Nadar, Schroder Lead Thunder Past Pelicans, 109-104

With Hamidou Diallo down for 4-6 weeks with an injured elbow Billy Donovan has given those minutes of late to Abdel Nadar. After a nice a career high night in Portland scoring 23 points—Nadar had 19 impactful points off the bench to help lead the Thunder past the Zion-less and Lonzo-less Pelicans by a score of 109-104 Friday night inside the Peake.

Fellow bench mate Dennis Schroder added 25 points as the Thunder improved to 7-11 with their second win of the season versus the Pelicans.

Again…some nice luck for the Thunder as they’re catching New Orleans while they don’t have Zion Williamson available due to injury.

I wanted to post Nadar’s highlights because he’s a hard working kid who’s going out there and doing his best to carve out a niche for himself at the NBA level. I respect his work ethic and hope he continues to improve night in and night out as this very long season of tanking for a high lottery pick goes thru the winter into spring.

For the most part this season that’s what I’m hope to do on my blog in regards to the Thunder–look for those spots here and there which are positive or should be recognized. It’s not like I’m turning a Little Nick Gallo leaf or anything—it just makes no sense to get upset when the need is obvious. The Thunder need a high lottery pick and one who will develop as a star level player for Sam Presti and Clay Bennett down the road.

Next up…another matchup versus the Pelicans on Sunday afternoon in New Orleans.

Sam Presti’s Rebuild or Sustainability Presser?

Kevin Durant is in Brooklyn. James Harden and Russell Westbrook are in Houston. Paul George is in LA. Jerami Grant is in Denver. Victor Oladipo and Domas Sabonis are in Indianapolis.

Reset or rebuild?

Probably a good time for me to post this Sam Presti presser from this summer where of course the college market writers ask few if any difficult questions.

Carmelo Leads Portland Past Thunder, 136-119

It’s hard not to laugh out loud. Sam Anderson somewhere is laughing his ass off this morning and wishing this was another epilogue to his book Boom Town.

The Oklahoma City Thunder did two things on Wednesday night in Portland which they could never do the entire season Carmelo played for Billy Donovan. Two things. In 28 minutes of playing time Carmelo was 9-11 from the field and a +27 for Terry Stotts… +27

It’s making me laugh thinking of the part in Anderson’s book where the Oklahoma City leaders volunteered the citizens of OKC to be lab mice for the testing of sonic booms upon humans in an urban setting. Operation Bongo is what I think they called the sonic boom experiment.

Carmelo schooling the Thunder makes me laugh. Operation Bongo II and with a MAPS IV vote on the slate in a week or so.

Here’s the reality. If you take away the three wins versus Golden State’s current G League squad playing up with the big boys—what we have is an OKC Thunder team which is 3-11 otherwise.

3-11.

If you scratch Golden State’s G League team from the West and shrink the Western Conference to fourteen teams–it would appear OKC and Memphis perhaps might be headed towards a battle for the No. 13 seed in the West.

Which is a nice thing because I’m going to the December 26th game in OKC to see Ja Morant in person when the Memphis Grizzlies visit Oklahoma City.

I don’t think OKC gets to play the Warriors again this season. So the question which begs to be asked is how many games can this squad STILL WITH Chris Paul and Big Gallo win out of the remaining 65 games left on the schedule?

Who else can this team beat on the road in the West?

I don’t know. But I think what I need to do is go back to the 23-59 season and see how many road games that team won in Oklahoma City’s first season of having their own NBA team.

It doesn’t matter. But I’m just curious here in Deer Creek on Thanksgiving morning as Pauli and I are getting ready to go into the woods looking for her mountain lion.

A sense of humor and irony will be needed to get thru this first year of the Presti Rebuild as we all search for NBA sustainability in Oklahoma City.


Sam Presti Without Kevin Durant Karaoke

This is the karaoke video I want for my Sam Presti karaoke sessions as we go thru this season of tanking. I’d like to know if this was in the original plan of sustainability?

Three years minimum just to be a contender for the No. 8 seed. The notion of being a championship contender isn’t even on the radar. How long did it take the Lakers to get back?

Don’t scoff you Durant haters. Kevin Durant was the franchise in Oklahoma City and it’s debatable now if he’d even come back to get his jersey retired here given the way he’s been treated by the Trump racists.

I love this video. Just love it.

My favorite Dylan song by a mile.

Thunder Foolishly Rally to Garner Road Win Versus Warriors, 100-97

Even when they’re both tanking…Bob Myers gets the best of Sam Presti. I couldn’t even watch this bullshit as it unfolded in front of me. The Thunder played their tanking roll to perfection for most of this game as they trailed the G League eight man version of the Thunder for most of the night.

Then… the Thunder inexplicably rallied at the end to lose their loss and absorb a win in their quest for the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.

If you love professional wrestling—this is your season as an OKC Thunder fan.

The Thunder get their first road win and now stand 1-6 on the road. Consider this though—take away the three wins from this Walking Dead version of the Warriors and the Thunder are right there as the NBA’s worst team with a 2-11 mark in the quest for the first pick in this summer’s NBA draft,

Who would have thought this time last season we would see Sam Presti and Bob Myers at this point with their respective franchises this quickly?

Golden State was literally decimated by injuries and had no choice while the Thunder had to cut ties with Russell Westbrook’s contract for obvious reasons.

But the fall to this extent this fast is stunning to witness even when you know the teams are tanking.

But the Warriors have three rings, while the Thunder have the dubious distinction of being the NBA franchise which had Kevin Durant for nine years and didn’t win anything.

The Warriors with Steph, Klay, Draymond, Looney, whoever they get for D’Angelo Russell, and whoever their No. 1 pick is this summer will be back next season.

And as it turns out not a bad year for the Warriors to be in rebuild in San Francisco as the 49’ers appear to be headed for a run at making the Super Bowl if they can get by the Seahawks and the Saints.

With the Thunder though it will be a much longer rebuild if ever depending on how much luck Sam Presti has with his draft picks. But it will be a glorious ESPN 30/30 film. No rings, but an epic 30/30 film.

So on a night when the Thunder should have lost to the Warriors they screwed around and won…which is a loss.

Sam Presti needs some theme music for tanking. This seems about right.

Bedlam Week in Oklahoma

It should be an interesting game in Stillwater on Saturday night as OU visits O State in what is a must game for OU if they hope to slip thru the back door into the college football playoff final four.

The Sooners enter as No. 7 and the Cowboys at No. 21 and on a nice little run with their defense playing much better as of late.

Both teams have a Heisman candidate. OU with Jalen Hurts and O State with Canadian running back Chuba Hubbard. There’s a genuine argument for both being the Big 12 Player of the Year.

Both defenses of late have been making plays which is nice to see for college football fans in this state.

OU’s defense in reality has made season saving plays three weeks in a row when you think about it: 1 The stop on the two point conversion versus Iowa State. 2 The Nick Bonito interception to clinch the win at Baylor. 3 The late pick by Bookie Radley-Hiles to get the clinching stop against TCU. It’s been Alex Grinch’s young guys saving the season week by week with a heavy does of Jalen Hurts usage to keep them off the field as much as possible.

To me…this is very encouraging for the future of the OU defense. Caleb Kelly is back for the remainder of this season and next. Tre Norwood will be back in the defensive backfield after an injury redshirt season. Jon Michael-Terry will be back from injury as well. But most of all OU will return a plethora of young players on the defensive side of the ball who have seen meaningful minutes.

Kenneth Murray will be gone next season, but look for a guy like Ronnie Perkins to step up and become a star. Perkins to me is a key for OU moving forward on this side of the ball. I think as he goes on the pass rush—OU will go the remainder of this season and next.

For O State both wide receiver Tylan Wallace and Spencer Sanders are done with season ending injuries. Dru Brown the graduate transfer from Hawaii has the opportunity of a lifetime to become a rock star for life in Stillwater if he can lead the Cowboys to an upset.

Mike Gundy has calmed down these past few weeks. The press conferences seem less manic with no further talk of double doses of Ambien to get thru the nights. Simple. His team is playing hard for him and doing their best given the hand dealt.

It could be a classic Bedlam or it could much of the same as O State hasn’t won in Stillwater since Weeden’s championship season in 2011.

The games have all been close of late and OU hasn’t blown anyone out since the home win over West Virginia.

Vegas has OU as a 10.5 favorite, but history would tell you to take the points since OU hasn’t covered since the West Virginia game.

OU needs some help even if they win Bedlam. They may need an Auburn win over Alabama, and they definitely need LSU to beat Georgia in the SEC Championship Game.

Mike Gundy needs a Bedlam win…period.

It should be a great week-end of college football.

Lakers Drop Thunder to 5-10 Inside the Peake, 130-127

Another entertaining loss as the Thunder clearly showed why they lead the entire NBA in this category with a 130-127 home loss to the LA Lakers.

I’m guessing this was one of the better home games as far as attendance and if you looked around the arena there was quite a bit of bright gold Lakers tops amidst Thunder blue.

Less than a decade ago the Thunder were becoming America’s Team with a core of Durant, Harden, and Westbrook. But now with LeBron and Anthony Davis the Lakers appear to be headed to greatness once again as long as LeBron stays healthy.

If you watched the Houston vs. LA Clipper game last night you not only cursed the Harden trade to Houston, but at this point you have to question Sam Presti not keeping Durant and Harden together following the 2012 Finals appearance versus the Heat.

But that’s another level of hindsight and not completely fair on my part because Harden was horrible in those Finals against Miami.

You have to look at this with some reality attached….WITH CHRIS PAUL AND DANILO GALLANARI the Thunder are 5-10 overall, 0-6 on the road, and have won only one game to date against a playoff team with a winning record (Philly).

If you’re a sunshine pumper…you might want to think what these first fifteen games would have looked like without Chris Paul and Gallinari.

This isn’t a horrible roster one thru ten, but to me what it illustrates is how much of a beast the Western Conference is this season. Imagine what it would be like if Golden State and Portland hadn’t imploded with injuries.

Or throw in the fact the Thunder had the fortune of playing the Pelicans without Zion. The basketball gods have actually been kind to the Thunder so far in this regard.

You’re not going to read me on here bitching or whining though because Presti had no choice. Paul George knew he wasn’t winning anything in Oklahoma City with Russell Westbrook, and Sam Presti knew he wasn’t winning anything without Kevin Durant or Paul George attached to Russell Westbrook.

The Thunder are tanking in order to get a lottery pick with their own pick. They get another first in this draft for trading Jerami Grant and it remains to be been what they’ll get for Gallinari. I have no idea who would want Chris Paul’s contract, but we’ll see.

The Thunder won 23 games their first season in Oklahoma City—so to me that’s the line of demarcation as this Thunder season moves along and less talent remains on the roster as the season moves along.

You would think the core coming out of this season will be SGA, Ferguson, Bazley, Diallo, and perhaps Noel. Presti has quite few buttons to push and it will be more entertaining to witness the rebuild than the basketball itself at times.

There’s no real sense in bitching about how Billy Donovan handled the last 11.8 seconds last night when the Thunder were down by three with a chance to send the game into overtime.

Because as much as it hurts to admit….this Thunder season becomes better the more the Thunder lose.

Next up the Warriors in their new San Francisco arena. This is a game where something has to give as either Golden State wins a game or if the Thunder can win their first road game of the season.

The good news is there are several great Western Conference matchups almost every night if you were a serious NBA fan before Clay Bennett moved the Sonics to Oklahoma City.

Gordon Sondland Tells His Story

In places like New York and San Francisco this will matter. In places like Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Alabama it won’t matter.

Such is the state of our Union and the New Confederacy.

The Fox zombies will roll their eyes in reference to Sondland’s testimony. Union members where math, science, and some semblance of history still matters will regard this as a historical moment we’ll never forget.

I don’t think so.

Because I honestly believe at this point Donald Trump could rape daughter Ivanka and slit her throat on a live Hannity telecast and Trump supporters would maintain it was Obama wearing a Trump disguise. Roger Ailes of Fox founding fame must be proud looking down from Fox heaven at what he created.’

What Ailes created in 1996 is a cable news network which exhibits little shame in pandering horseshit nonsense which a certain segment of white Americans accept as the truth.

So do I think this was that moment in Watergate where the lapse on Rosemary Woods’ tapes did Richard Nixon in?

I do not because from then to now the percentage of Americans who trust their government has dwindled from 71% to 17%. Who do I cite for this stat? Jon Meacham.

Let me give you another prescient stat from a somewhat obscure historian from Norman, Oklahoma named Roger Bishop.

He shared this thought with me this past Sunday over lunch in the heart of Trump Country…. in Seminole, Oklahoma.

What Professor Bishop said to me was this, ” Mike, in all reality—we should have just pretended we lost the Civil War in the 1860’s and perhaps if these dumbasses thought they were the victors it might have turned out differently for the country as a whole.”

So in reality — depending if you live in the Union or in the New Confederacy you probably have a much different take on Sondland’s testimony at the Trump impeachment hearings.