I’m putting this on here only because I want it archived for this fall when I’m writing my book. In length, the press conference was about an hour in length. I made it thru about ten minutes before I became bored and turned it off. Maybe there’s something to be said in what I just wrote from an analogy standpoint. In that after a certain amount of time it appeared from the outside looking in Billy Donovan’s team stopped listening and became bored with him and with themselves.
I expected Billy Donovan to stay as coach and he will. No shock there at all.
Here’s what I would write at this point though in looking forward.If Paul George leaves and the Thunder get out bidded in unrestricted free agency with Jerami Grant–who would be the Thunder’s third best player next season.
The Thunder simply cannot keep Carmelo Anthony because there were a couple of thousand empty seats in OKC for Game 5 and for the first time in the Thunder Era there was booing of the home team.
The booing of the hometown Thunder was a first in the decade long era of innocence in Mystery, Alaska.
What this really boils down to is that for the first time minus the departure of Durant—the innocence of this college market has been exposed to the hard core reality of the harder side of the NBA as a very tough business.
My favorite basketball book of all-time is David Halberstam’s Breaks of the Game about the Portland Trailblazers ’79-’80 season.
As a Thunder fan—I’m locked into three things right now..1 Paul George’s decision, 2 a graceful exit of Carmelo, and 3 if Jerami Grant decides to leave in July.
Sam Presti will be giving his Thunder State of the Union address sometime today. Actually, Jim Traber pretending to be Sam Hinkie gave it yesterday on WWLS Sports Animal and for some parts it’s consistent with some things I think.
Would I blow it up in OKC right now with Sam Hinkie the OU and Stanford grad who set the pieces in place for the current Philadelphia 76’ers with his ‘process’?Not quite just yet. But I’d think about it as a possible escape from the reality of the Thunder’s decline and current situation as having the league’s third highest payroll and not being a viable contender with all that payroll attached.
To me …that’s kind of like paying Stormy Daniels a $130,000 to not have sex with her. It makes no sense to me. None. But of course–this is Oklahoma and it’s a place loyal to the Trump Doctrine lock, stock, and barrel no matter how goofy it sounds.
But first I’d see how the next two months play out. I’d see if Sam Presti can structure a staggered buyout of Carmelo Anthony. I’d see if Presti gift wrapped Victor Oladipo and Domas Sabonis for nothing more than a seven month rental of Paul George. I’d see if in all this monetary chaos which is of Presti’s doing despite the pleas of prolonged sustainability… if he Presti can sign Jerami Grant as an unrestricted free agent this July.
I’d see how these three things play out.
But as of on the second day of May … I’d sit and wait before I go firing Billy Donovan and/or Sam Presti.
But more than anything if I’m Clay Bennett and I know I have Russell Westbrook and Steven Adams under contract together for at least three more years…I’d think if there’s a GM and a coach out there who could get Russell Westbrook to morph his game as to a style of play which gives the Thunder a chance of being relevant again after the Kevin Durant era in Oklahoma City.
Without Durant to a certain extent Sam Presti and Billy Donovan have both been exposed–as in they can’t get Russell Westbrook to conform to a style of play which gives the team a chance to become more than just a one man show. More than Allen Iverson on steroids.
You’ll hear the Oklahoma City sports media writers like Barry Tramel or Royce Young cover up for the Thunder company line and that’s to be expected since both derive off the record access to Sam Presti, but at the end of the day there’s just going to be the cold hard stark reality that the model in Oklahoma City will not produce much more than we saw this season as presently organized.
And while Carmelo Anthony’s premature mid-life crisis is like throwing gas on the fire which is the Thunder currently…Carmelo Anthony isn’t the primary Thunder issue.
Sam Presti’s leadership of the franchise in the post Durant Era is front and center the issue.
Here are some things Carmelo didn’t do:
He didn’t trade Reggie Jackson for Kyle Singler and DJ Augustin.
He didn’t trade away a first round draft pick for Dion Waiters and then not resign Waiters.
He didn’t fire Scott Brooks and then replace him with a college coach who was struggling with John Calipari in the SEC let alone the complex issues of superstars and agents in the NBA.
He didn’t use first round draft picks to secure the rights to Mitch McGary, Josh Huestis, and Cameron Payne.
He didn’t trade away Victor Oladipo and Domas Sabonis for a one season rental.
But most of all…what Carmelo didn’t do was be the guy who was the one GM in the league stupid enough to pull the trigger on a player who couldn’t come to terms with Phil Jackson let alone Billy Donovan.
Carmelo Anthony the now villain in Oklahoma City didn’t do any of these things.
Sam Presti did and he has two months to get Paul George signed, find a away to ease Carmelo out of town, and resign Jerami Grant. The truth is right there for what it is regardless of what the Usual Suspects list of Brian Davis and Nick Gallo say–or what Barry Tramel or Royce Young write.
But you know what…I’m not going to fret it because with my own two ears I heard Royce Young on Monday say there’s a 75% chance Paul George resigns with the Thunder.
I saw this video and it made me think of Dave Chappelle’s comments on the Deplorables. I mean, you look at this video and you have to figure at a minimum 98% of those white faces smudged up against that chain link prolly voted for Donald Trump. So… like Dave, I looked extremely close at these white faces and you know what…though obviously misguided people and in need of a life…I didn’t see one Deplorable face pressed up against that fence. Not one.
Last night was a big night for me as far as Deplorables and coming to terms with the Trump presidency in a god forsaken political dumpster fire like Oklahoma. I watched Anthony Bourdain do his show from West Virginia and I loved the show. Then this airport Deplorable scene from Will Rogers Airport. I think at the end of the day..it’s all about acceptance and being tolerate to one another regardless of what we think about our reality television porn star president.
So…I saw that list of questions Mueller has for Trump. I’m thinking a Dave Letterman Home Office list of questions from me would only seem natural given how much was left off the list and the fact the Thunder are by the grace of God not playing any more games this basketball season.
And look at Carmelo–taking the time to politely greet all these people after the toughest night of his professional life. I know there’s a good side to Carmelo.
On a sidenote, it’s all about human growth. A couple of weeks ago, a kid probably around fourteen wearing a Boy Scout uniform came up to me and ask me if I wanted to buy some tickets to some deal for the Boy Scouts Jamboree which Trump spoke at last year in West Virginia.
He looked like Larry Mondello from Leave It To Beaver. He was a little chunky. Had his ball cap slanted and had chocolate smeared all over his face. I swear–a dead ringer for Larry Modello.
I looked at this kid and then asked, “Did you vote for Trump?”
And this little fucker looks at me and then says, “I’m not old enough mister, but he’s making America great again. Maybe our best president ever.”
Two months ago I would have made some comment about Marco Rubio’s dick or Russian hookers peeing on each other. But I looked at this kid and I actually kind of liked him. So I bought two tickets and walked off.
It’s all about being that adult in the room no doubt.
I didn’t cry, but a very real sense of sadness came over me as I watched what I assumed was Nick’s last exit interview as a Thunder player. Nick along with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook have been the cornerstones of what has personally been for me a lovely experience of NBA basketball in my hometown for this past decade.
Listening to Nick Collison talk NBA basketball always grounds me and brings me off my emotional cliffs I sometimes place myself on at times as a fan/rogue blogger. He grounds me because he’s smart and he knows what he’s talking about.
Nick has been my favorite Thunder player for the decade…period. This hurts, yet I’m glad Nick will now be able to spend more time with his daughter.
In the world of sports, I observe so much around me which makes me shake my head at times– but Nick is a refreshing throwback. A reminder of what things used to be like in our country as far as work ethic and pride of craft.
Nick will go down as one of my favorite all-time NBA players even though some might say his resume stat wise isn’t one which would justify that lofty of a perch from a person like me who’s been an avid NBA fan since say 1963… when I was then driving my parents crazy in our driveway pretending to be the next Billy Cunningham.
In my office/study, I have several photos of sports players who have my admiration for what they represented to me with their careers. In baseball, it’s Roberto Clemente from the Pittsburgh Pirates. In football, it’s Barry Sanders from the Detroit Lions. In hockey, I have two photos, Bobby Orr and Ray Bourque–both defensemen for the Boston Bruins. My basketball photos? It will be Maurice Cheeks from my beloved 1983 Philly 76’er team and Nick Collison from my beloved Oklahoma City Thunder team.
Nick Collison, thank you. Good luck with your life. I’ll be thinking of you as I write my little book.
I listened to this and of course as usual was disappointed with the local media’s inability to ask the one obvious question in regards to Carmelo’s role on this team moving forward.
The question would be simple, “Carmelo, in this recent series against Utah it was obvious Utah was specifically attacking you on the pick and roll as the entry point–from your viewpoint, at this stage in your career how do you justify a starter’s role from a defensive standpoint? How would you adjust to this next season given you weren’t able to this season?”
Not one Oklahoma writer asked this question. Not one. If you watched this series it was obvious Quin Snyder was using Donovan Mitchell off the pick and roll by specifically isolating Carmelo on an island of space.
Not one Oklahoma writer asked this question.
Otherwise, from a human standpoint, I thought it was revealing in how Carmelo Anthony still views himself as a basketball player who cannot come to terms with where his body is at after fifteen seasons of NBA play.
Actually– I thought it was sad. I hurt for him in him not being able to be an honest enough person within himself to come to terms with where he’s at in his basketball playing life. Bill Walton came to terms with it and won a second ring with the Celtics playing 19.3 minutes game. Why does Carmelo Anthony view himself above this? I don’t get it.
I don’t hate Carmelo at all. In fact, there’s something in him I find as likeable and very interesting. Maybe he’ll talk to me for my book. I can assure you he will find me much more compelling than Nick Gallo. He’s definitely someone I would enjoy talking to person to person. But, I mean, c’mon—this is what I constantly allude to when I talk about Billy Donovan’s coaching voice…as in, I haven’t observed one yet to date. TELL YOUR PLAYER WHAT HIS ROLE IS AND HOW YOU WANT IT DONE.
I only plan on watching one more Thunder exit interview from this season and that will be Nick Collison’s. Yeah, I’ll be crying. This will be emotional for me.
Of course, Carmelo Anthony started and on cue went a -19 in 25 minutes of play as the Thunder season which never really happened… came to a merciful end in Salt Lake City as the Jazz without starting point guard Rickey Rubio ended the Thunder’s Season From Hell tour with a series clinching win by a 96-91 count. I’m sure somewhere on Donovan’s Mitchell’s wish list is the thought Carmelo could be playing 25 plus minutes a game for the Houston Rockets in Round 2 of these NBA playoffs.
Paul George in what was probably his last game as a Thunder was horrific going 2-16 from the field and scoring less points (5) than turnovers committed (6).
It was a final fitting end to Sam Presti’s version of a Wal-Mart NBA Super Team.
The only hope for the Thunder moving forward is that after Paul George most probably leaves Oklahoma City to hook up with LeBron somewhere near a Pacific Ocean coastline… some other team in the NBA is dumb enough to take Carmelo Anthony.
Russell Westbrook scored 46 points on 43 shots in the loss. So… excuse me for being cynical, but I’m not really all that sure the Billy Donovan offense which was supposed to steer the Thunder away from hero ball ever came to ‘pass’ for the Thunder after the firing of Scott Brooks.
Steven Adams was excellent on Friday night and I hope I run into him again this off season at our favorite 7-11 store on Western Avenue in Oklahoma City.
You know who else was excellent on Friday night? Victor Oladipo in Indiana as his Pacer’s routed LeBron and have pushed the Cav’s to a Game 7 date in Cleveland in what could be LeBron’s last game as a Cavalier.
Moving forward in Oklahoma only two things seem somewhat certain in what should be a very tough off season for the Thunder. Those two things are that the Thunder are now really a franchise with only two players in Westbrook and Adams who have any top tier NBA value given Jerami Grant is a now a free agent and could end up in Indiana with his former Thunder buddies Victor Oladipo and Domas Sabonis.
Wouldn’t that be the fitting end to the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Season From Hell tour?
Maybe if the Thunder dismiss Billy Donovan as their head coach they could convince him to stay on as a player.
Maybe the new Thunder coach could convince Billy to come off the bench and do the right thing for the team.
If I were to fire Billy Donovan this would be the reason why– that being, his inability to deal with what Carmelo’s role on this team should have been way back in early December. With $134 million plus luxury tax on the table the Thunder are still fucking with this as tonight they enter Game 6 in Utah on the brink of elimination.
Are you kidding me?
This is why your coach has to have a strong coaching voice. It’s Rule No. 2 of Coaching. You coach thru your character, your personality, and your coaching voice. Not Sam Presti’s, not Troy Weaver’s, and not even ownership.
You coach thru your voice.
And that coaching voice has not been there this season for the Thunder.
You didn’t have to be John Wooden or Greg Popovich to see way back at the beginning of this team’s struggles the pieces weren’t fitting with Carmelo starting or his role as some sort of equal piece to Westbrook and Paul George.
Bring him off the bench or go with an extremely short leash if you start him, but for the love of God–do what good coaches do…namely, give your team the best chance possible to be successful.
Watching the way this team has been coached this season is almost as painful as watching the Oklahoma state legislature and Mary Fallin address education reform in Oklahoma.
Carmelo can still get 22 minutes and help the team, but it’s the way those 22 minutes are crafted into every unique game which the coach has to orchestrate.
Pray for Billy Donovan tonight. Pray for his coaching voice to be discovered. That’s what it’s come to for me with this team and coach…prayer.
Well, I was wrong, after the Boston Bruins scored four third period goals to rally against the upstart Toronto Maple Leafs, I went ahead and watched the second half of the Thunder game live and with the volume not muted of all things.
I know, what the fuck. Maybe it was the euphoria of those four Bruin goals which had me feeling giddy and somewhat above the doom of what has become this Thunder’s Season of Hell tour.
Ten seconds on Fox and I kid you not Brian Davis said something stupid, yet the volume stayed. I was in that good of a mood. My wife had to come in and tell me I was too loud for the neighborhood twice during that Bruin goal outburst. I was walking on sunshine, baby.
So I sit and watch as the Thunder fall 25 points behind the Utah Jazz with something like eight minutes or so left in the third period and wondering to myself which Thunder player will get ejected first as this season mercifully comes to an end.
But then the oddest thing happened…Russell Westbrook made two three point shots and Rudy Gobert got his fifth foul and had to leave the floor. Then Westbrook went from being Rickey Rubio’s bitch in this series to being Rickey Vaughn and fuck me if I didn’t see this with my very own two eyes this fucking team of dysfunction somehow followed Westbrook’s lead and rose from the ashes of death to somehow beat the Utah Jazz by a score of 107-99 inside of a Chesapeake Arena gathering of witnesses who like me–had to be in complete disbelief as to what they just witnessed.
I swear to God…my father in heaven said to me from aove,”This is really happening, Michael me boy.” It was this kind of ethereal out of body experience.
Russell Westbrook never left the floor the second half. Wild Thing played all 24 minutes and made my heart sing. It was like nothing I’ve ever seen before in sports. It was like watching Tin Cup hole that 235 yard 3-wood to make a 12 at the U.S. Open.
Russell Westbrook hit a fucking three wood over the water and it went into the hole for a 12. And here I sit as a grown man blogger feeling like the Thunder just won the NBA Championship even though the reality of Game 6 in Salt Lake with Mitt Romney trolling Russell isn’t beyond the realm.
If nothing else..in the spirit of Westbrook I’m going to drop more fucking F bombs on here today than ever before written anywhere on the Internet in the spirit of Russell Westbrook’s second half.
If ever 24 minutes of play symbolized why you cannot in your heart love Russell Westbrook even when you wanted to strangle him an hour earlier these were those 24 minutes.
This was our championship moment in Oklahoma City. Fuck Kevin Durant—who said you can’t win it all in Oklahoma City.
You know what else happened in that second half…Paul George ended up scoring 34 points of his own to go along with Wild Thing’s 45 points.
One other thing happened… amidst Billy Donovan being fired on Twitter when the Thunder were down by 25 points–Donovan and Mo Cheeks finally benched Carmelo Anthony long enough for the Thunder to get the lead and extend this series.
Note to Billy Donovan—you were fired last night on Twitter while the game was still going on. You have nothing to lose in Game 6. For the love of God as a coach please do the right thing with Carmelo Anthony’s minutes.
So, I guess I’ll torture myself and watch Game 6 with the sound on Fox.
Why the fuck not ’cause right now I’m walking on sunshine and even this Thunder team which can’t get eliminated like a normal group of humans is still alive in the NBA Playoffs.
In closing, I’ll tell you what—if these motherfuckers go to Salt Lake and win Game 6 I’ll be the first guy lined up against that chain link fence at Will Rogers Airport when their flight home lands.
Fuck it. This is for the Mitt Romney Northwest Division Trophy as far as I’m concerned.
My first Game 5 thought is that the Boston Bruins will be playing the Toronto Maple Leafs in a Game 7 in Boston while the Thunder are playing the Utah Jazz in Game 5 in Oklahoma City. Note to Clay Bennett and Sam Presti–I’ll be watching the hockey game live and watching the basketball game on the delayed Fox telecast later with the sound muted.
This will be the first time in the Thunder Era in Oklahoma City my schedule won’t be completely revolved around a Thunder playoff game. I’ll watch the rebroadcast with a detached sense of objectivity like someone watching the game from some other city.
How sad a basketball junkie like myself is writing something like this on his blog. It’s incredibly sad because I’m an immensely competitive person who has nothing left for this ‘team’ Sam Presti put together this season.
Quite frankly–I want it to be over. I want Utah to win the game and end the Oklahoma City season.
And know this–I fully realize this means the end of a magical run of NBA basketball in my hometown.
What I witnessed in Game 4 was a virtual disgrace. To me, it was the lowest moment in the history of the Thunder. Worse than the game against New Orleans which got PJ Carlesimo fired that first Thunder season. Even worse than the Game 6 loss to the Warriors which set the table for Durant’s exodus to Oakland.
This was Ground Zero for me. This was the bottom. It made me want to puke.
What we witnessed on Monday night in Salt Lake City made me sad and tugged at my heart because it’s apparent to me it’s time for Clay Bennett to make some very tough decisions about the future of pro basketball in Oklahoma City moving forward. Very tough decisions. Brutally tough.
I need more time before I write what I think those changes should be. Whether OKC wins tonight has nothing to do with those changes. I just need a few days to gather my thoughts and make sure I have it right in my head. To make sure I’m being fair to all parties involved.
But there is a flip side for me. My longtime team the Philly Sixers just completed the ‘Process’ and advanced to the second round of the Eastern Conference by winning its 56th game of the season. Their future burns hot orange bright with Ben Simmons and Joel Imbiid being the new ‘it’ guys in the NBA.
My favorite hockey team in the Western Conference–the young Colorado Avalanche competed in a glorious manner before losing to the Nashville Preds in six games. Colorado’s youthful team has a future which burns bright as well.
Then of course–there’s the Boston Bruins who go against a red hot goalie tonight in Frederick Anderson in a Game 7.
The fact a basketball fan like me will have his heart in Boston while an NBA team is playing an NBA playoff game twenty minutes from my front door says it all for me.
It says don’t insult my intelligence any longer this basketball season.
But I will watch the game on the rebroadcast and blog the closing chapters to what surely will be an ESPN 30/30 film and a book by someone on an intriguing ten years of pro basketball in Oklahoma City even if the ending isn’t the one I hoped for back when Durant, Harden, and Westbrook were college kids playing in the NBA.
Again, I don’t know exactly what to write. I do know this though, Clay Bennett has a great deal on his plate right now as far as the organization called the Oklahoma City Thunder.
This Game 4 was an embarrassment on multiple fronts not only for the organization, but for the city as well. This wasn’t the face city leaders of OKC had on their minds a decade ago when they brought a pro basketball club to Oklahoma City.
There’s really no point in critical plays being cited or stats being all that much needed or strategy being discussed on here today. This is simple, the Utah Jazz in every way imaginable is just outclassing the Oklahoma City Thunder not only on the floor, but on the bench, and in the GM’s office.
For the second season in a row the best team in the Northwest Division isn’t the Thunder, but the Utah Jazz and with this head to head series it’s an emphatic statement the Jazz are making.
The Thunder lost this game by a score of 113-96 in a game in which Russell Westbrook guaranteed a shutdown of Rickey Rubio and the Jazz. Sigh.
Here’s the thing with Rubio and this Jazz team, Rubio only averages 13 points a game so everybody already knew Game 3 for Rubio was an outlier. There was no need for all this drama. The need was for the Thunder moving the basketball and playing sound team defense.
OKC had 5 assists in the first period. For the entire game the Thunder had 10 assists. What this means is that in the final 36 minutes of play the Thunder had 5 assists as a team. Please explain to me how Oklahoma City’s offense has evolved since the firing of Scott Brooks? Please explain that one to me, Sam Presti.
There has been no transformation whatsoever in the Thunder offensive system in three years. None. There was for that brief period an offensive burst which led to the Thunder’s 3-1 series lead against the Warriors in the 2016 Western Conference Finals, but none ever since the epic collapse by the Thunder in that fateful series.
Since OKC held that 3-1 series lead, the Thunder have gone 2-10 in post season games and will be 0-3 in post season series. There is nothing here in data which would support the notion Billy Donovan knows what he’s doing with this Thunder basketball team.
But to Donovan’s defense there’s not all that much evidence Sam Presti knows what he’s doing as well as the Carmelo Anthony trade makes no sense whatsoever as the Thunder are now strapped to another season of Carmelo Anthony for $28 million dollars.
Please explain to me why Paul George is going to stay in Oklahoma City?
I’m sure Jerry West already has a page full of reasons why Paul George should leave Oklahoma City.
This is sad for me. This is emotional. I don’t get paid for blogging on the Thunder. It’s a passionate thing for me.
If Paul George leaves what you have in Oklahoma City is basically a replica of the Memphis Grizzlies with Westbrook and Steven Adams under contract as Memphis does with Mike Conley and Marc Gasol. Only the Thunder will have to absorb another year of the Carmelo Anthony deal.
So–if you fire Billy Donovan how is it any of this which I just listed gets fixed?
Here is one thing I do know though… the OKC Thunder will never win another Northwest Division championship until they get a coach who can get some semblance of order attached to Russell Westbrook’s basketball game.
Triple doubles are fun things to hunt down during the course of grueling 82 game schedules. But in order for the Thunder to be post season relevant either Russell Westbrook changes his game or the Thunder are going absolutely nowhere as a basketball organization which fancies itself as championship relevant.
Game 5 is in Oklahoma City on Wednesday night. Teams in the NBA which trail 3-1 in series win something like maybe 5% of the time.
It’s been an ugly season, yet expensive season of NBA basketball in Oklahoma City. Sam Presti put all his chips on the table with the trade of Oladipo and Sabonis to Indiana. It appears the Utah Jazz and the rest of the Western Conference remain unimpressed.
Clay Bennett has some serious things on his NBA plate to consider if Utah advances.