Author: Mike

Soulmates I guess come and go in the NBA world. The Warriors are generally pretty smart. I’m not losing any sleep over any of this.

I have to tell you on here it’s taken me great restraint to wait this long to comment on the Kevin Durant-Draymond Green breakup. As a heterosexual man it’s somewhat awkward and uncomfortable to write about even on a small obscure underground blog. I know they play in San Francisco and I know I encouraged Kevin Durant to get out of then red dirt dumb Oklahoma before Kendra Horn got elected, but my how things have changed in two years.

Ostensibly back during those 2016 Western Conference Finals we found out Kevie was cheating on us as the games were still being played. Texting his heart out to his then soulmate Dray. We heard things like growth as a man, exploring one’s inner self, expanding one’s intellectual and spiritual horizons. Really? It was almost Bill Russellesque like in a version of Second Wind II.

At what point did any of us confuse Draymond Green with Gandhi?

When I now view Kevin Durant as a basketball player… I put him probably still where he was before he won these two token rings with Steph, Klay, and Draymond. That being, the second best player in the world still behind LeBron. Still second. He hasn’t proven anything to me beyond for the simple reason he still hasn’t had the grit and balls to lead a legitimate team to a title. He still hasn’t done what D Wade did with the Heat in 2006, or what Dirk did with the Mavs in 2011, or what LeBron did with the Cavs in 2016.

From my view as an astute fan of the NBA game… Kevie has won the same number of NBA championships as Russell Westbrook. As in zero. Nada.

The only difference is Durant and his leach handlers jobbed the system and put Kevie in a pretty much no fail situation as far as his basketball legacy. What’s next…Aaron Rodgers joining Tom Brady in New England next season? Tell me how that would be different?

My view of this has never changed. If Durant wanted to leave red dirt dumb Oklahoma I had absolutely no problem with it whatsoever. The word ‘free’ agent is what it implies. A condition of freedom of choice.

And I’ll say this for Durant if he had only stayed at Golden State for one season to get his token ring I’d be okay with that as well. Raymond Bourque, my second favorite hockey player of all-time behind Bobby Orr did this by leaving the Boston Bruins for the Colorado Avs at the end of his glorious non-ring career in Boston. But that’s not what this dude was doing with his handlers. He thought with multiple rings in a somewhat fixed situation he’d cement his legacy as someone above most of the greats who have ever have played the game. Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, etc.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Durant is a generational player. Perhaps the most multi-faceted scorer to have ever played the game. Steph is the greatest shooter to have played the game, but Durant can score in more ways and to his credit has become a solid defensive player with Ron Adams at his side once again. And with Draymond, Andre Iguodala, and Klay Thompson cementing a formidable defense around him.

But here’s the thing with me as a purist who like Bill Simmons puts a great deal of emphasis on a player’s place in the Pantheon in accordance with what they accomplished in post season play—I still haven’t seen Kevin Durant win a legitimate ring. He still hasn’t shown me he has the same stuff as D Wade, Dirk, and LeBron. Those three are in my Pantheon at various levels.

I certainly think from a skill standpoint Durant is better than both Wade and Dirk, but from a historical standpoint of taking a team which wasn’t loaded to the point where it created the view the entire NBA was fixed—I need to see this from Kevin Durant in some other city.

Even though we’ve become ‘liberal’ in the 5th District with Kendra Horn’s election in no way should Kevie ever come back to Oklahoma. No way.

Where I think Kevin should go is Toronto. He grew up as a Raptor fan. The place is genuinely a city where he could find a girl and maybe find himself. Go to Toronto and play with Serge, Kawhi, and maybe a different young point guard other than Kyle Lowery and see if he could win a championship without Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.

I mean—do you really think Peyton Manning would be considered one of football’s greatest quarterback’s if he hadn’t stuck it out in Indy and finally beat Tom Brady to advance to a legit Super Bowl ring?

Of course not. He be viewed in the same prism as say Dan Marino and Dan Fouts. Or in hoops as with Charles Barkley, Carmelo Anthony, or Russell Westbrook (if he doesn’t get it together). Great regular season players with gaudy regular season accomplishments.

Steph, Klay, and Draymond have nothing to prove. They won a ring without Durant and then won 73 regular season games the next season. They know what they are as players and young men.

Trouble is…I’m not sure Kevin Durant can say the same.

Dray and Kevie need a breakup song. Been here with Russell and Kevie, done this already.

Kevin Durant, go find yourself. Only this time don’t do it on a team which is fixed to win a ring.

Before I even get to all this drama bullshit with the Warriors and Kevin Durant’s probable exit to join LeBron with the Lakers next season, I need to address Carmelo Anthony being cut by the Houston Rockets.

Big surprise, right?

No. Even the dimmest of wits in Oklahoma City who saw Carmelo play last season and then refuse to accept a bench role in his exit interview knew the Houston Rockets had made a very dumb move in allowing Carmelo to join their basketball team. The Rockets are clearly not as good without Ariza and Luc—but in adding Carmelo they even weakened their team more.

It is not surprising then the Rockets have parted with Carmelo but after only ten games. I’m still going to stay with the Rockets as my No. 2 team in the West for this reason though, that being, I still think the Rockets have the best four players in the West excluding the Warriors. I’d still put Harden, Chris Paul, Clint Capela, and Eric Gordon higher than Westbrook, Paul George, Steven Adams, and Dennis Schroder. Just a bit, but not a huge gap. Unlike last season, if Russell Westbrook can grow up as a basketball player… it is ‘plausible’ then an argument could be made for OKC being a contender in the West.

But again I will highlight this with….this only becomes a possibility if Russell Westbrook can change himself as a basketball player to some degree. And this isn’t on Billy Donovan—this is on RUSSELL WESTBROOK.

Russell Westbrook is now in his 11th NBA season. Usually Year 10 is when you start to see NBA players start their physical decline. To date, Russell Westbrook has missed seven of OKC’s first fourteen games this basketball season. His knee is well documented. Westbrook for some of his faults has played a ton of minutes for Sam Presti. He’s played hurt. He’s been loyal to Oklahoma City.

Now this is just me thinking out loud mind you. If I’m Russell Westbrook and I just witnessed Carmelo Anthony in essence being cut by the Houston Rockets ten games into his 16th season–I’m thinking to myself… ‘Is this the way I want to exit the game as well?’

I hope for Russell Westbrook’s sake… not.

Because right now Carmelo Anthony has the appearance of a pathetic player who couldn’t take that honest look in the mirror and ever change as a player.

I hope Russell Westbrook takes an honest look in the mirror and decides it’s time to change as a basketball player and do smart things instead of things first year players in the league do. It’s time to nuance his game. To play defense. To not worry about individual stats. To do the little things which give your team a chance of advancing instead of being dumped in the first round by Rickey Rubio and a rookie named Donovan Mitchell.

It’s time. It really is.

Now…if I were a scribe for the Daily Oklahoman like say Tramel and wrote this…you know what would happen? What would happen is that Russell would be openly rude to me and then kiss Nikki Gallo’s balls into eternity for never saying one honest thing to him. Truth hurts. It does.

So to me…the storylines in Oklahoma City fourteen games into this season aren’t if Billy Donovan can coach or if Sam Presti can general manage?

The story line in Oklahoma City is painfully obvious even in the smallest market in all of pro sports which has a media minus Tramel which refuses to write tough sentences or paragraphs of substance.

The storyline is simple.

Can Russell Westbrook nuance his game and become a point guard who can lead his team beyond the first round in post season play?

Pretty simple. It really is.

This has nothing to do with Billy Donovan at this point.

This is all about Russell Westbrook.

As a fan of Russell Westbrook I don’t write any of this with malice. I write this with the hope Russell Westbrook doesn’t at some point exit the game like Carmelo Anthony.

Another nice win over a bad team for the Thunder as Paul George led the way with a 35 point, 7 rebound, 5 assist night to help OKC improve to 9-5 for the season. It was very easy as the Thunder have now won nine of their last ten games following the 0-4 start.

Russell Westbrook missed his fifth straight game and seventh of the season. It didn’t matter. In fact, it might be better for this team when they play against bad teams if Westbrook isn’t on the floor.

Dennis Schroder against middle to bad teams has had no problem for the most part getting the team into its offense and in these last several games Paul George seems much more comfortable embracing the Batman role. Steven Adams actually gets the ball more and in no way so far has Westbrook’s absence effected Adam’s offensive production.

On this night the Thunder had 32 assists with Schroder accumulating a season high 12 helpers. The ball moved for four quarters—what can I say. Yes, the Knicks suck and Steven Adams threw former mate Enes Kanter around like a rag doll, but the ball moved and went down the hole.

OKC went 16-33 shooting threes on a night when the Thunder weren’t one of the worst three point shooting teams in the league. I can no longer threaten to break Jerami Grant’s arm for shooting threes as he went 3-5 behind the line on this night.

Terrance Ferguson ran around quite a bit — I’m not sure what he did exactly, but if you watch him closely he does run around quite a bit at least giving the impression he’s doing something. Look for Nick Gallo to compare Terrance to John Havlicek in the coming days. Royce Young will agree.

Wild Thing Jr.(Diallo) is the better player, but we’ll just have to see this thru as we do all Thunder things involving Sam Presti. Turn this kid loose….turn him loose. Hamidou Diallo Nature Boy….whoo!

The bench was good with 37 points on a night when Alex Abrines had an upset stomach and wasn’t able to contribute a point. I’m sure Nick Gallo was spoon feeding Alex chicken noodle soup in the second half so I’m sure it’s all good heading into Phoenix.

Please keep Russell on the bench in street clothes. I loved his shirt on Wednesday night. Very nice. Let’s see what happens without him. I wonder how Draymond would fit in with this Thunder bunch if Draymond and Kevie can’t cum to terms with things. Wouldn’t you love to see Durant’s expression the moment he found out the Warriors traded Draymond, Bell, Quinn Cook and a draft pick for Russell?

I tell you what though, you put Draymond Green on this Thunder team and what you might have is the best defensive team in the league and of course Presti would still need to add a Kyle Korver type at some point.

Draymond to OKC….why not?

Thunder at the Phoenix Suns next game up.

You take away the loss at Oakland in which they were hosed by the replay official and the Browns are 4-5-1 or even 5-4-1 and if their kicker makes a kick against the Steelers in Week 1.

The Browns got back on track last Sunday beating the Atlanta Falcons. Keep this in mind, I’m very familiar with Browns GM John Dorsey because at one time he was the GM of my Green Bay Packers. Dorsey is the GM who drafted Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews, and Greg Jennings just to name several players off the top of my head. Dorsey will do fine if the ownership will just stay out of the way and give some stability to the franchise.

Baker Mayfield is the perfect fit in Cleveland if they’re ever going to change the losers culture. He is the guy because of his dogged self confidence and inner belief in himself. Period. The young talent around him is good on both sides of the ball. They need a home run threat wide receiver and a couple of offensive linemen.

I love this interview. I really do. It is the essence of Baker Mayfield whether you love him or hate him. I didn’t originally like Baker, but I’ve come to be a big Baker Mayfield fan.

For some reason the Daily Thunder has prematurely released the standings in their annual Western Conference Standings Contest. I have no idea as to why. As per the norm I’ve started near the bottom third with Vegas but getting ready to start making my move in these next twenty games as the newness of the season wears on. I feel very good about my start. Like the champion Secretariat it usually takes me a bit to gain traction. Just so you Trekkies know…I’m getting ready to start high stepping.

Dr El Prez Emeritus TSN

After playing uninspired ball in Dallas on Saturday night and losing their seven game winning streak, the Thunder got back to winning with a taking care of business 118-101 win over the pitiful Phoenix Suns. The main goal in Phoenix this season is to lose enough games to challenge the Cleveland Cavaliers for the honor of being the worst team in the NBA come mid April.

Paul George decided to play the Batman role and was superb in leading the Thunder to a coast to coast easy win. PG scored 32 points, grabbed 8 boards, and had 6 assists.

Dennis Schroder or DS from this point moving forward frolicked being Robin scoring 20 points, adding 9 assists, and making 4 steals. Steven Adams scored whenever he really wanted to while adding 18 points and 7 rebounds.

Jerami Grant was solid. Terrance Ferguson played the Andre Roberson role with effective energy and was +30 on the night.

The bench was much better tonight than it was in Dallas scoring 33 points. Wild Thing Jr. was excellent with 9 points and his usual high torque energy contributions. I love Diallo. I do. He’s my kind of ball player.

Russell Westbrook missed his fourth straight game and to be honest with you it appeared the Thunder never missed him in this game against the abysmal Suns. I would just keep Westbrook out until he’s completely healthy. The Thunder play the Warriors at home on November 21st and that’s where I would want Russell Westbrook back in complete and total good health moving forward. There’s no need for him to rush back. These guys need to keep getting better without him and develop complete confidence in their own play.

The West is shaping up as the Warriors and pretty much about six or seven teams who could be the second best team in the conference. Houston is not what they were last season. So..if I’m Donovan I want the rest of my players improving to the point where when Westbrook returns he can do it with reduced usage and for the first time in a long while concentrate on being an honest two way player. That means I want Westbrook playing defense much like the rest of the team is playing defense. The Thunder have done the Oscar Roberstson thing, it’s time to become a real basketball team. Period.

The Thunder host another bad team this Wednesday night when they play the woeful New York Knicks inside the Peake.

The Thunder behind their Big Three minus Westbrook need to come out fast and take care of business.

Because that’s what good basketball teams do.

Just your typical Bedlam game of late with OU holding on at the very end to beat O State by a 48-47 count. OU now leads the series by a 88-18-7 count, but the games of late for the most part have been very entertaining.

Mike Gundy is now 2-12 in Bedlam and would be 1-13 if not for the repunt to Tyreke Hill in 2014 which gift wrapped a win to Mike Gundy’s Cowboys. Gundy can’t beat OU–that much appears to be evident and he’s now 0-2 versus Lincoln Riley.

In all candor O State could have very well won this ballgame, but as per the norm couldn’t make a game winning play in the game’s final period. O State always seems snakebit in this series. Always.

In the game’s final period O State played with grit, but lost a costly fumble, missed a critical extra point, allowed Kennedy Brooks to run almost untouched on a long run setting up OU’s game winner, and then threw the ball into the ground on the game’s deciding moment on a two point conversion attempt. Typical stuff if you’ve watched this series as intently as I have over the years.

It appears to be a mental thing with O State because OU’s defense is pretty much awful and really can’t stop anybody who has decent quarterback play.

OU’s offense is as good as any team in the country, but that defense is to the point where you have to come to terms with the fact OU isn’t Final Four worthy. It’s not Mike Stoops, they just aren’t good enough. It is what it is.

But still it’s very entertaining to watch Kyler Murray play the quarterback position at the highest level I’ve ever witnessed in OU football history.

Consider this when you vote your Heisman vote, the kid from Alabama has a defense which stuffs every team it plays against, whereas Kyler Murray knows his team has to score nearly fifty points to beat good teams. Kyler Murray will get my first place Heisman vote, the kid from Alabama will get my second place vote, and my third place vote is still to be decided.

I’m not gnashing my teeth over these Sooners, but more enjoying their incredible offense and hoping they can make enough tackles to win the Big 12 and play in one of the better bowls excluding the playoff.

It was actually kind of boring even with Russell Westbrook sitting and it being the TNT early game of the night. The now progressive Oklahoma City crowd did the right thing and didn’t boo Carmelo even though he was vintage horrible only making one shot on the night. It was that kind of night. A night where the Thunder without their best player from last year in Westbrook and without their biggest defensive liability in Carmelo from last year coasted past a Rockets team which isn’t that good without Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute by a score of 98-80.

It was really just kind of boring.

If the NBA Executive of the Year award were to be awarded based on last night’s games then Sam Presti would have it on his office desk this morning. Presti would/could be the frontrunner if Billy Donovan can harness Russell Westbrook enough to get more defense from his star and less three point chucking when it’s not needed.

The fact Daryl Morey in Houston now has Carmelo as a Rocket and it’s not any longer Sam Presti’s problem in and of itself would qualify Presti as NBA Exec of the Year.

But enough of that.

Paul George isn’t Batman, but what he is when he brings his complete game to the arena is a very nice balanced player who ultimately could be the player to hopefully help Russell Westbrook get around this last bend in the point guard championship learning curve. Paul George was rock solid against the Rockets with 20 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, 6 steals and a +34. It wasn’t flashy, but it was winning basketball pure and simple.

If I could sit next to Russell Westbrook and tell him three things basketball related they would be.. 1 play defense with the same commitment as Paul George, 2 quit shooting bad threes, and 3 calibrate risk in a more sagacious manner in the last six minutes.. That’s it.

The whole Thunder team was good on Thursday. In all six players scored in double figures. Steven Adams looked like he was toying with the Rockets. Terrance Ferguson was excellent and won’t be headed to the G League as he hit 4-9 from three and was +24. Quite simply, Ferguson looked like the player we all hoped Andre Roberson could become if he ever figured out his broken shot. I don’t want to go too far with Ferguson this early, but we’re starting to see the rational behind what Presti is doing with this Thunder team. On this night Presti’s Thunder shot 9-37 from threes and yet still routed the Rockets in a game which was never close.

Here’s what Presti is doing, he’s putting a team together including Andre Roberson as the 11th or 12th guy who can all play defense when Russell Westbrook plays defense like he did at UCLA before he became a fashion icon.

Just look at the roster from a defensive standpoint and tell me who the pylon is amongst this group? There isn’t a horrible defender when Westbrook is trying. Presti has shored up the defense with the additions of Nerlens Noel and Diallo. With the addition of Noel this is the best Thunder defensive team in their eleven year existence if Roberson can come back and just play a role of any sort.

In this day of analytics you wonder if you can win it all doing it this way, but always remember this in closing, there’s a reason Ron Adams sits next to Steve Kerr on that Warriors’ bench…the reason being defense still wins championships.

With Golden State’s home blowout loss against Mike Budenholzer’s Bucks last night one should always be reminded nothing stays permanently stagnant in sports and life. Steph is getting an MRI on his groin today. Things always change.

The Thunder now have the league’s longest current winning streak at seven. The team appears to be listening to Billy Donovan. Life and basketball can sometimes be funny this way.

The Thunder in Dallas tomorrow night to play Rick Carlisle’s still struggling Mavs. If the Thunder beat Carlisle without Westbrook what does that say?

If Russell Westbrook isn’t a hundred per cent he should sit.

The Thunder have him covered.

The Warriors’ transition defense with Ron Adams. Ignore the audio. As Thunder fans we know how to ignore audio after ten years of Brian Davis.

Like with hockey, defense should seamlessly transition into offense. Defense kick starts offense. If only Russell Westbrook could become Bobby Orr.I could ascend to the basketball heavens tomorrow.

The game itself was almost unwatchable as the Thunder without Russell Westbrook held on to beat the abysmal Cleveland Cavaliers by a 95-86 count. The game would have been a complete downer if not for one thing…that thing being the sizzling play of Dennis Schroder.

OKC’s bench struggled. Patrick Patterson couldn’t hold on to the basketball and complete basketball plays. Nerlens Noel played like he was hungover. Ray Felton struggled at times looking rusty. Alex Abrines wasn’t horrible, but he was 3-12 shooting the basketball, albeit the three makes were three of the seven total three point makes for the Thunder on the night. Hamidou Diallo had a nice first half, but struggled with some bad fouls which seemed to derail his energy.

It was one of those nights when young role players struggled on the road after playing some really sharp basketball for several games. But it’s hard to blame them being the setting in Cleveland is so depressing that even the Cav players don’t really want to be there. Kyle Korver would be a nice landing spot for the three point shooting challenged Thunder who were 7-27 shooting threes on this night.

As far as the starters…Terrance Ferguson was almost unnoticeable. Jerami Grant was off and on. Steven Adams was okay and I’d give him a B-. Which brings us to Batman and Robin on this night when Russell Westbrook was not able to play because of the ankle sprain.

A funny thing happened though. Dennis Schroder emerged as Batman, while Paul George seemed content with still being Robin even with Westbrook sitting. I could care less. But it’s something I’ve noticed with Paul George since his arrival in OKC. He doesn’t seem to crave being ‘the guy’. A solid player and leader yes, but not what you describe as a player who has to be the center of attention. The almost perfect second best player on a team.

On this night it was clearly Dennis Schroder playing the Russell Westbrook role as he led the Thunder with 28 points and made the plays when the plays had to be made coming down the stretch.

This is not a game you dwell on long. It was the first night of a back to back with the Houston Rockets looming tomorrow night inside Chesapeake Energy Arena. This is clearly a game where the Thunder need both Russell Westbrook and Dennis Schroder on the floor to counter James Harden and Chris Paul. It’s one thing to disguise the absence of Westbrook versus the lowly Cavs, but something entirely different with the Rockets coming to town for the national TNT game tonight.

Carmelo Anthony returns for his first return visit to Oklahoma City since last season’s dismal ending in Salt Lake and Carmelo’s then foolish exit interview. I mean, I hope there isn’t booing though. Oklahoma City isn’t a red dirt dumb Trump city anymore. Heck these people must be reading the NY Times nowadays given they just elected Kendra Horn to Congress as their first ever Dem in the contemporary era of politics in Oklahoma. I’m guessing Kevin Durant will no longer be booed again as well when he comes back to OKC. There’s now more compassion, empathy, and smarts inside the building since it could be possible more people in the market are more aware than they were say eight years ago. Maybe there is a residual culture effect to having an NBA team. Who would have thought…Oklahoma City would emerge as a mecca of liberal diversity and thought? Who would have possibly thought this possible ten years ago? Maybe it was the Sam Anderson book? Maybe these people figure it’s time to somewhat begin to smarten up just a little since they receive 1.5 federal dollars for every dollar they pay in to the United States Treasury. Know what I mean? You need to be smart enough to at least vote in your own self interest. You’ll never ever hear Mary Fallin or Kevin Stitt give that federal dollar exchange rate in Oklahoma. Like in ever. This didn’t escape Sam Anderson as well.

Move over Seattle, San Francisco, and Denver. Here comes Oklahoma City. Just kidding. That was benevolent sarcasm.

I really never paid attention to Drew Edmondson until I walked in on his speech at Fassler’s Hall. He was a good speaker in person and I liked him. I like his wife as well. A history major no less, go figure. A very nice couple. They’re probably lucky they don’t have to spend the next four years of their lives dealing with the Oklahoma state legislature. Good luck with that.