Author: Mike

I don’t know what to think about these guys.

Billy Donovan seems clueless. What in he world was he thinking in playing rookie Terrance Ferguson just under twenty minutes in Orlando? Not exactly the time to get a shaky rookie developmental minutes. That’s why they have the G League. The Thunder as a team had three assists in the entire second half against an Orlando team which had lost nine straight before playing the Thunder. From a coaching standpoint, it was such an act of overt coaching malpractice it made Scott Brooks look like Red Auerbach. Note to Antonio Daniels…you can use that on the show if you want. No prob.

Russell Westbrook looks like he has an acute ‘chasing Oscar Robertson hangover’. He’s not himself. Russell had an incredible year. He beat Oscar. He won the regular season MVP. He and his wife had a son. He then signed the richest deal in NBA history. But more than anything, he got to laugh at Kevin Durant when Peyton Manning dissed Cupcake.

Then Sam Presti brought Paul George and Carmelo Anthony on board to level the playing field. Both arrived at the OKC airport as if they’d done something heroically courageous in Desert Storm or something.

Through 20 games the Thunder are 8-12 and would miss the playoffs if the season were over today. The team is 2-9 on the road and losers of seven straight away from home. It’s more damning if you look closer, the Thunder are 3-9 versus Western Conference teams with the wins coming against Dallas, the Clippers, and the Warriors. So, basically what that means is one fourth of the way through the season and this team of stars with four players making in excess of $20 million has won one game against a Western Conference team which is going to make the playoffs. One game. Go figure that win came against the Warriors.

So that either tells one of several things…1 Sam Presti made a chain of disastrous decisions this summer, 2 Billy Donovan should still be coaching college basketball, 3 Paul George isn’t really as good as people thought with his pro career being in the soft East before this season, 4 Carmelo Anthony shouldn’t be considerer an All-Star caliber player any longer, or 5 Russell Westbrook is struggling and needs to refocus his game.

Would I fire Billy Donovan? No…because it serves no purpose at this juncture of the season. Would I retain Billy Donovan at the end of this season…let’s see how it goes till the trade deadline.

What needs to happen?

Russell Westbrook has to lead like the reigning NBA MVP instead of loafing during segments of games.

Paul George needs to prove to me he’s a real star who can play at a high level against Western Conference competition night in and night out.

Carmelo Anthony needs to be a more efficient scorer with his touches in what should be a role where he’s an offensive oriented power forward. I mean right now, to be honest you, I think the Thunder would have been better off keeping Enes Kanter in that both players struggle on the defensive end.

Steven Adams needs to play like a guy who’s being paid $25 million.

Actually, I’m okay with Andre Roberson, Jerami Grant, and Ray Felton. They’ve been fine for the most part.

Alex Abrines and Patrick Patterson have been acute disappointments. Rookie Terrance Ferguson isn’t ready yet. Josh Huestis and Dakari Johnson have done some decent things in minor roles.

But we know who the top seven dudes on this team are…Westbrook, George, Adams, Anthony, Roberson, Grant, and Felton. A good NBA coach should be able to make something out a team with those seven guys being the top seven. I’m not talking about winning a championship, but I’m talking about at least finishing in the top six of the West.

In the month of December, OKC plays 17 games of which 11 are at home where the Thunder are 6-3. The January schedule is friendly as well. This is very simple–like I’ve said this is a star driven league, not a coach driven league for the most part. Billy Donovan is a prime example in that he seems reluctant to ever say a tough love word. So knowing this, it seems clear to me Russell Westbrook and Paul George as professionals have to take ownership of this basketball season in Oklahoma City.

Tonight would be a nice place to start.

The lone bright spot to date in this wretched Thunder season has been Antonio Daniels on the Fox regional telecasts. I love him. The rest of the telecasts are total shit with the Nitwit Twins doing the play by play and color, but Antonio Daniels has been the voice of blue collar fans like myself who are tired of this shit ass effort by Sam Presti’s poser Super Team twenty games in.

Daniels along with Leslie McCaslin’s provocative Lotus Woman dresses have been the only reasons I can stay awake to the conclusion of these games.

I’ve never booed the Thunder. I’m not a booer. But I have lower level tickets for some games in December and these motherfuckers better pull their heads out of their asses or I might be setting a precedent or something.

Fox needs to remove Michael Cage from the booth. I can’t imagine even eighty-year old women buying into his homer bullshit much longer. Put Antonio Daniels in the booth with Sparky Davis and give the Thunder fans what they need right now…namely a voice.

Antonio… I love you, bruh.

Again, for the most part the NBA is a star/agent driven league. Stars and their agents drive this league. Sure, there’s Pop, there’s Steve Kerr, and there’s Brad Stevens. But for the most part, the other coaches in this league don’t drive the bus.

I started with this paragraph only because it’s the only reason I wouldn’t fire Billy Donovan on the flight home from Orlando to Oklahoma City.

You could fire Billy Donovan right now. You could do it, but it wouldn’t make any difference regardless of what you think of Billy Donovan as an NBA coach.

The three guys who should be driving this team…aren’t. Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony must have thought this was going to be a cakewalk of a season. They must have thought they could just flip a switch and become a Super Team whenever they felt the need. There have been several flashes of genius, but for the most part it’s been twenty games of heartless, walking through the motions basketball.

For the first time in the Thunder Era in Oklahoma City, I wanted to boo the Thunder. This team was boo-able in Orlando on Wednesday night. I came within an inch of booing them, but then thought to myself it’s not worth it—they apparently don’t care. The diva lab Pauli, with her head on my thigh, looked deeply into my eyes as if saying, “Don’t do it, Mike. They’re not coachable. Don’t let them drag you down like this. Don’t let them define you.”

This wasn’t the second night of a road back to back. This Thunder team hadn’t played a game since their equally embarrassing performance in Dallas on Saturday night.

Orlando entered this game on a nine game losing streak and arguably as bad of an NBA team as the Dallas Mavericks. But none of that mattered as the Thunder stunk it up in every way imaginable in losing 121-108.

Aaron Gordon had 40 points and 15 rebounds. You would have thought he was Karl Malone playing against this feeble excuse of a Thunder basketball team.

I’m not letting Russell Westbrook off the hook for those last six minutes of the fourth period when he scored 20 of his 37 points on the night.

This is Russell Westbrook’s team. This is his deal. But if he doesn’t play hard for 48 minutes then why should anyone else.

After the game, Westbrook slumped in a chair and appeared to be near tears. Distraught with the turn of events. Then my eyes followed Paul George where he was laughing with and hugging DJ Augustin. Billy Donovan in his post presser said he found it unfortunate his team didn’t share the same vision of the team as he did.

Really?

Are you fucking kidding me?

There is no leadership on this basketball team at the present. Not from the reigning MVP. Not from the coach. Not from the big free agent pick up this past summer.

And when you don’t have ‘real’ leadership… you have the ugly piece of junk which we’re currently witnessing in Oklahoma City.

Minnesota Timberwolves in Oklahoma City on Friday night.

Let’s do the score first. OKC’s reeling Thunder dropped to 8-11 on Saturday night by losing to the now 5-15 Dallas Mavericks. The final score read 97-81 and this loss might be especially revealing in that these Mavs without any rim protection just basically throttled the Thunder. This wasn’t a case of OKC choking on another second half lead, this was more of a case of the anemic Mavs outclassing OKC for most of the game.

I’m not stunned by the loss, but somewhat surprised by the margin. Sure, it was the second night of a road back to back as Brian Davis and Michael Cage chirped throughout the Fox telecast, but this was a Mavs team without rim protection. And, yet, OKC for some reason was outscored 36-24 in the paint and I’m to assume Coach Billy Donovan never came up with the thought maybe the Thunder should attack the rim at some point in the game. Maybe Donovan and staff figured Salah Mejri protecting the rim was just too much to encounter or that Dwight Powell and Dennis Rodman will at some point be mentioned in the same breaths.

Of the Thunder’s losses, this is by far the worst because OKC wasn’t really in this game and never gave the impression they were going to win this game.

The fork in the road post the victory over the Warriors has happened for sure, but not in the direction Thunder Nation had assumed it would take. OKC is in a fork headed south which is stunning considering all the potential with this roster.

Is Billy Donovan in over his head or is this group of players just uncoachable as a whole?

I don’t know. But for some reason with Salah Merji and Dwight Powell serving as Maverick rim protectors the Thunder decided to jack 35 three point attempts of which 13 were made.

Russell Westbrook scored 28 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, and had nine assists. Paul George had a brutal shooting game going 1-11 and finished with 2 points. Carmelo was blah scoring 15 points. Steven Adams, who’s getting paid $25 million this year attempted 8 shots. I guess OKC just figured Salah Merji and Dwight Powell were too much.

As a team, the Thunder shot 36%. Got outscored 36-24 in the paint. Had 24 assists vs. 17 turnovers-which isn’t horrible. Got outrebounded by a team with Dirk as its starting center by a 43-39 margin and made the Thunder look to be in tanking mode versus a franchise which plunged deep into the luxury tax this season. I told you Rick Carlisle is a smart coach.

I have no idea whatsoever what to write about these guys presently. I’ve tried Al Pacino pleading for scratching, bleeding and clawing. I’ve tried poetic narration by Robert Redford on the parallels between life and trout fishing. I thought the fishing parable might motivate Paul George, instead he’s stunk since the Warriors win. Go figure.

Is this the bottom of the abyss or does it get worse? Can it get worse? Will it get worse before the Thunder as a unit opt for a Twelve Step Recovery strategy? Fortunately, for me, the Sooners are streaking at 11-1 heading into the Big 12 Championship Game. My favorite team in the East—the Sixers are a compelling young team to watch. I need these things right now to divert my glare from the Thunder play.

So…let’s hope this ‘performance’ was rock bottom. Let’s hope the players body language doesn’t go completely south. Let’s hope Billy Donovan can get a grip on some of this and present a coaching voice the team will listen to. Hope, hope, hope — that’s pretty much what I’m clinging to right now…the hope this Super Team doesn’t completely meltdown between now and Christmas.

OKC in Orlando on Wednesday. The Thunder are now 2-8 on the road and this team needs a win in the worst way.

It’s all about hope heading into Orlando.

Evidently this Thunder team doesn’t have meaningful film sessions with their team like our hockey teams used to have. When you sit down as a team it’s all there for you to see. OKC leads the NBA in the fewest passes made. Granted, some of that is due to the amount of rebounds Westbrook grabs, but until this team learnes to pass the ball for 48 minutes they’re going nowhere.

Basketball, like hockey is a game of movement, weaves, poetry in motion and should look like a tapestry of sort. One or two guys holding the ball is not a tapestry of movement–more it’s a sign of team with no winning soul.

Take a look. It won’t kill you. It’s not against the rules. The basketball shouldn’t just be your friend, it should be all five guys’ friend. Pass the ball.

Ostensibly, the reason Scott Brooks was fired and replaced by Billy Donovan was Sam Presti wanted an offensive system installed which got away from Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook playing two against five in the offensive zone. Some called it Hero Ball. And in the end, it was Hero Ball which doomed the Thunder in the Western Conference Finals as Hero Ball reared its ugly head as the Thunder choked on a 3-1 series lead against the Warriors with Durant and Westbrook forgetting what got them the 3-1 series lead.

Some bad habits die hard and the Thunder for the eighth time this young basketball couldn’t hold on to a double digit second half lead in blowing a 15 point third quarter lead to the Detroit Pistons in a 99-98 home loss.

So…gone for the moment is the notion the Warriors win would be followed by a performance which would indicate a bridge had been crossed. I watched part of Billy Donovan’s post game presser and puked. He was okay with the shot selection, the offense, and pretty much seemed unfazed. He also didn’t seem to like my suggestion of Raymond Felton playing alongside Russell Westbrook some more to improve the decision making in the last six minutes of the fourth period.

Here’s the offense Billy Donovan was okay with. It was an offense which generated 98 shots and 22 assists. Of those 98 shots, 32 of these shots were three point attempts of which the Thunder made eight on the night.

Let’s delve a bit deeper. Of those 98 shots, 70 were collectively taken by Westbrook, Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony. Anotherwords, of 98 shots taken by the Thunder, only 28 were taken from players not in the Big Three Club. MOre revealing…of OKC’s last 50 shots attempted, 41 came from the Big Three Club.

Russell Westbrook was brilliant on Wednesday night, he wasn’t brilliant tonight against the Pistons. Westbrook alone took 29 shots and made 10. From beyond the arc he was 1 for 10 and took one three too many as with five seconds left and down by one, he heaved a tough deep three when he could have gotten much closer to the rim for the game winning attempt. Billy Donovan thought it was good shot. I beg to differ.

So…here the Thunder are back exactly where they were two nights ago when they were two games under .500 and apparently not any smarter, not any more poised in holding second half leads, and firmly embracing a new form of Hero Ball which is 3 vs. 5 instead of the 2 vs. 5 template which got Scott Brooks canned.

Until this Oklahoma City team learns that they have to move the ball for 48 minutes, they’re not going anywhere in April but home early. Teams which don’t pass the ball are like dogs that play in the street, namely–you don’t see them around very long. I heard a Putnam City high school coach say that once, but it sounds more like something Abe Lemons might have said during his OCU hay days.

So…here the Thunder are at 8-10 headed to Dallas tomorrow to play against Rick Carlisle’s rebuilding Dallas Mavs. Carlisle is a good basketball coach. A smart dude. His 2011 Dallas team won the NBA championship with a roster less talented than the one Billy Donovan is trying to coach currently. Even with the Mavs struggling, what you’ll see tomorrow night is the young Mavs moving the ball. This is not a complex concept. Same thing in hockey, you move the puck. Touch, touch, touch…finish.

Tomorrow morning when I read the usual OKC media suspects give their respective takes on the Thunder’s woes–it’s fairly simple move–the ball and play 5 on 5 basketball.

Again, note to Russell Westbrook…even Kobe trusted Big Shot Bob Horry. Bad Little Dude until you learn this you’re not winning anything from a team standpoint. I love your heart, but……

Thunder in Dallas tomorrow night. On the road this season the Thunder are 2-7.

Big Shot Bob Horry–even Kobe trusted him. Please watch and take note, Russell. I’m assuming Presti wanted Carmelo to be your Big Shot Bob. Deferring here and there is not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of being a championship player.

Who should take the last shot?

So…I’m well fed and suntanned from a restful Thanksgiving. Don’t remember all that many Thanksgivings when I was wearing shorts and bass fishing before dinner, but yesterday was one of those. Call me sometime, Paul George. Joe Carter Sr. was formative in my passion of fishing and I know some spots, PG. When I read Paul George is an avid fisherman he catapulted to my third favorite Thunder player. I love that he’s doing charity events for kids thru instilling the passion of fishing with the youngsters. Young men and some older need mentoring, maybe he could sponsor Trump as an enrollee in his program.

Enough of that, and just so you know I kept my mouth shut during Thanksgiving dinner and didn’t offend one Trump voter in the room. I’m not losing any loved family members or inner circle friends over this piece of shit douchebag…not happening. He’s not worth it. I hope others at other dinner tables throughout America showed similar restraint. Love is patience. That’s in Corinthians, right?

So…as I write the Thunder are 8-9 and the No. 8 seed in the West. I’ve said this from the get go that the Thunder’s record these first twenty games isn’t uber critical, but starting tonight at home versus Reggie Jackson and his Pistons it’s time for the Thunder to get on a roll. Namely, it’s time to start winning basketball games. Enough of the process, go get on a roll and win eight of the next ten is what I’m hoping for from these guys. The schedule is set for a run after a win over the Warriors.

I think OKC needs to at the least get a second or third seed in the West if they want to make a serious post season run…so it’s time. You can experience a process and still win games. No more excuses.

From what I see as I write this morning and to date from what I’ve seen in the West…I still believe OKC has either the second or third best roster in the West. Roster wise..I’d go 1 Golden State, 2 OKC, 3 Houston, 4 San Antonio, 5 Minnesota, 6 Portland, 7 Denver, 8 New Orleans. The West is improved, but overall it’s not improved to the point where this Thunder team can’t make a climb.

If you were putting a West All-Star team together with twelve members, the Thunder would have three players on the squad. And to date, I’ve liked what I’ve seen from Steven Adams, Jerami Grant, Andre Roberson, and Ray Felton. OKC’s first seven players are solid, but Billy Donovan needs to get more from Patrick Patterson, Alex Abrines, and Josh Huestis. Those three need to start pulling their collective link on the chain every night.

So, actually I feel pretty good right now, especially seeing OKC dominant versus Boston and Golden State in six of the eight quarters played against these two teams.

OKC needs to start winning close games and I’d suggest to Billy Donovan that whenever he can it might not be a bad idea to pair Westbrook and Felton together if for no other reason than to settle Russell down during bumpy moments.

But I’m not the overthink type, just find gritty ways to win…because it’s time to win.

Find your inner balance, boys. No more Pacino speeches,let’s go–winning is fun.

It was only one in eighty-two games, but the Thunder finally rung the bell last night. The key now being to keep ringing the bell all the way into April and beyond. We’ll see. For but for today, it’s Thanksgiving and I’m still celebrating till about six tonight then it’s Reggie Jackson and the Detroit Pistons on my mind. But you should always savor a big win with a cigar and a song. Winning is fun. Make sure and have fun along the journey.

Keep ringing that bell, Thunder, ring the bell.

Happy Thanksgiving!

My three favorite coaches in the league are Pop, Steve Kerr, and Brad Stevens. It wood be so cool to have the opportunity to talk to any of the three for an extended period of time on the world, not so much the basketball world, but the human world we now live in day in and day out. To me, the great coaches always keep their ‘coaching voice’ interesting. Phil Jackson used to hand out each player a book to read and then they’d talk about the book. I wonder what books Phil gave to Steve Kerr when he played for him? Pop is the same way. He’d rather talk about Trump than a pick and roll play. Kerr is the same way. So is Brad Stevens. They connect with their players–which needs to be part of the job description when you play 82 games and familiarity can drag on season long relationships. Some nights you’re gonna suck out of 82 nights.. the key being to limit those nights.

I love Kerr. His take on the game, “The millennials couldn’t lock it in tonight.” Priceless.

Steve Kerr on 1997 championship winning shot.

So…I guess losing and pissing away games against inferior teams finally got old. Let’s be clear, OKC still didn’t play 48 minutes up to their full potential, but this is a start and something to build upon. I didn’t like the five minutes in the fourth period when Russell took his last shift of the game, but otherwise it was around 43 minutes of enough good basketball to make the Golden State Warriors look anything close to a lock to win the NBA championship.

OKC led from wire to wire and fed a frenzied Chesapeake Energy Arena crowd like this was Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals in a lopsided 108-91 standing eight count TKO in which Steve Kerr waved the flag and benched his starters early.

Note to Kevin Durant: it’s okay to tell everyone you were texting Draymond Green this morning— he’s on your team now. Maybe this will be a game changer for you and you’ll be texting Paul George now and see if you can be on his team next season. Just so you know…that’s how fucking weak you looked in going from the Thunder to the Warriors after blowing the 3-1 series lead.

Where to start?

How about with the league’s reigning MVP who was brilliant, simply brilliant. In 36 minutes of play Russell Westbrook in essence triple doubled with 34 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists and was a +17. Westbrook set the tone, established the flow, and worked the crowd into a frenzy. MVPs rained down from all points in the arena as Westbrook took center stage and delivered the goods to rout the Warriors for the Thunder’s first win against the Durant version of Golden State.

As was the case last season when the Warriors swept the Thunder all four games by double digits—there was some wolfing between Westbrook and Durant. The difference tonight was on this night Westbrook didn’t have a rookie scale team surrounding him. Instead, he had two other future Hall of Famers in Paul George and Carmelo Anthony who stepped up with 20 and 22 points respectively. Collectively, the Big Three scored 76 points, but more importantly, for the first time this season all played well at the same time.

Steven Adams was easily the best big on the court in this game and double doubled with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Adams could have had an even bigger night if he’d finished on two dunks, but it’s not like I should be bitching on a night when the Thunder made Draymond Green and Klay Thompson look like the Cupcake Twins…or Lollipop Twins, or whatever. Weakest game I’ve ever seen Klay Thompson play in the Peake, but again…OKC’s perimeter defense was stellar.

I thought OKC’s defense was excellent tonight. This is an OKC team with enormous defensive potential with guys like Paul George, Andre Roberson, and Jerami Grant. Name another team with three wing defenders like this. I challenge you, name another team. You might say Golden State with Thompson, Green and Durant, but the Thunder showed tonight what they can do defensively when they want to show up.

My key stat of the game was OKC scoring 34 points on 15 steals and getting their transition going early and keeping it going throughout the game. Another key stat was OKC pounded the Warriors 50-39 on the boards. And if you want another key stat…the Warriors didn’t live on the free throw line.

Random Observation: Draymond Green didn’t kick Steven Adams in the crotch tonight. Is that a trend to victory for the Thunder?

Not all that much from the bench tonight, Ray Felton was solid and his minutes gave Westbrook a chance to get some air while the lead was kept intact. Jerami Grant provided some key defensive energy early, but never got going offensively.

Abrines, Patterson, and Huestis played, but didn’t do much except absorb some minutes to rest the starters.

So… is this that fork in the road game we’ve been waiting for? Is this that moment Westbrook, George and Anthony huddled up and said enough of this bullshit…we’re so much better than this?

I don’t know, but what we all know after seeing OKC seriously outplay Boston and Golden State for six out of eight periods is that this team has the potential to be as good as they want to be if they show up to play.

For the first time this season, I’m heading out to the back porch in Deer Creek to smoke a victory cigar, so for me at least–I feel like a bridge was crossed tonight.

Here’s Cox sideline reporter Leslie M in her black S&M outfit interviewing Paul George postgame. Brian Davis needs to buy her a whip. I’m liking the look. It’s much more provocative than Jenni Carlson on Thunder Buddies.