hired Capel away from VCU as one of the youngest coaches in DI at the time I loved the hire. I still do in retrospect even though Capel’s bumpy exit in Norman after five years wasn’t pretty.

As a fan…I hurt for Capel and the program. I hurt for the way it ended because OU was supposed to be Capel’s job at a Power 5 school which would lead him back to Duke to be Coach K’s eventual successor. The first three seasons were glorious at OU. In years two and three the Sooners made the NCAA Tournament and in Year 3 the Sooners made the Elite 8 before losing to eventual national champion North Carolina. Blake Griffin won the national player of the year award the year after Kevin Durant did the same at Texas. Blake Griffin went on to become the first player taken in the NBA draft the next season being drafted by the Clippers. I was at the one game in Norman when Durant and Griffin hooked up. You knew then and there what you were witnessing. I just never guessed Kevin Durant would become a fixture in the history of Oklahoma City to such a degree Sam Anderson would write a book about it.

The next season Capel had a promising group of young players at OU in Willie Warren, Tommy Mason-Griffin, Tiny Gallon, and Tony Crocker. The season started well, then it came apart late in the season as Willie Warren never meshed with the other players. Too many stars and youth assembled without a core leader. OU didn’t make the tournament and then it got worse. There were allegations of NCAA violations associated with the recruitment of Tiny Gallon.

In Year 5, only Tony Crocker remained of that promising core of young players and the Sooners dropped to 14-17 and missed the tournament for a second straight season. The OU fans stopped coming to the games even though in retrospect OU played tough in going 14-17. One of the best players on that team along with Crocker turned out to be Cade Davis a white kid from western Oklahoma who in the end loved Jeff Capel and stood up for him even though his coach got fired. Another Capel former player at OU stood up for him as well, his name was Blake Griffin.

In the end we really don’t know if Capel was fired because of missing the tournament two years in a row or because of the NCAA problems with Tiny Gallon. Joe C said the firing of Capel was the toughest decision he’s made as the athletic director at OU.

Either way, I’m a big fan of Joe C and Jeff Capel. Things in life happen for a reason. I’m a firm believer in that axiom.

Joe C hired Lon Kruger away from UNLV and that has turned out beautifully with OU making the Final Four and producing two more NPLOTY winners in Buddy Hield and Trae Young.

Jeff Capel went back to Duke, but not to become Coach K’s successor, but his assistant again. They won another national championship together with the Blue Devils. NC State came calling and offered Capel another chance at head coaching, but he turned down the job. I was starting to wonder if Jeff Capel was going to head coach again in the slippery world of big time college basketball which is currently in the midst of an FBI probe in relation to recruiting and possible criminal activity in the steering of players to programs. Billy Donovan left the college game because of this type of activity.

But now, Jeff Capel is back as a head coach at Pitt. A once good grogram under Jaime Dixon which went winless in ACC play last season. Last night, the youthful Panthers beat No.11 Florida State for their second straight win in ACC play to level their league record at 2-2. Overall, Capel’s young team is 12-5 and their next two games are against Syracuse which beat Duke last night on the road, and then at home next Monday against his old boss Coach K when the Blue Devils come calling on the national game of the night.

Stories are funny in how they evolve. Willie Warren was drafted by the Lakers in the second round and didn’t stay in the league. Tiny Gallon and Tommy Mason-Griffin left OU and never became what they should have as players. Tony Crocker stayed and played out of position for Capel in that final OU year. Cade Davis stayed and became a better player than he should have become…if that makes any sense.

I now have as a college basketball fan some skin in the game as an ACC fan of sorts. Go figure it’s the same school which Seven Adams attended for one season.

Basketball stories weave in fateful paths some times. Look how Eddie Sutton ended up at O State. Abe Lemons at Texas. Todd Monken in Cleveland coaching the cocky OU kid named Baker. You never know. Life works that way with humans.

But I know what I’ll be watching next Monday night.

I was bound inside watching NFL football this week-end with Pauli. In reality the best four teams all in home games advanced to the conference championship finals. Based on what we’ve seen so far this post season it would be hard to go against homefield advantage next week-end. So… I guess I’ll go New Orleans vs. Kansas City in the Super Bowl. We have three very good quarterbacks in the mix with of course Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and the story of this NFL season in Patrick Mahomes. The New England vs. Kansas City game has the chance to be epic as far as the possible changing of the guard from Brady to Mahomes. These are the four highest scoring teams with three of the best quarterbacks in the game and with the Rams we have a great running team with Tim Gurley and CJ Anderson.

But the thing as a ‘Cleveland Browns fan’ for me was the fact they hired former Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Todd Monken as the offensive coordinator for Baker Mayfield’s offense. I was harkening to this back during the World Series and I think the Browns picked the perfect coordinator for Baker Mayfield. Since being at Oklahoma State….Monken was the head coach at Southern Miss and the offensive coordinator for Tampa Bay. This will just be such a seamless fit. Monken is smart, he coaches aggressively, his players love playing for him, and quite frankly in reality I could see him at some point actually being an NFL head coach in as much as the NY Jets just interviewed him for their head coaching vacancy.

As much as I love OU football and all the new players and defensive coaches they’ll have on the field next season, the Browns with Mayfield and Monken will have my attention from Day 1. In the draft John Dorsey probably needs to add another O lineman and some more depth on the D line and linebackers. But otherwise this Browns team should be compelling in what all the sudden is an intriguing AFC North division.

Here’s Todd Monken on this video explaining why he was dropping some F bombs during an ESPN filming at a practice while he was involved coaching O State’s offense to a 2011 Big 12 championship. By far, the best O State team I’ve ever seen from an OU perspective. They had swagger. They had mojo. They kicked OU’s ass that year 41-10. They had Todd Monken.

Great move by the Browns.

These two games versus the Spurs were fun and very well could be a first round matchup given where both teams are and should be at the conclusion of eighty-two games. A No. 4 vs No. 5 or No. 3 vs No. 6 matchup doesn’t seem out of the question between these two franchises who in both 2012 and 2014 met in the Western Conference Finals.

I wouldn’t expect the winner to go much further given the limitations of the Spurs’ roster and the inability of the Thunder to play to its potential, but seeing these two meet in the first round would be nostalgic if nothing else.

The Thunder snapped their three game funk Saturday night inside the Peake by a score of 122-112. The Thunder trailed 60-51 at the half, but in the second half turned things around primarily because Dennis Schroder got his game back in sync and did that thing where he leads the Thunder to a surge when he comes on the floor. Schroder had 19 points, but he got other help from his bench mates. My current favorite Thunder player Abdel Nader was perfect from the field scoring 15 points on six shots. Patrick Patterson was excellent as well adding 13 points. All told the Thunder bench contributed 48 points. By my view and that of Michael Cage…we both had our Three Stars completely in line… 1 Schroder, 2 Nader, and 3 Patterson. Bad Little Wild Thing (Diallo) seems to be in a slump of late, but still added a spectacular missed dunk which would have been the Play of the Game if had gone thru the net. But just for artistic verve-I felt the need to mention it and give it Play of the Game anyway.

In all seven Thunder players scored in double figures. It took Russell Westbrook 24 shots to get 24 points, but the glass half full take is only twice did he attempt three point shots. Erik Horne may see this as some sort of seismic swing in Westbrook… but I wouldn’t share that view as of yet. Because as I’ve learned Wild Thing will always piss on that take if you’re foolish enough to believe in it. That’s why I play the Joan Jett video instead. To remind myself not to fall in love with Westbrook’s game too much because in the end he always reverts to being a werewolf.

Having read Steven’s book and knowing of his fondness for Popovich…I paid attention to their meeting in the handshake line. In his book, Steven writes, “I’d like to tell this great man how much I think of him and hug him while smelling his hair.” Or something like that or close to it. Well, I’m not sure I’d go that far, but I do love Pop as well and he and Steven did exchange a warm handshake and smile. I thought it was very nice.

OKC’s Thunder improves to 26-16 and fortunately they don’t play tonight because I don’t plan on watching anything but the two NFL divisional games today. I thought both games yesterday were rather pedestrian. Think about the quarterback play yesterday…it wasn’t much. Wunderkind Mahomes did enough, Andrew Luck was abysmal, Goff did enough, and while Dak Prescott played okay is he really all that much more than we’d probably see from Jalen Hurts four years from now.

So today, I’m expecting a quarterback to be special…whether it be Tom Brady, Phillip Rivers, Drew Brees, or Nick Foles I do not know. But I’m guessing one if not three of these guys will be special today. It’s my favorite day of the NFL season. I think I’ll be a New Orleans Saint today and hope Nick Foles doesn’t break my heart.

Russell Westbrook theme music for the passionate Thunder fan:

Regardless of beliefs and political affiliation—the stunning decline in values and just basic human decency in these past thirty years in the American Age would make Ronald Reagan cry. He’d be ashamed of his own party. As would or are Gerald Ford, Bush 41, Bush 43, John McCain, Mitt Romney or even Richard Nixon.. In essence, this Gilded Age of Trump hasn’t just been directed at the left or the middle, but the very basic building block of what used to be the GOP. Do you think Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, or Dwight Eisenhower would be on board with any of this as well? Not a chance. Not one.

Reagan’s closing was prescient in this speech. Because if you have an electorate ignorant of its own constitution and its own history…. you eventually have what we are literally witnessing on January 12, 2019.

I keep watching all these talking heads on cable news going on endlessly about Donald Trump. It’s not all that complex. He has the mind of a fourth grader with the flair of a professional wrestler like say Ric Flair Nature Boy. Throw in a sprinkle of Roy Cohn meanness and you have this character which in Trump’s fourth grade level mind captures and keeps the bulk of his base.

It’s one part George Constanza. One part George Steinbrenner. One part Ric Flair Nature Boy. And one part Roy Cohn. This is Trump. This is who he evolved into as his brand character. The sheer audacity and simplicity of it is truly amazing.

Trump: The Sitcom

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.