Mayor David Holt on Pandemic Stimulus Relief in Oklahoma City

I actually sat next to David Holt a couple of years ago on a Sunday evening flight from Denver to Oklahoma City. I have no idea why David Holt was in Denver, but I was there with my son Chris to watch the Colorado Rockies beat Bryce Harper’s Washington Nationals 14-1 on the last day of the baseball season to forge a tie with the Los Angeles Dodgers for first place in their divsion.

Bryce Harper hit two towering doubles and my favorite MLB player Nolan Arenado hit two massive homers over the left field fence in Coors Field. It was a great day.

They actually sing Rocky Mountain High during the seventh inning stretch at Coors field. Nolan Arenado..btw was just recntly traded to the St. Louis Cardinals which will be one of the major storylines this baseball season.

David Holt and I had a brief conversation about the Sam Anderson book Boom Town and he seemed like a nice young man who as a Republican was the Chairman of Little Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign in Oklahoma circa 2016.

So here’s David Holt on MSNBC with Chris Hayes discussing the financial ramifications of Oklahoma’s two senators of course giving the automatic thimbs down to the Biden pandemic stimulus relief package.

2021 CPAC Highlight Reel

(1) CPAC 2021 Highlights: Ted Cruz, Don Jr, Donald Trump & More! – YouTube

Who would have ever guessed the party of Lincoln and TR would someday become the party of Christian evangelicals, white hate supremacy groups and domestic terrorists.

Cade Cunningham Makes His Case in 94-90 Bedlam Win

Wow. Just wow.

Even though I bleed Crimson…there was a part of me which knew this was coming after watching every one of Cade’s games this season. You knew at some point Mike Boynton and his staff would turn Cade loose for forty, or in this case forty-five minutes and the college basketball world would see what this kid is about.

Cade’s line speaks for itself…40 points on a Durant efficency-like 12-21 shooting game. 11 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks and just a truckload of leadership and poise as he steered his young teammates to their biggest win of the season.

I’ve seen Danny Manning in Lloyd Noble. I saw Kevin Durant. And today while I’m still breathing I saw Cade Cunningham…and again…wow.

OU has been a solid defensive team this season and they had no answer for Cade…as in none. And Elijah Harkless is a defensive stud–keep that thought in mind.

It’s a shame the Thunder have screwed around and won too many games to be in the Cade Cunningham sweepstakes, but whover get this kid is perhaps drafting the next generational player in the NBA.

Late in the game…did you see him cheating on defense to bascially become a rim protector every time Austin Reeves tried to get to the rim?

Cade can defend all five defensive positions. He can probably play all five offensive positions. His body is NBA ready at 19 years of age. He makes his free throws. He’s not a Wild Thing like Westbrook or a social media insecure like Durant. Cade is the whole package and it kind of pisses me off Presti didn’t even allow the Thunder to be in the hunt for Cade.

But as a fan of the game–this was a day I will not forget. Of course–I still want OU to win on Monday night in Bedlam II in Stillwater, but after that I’ll be rooting for Cade the rest of the season to go Danny Manning on the NCAA tournament field.

The thing is though…Cade is a more complete package than Danny Manning was in 1988. He’s a stronger player on the interior on both ends of the court.

Can’t wait for Big 12 Monday Night.

No sports for me tomorrow except for maybe the NHL NBC Sunday Game of the Week. I watched too much basketball this week. I need to be fresh for Bedlam II. This song puts me to sleep in five minutes without fail. Have a nice Sunday.

School of Rock Students Perform “California Dreamin'” by The Mamas & The Papas – YouTube

Lu Dort…You Had Me At Hello, Buddy

If the Thunder win tonight they’re probably one game out of the expanded NBA playoff format this season given the NBA is experimenting with a 7-10 seeding tournament to determine the 7th and 8th seeds.

How can Sam Presti tank at that point?

Maybe what he should do is first see if Adam Silver has a sense of humor and see if the commish will give the Thunder a 17th pick mulligan do over in this coming draft.

Sam Presti could point out to Silver if five of his former players didn’t comprise the Brooklyn Nets’ core then the East wouldn’t have a viable team to play the winner of the rugged West in the NBA Finals.

Lu Dort had me at hello last season when he was given a chance to make the team as an undrafted player.

I love his toughness and willingness to guard the other team’s best offensive player every game. And day by day he’s brought his offensive game around.

How ironic…that Daily Thunder’s Justin the Contrarian with his 24/7 negative take and Jim Traber were both dogging Lu about his shooting eariler this week. In the last two Thunder wins…Lu is a combined 8-16 shooting the 3 point shot…with a game winner to boot.

Lu and Kenrich are my two favorite Thunder players, but I have to admit the whole team is winning me over slowly as Sam Presti so far hasn’t pulled the rug out from under them yet by trading Big Al Horford.

It’s become evident George Hill not playing is not a game changer given how the young Thunder guards are evolving before our eyes.

The awesome video above was again the work of Thunder Chick my Amy Adams friend over at Daily Thunder all those years before I intentionally got banned like a coach getting his second tech on purpose. I love the video, TC. Thanks, kid.

Tin Cup – YouTube

Sam Presti…as a John Marshall guy…at this point I have to say…hit the goddamn three wood and let her rip.

Ty Jerome: 2019 National Semi-Final vs. Auburn

So…Ty Jerome from the 2019 national champion Virginia Cavaliers made his debut for the NBA Thunder on Friday night inside of Chesapeake Energy Arena.

How is it he didn’t win the Thunder player of the game is beyond me, but then again rookie guard Theo Maledon scored 11 points and set a Thunder rookie record with 12 assists.

Jerome in his first start for the Thunder after moving up from the G League because of Diallo’s hamstring injury finally got his chance to show if his game at Virginia translates to the NBA.

In twenty-two minutes of play Jerome’s numbers were 9 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals. The assist number should have actually been higher if some of his teammates, most notably Justin Jackson, hadn’t bricked some wide open shots following prescient passes from the heady Jerome.

For the second game in a row it appeared the Thunder players aren’t really on board with tanking this season…especially after the dramatic March Madness game winner by Lu Dort and subsequent celebration pile in the win over the Spurs.

Ask yourself this…when was the last time you’ve seen a tanking team pile on each other like that?

At this point the 14-19 Thunder players don’t seem all that on board with a tank for the ages via the Sam Hinkie era in Philly.

If with Big Al Horford back in the linueup tonight at home versus the struggling Denver Nuggets the Thunder win their third straight…I’m not sure what we say about these guys.

Maybe what we say is we should start admiring their competitive heart to basically…you know…compete.

In the Friday night win over what should be a contending in the East Atlanta Hawk team—the Thunder played some of the best ball movement basketball ever played in the Oklahoma City NBA era. The Thunder had 31 assists and it easily could have been 38 assists if some more wide open shots had fallen. It was a ball movement clinic and a great deal of it had to do with Maledon and Jerome.

Danilo Gallanari must be the most perplexed of all as he left the Thunder to join a more competitive Atlanta team and the Thunder won 108-99 with Big Al Horton, George Hill, and Diallo all not playing in the Friday night game in Oklahoma City.

Just think if Sam Presti had used the 17th pick in this past summer’s draft to draft a ready made basketball player….instead of a NATO alliance project.

So…what if the Thunder win tonight over Denver and crawl to 15-19 with two games left till the All-Star Game break?

I would say at that point it’s in the player’s hands and not those of Sam Presti.

Kevin Durant’s First NBA Game

I actually went to Kevin Durant’s one and only game he played in Norman during his freshman NPOTY season. I went to the trouble of getting a first row seat to see Durant along with point guard DJ Augustin take on a Blake Griffin team which went on to make the Sweet 16… if I rememebr right.

Durant and Texas pretty much handled OU with ease that winter day in Norman. Fran Fraschilla and Ron Franklin did the TV call for ESPN that day. I hung around after the game and went down on the floor and struck up a conversation with Fran and Ron Franklin after their on air duties were complete.

They were like two little kids talking about Durant and what they’d just seen. I mean..it was great–two great guys and I was lucky enough to be sitting with them after the game talking about Kevin Durant and where his future might be headed. I never dreamed it would be with the Oklahoma City franchise which was still a work in progess.

The people in Oklahoma City… I guess are going to take Kevin’s decision to leave for Golden State to their graves. They shouldn’t. Instead what they should do is embrace the notion they were lucky enough to see this guy play for nine years in their city as the player I would rank right after LeBron from a generational standpoint.

So–if Durant had stayed would he have ever won a ring? I would say no because to this day I don’t think Russell Westbrook fully gets it even as his career is in decline.

So much NBA history from the Durant era in Oklahoma City. What if Presti had gone with Harden instead of Westbrook. We’ll never know although if Durant can stay healthy we might get a glimpse of that in this summer’s NBA Finals.

Is there a player in this NBA draft with as much upside as Kevin Durant? It doesn’t appear so from a generational standpoint because Durant is a gym rat and has worked his tail off becoming what he is from a basketball standpoint. Kevin Durant never cheated on his natural talent. He worked his tail off beoming the player he is today.

Thinking back to Durant’s one and done season has me very interested in Cade Cunningham’s lone season of college ball.

No comparison so far as Durant played with such a natural ease and flow which we haven’t seen from Cade to date. We’ve seen some great individual snapshots here and there…but not the whole thing for a forty minute game. But starting tomorrow in Norman is when we really for the rest of this season should see Cade’s game. I would hope this is when Mike Boynton turns it a little more loose with Cade.

I can’t wait for tomorow’s Bedlam game in Norman.

After Dark

One Shining Moment | 2019 March Madness – YouTube

I watched parts of four games tonight as we begin to veer towards the goal acheiving portion of the season.

Michigan handled Iowa. A very nice Kelvin Sampson coached Houston beat Western Kentucky. Michigan State out-toughed Ohio State. And I watched Colorado literally dismantle USC and Evan Mobley behind the dazzling play of point guard McKinley Wright.

Michigan maybe the second best team in the country. I have Baylor on upset alert this Saturday night at Lawrence. We’ll see.

Evan Mobley may be an NBA lottery pick, but McKinley Wright was the best basketball player I saw on the night. It’s mostly about guard play in the NCAA Tournament. Evan Mobley wasn’t really relevant in this game because he didn’t have the ball in his hands enough to make a difference.

Put Jokic aside and maybe Embiid…and it’s a guard game at both levels because of usage or who has the ball in their hands most of the game. That’s why I’d easily take Cade given he can play four positions on any given offensive or defensive possession. But OKC isn’t going to lose enough to get Cade.

I haven’t seen McKinley on anybody’s first round draft projections, but he’s kind of a Kendrick Nunn type. It would be an interesting pick in the second round if he’s still around given the Thunder have two second round picks this summer.

I’m actually kind of excited about watching the Thunder play tomorrow night. Might as well settle in somewhere between six and twelve at this point annd find a running mate for SGA and a rim protector with the two first round picks.

I mean…here’s the thing…if you think the kid is an all-star and the face of a franchise…. then why would you be losing on purpose.

McKinley Wright IV breaks Colorado men’s basketball record for assists as a freshman – YouTube

Lu Dort’s First Game Winner With a Crowd

It’s a shame a defensive specialist hit a game winner like that with no fans in the building. I wonder how many game winners Tony Allen and Shane Battier or even Iguodala have/had in their careers. I may have to google that for myself.

We as basketball and hockey fans miss the sheer adrenal rush of the crowd at a great game. It’s like a drug. It really is.

Beautiful read by Al Horford on the play BTW. It was like an RPO (run-pass-option) in football. He sucked Lu’s man towards the middle then made the perfect pass for a catch and shoot.

It may not get any better than this for the Thunder this season so I better embellish the play as much as possible. Maybe blog about it thru next Tuesday so I have something Thunder relevant to blog about on here.

Should be a really great college game tonight with the Buckeyes at Michigan State. Tommy Izzo’s team needs this one in a big way for their resume. Could be a play in game of sorts for them.

I’m going to put Dort’s shot up again just because the contrarian Justin from the abyss of nothingness… A.K.A. as the Daily Thunder messageboard has been so hard on Lu Dort…no matter what the kid does.

Shai Gilgeous Alexander Career 42 Point Night

An historic game as SGA joins the 40 point club for the Thunder against a pretty decent team coached by Greg Popovich.

I’m not a huge fan of the NBA All-Star Game…especially this year when they probably shouldn’t even be having it…so for SGA this is better than anything he could have done at the ASG.

Maybe this will propel him into the spot which was going to be for Anthony Davis. He shouldn’t feel too bad in that some other deserving players didn’t make the game either. Domas Sabonis, Jerami Grant, Mike Conley, and Devin Booker weren’t selected either.

With what we saw last night from SGA that makes a basketball fan want to tune onto Fox Southwest for Friday’s game versus the Atlanta Hawks.

If SGA takes his game to the next level it doesn’t matter if the Thunder only have the sixth or sevenh pick because they’ll know they have their guy and will just need a solid two way versatile wing player who can SHOOT and consistently score the ball. Maybe even someone like Jalen Suggs from Gonzaga who doesn’t have as much star appeal as a Jalen Green type.

I mean…SGA did this on a night when Bazely was 0-8 from the field and Dort was actually struggling until the the last half of the fourth period.

I didn’t know he had that type of end to end speed. That was impressive….almost Westbrookian in that regard.
SGA’s game just moved the Thunder up on my tiers beyond OU spring football and the NBC Sunday National Hockey Game of the Week.

I’d like to see Diallo and Bazely switch roles and see how that starting five looks with Diallo as a part of that mix with SGA, Horford, Dort, and Robey.

Anyway…great game from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Plus…a shout out to Coach D for a great play call with Horford having enough faith in Dort to make the pass in a game ending shot situation.

Lindsey Graham -Donald Trump Love Songs Karaoke…Level 2

Maroon 5 – She Will Be Loved (Karaoke Version) – YouTube

If you’ve mastered Marilyn McCoo’s ‘One Less Egg to Fry’ at Level 1….then you should be ready for Level 2.

This one is a tougher harmony to follow. You might want to do a practice run on this one before you do it in public at a piano bar or somewhere else.. This is just so lit. This might be bettert than Bitcoin. Call OKC Bitcoin market maker Jim Traber for Bitcoin buy orders.

This weather is incredible. Good karaoke weather.

This is how it should sound.